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! :)

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!

Merry Christmas!!! + DIY - Christmas Themed Nail Art (of course! :D)

Merry Christmas Everyone!  I hope ya'll are all having a fabulous day... I know I am :)  But right now, I'm going to share my Christmas Themed Nail Art.  So here we go!

Supplies:
- Nail Polish - Red, Green, White, (basecoat/topcoat=optional)
- A toothpick

 

First, paint a red basecoat.  I used 3 coats to make sure it was really bright :)

 

 

Next, use a toothpick to put mistletoe leaves on the nails of your choice.  I did the top right corner of my accent nail and the bottom left corner of my index finger.  However, you can do one nail or all nails.  It's your choice.

 

 

Close up of the accent nail.  For my leaves, I dipped the toothpick in green polish then drew a line across the top of my nail for the "stem" in the corner.  Then I did two inverse arrow line for the pointed sections of the leaves.  Finally, I drew a one little point at the end.  Then I repeated those steps down the side of my nail, to create an "L" shape.

 

 

Same thing on the index finger, just in a different corner.

 

 

After the green leaves are dry, use a toothpick dipped in white polish to put a cluster of three "berries" in the center of your two leaves.  Also, this step is optional, but I put three white dots in a vertical line down the edge of my other nails (without the mistletoe design).  I just liked the way it looked :)

 

 

There ya go!  Merry Christmas!

 

"O Christmas Tree..." - A Different Kind of Tree

I like Christmas.  A lot.  Especially the Christmas baking and food.  I'm sure you do too :)  Anyway, a few years ago, my friend and I entered a Gingerbread house contest.  It was super fun building and decorating the house.  I can't remember if we won or not, (this was a LONG time ago :D)  but I still remember all the fun we had putting it together.  At that point, winning didn't really even matter.  We just liked having fun

together.  I haven't done anything else like that since... until this year.  A lady at my church gave me a little gingerbread kit for building a Christmas Tree.  Pre-baked, Pre- everything.  Except put together.  And that's the fun part!  Yeah, I like the baking part too, but the best part is putting it together.  So that's what I did.  I built... A Different Kind of Tree.  

The kit.

The "taken apart" kit :)

This is what it will look like... sort of... just prettier...

Step 1 - Apply WHITE frosting to each cookie, then stack them, alternating the points to create the effect of a tree.

Applying more frosting.  To more cookies.

So far, so good.

It's a little taller now...

Done!  (It took about 30-45 mins just to get this part done... yeah)

I like photography, so I took this pic.  It looks pretty cool!  Oh yeah, and after you put the frosting on, you sprinkle sugar all over it.  That's what the sparkly stuff is :)

Next step (2 I think)  - Use the GREEN frosting to go around the edge of each cookie.  This makes it look like a tree.

Working my way up... (this was the super tedious part :) )

All done!

The top view... again.

Next - Use these little edible pearl candies to "decorate" your tree.  I think I put enough... what do you think?

The final touch - The Star!

I added a "little" more sugar too... can you see it?  :)

The star on top.

The "top shot" again.  :)

And that's my Gingerbread Tree for ya!  Coming up soon.... Christmas candy!  And cookies!  Or, in other words, my BAKING PAGE!  :)

DIY - How to Identify Your Nail Polish!

Hey everyone!  Sorry I was a little late on the nail challenge post today, I had school all day.  But I also did a little project afterwards that I wanted to share with ya'll.  

A while back, I got this little "kit" with like soap, perfume, bubble bath and other little things like that in it.  I've used all the stuff and have ended up with the cute little carrier it came in (above).  The other day, I was packing up my nail polish to take to my friend's house and I was like "hey!  I can use my little case for my nail polish!" and so now that's what I use it for :)  Anyway, I noticed yesterday that if I want a certain color I have to pull out bottle after bottle looking for the color I wanted.  It's a little time consuming so I decided to fix that today!  I made a little tutorial for it, which is below.

First, take a piece of cardstock, (paper will work as well, but the final product will not be as great) and write down all the names of your nail polish.  If you have 10 colors, there should be 10 names.  I have 28.

Next, take each color and paint a little swatch of it under the name that matches.  For example, I have a bottle of nail polish that's the color red and it's named "siren".  So up at the top, fourth from the left, I wrote "siren" and underneath it I painted a little bit of red.  Do this with every color (except clear)

After the swatches of paint are dry, go through with a hole punch and punch a hold in each swatch.  DO NOT THROW AWAY THE LITTLE CIRCLES THAT COME OUT!  THESE ARE WHAT YOU WILL BE WORKING WITH!  

I noticed three things while I was doing this...

1.  I have a lot of pink and blue nail polish.

2.  The closer I got to the end, the bigger my paint swatches were.

3.  It is very tedious trying to keep up with a bunch of little circles falling out of a hole punch.

As I punched holes, I took each one and just placed it on top of the bottle of nail polish it matched.  For another example, when I punched a hole in the red (aka siren, second from the left in the picture above) I picked up the little circle and just placed it on top of the lid.

To attach the little circles to the lids, I used a bottle of glue because I couldn't find any tape or gluesticks.  A glue stick would probably be easier, however since I have not tried it I do not know how well it sticks.  Anyway, place a small dot of glue on the lid of your bottle (it doesn't have to be perfectly in the center!) then put the circle on top and press it down.

I also realized just now that I have used my bottle of red polish in almost every picture as an example.  That's weird 'cause I didn't even plan it that way!  :)

Just a couple exceptions, I did not put a colored circle on these two bottles (shown above and below) because they both had a raised symbol on top.  Since they are the only ones I have like that, and they are both different, I know what they are without the color swatch.  I also did not put one on clear because, 1.  you can't see clear on paper, and 2.  my clear has a blue lid, and is the only one I have like that so I also automatically know what it is.

The other bottle with a raised symbol.

Just something else to point out real quick.  I had a few bottles where the sticker with the name and everything was on top of the lid.  I just put the swatch over to the side (as shown above) so that the name was still visible.  That's just what I preferred though, you can do whatever.

Yay!  I can now find all my colors without literally pulling out every bottle, because somehow, when I do that, the one I want is like the very last one I pull out!  :)  Anyway, hope ya'll enjoyed this DIY.  Check back tomorrow for the next day of the nail challenge!

DIY - Ladybug Nail Art!

Ladybug Nail Art!

Supplies:
- Nail Polish
Red
Black
White
- Nail
- Toothpick

First, paint a base coat of red polish.

Next, paint black tips on each nail.

Now, using a toothpick or the pointy end of your nail, paint an "upside down y" on your nail, above the black tips, as shown.  

After that, use the round end of your nail to put black dots on each side of the "y".  Put as many as you want!

Last, use your toothpick or the pointy end of your nail to put two little white dots on the black tips.  These are the ladybugs "eyes".  You can also add a little mouth if you want.  I was going to then I forgot and didnt have enough space ;)

I also put a little white dot at  the bottom of the "fork" in the "y".  I don't know why... ;)

Happy Painting!

DIY - Dots on Dots Nail Art

Dots on Dots Nail Art Supplies:

- Nail Polish - I used tan, light blue, black, and silver
- Nail or Bobby Pin
- Toothpick

First, paint a base coat of tan polish.  I put 2 coats because the first didn't cover that great because of the color.

Using your nail or bobby pin, add blue dots on your nails.  You can do as many or as few as you like.

Next, use your toothpick to put smaller black dots in about half the blue dots.

Close up of what that will look like.  

Now, use the toothpick to add smaller silver dots to the other half of the blue dots.

You're done!