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The Munsters Halloween Costumes

10/31/2016

Happy Halloween to all!
I hope you all had a fun, and a safe Halloween weekend, and a great actual Halloween today! If you're looking for more Halloween fun, you can check out all of my Halloween posts today, since you probably won't for another year!
So who's dressed up for work today? Well I'm not, because my Monday job is this blog, and I'm sitting at home in my pajamas :)
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you'll probably have seen me and the husband's Halloween costumes this year, they were a huge hit! Here's some pictures of us...

We dressed up as Lily and Herman Munster, from the 1960's tv show, The Munsters.
If you've never watched it, we highly recommend it! It is now on Netflix, so there's no excuse to not watch it!

Here are some more pictures, just for fun's sake!

We went with the black and white version, since that's the version you see on the show, since it is in black and white!

Here's how I made my dress! I bought this dress (I think it was an old wedding dress) from Salvation Army, and this sheer blouse also from Salvation Army. I cut the sleeves from the blouse and attached them to the dress, then cut up the rest of the blouse, to make the "wings" that you see hanging from the sleeves. I had some black fabric laying around (any self respecting crafty lady does!), so I cut it up and sewed it to the dress, and voila! This gorgeous Lily Munster dress! I already had the bat necklace (because why wouldn't I).
Nick's costume was pretty easy. He already had the black pants, and we bought the sweater and jacket from Salvation Army (of course!). His head is a plastic piece that we bought from a local Halloween store, that he attached with latex.

Happy Halloween loves!!!

Peace Love and The Munsters
Jess <3

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How to Make Money on Fiverr- Make Money From Anywhere!

10/17/2016

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How to Make Money on Fiverr- Make Money From Anywhere!

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I despise working normal, soul-sucking, 9-5 jobs. I instead, prefer to use my god-given talents and interests to make a living. I write all about this in my first blog post ever, posted May 11th 2012.
And while I am not making 100% of my income from my passions yet, I am getting much closer to being able to sit on a beach (or lay reading a book in a hammock) all day! So if you want to become free to work anywhere in the world, keep reading!

There are a lot of ways that I am making money right now; this blog, and my Etsy being two of them. But today I wanted to talk about a different means of earning money, that I have had people ask me about, because I am doing pretty well at it.
Fiverr can be one of the easiest, fun-nest, and most lucrative ways to make money on the internet. It doesn't require you to have your own website, you don't need to be a computer whiz, and you can get started in a day!
The basic gist of Fiverr is simple; "People will do anything for $5". And I mean anything! Need a fake girlfriend for your social media? Done! Want Christopher Walken to call your friend? Yes please! Desperately ned a fairy to hold your sign? Sure thing! Having trouble finding Marilyn Monroe to sing happy birthday to someone? Well you've come to the right place!
All fun and crazy-ness aside, there is also a ton of gigs for graphics and design, digital marketing, translating services, singers and songwriters, advertising, and programming.

Ready to get started on Fiverr? Here's how!

First things first, you need to get your profile set up!
Your profile is where all of your gigs will be, and where people can read about you.
To do this, just go to fiverr.com and find the sign up button. You pick your name (mine is Chinagirl since I do some Mandarin Chinese gigs), put in an email address, and answer questions about yourself, and about your gigs. Take a look at my Fiverr profile to get an idea of what it will look like.

The next thing you must do, is to make your gigs!
This is the fun part! Your gigs are what you are willing to do for $5.
***Edit 8/10/20 Your gigs no longer have to start out at $5! You can start them out at whatever you want, and they can go up to $995!***
Your gigs will be making you your money, and no matter how cool your profile looks, if you don't have any gigs, you will not make any money. So start thinking. It can be silly, or it can be serious, or it can be anything in-between. It does not cost you anything to create or post a gig, so make as many as you'd like! I still have a couple gigs that I've posted that haven't made me any money, but it's ok, because all it took was a little bit of time to make the gig.

Think of things you're good at doing, that other people want or need.
Are you a computer genius? Perfect! Tons of people need help with computer programming, website building. Do you speak multiple languages? Offer translating services. Are you a writer or a musician? There are plenty of things to do with those gifts! Are you artistic? Try drawing pictures of people or their pets!
I speak Mandarin Chinese, so I sing happy birthday in Mandarin for one gig. I also like to make and sell crafts, so I have a couple of my products on there. I also offer ads on this blog through Fiverr, and my most popular gigs are my modeling gigs.

Be unique!
There are literally thousands of people on Fiverr selling the same exact gigs. So offer something unique instead! It's fine to have a couple gigs that aren't unique, but try to come up with at least one that is unique to you. For example, one of my gigs is "I will sing Happy Birthday in Mandarin Chinese." In all of Fiverr, there is only one other gig that is the same, and it was just posted not too long ago. I also sell my record bowls on there, and again, there is only one other gig that does that.

Post the rest of your gigs.
Once you have a couple of unique gigs posted, you can add the rest of your gigs. Don't worry if there are a lot of people selling the same thing, just be sure to put your own unique spin on it! For example, if you type in "male model" in the search bar, over thirty different gigs will pop up. So how have I had over thirty separate orders for my dad and my husband's male modeling gigs? Because I made each of them unique from the other gigs. The other male model gigs simply said, "I will be your male model." So I made my Dad's gig say, "I will be your bearded male model." And Nick's says, "I will be your tattooed male model." So use normal gigs, but get specific, and get unique.

Now start making sales!
Here are some tips that I use, to sell a lot of gigs.

-Respond quickly. This is one thing I am working on! I have lost a couple sales because time was of the essence, and unfortunately I did not read, or respond to the person's message inquiring about a gig in time. So be sure to check your messages every couple of days, and respond to people who are asking questions about your gigs.

-Maximize your earnings. So just in case you lost interest because you're thinking that $5 isn't enough, this part is for you! In every gig you can make up to $1,000! You just need to find ways to upgrade the things you're selling! For example; In all of my modeling gigs for me, my dad, and my husband, the gig starts out at $5 (like every gig needs to). The $5 gig includes four pictures with one background. For $10, the gig includes 10 pictures, in multiple backgrounds. In every gig I also include an extra fast delivery time for $5 extra. None of my gigs total anywhere close to $1,000, but I'm in the process of revamping my Fiverr account, and I'm trying to think of different ways to upgrade even more!

-Advertise your services. You can share your Fiverr gigs with your social media followers. Or advertise like my advertisement above. Check out this blog's advertising rates if you're interested in that.

-Sell your physical items. Yes, you can sell physical items, because you have the option to charge for shipping. So figure out some small (or large!) items that you can make multiples of, and sell. Especially around Christmas time!

-Scope out the competition. Search for gigs that are the same as yours. Study them and figure out the following; 1. What are they lacking that you could make sure to add to your gig? 2. What are some of their gig extras. Can you do them for cheaper? Or can you add on more gig extras? 3. What about these gigs are better than your gig? Adjust accordingly.

-Whatever you do, do it great. Like most businesses nowadays, you will be getting reviewed by your customers! Aim to make your customer as satisfied as possible. Always go the extra mile. Because I always go the extra mile, if you look at my Fiverr gigs, you will see some very satisfied customer reviews. And bonus, your customers can now tip you! We have received several tips for a job well done, and it is a great feeling!

-Take great photos. For my modeling gigs, I obviously need to take great pictures for the customer. But even if your gig doesn't involve taking pictures, get a nice picture for your gig picture so it will grab your potential customers' attention.

Fiverr can be super fun. It's a great way to earn money doing what you love to do, and most of the time without even leaving your house, or while traveling the world! We have had a blast doing our various different gigs. We have received a lot of free products (the watch that Nick wore on our wedding day was a free product from a Fiverr gig!), and have been featured on a lot of cool websites and social media accounts (see some on my modeling page).
Good luck on your Fiverr journey!

Peace Love and Fiverr
Jess <3

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DIY Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett Couples Halloween Costume

10/3/2016

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DIY Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett Couples Halloween Costume

Happy Halloween you guys! I hope you've been enjoying the Halloween theme going on here, all over my Instagram, and over at my Etsy Shop also! Just in case you missed it, last week I posted a guest post from The Haunted Housewife about how to make your own Halloween inspired hair candies. Likewise, she featured my post, 7 ways to make your home Halloween ready on her blog!
I will be continuing the Halloween madness today, with this post about how to do Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett hair, makeup, and outfits, for your couples Halloween costume this year!

Makeup
We're going to start with the makeup! Here is a tutorial I did, about how to do both Sweeney Todd, and Mrs. Lovett makeup.

The finished makeup for Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett!
And now on to the hair, because let's face it, the hair basically makes Sweeney Todd!

Sweeney Todd Hair
We were lucky, because Nick's hair was just perfect for Sweeney Todd hair. And yes, that is his real hair! His hair is super thick and wavy naturally, so we didn't have to do a lot to it. Just teased it a bit, until it sat exactly so. We pinned the top part back, so it wouldn't fall over. If your man's hair isn't thick and wavy enough, curl it, and do some serious teasing. We also bleached a section of his hair, so he actually had the blonde strip in his hair. He loved it and actually kept it for almost a year!

Mrs. Lovett Hair
My hair also worked pretty good for Mrs. Lovett hair. It was a little bit longer than hers, but I didn't sweat it.
The night before, I put my hair in really tight curlers. You want tight curls. The next morning after taking the curlers out, I positioned my hair into two high ponytails. Position them a little lower than the height I have them. Once both ponytails are in place, get a large hair clip, and flip the ponytail over the top of your head, then clip it at the base and over a bit, so the ponytail will fall over the clip, and it will cover the ponytail holder, and looks like the above hair. Then you are going to tease your ponytails like crazy. Mrs. Lovett has crazy curly hair. Once it's teased to perfection, hairspray to hold. If you have red hair, lucky you! You're done. If not, you need a red spray in color. These are very easy to find during Halloween.

I used this stuff from Hot Topic for my hair, and i would never use it again, and never recommend anyone to use it! Ever! The color turned out fine, as spray in colors go, but this stuff was a complete disaster. It got onto everything. I washed my hair three times and it still wouldn't come out, so I had to wash it a couple times with dish soap! Then, my shower had a red tint to it for weeks, until I finally had to bleach it to get it off! It stained the seat in my car, my bathroom counter, and the shirt my husband wore! Disaster! *Ok, end rant!*

The clothing
I admit it, I thought the clothing would be very hard to find, but it turned out to be so simple! It really just takes some imagination. I took some time studying various outfits worn by both Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, and formulated what I thought would be great costumes for us. We used a couple things we already owned, and found the rest at the Salvation Army during their 50% off Wednesday. You can't get cheaper Halloween costumes!

Sweeney Todd Outfit
Nick's Sweeney Todd outfit was beyond simple. He started with a white t-shirt he already owned, that looks like it has blood splatters all over the neck (I believe he got it at Hot Topic a long time ago), it was perfect. Over that, he wore this long sleeve, collared, white button-up that we got at Salvation Army for a couple dollars. You want it to be a little baggier, especially over the arms. Over that, he wore a really good-looking brownish/greyish vest that we also found at Salvation army for a couple dollars. He still has this vest because it's so nice! Finishing up his look, he wore a pair of black pin-striped dress pants that we got at (you guessed it) Salvation Army, for (you guessed it) a couple dollars!

Mrs. Lovett Outfit
Mrs. Lovett's costume is a bit trickier, but just as do-able as Sweeney Todd's. In the movie she has a couple different outfits, so I kept those in my mind when we went to the Salvation Army and found exactly what I needed to make my own version of all her outfits. The skirt and the corset are the focal points of her outfit, so I was so glad to find this perfect skirt at the Salvation Army. It was the perfect color, design, and length.

I found this great top, complete with ruffles, at the Salvation Army, and cut the top off, because I didn't want the bottom part to bunch under the corset.