Blackberries

     About a week ago, my grandmother wanted to take us to a local blackberry farm. My mother and baby sister couldn't come, but we bought lots of berries.

 At this farm we get to pick the berries ourselves. It was a pretty long walk from the entrance, but it was relaxing.

      The blackberries were huge, and tasted so sweet. Some of them were tart, but what can you do?

     We each carried our own bucket, except for my dad who wanted to help Caleb pick his batch of berries. My grandmother and Josiah were the ones who ended up with the most.

     I wasn't completely sure who was more excited, us children or my grandmother. We had a blast, and ended up with ten pounds of berries! My grandmother kept her four pounds she picked, so altogether we had about fourteen pounds.

     The day after we went was my little Josiah's birthday, and being the odd person he is, wanted a blackberry cobbler for his cake. Oh, he only wanted it to be made with his bucket of berries. 

     Sorry I don't have a picture of it cut open, but you can certainly take my word for it. It was amazing!

Waffles & Laundry

     Recently our dryer for our clothes broke down. Laundry is one of my chores so it really stinks.

     But, we were able to purchase some clothesline and clothespins, hanging it in the back yard. I think it's old fashioned, but in a good way. Nostalgic I guess. Lately though, it's been raining really hard, which counteracts the drying of the clothes.

      Several weeks ago we went to visit some family in Louisiana, and my aunt had an extra Japan plum sapling. I showed an interest in the tree, so she gave me the little tree. It's so cute, and really sturdy. I can't wait till it's big enough to plant.

     The other day we had waffles for dinner. I can never eat things normal like most people. I went ahead and decked it out with peanut butter, banana, a dusting of coco powder, and some syrup. It was so good. I'll have to share the full recipe with you really soon.

    

Yarn Along

     We recently ended our school (we're home-schooled), and I have a lot more free time to read and work on knitting.

     I've read most of the books in the house, so naturally I look for books at the library. The last time I went, I discovered a new series. I finished the first one, but the one I'm currently reading is House of Secrets: Battle of the Beasts. I found it in the kids section, because most books found in the young adult fiction are just plain trash. Not always, but this time i found this and am really enjoying it. I love finding books nobody has heard of before, rather than reading books everyone and there mother read. 

   Needle work hasn't been on my agenda recently, but I'm making myself finish all the projects I have in the works. I am knitting a shawl that I haven't worked on in awhile. So long, that I messed up on the pattern. Thankfully I have a brain, and made a few changes to what I am going to do. Not a big deal, I think it'll turn out just fine.

Tie Dye

     Sorry I have been gone for so long. I kept making excuses for not posting. 

                           

     Today, we decided to finally create our tie dye shirts that were supposed to be done a year ago. My mom had gotten a kit from Hobby Lobby, so it was really easy to do. 

     We were originally going to do it outside, but it's been raining cats and dogs. My mom remembered that there was a tin baking pan in the laundry room, so we wrapped up our shirts in the rubber bands and tie dyed that way. It worked really well, and I think there was less mess than if we had done it on the grass.

     I love the way mine turned out. I can show you the shirt on me in a later post.

Birthdays

I turned 16!! Well, last week anyway. I have been procrastinating and have not posted about my birthday.

I don't think I've ever had a store bought cake for my birthday. For a long time at least. 

     My cake was a chocolate cake, filled with strawberries and whipped cream. The icing was a strawberry butter cream, and finally topped off with chocolate ganache. It was amazing. I am salivating right now just thinking about it. My mom got the recipe from this pinterest pin.

I got a soap making kit for my birthday, and I made the soap. I will take pictures when its done curing and tell you how it turned out.

I've finally finished another sewing project! I was invited to a birthday party awhile back, and so I sewed her a little pencil case, or in this case (tee hee hee) a pen case. I wasn't able to fit any pencils in it, but pens fit nicely. There is something about a handmade gift that seems more touching than a gift bought at a store. It only took about a day to finish the whole project.

this is the inside.

Now that I am 16, I am hoping to get a job this summer. I have been accumulating a very large list of things I want, and the only thing standing in my way is money. We'll see how that goes.

     I am hoping to start more sewing/knitting projects and finish them, as well as posting more recipes. I have been on a writing kick lately, and I am hoping to post more often.

     Now I must go start my new book, while drinking a nice hot cup of tea.

Nail Art

I know, I know. I am not a beauty blog, but it's still a hobby and I can do what I want. It's my blog.

     For awhile I have been subscribed to a YouTube channel called Cutepolish. I really like her designs, and I recreated one she did along time ago.

      The polish I used for all the nails was an Essie color called, Muchi, Muchi. I really love this color, since it's such a soft pink. 

 

Polishes in order from left to right:Nail cleanser, base coat, light pink, dark pink, white, top coat.

     These are all the polishes I used for the nail design. 

 

     I applied some nail cleanser before my base coat, but this is optional. It just helps get rid of residue on your nails.

 

     Next, apply base coat of choice.

     After your base coat is fully dry, apply light pink polish. On ring finger, the one with the design, apply two coats of polish. If necessary, apply three coats of polish on the rest of the nails. My nail polish was a little sheer.

  You want to wait 2 or 3 minutes in between each coat to ensure no smudging. Now for the flowers. We only needed two coats for the flower finger, because the design would cover it.

 

      You want a bright, dark pink (if that makes any sense) for the flowers. The flowers are from this video. All I did was make one big flower on one part of the nail, and half a flower on the tip of the nail. To fill the empty spaces, I added some dots.

     I used these dotting tools for the design. You can find them here.

 

     For the center of the flowers I used white. Make sure the flowers a dry before applying the white.

 

     Wait about 10-30 minutes before putting on some top coat. This will ensure no smudging. If it still smudges then you need to invest in a better top coat.

 

     That's it. You can also add some flowers on your thumb too, but I didn't. You can also use any color you like, as long as you use the same color in different shades. Like light blue and dark blue. 

     I love this design, it's so easy to accomplish. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Sephora

Next week is my birthday. EEEK! I will be turning 16, and I can't wait.
     So, on Wednesday, my grandmother took me out to lunch and then Sephora to get some makeup. Since I'm turning 16, I am allowed to wear makeup. Also, I thought that it was good to wait awhile, until I cake my face with all kinds of products.

     For lunch we went to Shogun, where they have really good sushi. I wasn't a sushi fan for a long time, but some sushi I really like. We also got some fried rice, miso soup, and these little Japanese dumplings called Gyoza. It was all delicious. 

 

I would have taken more pictures of Sephora, but I was so absorbed in what I was looking at, that I forgot. Oops!

     I must have looked around at least an hour, but it could have been like twenty minutes for all I know. My grandmother let me pick out nearly anything I wanted. She is the most awesome grandmother EVER! I am so blessed.

 

I did not ask for any of this, but my grandmother insisted. I have really enjoyed playing around with all of my new stuff. I have been watching Youtube videos, to learn about all of the good products. I can't wait till I get to wear it when I go out!

Randomness

I was watching, out our open backdoor, my baby sister laughing at the wind that blew in her face. She loves the outdoors, taking every opportunity to go outside.
     We've had really nice weather the past couple of days. It's been sunny and windy, feeling really nice for February. It is Texas, so our winter does not last as long.

 

  

     Recently I taught Emmalynn how to play peekaboo. Randomly she'll put her hands over her face and wait for me to say "Where's the baby?".

      Then, she will lift up her hands and laugh when I cry, "There she is!"

     I have really been into creative writing lately. I love writing, hence the blog, but writing books and stuff has interested me for years. I currently have two projects I definitely want to finish, and one more that some friends and I are working on. 

 

     Writing for me is a way to escape the real world, creating stories and characters that make me want to write more. It's just like reading a book, you want to find out what happens next, but instead the story lies in your hands waiting to be finished. It's a wonderful experience. 

 

     A few weeks ago, I was really bored, so I poured out all of my brother's Legos out onto the flour and started building a set the boys had. I actually enjoyed it, so I kept building to create a small town. By then Josiah had started to help me, and Caleb "Helped". The two boys even bought some new Lego sets they were so into it.

 

     Our town is pretty impressive, bigger than I can show with my camera. We are very blessed to have all these toys at our disposal, and I have been trying to play with my brothers instead of watching Netflix all day.

 

     Now I think I'll go relax on my Saturday (or play Legos).