Stick to it.. and learn how to make white glue

I told y'all about my room make-over in this post. I haven't been able to find a cheap or free dresser so I've put that project on hold in favor of a project that will take less time: customizing my switch-plates and outlet covers! I liked the one with the pages of books and it looked relatively easy, so I said, "Why not?". I decided I would post a how to with how it worked out for me, so I went and gathered materials, only to find that I had no white glue. I was going to give up, but I decided I would find out how to make my own white glue. And I'll share how to do it with my lovely and faithful readers. So here's how:

1. Materials: coffee filter, baking soda, vinegar (I used apple cider), milk, measuring cup, tablespoon, and two bowls or cups
2. Measure out 1/4 cup of milk and pour it into a bowl
3. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the milk
4. Mix it until it starts to curdle (For about 1 minute)
5. Put a coffee filter into the second bowl and pour the curdled milk into it. What I think is vinegar will drain and you will be left with what it apparently "whey" after about an hour (it took 50 minutes for me)
6. Pick up the coffee filter, hold it in one hand while you attempt to rinse out the bowl you just used or get a new bowl and scoop the whey into it. Add a pinch of baking soda and stir it up. If you don't get desirable results check out this site for tips.

I hope you got great glue! Maybe use it to make a custom switch-plate. Does this Spark an Idea? (If you don't get this reference, open up any article on Ehow.)

Until next time, 
xoxo Ife

Tips for Productive Shopping

I went shopping on Saturday and got loads of cute stuff. A lot of times when I go shopping, I don't get very many things because I don't know what I need/want. I used the below book to decide some necessary clothes and made a list of things I wanted based on that.

My list included:

• Jeans (1-2)
• Graphic Tees (4)
• Belts (4)
• Casual Dresses (2-3)
• Skirts (4)
• Neutral Cardigans 
• (P)leather Jacket
• Shirts (5)
• Rain Boots
• Boots

I didn't get everything on my list, but it's alright. Here are some tips to make the most of your shopping trips:

1. Decide how many of each item you want
2. Define which items you want
3. Wear clothes that are easy to change into and out of
4. Start the day off with a hearty breakfast, especially if you will be walking around a large mall or store
5. Think of what you can wear a piece of clothing with
6. Search for inspiration on blogs and cool websites like this
7. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes

I'll post what I got later today.. Stay tuned 

Pinterest

I decided to jump on the Pinterest bandwagon. And guess what? I am loving it. I used to have all sorts of fanciful ideas for crafts but never really completed them. Now, with Pinterest it all feels so do-able.

I am going to give my room a make-over! I am starting with my dresser. I am going to buy a cheap plain dresser:

Like this 

And transform it with chalkboard paint that I might tint purple to match my room decor:

Add cool drawer pulls:

.. And yeah. That's all I've got so far. But I will definitely keep y'all up to date on my progress. If you are going to make-over your room, and need some dresser inspiration, check out this website: http://www.casasugar.com/How-Transform-Dresser-17903149

 

How to make an English Binder Cover

I'm sure you guys saw my previous post on my binder covers and were jealous, angry and confused. Don't worry; I am here to show you how you can get binder covers as awesome as mine.

Final Product

Materials Needed:

• Photoshop or Microsoft Word (Photoshop preferred. Remember that you can download a free 30 day trial.)
• Creativity
• Starting Picture

Directions:

1. Download your starting picture. I am using one from deviantart.com: http://ome-13.deviantart.com/art/English-Binder-179043247
2. Open the picture on Photoshop.
3. I will assume you are using my starting picture. So crop out the binder spine with the crop function (The fourth button.)
4. Right now the picture is pretty boring. It needs some color. What I did is highlight random words, but you can also add a border, underline, or whatever. Since we didn't take the time to type this ourselves, we'll have to add a shape, which will require finesse and precision. Haha just kidding, it's not that hard.

• Create a new rectangle shape. 
• Drag it over one of the words you want to highlight. 
• In the layers path on the right, bring down the opacity until it is to your liking. 
• Duplicate the layer and move it over whatever other words you want highlighted. 
• To change the size, transform the shape (Ctrl-T) and drag the corners to an appropriate size. The process is similar for an underline. (If you want to underline, do the same thing just create a line shape instead of a rectangle.
• Add your name, using the Arial Black font. If you want it to be similar to the text "English.", make it all lowercase and don't forget the period.
• Do the same thing in Word, but copy and paste instead of duplicating the layer and all that jazz.

   

Why I love Photoshop

Hello world! The school year is fast approaching, and I was looking for cool binder covers. Thanks to the vastness of the world wide web, I was able to find some great inspiration and key pieces for awesome binder covers for my core classes. I figured you guys might be looking for some binder covers as well, so I says to myself, I says, "I should post the binder covers that I made with the wonderful Photoshop CS6." So here they are, along with links to great websites. I will provide tutorials later.

Links:

http://www.deviantart.com/

http://www.dafont.com

http://www.rgbstock.com

http://www.patternoftheday.com
http://modernkindergarten.blogspot.com

http://www.sodahead.com

English

History

Math

Science

 Jealous? My binders are going to be really cool! These inserts were really easy to make though. As I said earlier, I will be providing tutorials in later posts. I hope you guys like them!