Paper Flowers

Hey guys! Wow, it's been quite a while, huh? Well, anyway, here's something that I really enjoyed doing. I made some PAPER FLOWERS out of old magazines. I really like this idea because it's super earth friendly and would be a great little thing to give someone. So here it is:

You'll need

Scissors, a ruler, a magazine, straws (or a pencil) a hole puncher, and one of those little golden buttons

Ok, so your  paper needs to be about 10.5 inches. It can be more or less around that area.

So I'm using a magazine I found on the floor of me room :P

Anyway, you want to make strips of it, 1/2 of an inch across.

You need to punch a hole 1/2 and inch from EACH end, and then one in the middle (just fold the strip in half on then punch the hole on the crease).

So now you are going to take your straw or pencil and you are going to put it through the middle hole, then the outer hole, then the other outer hole. 

Keep on doing that for each strip.

Now you're all done!! :)

Here is the flower with the straw as a stem

Here is a flower with a pencil as a stem. I put an eraser on top so that it wouldn't fall apart, though.

Yummy Rice!

Studying is never fun. Ever. Even if you play a memory game or watch an "interesting and educational film about the life cycle of the zooplankton," studying holds no fun... So I'm not going to pretend that I have found the almighty study god, who has bestowed upon us a way to make it fun. I'm just going to say that while it may not make it any more fun, it makes life a little more livable for somebody else...

There is a place called FreeRice, where, get this, you can (for NO money) feed some people who aren't as lucky as you. All you have to do is start a test, where for every question you get right, they give 10 grains of rice to someone. Sure, it may not seem like a lot, but if you hit the books, you can really make someone happy and full for days or even weeks. If you are someone who really doesn't get why we should feed other people and waste our time doing blah blah blah, there's the bonus that you can learn and study and practice for free.

If you create an account, you can join clubs and get rice under the name of that club. In fact, you can even create your own!

This may not be the most exciting post (and if it is, I'm obviously doing something wrong) but this may be the most nice one... Please join :)

It's a Date!!

How many times have you found that you have a deadline to meet, or a project to do, and you somehow manage to "forget" to do it, be too "busy" to finish it, or just found your bed too comfortable to leave? Haha, I most certainly have. So I created a binder that is sort of like an agenda, but with everything, almost the whole year, planned out with upcoming deadlines, birthdays, holidays, events, and so on... With it, you can't forget that birthday party, and although it may seem bad, you can't procrastinate with it either. No more explaining to your angry boss or teacher about your dog and her strange hunger for paper-like objects...

I got this super cheap binder from Office Max... FOR FREE! 

"How, Gracie??" 

Well, there was this sale... "Buy two get one free" and this was the free one. My brother picked out two Iron Man binders and I got the fireworks one. Have any siblings?? 

Anyway, I created most of the things inside of it by hand, so it isn't near perfection, but I'm still pretty proud of it...

First, I made little tabs for the binder out of scrap scrapbook paper, then taped (but you can glue) them 

onto white printer paper. Of course, I punched out hole for the paper to go into the binder, but that's really a given. You can change this up, but my tabs read: Calendar, Daily Plans, To-Do's, Things to Get, and last but not least, Contacts. You could really do anything like Dinner Plans, Grocery List, Things to Clean, Chores, and so on. In fact, the list of things can go on for a long while, but moving on...

A Weekly Calendar

Monthly Calendar. I got this off of a blog called Pretty Unpretentious. It's an amazing blog!

This is what I call a Daily Plan. I write what I need to do in the order that I need to do it in, and that's
how it works!

This is a phone directory from lifeyourway.net,
an amazing website that allows you print a bunch of useful things!

Above is a printable that I got for a weekly calendar to get you started!! Enjoy!! ;)

Bar Soap, Anyone?

Bar soap has long passed its golden age. In fact, I can't remember a time when I only used bar soap, but you know what? I love it! It's like a little golden egg that is SOAP! O.O It is really amazing, but maybe I only think that because I am so used to liquid soap... 

Anyway, here's an idea that I think I am going to try:

A bar soap pouch! 

http://www.whimsy-love.com/2012/04/diy-soap-pouch.html

of course this wasn't my idea in the first place, so the link to the actual thing is right up there :)

So there it is :)

ROAD TRIP!

Here's the sad but true deal ~ I haven't been posting up as many posts as I would like. In fact, I've tried, but then I get side-tracked with the deadlines and the projects... But now that summer is here, you can expect more pics, sentences, and words!! :)

But along with summer comes vacation! Just recently my family and I took a road trip in our new-ish car named Neville (who is a Nissan Pathfinder) all the way to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee... We camped for two days and stayed in hotels for 3 :P
So here are some pictures of our wonderful trip!! I highly recommend going there ~ it is so beautiful and majestic... you just want to stay there forever (another plus is that it is always fairly cool).

Sorry... The picture quality isn't very good :(

A forest on the mountains :)

A beautiful creek

On the mountains...

A cabin built on the mountain

A view of the Smokies 

Pencil Cases

We all know that amazingness of pencils and pens and all those wonderful little trinkets, right?
But since I have so many pencils and pens and I love them all so much, I am never able to take any out of my pencil case once I put them in, resulting in many broken zippers while trying to force all of those little wonders in...

So here's a pencil case that's simple and easy, but looks like a lot of work:

Chain as many as you think is right. I made mine sort of small on accident, so make sure you don't make the same mistake as me! It's okay if your pencil case is a little too big, but for it to be too small is a real problemo.

1: single crochet all the way across

2: Repeat 1

3: Repeat 1

4: Double crochet


So there you go! crochet until you think it is long enough!

You can also make this for any bag... I made a tiny one because I didn't have enough yarn, so super sorry!


(Pictures coming soon)

Goin' Green

Hey guys! Sorry about the lackage of new posts ~ just been busy lately! But here's a post for those of you who are crazy about the earth, just like me :)

If you are someone who likes recycled plastic pens or used cardboard boxes, this is the notebook for you!
Pistachio is one of the most earth-friendly notebooks on the planet: it's printed with soy ink, 100% recycled paper, it's processed chlorine free, and the cardboard-like covers are also recycled and recyclable! How amazing, right?
These Canadian books are pretty awesome, and 100% earth friendly. I'm pretty sure even the metal used for the spiral has something good for the earth in store...

But there is a downer with these earth-friendly little packages: the price. For my 6x9 notebook, I had to pay a whoppin' $11.95.
I guess because I'm used to the cheap-o ones you get in the $ section in Target, this seems like a lto to swallow. But the pages are nice and thick, and there are a lot of them!

So I really think that this is the most amazing notebook there.

But if you haven't found this out yet, I am totally in love with writing and reading, so I am constantly looking for and buying new notebooks!

The cover ~ I added stickers and wrote on it :(

What the lines of the pages look like

The back cover

Ignore the 2nd notebook... Sorry about that -.-

Making Puffs ~ Puff Blanket

If you look to a later post, you'll see the infamous puff blanket, which took up about half my day yesterday to make, and that was just a fourth of it.

But if you are like a me from about a year ago, whenever someone asked me how to make a puff (even then, I had this blog, but it had nothing on it :P ) I wouldn't know how to answer them. So I was super happy when my friend Chen Chen (happy birthday to her! ) told me how to make those amazin' little puffers in a matter of seconds.

So here are the instructions that I got from the birthday girl:


What you'll need:

Scissors
Yarn (and lots of it!)
   You can have many different colors and make a puff that is multicolored.


Instructions:

1. Cut off about 4 inches of yarn from your skien
2. Take the skien and wrap the yarn around your fingers, loosely
3. Cut the yarn when you think there is enough yarn
4. Take your yarn-ball off of your hand and place the 4-inch-yarn in the middle of it
5. Tie the yarn-ball with the yarn-strip
6. Cut the loops


DONE!

On reading this again, I realized just how confusing it seems. To make it easier here are some pictures. The number below them shows the step number that it is representing:

2

5

6

Let's Talk Love

We all know the famous and wonderful Taylor Swift, right? She pours her blonde heart out for the world to listen to. Now I know it's been a whole good part of a while since she's released her new album, Red, but I thought that it would be nice to know what you're thinkin' of this country rocker.
I just wanted to write this post because everyone I know has mixed feelings about this girl and I wanted to know if it's just me rubbing off on them or if this is the norm for all of America and possibly Europe :P

But I just wanted to ask those of you who really are in love with this girl "Why?"
I mean, she has had about a million boyfriends in the past 10 years... Now for you hardcore fans who are saying "But she only dated 5!" here's a little something: If she only dated 5 in the past 10 years, that means that every boy probably inspired her with one album apiece. That doesn't sound like a healthy relationship. And plus, why is she even dating a guy if she "Knew he was trouble"?

Anyway, sorry you had to read this little rant by me, I guess I needed to get it out of me system. I mean, only a few people can put up with their friends singing Red for hours on end at a par-tay, right?

And I mean, does this girl really know about the love she sings about in every song? Love is something that you find only once in a lifetime. And that person that you love is your soulmate. It seems as though the way Taylor dear sees it is that she has about 18 of 'em.

Goodbye Freedom :(

Well, this was wonderful... being able to post so many times a day I felt like I might be boring you (which I probably am)...
But the last break of the year is over and I still have exams to study for and things to do besides blog, sadly. So for the next 5 days, don't think I've completely disappeared from the face of the Earth. Rather, I'm stuck in school or busy swimmin' my teeny heart out!
So while I love those of you who actually take the time out of your day to read the words that I ramble on about, I have other pressing matters, and I think you'll be busy enough with your normal day stuff and the projects that I've lovingly ( :P ) given you... Hahaha, I'm kidding! Happy April Fool's Day!

Of course I'm going to blog, even if I have a project due the next day! I am so boring that I will use this blog as a way to procrastinate (don't we all?).

So until tomorrow...

Love ya!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Well, it's Spring now! The birds are chirping and the butterflies are flying! Bees are buzzing and plants are growing! So what better thing to do than make a flower pen?

Now this pen ain't gonna last a week, and it most certainly won't last forever. But, if you want a fun, springtime-y pen that will look good for two days tops, then here it is! But I must warn you, this is so simple that you might think I came up with the idea while eating Lays and watching TV (I'm not saying no).

So here's the simplicity of it:

Get a flower.
Get a pen.
Take the ink thingy from the pen.
Put the ink thingy inside the stem of the flower. TADA!

I put wrapping paper around the bottom part of the stem to make it pretty, too :)

Of course, you can do this with an artificial flower and make it last a long time... But a real flower feels happier and smells nicer :)

ENJOY!

Please Think of This:

Hey y'all, this just came into my head: copying. If you know away from my blog and Pinterest, you would know that I never think of the phrase "Copying is the best form of flattery" or something like that. No. I think that it is a stupid thing and that anyone who does it can go straight to... you know... there.
But seriously, please remember that. If you have a website or Instagram or Pinterest and you take a picture of something that you have done from my blog, please be considerate of my feelings and the amount of time I took to come up with that pattern or that idea. If you really feel like copying, go do it at school and get an F on your exams... Really, I love flattery, tell me I'm amazing, PLEASE, but don't go off and say "Oh yeah, Jim, I created this dog cape all on my own! I mean, the idea was all mine and so was the pattern!"
UGH! If you do that I will be on your doorstep with a sledgehammer. I'm not kidding...

So please take this to heart, and if you have then I love you and if you haven't I will take your heart and put it in there for you :P

Out of Halloween Candy?

I hate to break it to you hard-core Christians out there, but I only have one motive for Easter, and it isn't going to a sermon... Replenishing my candy stock! Every since January I my hidden shoebox filled with delightful goodies has been empty (mainly due to the fact that my brother knows where it is). Now, the time has come to get as many little eggies as possible to replenish and fill that 13 x 9 shoebox!

For once, I am going to tell you something that has almost (note: I did say ALMOST) nothing to do with crafting anything! It's a Grace record! Anyhoozie-moozie, if you take a 15 minute trip to Target right now, I will bet my imaginary Mercedes that they have tons of eggs, and that your familia is going to buy some (unless you are like my family and save EVERYTHIN'). But what happens to those eggs afterwards? Usually, I just put them in a bag, but never find them again. Now, though, not only am I finding them... they are helping me find other things!

Organizing isn't my forte. Neither is baking (just ask those cookies I burnt for Santa last last December... this Dec. I just decided to buy some from the almost-world-famous Sam's) or listening or printing. But with the help of the little eggies that give you candy, I finally know where all of my bobby pins are!

When you're done with egg hunting, there are probably going to be three types of eggs left:
1. Normal-sized and plain
2. Large-sized and plain
3. Strange and interesting designs

I love pastels, and since my family is big, we had enough eggs for me to be picky about the color, size, and design. I took all of the large pastel-y ones (the ones you want are highlighted in the list above). You may not be like me and want some with patterns... I just thought that they would attract way too much attention!

Well, I put stuff in the eggs and they are like my little organizing helpers! Use old egg cartons to hold a bunch together and you can have a magical, wonderful room!
(If you are using large eggs, you might not be able to put them in old cartons ~ they might not fit!)

I may have spelled "tacks" incorrectly :P

These hold my paper clips and rubber bands

Review: Restaurants

If you know me, then you will know that I live in New Orleans, a... vibrant city. But if you're gonna visit or if you're here already, here are some places that will make your standards so high that even salmon won't do:

*NOTE: The numbers have nothing to do with the rating of the restaurants... they are just a way of listing them

1. Cowbell
     You can visit this lively place at 8801 Oak Street in New Orleans, LA. Their slogan? Eat Happy. May favorite quote from them, though, is "Locally World Famous." You gotta love 'em! Their food just... It's like eating a delicious angel for lunch and dinner. When you go to Cowbell, it's like going to heaven for an hour.

2. Houston's

       This place isn't so relaxed. It's pretty intense, all fancy-like and stuff. You can reach 'em at 1755 St. Charles Ave. They have live jazz playing and while you wait (there is almost always a wait) you can watch the chefs do their magic! The food here is as good as Cowbell's, but maybe, just maybe, a teensy-tiny bit better.

3. Taqueria Corona

      Mexican food... YUM! 5932 Magazine Street is where they are, or one of their locations. This is the place that I normally go, and good God, it is GREAT (though I always order the same thing because I'm me). 

So that's all I got in me today. There are many good restaurants in New Orleans and Louisiana in general, but these are 100% my top three. I hope this has helped those of you out there who have no idea where to go because everything seems so good :)

If your opinion is different from mine and you think Reginelli's is better or Ninja is better, I'm not saying that they aren't. I'm just saying that these are my favorites and you should try 'em. I'm not saying that your thoughts are stupid or anything. 

Someone told me that I was "forcing" them to do some stuff because of my blog and they were complaining about the stuff that I said. For example the "smartish-boringish" stunt, they didn't like it because they thought that I was implying them. I wasn't... I was implying that group in general, and if you're in it, I'm sorry, but I doubt you would have a dog. Maybe a cat would better suit you...

Gettin' to Know Me

I guess with my few (what, 8?) posts, you might just barely get my drift, and my personality. So you can follow me at Pinterest.com... My name is Grace Linh* (Don't forget the *)

But really, most of the stuff that I write here is more detailed than the stuff goin' on there, but enjoy and go follow me! <3

The News

I hope you didn't think that I would give you bad news on such a wonderful day like this! The clouds are looming in the sky, all dark and depressing... The birds are nowhere to be seem... I can't find my glasses....

Really, Spring is in the air! (If you haven't yet realized, I am sarcasming right now)

Anyway, it seems that with this weather many people are coming onto this blog! Yahoo and three cheers for you ~ you probably added one more person who visited my blog with this!
But really, my amount of viewers is seriously at an all-time high, which is pretty amazing for someone who told no one about her blog-blog.

So thanks to y'all! <3

Warm Enough Yet?

I guess y'all are so totally bored from my few (two) posts about my life outside of crafting... To tell you the truth, it isn't all that interesting. I mean, my friend likes a guy who is "dating" another girl and practically faints every time she sees him, but other than the occasional "EEEHTHHEHHEHE!" from her, life doesn't really get all that different.

So putting my simple and happy life aside, I think it's time you learned something about me: I'm not normal. Nor am I insane-asylum-crazy. I'm moderate, I guess.
You may not have noticed, but I go above and beyond for my lil' dog. She's a princess and she deserves every last thing the world has to offer her (besides a guy, electronics, and chocolate). But one thing that I noticed was while she was trending with the latest fashionistas and while her head was resting upon a royal pillow, her blankets and bedding were some old towels. Now that just wouldn't do! Again, like the pillow, I wanted something that wouldn't leave a hole in my pocket where my only two dollars live. Thus, I used my resources.
This wasn't gonna be an all-out au naturel thing. I just didn't have enough recycled plastic bags for plarn and I didn't have yarn that was totally organic (I do, but who trusts labels?).
Thus this came up:

A PUFF BLANKET!

I most certainly didn't have the time to crochet or knit (yes to you meanies who say "Who knits anymore? That's like a Grandma thing....) anything larger than a 2x4 square with all the things happening in school and life and... nothing. I just didn't feel like doing all that work ( :P )
So I made about a million puffs out of a yarn that I never used and sewed them onto on of the towels that Princess Eliza was using beforehand. I only sewed on enough puffs for her head to rest on because I didn't know how she would feel about having tons of yarn underneath her in the blistering hot air conditioning :P

(I will make a post on how to make puffs soon. Just gotta get that camera charged!)

So when the blanket is all done I will take a (bad) picture of it an put it right on this post! But until then ciao!

A Family Reunion

Sort of. Due to my amazin' skills and super intellectual ability, I can tell you that not everyone was present and accounted for at my house for Easter.


The Teens:
  They were doing their own thing. And that only means one thing: they were on their various   iTouches, iPhones, regular phones, iPads, and other electronics, totalling up to over $2000. Bless one of them; he actually brought a book... which was also left at my house on accident because he was too busy on his phone.

The "Young Ones:"
    What were they doing? The only thing that 3 9-and-unders could decide on and agree on: Minecraft. This wonderful game can be on your iPad with the simple payment of $6.99. With it that "cheap" each one of them had their own.

Me:
     What do you think I was doing?? EXERCISING? Ha! No. I was stuffing myself like a turkey during Thanksgivin'

The "Old Ones:"
     Telling ghost stories. Stories of their lives. Talking. Eating. Reading. Talking... What else?



So in the end almost nobody actually had any social interaction...

Maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't keep on making new inventions. Maybe for once Apple can take a break and be happy with their stuff. In fact, I'd rather have an old phone that you can drop a bazillion times without it breaking than a new iPhone that, with one fatal drop, will die and never turn on again.

Playing with FIRE...

More like "Playing with Weights!"

A few months ago I was stupid enough to be playing with a pair of beautiful purple weights (they look blue in the photo, though) that total up to 4 pounds. So while dancing with them and watching Home Alone, I was stupid enough to not be looking (the funny part was on) and smashed my finger.

Three months later here I am with the nail coming off and having a purple area on it.

So I just wanted to share this with y'all because I have a friend who thinks her fingers are ugly because she has calluses on 'em... Try having a peeling nail!

Doggie "Cape"

To continue our little section on items for our lovable pooches, here's something that I think those of you who are fun and imaginative will really enjoy! Now, if you're someone who's boring and smart (not all smart people are boring... just the ones that are smartish-boringish) you can go to petco.com and order yourself one that is super fancy and durable that only costs $39.95.
What's the use of a cape made by hand that, in total, probably costs more than the Petco version? The LOVE. That's it. (Sorry if I'm rambling). That super durable and long-lasting cape from the superstore might have more interesting designs than the one that you are about to make, but really, where is the love, the love, the love?

Well here's a cape that will keep your loved one nice and toasty on a warm winter day down south (my people!), or nice and warm on a nice 50º summer day if your from up north. And if you're in the middle, I have nothin' for you 'cause I have no idea what it's like in Oklahoma, Nebraska, or Kentucky. But I still love y'all all the same <3

So here's what you're gonna need:

Yarn. And lots of it. I'm super sorry to say that I don't know how much, but be on the safe side and get as much as you think you will need. I started with maybe half a skien and had to go all the way to Michael's to get more.

Ribbon*  Not a lot, if your pup is nice and exercised. Maybe more if you have a Great Dane, though.


* You might not need this


Because I am not the best at making patterns, I used the most unimaginative one I could think of:

Crochet as many little crochetlets as you need, choose the length!

Then crochet an extra three and double crochet the entire length of your cape.

Crochet 2. Half Double Crochet the entire length of your cape. 

Crochet 1. Single Crochet the entire length of your cape. 

Repeat. 


Keep on doing what's in the pretty purple until you think that that is long enough. Eliza (my pooch) isn't the most... how to put it? Civilized? When I simply walk her 'round the block she takes every two seconds to relieve her little self. So I made sure that my cape wasn't going to be TOO long and get in the way of... territory marking.

Anyway... Measure around your dog's waist... ALL the way around, people. Make two pieces of ribbon that length (the ribbon will go around the doggie's waist and then tie on top of their back).

The waist is right underneath the a in underneath

Then, measure around the neck of your dog. I'm pretty sure you can choose where to tie it, too. Make two ribbons of that size, too.

Afterwards, tie the ribbons to the cape, in corresponding places. Put the cape on your dog and tie the ribbons to the places of the cape where you measured the ribbons. Tie and DONE!

Also, if you make your cape big and long enough, you might just be able to use it as a blanket for your loving pup!

I made my cape with a yarn that was two colors: white and brown. Sorry the photo is so horrible ~ I took it with my phone because my camera is just being mean and won't work with my computer...

"Where WERE You?"

Funny that you should ask...
My "reason": I was busy with my over-crowded clique, filled with awesome people and Populars

What I was really doing:

So yeah, nothing to worry about. In real life, though, I was busy makin' stuff, mainly for my favorite doggie: ELIZA JANE! (She's my doggie <3 )

So before you decide that you want to make your dog something totally original and amazing that nobody has ever done before, try this (only one person has done made this stuff).

Today's Craft: A Doggie Pillow

You might think that this is utterly stupid and idiotic... "Who would waste expensive yarn on something that will most likely get dirty in the end?" 

Me because I love my dog, but aside from me, almost nobody. So, I decided to make something out of TOTALLY recycled materials, from the fabric to the yarn to the stuffing!

To give you an idea...

Yarn: Plarn ~ You can learn how to make it here.

Fabric: An old T-shirt, a pair of old pants, an old curtain. Truthfully, anything worn and old, but still

            soft

Stuffing: There was leftover plastic from the bags used to make plarn, leftover fabric, and some pieces 

               of yarn left from previous projects. After using all of that, I only needed a handful or two of 

                stuffing that I bought from a Michael's nearby.

Thread: I used organic (that's what the label said, but I'm having a hard time imagining how THREAD 

             can be ORGANIC) embroidery thread. 

*Note: I didn't pay very much attention to how the pillow looked, considering it would be under my dog's head the whole time. So, while the pattern was supposed to look circular, mine was oval-y. Also, excuse the picture below, there is so much dog hair on it. 

(Without further ado) the Pattern:

(In Plarn)

Make a Magic Ring

Crochet 4 sc in Ring

Round 1: 2 sc in each sc (8 sc)

Round 2: Repeat round 1 (16sc)

Round 3: *Sc, 2sc in every other stitch*

Round 4: *2sc in every 2 sc* 

Round 5: *2sc in every 3 sc*

Round 6: *2sc in every 4 sc*

You get the pattern?

Continue this until you think the pillow is large enough for your dog. Plan works best because it is essentially waterproof. Just wanted to make that statement for all you people going "Well I think that my dog deserves better than some silly old PLASTIC YARN!" 'Cause I know some of you were thinkin' that.

Anyhoo, cut out the amount of fabric you want to sew it on top of the plarn with the embroidery thread.  I made my fabric way bigger than the plarn circle, so that the pillow would be fluffier. Here's what the pillow should look like when you're done:

    The Top; where her head goes                        The Bottom; The part that touches the ground