"You'll have your ups and downs..."

 

   "But don't let them push you down, cause time is all you've got now.
Go make the best of everything you wanna be, with ambitions pushing forward , your dreams upon your shoulders. Though impossible it seems, it's time to just believe."

   I have had a rather good evening, despite the gross and dreary day. I made a lemon passion cake, which was made of four separate parts; the cake, lemon mousse, sweet cream, and whipped cream. It took quite a while to make, and i despised waiting for the cake to cool. So, I took a few pictures of myself and discovered settings on my mother's camera that work well for me.

   Oh! On a side note, I made the necklace that I'm wearing in the first and third pictures  :)

Find a way to smile and never let it get awayyyy :D

 

I dislike it when people hang on to the bad things in life and focus on them, rather than seeing the beauty of it. How hard is it really to smile now and again? How hard is it to look before you and see the people that love you and just want you to be happy? I don't find it that hard :) If it weren't for the wonderful people in my life, i wouldn't be happy. But because of them, I am always happy! (most of the time, anyway.)

With that aside, I am in the best mood today! I made a necklace yesterday that I think came out rather well, I even made the pendant on it! :D Maybe I will take pics of it sometime, but I need a model :P Yesterday I also reoragnized all of my beads!

Before:
 

After:
 

Doesn't it look better? 

Oh, and here's a couple pictures of the necklace and bracelet that I made Jen :)

I've been thinking...

     There's been something that's been on my mind a lot within the past few days. When I started this whole jewelry making thing back in december-ish, I never would have thought I would come as far as I have. And, I'm not saying that I'm some hot-shot big jewelry maker now, because I am no where even near that, but with the help of my best friend, the guidance of my mom, and the support of my boyfriend along with friends and family, I feel like I have really gone further than I ever thought I would. 

     It began with one inspiration. One simple little idea that Shellbee and I really wanted to try. I would have never thought that I would have accumulated so many supplies either! I am running out of space for it all! So far, I have filled my pretty chest that my mom got me for Christmas, and a box with a bunch of lil boxes and lids and containers in it. 

     I'm actually feeling really good about this! One of my problem area's though, is that if I do choose to sell any, I have no idea what to sell them for! I find myself aiming pretty low ($3-$7). I have been told that the one's I have on Etsy right now, are under-priced. But people still aren't buying, so why raise the price?

     Today, I made a necklace and bracelet combo for my mother's dear friend Jen, who is pretty awesome. She reminds me so much of Shellbee! I had to take a quick trip to the store to get a wider variety (size-wise) of beads for Jen's necklace and future ones. Soon after I was finished with her bracelet, I finally finished my sissy Maddy's bracelet (after failing once before) and got it packaged up all cute-like and wrote a little note to go along with it :)

    I hope that soon I can learn to work with wire so I can move along with the key project! But, I need a wire working book or something, I always fail! XP

New necklaces and baclelets!

Necklace that I made my sissy Maddy

Dragonfly necklace

  

Whale bracelet

 

  

Pink bracelet

 

 

Happy people shining all the time.

 

Starla 

Jeremiah

 

Shellbee and Elizibeth

Gah! I absolutely love taking pictures of people! I love being able to capture people's inner and outer beauty all in one beautiful shot.

French music is amazing!

Somehow, I came across a really great french pop singer named Yelle! I know what some of the words mean in her songs :D Her music is very catchy and addicting! And off of a video of her's that I found, I found some really interesting dancers dancing to one of her songs! They make me giggle :D

You must listen/look!

Teenage Ignorance.

Am I completely crazy for hating teenage ignorance with a passion? I also hate it when people have excuses for everything, and when teenagers use the excuse "I'm just being a teenager" or act like they're so freaking superior and rant about how they are an "adult" and can do whatever they want. `So many teenagers that I know act in such selfish ways! It's all about them and they don't really care about how their actions will affect they people that they claim to care about so much. For example, because of a friend's actions and carelessness, little do they know just how soon things may change...

{Venting over, please excuse my complaints.}

Day One of the Challenge!

 

   My fingers are cut up and messed up with super glue, but it was worth it to make a bracelet and two necklaces that I think are rather pretty. It's kind of difficult working with hemp cord, but it ends up looking so good! My trick for keeping the ends from fraying was periodically using bowstring wax on the end of it, and it worked wonderfully! It also gets frustrating working with beads in only three colors, but it has always ended up looking pretty.

   Anyways, Shellbee and I ended up doing challenge number six before the other five! But, that's okay! We will go back to the other ones next! :) I will post some pictures of the bracelets tomorrow as soon as I get the chance!

  Since we got a project from the challenge done today, that makes today the official starting date of our challenge! Which also makes May 21, 2010 our deadline! Which is a month after Shellbee's 18th birthday and ten days before my 16th! Wowza!

A little on the rough side.

 

 

Bellow is an excerpt  of a project that I began working a while ago, I have not yet named it. I know that several people will not like this, but that's okay. It's just something new. Oh, and that's me in the picture! From a bout a year ago.

Challenge: Accepted!

 

      We have officially accepted the jewelry-making challenge that i mentioned in this blog post! We will be trying new things and expanding our knowledge! Hopefully we will begin this challenge at the beginning of next week! And when we do, we  will give ourselves exactly 3 months to successfully complete all 10 projects.

    Of course, in order to prove our commitment and faithfulness to this challenge, we will post pictures of the completed projects as we do them! This should be interesting  :D

Inspiration Avenue: Reflection

Mirror mirror on the wall,

Why cant I see myself at all?

A lifeless reflection, With no affection,

A bittersweet sense, With a sad commence,

Mirror mirror on the wall, Why cant I hear the voices call?

I’m stuck in time in a phrase, The beginning of this new phase,

Blinded by the dark, Leaving a mark,

No trace, No pace,

Just a timeless revere,

Where reality is not near

Mirror Mirror on the wall, Its like you stalk me in this hall,

Wherever I am your reflection still shows,

How I really feel nobody knows,

You keep on going, And never stop showing,

But your curse is not bound, When my facade is not found,

So mirror mirror on the wall, I declare you and your curse to fall,

I found myself, my true painting, No longer do I stay waiting,

So now I leave you broken mirror, Shattered on the ground I have no tears.

Never again will I turn to you When I just dont know who to be"

My Inspiration Avenue challenge of this week :)

Don't you know that you're beautiful?

That song has been stuck in my head for two days straight!It just makes you feel good about yourself because the lyrics are true. We always blame ourselves, but we shoudn't, we're never alone, and most of us don't know just how beautiful we are. 

Today has been a pretty good day. I have gotten many things done, only one of which was on my to-do list from Thursday. I made a neckalce for my sissy who lives in Missouri, I haven't seen her for almost two years :( I spent about4-5 hours on it and endured two painful headaches, but it looks great :D Probably one of my best yet! When i was done with that, I did a quick little necklace for myself which consisted of a long-ish chain, a clasp, and two charms (One saying "Jacob" and one saying "Kayla".

Before any of the necklace making, I spent the morning/afternoon at my old neighbor's house. I took many pictures! I just love how the lighting is and how photogenic her daughter and her daughter's friend are. Of course, I will post a few pictures just for grins and giggles :)

 

  

 

We all have things we need to do.

    Don't you ever feel like there are so many things that you could be doing, yet there is something keeping you from doing them? I'm having a whole day like that. So, i figure that maybe if  I make a to-do list, i will actually get things done!

• Write an essay for Journalism.
• Finish two biology quizes.
• Work on some more school work until I am ahead in each class
• Practice working with wire
• Bake some more muffins!
• Replace the ribbon on a necklace with chain or hemp cord
• Clean up my computer desktop
• Clean up and organize my room
• Email teachers back
• Mail off the prize that a lady won in the One World One Heart giveaway
• Write a chapter or two in my book

   Now, that's not too many things, is it? XD

Mmm, how I love the smell of muffins in the oven

 

       So, I think i have found yet another love, baking.  That's all i have wanted to do lately! And with no more bottles to do bottle necklaces and no tools to do my other project, baking has been a good thing to fill my free time up with. In three days (only one full day)  I have made one cake and five different types of muffins, all from scratch. I made an orange chiffon cake, peanut butter and chocolate muffins, two types of blueberry and yogurt muffins, a weird sugar kind, and Nutella and peanut butter muffins. I know that they are rather simple, but I still love making them!

    When I get the chance to, I'm going to make panda bread! I'm going to use an awesome recipe originally written in Japanese. (No, panda bread is not made out of pandas :P )As a matter of fact, all of the recipes that I have used so far were originally written in either Chinese or Japanese :D

(BTW! It looks like me and my best friend are going to move forth with the challenge! But, we'll see!)

   

Inspiration Avenue Challenge! Fruit!

Fruit!

I'm an odd duck! Well, my mother participates in the weekly challenges of Inspiration Avenue, and after she mentioned this week's task, which is "Fruit", i decided to try a lil something somethin. 

Here is my apple lady! She's hip, right? Mhm! She's a little on the large side, but more to love, right?