Quote Pictures

So I pinned an idea similar to these on Pinterest but when it came down to making them, I changed my mind and did it my own way. I mostly like the way they turned out and I love having one of my favorite quotes by Audrey Hepburn in my Breakfast at Tiffany's themed room. These are great to add a personal detail to any room.

You can't really see from this picture but it says "Paris is always a good idea."

So first off, supplies. You're going to need:
1. Canvas, I just bought a three pack from Walmart, they were pretty thin and only cost about $4.
2. Paint, I chose the acrylic paint that's in the craft section, it's like a dollar a piece, I used the Plaid brand kind in Licorice, Vintage White,and Medium Gray.
3. Paint brushes, I got a 25 pack of brushes that I think were around $5
4. Stencils, I used a pack of 2" letter stencils that were by the paint in the craft section they were about $4.

After you have your supplies, you'll want to figure out what patterns you want to do on each painting. This takes a little mapping out because you have to decide what colors will show up on what with your letters, I should have thought this out a little more on the "always" picture. I do like that my patterns are all so different. I chose to do a zigzag, polka dots, and splatter on mine. Using the same colors helps tie them together so don't worry about your patterns being too different.

Next paint your patterns on your canvas, allow proper time to dry before painting letters on. The next step is very important. Trust I know because I skipped it.

Map out your letter before you start painting!!! I didn't do this on the "always" on and it looks a little funky with the s on the next line. Once you have you letters situated the way you want them, start painting them on. Be sure to hold onto the stencil tightly to avoid smearing. And voila! You have yourself an awesome quote to put on your wall!

Individual shots:

My Score at D.I.

The other day I was wandering the aisles of D.I. aimlessly and I found this little beaut.

I almost passed by it but something kept pulling me back to it. It had potential. It was 8 dollars which is kind of a steal when I saw how it turned out. I bought it and began brainstorming. I finally decided that I wanted to make it look more antique-y and use it for storage at the end of my bed. So I bought some ivory spray paint+primer and here's the end result. I have to admit, I was scared it would be an epic failure but I love the way it turned out.

Melted Crayon Canvas

This is a perfect, affordable way to add a unique piece of artwork to any room.





These are so easy to make and only take a few supplies.
1. Canvases, mine are fairly small (8X10), I got them in a 2 pack from Walmart for about $5
2. Crayons, I bought the Cra-Z Art ones and used about 4 packs. If you did your picture a full rainbow you would need less but since I only wanted certain colors from the pack on mine, I needed 4. You can also break the crayon in half like I did to make them go farther.
3. Hot glue gun, to glue the crayons to the canvas.
4. Newspaper, to spread out from creating a total mess.
5. Blow Dryer, to melt the crayons
6. Tape (optional), I used tape on the yellow, black and white one to leave the white space that would become the petals.
7. Buttons, I used buttons to make the flowers on the green and purple picture and one button to put in the center of the yellow flower.

The first thing you'll want to do is decide what pattern or design you want to do. Pick out your colors. Remove wrappers from crayons. I found a trick that works to help this process is that if you put the crayons in warm water for a minute it helps dissolve the paper and it comes off much easier. If you're like me and want the crayons to be in half, you'll want to either break them or cut them in half before you glue them.

After you have your colors picked out, decided what pattern you want them to melt. When that pattern is established, you can begin gluing crayons to canvas. Make sure your hot glue is all the way heated up or else the crayons won't stick to the canvas.

When all the crayons are glued to the bottom of the canvas you can begin taping off a design. (Note I only did this for the yellow/black/white one) I double layered my tape designs so that there was no bleeding through to the canvas.

You're now ready to blow dry! Lay out newspaper on all sides and behind your picture. This is important so you don't have little wax splatters everywhere. It takes a few minutes for the wax to start melting but once it starts, it goes pretty fast. Try to keep a steady hand so the melt lines are straight. It helps to have somebody hold the canvas while you blow dry so it's more steady. When you like the look of it, you can stop blow drying. Let it dry and add buttons with hot glue. You're good to go!

Hunger Games aka How Suzanne Collins Got Me Addicted to a Substance Stronger Than Crack

So I read the first book in Hunger Games a few weeks ago and I was like, ok that was good, probably not one of my favorite books but definitely worth reading. Then I got my lazy butt to the movie last night and something snapped. For the past 24 hours I have pretty much lived and breathed Hunger Games. How bad is it? I started reading this morning and pretty much haven't stopped, finished Catching Fire about an hour ago. At one point in the day I realized I needed to pee but told myself I was going to finish that chapter before I went. I think this was around 1:00 or 2:00ish. Yeah, didn't realize that I hadn't gone yet until like 5:30 or 6:00. You know you have a problem when you but bodily functions on hold.
I think my problem is that dang Peeta. He's too lovable with his little butt chin. And his stupid confessions of love to Katniss every five minutes. I still can't believe he's the kid on RV. Before I started reading, I had heard everyone going off about how they were all Team Peeta. In my rebellious, non-conformist head I thought, there is no way in Hades I'm ever going to like Peeta. Team Gale all the way! And then I read the first book. Sold. I about died when was being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman. Plus the fact that I'm talking like a 14 year old girl about characters in books like they're my best friends prove I've kind of lost it. The real reason I'm writing this is I'm looking for distractions to keep me from started the third book because we all know if I start it now I won't stop until it's done and I have to work tomorrow morning. Haha so I just was looking up a picture of Peeta to put on here because what's a blog post without some pictures, and there's an article about Josh Hutcherson being amazed at all his "Peetaphile" fans. So officially I just thought that I should admit I believe I'm on the verge of becoming a Peetaphile :) Also, I'm ending this before it gets any more obsessive than it already is.

My Music Through the Ages...

So I got the idea to do this post last night at like 3, I almost wrote it then but I figured my writing wouldn't be coherent and it wouldn't do anybody any good. Not that my writing is that much better at 11:45 but you know I'm an insomniac and I need something to do until the melatonin kicks in. What is this genius idea you ask? My life through the years with music.

Music is a major part of my life and you'll rarely find me doing anything without playing music. I listen to music when I shower, clean, brush my teeth, play Sudoku, and I'm pretty sure I even listen when I go to the bathroom most of the time. Mark me down as addicted. I'm also one of those people that find one song that I really love and play it a million times. Because I've always been like that, I tend to have 1-3 songs that I particularly remember for each year of school starting with 3rd grade. So here goes.

3rd grade- Anything S Club 7. This was the year that I got my first personal CD player for Christmas. I remember distinctly unwrapping this first:

And I knew what was coming. I was soon the proud owner of the raddest lime green Walkman ever. That had to be one of the best Christmases, present wise, ever.

4th grade- Hilary Duff, I don't remember having a particular favorite song of hers from this era but I remember watching Lizzie McGuire all the time and being so excited when I heard she was releasing and album. I was so jealous when my friend got the CD for her birthday in December and I had to wait until my birthday in January to get a copy. This was also the year that the Lizzie McGuire Movie came out which was pretty much the shiz and I regained style points (that I had lost from not getting the CD first) by going to the movie not only before all my friends but with my sister that was in college. Talk about a comeback.

5th grade- Swing, Swing by All American Rejects. This is where I made an abrupt U-turn from pop to punk. Let's face it, I was pretty much the coolest thing that elementary school had ever seen and everybody knew it if you listened to All American Rejects or Avril Lavigne. I listened to both, just saying. Thank you older siblings for introducing me to cool music and making me be ahead of the crowd.

6th grade- Lala by Ashlee Simpson. I kind of had a relapse on the pop issue. I remember listening to this in the back of the bus on the way to school everyday. At the time Ashlee Simpson was still pretty hardcore for a 6th grader and it kind of brought out violent behavior in me because I ended up throwing batteries at people's heads on the bus. Good times.

7th grade- Possibly my best year of music revolution. The summer before 7th grade I spent in front of the TV watching Fuse. Warped Wednesdays were the highlight of my week. It was then that I met my first love, Patrick Stump. Anybody who knew me at this time, I apologize for my constantly spewing about Patrick and his amazingness. I look back at pictures of him from that time and I'm like "Seriously? What was I smoking?"

Nevertheless, this would be a year that would live in infamy. It was during this year that most of my teenage rebellion happened and as Jake says, I was "a little emo kid." So is there any question that my favorite song from this time would be Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy. I have to admit, it was hard to choose one specific song to pin to this year but I think the music video won me over. LOVES it.

8th grade- Honestly, I've tried to narrow this year down to one song but I just can't cut out any of my choices so there's 3 for this year. First one: Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin. The scene in my head with this song seriously belongs in a movie. There was an assembly in the gym one day in like March maybe April, it wasn't warm outside but I was rebelling and wearing flip-flops. As I was at the top of the cement bleachers, they started playing this song and I happened to glance across the gym to where the 9th graders were sitting. There was this super hot kid sitting on the other side, all of my friends had crushes on him and he had amazing hair, which was really all that mattered to me. So me thinking I'm all cool, start kind of strutting and lip syncing to the song, just so he knows that I'm a little punk girl and this is my kind of music. Bad idea. The next thing I knew, I was flying down the bleachers on my butt and ended up taking the girl in front of me down with me. Talk about embarrassing. Next song. Dirty Little Secret by All American Rejects. Listened to every morning while getting ready, called the radio station 15 times in an attempt to get them to play it. Amazing song, lame music video. 3rd song. Here (In Your Arms) by HelloGoodbye. I specifically remember this playing at all the dances that I went to that year and it was pretty much the most romantic song ever written at the time, or so I thought. It was one of the first songs I ever downloaded on my first iPod. Also the cover always sticks out in my head:


9th grade- There's A Class For This by Cute is What We Aim For. So many memories of this song. First one, there was this kid who had a crush on me but I didn't really like him back, and I remember him asking me what I was listening to I can't remember if I answered him by making him listening to or quoting the line " I may be ugly but they sure love to stare." I remember a look of horror on his face and he didn't really talk to me after that. Second memory that isn't really a memory. It was during 9th grade that I became like every girl in America and started reading Twilight. Since I read it before the movies came out, I had this picture of what Edward was supposed to look like and I was positive that it was like Shaant, the lead singer of Cute is What We Aim For:
I still think he would have been better than Rob Pattinson. You know, if Shaant could act and everything.

10th grade- Risque by Cute is What we Aim For. Yes, the obsession continues. I always associate this song with freedom. Sophomore year was the year that my friends got their licenses and we would drive around town with this song blaring. This song always makes me think of that.

11th grade- I don't really have a specific song for this year. I guess just kind of a mix between Enrique, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga because they were all big that year and I listened to Tik Tok and Bad Romance probably 3 million times each and all we learned in Spanish that year was Enrique songs.

12th grade- Since Senior year was only 3 months and most of it was a blur because I was taking 10 classes, the only memory I have of music was driving to my friend's birthday party in Logan and listening to Bottoms Up by Trey Songz and Nicki Minaj with her little sister. I remember us synchronize dancing without even plannning. It was a proud moment of genius for both of us.

So there you go, a quick recap of my life through music, only it wasn't quick and it took me almost an hour to write it. You know how I do. :)

Taking SLC By Storm

So how have I lived 19 years and never been to Fashion Place Mall? This was the question on my mind Saturday morning. Answer: I really wasn't missing anything and I could probably go another 19 years without going there. Either I got old really fast and I'm already out of fashion or I'm really going to hate all the spring fashions. I'm sorry but there is no way I'm strapping my fat butt into bright red skinny jeans. That's just not happening, I'm sorry. And 7 inch glitter heels? Yeah those aren't happening either. I learned that the hard way and so did that wall that I rammed into trying to get them off. My sprained ankle is still yelling at me for that mistake.

I have to say, the highlight of Saturday was not Fashion Place Mall as I thought it would be. I'll give you a couple of choices as to which was my favorite part of the day.

A: Tatted mountain men with walking sticks that clearly have no purpose?


B: Smoking gingers with longer ponytails than mine?


C: Stretch limos in the middle of the ghettos in SLC?


Normally, I would be happy with any of these but I think my highlight of the day would most definitely be...
D: Chipmunk faced nephews


You know those mothers that drive you crazy when they go off bragging about how cute/smart their child is? I'm one of those aunts. I see a baby come through my line, I start off talking about how cute they are and suddenly I find myself bragging about my nephew. I don't know how it happens and I try to stop myself but it still happens. Honestly, can you blame me?


Get a load of this lovable scamp!


It's tripping me out that he's going to be a year old soon. He makes me laugh so hard already, he's definitely his mother's son. We had a wicked sweet time walking up and down the mall together and I think we both got our exercise for the day. I can't wait until I get to see him and McKell again, it was a fun day!

My Ultimate Teenage Girl Night

Ok, so as much as I try to repress my teenage girl instincts, they come to the surface sometimes. Twilight is one thing that triggers these instincts and I have no reason why. I don't usually like chick flicks, I hate Edward and I think the whole story is so ridiculously far-fetched that I want to pull my hair out. But you bet your cheese I was the fifth person in line at Walmart on Friday night to buy Breaking Dawn. Why? I'm seriously such a mess of contradictions. It's that dang Jacob and his abs. Yeah, we'll blame it on that. Maybe I'm really just sappy deep down. Anywho, I talked my friend Breanne into coming and waiting in line with me for 3 and a half hours with the other 4 million Twi-hards. I don't think she really wanted to be there but I know that we had fun in the end. She had just driven 3 hours home from college and was probably dead tired but was a good sport and stuck through the night with me(I think the Lunchables I bribed her with helped). Some of you that have either been to one of these premieres or maybe to Black Friday know that waiting in line for that long can get extremely boring but don't worry, we kept ourselves entertained.

Which brings me to a very important question: What can you do with a 10 pack of Crayola markers? Answer: Design wicked sweet tatts.


Or possibly give you that hair color you would never permanently dye? (P.S. this is our Beiber-esque hair, we were listening to Baby at the time)


So, anybody that has ever spent any serious time with me knows that I was meant to be black. Thus the thug life tatts on my knuckles, unforch this pic doesn't show the life part of the tatt but Breanne's forever adds to my thug, thus making it the best knuckle tatts in the history of this world.


Around 11:40 we got an awesome surprise, Breanne's little sister, Juli, showed up! It was super fun having two of my best friends in the same place and those last twenty minutes of waiting went by super fast.


And last picture of this post needs a little explaining, I swore to myself I wasn't going to be sucked into all the "special" Twilight merchandise that tends to hang around these events. I failed. I just had to buy the special edition of Breaking Dawn with the fabric poster, it was only 3 dollars more and I liked the sound of "fabric poster". I had no idea what it was, but it sounded really cool. So I am now the proud owner of a flag featuring Bella and Edward cuddling. Nice. I tried to take a picture of it but I was getting tired and I am really horrible at taking mirror self-portraits so this is the best I could do. P.S. don't judge me for my stalker-like collection of Hayward pictures.