A Totally DIY Pampering

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Kelly Diamond

I’ve always been a DIY fan, and with the recent Pinterest hype, finding DIY activities is now easier than ever. Some of the easiest (and most beneficial) DIY items are beauty products. Who ever thought that you would be able to fully stock your medicine cabinet with DIY items from teeth whitening to lip gloss? Well, you can. Here are a few to get you started on the totally DIY pampering:

EASY AT HOME TEETH WHITENING from The Budget Diet

DIY HONEY FACIAL from Petit Elefant

HOMEMADE SUGAR SCRUB from Homemade Ginger

10 HOMEMADE SHAMPOO RECIPES from Scoochmaroo at Instructables

HOMEMADE KISS GLOSS from Cheeky Kitchen

Like I said. It’s never been easier! Give these few items a try and you’ll more than likely be begging for more. Let me know with a comment below, a like, or a tweet and another post like this will come to you shortly! You can also find more penny saving ideas on our Pinterest board. Pamper on!

What are your favorite pampering activities?
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Sweet as pie, cute (& small) as a button.

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Kelly Diamond

Well, alright. A little bigger than a button.

I am a huge freak for all things miniature. Those mini ice cream cups at the store, mini candy, mini bags, mini cupcakes, mini jars, Polly Pocket (when she was actually the size of a fingernail, you know .. back in the day) — if it”s mini, I”m pretty much obsessed. So you can only imagine my reaction when I stumbled upon mini PIE. I basically died with joy and cuteness overload taking control of my brain. It was magical. I”m hoping you feel the same and spread the magic to your friend and family this holiday season! Oh and don”t worry — to top it off, these mini pies are in MINI JARS. That my friends, is what I call perfection (not to mention an amazing gift-giving idea).

CRANBERRY COBBLERS (IN A JAR)

To kick off my mini-pie-in-a-jar-magical-idea-since-when?! obsession, we have Cranberry Cobblers from Tablespoon.com. They really know how to get me over there — passion for food meets creativity. ALWAYS. And these cobblers are no exception! Perfect for Turkey day, wouldn”t you agree?

SPICED PUMPKIN PIE (IN A JAR)

ADORABLE! These mini spiced pumpkin pies are so cute. I love the jars that The Scootabaker used for this particular post — and the heart cutouts add the perfect loving touch, don”t you think? Wish I had one right now! Not to mention I love anything pumpkin.

LATTICE-TOP BLUEBERRY PIE (IN A JAR)

You had me at lattice-top, Family Kitchen. I”ve always loved lattice-top pies — not only does it take some serious skill to come out with a great looking pie, but they”re just so pretty! Shrink it down to mini and in a jar? I”m awestruck. LOVE these blueberry pies! It”s almost unfair that I don”t have one in front of me at this very moment.

FRUIT CRISP (IN A JAR)

I love fruit crisp — so clearly, I would love this particular post from Wendolonia. I think the best part about these fruit crisps is that you can literally use any type of fruit you wish and still come out with a delicious treat! Also you can put these babies in the freezer for whenever you feel a need for some freshly baked mini crisp. Love it!

GRASSHOPPER PIES (IN A JAR)

Okay, so we all love a good pie with a traditional crust. But then what about those other pies we love with non-traditional crusts? These grasshopper pies have a crumbled Oreo crust and look DELICIOUS. Not to mention, this post from A Southern Fairytale inspires me to get creative with this mini pie idea — crumbled graham cracker crust is another option I haven”t seen (yet) in mini pies. Time to get the foodie juices flowing!

What type of pie would you love to see served in a mini jar?

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Last chance for Halloween recipes!

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Kelly Diamond

With Halloween weekend looming, the clock”s a”tickin” to make your favorite Halloween desserts and treats in time for parties and get-togethers. Luckily, The Stir at CafeMom.com has put together a slideshow of 20 Favorite Halloween Recipes — from cookies, cakes, to big people drinks — to help us get a head start on the brainstorming.

Here are 4 of my favorites from the bunch:

PUMPKIN-CREAM CHEESE TRUFFLES

If the title isn”t enough, they”re covered in white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed gingersnaps. My work is done here. (Originally from Whole Foods Market)

MINI PUMPKIN CAKES

These cakes from BusyMommy are absolutely adorable, and they”re actually made with little bundt cakes! The stem is a hand-molded Tootsie Roll. These would be delicious as little carrot cakes, don”t you think?

PEANUT BUTTER CANDY BAR SQUARES

This recipe from Bake or Break is a perfect way to utilize your leftover Halloween candy (if you even have leftover Halloween candy, that is). Maybe I”ll buy some extra candy this year just so I can make these bars.

THE GREAT PUMPKIN MARTINI

Who says Halloween isn”t for adults? This martini from The Stir contains OJ and pumpkin puree. Sounds interesting to say the least — definitely in spirit of the season!

What Halloween treats will you be whipping up this weekend?

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Chocoholics unite! It's National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Kelly Diamond

If you”re a lover of chocolate and cake, then today is the day for you. On behalf of Social Grocery, I wish you a very Happy National Chocolate Cupcake Day (not to be confused with National Cupcake Day on December 15th)!

In celebration of this delicious day — and in addition to my love of obscure holidays — I have decided to share a few treats to help get your OM NOM NOM on. And no, they”re not your basic out-of-the-box chocolate cupcakes:

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

This is what I would like to call a CHOCOLATE EXPLOSION. These devil”s food chocolate cupcakes from Annie”s Eats are filled with chocolate ganache, then topped with chocolate sour cream frosting and chocolate curls. Not only are these gorgeous, they”re bursting with chocolate-induced happiness. Please do yourself a favor and make them ASAP. Perfect for National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE POPS

As a huge Bakerella fan, I obviously had to include her Chocolate Cupcake Pops in this post. Take a different spin on the traditional chocolate cupcake — shrink it, dip it, decorate it and put it on a stick instead. If you haven”t tried cupcake pops or cake pops yet, use National Chocolate Cupcake Day as an excuse to educate yourself. You won”t be disappointed!

CHOCOLATE ROSE TUTORIAL (CAKE/CUPCAKE TOPPER)

Tell me you”ve never seen gourmet cupcakes with elaborate flower toppings and thought “hey, I want to learn how to do that!” Well, luckily for us, Cakebrain from Cake on The Brain blog has an excellent tutorial on how to create these chocolate roses, perfect to add a little touch of beauty to your National Chocolate Cupcake Day creations. And according to Cakebrain herself, they”re easier to make than we think!

What”s your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe? Out-of-the-box or homemade? Share with us!

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Candy corn galore!

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Kelly Diamond

Not sure about you, but it”s basically a ritual of mine to eat as much Brach”s Autumn Mix as entirely possible during the Fall season. While this can be extremely satisfying in itself, isn”t it more fun to get creative? These three recipes are exactly the kind of fun I”m looking for this Halloween season!

CANDY CORN COOKIE BARK

Okay, this just looks phenomenal. I”ve always been a fan of Recipe Girl (as you may have picked up by now) and somehow this gem has escaped me until now. I will definitely be making this candy corn cookie bark in the very near future! This gives holiday peppermint bark a run for its money, in my opinion.

CANDY CORN CHEESECAKE

So cute! I”ve definitely seen candy corn decorated cakes and cupcakes, but never something like cheesecake. What a great idea this is! This recipe calls for Candy Corn Hershey Kisses, which I never knew existed. Anyone ever tried them? Thank you to My Baking Addiction for sharing this treat.

CANDY CORN BUTTERFINGER POPS

These are possibly the most adorable and delicious sounding pops I have seen in awhile. And no, this isn”t just a Butterfinger candy bar dipped in candy melts — it”s HOMEMADE. Dear Vanessa from Blog 5 to 9, you are my hero. “NOM NOM NOM” is right!

Do you have a favorite Halloween themed treat?

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Edit your SoGro profile, say what?!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Kelly Diamond

You heard it here first — we have some new features lingering around on Social Grocery!

First on the list is profiles. You now have the ability to edit your profile information. Awesome, right? We think so. To do so, while on your profile page, you will find a handy “Edit Profile” button underneath your picture:

By clicking that, it will lead you to your edit page. Now you can edit your profile name, add the URL to your personal website, blog, Twitter account or Facebook page, enter in a short bio about yourself (get creative!) and share with us your favorite store — there will be a pre-selected list provided according to your zip code.

After perfecting your information, click save. The bio spot on your profile will now look something like this:

As we like to say here at Social Grocery, “AMAZABALLS!”

Next up is brand pages. You are now able to search by brand names, accessible by the footer, browse menu, and each product page (brand name hyperlink next to the product image). Here”s an example of what the brand page search index looks like:

From there, you can click on a brand and be directed to their own page. These pages include websites, Facebook and Twitter links, a contact number, a top ranked product, as well as a listing of all products available on Social Grocery for that specific brand.

Look at that! Now you can easily access your favorite brand”s products all in one spot. What could be sweeter?

Last (but certainly not least) we have .. drum roll please .. trending pages! And not just the old product trends, either. Wait for it ..

Yes, in addition to trending products we now have trending users and brands! Now it”s even easier to find out what the latest love is within the Social Grocery community — as well as who is dominating the leaderboards.

From this main trending page, you can click the “More” button at the bottom of each column to bring you to separate pages for each category.

We hope you enjoy our latest updates! As always, we are open to feedback and would love to know your thoughts.

Happy grabbing!

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