Teacher Clothes

Well, it sure has been a LONG time - what can I say? Life caught up with me, school, work, business, and GETTING ENGAGED! <3 So let's just say  I've had a lot on my plate! I'm going to try to get back to doing this regularly, but we'll see how the year progresses! So I am into my FINAL year of college (YAY!). As I've mentioned before, I'm an elementary education major, so at my college, I get to spend two days a week in an elementary school this semester and five days a week next semester, which I've been really excited about! I've been stocking up on clothes all summer long, so that I can look professional in my school! I was not, however, anticipating being in a school that is EXTREMELY conservative. My skirts and dresses can only be an inch from my knee, button up shirts have to be buttoned to the top button and here's the worst part - NO crop, skinny pants! In all of my searches for teacher clothes this summer, pants were the hardest thing for me to find. I've always loved skirts and dresses - I'd wear them every day if I could, however, I know that's not practical as a teacher. So, I FINALLY found professional looking pants that I liked and that I thought looked good on me, but guess what they are? Crop skinnies. When I read that rule on my teacher handbook I wanted to cry. But get this, I can't wear crop, skinny, professional looking pants, BUT I COULD WEAR FLIP FLOPS! I'm not a fan of flip flops in the first place - I much prefer sandals, and even those I don't have many of. But in what world do FLIP FLOPS look more professional than skinny crop pants? So - in light of all of this, I'm starting a new series called "How to not dress like a nun in a conservative work place".

So, this was my first day - the dress is sleeveless, which, of course is not allowed, so I paired it with a short black cardigan, skinny black belt, gold and black pointed toe flats, and of course, my "teacher bag" that will hold my life every time I go to school.

Dress - Target

Cardigan - Old Navy

Flats - Old Navy 

Bag - Big Buddha 

Okay - I think that's all I've got for today. Like I said, I'm going to try to be better about getting on here, but I make no promises! 

<3

Long Distance Love Mugs

Oh goodness gracious! It has been a tremendously long time! I always keep telling myself that I'm going to post here more often...and then I don't.. but, really, I promise this time I'm going to really try to make a concious effort! Okay, so what's new? There's only 3 weeks left of school! I literally could not be more ready for summer! (Even though I'm taking three summer classes and generally have a really busy summer) Also, I've started an Etsy where I'll be selling all of my crafts because I know from experience that we all lead very busy lives and just don't always have time to make the crafts we want to. So really, I'm trying to help ya'll out! So, I thought I'd tell you about my newest product, that's pretty near and dear to my heart.

 

So today, my boyfriend moved to Ohio for work, and I'm stuck here till I graduate. Boo. So I'd seen this idea for mugs and thought it was adorable, so I got to work. I was obsessed with how they turned out! So he got one, and I kept the other and now when we have our morning (or afternoon, we're both total coffee nuts) coffee, we can think about each other!

So, if you are interested in getting yourself one, check out my Etsy: Sparkle Shine Crafts, and while you're there, feel free to check everything else out! Help me buy some plane tickets! (;

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SparkleShineCrafts

Louise



Fashion!

Okay, so I've decided that I also want to start posting some of my favorite outfits on here to share, so that people can come up with similar, fun styles!

So this is one of my FAVORITE outfits! I saw this dress at Target the other day and just had to have it! So, if you have a fun striped dress, here are some things you could pair it with. I wore a black forever21 cardigan because it was still a little chilly here. Then I paired it with sparkly tights from American Eagle. Can I just say, I LOVE tights with dresses! They are such a great way to make dresses that might be a tiny bit too short look super classy! Then I also paired it with a pair of classic gray Anne Taylor pumps. To add a little fun and color, I added this awesome bracelet by Betsey Johnson

and also my favorite lilac cross body bag, also from Target!

Oh my goodness! It's been so long!

Well hey there! It has been a LONG time since I've gotten on here. With a busy Summer and my first semester of college out of the way, I'm ready to get back on track and post on this WAY more regularly! (I know I've probably said that before, but I promise I really mean it this time!)

Okay, So, these are some fun little initials that I made for two of the kindergarten teachers that I helped last year. They are super fun, easy little crafts and the ladie's seemed SO excited about them (they might have just been acting, but if so, they're really good actresses and should maybe give up the teaching thing?) So, if you want to make something like this, you will need :
A frame (I got these in a pack of two at Michael's for like 8 dollars, I love bargains!)
Foam board that fits in the frame
Aleene's clear gel tacky glue
buttons of assorted shapes and sizes
pencil

Okay, So I googled the initial I needed, found a bubble letter that I liked and then made it the right size before printing it off. Once it was printed, I cut out the letter and then traced it onto my foam board (if you're good at drawing bubble letters, you can totally skip this step, I've just always been super terrible at them). So then comes the long and kind of tedius part... although I guess it depends on how much of a perfectionist you are. I personally laid out all of the buttons how I thought I wanted them and then picked them up one by one and put glue on them before glueing them into place. So it kind of took forever, but if you've got good company or a good TV show going, it passes quickly. So once you have everything glued down, let it dry for a little bit and there you go! You have a super cute gift or wall decoration or whatever you want it for! :)

Christmas Wreath

Hey everyone!  Today, I'm going to talk about a Christmas project that I did. This was one of the kits that I got on clearance after Christmas day. It came with all the materials, so really all that I had to do was glue it all together, but it was so cute that I couldn't resist sharing it, and although it came in a kit, I'm pretty sure that you could pretty easily buy some felt and cut out the same shapes and things!

I would HIGHLY recommend putting the wire ring on a piece of newspaper or something before glueing the felt pieces down, because otherwise there will be glue, EVERYWHERE! That's it for today!(:

More Shoes!

I know, I know, it's been a long time! This summer has been CRAZY busy.
So today, I'm going to show you some more shoes I did. They are also fake Toms from Wet Seal, but they are done differently than the last ones.

So for these, I bought a yard of lace at Wal-Mart, and then a roll of lacy looking ribbon. I cut the ribbon and lace to fit the shoe and then attached it with fabric glue, and viola! Oh! and I painted underneath where I put the lace, just to give it a different look, otherwise it would have looked all red underneath the lace. I used silver paint, simply because it was the closest thing I had to white, and they turned out pretty well. (:

graduation, and shoes!

I am so excited! Graduation is three days away! The middle of my junior year, my best friend and I started a countdown to see how many days we had left. Back then, it was in the four hundreds and that seemed like it would never come, and now, here I am three days away from it, and I remember 400 like it was nothing! The year really has flown by! Last year, I decided that I was determined to find an AMAZING pair of shoes for graduation night, because that is all anyone really sees anyways. So in January of this year, I found my shoes. They are blue, yellow and white colorblock, platform pumps, and I love them! and they have been sitting in my closet since then, and I am SO excited to get to wear them out Friday night! Anyways, this isn't all about my graduation shoes. It is also about my favorite pair of every day shoes.

These are my "custom Toms". except they aren't Toms. Not because I don't think it's a great organization and idea, but mostly because I'm cheap, and I give to other charities as well. So anyways, these shoes were plain gray when I got them. I then painted on the turquoise with acrylic paint and wrote on it with a sharpie pen. They were so easy, are so comfortable, and I get So many compliments on them! I just love them!

Peace Banner

I know, it's been forever! I've been perpetually busy, but I promise, at some point, probably during the summer, I will be better! For now, here is one really cute Christmas project I did recently.

I went to Hancock fabric the day after Christmas, (I definitely recommend going shopping for Christmas stuff then, just saying) and I saw these adorable little crafts. They were packages, so I can't really take much credit, but I can take some because I did actually put it all together. So, this was a bunch of felt pieces, and I used the picture and my craft glue and put it together.

and there's the finished product! I bet with some good scissors, stencils and felt, it could be pretty easily remade too!

Another gem initial

Welp, it's time for another one!
This one is different, and I really cannot decide which one I like better, I think I like them equally, buttttt I'm not sure. So anyways, you basically just start out the same, foam board and stencil of your letter (Mine is K because I made it for my other sister's birthday, and her name starts with a K, duh). Then you take some of these....

It's a giant bucket of circular gems, and when I say giant, I mean GIANT. So you take the gems and lay them on the letter you traced. You get them all situated perfect, and then you glue them down. I guess if you're more of a spontaneous person you could just glue them down without planning it out first, but I'm just too much of a planner to be able to do that. Anyways, So you get them all glued down and it looks like this....

and then you take one of these....

and put the foam board in it,

And there you have it! another beautiful homemade present! (:

jewel art

Well hi there! Today I thought I'd share about what I made for my sister for her birthday.Her birthday was in January and it's now March and she still hasn't gotten it... but I'm not really worried about her seeing it because of this because...well... she just never gets online. Ever. So I'm pretty sure I'm safe.
So, here's the deal, my sister's favorite color is pink and she's all about fashion and gems and jewels. So, for her birthday I wanted to make her something that kind of represented her, and this is what I came up with.

Here's how it's done. First, I got some foam board (I swear, it's my favorite thing ever when it comes to crafting!). Then I picked out my jewels, I got a really cool pack with all of the different shapes in it. Then I printed out a stencil of the letter J and traced it onto my foam board. Then, I arranged all of the jewels on there how I thought I wanted them, and then I one by one picked them up and stuck them on with some Eileen's tacky glue. It was tedious, but so worth it. To finish off, I got one of my favorite cheap frames, and framed it.

And there you have it! (:

Sheriff badges

Hi there guys! It's been far too long, I know! So tonight, I'm going to show you one of the cutest things I've done, and I really cannot take that much credit for it.
I'm an aide in the kindergarten class room at my school, and in it, we have every day what we call sheriffs. They are basically the teacher's little helper for the day. So, to show that one gets the huge honor of being a sheriff, my teacher has what she calls... sheriff badges. But unfortunately, they never looked like badges. They were usually a piece of index card with a sticker saying sheriff on it, with yarn tied around so it's a necklace. She always had some in her sheriff badge basket though, that were shiny gold stars that said sheriff, and almost everyday a kid would ask for it, but she had no way to attach them to the child, so it just sat in the basket. So, one day, my mom and I were in Hobby Lobby, just wandering around looking down all the aisles when I saw these.

and I just about died. Still there was no way to attach them, but I KNEW I had to get them. So I picked up five, and went back to the jewelry type section, and there I found little adhesive pins. I snapped up a pack and when I got home, I stuck them on and took them to school the next day.

My teacher was *quite* excited and I'm pretty proud to say that my kids LOVED them, and still do!

It's been a while!

So for anyone who was regularly reading my stuff, you must have given up on me, and I Don't blame you! But I'm back for now, I've just been so super busy. So here is my LAST Christmas present.

So you cant really tell from the picture how awesome it is, but it's a map. My dad is in the real estate business and I put a pin on everything he has, and then made the little sign to go underneath it. It was probably the easiest one that I did because all i had to do was get a local map laminated and put it in a frame, but I think it turned out really cute. (:

52 Reasons

Hello All!
Sorry it's been so long. Oh the life of a working senior, I had no idea that it could possibly get this busy. Anyways, I'm nearing the end of my Christmas present crafts, but have no fear, I have been working just to do other crafts too! Anyways, I have two left to show, so today I'm gonna show what I made for my boyfriend (and keep you in suspense about the last one ;) ) So, I saw this on Pinterest and thougth I'd put my own spin on. It's a deck of cards, each with one reason why you love your significant other written on there.

So anyways, I cut out some paper and wrote all my reasons down, but I didn't just use a plain deck of cards. As I have mentioned before, I am going to be a cat lady, and I just happened to have kitty cat cards, so that's what I made this out of. It was just a little way to put my own personal touch (besides obviously the reasons...) on my hunnys present! By the way, if you are going to try this, I would recommend NOT using bottle glue, it makes the marker run.. So I don't know what I would recommend really because I am generally NOT a fan of glue sticks, but they may be the best option in this case!

Boys presents

Whew! Sorry it's been so long, it's been a crazy past couple of days! Anywho, I thought I'd finally show some boy presents that I made (obviously, since they are boys... well technically men.. their presents were not as fun..) So, I made this

For my big brother. The quote just makes a lot of sense for him, he's always doing something new and crazy. I made the same thing for my other brother, except in a different color, and his said a quote by Einstein that said, "everyone's a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will always believe that it is stupid", which I really just think is a great quote, and he loves fish, so it worked! (:

Basically as you can see, they weren't hard, all I needed was the quotes, some foam board (literally my new favorite craft material), some markers, and some frames ( I got mine in a set of 2 at Micheals for like 7 dollars, I'm officially never buying any other kind of frames!)

 So I got my foam board, and then I penciled my quote on. Both brothers have two sides really on their foam board, because i couldn't erase my pencil well enough and i was trying reallllllly hard to be a perfectionist. and then i just went over it in marker, I think I went over it twice though, to make sure it was good and dark and thick, and then I put it in the frames and BAM! two boy presents, done!(:

Back to crafts

Okay, as promised, I am back to talking about my crafty Christmas presents! (and beware, I've already started some new ones for birthdays and other things throughout the year (;  )


So, I made this one for my mom,

Clearly, It's upside down, and I have no idea how to make it flip around, Sooo, I guess just turn your head(:

Anyways, it's another cross stitch, you'll find I do quite a few of them. We got it on sale for a couple of bucks at Micheals, and I worked on it for.. a month or so, but i had to do it in secret so that it would be a surprise, and that was quite difficult, but it got done(:

I just want to say one more thing totally un craft related, God is AMAZING. I've been having a pretty tough week and weekend, and i have a serious problem with wanting to control everything, and my current situation is nothing that i can really control at all, so i'm sort of having a hard time, and last night, my boyfriend and I were doing our daily devotionals, and it was literally exactly what I needed to hear, as was the lesson we had on Wednesday night, and almost every song that played on my iPod today while it was on a random shuffle. It's great knowing that even in hard times, when I have no idea what's going on, why it's happenning, or what to do, God is always there for me, and I really don't have to try to be in control of everything.

With all that being said, Have a wonderful week!(: 

One quick rant

Okay, I promise I will get back to my crafts soon, but first, one rant. So yesterday in school, a boy was talking about a girl on his facebook who was rather well endowed, and he just kept talking about it, in very vulgar ways, and then he even went on to say, yeah,  I'd bang her. So I have two things to say about that, besides, EW. A). Words like bang and pound should NOT be used, they are DISGUSTING and most girls feel that way. B). DO NOT talk about random girls like that, it's demeening and gross and girls do not like it! It's just nasty.
So that's it, my rant for now, I'm done.

Happy New Year!

Happy New year to all! I hope that everyone had as great of a new years eve as I did and can have a wonderful year ahead as well!

So, I'm gonna take a break from my craft presents today, and talk about something I saw in Target (which is my FAVORITE store ever, by the way) anyways, So I've mentioned before that I want to be a teacher, and for some strange reason, I've always been obsessed with teacher type supplies. Pretty pens, pencils, cool marker, fun folders and binders, you name it, I love it. I blame it on my oldest sister, she's the same way. So I always get sidetracked by the stationary aisle in the stores. I've also had some weird obsession with clip boards. This one I really have no explanation for, I think I'm just weird.
So in Target, there was this thing, and I saw it, and was immediately obsessed!

So from there, they kind of just look like ordinary clipboards with cool patterns on them that are made from recycled materials (hey, who doesn't love saving the environment?!) So I picked it up, and to my surprise,

BAM! It opened up and had a whole little notebook and pockets inside! I was AMAZED! (It really doesn't take much to excite me) I just thought that it was so stinking cool!

So I rattled my brain trying to think of why in the world a high school senior would need something awesome like that. I haven't thought of any reason yet, and I walked out of Target that day without it, but let me tell you, as soon as I come up with a somewhat reasonable reason to have one, I will!!

Happy New year!

Melted Crayon Art!

I'm pretty much obbessed with how this one turned out!
I mean, I loved the elephant too, but after it messed up the first time, well, this one pretty much won my heart. Obviously it's all the same steps as the elephant, but instead of drawing an elephant, I had to buy these flowers at Micheals.. They were the most realistic looking ones that I could find, and I LOVED them! and the BEST part was, my sister, who i was a little concerned that she might not like it that much.. They're very different, I knew that my sister that got the elephant would love it, but to be quite honest, I was terrified to give this one. BUT she LOVED it and went on about how awesome it was! I was *SO* excited!
So, anyone is looking for a relatively fun, easy idea to give someone, especially teachers and stuff (which of course neither of my sisters are.. I just thought they were cool) I would highly recommend this whole melted crayon art! (:

Happy Day after Boxing Day!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did, I love having all of my family together!

So since I did an all handmade Christmas (except for my boyfriend because that would have been IMPOSSIBLE) so I did a lot of searching on Pinterest.

This is what I made my sister, it, of course, is pinterest inspired, with a little twist.

My sister is obsessed with elephants, so I had seen this on pinterest with a girl holding an umbrella, which i also thought was really cute, and I was planning on doing, but one day I was driving home and it hit me, She loves elephants! I wasn't quite sure what to do with the idea, because rainging on elephants is kind of random, so I told my mom and boyfriend and asked for ideas. My mom had a really good one... in theory, she said that we could kind of funnel the drippings down to the elephants trunk and make it look like it was sprouting from the trunk. So I went out and bought two 96 packs of crayons and sorted out all of the blues. Then I got some foam board (which I am now obsessed with and will use for EVERYTHING) and a stencil of an elephant. I put the elephant on and let me tell you, I was pretty proud of that thing, it was shiny and black, it almost looked like it was a sticker, and I am certainly no artist, so I never even dreamed that it would look as good as it did, anyways, so then I glued on all of my blues, in random order. and then, we put some painters tape from the trunk to the end of the board and my boyfriend, being the great guy he is, held some rulers on the tape to make sure we caught anything that was trying to go past the tape. Then I started the blow dryer, I really don't understand how the air comes out of that blow dryer because I could NOT for the life of me control where my drips were going. anyway, we got it all done, took of the rulers and tape and looked. It was a PURE disaster, I was so upset, because it was so ugly. We rushed out to a local like cheapo store, hoping to get more crayons for about the same price we got them at wal-mart. we got there, and it was more expensive to get a sixty four pack there than it was at wal-mart. and A) I am seriously cheap, and hate to spend my money and B) homemade presents are NOT that much cheaper, so the cash flow was running low. So we went back home and I just redrew my elephant, planning to go to wal-mart the next day. Of course, my elephant looked not nearly as good, but I just had to deal with it. We got the crayons and retried, this time just letting it rain on the elephant, which is what you see up there. So much better, and my sister was THRILLED!

So that's it for now, my mom and I are rushing out to get the last of the cheap ribbon and wrapping paper for next year, it's really fun to make the presents pretty!

I hope everyone has a great day!(:

Quote Books

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

Okay, I know for sure that I can post this one, because my friends are all baddd and already opened their presents. This was another idea that I found on pinterest.. I made three, but I forgot to take a picture of the other one before I gave it away. They're litte "books" with silly and sweet quotes and sayings in them, mostly about friendship, although the one not pictured had a whole page about mustaches.. for some reason that friend is obsessed with them. Anywho, I went and bought some cardstock, like in November planning to do them, and actually started working on them on like.. Monday.. can you say procrastination?
Continuing, then I looked up different quotes and sayings.. That was actually the hardest part for me, because I didn't want them to be too sappy, but I didn't want them to be totally stupid either, so after two or three days of searching, I had found enough. Then I download some AWESOME fonts on my computer, put the sayings in different fonts, and printed them out on my pretty cardstock. I hole punched them, tied some ribbon and added stickers (although I started running out of the same ones towards the end:()I'm pretty excited to say that they turned out like ten times better than I thought they would, and so far, my friends have LOVED them!

So Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great day and enjoy it with family and friends!
And don't forget the real reason for the season!(: