Vacation Photos....

So I know I said I'd have vacation photos up, but I didn't realize until after I said it that I took nearly TEN THOUSAND (10,000!!!) photos and if I uploaded them all to my computer, it would crash.  I'm working on getting them uploaded/posted, but it may take a while....

Vacation 2015 - Revised

     Hello, my friends!  As you read this, I'm sitting on an airplane, over the ocean - coming back from Europe! in my dining room about to fall asleep from lack of sleep :)  We left TYS (Knoxville) the afternoon of Oct. 11 and flew to PHL (Philadelphia) and then headed to VCE (Venice, Italy).  I was gone for 3 weeks (well, 22 days) and had the fabulous opportunity to visit Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Malta.  The cruise line cancelled the Israel ports because of riots over there so we did not get to go as planned :( 

**I did not have internet at all while gone and will now have major jet-lag so photos will have to wait a couple days - I hope to have the first day or so up by Nov. 6** 
    
     The first 5 days (Oct 12-16) were a land tour in Italy, during which we visited Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome.  Then we departed from Civitavecchia (Italy) and spent the next 15 days (Oct 17-31) on the cruise ship.  Now we are traveling home :( 
    
     While on the cruise ship we stopped in at Naples and Pompeii (Italy), Catania* (Sicily), Chania * (Crete),  Ephesus (Turkey), Mykonos, Athens, Corinth, Santorini*, and Rhodes (Greece), and Valetta* (Malta), an island.  It was so, SO exciting and I can't wait to share my photos!  I will also most likely have some travel journal entries to share along with the photos.  Currently, I've only written through day 4.  I kinda slacked off after that... but in my defense, I was really busy! :) ;P

*This is the port name.  Not the city where we actually spent the day.

Vacation 2015

     Hello, my friends!  As you read this, I'm sitting on an airplane, over the ocean - coming back from Europe!  We left TYS (Knoxville) the afternoon of Oct. 11 and flew to PHL (Philadelphia) and then headed to VCE (Venice, Italy).  I was gone for 3 weeks (well, 22 days) and had the fabulous opportunity to visit Italy, Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Malta.  **I did not have internet at all while gone and will now have major jet-lag so photos will have to wait a couple days - I hope to have the first day or so up by Nov. 6** 
    
     The first 5 days (Oct 12-16) were a land tour in Italy, during which we visited Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome.  The next 4 days (Oct 17-20) were on a cruise, during which we docked in Israel, overnighted there for 3 days (Oct 21-23), and visited Jerusalem and Galilee.  The rest was aboard the cruise ship (Oct 24-31).  Now we are traveling home :( 
    
     While on the cruise ship we stopped in at Naples and Pompeii (Italy), Ephesus (Turkey), Mykonos, Athens, and Corinth (Greece), and Malta, an island.  It was so, SO exciting and I can't wait to share my photos!  I also have some travel journal entries to share along with the photos.

     Oh, and in case you're wondering "how in the world is she posting about this while on an airplane and when she said she had no Wi-Fi?", I am sitting and writing this now on September 23, 2015 at 9:45pm.  There is a wonderful feature on blogger that allows you to schedule a post for weeks in advance.  I love it :)

     With that, I will leave y'all to your day and hope you have a great life until I can be back in touch!  I look forward to being able to share my experiences!

Instructables.com

So, I found this fan.tast.ic. website, www.instructables.com.  It is literally DIY Heaven (I think that's actually their motto).  You can create a tutorial and post it to their website, you can view a tutorial for EVERYTHING on their website, you can enter contests on their website, you can vote for contests on their website.... Y'all probably see where this is going :)

I entered a tutorial into 2 contests - the First Time Authors Contest, and the Fall for Yarn Challenge.  I was wondering if y'all wouldn't mind heading over to their website at this link (like, click this text right here. It should be purple or blue or something.)  and voting for my project, which is a Crochet Bobble Beard.  It's really cool :)

If you do take the time to click the link to go vote (which doesn't take more than 3 min) follow these steps:

1.  When you click the link, it will go straight to the contests page.  However, you have to sign in to vote.  If you already have an account (it would be, like, really cool if you did) just go ahead and login at the top then A) click the "explore" button at the top of the page next to the search bar, B) click the "contests" button on the top left of the menu that will come down, C) scroll about halfway down the contests page, click on the "Fall for Yarn", scroll down to the entries, and click the "vote" button at the bottom of mine (which, once again, is this super cool Crochet Bobble Beard modeled by my lovely younger sister :D)  If you don't already have an account, you can...
2.  Sign in with Gmail, Facebook, or Twitter.  Do this by scrolling down to the entries on the contest page and clicking  the "vote" button.  A window will pop up with sign in options.  When you choose your sign in option, you'll sign in and it will take you to the main page of the website.  After that you can just follow A, B, and C of numero uno up there (number 1 :D)

When you figure that out, you're more than welcome to do the same for the First Time Authors Contest (there are quite a few more entries, almost 400 - mine is only a few rows down though bc it's more recent).  You can find it on the Contest page as well.

Well, that was an incredibly long blog post.  I have some super cool Nail Art and Crochet DIY's/Photo-Showcase-whatever thingys, plus the results of the 2015 TN Valley Fair (!!!).  Thank you all soooo much for reading all this and voting for my project!  I'm really excited! Stay tuned...

** Please feel free to share the link to this post with your friends, on social media, etc.  I'm trying to spread the word as much as possible! :)

Happy 4th of July!! - "Firework" Cookies

Happy 4th!  I know, I know, I haven't posted in FOREVER!!  I've been kinda busy, but I have a ton of things lined up that (hopefully)  I can get posted soon.  Today though, I want to post with these 4th of July "Firework" Cookies.  They're really easy to make; this post will basically focus on the decorating part.  (for the cookie/frosting recipes go to my baking page and scroll all the way down.  the cookie recipe is under "Christmas cookies" but it's the same thing :) )

You will need one recipe of the sugar cookies (baked and cooled) and one recipe of the buttercream frosting (leave 1/2 white and dye 1/4 red and 1/4 blue)

1/2 the frosting should remain white, while red and blue should be 1/4 each.  (the red and blue look like they have more because it spread out when I stirred in the dye ;) )

To decorate these cookies, you first frost it like you normally would with the white frosting (leave about 1/4 inch at the edges) then put your red and blue frosting in separate decorating bags.  Place a dot of one color in the center of the cookie, then put a ring around it with the alternating color, then another ring, and so on.  (shown above)  You can put at many rings as you want depending on the size of your cookie/your own preference.  I put 3.

Next, using a toothpick, start in the center and drag outward through the frosting.  Do this 4 times (kind of like dividing the frosting into 1/4s)  When this is done, do the same thing between each line, only start on the outside edge and drag inward.  The cookie should look like this (above)

Continue like this until all the cookies have been decorated! (the cookie in the center above was one of my "experiments" :)  I simply put more lines to give it a more tye dyed look)

I also made a flag minus the stars because I ran out of white.  It also doesn't have 13 stripes, but at least you can tell what it is :)

I also did these after I ran out of white.  It was the same thing, just with red and blue.

I was making these with my sister, Corinne, and these are the ones she decorated!  (above)

Hope you enjoyed and Happy 4th!!

DIY - Bottle Cap Locket

Hey y'all!  So, for this DIY, I am going to show you how to make a bottle cap locket.  For some reason, I have always wanted a locket (not sure where the idea came from) and when I was at home a couple weeks ago I decided to Google it and see if I could just make one.  This is the easiest one I could find that did not require a bunch of expensive, professional tools.  And you can decorate it pretty much anyway you want :)  So, to get started, you will need:

- Two bottle caps -- I used a white one and a silver one that I bought at a craft store a while back to make bottle cap pins (which explains the My Little Pony photos glued inside :P) but you can use Coke, etc as well.
- Scissors
- Thin, white string (or strong thread)
- A needle
- Mini beads
- Buttons, sequins, or anything else you may want to decorate it with
- A hot glue gun
- Needle nose pliers
- Thin ribbon (1/8")
- A jewelry chain -- I took the chain off of a dog tag necklace I have and used it since I didn't have another at the moment.

- Paper or photos to glue inside

- Mod Podge (if desired)

This photo shows most of the supplies.  You can get Mod Podge in several different containers - I chose the one that made it easy to apply it more like glue.  Also, I don't have a photo for the first step.  Using the needle nose pliers, flatten the edges of your bottle caps as much as possible.  You can also use a hammer, but when I tried that my bottle cap got destroyed :P

*Please ignore the My Little Pony photos inside my bottle caps.  These were former bottle cap pins and I couldn't get the photos out without messing it up.  They will be covered up later :)

When your bottle caps have been flattened, cut a piece of ribbon about 3" long.  Use the hot glue gun to glue one end inside each bottle cap, leaving about 1"- 1 1/2" of ribbon in between.  Make sure it is secure.

Next, string beads on your string or thread until you have enough to circle the top of one bottle cap.  You can use any color(s) and size you want, but I would suggest not getting too big.  When you have strung enough beads, tie the ends together in a tight knot, creating a ring as shown in photo #2 above.  This next step is optional but if you want you can use a needle or sewing pin to pull the ends of the string back through a few beads on each side.  This makes the knot less noticeable when you cut the string.  After you have done this, cut the ends of the string and hot glue the bead ring around the edge of one bottle cap.

Fold your locket in half and, using a needle and thread, sew a few stitches across the ribbon, as shown.  You can use any color you want, since I had white ribbon I used blue to match my beads since it would show up.  This stitch will keep the locket from falling off the chain.

Attach the chain through the loop left at the top of the ribbon.

Hot glue any embellishments desired on the front of your locket.  I just used one button, but you can use anything you want.  Then, use a glue stick or craft glue to put paper or photos inside.  When it is dry, cover them with Mod Podge for a shiny, finished effect.

And you're done!!  Comment below with any DIY ideas you might want to see :)  See you again soon!

Hey there!  I am so so sorry for not posting in so long!  I have a TON  of things to share with y'all that I have not been able to upload due to more computer problems :/  I am planning on posting again later today or tomorrow with a DIY then I have some baking and more DIY's for the upcoming week.  On the 18, I am leaving for TeenPact National Convention (!!!) and will be gone for a week but I will make sure and post about that experience when I get back ;)  Bye for now...