Day 2

And the next drawing!

This is of my favorite animal: a zebra! Unfortunately I couldn't get it to stay flipped for some reason, so this is how it's going until I can fix that.

Day 1

So here's day 1's picture!
It's a little bit dark, but I am trying to get decent pictures of drawings with an iPod, so not going to be terrific. I am going to try to upload each from the scanner sometime soon.

30 Day Challenge

So wow, I keep saying I'm going to try to keep up with this blog, but things keep getting in the way (darn you, life!). We have had a lot happen in the last few months, but things are finally calming down enough that I think I can try to do a weekly post of whatever happens to come to mind when it happens, and a few random posts on other days of the week. And I might even have some new recipes to throw out there.

I'm starting a business (hopefully) of selling muffins and cookies to the students, teachers and other employees on the campus that we are living on so I'll be doing a whole lot of baking and experimenting with recipes! Tomorrow we are going to buy the supplies for selling them so we will see how well this goes. I sold nine today in less than fifteen minutes so that's a good sign, right?

Anyways, on to the point. I've started doing a 30 day drawing challenge that I saw on Pinterest a while back and had been promising myself that I'd do it. Well, I'm finally doing it! I started a couple of days ago, but after all of the baking I did yesterday I messed up and missed a day, so today I am posting 4 of them and then the rest of the days will  be done daily to keep myself disciplined.



So woohoo! We'll see how well this goes.

My newest obsession

So in my last post I said I was going to try and figure out what this blog is for and to get into a better routine. The routine might take time since I am still transitioning from my home to my old country/new apartment, but I'm trying my best. 

But today is going to be one of those random pats that the fashion freaks like me will enjoy if you haven't already had the pleasure (and time loss) of discovering this wonderful thing. A couple of days ago I was browsing Appsfire (also fantastic) which is an app that shows you what apps are on sale/free (temporarily and permanently) and I happened to see an app I wasn't familiar with. It was called Polyvore. I thought the name was kind of odd so I decided to check the description. A fashion app? Eh, I figured why not! The second I opened the app I realized I would not be disappointed. I had been trying to figure out how people were posting those outfits to Pinterest like the modern princesses and things like that. And I got my answer: Polyvore! For this unfamiliar with it, the nifty app lets you browse through outfits and fashion collages people have made and make your own using their stock from different websites and I believe you can upload your own content. 

Now, I'm kind of a fashion freak. I love coming up with new outfits and have a blast matching things with accessories. So for me, Polyvore is now my favorite app and I am only upset that it requires Internet so I can't design in the car. But really if you like that sort of thing and haven't already checked it out, do! It's free and loads of fun! 

This is pointless rambling

So it's been a while I guess. I know from the start it hasn't been exactly consistent but even I have to admit this is bad. I honestly have meant to post but things have been a little tough around here. It's been nonstop packing since we got back from the States and I honestly haven't found any time to do much of anything. Last week I got my wisdom teeth pulled so that's also had me pretty much incapacitated for the last week and even now I've managed to find myself feeling under the weather and awake at 2 AM. Not a huge surprise honestly. Though I have been wondering what the point of this post is. I never started this blot with the intention of writing personal stuff on it. I never really thought anyone would read any of the posts. But it has been read. And I am awake at this hour writing personal stuff. It's my blog right? I can do that. I can write about how I just found myself wandering around downstairs in the kitchen at 1:45 AM for cornstarch to try a dry shampoo remedy because I am incapable of actually getting any sleep for the second night in a row. This is my blog. I can ramble on about utter nonsense if I like. I can rant about how my kindle fire won't let me type this post in the actual compose section so I have to type in the HTML and hope it works. This is my blog after all. I apologise (sorry if I spelled that wrong but it won't even acknowledge that as a word in general.) if I offend anyone. But honestly I am still working out what I want to do with this blog. I might actually use it just to blog sometimes. You know, like most people. I might use it to test out popular pins (myths) on Pinterest and test the accuracy of them. I might use it to put recipes I've found that I enjoyed and thought others might like to try too. I might put up some of my own things I've done. I might put up artwork. I might rant. I might post photos. I might post vlogs from future trips. I might do journals from future trips. I might just talk. I might talk about stuff that matters. I might talk about pointless things. I don't really know. But one thing I do know is that I can't control whether or not you read any of it. That's your choice. You don't have to. This blog is my blog. But if you like it you can read it and contribute your own thoughts and opinions and ideas. That's your choice and your right. I cant stop you from it. So here's to spreading our wings and figuring stuff out along the way.

Shameless self-promotion

So since this is my blog, this was bound to happen. I'm here to shamelessly self-promote my shop on society6.com which is a really cool website that lets artists, like myself, to put up our work and for people to buy this as a t-shirt, sweatshirt, print, laptop cover, and a lot of other really cool mediums. The site has a lot of really cool artists that do some really cool things and the prices are pretty good for things that someone poured their soul into. To any artists out there that are looking for a place to sell their work, you should seriously check it out. The way it is set up, you just have to put your work up and Society6 does the actual work of printing and shipping your pieces, which in the end, even with the percentage they take of the profit, it is a really great way to get your things out there and gives you a chance to concentrate on your work rather than worrying about how to get it printed and shipped. 

Anyways, I'm just now getting into actually putting my stuff up on there. Right now the piece I'm working on is still a little rough, so it will be up in a couple days hopefully at the most. But I have several ideas that I'm working on and as soon as I can get them drawn up on my computer I will put them up for sale. Right now they are having an artist promotion sale, which means that you can get free shipping, but only until the 16th of June! And only if you use THIS LINK to my store! Though this offer does not include Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with insert. Sorry to anyone who was wanting to buy it that way. 

Update: I just put up the design and I am working on getting it up in as many mediums as I can right now. 

But seriously even if you do not buy anything from my shop, you should definitely check out the site. It's got some really great artists on there that have some awesome stuff!

How to keep jewelry from turning your skin green

Sorry about no post yesterday! I honestly meant to try to get one up, but unfortunately yesterday our volunteer Andrea left after three months of being with us, so I went to the airport with her to see her off and then I had school all afternoon once we finally got back. And since I am finishing school sometime next week (hopefully) things are going to be a little hectic around here, and therefor probably won't go too according to schedule. But I will try get up as many posts as I can. I already have a few planned out ahead of time, so hopefully that all works out.

Anyways, the one that I'm about to show you today is probably the easiest and for a lot of you probably the most useful if you are a budget fashion-chic kind of girl like me. Now my jewelry selection is kind of a crazy mix of a lot of different styles and materials. I don't really care if it is designer or expensive (in fact I usually shy away from dropping a lot of money on a piece of jewelry seeing as how little I really wear it) so most of my stuff is that cheap stuff that the top layer wears off after a while and starts leaving a lovely green mark on your skin that takes forever to get off or ruins a pair of really cute earrings. This has been driving me crazy for a while, because a lot of my favorite stuff is cheap that is now ugly looking because it all wore off. Well no more!

A lot of you might already know this really nifty trick, but for anyone who doesn't, here's the secret to keeping your cheap jewelry looking nice: clear nail polish. Seriously, that's it. You just put that dollar store clear nail polish on your jewelry and bam! No more worrying about those ugly green marks or your jewelry ruining! I paint it on both the inside and outside of my hoops and bracelets because a lot of the time my bracelets tend to turn copper all over. But seriously, for a fashion-savvy girl on a budget this is a huge saver.

Fake Tattoo

So being the wonderfully wild child that I enjoy being I got to thinking about tattoos. A friend of mine who is a volunteer for three months here to El Salvador decided she wanted to surprise her boyfriend for April Fool's Day. To me it was totally a no brainer! I suggested doing a fake tattoo to mess with him because he's not really a tattoo person. She thought it was a great idea and so tonight we set to work. Well, being the Pinterest addict that I am, I had seen a fake tattoo tutorial a while back that I had been meaning to try out and thought this would be a great time to try it. Unfortunately it called for a gel pen, which we gleefully ignored as we did not have one. So we set about drawing out the butterfly she had picked out for the special occasion but no dice. The ink just was not taking to her skin for some odd reason. Well, it turns out we were using the wrong pens and so we had to find a new way of doing it. After searching for a bit she happened upon a tutorial for it, but again we were missing a somewhat major component. So we thought about it and decided we would substitute a pen in instead. And so here is how we went about it:

What you need: a rag to clean up, talcum powder, rubbing alcohol, cotton balls/pads, warm water, tracing paper, a pencil, ballpoint pen and scissors

A bottle is also good to have if you're doing one on the wrist to rest on
I accidentally forgot the pencil and ballpoint pen in the picture. Forgive me

 Step one: Draw your design first with pencil. It does not need to be too heavy or thick. You might have to play with the design a bit to get what looks best to you.

 Step 2: Use the cotton swabs/pads and alcohol to clean the area you are going to "tattoo." This prevents oils and things like that from messing up the ink. Wait for it to dry a bit before moving on to step 3.

Step 3: Cut out the design with enough space around it to keep your design in tact then place it where you plan to have your tattoo.

Step 4: Dip the rag in warm water then place it onto your paper for approximately 30 seconds.

At this point you should have a faint outline of the pencil design on your skin

 Step 5: Wipe off the excess water from the surrounding area and wait for the prepped area to dry.  Now using a black ballpoint pen go over the design again carefully. We accidentally used one with a blue tint the first time and that looked bad.

Your "tattoo" should look something like this right now

 Step 6: Pour talcum powder onto the area carefully, trying not to spill everywhere like I managed to do every time.

Now wait for about another 30 seconds to a minute for the talcum powder to set in before wiping it off with your hand or if you have it a makeup brush.

This should be your finished product! 

 Hopefully if all went correctly you should have an at least somewhat legit looking tattoo for a few days. (we're not positive on how long it will last seeing as it will probably vary.)

Our lovely test tattoo