Monday, March 26, 2018

How To Make A DIY Phone Stand!


Hello, everybody! Today I have a fun little project for you guys! I've recently been busy cleaning up my room and doing multiple deep cleans of my closet, my drawers, all the way down to my bookshelves and just getting my room in order to clean out all the gunk. I've also been busy looking for different ways of getting my things more organized and out of the way. I plan on writing a post about that so please stay tuned as I will let y'all know when that post goes up, but anyway, I recently made this little doodad that I thought some people might be interested in making for themselves.

I've been wanting a phone stand for my phone for the longest time but I could never find one I liked. All the phone stands actually looked like phone stands. I know that sounds weird like "Duh, it's a phone stand, why wouldn't it look like one?" But I have this issue of wanting literally EVERYTHING to be personalized to me. What can I say? I surf a different wave length. SUE ME. Anyhoo, I thought I should just make my own phone stand and while cleaning out on of my craft drawers, it was like all the supplies just appeared out of nowhere and the idea in my noggin sprouted. This is the result.
___________________________________________________

SUPPLIES:

▫ Thin board (in my case I used the slip cover for the box my cell phone came in) ▫
▫ Scissors ▫
▫ Tape ▫
▫ Decorative paper ▫
▫ Glue or mod podge ▫
▫ Pencil ▫

OPTIONAL:
▫  Poster Putty ▫
▫ Phone ring stand ▫
▫ Stickers ▫


The first thing I did to start off making my phone stand was cutting along one of the long edges of the box to open it up. To be honest, I had no idea what I was planning on doing to create the kind of phone stand I had in mind but as I went about trying to make the stand, I found it was actually pretty simple.


The next thing I did was I folded down one of the wider sides until the edge met with the inner crease of the box, leaving one of the sides folded out and I taped down the edge. I then folded the left out flap three times to create creases before folding the flap up to create the shape of a triangle, the edge meeting with the inner crease and the edge of the wide flap that I had just taped down. I taped down the smaller flap, creating the look of two triangles taped together.


Simple right? I really hoped those previous steps made sense. Once you have the base complete you can stop here or move on to decorating the stand to make it more personalized. For me, I took some scrapbook paper and glued the pieces down to the front and back side of the stand. I left the smaller edge black because I liked the contrast between it and the patterned paper but you can obviously cover it up as well or paint the whole thing. I didn't bother decorating the bottom of the stand since you won't be able to see it anyway but go ahead and decorate it too if you like. 


After gluing down all the paper, I took a postcard of one of my favorite music artists and glued it down in an overhanging position. I thought it looked cool having some of the paper peeking through and having the postcard hanging over the edge a bit. I also placed my phone on the stand once I had glued down everything and thought that the phone rested just a little bit too low for my personal liking. I wanted my phone to rest more at an angle. I decided to use a phone ring stand I had picked up at Target a few months back that I just never ended up using. I placed it to where it wouldn't obscure much of the postcard and found the ring lifted up the phone just perfectly!


This is what my phone looks like resting on the stand. I had played with the idea beforehand of using the phone ring to prop up my phone a bit so that's why all of a sudden the decorative paper is gone. BOOM, MAGIC. I also had to edit my phone into the picture since I use my phone to take pictures and just having the phone case resting on the phone stand looked a bit weird. ANYHOO, I'm transparent, you get the idea. Enjoy my home screen.


And here is the finished phone stand! I decided to also add the band logo to make it a bit more obvious as to who all the people were in the postcard. I love having this on my desk to be able to rest my phone on if I don't need to have it next to me. I also put some poster putty on the bottom of the stand to keep it from sliding but you can also use tape if you don't have any putty. 

So that is it for this little mini DIY! I hope some of you were inspired to make a phone stand of your own like this or were simply inspired to maybe look around your room for things you could potentially turn into something else. I plan on using some of the leftover space of my phone stand to place a pad of sticky notes should I need to jot something down real quick or you could even place a mini month calendar, the possibilities are endless. Again, I really hope you guys enjoyed so until next time, read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!




Monday, March 19, 2018

What's In My Backpack!


Hello, everybody! I hope those of you in school are having a fun and exciting Spring break! It's been pretty busy for me these past few days as I've been dealing with A LOT more customers at work taking advantage of their Spring break to do a little shopping. One of these days I should write a whole post about what it's like to work in retail during holidays and school break because YOWZA, it's a doozy. ANYHOO, today I thought I'd put together a fun little post for you guys on what is in my backpack! You know, totally basic, not at all original.

And yes, you read that right, I'm doing a "what's in my BACKPACK" post. I've become addicted to carrying my backpack around because it's such a perfect size for me and holds just the right amount of stuff while providing a lot of room should I need to stuff a bunch of unnecessary crap inside. I'm not against purses, I have quite a few of them and have some new ones I really want to carry around but I just can't get over how much my backpack makes me happy. It's the kind of bag I can just literally grab and go.

So, let's get this post started shall we? I quite like seeing what other people carry in their bags and purses as I think it gives a nice insight to what kind of person you are. Is that a little emo of me? Yes? Maybe? Whatever, I'm a self-titled emo bunny. LET'S MOVE ON.

____________________________________________________


Behold, my backpack. Isn't it pretty? I obviously had to have my Hatsune Miku keychain hooked to the front. I've yet to carry a purse without it on so it's here to stay. Maybe the little bear plushie is a bit much but who cares, it's my backpack and it makes me happy on the inside.


First up, we have my wallet and checkbook. Duh. I seriously am obsessed with my wallet since once again, it's just the perfect size for me. It's also oddly such a satisfying thing to hold in my hand. The material is a soft leather and oddly enough, my phone fits perfectly in the bill holder. So if I ever get lazy and don't feel like carrying my phone AND my wallet, problem solved. Yes, I'm weird, let's move on.


I also like to carry around a little travel sketchbook should I find myself having to jot down a quick note or need to kill time my sketching something. I like to sketch with a ballpoint pen I keep in my checkbook and the little travel sketchbook is a great size for really any purse. I don't really ever reach for it if I'm out and about but I like having it with me just in case.


Of course, I have to carry a couple of makeup products since I don't like carrying an actual make-up bag with me. I've tried to carry one in the past but noticed I literally NEVER reached for it nor needed it at any point in my day. It only ever got in the way so I decided long ago not to carry it anymore. I do, however, like to carry a couple of things that I think are the most needed which is lip-gloss and lip balm. And maybe some tic-tacs that I don't actually care for but I have it just in case. 


Okay, now THIS is probably my most important item I carry next to my earbuds, which is my spearmint gum. I freaking love spearmint gum and go through packs of this every month. I usually buy the five packs so I don't really have to worry about running out. I know, it's kind of an addiction at this point but it's so good!


I also carry a little bottle of lotion with me even though, again, I don't ever reach for it but you never know, right? I also have a second stick of lipbalm I like to have with me only because it tastes like Pocky. I love Pocky. Pocky is amazing. You should have Pocky.

And then there's my keys which actually is an illusion because I literally only have one key on the thing, the rest are keychains. As you can see, I have a LOT of keychains. Plus a lanyard that holds it all. I have a weakness to cute keychains, OKAY?

Okay now onto the actual important stuff that's practical. I always have a pair of sunglasses with me in a little carrying sleeve since it often gets very bright and sunny where I live, which is a no brainer but I also have a sensitivity to light so I kind of rely on my sunglasses to help me, you know, not go blind.

And I literally NEVER leave the house without my all important earbuds. NEVER. I didn't use to carry my earbuds with me but once I started realizing how often I found myself bored without anything to at least listen to when I was out and about, I was quick to buy me a pair of earbuds with a carrying case. I keep my favorite ergonomic earbuds neatly inside the metal tin and often reach for them on a daily basis when I'm running errands or shopping and want some music to jam out to. It's beautiful.

And last but not least, I carry a book with me. I usually only ever carry a book with me if I know there's a small chance I'll be able to read it when I'm out for the day, not so much if I just plan on making a quick run to the store or something.

I like taking a book with me if I know I'll be getting a longer lunch break at work or am taking a drive somewhere that will give me a good half hour of reading time. Often me and my mom will go thrift shopping and our favorite one is about thirty minutes away so I like to read in the car on the way there.

I'm obviously reading "Ready Player One" at the moment since the movie comes in NEXT WEEK and I couldn't be more excited about it! I actually meant to read it last year but didn't get around to actually doing that so I'm currently trying to read as much and as fast as I can and so far, I'm really loving it!

So that's it for what I keep in my backpack on a regular basis. I didn't show a picture of my phone but that's a given. I really hope you guys enjoyed this post! I want to start posting more diverse posts like this that have to do more with lifestyle and such. Don't get me wrong, I love talking about books and coffee, but I also like talking about little seemingly unimportant things like all the crap I keep in my purse. It's real-life. It's random. And so is my bag. Anyhoo, read on, bookworms! See you all in the next chapter!






Thursday, March 8, 2018

Album Unboxing #7: "Dark and Wild" by BTS


Hello, again, my lovely readers! I hope you're not getting tired of all these unboxings quite yet because I'm here with another one! I'm seriously having so much fun unboxing all the things so I'm LIVING FOR IT. I'm also busy thinking of new post ideas that I just need to actually figure out when to post and how to go about writing it so hopefully some of you will find it interesting in the upcoming weeks.

Anyway, let's get started already with the unboxing before I put you all to sleep with my ramblings. I just like talking to you guys, okay? Y'all make me one happy blogger! Okay, let's dive in.

________________________________________________


Okay, so I've been wanting this album for such a long time since it has so many of my favorite songs from BTS and I honestly don't know why it took me so long to finally buy this album. Life? Unwise choices? Forgetting how much I wanted it and was practically dying for it? I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE. What's important is that I finally have it, okay?

I swear the BTS albums have THE COOLEST packaging ever! When I first got this album in the mail, I thought it was so mysterious and cool and kind of looked like something out of a spy movie, that's just me.

I honestly loved how this album opens up, it was like a little gift box; a scary, dark, suspicious looking gift box. Not to mention the album booklet is EVERYTHING. Just LOOK AT IT.


After lifting the little booklet from the inside of the box it reveals the CD and a couple of little photocards! I decided to take more than one picture of the inside of the album since the photocards were actually covering up the writing in the top right corner but I didn't want to have too few pictures for this post. Since not a lot came in this album, I took as many interesting pictures as possible, which isn't hard to do since it's a BTS album after all, it's already interesting in every aspect if you ask me.

And here are a couple of close up shots of the photcards. I was so happy when I got this adorable little group picture of the members because THEY WERE JUST BABIES, I'M CRYING!

I also got a single photocard of one of the members which I was super happy about, though I was hoping to get a photocard of one of the members that I don't yet have. I have single photocards of three or four of the members but I hope to one day have one of each member. Great goals I have in life, am I right?


And that's it for this album unboxing! I hope you guys enjoyed this shorter post and this is probably the quickest post I've ever put together in a little while so that's nice! I love putting time and effort into every single one of my posts but it's always nice for me to be able to just quickly throw together a fun post like this one in no time at all. Once again, I hope all of you enjoyed this post and please feel free to peek around my blog, I have some fun stuff!

Previous Album Unboxings:

Alrighty, everybody, the time has come for us to part until next time. Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!





Thursday, March 1, 2018

5 Non-Fiction Books I Want To Read In 2018!


Hello, everyone! I hope you're all having a great week so far! Mine has been a little busy so I apologize for not being active as of late but things are starting to calm down which is nice and means more blogging and Instagram time for me. I'm happy to finally be catching a break as Spring starts rolling around so I'm sending good vibes to everyone! Anyhoo, I want to get right into this post because it's a bit different.

I've been thinking about reading more non-fiction books especially since there are a few that have caught my eye in recent weeks that I would really love to read. I decided to write a post showcasing all the non-fiction books I plan on reading this year. I would love to read a non-fiction book every month but quite honestly, I don't have that many non-fiction books that I want to read. It's not my favorite genre but I do enjoy a good biography every now and again and I do have my favorites.

Anyhoo, here are the top five non-fiction books I really want to read in 2018!
____________________________________________

1. Columbine by Dave Cullen
5632446
Goodreads
Synopsis:
What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.

I really love stories about survival and redemption so this book caught my eye as soon as I found it at the bookstore one day. I know I'm probably one of the last people to read this book but I have good reason for it. The story of Columbine is one I've always been interested in learning more about and I've seen plenty of documentaries and specials on the subject. However, since the recent school shooting in Florida has dominated the news across the country, I think it's important that we start talking about the issues we face and finally take the first step into changing the way we do things in order to protect schools, kids, teens and young adults from having to face the fear of simply going to school. It's an incredibly important subject that the young generation refuses to sweep under the rug and I want to learn more about what I could possibly do to make myself more aware.
____________________________________________

2. Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn't Over by Amy Bleuel
29225585
Synopsis:
Sara Sargent at HarperCollins has bought Amy Bleuel's Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn't Over. This book from suicide-awareness organization Project Semicolon chronicles the global phenomenon of the semicolon tattoo, combining photos of individuals' tattoos with their stories about struggling with suicide and mental illness.

I just recently bought this book for no real reason other than that it looked interesting. I haven't heard many things about this book so when I researched a little bit about this book, I grew more and more excited to read it and see all that it contained. I love books about mental health, whether non-fiction or not, as it's also a very important subject that is continuing to be talked about more and more as the years go on which is great. I've always been a supporter of Project Semicolon so I'm excited to dive into this book.
____________________________________________

3. Shades Of Blue by Amy Ferris
24694166
Synopsis:
The silent epidemic of depression affects millions of people and takes dozens of lives everyday, while our culture grapples with a stigma against open discussion of mental health issues. Editor Amy Ferris has collected these stories to illuminate the truth behind that stigma and offer compassion, solidarity, and hope for all those who have struggled with depression.

Shades of Blue brings the conversation around depression and sadness into the open with real, first-hand accounts of depression and mental health issues, offering empathy to all those who have been affected by these issues.

It’s time to scream out loud against this silent annihilator: We are not alone.

This book was one I stumbled upon while researching the Project Semicolon book. This one I was very interested in reading and ordered online as soon as I read about it on Goodreads as it seemed like a book I needed to have in my library. This one is a bind-up of various stories by various contributors to create an anthology of discussion for those dealing with or wanting to learn more about depression and suicide. I think this book will end up being a favorite just based on the synopsis but I guess we'll see.
____________________________________________

4. What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen by Kate Fagan
 33296283
Synopsis:
If you scrolled through the Instagram feed of 19-year-old Maddy Holleran, you would see a perfect life: a freshman at an Ivy League school, recruited for the track team, who was also beautiful, popular, and fiercely intelligent. This was a girl who succeeded at everything she tried, and who was only getting started. 

But when Maddy began her long-awaited college career, her parents noticed something changed. Previously indefatigable Maddy became withdrawn, and her thoughts centered on how she could change her life. In spite of thousands of hours of practice and study, she contemplated transferring from the school that had once been her dream. When Maddy's dad, Jim, dropped her off for the first day of spring semester, she held him a second longer than usual. That would be the last time Jim would see his daughter.

WHAT MADE MADDY RUN began as a piece that Kate Fagan, a columnist for espnW, wrote about Maddy's life. What started as a profile of a successful young athlete whose life ended in suicide became so much larger when Fagan started to hear from other college athletes also struggling with mental illness. This is the story of Maddy Holleran's life, and her struggle with depression, which also reveals the mounting pressures young people, and college athletes in particular, face to be perfect, especially in an age of relentless connectivity and social media saturation.

This book was one I currently plan on reading within the next few weeks and I'm really looking forward to reading it. This book was one I found just days after one of my favorite singers from one of my favorite singing groups had passed away from suicide. I was a really huge fan of his so the news really hurt at the time and still does, especially when I listen to his music. I guess you could say that I was wanting to better understand the thoughts of depression in young people since it's a subject that adults and parents are now having to learn more about. It's sad that it's a subject many people are having to become more aware of but I think the more we learn, the better we can understand and figure out better ways to keep more lives from ending too soon.
____________________________________________

5. Dare To Be Kind by Lizzie Velasquez 
31932844
Synopsis:
When Lizzie Velasquez was 17 years old, she came across a video online titled "The World's Ugliest Woman"--only to discover that the 8-second viral video featured her. Born with a genetic condition that makes it impossible for her to gain weight, Lizzie had always known she was "different," but after her online bullying went public she decided to stand up on behalf of victims everywhere. She also made it her mission to help create a kinder world.

Today, her popular YouTube channel has half a million followers and her massively popular TED talk has been seen more than 10 million times. In this daring and revelatory book, she draws on her experiences overcoming bullying--from the schoolyard to the Internet--to reveal the hidden forces that give rise to cruelty, and how we can redirect them to unlock empathy and kindness. Lizzie shows how each one of us can use everyday acts of empathy to create a kinder culture and a better world.

I've been a big fan of Lizzie for years so when this book came out I was really excited to read it. I've watched Lizzie's YouTube videos and have become a big supporter of her movement of just simply daring to be kind in a world that doesn't have nearly enough love. I've always believed that treating people with respect no matter where they come from or what they are or choose to be is the only way to treat people. I love people simply because they're human and deserve to be treated with love and respect, which is why Lizzie is one of my role-models. Seeing how she's changing the world in small ways by just encouraging people to be nice is really refreshing and I can't wait to read her book!

So those are all the non-fiction books, (well, five at least) that I REALLY want to read this year. If anyone has any suggestions on other non-fiction reads I should take a look at, please leave them in the comments! I would love any and all suggestions that anyone has for me! Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!