Labor Day: DIY

You know you've all seen those amazing things on Pinterest that you pin and have every intention of actually using later, but in reality you know darn well that you're never actually going to get around to doing them...

Well, FINALLY I can feel like one of those LEGIT crafty pinterest people! 

WAHHhooooo! 

It all started when Jamie and I decided that we needed to jazz up our living room. 

We brainstormed for hours (literally hours) on layouts and designs, and then tried different things until we found the best option (thanks to Alyssa Evans..love that girl). 

Then on to the fun part! DECORATING! 

We decided that on one wall of the living room each of the roommates would make the first letter of their name (decorated however they want) and put them in matching frames.

(Que Pinterest.) 

This is the idea that I saw/fell in love with:

via.

Before long, Jamie (my partner in crime/roommate) and I, were off to Walmart to buy the needed supplies!! 

Then we set to work! 

It took HOURS.

But I have to admit, I was pretty proud of the final product :) 

Though I'll be first to point out its many flaws AND though I didn't get a SINGLE homework assignment done, I would say today was pretty productive :) 

(Jamie's adorable 'J' is made out of yarn.)

I'll be sure to put up another picture once the other girls have theirs' (Ican'tdecideifthereshouldbeanapostrophethereornot..) done!

Oh what a life I live, 

Manny the Hippo

I've taken up a new pastime.

Drawing Hippos.

It all started a few weeks ago during english class. For some reason I was really in the mood to draw that day so I asked my friend Shyler who sits behind me what I should draw. She told me to draw a picture of her holding a hippo.

I failed.

I tried to instead draw a picture of her with a hippo on her shirt, but the hippo ended up resembling something closer to a lousy attempt at a frog. It made me reminisce about the days that I actually took art lessons. (Which . . . how can I think about art class without remembering The Hedgehog!? hahaha) I guess I shouldn't admit that I actually took art lessons once upon a time seeing as my drawing turned out less than stellar. =]

Although it's not much, it took me most of the class period to draw. (Of course since I was also paying very close attention to my English teacher lecture on the difference between MLA and APA writing formats. :D)

Here's the first attempt. Sorry about all the smudges. . . I'm a lefty!

Since my hippo turned out to be so pathetic, I decided that it was something I should work on. That night, I had some free time (actually i just needed a break from homework!) so i googled some hippo drawings and set to work!

Here's my first REAL attempt. Definitely much better than the one above, but i still had some definite work to do.

Over the last few weeks during allll of my excessive amounts of free time (haha) I doodled hippos on a good majority of my class work or whatever papers are sitting around. I've specialized on a certain hippo that I have now named Manny. Isn't he adorable?! :)

This is what my hand looked like after I completed the first one. Isn't being left-handed, just wonderful?!

I'm not really sure why drawing hippos brings me so much pleasure. But it think it's fun! (Not to mention it helps me relieve stress =) Haha)

Simple as that :)