Last Day of 2012

   I just realized today is the last day of 2012. The year has flown by so quickly! I don't typically do New Year's Revolutions because to be honest, they never last. What I do want to do is an idea I saw on Pinterest. You get a jar and write down good things that happen and read them at the end of the year. I think that is a great idea and am totally going to do that.
   I'm also going to do the picture everyday for a year and piece them together like a flipbook.There's not much other than these things planned for the new year. My goodness, I am such a boring person..ha.

"Snow" Covered Candle Holder

My Mom loves candles and I saw this candle holder on Pinterest and a lightbulb went off.

To make this candle holder you need:

Mod-Podge (Homemade version here.)
Candle Holder
Large Plate
Epsom Salt
Paint Brush

First pour the Epsom Salt onto the large plate. Grab the candle holder and using the paintbrush, apply a layer of the glue mixture onto the candle holder. Then sprinkle the Epsom Salt onto the glue.

I put a layer of glue on the bottom, added the salt, then painted the middle, added the salt, and finally the top and rim. It is a very straightforward process. Just be sure not to touch the outside edges or you will have to do touch-ups later.  Also don't worry about ruining the paintbrush. It washed right out under warm water. You will be fine as long as you don't let the glue dry on the paintbrush. This only took me 10 minutes to do.

 I thought it turned out very well and definitely will be making more.

Christmas Snowmen

I love this project. Last year I made 2. This year I tripled that and have a little snowman army :)

 Here is what you need to make these little beauties:

1 white sock
1 pair of decorative socks
rice
rubber bands
Hot glue gun
Any other details such as string, buttons,beads, etc
First cut the sock like so. Make sure the white sock is the one with the very long tube, not the ankle socks. Throw away the bottom part.

 Next, turn the tube inside out and tie a rubber band around the top.

Turn the tube back inside out and begin filling it with rice.

 I pick up the sock by the rim and gently shake it and bounce it upside down to let the rice settle and form the snowman naturally. About an inch from the top, rubber band it off.

Next cut up the decorative socks like so:

Put the sock around the snowman body.

Next add the hat.

Using embroidery floss, tie the top of the hat to create a poof and use it around the body to help separate the body into sections. You can push the rice around and mold it to give it the shape you want.

Now add the details. I used black seed beads for the eyes and colored the tip of a toothpick orange for the nose. I also used some buttons. I've seen people use sharpie dots for the eyes, small triangle carrot buttons for the nose and ribbon used to add details. By the way, don't try and use super glue. It just gets absorbed into the sock and it leaves a spot. The hot glue gun works the best. This part is all about creativity and using what you got :)

Here are all my snowmen.

That's all there is to it. Have fun and be creative!

Homemade Mod-Podge

I went to Wal-Mart and Mod-Podge was too expensive to shimmy its way onto my list. So, I came home and looked up how to make it. I found a bottle of Elmer's glue, a plastic cup and a straw and whipped up some Mod-Podge. I only needed about a cup (I didn't want to use the whole bottle of glue). I used half a cup of glue and mixed it with half a cup of water. Then I just plopped in another big glob of glue to make it thicker. Using the straw I just stirred it around and around and around. After that, I poured it into a little jar and voila :)

Christmas is in the Air

I survived the world ending! Just kidding, I knew nothing was going to happen. It straight up says in the Bible no one will predict the day. Then on top of that if the Mayans were so insightful of the future they never would have been killed off (or however they went "extinct"). And another point. Our calendar ends after 12 months and starts over. Their calendar simply ends and starts over. No biggie. And for all those folks who believe zombies exist, I'm sorry but that's absurd and you're crazy.

The past days have been very busy, filled with a lot of late night homework, projects and studying for tests that all my teachers crammed in before the break. Today I headed over to the Dollar Tree and picked up cute socks to make little snowmen for my aunt, grandma, and my best friend's mom. One thing though, I forgot the rice, so I'll have to make a trip back. My Mom is totally into candles at the moment (and baking batches upon batches of Christmas cookies) so I'm going to make an Epsom salt covered candle holder. It'll have a snow covered effect and she'll love it. I have no idea yet what I'm doing for my Dad or brothers. I'll have to scour the internet and Pinterest until I find something or go and wander around Wal-Mart aimlessly until I find something.

We also found some more lights and put them up on the outside of the house and through the trees. At the moment I'm watching the Backup Plan and after that I need to clean my room. I literally looks like my closet exploded. I'm not too worried about it though :)  Pretty much other than that I have been doing nothing except watching episode after episode of The Secret Life of The American Teenager. I like everything about that show except the name. It is WAY too long. I'll definitely be posting all my finished projects when I'm done :)

School on 12/12/12

It's the last repetitive date ever! Well, for all of us alive today anyways. We had  a sub today and there was nothing to do.. and I mean literally. I was actually updating this blog in class but 2 campus supervisors and a cop came in. Needless to say my phone quickly found its way to my pocket. Apparently someone lost their iPhone, or it was stolen. After looking for it around the room, we had to empty all of our bags and they searched some of them. They still couldn't find it, so we all had to go wait outside. After a few minutes we went back in,packed up and scrambled on to the next class. They didn't find it. What I was writing earlier didn't save, but I was talking about the sub we had and his positive attitude.
 We all sat down, bell rang, everything was normal, then all of a sudden he started acting out a scene from the play "Julius Caesar". Most of us were confused and laughing, mostly because it was so unexpected and that's not something you'd expect, especially in math. Anyways his monologue brought up the mood and I was just talking about how someone's happiness can affect those around them for the better. And then it got erased... Maybe (MAYBE) I will make a new post about the positivity of people. Depends on how busy I am :)

Gingerbread Houses

My brothers and I did yearly Gingerbread Houses. I didn't know we were going to have a contest until I was done. If I'd have known, I would have put a lot more effort into it.. Mine is #2.

Gingerbread Houses are so fun. I actually like it more than decorating the tree :)

What I've Been Up To

Wow. I haven't been on here in a long time! I've been super duper busy, plus my internet got shut off...
Anywhoo on Nov 30 I went on a field trip to UCLA. There was A LOT of fog, traffic, and it was pouring rain.

It got kinda scary. We couldn't see in front of us at some times.

There was some amusement though. These guys weren't having too good of a time pushing their truck out of the mud.

Needless to say we were an hr and 45 minutes late for our tour and couldn't find another person to show us around. We split up into little groups and wandered around for 2 hours. It was nice at the school and makes me excited to go to college. It's scary though because I have no idea what I want to be "when I grow up". Here are some of the buildings.

I wish it wouldn't have been so rainy. It would have been nice to see the campus when it was sunny, but we had fun walking around in the rain. It was funny because everyone else had umbrellas and we didn't. Where I live umbrellas aren't used very often. I think we got more amusement out of the squirrels more than anything else! He looked like he was ready to attack!

We also went to the cafeteria. The lines were so long. The shortest was Wetzel's Pretzels so we just got pretzels from there. It was the first pretzel I've ever had from there and it was pretty good. I dunked it in cheese and strangely it tasted like I was eating a grilled cheese sandwich. Now I know why there were so many sets of stairs at the campus. Gotta walk off those extra pounds.

After we left UCLA we went to the Armand Hammer Museum. I guess it was fun. If I learned one thing it was I'm definitely not into art museums. I mostly didn't like the fact I was being watched constantly and I had to leave my bag behind. Like I can fit a huge painting in my little bag... There was one gallery I really liked that involved homemade paper and string art. I took a picture and got yelled at. Haha I took another one though. Yes, I know. I'm such a rebel :)

After the museum we got back on the bus and had a long drive home.

Other than a field trip I haven't done much other than homework,homework,and more homework. I know I'm lagging on my Once Upon A Time walk-throughs. I'm gonna try and get those up within the next few days. Well I'm off to make gingerbread houses!!