Pressing Flowers

Hello lovelies!

Today I just wanted to share with you what I really do with my textbooks. Do I study them every day in order to reinforce what I learn in class? Haha, that's funny. While I do use them when it is assigned, most of the time they just sit in my room collecting dust, so I put them to good use!

                  

Flower pressing is such a lovely way to preserve the usually fleeting beauty of nature's blooms. Heavy books work best, so I used my textbooks.

Adding a little extra weight doesn't hurt ;)

I hope that this has inspired you to find new uses for your textbooks. Have a wonderful day!

DIY: Seashell Garland

Hello lovelies! Long time, no see (if there is anyone left in the world who will read this).

Let us begin.

If you are like me, when you see an interesting shell at the beach, you can't just leave it there. It's not like flowers, where if you pick it dies. The way I see it, shells have already served their purpose on the beach and are ready to begin their new lives as craft supplies. I always have them lying around, scattered about my bedroom. I don't do much with them. They usually just sit on shelves, or in jars. About a year ago I had collected 11 shells that were similar in color and shape, but varied in size. They happened to be perfect for making a garland. I hope you enjoy this super easy and fun DIY!

To make this you will need:

as many seashells as you like, with small holes in them

string of your choice; this is a great use for your scraps of string 

from previous crafts

To begin, your shells will all need to have holes in them. Most of mine did not, so I had to make some. I am not particularly handy with power-tools, and had no idea if I even had a small enough drill bit, so I improvised. Making the holes was fairly simple, so I won't bother posting a separate tutorial on it. All I did was position an X-Acto knife where I wanted the hole (on the inner side of the shell) and tapped on it with a hammer a few times. I would recommend that you put something under your shell (like a paper towel) to catch the dust and shell-bits that will be left behind. Also, I can't promise that it won't hurt of dull your knife, I used an old one that already had a broken tip. WARNING, in my house, waking the baby is practically a felony, so if noise is an issue, you may want to do it outside.

Once your shells are ready, lay them out the way you want them to be on the garland. I arranged mine in order from smallest to largest and back to smallest, because I happened to have shells that were the correct size. Make sure that you have them spaced how you want them, because that will be important in the next step.

To measure your sting, just make it a bit more than twice the length of you shell arrangement. I had a lot more string that I needed, but I didn't cut it until I was finished to avoid making it too short. 

This is the hardest step, but it's super easy once you get the hang of it. Like, super easy. It is now time to actually knot your shells onto your string. Start far back on your string, where you measured twice the length of your shells.

Make a loose knot 

Thread the string through the hole in the shell

Move the shell towards the knot

Put the end of the string (which you threaded through the shell) through your knot

Pull the end of the string and tighten the knot

Repeat with all of your shells until you are finished!

C'est tres jolie!

I hung mine up on top of this lovely wall decoration that I got from Free People.

It's like having a little bit of the beach to brighten up your room!

P.S.

Some bands I'm into right now:

MSMR

Lorde

The Arctic Monkeys

Radiohead
Foster the People

Ezra and Free People

Everyone likes crazy funny stories right? Well I have one.

My best friend and I were sitting on the couch starting a blog. My mom walked through the garage and outside to throw away the garbage. She opened the side door of the house and let out a small shriek.

"A cat just ran in!" She exclaimed.

"Ours?" I replied.

"No." She said.

Enya (my friend) and I leapt off the couch and into the garage to see what she was talking about. There was a tiny kitten hiding behind some shelves in the garage.  We tried to get him out, but he ran into the living room through the open door and under the couch. Now, here's the crazy part. When we tried to get him out from there he bolted, faster than any other cat we'd ever seen, up the stairs and into my bathtub. We figured that was a pretty safe place for him, since we have another dog and cat. I put a towel in the bathtub so that his little paws wouldn't slip and slide around and we gave him some food.

A couple days later we took him to the vet. He weighed a pound and a half, and the vet said he was about six weeks old. He had a terrible case of fleas, but was too young for flea medicine. The vet couldn't test him for any diseases because he didn't have enough blood for them to safely draw. During the appointment things got bad.

I'm not sure what was wrong, but the vet said he might not make it. She said that he would either get a lot better or a lot worse. Luckily, he got better very fast. Somehow his fleas went away. He still lives in my bathroom, but we let him out for a little while at a time to play with him. He has been with us for almost three weeks now and we love him so much.

We kept bouncing names around for him. He needed a really good name that fit his blonde fur, big green eyes, and little white paws. After considering Jasper, Fitzgerald, Felix, and many others, we decided on Ezra.

After asking all the neighbors, we don't know where he came from. But we do know that we saved him and gave him a good home.

This picture was taken the day we met. The picture is not good quality, but it successfully captured the moment.

 

Remember Enya from the story about Ezra? well, we started a blog together. It's called We Are The Dreamers (very creative url). It's not much (yet), but it's sort of like a diary for us.

 

Speaking of Enya, we went to D.C. together last weekend. The trip was technically for the Swiss Independence day (her dad is from Switzerland), but we were both really super duper excited because we were going to Free People for the first time. It was a-may-zing. The store was as beautiful as the clothes. We probably tried on half the store, but only bought a couple of things. I bought this dress and a handmade wall decoration from inside the store. I haven't received the decoration yet (it's still on display in the store, but they'll ship it to me), but I am absolutely in love with the dress. It's so versatile and pretty. I still haven't gotten the pictures taken of us in the store from Enya's mother, but I'll ask her for them and probably post them. I have one picture on my instagram ( @_dreamalittlebigger_ ).

 

This is the dress. The picture is from the Free People website and does not belong to me (gotta give credit). Isn't it lovely? It can be worn with flats and delicate jewelry, or with boots and a cardigan. It can even be worn to bed and around the house, like in the Free People short film. The options really are unlimited. I just love the delicate lace details and tiny little polka dots.
The Swiss Independence Day celebration was really fun too. It was a neat new experience for me. Almost everyone spoke German and many spoke French. At the end all of the little kids formed a parade with lanterns and gathered around a bonfire while listening to Swiss music. Being volunteers, we managed to get our hands on a few lanterns and candles to join in the parade. It was so much fun! We played "soccer" (which was Enya, her brother Luca, and I kicking the ball into the goals and shouting while using silly fake names), bounced in the moon bounce, and rolled down a really big hill. There were three little girls that were triplets, probably about four years old, that spoke French to their mother and English to their father. It was a very interesting and fun experience.

My goal is to post at least once a month, which isn't much but is realistic for me. Just thought I'd let you know so that you can expect something. I hope you're all having a wonderful summer!
-Jade

I find the source of my happiness in the stars<3

I find the source of my happiness in the stars<3 by hpfanjade featuring anaconda

Patterned sweater
topshop.com

Denim shorts
romwe.com

Anaconda
barneys.com

Le labo
$83 - liberty.co.uk

Free Scrapbooking Software Templates Embellishments Backgrounds
scrapbookflair.com

NaNoWriMo and Other Tales

Hello there, welcome to Teacup Monster. I know this is by no means a new blog, but it looks new! I don't think that I've actually done a real post since I redecorated a bit. I could give you excuses, but I only have three real reasons for not posting: laziness, November has been the busiest month of the year for me so far, and  (drum roll please) NaNoWriMo! NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It's where you attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in one month and you track your progress here. It is a great way to challenge yourself, and the best part is that you don't have to be a writer. Anyone can do it and no one's writing could really be that good with such a short deadline. If you are interested in it I would suggest that next year you sign up and give it a shot. This is my first year doing it, and believe me when I say that it is hard. Especially since the natural enemy of NanoWriMo is Pinterest. I shouldn't even be writing this post right now, I need to save my words. But hey, I don't expect to win this year, I just thought that it would be be better to try and fail than not try at all.
On Friday night I went to my best friend's birthday party (you know who you are if you're reading this). It was super fun! it was red carpet themed, so we dressed up as our favorite actresses. I was Lucy from "I love Lucy" and another girl was Ethel. Let me tell you, ten teenage girls after midnight who have been drinking soda, eating candy and popcorn, and playing Just Dace on a wii are LOUD. It was so much fun. So, her being my best friend and me being crafty, I couldn't get her just any present. So what did I do? I got her some lovely nail polish and made her a scarf using my new favorite quote. I was inspired by a pin. I tweaked the quote a tiny bit, on the scarf it said, "Get over your hill and see what you find, with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair, and I will be with you every step of the way." Happy (I mean hapay) birthday K!

I recently made a skirt. That's right, all by myself. I have a sewing machine that I don't use very often, and I happened to have one of my Dad's old button down shirts. I found a very easy and well-written tutorial for a skirt made from a shirt. The tutorial was super clear and easy to follow. I followed it and ended up with this lovely skirt (if you make it please keep in mind that if you make it the same length on the front and back it will look a bit shorter in the back when you wear it). The great thing about this skirt is that it's light and comfortable, so it's very versatile. You can wear it in the summer with a cute tank and sandals, or in the fall/winter with tights and a slouchy sweater. You don't have to be good at sewing or crafting to turn your dad/brother/boyfriend/husband/thrift store/insignificant Male's button up shirt into an adorable skirt. You can even use a flannel or plaid shirt for a more cozy look. The possibilities are endless!

Thanksgiving is only a couple of days away, and I'm super excited! It is one day of the year when you can really stop to be thankful for your friends, family, and food. I can't wait to fill my belly with comfort food and then go into a food coma. And do you know what thanksgiving means? Christmas is coming soon! Time really flies, especially since I stay busy this season. I am so excited for decorating, cooking, and most of all, my family is visiting (yes, that includes Jordan). I am soooooo excited (have I said that already?)!It will be so nice to make Christmas crafts and listen to carols.

Well, i have to go now. I will try to post more after NaNoWriMo. We'll see how that works out.

à toute à l'heure! By the way, this is what I'm listening to now: Au Revoir Simone- Dark Halls Au Revoir Simone- All or nothing Of Monsters and Men- King and Lionheart

Fantasy

Fantasy by hpfanjade on Polyvore

Hero Arts - Woodblock - Wood Mounted Stamps - Old Letter Writing,...
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Library Hearts Garland in Valentine's Day Shop by Category Cards &...
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