⭕️Stranger Things⭕️

Hello everyone! I hope that you’re all having a great day! So we need talk about something that I have been completely obsessed with, Stranger Things! 

I’m pretty sure that almost everyone has heard about, or watches the Netflix original series Stranger Things. I first heard about the show back in 2016. It was all I saw on social media, and people were talking about it nonstop. I thought that Stranger Things looked pretty interesting so I started reading a little bit about the show. I didn’t know if it was something that I would like but after watching it, I completely wrong about that! After episode one, I was obsessed! 

Stranger Things is seriously such an amazing show! I’ve never watched anything like it! The plot line is incredible and very well written. The characters are really unique and original, and all of the actors/actresses do an amazing job of portraying them. The overall aesthetic of the show is very cool. It's pretty amazing how even though the show is filmed now, it really makes you feel as though you’re watching something that was filmed back in the 80’s. To sum it up; Stranger Things is really awesome!

 So inspired by this insanely amazing show, we’re going to be making Stranger Things tees! 

        Here’s what you’ll need!

• Any color t-shirt that you'd prefer.

•  Black fabric paint. (You can also use iron-on letters, but I prefer to use paint.)

• Any kind of cardboard to slip in between your shirt, you just need something that will stop the paint from leaking through while you’re painting the design. (If you're going to use an iron-on letter instead, you won't need the cardboard.) 

•  A pencil

• A thin paintbrush (you won't need this if your using iron-on letters)

• *Optional*  Letter Stencils. You can buy letter stencils at any craft store like Hobby Lobby, Micheals, and Joann Fabrics. You can even find stencils at places like Walmart and Target. If you can't find stencils you can trace or print letters and cut them out, or you can handwrite the letters on.

• Side note: when purchasing the fabric paint, I wouldn’t recommend getting puffy paint because after washing the shirt a few times, it will start to peel off. You also want to be careful with fabric paint markers because those tend to wash off after a while as well. I use fabric paint a lot and find that the regular fabric paint in the bottle works the best. 

For the design, I wanted to do the classic Stranger Things logo. I decided to paint the words in black instead of red because I wanted to use a white shirt and I felt like you could really see the black on the shirt better. I also thought it would be cool to have something on the back of the shirt so I started thinking about how much I love the show and this design came to mind: "On a scale of 1 to 10 how obsessed are you with stranger things? Eleven.”

Chapter One  

Stencils and writing

This design is really easy! The only thing that you'll need to do if your using iron-on letters; is to make sure that you place everything evenly. Once everything is exactly where you want it, follow the ironing directions on the back of your letters. This is very important because you want to make sure that you're doing everything correctly when ironing the letters on. After you iron your letters on,  you're done! 

Now if you want to use paint like I did, the first thing that you want to do is iron your shirt. This is optional but it will make it a lot easier to paint on because it will give you a smooth surface to work with. Once that's done put the cardboard in-between your shirt. After that, get your stencil ready. Using a stencil is totally optional, but it will give you clear guidelines when painting. I actually chose to handwrite the letters on the shirt and paint over them instead of using a stencil, which works fine. Just make sure you've written the words exactly where you want them.

Chapter Two

Painting

Once everything is secure and ready, you can start painting! I used this fabric paint that has a skinny tube, so it was really easy to work with. I also used a thin paintbrush to clean up the edges. 

Chapter Three

Drying

   The instructions on the back of my paint bottle said to wait 4 hours for the paint to dry, and 72 hours until the shirt could be washed. This will vary depending on the brand of paint that you buy, but I would recommend waiting at least 2 hours for the paint to dry.

Chapter Four 

Next Design 

Once everything is fully dried ( I waited about 5 hours) you can turn your shirt to the other side and repeat the same process that we did for the first design. Once you've finished painting and the words are fully dried, You're done!

I really hope you all enjoyed this D-I-Y, see you next time!

Swish and Flick✨

Hello, all my fellow witches and wizards out there! (And hello to all the muggles as well!) I hope that you're all having a great day!

If any of you are Harry Potter fans, then you must've had a little bit of Felix Felicis because today, we're going to be making something really special!

I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter! The films and the books are honestly beyond amazing, and completely fantastic! I was so excited when I got sorted last year, (Ravenclaw pride! Are any of you Ravenclaws?) and it was so cool to get my wand! I've been to the Wizarding World of HP twice, and it's completely wonderful! Seriously, It's so surreal to see the magic of the Harry Potter series come to life! Sadly, I didn't have time to look in Olivanders. I was only able to look through the window both times because it was extremely crowded (the perks of peak season :( ). However, after getting my wand on Pottermore; I thought about how much fun it would be to make my own wand, and that is exactly what we'll be doing today; making our very own wands! With the release of the new illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I thought it would be really fun and very fitting! Here's what you'll need:

1: A reference picture of the wand that you're going to make. You can make one of the characters wands or, you can have fun and do whatever design that you'd like! If you have a Pottermore account, you can take the quiz to get your wand so you can do the custom design that they give you! There's also a lot of information on the wand and the exact size of it.

2: The second thing you will need is, chopsticks. (Any kind of long wooden sticks will work if you don't have chopsticks.)

3: Hot glue, and a hot glue gun.

4: Brown acrylic paint (or any color paint that you'd like the wand to be.)

5: A paint brush or a painting sponge.

6: A pencil.

7: A paper plate for mixing the paints.

Step 1 

The very first thing that you want to do, is plug in your hot glue gun so that the glue can start getting warmed up. While you're waiting for it to get hot, get out your reference picture if you've chosen to use one. I was originally planning on making my wand from Pottermore however, my particular wand design has a lot of intricate details that were a bit hard to do with the glue gun, so I deiced to make up a design instead.

Step 2 

Take out your chopsticks and pencil. Start marking and measuring the places where you're going to be adding the hot glue. (I did these marks before I decided to make up a design instead.)You especially want to do this if you're using a reference picture because it will be a lot easier. Of crouse you don't have to do this, but I would highly recommend it because marking where your going to put the glue will give you clear guidelines to follow since you have to move a bit quickly when working with the hot glue because it dries fast. 

*Caution*

Just a reminder, please BE CAREFUL! It sounds a bit funny to say but seriously hot glue does get hot! It can get extremely hot and you can easily burn yourself! (I'm speaking from experience guys!) So please, please be careful! 

Step 3

Now for the fun, yet tricky part. So before we can add our glue; you want to make sure that it isn't too hot because if it is, the glue will start to drip off rather than stick on. When your glue does get really hot: be sure to rotate the chopstick. You want to start carefully putting the hot glue on your wand. If you're using chopsticks, a lot of them tend to have a square-shaped top. Take your glue and make the top rounded and also a lot thicker than the rest of the wand since this will be our handle. Once you've finished your handle you can start adding your design! It's best if you slowly rotate the wand as you do this so you can get an even coat of glue. It also helps to use another pair of chopsticks to even out the glue. Also, if you're not copying a design; don't be afraid to add lots of texture and design because that's what's going to give your wand it's one of a kind look! For my design, I kept twirling the chopstick so that it could have a cool spiral look. 

Step 4
Once the glue has dried, it's time to add the paint! You can use any color that you'd like! I'm using acrylic paint and I mixed a bunch of colors until I got the one that I wanted. It's best if you do one color for the base, and then a thin coat of another color on top, but feel free to use as many colors as you'd like. I used about 5 different colors. Adding more color will give your wand more of an aged look, which in my opinion makes it look a bit more authentic. 

Step 5

Once you're happy with the colors, wait until the paint has dried completely and; you're done! You now have your very on own wand!✨

I hope you all enjoyed this D-I-Y! See you soon! 

Illuminate 💙

Hello, everyone, I hope that you're all having a fantastic day! So I have to ask; is anyone else sitting here wondering how it's already October? Where did September go? Although I love fall, I seriously feel like September and the summer months went by so quickly! 

Thinking back to all the good times I've had this summer, I thought I’d talk about the absolute highlight of my summer, going to see Shawn Mendes on his Illuminate world tour!💙 

So my awesome sister found the early bird tickets for Shawn’s concert back in November (which was eight months before we actually went to the concert). I've been a fan of Shawn’s for a few years now, and when she asked me if I wanted to go; I had of YES with no hesitation! 

It was so amazing because I would have never thought that I would be able to go, but the timing was perfect, and the tickets were such a good price!

As the months passed, I was eagerly waiting for the day to come! Every time I listened to Illuminate or handwritten, It just made me feel even more excited! I kept thinking about how amazing it would be to see Shawn in person, and how cool it was going to be to hear all my favorite songs live, I just couldn't wait! 

After months of impatiently waiting, (and constantly asking my sister for the date on the tickets to make sure I had the right date) the day of the concert had finally arrived! 

Everything went so smooth and perfect! We left the house at a perfect time, there was no traffic, our seats were way closer than I thought, and the arena was completely amazing! 

The concert itself was so beyond incredible! Charlie Puth opened the show, and let me just say that he was amazing, like seriously so amazing! 

When Shawn finally came out on the stage, I couldn't contain my excitement! He was just unbelievably phenomenal! The concert was so interactive and it was so much fun! The lights and graphics were beautiful and whole show was honesty just everything! 

The illuminate tour was one of the greatest experiences that I've had this year! I danced like there was nobody there (yes my jokes are extremely corny). I sang to all the songs, and I may or may not have teared up on a few songs. (*cough* ‘A little too much, *cough*)

Overall, I had the most incredible time! Shawn Mendes is honestly just so amazing and getting to see him in concert literally felt so surreal! I just kept looking at the stage and thinking, oh my goodness that's really him! Oh my goodness, I'm actually here!😱

It was honestly the best day ever, and I'm so extremely happy and grateful that I got to experience such an absolutely amazing concert! 

The only downside, dealing with post-concert depression.😂

Adventure is out there!🎈

Hello, everyone, I hope that you're all having a fantastic day! Today's post is really exciting because we're going to be making something inspired by one of my favorite Pixar movies, UP!

Who else is completely obsessed with Disney movies, and to be a bit more specific; Disney Pixar movies? I absolutely love Pixar movies, but I often feel like they can be a bit underrated. (Excluding the Cars franchise.😂)

When I think of Disney movies, “magical” is the first word that comes to mind. I'm so in love with the magical aspects of movies made by the Walt Disney Animation Studios. I also love that even though Pixar is a Disney company, they have their own unique style that's a bit different from the Disney Animation Studios.

Pixar movies are magical without actually having plots that involve magic. I think that the plots focus on telling stories about situations that we go through in our daily lives. The only twist is that they tell those stories in such an imaginative and creative way. 

One of my favorites is, Up. Not only is the animation vibrant, colorful and simply beautiful, but the story itself is absolutely wonderful! 

“Adventure is out there!” I love that quote because it's so true. The world is big and beautiful, and there is so much of it for us to explore! You're never too old to live out your dream and have an adventure! The best part is that once you've finished one adventure, you can go have a new one!

Inspired by this beautiful movie, we’ll be recreating the paradise falls jar! This is a super easy and fun project, here's what you’ll need to get started:

1.  A glass Jar. You can use any glass jar that you'd like! I really loved this one because it looks exactly like the one from the movie! I got mine at Michales on sale for $3.00! The normal price is around $10.00, but Michales always has coupons and discount codes. 

2. You'll also need a sheet of white paper. The size of the paper will vary depending on the size of your jar.

3. A black sharpie or calligraphy pen.

4. Masking tape.

5. A pair of scissors. 

6. Any money that you want to save.

7. A white sheet of paper. 

8. A pencil.

Step 1

You want to start off with your glass jar. You can use any jar that you'd like but, I would recommend making sure that the opening at the top is big enough to fit both coins and dollars. Unfortunately, mine was only able to fit dimes and dollars, because the rest of the coins were too big. There are loads of jars with the same shape that can fit all of your money, just be sure to look for that when purchasing your jar.   

Step 2

The next step is to take out your paper, pencil, and scissors. If you're using a paper that has any type of pattern or design, you what to put it with the right side facing down. Take a pencil (and a ruler if you need it!) and trace a square. I used a screenshot from the movie as a reference. 

Step 3

This next step is a little tricky. You want to keep cutting your paper until it's at your desired size. I was trying to copy the exact jar from UP, so I had to keep cutting and cutting until it was a perfect size!

step 4

The next step is to write the words, "Paradise Falls" in pencil on your paper. If you find that copying the font is a bit hard, you can find script fonts on the computer and print it out instead. 

step 5

Once you're happy with the writing, you can go over the words in a black Sharpie. 

Step 6 (Optional)

After that, I erased any pencil marks and I went over the words again with a drawing pen and a black marker. You don't have to to do this, but I felt like it gave the words a much neater look. 

Step 7

Once you're happy with everything, place your paper on the jar so you can tape it down. 

Step 8

Tape down all four sides. 

step 9

Since masking tape is a little flimsy, I put more tape on top so that it would hold the paper. 

Step 10

The final step to put any money you want to save into the jar! 

And you're Done!

As a fun little project, I thought that it would be cool to recreate Ellie’s painting that she did! Here are some pictures. 

I really I hope that you all enjoyed this D-I-Y!