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!

"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!  :)

It's been a while...

So I know it's been a while... but we finally got a new charger for the computer!!! Yay!  Now I can get caught up with posting.  I will finish up the Nail Challenge soon - I think there are 10 days left (yikes) but in this post I want to share some pics of projects I've completed with my new favorite hobby... Crocheting!!!  At my co-op (school) this year, I am taking a crocheting/knitting class.  During this semester that we just finished up, I learned to crochet.  And next semester, I am going to learn how to knit (hopefully! :D)  There have been a lot of fun projects I want to share, plus some that I just decided to do on my own!  Hope you enjoy!

My first hat... well, actually, I made one like this before, following the pattern, but it was way too small so I did it again (the one above) and just kept adding until it actually fit right :)

The second hat...  I don't know if you can tell, but there is a spiral pattern all around the whole thing.  It's also really warm and soft!

Gloves!  Well, fingerless gloves, but still they were really fun to make and I really like wearing them!  And yes, I know, my nails aren't done... shame on me.  :)  But they are still taking a break from that Nail Challenge!  lol.

Another hat!  I kind of just made this one up.  It's really easy to make one once you know how to get it started, because they all start the same way.  Unless you want to do one like the spiral pattern, then you need to either have the pattern handy, or just have a really good memory :)

There are a few more, but I don't have pics right now.  So I will post them later!  It's good to be back :)

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!

... and the results are in!!!

Hey guys!!! Here are some of the creations I entered in the Tennessee Valley Fair this year.  I work on these projects all year round and take 'em down to the fairgrounds every September!!!  They stay on display for about two weeks them I pick them up and bring them home to enjoy!  So here they are!

Painting, "Tree of Life" - First Place:  I did this in a school art class over the course of three-four weeks.  Everyone did something similar to this and all the variations were super cool!

Painting, "Seasons" - Best of Show:  I did this at home over the course of 2-3 weeks.  It is supposed to be kind of "abstract-y" with the four seasons depicted in different sections of the canvas: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall/Autumn.  

Skirt - Best of Show:  I made this at home for Easter.  I think I actually made it over the course of about 2 days because I was so excited to finish my first clothing project on my own ;)

Dress - Best of Show:  This Dress I made at 4-H Sewing Camp this summer.  The Extension Agents put it at the top of the display so it wouldn't get stolen so it is kind of hard to see ;)  I will post a better picture after I get it back.

Photography, Building - Second:  This is the top of a Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic.  I went to Prague back in October (2013) and took this picture while I was there.  I accidentally cut off the top of the tower... I'm actually not sure how that happened ;)

Photography, People - First (the blue ribbon!):  I went outside the day before the drop-off deadline and randomly took this picture.  It actually did pretty good!!!

Baking, White Chocolate/Butterscotch Cookies - Best of Show:  Ok, so the Fair Staff had to change the tag on these cookies I entered.  For some reason they put them in the "lower calorie cookies" category which didn't make sense... These cookies contain 2 sticks of butter, 3 cups of sugar, and a ton of other un-named high calorie ingrediants... I don't think any further explanation to my confusion is necessary ;)

Decorative Bottle - Third:  I made this at a 4-H project group night during the previous "4-H year".  I added the (fake!) flowers to match my room and put it on my dresser.  You can do lots of fun stuff with these and use them for practically anything!!!

Painting, "untitled" - First:  My mom went on a mission trip to Ethiopia back in July.  While she was there, she took a LOT of pictures.  One of them was of an Ethiopian sunset.  I painted the sunset for her birthday in August and "borrowed" it back to enter in the fair ;)

Vest - Second:  Back in the Spring, I was visiting my cousin and we were playing around with some fabric.  We ended up designing and sewing a vest entirely on our own!!!  Sadly, her sewing machine messed up right at the end and we were unable to finish the vests together before I had to go home... but... I brought the piece(s) back with me and finished it to enter!!!  Yay!!!

Cross-stitch - First:  I also started this cross-stitch with my cousin (we do a lot of crafts together ;D) back in the Spring.  I meant to finish it over the Summer but I was so busy with swim team and 4-H camps that I didn't pick it back up until around the middle of August.  The one time this Summer I was able to work on it, I couldn't find the pattern!  ;(  Oh well, it's finished now ;)

Salsa - Didn't place:  This summer I also attended a 4-H canning class.  It was super fun and we learned all the basics of making/canning salsa.  It tastes really good too!!!

Quilt - First:  I made my first quilt this summer at a 4-H summer quilting camp.  I'm telling you, 4-H has camps for EVERYTHING!!!   Seriously!!! ;)  It was super fun learning how to piece the quilt top... the worst part was probably waiting to pick it up from the store where the lady put the design in it!  (I strongly dislike waiting ;D)

Table Top Demonstration: How to Sew a Pillow - Best of Show:  Every year, 4-Her's in the 4-8 grades put together some kind of demonstration on how to do something or informing people of something.  I presented mine at Local level where it then went on to County and won, Regional and won second, then back to County to win again!  (You can't advance to state until high school)  Now, It's on display at the fair... I wonder how many people have touched my pillow in the past 5 days???

Painted Gourd - Second:  I entered my painted gourd over in the adult entry building.  I have pictures of the 4 "sides" (it's round so I don't think it really has sides ;D) at this page (scroll down some).  Here you can pretty much see the bird on one side and part of the tree.  You really have to see the flowers up close to tell what they are.

Hope ya'll enjoyed this post!!!  The fair only comes once a year and I make the most of it when it does come!  Also, you are pretty much getting paid to display your stuff so that is a bonus ;)  More coming soon!!!