Geography Lessons!

Ok,
You remember those maps I mentioned a while back?  I got one finished up and here it is.  This one isn't for sale (it's for my family and isn't mounted) but this is what it looks like!  These only run for 10$ for a custom made map.  Your colors, your state/country, your map!  Check it out!

Texas Map

My Recent Art

Hola.
Before I start, just wanted to mention that the auction mentioned in the last post is totally off.  I sold the page for an English pound, then tape the pound into a "Random object" page.  My bad.

Ok, so my art lately has mostly been from art class, because I've been realllllllly busy keeping up with a killer school curriculum and all my CRAZY electives, some of which I just can't blow off (like Sod Squad - I'm president.  Can't miss that.) and spending time with friends and also working on my crafts and books and blogs and I'm just a little on the stressed side.  I juggle stuff better than a five-star circus clown.

Right!  Where we?  Oh yeah...art.  Anyway, so my mom made these cool shelves specifically for my art work.  FROM SCRATCH!!!  I could never do that kind of thing.  I'm not that kind of crafty crazy.

The selves with all my art work on it.  My favorites are below.

This I did at an event, but I made some changes and took some creative liberties with it.  You like?

Another art class piece.  We were studying the realistic eye and the color wheel, and then we put them together and it was awesome.  And I know that tears come out of the tear duct - I took creative liberty with it.

Top Left - optical illusion I did, Top Right - a cardinal painting from art class, and Bottom - a metal sculpture.

Tell me which one is your favorite in the comments (below)!  Noelle is gone.

Mystery Map

So you’ll never guess 

My most recent art project.  Actually, you never will guess, because I just got an idea, no internet, nothing.  Ok, never mind there was a little Pinterest involved in this, but ANYWAY let me actually get to the point.

I’m making a Hobbit Map!!!  *non-exsistant web-audience goes wild*

Its a 100% authentic, hobbit-rune, hobbit-style map.  This isn’t the completed map, but it’s getting there.  I finished all the drawing of it last night, writing the authentic hobbit runes (SQUEE!!!) for all the labels and the border, and finished making those cute little drawings of trees that all cool, old-style maps have.  Here’s a photo so you can see what the heck I’m talking about.

Hobbit Map!  :-)

So yes, that is my AWESOME Hobbit-y map…it’s scrumptious, juicy, AND crunchy!  I’m a huge Hobbit fan.  Who liked the new movie?  And who’s planning on getting it on disk the instant it comes out?  Actually, don’t do that, from all the rumors flying around its going to be super expensive so I would wait.

Getting back on subject, once I’m done it will be caligraphy-style inked, authentically tea-stained and weathered map.  I can’t wait to show you guys!

-N

P.S.

#GoingOnAdventure

Mom as Lady Vader

OMGoodness!
I can't believe it!  My costume was amazing this year and I FORGOT TO TAKE A PHOTO!!!  I'm going to do the whole thing again, just for the photo.  Right down to the nail polish that was so darn cheap it scratched off with a top coat within ten hours.

But, we did get photos of Mom's costume.  She was Lady Vader, which fit with her neck brace that she's still wearing from her surgery and her bone stimulator.

She had lights!  I was ready to die from coolness!

Art Club

I am considering putting together...
An art club.  Why?  Well, it would be a good chance to hang with friends and to be creative at the same time.  I will need at least one other friend to help me teach on a regular basis (other people can teach but I suspect that most people won't want to teach) one art project every week.  Comment the following items:

• Is this a good idea?
• Would you like to teach or have any good project ideas that one of the official teachers could do?
• What day of the week would be good for you?
• Would you come!!!???

However, before you comment, be sure to ask your parents.  This club is run by the kids (and probably will meet at my house) and does not need any parents to teach, but parents will need to drive.  Keep in mind that we probably won't feed your kids, so it will probably be in the afternoon.  I think a good time would probably be Saturday afternoons, say 2:30 to 4 or something like that.

Also keep in mind that there is no true decision at this point and that the times above are NOT set in the slightest.

I'll post soon more about this, more about what this really is, but my hand is tired so I'm going to stop typing now.  Bye (and don't forget to comment!!!)

Blogging Crash Course No. 3

Day 3!!!  (Become a pro blogger)

Tip o' the Day: Post Often!
I know, I haven't been the best at doing this.  HOWEVER...the more often you post and the more consistent you are the more readers will check to see if you've posted because you're more likely to.  Make sense?

Lesson o' the Day:  Post Settings!

Remember yesterday I just ran out of steam to finish the post?  Well here's the rest of it.  :-)  Mmm...ok.  Post settings.

Excellent!  Ok, the photo above this line is the Post Settings bar.  Allow me...The Labels Tab is where you can assign certain labels to a post.  Handily enough, this can be used to locate a certain posts on your post list, help your readers find your posts, and sort out certain posts.  As soon as you type a label into the box it automatically saves it to your labels list.  All you have to do after that is just click on the ones you want (you can have multiple ones per post)

Next on the list: The Scheduling Tab.  This quite possibly may be the most helpful blogging tool ever.  Don't have time during the week to post?  Oh that's easy!  Just make seven posts and preschedule it here (it's fairly easy to figure out so I'll let you do that)

Skip the Permalink Tab, because you don't need that, the Location Tab!  Also a cool tool, but doesn't do much.  By clicking on this, you can search up where you are and type in the name at the bottom.  I never put in my actual location, just NJ for New Jersey.  (be careful!  the ' symbol comes out as ')

Finally, the Options Tab.  I don't use this much but some people might so lets take a look.  Reader Comments: allow/don't allow.  Compose mode:  something about HTML???  Line breaks:  Use <br> tag (the line break button) or press enter for line breaks.  That's all.

That's all I got for today folks!  Tomorrow: Settings 101

Blogging Crash Course No. 2

So here we are...
Day number two of Lessons for the Incurable Un-Techincal.  Also known as Blogging Crash Course 101.  So down to business.

Tip o' the Day:  Include a photo
Always try to keep a photo in each post.  It's not totally nessacary or anything but it sparks interest and it makes it easier to attract readers.

Lesson o' the Day:  Making a post
Hmm, funnily enough thats what I'm doing right now!  How ironic...anywho.  Ahem.  Ok.

This is the general overview of a new post page.  As you might have guested, the big white square is where you type.  The line of icons at the top is the tool bar.  Above that is the POST TITLE.  This is a very important tool.  Remember that post list?  If you do all your posts the same title, or don't give them a title, then you don't have anyway to know what is what!

More about the tool bar.

Ok, first two icons (from left to right, with uses).  Undo, Redo.  Font. Size.  Title Type (I have no idea).  Bold.  Italics. Underline. Strikethrough. Font Color.  Highlight.  Now from there on things get more complicated.  A link will take you some where else (in this case, the get your own blog page)  Then there's the photo menu, the video menu, and the page

Blogging Crash Course No. 1

Before You Start!
Read this: Get Your Own blog (last in line when you look at the link tabs at top of this page)  Very important.  Thanks!

K, we got that covered?  Let's start.

Tip o' the Day:
Keep it simple.  If you need to vent, vent, but in short keep your posts simple and, if you want, simple.  Some times just a title and a photo will do.

Lesson of the Day - The tool bar

This is your secret administrators and authors only page.  It's where all that tech magic happens.  K, down to business.  First things first.  The orange button in the top left corner takes you to you blogger account (more about that, not today).  To the right of that, the "new post" button, then the "view posts" button (takes you to screen just like above this), then the "view blog" button (pretty straight forward).  To the far left is your blogger account pic.  To the left column (going top to bottom):  New Post, Overview (basic overview of stats), Posts - •All, •Draft posts, •Published Posts, Pages (Later), Comments (the same), Google+, Stats, Earnings, Campaigns, Layout, Template, Settings.  Then of course, your post list.  That's really easy to figure out.

There's today's lesson!  Thanks for reading.

Just So You Know

Myth busting session!
Myth #1:  You can't be a myth buster!  You don't have the super awesome theme song or the amazing ability to make things go boom!
Busted:  Yes I can!  I just did, so there!

Myth #2:  I can't have an awesome blog like Noelle.  They're like so expensive and too hard to keep up with!
Busted:  I have a whole page just for this...step right this way please!

Myth #3:  I can't tell anyone about this cool blog...it is private and really hard to get too.  I'll just keep it to myself.
Busted:  Oh please.  This is the best you got?  Please please please tell everyone you know and trust (please try to keep my blog web-creep-free) about www.afbratlife.blogspot.com.  C'mon, that's not hard to remember!  Tell people!

Myth #4:  I can't think of anymore myths.  Bye bye.
Bus- wait what?  Hey!  Come back here!  Hey...well bye then.

Burning Red

I'm so sorry!
I can't believe that I missed like a week of postings, which, btw, totally screwed my whole 60 day streak thing.  Actually, I was hoping to get to a 100 streak.  Speaking of a hundred, My first 100 posts took about 15 months to do.  Estimations say (under the impression that posts will be daily from now on) that post number 200 will be on the 15th of April.  Hows that for an increase?  Of course, that's kinda because of International Blogging Day, I did about 12% of my total posts ever in one day when I did that.  So without IBD, it'll take me about 25 days longer to do another 100 posts, so... I estimate it'll take about 120 days, or 4 months.  Let's say my hope is to have 300 posts by August 15.  Of course, you have to take into account the fact that I'm moving in between now and then, which could push back the deadline by as much as 2 months.  If I remember correctly, I posted 4 times in the 2 months surrounding my move from NJ to Texas.  On the other hand, I didn't know how to schedule posts then so this time will be different.  This is a REALLY long paragraph.

Now to the reason why I labeled this post "Burning Red".  I got  a new app on my Google Drive (a completely free, no ad online drive...all you need is a google account (which is also completely free).  Anyway, it's run by Loupe.com.  It's awesome for making family photo boards, custom collages, etc.  Including mood boards!  If you want to see more loupe-collages, click on this link.  This one I call...well I don't have a name for it, but here's a couple good ones.

Red Fire

Burning Red

Sunset Streak

Here's the photo (finally).  Enjoy!  I have to clear out of here, so the photo will be the last thing in this post.  Toodles!  Oh, and if you want to see any photos full-screen, just click on them.

IBD 105

Hi!
It's post #5 of 24 (only 19 more to go!) to celebrate International Blogging Day!  You can celebrate by commenting on all 24 posts!  One every hour!

This is a Quick, Easy, DIY
Lesson on how to tell if it's a link.  Sound easy, but my readers have issues with it.  So here goes.

• If it's underlined
• If it's a different color
• If it changes color (mine turn turquoise) when you hover on it
• If it takes you to a different page when you click

:-)!  See you next hour!

Evil

In case you didn't know,
I was an evil minion for Halloween (I almost said Christmas).  We got to spray paint my hair (it took FOREVER to get it out though, I don't suggest it) and mom make goggles out of those lids with clear middles.  Here's a photo.

The entire thing was DIY, so here's some basic instructions.

First of all, I  Mom had to find these supplies:

• Overalls, blue or ones you can dye
• Purple turtleneck
• Black Gloves
• Black combat boots
• Two lids
• Felt
• Purple, black, and white face paint
• Hair spray (purple)

Dye the overalls blue, paint your face, etc. etc.  Oh, about the goggles, you might be wondering how I can see.  You can see through the pupils!  What looks like a solid pupil is actually just a half ring of black felt.  To spike your hair like that, just hang upside down from the dining room table and have some one gel it up.  And then go outside to spray paint it.

P.S.

Don't actually spray paint your hair!  Get that spray-on hair dye stuff.

Silver

Dug up this amazing
Scarf in mom's closet, and added a silver belt, a friendship bracelet, some other bands I got for Christmas, a best-friend necklace (or actually half of it, my best friend has the other half) my favorite shirt, skinny jeans, and knee-high brown boots I've been dying to wear but can't usually because of their heel hight.  Check it out!  I went crazy with all the positions I did because this is such a fun outfit; hope you don't mind.

Here's the whole outfit.  You'll get a better view of every thing in a minute.

Help Part II

Time to finish

What I started.  Fashion Fab crash course is about it end.  Please look at all subtitles.

Remember the power of the simple essentials!  These colors (silver, black, white, and grey) are a
fashionista's best friends.  You make think them bland, but they actually add a pop to the colors
you do use, like the fuzzy coat here.

It's a good idea to make a couple of coordinating colors that you have lots of paired or clumped together in your closet (a color wheel hanging on the inside of your closet does is also handy).  Remember to avoid holiday matches like lots of emerald green (ST. Patrick's day) green and red (christmas) red and pink (valentine's day and a big no-no anyway).

Pay attention to style  Look at the form (does it cling? or poof?), shape (does it have ruffles? or key holes?), hemline (where does it end?), and how closely it fits against your body (does it cling? does is gape?).  A simple change in any of these can make or break an outfit.

Don't forget accessories!  Headbands, shoes, earrings, bracelets, rings, necklaces, anklets, and more!  Use them to class up or tone down an outfit.  You hair counts - try new hair cuts, styles, and pull them into braids, pig tails, and pony tails.

Patterns can totally change an outfit.  Don't try to match every color in your pattern with something else in that outfit, but look for something that a) matches your eye color b) matches your hair color c) matches the occasion (pine trees for christmas...)

Here are some great examples of shape, form,  and hemline.  Notice different colors, accessories, and styles can lead to an entirely different type of outfit.

Remember to keep your own style!  No one style is the same, and no one can match up clothes for you better than...you!  This was just a pointer in the right direction to your own style.  Keep searching!

DIY and Best

One of the best

Outfits I have ever had the pleasure of putting together is demonstrated here.  From top to bottom:  DIY necklace (see at the bottom of the page), Justice "It's cool to be me!" tee-shirt (It just goes with everything), Land's End sweater which goes with just about everything I own except dark purple and black, fake-wrinkled skinny jeans that I wear more than I probably should, and of course, my favorite boots.  And the critics rejoice.

Do-It-Yourself Fast Necklace:
Supplies:

• Necklace chain
• Old too small, too big, or too gaudy ring
• charms (optional)

How-To:

Got a ring that you will never wear?  Not for long!  Simply string it through an extra necklace for an intriguing, interesting necklace charm.  Also mix and match with your other favorite charms for different appearances.