BACK TO SCHOOL

Aghhhh!! It's finally here! And I'm not saying that in an overly eager, excited kind of way. I say that in a booo, I've been dreading it all summer kind of way. Nonetheless, the first day of school has come and gone, leaving me with ten more weeks of books and exams! Whoop! Who said this would be the time of my life??! Kidding, kidding. College really has been good to me thus far. Plus, the view from my room is gorgeous! My room oversees all of campus and the surrounding city, which lights up and glows at night. Studying's not so bad like this. Anyway, with the new year starting, I'm hoping to set a few habits in and maybe try a new thing or two!

1. Keep it clean! Or at the very least, my bed. I'm a whirlwind of chaos, but I'm hoping I can keep things somewhat organized this year. 
2. Work-out 2-3 times a week. I realize this will be tough when finals roll around, but being healthy and in shape keeps me happy. That's the numero uno. 
3. Study Every Day!! I took way too many days entirely off last year and I regretted every one of them. 
4. Stay creative. As busy as I gets, I'm trying to make sure I always have a bit of time for the things that keep me sane. So if I can squeeze in a quick drawing, painting, craft or whatnot, I'll be a happy camper! 

Just one more picture of my view before I go, just because it looks so cool. :) G'luck to everyone else out there who started classes!
Jean.

THE LAZY-SCRAPBOOK ALBUM

Here's what you need: 

1. A sketchbook. I recommend spiral-bound hardcovers, so your photos don't bend.

2. Glue or a gluestick. Gluesticks may not hold for long, so choose a good brand and apply liberally. 

3. Scissors! For trimming or cutting out photos

4. Photos! :) Of course.

(Page from our beach trip this past spring)

     Arrange your photos however you'd like, glue them down and scribble in captions and notes along the white spaces left. If the pages of your sketchbook are thinner, make sure your pen doesn't bleed through! If you still want more of a scrapbook feel, you can easily add in stickers and decorations around the photos. I prefer leaving them blank, so it doesn't distract from the images themselves. 

(I'm a big fan of documenting food on our trips.) 

     And that's it! It's an extremely fast process and can also serve as a photojournal, depending on how much you jot in along the edges. It's much less intimidating of a project to take on then a full-fledged scrapbook, but still lets you store and keep all your favorite memories. :) Mine's exploding with pages! 

Jean. 

STITCH YOUR OWN STATIONERY!

     I have a confession to make. I'm a paper addict! It's true. Journals, stationery, books...I hoard them like crazy. Yet at the same time, I'm incredibly stingy and I never want to shell out my tiny bit of money for packs of generic stationery. Instead, I prefer fancying up regular paper with my own little details! It's really very simple to do. This particular walkthrough is for stitching up your own stationery with whatever cutesy headers or decals you'd like! 

Here's what you'll need:

1. Paper. Any type will work, though from what I've tried, heavier paper will hold up better with all the poking and pulling. I had way more knots and tangling when working with lighter papers. 

2. Push-pin. 

3. Needle and Thread. Use as many colors as you'd like, make sure your needle isn't too much smaller than the pushpin holes, or the thread will just slide right on through. Embroidery floss would also work really well here. I just doubled my thread since all my embroidery floss is packed somewhere in the garage. 

4. Cork-board (optional). Just makes it easier to poke into. Cardboard, carpet, foam...anything else will do. 

     First off, trace out your design very lightly with a pencil. Then, place your paper on the cork-board and use the push-pin to poke out your design. This makes sewing through easier and reduces the amount of wrinkles you would get otherwise. 

     Thread your needle and get sewing! Make sure to start so that the knot of your thread is on the back of the page. Keeping your letters or design connected in a single line is faster, since you don't have to stop and rethread/knot multiple times. 

     Continue stitching through until your design is complete! Be wary of your thread tangling and knotting along the way! That'll ruin your work pretty quickly and doesn't look nearly as nice. Feel free to add more along the page. I'm thinking of stitching in lines to write on across the whole thing. Off to make more! Hope you enjoyed!
Jean.

A GREEN THUMB

     I'm pretty sure I don't have one, sadly. My parents, on the other hand, seem to have entirely green hands. Coming home means heaps and heaps of every kind of fruit possible. We have fruit trees literally every five feet in our backyard. I went around the other day and snapped some photos just for kicks! From left to right: dragon fruit, soursop, tangerines, grapefruit, pears and persimmons! This isn't all of it, either! We have nectarines, jujubes, avocados, oranges, lemons, longan fruit, chilies and a whole mini-garden of herbs.  I'm going to miss all these yummy goods once I move back out this weekend. Back to dining hall apples and bananas for me! 

Jean.

VINTAGE BOOK POSTCARDS

     A couple of months ago, before heading back home for summer, I went on a miniature thrift adventure! My favorite find from that day was this old vintage encyclopedia printed back in the 50s! I love old hardcover books! I know a lot of people find it blasphemous to cut up and ruin an old book, but there's honestly so much more use in its pages! Though, had it not been an encyclopedia, I most likely would have read through the whole thing before snipping it up. So anyways, here's the first project I cooked up using these old pages: vintage postcards! 

Here's what you'll need:

1. Cardstock! In any color you want. I stuck with a tan to go with the worn look of the pages.

2. A vintage book to cut up! Or any other magazine, newspaper, book with interesting images.

3. Glue or gluestick

4. A postcard to trace (optional). You can always simply cut out a rectangle within regulation size, I just wanted the rounded corners of the postcards I have. 

     First off, trace the postcard onto a piece of cardstock. Or if you're forgoing the postcard, simply cut out the shape you want. Then, rip out the desired page. Place your cutout cardstock over the photo/area you want, trace and cut!

     If you're using a gluestick: apply liberally on the cardstock, place book page down, then using a pencil or pen, rub down across the entire card. This causes the glue to really mesh into the grain of the paper. It's an easy trick my art teacher taught me back in highschool to get the best hold out of your gluestick, which is a must if you're planning on mailing off the postcard. If instead you're opting for white liquid glue, do this to avoid wrinkles: apply just a bit of glue across cardstock. Then, using your finger or a paint brush, smear the glue out from the center to the edges. Once you've evenly spread the glue, place the page down, wrinkle-free!

     These particular postcards were for my boyfriend, who's got a big interest in the WWII era. So I opted for photos of Eisenhower and the landing on Normandy. I'm planning on making a whole lot more of these later on, with all sorts of different photos! If you do make these, we'd love to see! :)

Have fun!

Jean. 

SISTERLY BONDING

With school starting back up in just a couple weeks, we decided to have one last day out, just the two of us. First stop was the Redlands' "World Famous Thrift Shop"! It was a pretty big place, but I didn't stumble upon anything I really loved. We did find Hai a pretty nice blouse, though and we're definitely planning on going back again. I'm always a big fan of the records/books portion of thrift stores, and this one looks rather cool, doesn't it?

Have you ever had liquid nitrogen ice cream?? You know, the stuff that oozes out in a smoky billowy puff of iciness? Hai's been raving about it for a while, so I figured it was about time I tried some, especially being the ice cream fanatic I am. The shop only had about five flavors and it was a bit on the pricey side. It was absolutely delicious though. Hai always gets the Espresso chip while I opted for the Salted Caramel. SO salty. So so so so salty. The first few bites were yummy, but even for such a small scoop, I was pretty tired of it by the end.

And last, but not least, Comic Quest! I feel obligated to enter every comic book store I see, it's a problem, particularly because I always have to buy something. This one was pretty darn cool, though. It had quite a bit of everything plus these amazing artworks panels outside the store. 

Well, that was it for our sister bonding time last friday. Hai just moved in this very morning, but posts about that to come! 'Til Then!

Jean.