i made a vlog?!

yeah. i did. actually i made like 5. and they're pretty embarassing. but that's just me... so i guess i'll just be open with you and let you see them.

one thing i ask: please don't judge me

i know i'm insane

and completely awkard

and homeschooled

and tired.

oh and i have a double chin in one of the videos... 'cool points' for whoever actually watches all the videos and can tell me which one i have the biggest double chin in ;)

anddd..... yeah. they're just kinda weird.

or i'm just kinda weird.

and blogger isn't letting me upload them and i have no clue why.

thank you blogger.

no, i don't want a youtube account.

now please just let me upload my videos.

the only issue that is occuring is your lameness.

sorry, personal oppinion. :)

if anyone knows why it's not working let me know :)

and because like always... a post isn't a post without a picture--- i give you *drumroll*:

my friendship bracelet collection so far. haha i've made some more since... i'll show you them soon :)

super sorry about the wait on the video... i'll have my dad help me tonight!

peace out...

Aly

Ask me what you will :)

Hey guys! So i had an idea. instead of entirely ditching you... i want to try doing a vlog or two. or more. plus i want to learn about video editing so that'll inspire me ;)

so i want more questions. i'll read them and answer them in a vlog :D

it'll be fun. it'll be crazy. and you'll get to see my entirely insane-self and facial expressions. apologies in advance.

so whatcha' waiting for?! go leave me some comments with questions!!! i like weird ones too. i'll pretty much answer anything from how i feel about the hunger games to if i have a boyfriend. just keep it under PG13 pleaseandthankyou. or if you want to ask something odd just ask it. i may or may not answer it :p

xoxo
Alyssa

//interested//

So, if you haven't noticed i am nearing 400 followers. :) YAYYY ;p So i want to have a big.huge.giveaway when i hit 400. So i need you to help me out here. Let's make this thing the best giveaway EVERRR!

if you have a blog. a shop. an etsy. anything. I would LOVE to have you give some of your items/ad space away! If you're interested, I'll pay you back by giving you free ad for one month on my sidebar. :D plus you'll get a lot of traffic from your giveaways. So it's a win for you and a win for my followers ;) and work for me... :p

Anyways if you're interested shoot me an email. i'll be waiting... :)

and since every post needs a picture...

koala hats for the win ;)

//purity rings//

One day i woke up and really wanted a purity ring.  I've wanted one for a while but i never did any research or gave it any thought really... but that day i don't know why but i just really wanted one. So I searched the mall thoroughly for a nice quality ring that would serve as my purity ring.

My mom told me that since I'm going to wear it until i get engaged and then i plan on passing it down to my daughter if i have one, she'd buy me a nice one. One that will last. A family heirloom i suppose ;) Now i'm not going to buy like a pure gold one with whatever the coolest number of carats is in diamonds plastered all over it... haha we aren't rich ;p i'm getting a simple sterling silver one to remind me that i'm going to keep my purity until marriage. That's the jist of it. To always be there to remind me.

So i figured some of you would like to see some affordable options i've found, either for yourself or for your daughters :) i'm pretty sure they're all under $50-60 :)

Source: evesaddiction.com via Alyssa on Pinterest

I need help. ASAP.

ok. So I was going to give my blog a makeover. So I go to try to upload a new header and I get this:

 that's right. no more space. apparently all my photos for everything are stored in picasa. I had no clue that it was like that but ok, i can deal with that :) what i can't deal with is that picasa will only hold so many pictures... which means i either A) have to buy more room or B) delete a bunch of old posts.  I don't want to do either.

Have any of you had this issue? Is there a way to fix it w/ out doing either of the above? Please help!

Thanks!

Photo Week :)

I decided to do a photo week starting September 5th and ending September 10th. :) It's going to be so much fun!

For example: On September 4th I'll post an inspiration pic or two on DAY 1's theme. On the 5th I'll repeat with the next day; but I will also post the picture I took and your pictures which you'll email me.

Does that make sense? I'll either have you email me your photos or a link to your blog post in which you'll post your pictures.

Schedule:

5th {DAY 1}: Shoes you're wearing now

6th {DAY 2}: Self portrait

7th {DAY 3}: The sky

8th {DAY 4}: A reflection (off cars/water.. anything!)

9th {DAY 5}: An eye

10th {DAY 6}: Nature (anything in nature!)

Right now I'm starting with just one week, if it goes well I'll do another week.

Please, please, please please! Leave a comment saying you're interested! Because I can't do this without you guys!

{and since a post isn't a post with out a picture.. here's an awesome DIY art tutorial!}

Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via Karol on Pinterest

PLEASE HELP!

Hey! Sooo... I'm at 97 followers. {Kind-of excited.}And I was planning on having at least 3 people give something away when I hit 100. I was going to have a big party and all sorts of fun stuff. {sounds awesome, right?!} But so far I haven't gotten any final responses. :( 

So if you want to enter in an awesome giveaway, please either leave me a comment or email me if you are willing to give something away.

PLEASE.

I'll love you forever.

And you'll get the joy of exciting 100 people because they could win your awesome product! :)

And I'll even through free advertising for 2 months in there. :D 

{teardrop@kc.rr.com}

10 Things I Hate About Your Blog

Have you guys seen the {10 things I hate about your blog}type posts? I love those! I like then because A) I get to see that others agree with me and B) they are so helpful to Newbie bloggers like me... they tell you what to and what not to do! I'll provide some links to others {10 things I hate about your blog} at the end of this post, but right now I'm going to do my own {10 things I hate about your blog} post.

 Hahaha, I saw that one of the lady's pet peeves was that she didn't like when people use exclamation points all the time. And then I noticed I basically use them every sentence... so I'm trying to resist it! And then I go and do it... wow Alyssa, wow. Anyways... no more babbling, here we go!

1. I hate CAPTCHA{the confirmation code thing you have to do when you are trying to comment} It drives me nutty. I try to leave comments on other small blogger's blogs but I get frustrated and give up sometimes because they have CAPTCHA... so do me a favor, turn it off.

2. The blogs with auto-play music... UGH! It's so awkward for me! I'm not sure why... but trust me, if I want to listen to music I would turn it on myself. thankyouverymuch.

Source: faithisthereason.tumblr.com via Leah on Pinterest

3. Advertisements all over the place! {not like Etsy shops and sponsors, Google ads (the big flashy kind)} It's okay if you have one in your side bar... but in between the posts and all over... NO.

4. When you don't link your blog to your Google account, or when you leave me a comment with a link to your blog and I try to go there but I can't because it's blocked. Don't leave me a link if you don't want me to see your blog.

5. When I leave you a comment asking a question and you reply on your blog. I don't really want to come back to that exact post and check if you have replied, so please, do me {and others} a favor and reply on my blog.

Source: flickr.com via Ivana on Pinterest

6. When your pictures are very low quality {blurry, grainy, dark, etc.} especially if you have a tutorial. The pictures are the first thing you see in your post, so your writing may be very good, but your pictures are bad which is a HUGE turnoff. Do yourself a favor and either edit your pictures or take them in natural lighting.

7. When you expect us to put your button on our blog, but your button has no drop down scroll box with the HTML code

8. When your blog's background is Black and your words are neon colors. It looks so un-professional! Do yourself a favor!

Source: allsiteslike.com via Jessica on Pinterest

9. When all you post about is your etsy shop or giveaways. I don't understand! It's okay to have a few posts here and there about your etsy shop and don't get me wrong, I love giveaways; but when your whole blogs content is about new stuff you added to your etsy... it becomes VERY boring and you will never get any followers!

Source: fromupnorth.com via Suzette on Pinterest

10. When you sound like a robot. Have some personality! I'm sure you don't talk like a robot in real life... so try not to on your blog. I personally don't want to follow someone who sounds like this. Yes, I just gave myself as an example. I wrote this post back when I started blogging, and I had my dad help basically write it for me through the instructions part. I didn't want to tell him how I felt, and I didn't want to change it behind his back, so I left it. That tutorial could have been really great and people would have started following me {I'm sure} if I had had personality. It just goes to show what your personality can do for you!

Please, don't take this as 'I HATE YOU IF YOU DO ANY OF THESE THINGS', take it as constructive criticism. I didn't write this post to anger you, I wrote it to help you! I know reading other's posts really helped me! Also, I would love to hear what you think about my blog... is the font to wacky to read? Do you hate my layout? Header? ANYTHING! Your comments will help me so much! So thank you in advance!

{others '10 things I hate about your blog' posts:}

{While He Was Napping}

{Hope Studios}

Creating Smiles Week

Hey guys! I just discovered this really awesome blog called HannahHandmade. Hannah is a super sweet teenager who loves crafts and sewing. She has an etsy shop too, so if you see anything you like there you should totally buy it! All of her prices are GREAT!

The reason I'm posting about this is because Hannah is hosting Creating Smiles Week, which is happening the 7th - 13th of August. Creating Smiles Week is where a few bloggers come together and guest post about their chosen organization or about how you can help others! It is going to be megga fun, filled with prizes and donations to YOUR chosen organizations! Only thing is that you have to promise that between the 7th and 13th of August, you will help someone else and make them smile. It’s really simple, but are you willing? Our guest poster-s are going to show you some organizations that you can consider donating to! There will be some tutorials and more!

If you would like to help out (help is GLADLY appreciated!), grab the button that says, I am a supporter of Creating Smiles Week! (on the HannahHandmade blog)  Let’s see what we can do... :)

Blogger Stuff

Guess what?!?! I just switched to the new blogger editor setting, and I'm happy as can be! I didn't even know I had an old editor setting until I was looking through all of the dashboard stuff {I was bored} and saw the 'switch to new setting?" button. YEAH BABY! Now I can change the size of my pictures, do strikethroughs, page breaks, click undo when I delete a picture {'cuz we all know I do that a lot!} and bullets! the only thing I don't like about it is I still can't rotate images... stinkyness! And all of a sudden it's red underlining my miss spelled words. :P 
Question: Can you see my followers and click 'follow' on my blog? Just wondering...

ohh, and I can add captions now!

  

Pinterest

Ok, so I finally made a Pinterest account. Yes, I am way behind everyone. :D Oh well! The reason was I didn't have a FB or Twitter Account, and I still don't. I emailed Pinterest and asked them what I should do and if there was anyway I could sign up without FB or Twitter. Within a few hours they replied saying No, I had to have an account. :( She told me that I could create an account, sign up for Pinterest, and Delete my account if I wanted to. She told me Twitter was the easiest to sign up for, too. I am really happy with Pinterest, the lady who emailed me was very nice, helpful, and fast.



So I did create a Twitter account, sign up for Pinterest, and then delete my account. (I don't want a FB or T because they are just another thing to do, which is exactly what I DON'T need! I'm busy enough As-is! Plus my Parents don't think they are safe.)



I'm really glad I made a Pinterest account! I knew I would be... It really is addicting... actually my mom decided she's going to set limits for computer time because I was on pinterest like 24/7 for a few days...

Well, right now my computer won't let me link anything... maybe it's blogger. I'd like to switch to something else (like typepad.. etc.) if they would actually work! I mean I can't comment on any blogs, I have to push a few buttons and click a few things to post (I couldn't post normally, so thank goodness I have my dad who found out a way for me to post, even if it is a pain!) I guess now I can't link to anything.UGH! If you have any tips I'd REALLY appreciate them!
Or maybe you'll try to tell me and you can't comment either. :(

You might be able to find me by searching for Alyssa E. and scrolling down (I'm the one with a pink heart on a black background with and A on it.) Comment either here or there if you found me! I'd love to follow you!

This summer has really flewn by! I've not gotten ANY crafts done or spray painted ANYTHING! :'( *sobs* I only have one month left before school starts! And 2 of those weeks I am doing service projects all day. Yeah.

I need your help.

Alright, so remember back here? Well I still need help figuring out what to do! I'd like to redo our whole house... But I'm going to start on the middle floor. Living room;Dining Room; Office (which you won't get to see 'cause my desk is a mess and it's full of... stuff.); Kitchen; and Entryway. Click HERE and scroll down exactly 1/2 way and you can see our middle floor. I was thinking green and yellow like this post... and here are some yellow kitchens I was looking at. I like the green and yellow plan... but I realised I'd like something like these more: Imperfectly perfect... oh, I love everything she does! So while you're there look around and see what I like. And House of Smiths.. Notice a little fad? ME too. Light colors... Teal... yellow... ahhh, I LOVE IT! But no, our house has to be filled with honey oak, and dark stained furniture I'm not allowed to re-paint. BIG FAT FROWNY FACE. So anyway, I need your help, BADLY. I don't care if you think you know nothing about decorating, or everything, I need help. Oh, and I'm really stinkin' cheap, so don't make me pay lot'sa money! I'm open to anything, and everything. PLEASE HELP ME! I am clearly pretty desparate. Here is our living room, dining room, kithen and hallway:

I hate out maroon/ burgundy couches so much, They are the main thing I'm trying to work around... And I think my dad says no slipcovering... plus can you even slipcover Leather? Ugh.. I just somehow completely deleted a pic. :(

Kitchen:

Hallway:

I like it when things look light and airy, but with honey oak our house never could look that way:

(perfect place for a plate wall :D)

Dining room:

Thank you, my dear 67 followers! I'm sorry for the lack of crafty posts, I've been busier than a... i don't know... something freakishly busy :D

And PLEASE COMMENT telling me what you would do! Maybe post on your blog I NEED HELP! :P JK, you don't have to...

Inspiration - green and yellow

I'm finally getting around to making the plan on how we are going to redo our house, I was totally lost for EVER! I had no clue in the world what to do.... until Lowe's sent me their Creative Ideas magazine 2 days ago. As I was looking through it, I saw one page that totally got me. I have no clue why! There were greens (olive-ish) and some yellows and tans and black and white. LOVE! So I looked around on Decorpad and found these inspiration rooms:

I especially like this one:

So I pulled out my paint deck and started looking for some colors I like....

I did finally pick a yellow I like and I'm working on the greens... But with the browns I don't know what to do... How to you pick a brown?? They are all so simaliar! Any help would be appreciated (VERY MUCH!!!!) I was thinking yellow based because we have honey oak cabinets and trim and my dad isn't going to let me repaint them :'( I guess I don't blame him. But I'm still not lovin' the honey oak. Alright I still H.A.T.E. it. But for him I'm working with it.... well, trying to! But people, trust me, I will vanquish the brass. I swear it!

The red-ish is our couch... not a paint color. I will update you on my plans in the future! Is a green living room too much? Would a pale green hallway be better? What other colors could I incorperate into decorating? I really like color! Haha, sorry dad...

This was one of the inspiration pics.... I somehow managed to lose the other one. :( I'll find it later... maybe :)

I'm thinking black and white for all of the curtains/valences so if I want to change the colors in the future... I can just repaint and decorate... and not have to worry about finding the *perfect* window treatments. I'm also thinking maybe bamboo rollup blinds in the dining room and office... is it weird for a dining room to have bamboo shades?

I might end up making my own valences and drapes because i haven't found anything that fits our budget and is cute. If you have any suggestions let me know! I'd love to hear!

To see what our house looks like now... click here. :) Thank you! And thanks to all of you who follow me! It really incourages me to keep blogging! If you read my blog and just don't follow it, I'd like you to take the time to simply click 'follow' on the left side of my blog. It'd make my month!

Alyssa