4.30.2015

The Land No One Knows



The time fell from my life
Like petals from a rose
Silently slipping away
To the Land No One Knows

The time will never be back,
Don't let it doze,
For if you do it will surely go
To the Land No One Knows

How many sleepless hours, 
How many highs-and-lows,
How many angry days reside
In the Land No One Knows

How many "I Love You"s 
Lost in time
How many sad last glances
There could you find?

Oh, what questions
we could pose
to the time lost
in the Land No One Knows.


This poem is a little different than anything I've ever published here.  A little strange.  What do you think?

~Jess

4.28.2015

DIY: Canvas Posters



Hey Y'all!

I am not a crafty person, but I decided to try and make something this past weekend.  And it turned out great!  Point of story; if I can do it, you can do it.  Trust me.  And so you CAN do it, I trial and erred and looked up online and complied this beautiful DIY tutorial for you.  You're welcome. XD


First off, you need some canvases.
I got mine at Hobby Lobby (For the record, I could die a happy person in that store.  It is my interior designers' dream. Ahhh...I could (and may or may not have...) empty my entire bank account in there.


I got a 4-pack of pretty small squares, two bigger rectangles, and two big rectangles.  What size you use isn't really important.  Whatever you want.

I also got a big huge packet of scrapbook paper.  I'm talking like, 120 sheets or something.  But if you or your mom or someone scrapbooked, just try and find a couple old sheet laying around. 




You will need a black sponge brush, like so:



Scissors:
 

And some Mod Podge.  Which, we didn't have any of and to be honest I didn't even know what it was.  But I found out via internet that if you mix equal parts of water and Elmer's glue in a jar and shake it all up, it works just as well as Mod Podge!

Yes, that is a old salsa jar.  It's called upcycling. XD
Now, I put words on my posters.  You can leave them with just the paper, or add words.  I went on PicMonkey, used the DESIGN to type a quote in fancy script, and printed it.  We will come back to the words later.


1} First step in every craft is, of course, to cover your workspace with newspaper.



2} Line the scrapbook paper up to the edges of your canvas and use the scissors to cut the shape of the canvas out.  Make sure it lines up; although it is more than fine to leave a little hanging over and just trim the edges later.




3} Remove the paper and use your sponge to apply several layers of Mod Podge to the canvas.



4} Line one corner and edge of the paper, then smooth from the middle, making sure the paper is flat, smooth, and lined up.  This is the trickiest part.


Afterwards you may have to go back and add a little more Mod Podge to the edges to make the corners stick down. (You can see how the bottom right corner is sticking up a little.)




5} Let your canvas dry, but every once in a while go back and smooth them out again; bubbles manage to sneak in.  Meanwhile...

Take your printed out words and cut them out, close as you can.





6} After the canvas has dried lay the cut out words on it to get a feel for where you want them to be:



7} Take the words off one at a time, using the sponge to cover the backs of them in Mod Podge, and to put Mod Podge on the canvas where the words will go.




Then wipe Mod Podge over the top to seal them in.

8}  Smooth all the words out, and let dry!

And there you have it!  Isn't that beautiful?  I loved how these came out; I did about 6 of them.  What I love about doing these homemade is that you can chose your own background, text, font, size, etc, and it is cheaper than buying them!  Plus, there is an incredible amount of satisfaction in knowing you made something yourself.

Did you like this project?
Would you like to see more tutorials or DIYs?

~Jess

4.24.2015

Beach Trip

*Just a note that I wanted to be at the top here; I FINALLY got around to responding to comments on the last couple posts, so go check those out if you asked a question that you wanted answered.  If you need any more help, comment or email me.  I can't promise which will get a response sooner XD

Also, for my last post I used PicMonkey, the Design feature.  Check it out; you will fall in love.

And, since the quotes are from you all, you are totally free to take and use your own quote to your lovely little heart's content; linking back to me if you wish, but don't stress 'bout it. Also, if you would like me to redo yours, let me know; it's no problem, kay peeps? *


We went to the beach for my brother's birthday.  He turned 12.  TWELVE, PEOPLE!  My baby brother!  I cannot believe 12 years has gone by...

We went to the Aquarium (I was going to show pictures but then this post would have had over 30 and that is just way to many, y'all...) which we always do when we go to the beach; and then the next day we went to Medieval Times! It is kinda like Dixie's Stampede, if you know what that is.  Basically you go and eat dinner and there is a show going on.  For Medieval Times it was, of course, medieval themed so there were knights and ladies and horses and jousts and all that good stuff.  It was really cool; we got to go on a special school day so it was our family and 2 middle schools.  But it was a lot cheaper; and there were way less people.  Win-win.

Our knight was the Red Knight and when he won at one of the events he got a handful of roses from the princess and then he rode his horse over and tossed them to the crowd.  So I got a rose.  He kissed them before he passed them out too.  So, yah.  ;)

And then we finally went to the actual beach.  It was beautiful...


 I'm always in awe when I go to the beach...
The beauty...
 The way the colors of the sky and the colors of the water merge somewhere on the horizon...
 The way it always goes in, and out...
 No matter what is happening on land...
 the ocean always there...
 Always flowing...
 Always lapping at the sand...
 It makes me remember how in control our God is...
 He never forgets to make the tide rise and fall...
 And He'll never forget us...
~ <3