Valentine's Day Phone Backgrounds

I am one of those girls who actually loves Valentine's Day. I may be single, but that definitely doesn't mean I can't enjoy a holiday devoted to love and chocolate.  I always take time to decorate for Valentine's Day and enjoy a day full of chocolate, chick flicks, and time with people I love.
So be a rebel this year and fall in love with the world's most hated holiday! Tell your friends and family you love them, and give out Valentine's like it's a 3rd grade class party.
To help you get into the Valentine's Day spirit, I made 6 fun phone backgrounds for y'all to use!

How are you celebrating this Valentine's Day? Share your plans with me, I love to hear about cute Valentine's Day plans! 

With lots of LOVE,

Hannah 

PS- Just wanted to apologize for not posting much lately! I've been very ill and struggling to get better, and I just haven't had energy to blog. Hopefully I'll be back at it all the time soon!

Monogrammed iPhone Case Rant

As some of y'all may know, I just got my first iPhone (or any smart phone at all) this summer for my 20th birthday. I wanted to find the perfect case, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what to get. However, I knew then (and still believe now) that I'm too clumsy to get something based solely on looks.
So, in July I ordered a monogrammed otterbox for my iPhone. I felt like this was the perfect marriage of style and protection for my phone. I absolutely LOVED it, but it was rather pricey. After tax it was about $75. For that price, I really expected high quality and style. That lasted.
I hate to give a negative review on my blog, but I know enough people who have looked at these cases in my circle of blogging friends that I felt the need to say something.

To quickly and very honestly sum up my experience buying this phone case from In This Very Room: I ordered in mid-July, and the case took more than a month to get to me. Prices were high, but I did get a free shipping coupon from their facebook. Overall, they do price these monogrammed Otterbox cases a bit lower than other places I've seen them, however I can't speak for the quality of other retailers. When I got it my only issue was the absolutely ridiculous wait time. I get that it's personalized, but their site says "Up to TWO weeks" not 4-5.
Here's where my real issue has come in. The actual case is typical Otterbox Commuter quality BUT I paid an extra $30ish to get this case monogrammed. So I do expect that part to hold up!  I thought I'd give you a visual of how much it's chipped in 6 months.

Here's my phone case when I received it in August.

I love the design and monogram. 

Overall, very happy with initial quality despite wait time. 

Ok so here's a close up of my case in early November (so about 3 months after I received the case) when I decided to contact In This Very Room. You can see the beginnings of chips around all the edges where pink is showing through. 

November 2012

Finally, here's my case yesterday. The chips have become really obvious and the case looks much older than 6 months. Also, to be clear I was NEVER contacted after I sent two separate messages to In This Very Room via their website. I mostly wanted to find out if it was a fluke and I could get a refund or if this was just the quality of the product. Since I never heard, I really have to assume it's a product quality problem.

Monogrammed iPhone Otterbox case after about 6 months.

As I said, I really don't like to write negative reviews or posts on this blog, but I do think it's important for people to know that these popular monogrammed Otterbox cases don't hold up at all. The good thing about my case is that (because it's an Otterbox) it really has kept my phone safe!

Overall Experience Recap:

• Long wait time for phone case to arrive (twice listed wait time on site)
• Chips began early on and have continued to get worse. I treat my phone well but it chips from everyday use.
• I contacted the site twice with photos and a question about my issues with the case, and never heard back. 
• At six months wear is very obvious and I'm looking at replacing it with a new case.

So that leads me to my current dilemma: what should I replace this case with now? I still want the safety and function of the Otterbox, but I would like something cute too!
If you have any recommendations for quality, sturdy iPhone 4S cases at reasonable prices please comment and let me know!
Next Monday I'm planning to do a roundup of cases I'm looking at. Maybe y'all can help me choose?
Any input is appreciated!

Stay beautiful,
Hannah

PS- Leave your blog link in the comments if you're a recent follower and you haven't commented yet! I want to follow everyone but I'm having some issues with blogger! Thanks y'all! Sorry for the negative post!

Apps You'll Love- Part 1

I wanted to start a new series about iPhone/iPad apps. I've become obsessed with getting the most out of my iPhone, and I thought I'd share some of my favorite apps!

These two apps are both recent finds for me. One is a greeting card app, and the other adds words to photos- which sounds like no big deal, but I'll show you how much I've done with it!

 I love sending little surprises to friends via my phone. I'm also a huge greeting card fan. So when I saw this app, I was totally hooked. Plus, it's free!

When you open the app, you have tons of choices in categories for cards to send. Some feature photo  openings so that you can add in photos of you and your friends, and some are just designed with text and color. There are tons of really great options, like thank yous, announcements,  holiday cards, invites- so many great possibilities here! 

Some of the options available on Red Stamp

So if you chose, for instance,  Thanks, you could easily make a card to send via e-mail, text, facebook, or even postcard (too cool) in seconds. 

Here's what the selection looks like in one category: 

See how some have photo openings and others don't? It's great for different levels of personalization.

Then, all you need to do is pick one and add a message. Here's a mock up that I did here!

Each card also has color options on the side, as you can see here! 

Are you totally sold yet? I love this app and think it's really easy to use and useful for the well-mannered girl!

Phonto is my absolute favorite photo editing app. It's  FREE! 

My next favorite app is one that I use all the time to make different little quote backgrounds and monogrammed wallpapers for my phone. It is a really basic app that just allows you to add words to text. Sounds simple, right? It works best if you do some work of your own to have a wallpaper/print library on your phone, but if you have that it's an AMAZING app to own.

So here's a shot of my background library:

I compiled this by saving Lilly prints, taking photos of fabric swatches, and generally just saving any pattern that I like. Having a pattern board on Pinterest helps too! 

 Ok, so once you've done that, all you have to do is open the app and PLAY.
Seriously, you can add anything to your photos. You could do this with real photos too, but I've been having fun with my background prints lately. Here are some of my creations:

This one has been really popular on my tumblr. I love this saying! 

Super easy way to make monograms for your lock screen! 

I also use it to make inserts for photo collages I'm making for instagram. This was part of one I made when I got three new polishes, obviously.
The end product looked is below.

This uses another app to photo collage (PicStitch, also free)

My favorite quote!

Anyhow, I realize that this app was intended to just add text to photos, but I enjoy using it this way. 

Do you have any favorite apps? I'm hoping to stick to more unusual apps in this series, so I won't have any like Instagram or Facebook in here! Hope you enjoy this! 

Stay beautiful,
Hannah