School Overload

Well it has been a few days since my last post... unfortunately I have been incredibly busy with the start of my senior year at Temple! Between 6 classes, 2 jobs, and playing rugby, I don't think I'm going to have much time for anything but I'll try to work something out with this blog.

My classes are awesome this semester and I have found that every semester my classes unintentionally have a theme. For example, last spring was development and last fall was philosophy (barf). Well ladies and gentlemen, this semester is... wait for it... sex. Hilarious right? On Monday nights I have straight sex talk for about 4 hours between my sociology course titled Sex and Society and my psychology elective titled Human Sexuality. Those are definitely the more obvious "sex-oriented" classes. I'm also doing yoga (hopefully to help with my rugby injuries and back pain), photography and visual literacy, social cognition, and social, emotional, and personality development. Definitely a full course load.

Once I get my life at Temple back under control I promise to write a lovely, well-thought out blog full of pictures and quotes and delightful things. Until then..

xoxo

Frames, Frames, Frames

So yesterday my mom and I had a mother-daughter bonding day and by that I mean we tackled many of the cleaning projects in our house that have been put off for too long. We cleaned the basement of our 90+year old house equipped with only rubber gloves and black trash bags (though I would have liked a face mask maybe to deal with the moldy, musty smell!) and somehow I got stuck doing all the hard labor of lugging bags and furniture to the curb.. We cleaned our upstairs, especially our "toy closet" which used to hold all of our toys but now holds sweaters, coats, books, cds, records, storage bins, fans, etc etc. While we were going through everything my eye landed on a pile of huge framed photos that my mom got from our old neighbors before they moved. All had various pictures like this that they had taken on an African safari years earlier.

Now these are beautiful photos and nice frames but this was a definite spur of the moment decision of my mom to take these. We don't have large photos, have no intention to really hang large photos, and it's a little weird to hang someone else's meaningful pictures in our home. So I asked her if I could keep a few (okay all but 2) of the frames (there are like 10 total) and I'd find stuff to frame.

While we continued to go through the great abyss of the toy closet, many interesting things were uncovered such as beanie babies, my driver's ed graduation certificate, long lost clothing items, my dad's old really embarrassing records, photos of my ex boyfriend and I at my senior year Winterball, and best of all... old artwork of my sister and mine from elementary and middle school!

Now here's a funny story. I started to pull out projects of mine and said,

"Oh my god, this is so ugly. I'm trashing this." 

And my mom immediately counters,

"You are not throwing any of that out! I love your artwork!" 

And I turn the artwork around and she says,

"Okay that you can throw out."

Laughter ensued. 

Long story short we went through a bunch of old artwork and decided to keep some really nice meaningful pieces. Then a light bulb went off. I am going to use the frames from earlier!

After a long and incredibly irritating process of pulling off paper, digging out staples/sharp things (the photos were professionally framed), and suffering only one surprisingly painful cut to my finger, I finally got a few art pieces framed. Unfortunately due to different sized paper and frames, I couldn't frame everything because I did not want to cut anything. Here's what I got...

 This is a practice sketch I did of a drawing that I gave an old boyfriend for Valentine's Day. So glad I saved the sketch because I think it looks kinda cool half done. Also I lucked out because I saved the nice mounting from the previous picture!

This is a sketch I did a few years ago and even though it's an apple core, I think it's really cool. Especially if you look up at it close, you can see all the different colors I used. I also used this for my final project for an English class at Temple, arguing that something labeled everyday as ugly can be beautiful and claiming that I drew it for that specific class and project.. What the teacher doesn't know won't hurt her!

This is my favorite thing I framed. I found paintings that my sister and I both did of sunflowers in first grade, 3 years apart. Hers is on the left and mine is on the right. Good thing Inglewood Elementary never changes their art projects!

Such a cute thing to put up in winter! This is a pastel drawing that I did in 2nd grade. I think my shading was better then than it is now..

Now I am saving my favorite thing for last. Okay I am completely and utterly obsessed with the website Pinterest. I will dedicate a blog later to it professing my love for it. Anyways I saw an idea on there to make some sort of wall decoration by using different colored/patterned scrapbook paper.. So I ended up with this, which I LOVE and will be hanging up at school..

I found cute patterned scraps of scrapbooking paper and cut them all to the same size then used black paint to paint on the letters. Originally I used the foam posterboard that the original framed photo was glued to as my white background. I painted over it in white paint but because some of the glue adhesive pulled off paper and just left an uneven mess, it didn't really look too pretty. So I sat staring at this for about 5 minutes thinking... where can I find long white paper... then my eye landed on a dresser in my room filled with gift wrapping supplies. Ding ding ding! Tissue paper. Not only is it white and super thin, it adds a neat crinkly effect that contrasts the stiffness of the paper. Swoon.

I love this piece partly because..

I love the song "Imagine".

Sometimes I need to be reminded to imagine the endless possibilities and not dwell.

I would be nowhere without my imagination.

:)
xoxo

Here There & Everywhere

My brain has definitely been here, there & everywhere lately. Plus I'm currently listening to The Beatles so it seemed appropriate. Well since I just got my computer back from the Apple store AGAIN for repairs (that I got for free because I argued with them woo!) I figured I could do another blog post. However, I have been lazy with my camera so no new pictures of the projects I talked about earlier.

Chalk Board: The paint worked well and I was definitely tempted to blackboard-ify more objects but limited myself to only the wooden slab. After driving all over town I finally found chalk, who knew it was so hard to find chalk? My new problems.. I wanted the chalkboard to write cool quotes, etc on but chalk doesn't write that clear so I am going to get chalk markers which is what I used when I did the chalkboards at Coldstone back in high school. I also bought hooks that were too big so I need to find adhesive tape. Once I get all of that and am settled back at school I will be sure to update with a photo!

Headband holder: This project was much more of a challenge than I anticipated, mainly because I couldn't find out hot glue gun so I tried to substitute with super glue.. Not exactly the same thing. It definitely looks messy but it's not exactly noticeable once it's covered with headbands. I'll update with photos later.

Bag: Still haven't conquered this one.

Since I am getting ready for school, I'll share some space saving ideas I have. These are super important for me because my new apartment, though newly redone very cute, is basically what I like to call a large closet.

So in our kitchen (if you call it that) there is zero storage. Basically no cabinets. The girls before us had a huge bulky storage thing like this..

 They had big canvas baskets on each shelf, which though cute, made it a real challenge to get into the kitchen. I'm talking you had to turn to the side and slide in through the doorway. Instead my roommate and I are using wooden crates. They are the perfect size, not too big, and look really cute. Last year I worked at an organic farm (the job questioned the most from my resume when applying for jobs..) and they used these crates to hold fruits when they brought them in form the orchards. My sister used them in place of a dresser in her old apartment so we figured we'd give it a try. I don't have photos from our apartment but here they are in our upstairs hallway.

Another space saver/organizer idea I've used since freshman year is using a bulletin board to organize my jewelry. Just use a pushpin to hold necklaces, bracelets, etc.

This is my much more boring one from home. The one I use at school is decorated a bit more with fun pins, a nice handwritten letter to me and ribbons.

I'll update with more space saving ideas once I move into my apartment full-time and can take some photos of different things we've used.

xoxo

All I can do is be me. Whoever that is. -Bob Dylan

I know I've posted before about my quote book, but in the past few months I've really had some huge changes in my life and I just wanted to share some quotes that have stuck with me. I've also included some pictures for your enjoyment :)

"Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted." -John Lennon

"Things do not change. We change." -Andy Warhol

"The most important thing is to enjoy life --to be happy-- that's all that matters." - Audrey Hepburn

 

"The best way out is always through." -Robert Frost

"You have to be willing to get happy about nothing." -Andy Warhol

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." -E.M. Forster

"Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone." - Neale Donald Walsch

Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.

I hope everyone likes those quotes I've picked to share and that maybe they will help or inspire you like they did for me.

xoxo

Thrift Store Galore

I just had an incredibly successful trip to 3 local thrift stores (and AC Moore but I got great deals!) and I am so pumped to make so many cool things! Especially since the weather is going to be rainy and miserable tomorrow.

So let's see what I got...
Non-related craft things:
*4 dvds for $12! (The Lion King- SUCH a steal, Spiderman- umm JAMES FRANCO?, Now & Then-favorite childhood movie, and The Breakfast Club- classic)
*2 new cookie trays for my mom for $2 since ours disappeared
*a small glass jar to put q-tips in since my new apt is basically a closet and it's easier to put them in this rather than keep the huge box they come in
*a large curvy clear glass vase to put in cooking utensils, spatulas, etc for my new baby kitchen, if you can call it that.
* 2 4x6 frames (40% off) so we can frame a small family pic from the day my sister moved out and I got one for her too since she has "no money," but lives in Buffalo, so we have to ship this frame to her. Rational thinking right?
* More scrapbook inserts for my quote book-- they were originally marked $3.99 but rang up as a DOLLAR. WIN!
* the record of ACDC Back to Black for my friend as a belated birthday present ($4!)

Now for the fun crafty stuff that I am SO pumped about.

I literally wandered around AC Moore in a happy daze because that place is my heaven. I had an idea yesterday that I wanted to put a chalkboard in my bedroom so I can write quotes on it then put new ones up when I feel like a change. So I decided to buy Chalk Board paint! It's basically black spray paint but makes the surface a chalkboard. I am seriously SO excited for this. Next I had to find a wood square but the wood pieces at AC Moore were overpriced so I passed on them. At one local thrift store I found the perfect thing to use.

 

It's a wood base and has a paper print covering it. So now I just need to peel/scrape it off and then paint! It's perfect because it's light, already has a indentation in the back for hanging, and it was $2.50! So that is project #1 I will be working on..

Next I always go in Whole Foods and stare at their bags, they really have the cutest ones ever. My current purse/bag used for books is from there and so is my little cloth satchel that is perfect for bars. The current one I've been eye-ing up looks like this..

Now I can't buy this for 2 reasons. 1. I'm cheap. 2. It's the same pattern as the cloth satchel I have (mine is the brown patten that's seen in the right corner). But like I said I've been in love with it for a while. So while I was on my thrifting adventure today I saw this blank canvas bag for 50 CENTS! So naturally I bought it.

Not too sure how I'm going to spice it up since I don't have a sewing machine, but it wasn't even a dollar so I won't be too bummed if I mess it up. I am thinking of taking off the straps, adding new ones that are a cool pattern/color and wrapping them entirely around the bag like the one from Whole Foods. Thus becoming project #2.

The other day I was either on pinterest.com (best website EVER) or clicking around on my favorite blogs, and I saw the perfect solution to storing headbands. I've been trying to find a good way to store them for awhile. Mine usually end up on the bottom of my storage bin used to hold my hair accessories and then I can never find them and it's just a huge chaotic mess. So anyways I saw a suggestion to cover an empty Quaker Oats container with fabric, then voila! You've got cute headband storage.  So this is where I'm at..

And that's project #3. Once I finish them, I will post pictures of how they turned out (only if they're not completely atrocious!)

Words of Wisdom

I've been known to say "Oh my god, I just found the perfect song that IS my life!"

*See first blog post referring to "The Story of Us" by Taylor Swift*

My friend Yumna always laughs at me when I send her texts explaining how I just had a complete life epiphany based on a song I heard on the radio.. note I said "always laughs", meaning I've done this more than once. What can I say, it's a really crazy feeling when you hear someone else's words and they perfectly describe your life and whatever you're currently going through.

A few years back, my freshman year of college, I went through some really rough times. Not only was the high school to college transition tough, but I hated where I decided to go to school and had to endure a semester there before I could transfer. One way I dealt with it was finding quotes around the internet that I either related to or was inspired by. Before long, I had so many scattered around my room, desk, and computer that I decided to put them all into one word document titled "Quotes". Real original, I know. 

Anyways, as simple as it sounds, this made my life a whole lot easier. Not only could I just scroll through this document and feel inspired, but all I had to do was copy and paste a new quote if I found one to add to my collection. However, I soon encountered a new problem.

One of my other little addictions is www.postsecret.com
Great website.
I discovered it in either middle school or high school and over the course of all of those years, I save every postcard that I relate to. Now this website is updated every Sunday, so let's say I find at least one I like every week, and I've been looking at it for a few years.. that's ALOT of postcards saved. Instead of having them scattered all over my computer with random titles that later confuse me ("What picture did I ever take and title Spock?!" "Oh....right.") Yeah time consuming looking at ALL of my weirdly titled photos. So I once again made a photo folder titled "post secret". I'm pretty creative when it comes to labeling my folders and documents.

2 summers ago I was feeling bored and uninspired so I started rereading all of these quotes and looking through all of these pictures and thought, "I should make this into a book." Hence my quote book, which is what I've actually been trying to get to in this post. I have a tendency to ramble with my stories so I've been told..

My mom has a book somewhere in our house that I stumbled on when I was little filled with all of her favorite quotes and poems that always stuck in my head. So I wanted to make my own, filled with quotes, postcards, and pictures. It's a little sloppy and a little inconsistent but it kind of reflects my mood at the time I made the page or what I was going through at the time and why I felt those quotes were so important at the time.

I have pages of quotes about being yourself and being confident.
Pages about the incredible feeling of falling in love.
Pages about the absolute pain of heartbreak and feeling betrayed.
Pages about staying positive and looking to the future.

It's something that I am still currently working on and trying to add onto and something that I hope I can continue to add onto throughout my life and the different experiences I have.

Pest Invasion

So as my mom and I returned home tonight from shopping, we spot my dad walking around in our dark yard. As soon as we saw him we knew something wasn't right. Apparently a bat got into our house, which yes is terrible, but my dad is absolutely petrified of them which is hilarious. So my mom and I venture into the house to find said bat. I cover my head with a windbreaker while my mom opts for an empty washbasket with a flashlight. We creep into every room, turning on lights, and are eventually joined by my dad who is yielding a large golf umbrella. After my mom and I thoroughly checked every room, nook, and cranny, (my dad paced in the living room with his umbrella) we cannot find this bat for the life of us and concluded one of 3 possibilities:
1. My dad is crazy and seeing things.
2. The bat flew out when my dad had the front door open briefly prior to our arrival.
3. The bat has nestled into our house and is our new houseguest. (praying this isn't the correct choice).

True story by the way. It happened about an hour ago. (I apologize for the poor quality photo, it was taken with my phone)

This got me to thinking of natural or homemade ways to get rid of pests. Unfortunately our bat pest removal could use a lot of improvements..

I'm just going to list since that's the easiest way I can think of..
-Mice: They hate the scent of peppermint since it is so strong. We had a really bad mouse problem at my old house in Philly and I put drops of peppermint oil on cotton balls in areas the mouse frequented or just put droplets on the carpet. One of the pluses? The house smelled yummy!
-Ants: They hate cinnamon ("Tigers love pepper. They hate cinnamon. ") So do ants! I had a bad ant problem last year and found out that if you sprinkle cinnamon where they can be found they will leave. ALSO ants are attracted to the scent of ant carcasses. So don't go squishing ants. More will come to the area! Try to gather them on a tissue and flush it down the toilet or dispose of it.
-Slugs: My dad is a garden fanatic (I originally typed this phanatic.. Go Phils!) and he pours beer into petri dishes to keep them away. Although he uses Yuengling.. which makes me shake my head. Such a waste of good beer.
-Rabbits: More garden advice courtesy of my dad: if you had a dog, use their fur. After we brush our dog instead of throwing out the hair, sprinkle it around the edges of the garden.
-Deer: More garden advice! Car air fresheners around the garden!

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure there's more but I am still a little on edge from the bat episode. I hope no one else has to ever deal with this type of fiasco!

Fabric Scraps into Fashion Statements

Okay.. so maybe not a fashion statement but you get the idea..

I'll start at the beginning. I am tiny. I often need to hem my pants, dresses, and skirts and have been known to tailor and sew my shirts smaller so they fit my frame better. Since I am cheap (and not afraid to admit it!) I prefer to make these alterations myself, although I don't have a sewing machine.. It's on the "to buy" list.. Which brings me to my current project. After I finished sewing a shirt today, I had a scrap of fabric left that I had cut off. I liked the pattern and fabric and last night I spent a few hours clicking through blogs looking for cool crafts to do. On the blog my heart is yours I saw a really cool ruffle headband that I loved. *spoiler alert* mine looks no where near as good as hers, though I may try again another day when I have more time to waste.

So anyway, I had that fresh in my mind and decided to just see what a ruffle would turn out like. Well it turned out looking kind of cute, like a little barrette thing. Luckily I happened to have super glue lying around my room and a bobby pin. I glued one edge of the bobby pin to the ruffle and let it dry, not after getting glue ALL over my fingers though. (None stuck together, thank goodness!)

Here is the end result..

   

Kinda cute right?

Here's a picture of it in my hair.. I wish I had placed it a little lower and closer to my messy bun but you get the idea. Also, it is EXTREMELY hard to take pictures of the back of your head yourself so I apologize.

 

It's a little bit different from the typical hair accessories I wear, but I'm going to give it a try. I do like it but I'm not sold on it. I think if I tried again though and had more time I could definitely make a better one!

The other project I did was to "refurbish" a headband. I am extremely picky with headbands--elastic ones fall off my head (I'm convinced my head is a weird shape) and plastic/metal ones usually hurt my head. I have this pink one that is great, but I'm not a real big pink fan. 

Here's a pic of the before headband circa 2008, unfortunately I don't have a better photo.. you'll have to do with one of me being a camp counselor straight outta high school.

Pretty standard pink headband. It's plastic and had a pink cloth covering.

After all my sewing, I decided to go through my mom's sewing basket and see if she had any extra fabric. I found this AWESOME light gray fabric with little barely visible white flowers on it. Those of you who know me, know that I tend to wear a lot of black and white (weird since I love color so much right?) especially in the winter, so this is perfect.

I cut the fabric into long strips and began to wrap it around the headband, securing it with super glue and getting even more on my fingers. I layered the fabric to give it some texture and the ends frayed too, which I kinda like. It looks different! Here's the final product.. 

Hope everyone likes the projects that I did today!

Faux Flowers

Growing up, my family has always been very garden-oriented--both flowers and vegetables. We'll get to the vegetable garden another day.. When I was young, my sister and I would pose for photos in front of our ever-growing flower garden looking like little flower children or we'd venture out and help our parents cut bright flowers to display around the house. So I'm used to seeing unique flower arrangements outside and in nearly every room in our house.

For the past few years, I've spent the school year living in Philadelphia going to school. While I do enjoy the change of scenery (not exactly prettier, but variety is the spice of life or so I hear!), there is a definite lack of greenery and non-trashed lots to get flowers, not to mention the struggle to grow my own plants. Though I did try this past spring.. luckily I moved out just in time to have my dad save the little plant. ( I do have a green thumb, I swear.) Anyways.. I needed a way to keep some type of colorful flowers in my room. You will learn I am completely obsessed with color.

After looking around my bedroom at my parents' house, my eye landed on a huge fake flower that I got as a birthday present decoration back in middle school. BINGO. Now all I needed was a vase. There was no way my parents' were going to let me indefinitely borrow one of theirs, so time to get creative. Luckily that day I happened to be thirsty for some green tea and voila! I noticed that Arizona Green tea bottles are pretty darn cool looking. Problem Solved. Over the past couple of years, I have accumulated more colorful fake flowers (that I don't have to be responsible and water!) and some Arizona tea bottle vases. (No picture of them unfortunately) to help decorate the top of my desk and add a splash of color to the room.

Now fast-forward to this summer. Another thing about me, I get bored easily with my room and like funky little pieces to add a little something extra. This summer I am nannying and had the idea to paper mache with the girls I watch. (There is a point to this I promise) Totally easy and you can make almost anything.

Paper mache glue: 1 part flour, 2 parts water.
I like to start with that proportion and keep adding a little of each until I get a glue consistency.

Next, I had gathered cardboard boxes, which we cut up and constructed into various things.. Mine? I made a vase! (See I told you there was a point!) Now after assembling the base of the vase and using tape to hold it together (I recommend masking tape but scotch tape works too), we ripped up paper and began dipping it into the glue. Don't let your project get too gluey or wet or it will take forever to dry!

After a day or a few hours in the sun, your project should be dry and you can begin to paint.
Here's my first vase. It's a little messy and uneven but it was my first vase attempt and it's imperfections make it unique!

Since I found an activity that the girls and I both enjoyed doing, I decided to give it another go the next week. We each made a new vase and I was thinking aloud to myself, "I guess I'm gonna have to run to AC Moore to get some fake flowers.." one girl I watched says "Let's make our own!" and then coffee filter flowers came to mind.

I made these little suckers probably back in elementary school and they are the easiest to make. Just get white coffee filters and washable markers. You can draw any pattern whatsoever. Next take a cup of water and dip your fingers in it and drip little droplets of water around the coffee filter, soaking it. If you saturate it too quickly, you don't get the same effect. After they dried, we bought a bag of green pipe cleaners (about $1.50 for 30 of them) and attached them to the filters.

The finished project...?

Perfect! Just the pop of color I was looking for. Fake flowers, paper mache vases, and coffee filter flowers are definitely a great way to spice up a room, add a little something different to a bedroom night table or just something to keep kids busy.

Popping My Blog Cherry

After getting completely hooked on blogs full of DIY crafts and other little tips full of awesome advice thanks to my friend Gab, I sat here thinking, "hey.. maybe I can do that too!" In no way am I as experienced or impressive as some of the blogs I've encountered such as Liz Marie (once again thanks Gab for showing me this!), but I think I want to give the blog culture a try. So here goes my first blog post..


I always look for inspiration left and right. Photographs, nature, movies, music, you name it. Whenever the weather's nice I venture out with my camera and snap photos of our garden. On rainy days I snuggle up in a blanket and watch movies, later cruise through imdb.com to reread all of the quotes I liked, then copy and paste them into my "quotes" document on Word.. more about that in another post. I drive in my car and belt out songs like my life depends on it (not remotely on tune but who's judging..) and sit at red lights and think "Seriously, why is Taylor Swift's 'The Story of Us' the story of my life?" I look everywhere and anywhere for that something that's gonna catch my eye.

Once the semester ended in May I decided that this summer my goal was to read. Read and find that inspiration I needed. Maybe I'd even learn something in the meantime. Well it is August 1st and I am proud to say I have finished 10 books thus far and have picked up a few things here and there. Not only did I learn things from all of the books, but being a cheap college student I had to find ways to supply myself with said books.

A few tips to everyone on the art of acquiring reading material:
1. Talk to your friends. I mentioned to one friend that I was looking for some new books to read and she promptly walked me over to her family's bookshelf and said to take anything I wanted. 5 books right there for free.
2. Garage sales. Garage sales can be deadly. Trust me. I've been a victim. Everything looks like something you suddenly need. But stashed away next to candles and ugly little Christmas decorations you may just find an interesting read. And the plus side, bargaining. People at yard sales want to get rid of their junk so you can probably get a lower price than what's listed.
3. Thrift stores. By far my greatest revelation this summer was that thrift stores sell books. I've always gravitated towards clothes and furniture but if you take the time to look through their book section, I can guarantee at least one thing will catch your eye. At 2nd Ave (a thrift store near me) paperbacks are 3 for $1!
4. Sales. Unfortunately the time will come when books are extinct. I think I just shed a tear. That being sale, book stores (Borders) are closing down or having huge sales. I personally use this as a last resort, being the cheap person I am, but it's a great way to get new releases for a discount price. Warning: just because things are on sale doesn't mean buy 10 more than you usually would.

I hope those tips help everyone get some great books for this summer (or what's left of it..) and I encourage everyone to check out the book "My Year with Eleanor" by Noelle Hancock. By far my favorite read this summer!