I LOVE CHRISTMAS

If you didn't know. Decorating for any holiday/occasion/ bad mood is awesome, but Christmas is number one. I act like I entertain or something, pff. This is pretty much just for me. And for the few people who come in here. The holiday season is my favorite time of year.(!!!!!!!) After it is over, I live my year looking forward to it once more. It's a long wait.
This year I kicked myself into gear and crafted all kinds of decorations. I felt at home as I hot glued and painted pine cones and ornaments. I haven't done anything with my hands for months. I even sewed (yes sewed!) little tiny hats for my skeletons left up from Halloween. The ornament wreath took all of the 70 ornaments I had saved up + more. (I might explain this in a post later, would tips help anyone?) Overall, I'm pleased. Cozy and Christmas and now I just need to get all of my homework + finals finished.
Wish me luck.

angry bird ornaments

Okay I know theres only 3 days until Christmas, but I still had to share. Maybe this will be helpful for next year, or a last minute gift. A few of my friends are Angry Bird Fanatics so when I saw this idea on Pinterest one evening, I wrote it down on my growing to-do list. And of course I didn't even pin it to my boards, or even like it. I've searched and searched Pinterest with no luck. If you find something like this, paste the link in a comment below so I can give credit where credit is due! (I find myself typing that frequently)

Now I didn't take pictures of the process, because it is what it is. I just painted several coats of nose and eyes. I was going to paint birds also, but I only had enough time to complete these pigoos.
Things to know:
- I used acrylic paint and sprayed gloss over it so it wouldn't scratch off. I already had gloss, and the regular acrylics were cheaper so it saved me money. If you don't have gloss, buy the Acrylic enamel paints! (You can find them at Walmart!)
- Fingers can work better than brushes (No paint strokes and fewer coats!)
- You can paint this, I promise! Even if you've never picked up a paintbrush.
- Make birds too!

An Early Christmas Present

from Jeff! He accidentally spilled the beans on what he was getting me a few weeks ago. That actually means he just blurted it out while I was trying to drown out his voice. Long story short, I'm finishing up a couple Christmas gifts that need some sewing done. Hand sewing can only go so fast. So in a series of "Well, I may not see you Christmas" and "I could knock these projects out If I only had a sewing machine" Jeffrey gave in and let me open it. I know, I'm a bad present ruiner. But he started it!
Without further ado, here is my new baby. I love her I love her, and she actually works. (Last sewing machine I had never worked from the moment I took it out of the box)

Prepare yourselves for sewing projects (that may not always be.. well.. decent. I'm learning!)
3 days til' Christmas! I'm in no rush, I hate it when the Holidays are over.
Happy Holidays!

Animal Photo Shoot

I don't take animal photos every year. This year is my first Christmas with Hermy, and I figured she would be a lovely candidate for a Christmas Photo. Not to mention the fact that we both enjoy driving each other crazy, and a Christmas sweater and antlers is the perfect way to do that. She was unhappy the entire minute she was wearing the antlers, but content with a sweater. The dogs started interrupting and I drug them in, too.
 First, I want to take this time to Thank Mrs. Lynn (My A+ teacher, and awesome lady) for giving me a home studio kit. (which I used to take these photos) Such a sweet woman!

Enjoy these few photos of animal bloopers, and the chosen ones of the bunch.

The Final product of shoot one.

Final product of shoot two.

Final Product of Shoot Three.

My Mom and I used Cat treats on Hermy, and Cheese on the dogs. Neither ended up working very well, but I'm happy with the lol worthy photos I got out of the bunch.

P.s. Good news in life right now: I finished all of my busy work, and have only a couple finals to go. AND I'm going ice skating at crown center tomorrow. 

And Christmas is in 10 days!

Anything keeping giving you that excited feeling?

xo

They came!

She & Him, that is. Just what I needed on my not-so-great day.

I baked all day with Sara and melted from Zooey's voice. It's like butta. Worth the moneys, honeys. Go buy it.
I hoped to share a couple pictures of my room in progress, but I had a bit of an issue today. One that's got me all kinds of worried. Thursday I used my camera all day to video a school event. Sometime after I was finished recording, and got it home, the lens had stopped focusing. It was working, and then it wasn't. So now I have to deal with sending my lens (and possibly camera) in to Nikon. That could (will) take a month! Don't they know it's December and it's holiday time- my favorite time of the year to take photos!? That's what I get for not having a back-up, I suppose. So now I'm stuck between buying another ($200) lens that I've been wanting anyways to use, or waiting it out with a manual focus lens until the holidays are over.
This has turned into a bit of a rant hasn't it? Ignore the complainer over here. But if you have any suggestions, let me know!
Sorry to ruin your happy little post, She & him. I love you anyways.

Time to get Christmas-y

Thanksgiving is over! Now it's time to turn on the Christmas music and enjoy every last minute of this holiday feeling.

Jeffrey and I had a Christmas tree party last night. Egg nog and cider and the Pandora Christmas Station. Oh and cheesy photos that I've been seeing in my head for a month. It was a nice little celebration for the upcoming season. And we'll do it again, and maybe again and again and again. We still have to make ornaments for the tree! (any excuse is a good excuse) I've been anxious to use my heart bokeh on a Christmas tree. It never stops. I'll probably share many, many more.

Chewy makes a nice tree topper, eh? It's a very well protected tree.

I dug out my old pink barbie Christmas tree that I last used when I was, eh, ten or eleven maybe? Somehow it's still around. I used a different base (toothbrush holder) and ornaments to update it a bit and get the giant 'barbie' label off of it.

Hermy's presents will go under this tree, since it has no other purpose. Anyone else throw up their Christmas tree yet?

Happy Holidays everyone,

Peacock Ornaments for ze Holidays

I made these Ornaments last year for Christmas, and plan to make more this year. Excuse the crappy quality pictures, I hope to have some better ones up soon. These pretty ornaments are definitely worth making, I promise. It wont take you but 15 minutes.

Needed:
-Glass ornaments
-Peacock feathers
- Hot glue gun

(You can get the glass bulbs and peacock feathers at your local Hobby Lobby, or other craft store)

\\ First, cut down the feather so it is the diameter of the ornament. (length) If the bottom has a lot of long feathers, cut them down, but don’t cut into the ‘eye’ of the feather.

\\ Take top off the ornament!

\\ Smooth all the feather down and insert into (tiny!) ornament hole. This can be difficult with all the different lengths of feather, but try smoothing it down as best as you can without bending the feather.

\\ Play with the feather a little bit. If it’s too big and tips are folding and making the feather distorted, take it out and trim it up.
 Also- If you put the feather in the ornament and and the feathers separated, wiggle the feather around a bit and get it to look how you’d like.

\\ When you are satisfied with how it looks, get the top of the ornament, and put hot glue in the center of it.

\\ Quickly  stick the end of the feather into the hot glue and push the ornament top back on. You may need to twist it around a bit.

And you should be about finished. Pretty little ornaments for little money. (I paid $7 total for four ornaments and peacock feathers. Multiply that by two or more for an entire tree)

Let me know if you have any questions!