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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Craftalicious.. Is That a Word?

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Escape into the moment of merriness, hot Ghiradelli cocoa, a warm fireplace, and crafty enjoyments...
Around the cozy corner of your beautifully decorated house, chaos is surrounded all around you; it is a special chaos though because it is Christmas, a merry one. Your house is the brightest one on the street, and all the neighbors envy your holiday lights. Tick, tock, tick, tock.. It is Christmas Eve, an eve of warm memories and chocolates... yes, you are a lazy bum.. all you do is eat and eat and eat. However, lost away in the crowd of family and relatives, you silently play with crafty items and paper, sitting in an embroidered chair.. Man, you think, did the Christmas angel fill my taste buds with creative, interesting juice?
Yep, guys, this was me and is me... *SUSPENSE* Okay, in the past few days, I got really crafty and even though I was not (clears throat) encouraged to play with art supplies for a loooong time, like uhh all together 3-4 hours, I continued the projects. I was let's say *modestly* staring at truly amazing geniuses who made extremely cool D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) projects, and I got inspired. And when Ashna gets inspired, well, she gets all crazy and her eyes poof out like a lot and she gets super excited and let me ramble more.. SHE DOES HER SNOOPY HAPPY DANCE!!!! (oooh yeeaaah.. life is HAPPY, HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!! AND TOMORROW IS CHRISTMAS!!!!! YAY-A!!) uh sorry, got carried away there (she mumbles)....
AND MY CUE!...................
Okay, back to business, folks... where was I... oh yeah.
Note: A really good friend of mine and I are making crafts and other items to donate to poor or impoverished children. The two pillows were made by both of us, mainly her, and the jewelry items were made by me for the same cause to donate.
Uhh... The other stuff were by me and for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only me! (too greedy there, or uhh, um, was i, uh like i don't know) (she mumbles, and it slowly fades away because she is slightly embarrassed and does not know what she should say).........
And here starts my list.. DA DA DAA!:
Disclaimer: I do not want to ruin the happy moment here, but it is essential for me to say this. The descriptions of the crafts and the pictures are put not for me to have for a chance to brag freely (LOL), but for happiness.. Let me tell you, I am not that "good" or "excellent" at crafts or art. Okayy... well to be true, I have a love for painting and watercolors, but I never brag. I am fortunate for the supplies that I have, and these projects were done over periods of weeks; they took my time and money. However, at the end, they did one clear thing. That was giving myself "me" time.
"If there is passion and will, anything can be done. Do what your heart tells you to do; flow like the waves of the ocean, or like the musical notes of a song."
Ashna Sharma~
NOW, NO MORE SERIOUS TIME!!! BACK TO HAPPY TIME!!!
oooh.. happy haapppy!!!

1) Decorative Pillows
My good friend and I made these felt pillows with hard work, but it turned out amazing because the sewing method was created by the friend.... we actually do not know if it is "actual" sewing.. Anyhoo, we sewed the seams with yarn, stuffed the pillows with random cloth, stitched the open end, and decorated the surface with glitter fonts and a boa at the ends to cover the knitting holes. I have a question here folks: Is "sewing" taking two whole minutes and hard strength of grunting to put the needle through one stitch??
Here are some pics of the pillows:

















This pillow was very simple, as it was a perfect square..YAY! As you can see, we covered the edges with the black boa and wrote "Merry X-mas!" for a handmade design. I was afraid at first if whether the boa would stick with the liquid glue, but as my friend made pillows like these before and nothing odd happened with them, I trusted her wholeheartedly.    



















This pillow was done using the exact same method as described above, but it was made in a rectangular shape. Moreover, we, the two besties, cut cloth from a scarf and decorated it, while using the faded-red-to-pink yarn to tie bows and tighten the middle of the pillow. It turned out to be a cylindrical pillow from an original rectangular pillow. If you want any further instructions for this design, please ask me a question in the comments section below.

2) Charm Central

With my hands and a silver chain, I attached cute charms to the holes of the chain as shown on the left. To tell the truth, I attached the charms by twisting the wire in the packaging of the various packed doodads. The result was awesome, especially since I did not spend too much time making one bracelet; perhaps it took 15-20 minutes for an inexperienced crafts person like me.  





The necklace shown on the left was done with the exact same method of applying charms. Again, if you guys have any detailed questions or have desire to make these simple, vintage-inspired jewelry items yourselves, you are all absolutely welcome to question me in the comments section below. :D In my opinion, I personally think that the charms I bought from Michaels, mainly the large ones, were very cool, stylish, and vintage-looking.















3) My Room

Currently, I am starting to develop an extreme interest in decorating my room and making it reflect more and more of my personality. I started this craze by changing my bed cover into a black and white bedspread printed black and white like a newspaper. It includes parts and names of places all around the globe; you guys may have had a glimpse of it in the background of the pictures of the two pillows. Other than buying items for my room, I decided to get crafty by creating a handmade collage featuring puppies from my old calender. It barely required any money, only a poster board, which was only 32 cents at Target. (I KNOW, ONLY 32 CENTS!) Throughout the collage making process, I just kept on cutting and gluing pictures and at the end, embellishing it with sharpies, words, and one bow tied with ribbon to personalize it with a unique touch. Moreover, I added decorative tape not for necessity, but for design.
Here is a picture of the collage:


























As you all can see, I also layered pictures, like the two dogs at the left. The whole purpose of a collage is to express yourself with pictures, so let the collage represent your creativity, not others.

4) Oil Painting


I am a watercolor artist, not an oil painter. However, as my mom started bringing her oil paintings home from art class, I was not jealous, but I wanted to try using her colors; they were thick and solid, unlike river-like watercolors. I ended up creating a mini abstract piece, at the same time abusing her palette. The palette was full of blended colors all over the place; it was a "beautiful" mess... My mom saw a duck in my painting, while my dad saw a dog. Please reply in the comments section on what you guys see in my painting with your eyes. :D It would certainly be interesting, not interesting but FASCINATING to hear about your sights in the painting. XD

My mom does not really think that these small, craftalicious projects that I do are productive, and from a distance, copious amounts of people may think so too. However, all of this fun rounds up to "me" time; it takes me into a mystical world where I could do anything, anytime and anywhere. One second I am in Mt. Everest, overlooking the flowing hills, and in another second, I am in my cozy bed lying on my tummy, while devouring triple chocolate chip cookies while reading a book printed with old pages... yet there are printed with fresh, black ink.
~I FEEL SO CRAFTALICIOUS! ... (is that a word?)

Merry Christmas From Nerdy Bookworm


From the title, you guys most probably found out that I was hoping to add a small twinge of professionalism to this post.. da da da daa.. Nerdy Bookworm wishes you all a very happy holiday season. May the good angel, in whatever faith you believe in, bless you with love and the magic of friends and family in your life. And here comes Ashna Sharma's favorite Christmas song.. from Taylor Swift! (Look Below)   


An Awesome Song Sung by Taylor Swift With Love.. Please listen to this while reading An Angel In A Stranger, if you want to... You will have an incredible Christmas spirit resting in you heart :D

I really wanted this post to be finished at 12:00 AM, Christmas Day. It is 12:04 right now, but it is alright; I was almost on time! XD

Friday, December 6, 2013

Top Ten Sunday?: Top Ten Things I Am Thankful For


The people, desires, and nature that the Earth offers us all round up into gratitude and thankfulness that I give back. Simply, near Thanksgiving Day, December 1st is a day that I uniquely feel most thankful. The top ten list continues on.. well, Top Ten Tuesday sounds more professional.. grr.. WHY IS TODAY NOT TUESDAY?.. grr... Anyhoo.. back to the beauty.. Update: yeah, well uh, I started this post and Sunday and since I was so busy with school, it will get finished today, Dec. 6th on Friday. Hehe.. The Top Ten Things I am Thankful For: 

1. My family, obviously.

Mom, Dad, and Sister.. The Mom: A wonderful person who loves you even when you scream and yell at her or act odd. The Sis: HMMM... A somewhat annoying, attention-wanting girl, yet at most times a third grader who tackles you and physically abuses you (I am not exaggerating! ;D) for only wanting some unstructured play involving me going down. However, her intentions are always sweet, and I thoughtfully think that she loves me so much that her hyperness uncontrollably gets out of her constantly beating heart. The Dad: Uhh, a mindful and hard-working man who has love deep, deep inside of him; he just has trouble demonstrating it. In essence, each soul has love for me in various ways, including my mom mystically creating the most yummy food to make my taste buds yell and scream with bliss. And in spite of my humbleness, she gives the best presents.

2. Books 

If books did not exist in this beautiful universe, how will people have a filling life? The incredible books stay in your heart years, even decades, after you read them because they teach lessons and morals that can only be understood through words.

3. Friends, only the genuine ones.   

Okay, so there is this term called "friends," and some people have millions of them, in real life, facebook, instagram, twitter, etc. I hate, personally I loathe, calling a person a friend even when they have absolutely no positive or joyous feelings for me, whatsoever. It is the genuine friends I am thankful for, the ones that make you laugh when you are about to cry and cry when you are about to laugh.. :D

4. Web Design

I love html coding and adding things to my blog that have a beautiful result; even when I do not have time, web designing always comes to me as a pure passion. I must admit it, web design is extremely difficult! However, designing with limited options using technology is amazing, like getting transformed into a world hidden out there. 

5. Watercolor Painting/Art 

Painting watercolors is not ordinary art, it is a way of expression, with hard and solid separations, flow, and blend of colors. Without art, I could have been an anti-social girl, with no genuine feeling or expression. Art captures my emotions; art brings me to life.

6. Comments 

I adore comments on my blog, no matter if it is harsh feedback or just a casual compliment. Whenever I receive the email notification, I do my snoopy happy dance. (HAPPY.. HAPPY.. OOH YEAH, LIFE IS HAPPY, HAPPY) hehe.. (had to escape into the moment, sorry) I appreciate the fact that someone out there read my post and took the time to read my work and give a comment, so that the whole word can see and appreciate it.

7. Christmas Season

The Christmas season is a time of hot cocoa, a warm fireplace, and of coarse, let me hear a holler, presents! It is just beautiful giving/receiving and enjoying Christmas sensations, the warmth, and the intricate snowflakes floating around the faded light blue sky. Yeah, and the season is perfect for lazy bums like me. 

8. Blogs!  

Omg! Blogs are so cool, no matter how much they epicly fail. Okay, the coolness of a blog is the fact that someone shared their feelings out loud and added uniqueness to it with design. A brave soul he/she is,  the one who shares their true, beautiful emotions.

9. My Snoopy Happy Dance

I am happy... Really happy.... Oooh yeeaah... Life is so good.. Snoopy happy happy... (Drumroll) happy!! My snoopy happy dance reveals my joy; I love it because it shows that I am a person who would not be embarrassed to do the dance in front of many people. However, I must admit, if I danced in front of all those people, I won't be able to do the dance that well.

10. Book Blogging Community

I love being in a place where people appreciate and are thankful to books and knowledge in their everyday lives. They, the people who unleash their creative imaginations, encourage me to blog with originality and be thankful to the beauties that life offers. 

Hope you enjoyed my list! What are you thankful for?

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