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Monday, December 30, 2013

HAIIIIII-kus

This morning I thought
things would somehow be the same
but they were different

Today I thought that
things would somehow be different
but they stayed the same

Which one was your day?

xx

Friday, December 6, 2013

HAI THERE.

:))

I realized that this blog has no theme, but that's okay, because it's mainly a place where I randomly say things that I want to say to the world and that's okay :)

Actually, there is a theme somewhere and it's probably diy which includes all those prompts and things from 'ye olden days' of this blog because that lets you DO IT YOURSELF and also yeah.

MERPP.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Whut.

HIIIIIIIIIIIIII

So the Pocahontas thing was a success. I mean Success. With a capital S.

Yeah, pictures soon. Not now. I don't have them yet :3

And the dress itself looks really itty bitty but then when i wear it it's long enough so...............

hi.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Mani Saturday!! (10/26)

Okay so "Mani Saturday" is a weird moniker, but stick with me :)

I LEARNED HOW TO DO ACRYLIC PAINT NAIL DESIGNS!!!!!!!!!!!

This is amazing as I LOVE acrylics..... LOVE.

I have so many CraftSmart paints that nobody knows about (haha, now you know <3).

So I finally decided to use what I learned in this video:

[boyfriend does my nails]

to do my own toenails!! <3

Now, as none of you know, (lol) I can't paint my nails because of my nailbiting problem that annoyingly still exists although I cured about 85% of it.

But............ toenails are fair game and so I did my left foot toenails for this post!! <3

MATERIALS:






1. All Materials needed
2. New "Elsia" nail polish in 001(clear): see here. I got it from Watson's and it was (a little) expensive but there was a sale so :3
3. Emnono nail polish, used as a base coat but it's just regular nail polish. Emnono is a no-name brand, lol. I got it from AliceBox which is our local girls' store (for lack of better name........ 0.o.......... basically it sells hair accessories and cute bracelets and rings and socks and bags and trendy clothing upstairs)
4, 5. "Ivory" and "Bright Red" craftsmart acrylic paints. <33 love.

Before topcoat:


After topcoat:




Um, YAY! I know that it doesn't look like there's much difference, but the second one definitely is shinier (see those highlights?) and also, IT DIDN'T BLEED!~!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!!!!


bye!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Knitting: reddish-coral scarf



Some people who know me well know that I absolutely adore EVERYTHING crafty. Well, recently I've been knitting quite a bit...............


I MADE THIS V BEAUTIFUL (not to be narcissist, but I already am, so...) RED-CORAL scarf for my grandmother, I am SO proud of it <3

here's a pig pic :D


Isn't it pretty?! The flower is a ribbon thing that I learned how to make at a tour of a very fun ribbon factory!~

Well the very pretty and digitally enhanced one is the top picture <3

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Um, so, some writing, yeah?

Yeah, I haven't been sharing a lot of writing on here. *Sigh*. Oh well. Here's my entry for this competition, hosted by SmileyFaceGirl......

Times had been tough for forever, or so it seemed to Carmel. Every day, she would look out the window for a sign of a pink lantern, which signaled her parents’ homecoming from their voyage out to sea. But for now, the children would have to manage the little house by the sea by themselves. 

Carmel shivered in the cold December air as she scanned the horizon desperately. The dark clouds warned of a thunderstorm, so she ran inside. Her younger sister, Rosie, was already closing the windows and locking them securely. When the thunder boomed, baby Millie started crying. Carmel rocked her baby sister, keeping her eyes on the door, waiting for her older brother Frederick to come home from his job at the market.

There was a sharp knock on the door. In her anxiety, Carmel forgot to look through the peephole before opening the door, but it turned out to be Mr. June, who was Frederick’s boss. “There’s been an accident;” he said grimly, “Frederick’s been taken to the hospital.”

Carmel’s hands flew up to her mouth. “What happened?” Rosie asked shyly.

“It wasn’t his fault,” Mr. June said quickly. “It was slippery, the car couldn’t see well—“

Carmel felt sick, but she tried to be strong. “We have to go see him straightaway!” she exclaimed, bundling Millie into the stroller. Then the three girls followed Mr. June to the hospital through the rain coming down.

The thunderstorm had left so many casualties. Fisherman had drowned at sea. There was no hope of finding the pink lantern tonight, but Carmel couldn’t help but feel upset at leaving the house. What if the signal came while she was away?

When they reached the hospital, there was a long line of people waiting to visit their loved ones. Carmel recognized Leila, whose husband was a fisherman. She was weeping and praying, her mouth making the shape of “I love you”, but no sound was coming out.

Carmel, pushing the stroller and holding Rosie’s little hand, followed Mr. June into the glaringly lit, crowded hospital.

Monday, August 19, 2013

And the verdict is................

Well, you wouldn't have guessed, as I ranted about how I wouldn't like it in the last post (), but the verdict is..............




Pocahontas!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed either.

So last night after I finished my blog post, I went to think of more ideas and came up with this one, which I thought was a pretty good idea....


But then, I saw this:


Oh dear, no.

So then....... I settled on Pocahontas. 

We went to Jo-Ann's. Possibly the best fabric store ever. I've always wondered what will happen if Jo-Ann and Michael (from Michael's) got married? I guess it will result in the biggest, most amazing craft superstore EVER!!!!!!!

Well, anyway, we went and got this nice synthetic suede for cheap :) Yay!

I forgot to bring my 40% off coupon. Oops. Oh well.

So the whole point of DIY-ing is making it super fun and also, like, not buy an extremely expensive costume, right? And also make the costume so that you can probably wear it as normal wear (hopefully).

Okay. So although the Disney store doesn't sell the Pocahontas costume in my size, the cost of the costume is $40. Plus the $16.95 for the shoes :)

Ooh! I am positive I can save money on this one ^ ^ Also! I AM including tax, although the original Disney price does NOT include tax. It doesn't really matter, though.

Materials:
  1. Suede
  2. Boots
  3. Headband
  4. Feathers
  5. Thread.

Well, let's see.
The suede for the body of the costume cost $7.72 for 1 yard and 25 inches (end of bolt). We actually saved $7.86 there, because of discount, and end-of-bolt savings.
I am not counting my boots, because I bought them last winter anyway, so I got a season's wear out of them already. But, they cost $20. 

We can compare the "actual total", including price of things that were already bought way before I knew I was going to do Pocahontas, with the "costume total" (just things that we bought AFTER I knew I was going to do Pocahontas) later ;)
I already have the thread, on account of the sewing frenzy I'm on. But those cost, I believe, $1.50.
Feathers........... I am not sure if I should add feathers. Probably not. But I already purchased them from Michael's, so.............. it will count.  $4.
Headband, bought from Claire's, but I wasn't going to use it for the costume, so it doesn't count either. But just in case, it cost $6.
OKAY. Let's add them up.


Wow! I can't wait to make this costume!

xoxo
dana

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Halloween costume search :(

So, I am totally on a Halloween costume roll...........

except for the part where I can't find any.

First of all, I hate all the ones they sell in shops.........

WHAT. No. nonononononono.

No. Although the girls look like they're having fun, I will not have it. I'm not going to be dressed up as an alternate version of this:

Yeah...................... no.

So I've got to DIY it anyway. Well...... I have no ideas. Yikes.

At first I thought: Vanellope von Schweetz! I've got the black hair down, right?

But then I was like, ew no, it's going to be cliche this year.

Then I was like, hey let's be Mavis from Hotel Transylvania!


Then I was like, ew no, she looks so goth.

Then I got a brilliant idea while browsing the aisles of Michael's:

How about this gal?!

I might actually be this doggy. She's from Go, Dog, Go! Which was, like, the first book I ever read, except not really. :D

Hmm... how about WordGirl?

But, this girl is making me have second doubts:

Grrr.

Um......... Pocahontas? That would be pretty cool, except for I don't have a 1) leather/buckskin/brown dress and 2) I am not interested in wearing a brown paper bag over regular clothes like I did in second grade. Once is enough, thank you very much.

Then I thought I hit gold. An SNSD girl!!! OMG maybe?! 

Sans heels, of course.

Ehh........... it's a plain costume and nobody would recognize it..........

Oh! Oh! I know!!!!! I'll take inspiration from my absolute idol, Taytay..........



+


..........sans the eye makeup (sigh.......)

Alright then.

So the choices were:

Vanellope
Mavis
Random lady dog with the hat
WordGirl
Pocahontas
SNSD girl
Taylor Swift

Geez. Maybe I will do the Taylor Swift thing. Sigh........... it's also kinda plain.

Last year I wore this:


with homemade fairy wings and was Tinkerbell. It was a hit (in my opinion, anyway) although I omitted the wings in the end as they kept knocking into things ;)

Friday, August 16, 2013

Announcing the new STYLE section!!!


~~~~

My new friend David told me this quote, I have no idea where he got it from but I think it's very "subtly inspiring" which is nice in itself! Well I may be reading too much into this quote (^^) but I think it means that it is only in the human nature to make mistakes, and that making mistakes is okay; but complaining or whining is not. Very positive and firm message! :)
~~~~


Well, as you already know, it's almost my first blogiversary here at On Cats and Cantaloupe (two of my favorite things in the world) !!!

So............ I decided to make a couple of changes. *gasp*! Don't worry, the changes will be amazing and I promise to carry them out.

First, a new blog background/template. Did you guys notice that? I love it. It's such a cute template...... I've actually had it stored in my Google Drive for a long time and found it today, whilst cleaning out my Drive (hehe, too many things in there.....)

Second, new blog name! Woot woot. An important notice is that this does not change the blog address. Please do not type "cats+cantaloupe.blogspot.com" into your address box. I assure you, it will not lead you here. It will lead you to a Google page if you are using Chrome. Otherwise........ I have no idea. Probably a "This website does not exist" message, I guess.

Third, I am announcing a..............


I will add the curling hair post to this section, accessible from the top tab labeled "Style", and I am working on another post to put there! Stay tuned!

~ dana

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Remembering through the years

Hi, it's me, Dana, and it's almost my first blogiversary for Cats and Cantaloupe! I can't believe it, time really does fly. Also, it's almost my second blogiversary for my other blog, Once Upon a Book, although I forgot about my first one and so I'm treating it extra special all the same.

I want to commemorate this special occasion when it's actually September, although I'll be very busy with school and whatnot.  Today I want to talk about something different.

I saw this picture online today, while randomly surfing the Internet, and it kind of made me really sad. I know that maybe a lot of you readers are laughing at this picture, but I hope not. I believe that you are all good people.


You know, I was talking about this with one of my friends the other day. About how under-represented girls with terminal illnesses and such are in pop culture, and young girls are especially un-exposed to it.

Is cancer so horrible that it would scar your child for life if he/she knew about it? No. Yes, it's scary, because it can kill people, but not scary like a monster. They would probably think that it's like a cold, or the flu, only on a (much) bigger scale.

But then again, there's the issue of marketability. And I'm not just talking about the actual character TV show/movie/whatever. Big companies need to market their products. Ugh.

See here's the problem, as I was saying to my friend. Parents would not want their children to go around saying, "I want to be just like ____ and be have no hair!" and stuff like that. Also as this person would probably not be a princess (or she could be), no costume to sell. So... yup.

The above picture made me really sad because it reminded me of Talia Joy Castellano. Rest in peace, beautiful angel <33.

Till next time,

xoxo dana

P.S. no poster. I was super busy with YouTube stuff. yep. I uploaded about like 5 videos today, took down two, and yeah. Busy busy day.

Friday, August 9, 2013

How to be completely organized, like, all the time

Okay. So, I'm basically copying the Discovery Girls magazine. Whatever. I don't care. (I love it~! >.<)

Anyway, I really loved this article and learned a lot from it. So now I'm summarizing it and/or transcribing/quoting it in a minor way.

ARE YOU READY?

give me a second, I'm not.

Okay.


Article #1: Time Management

  1. Write down everything you have to do.
  2. Prioritize, as in, what do you have to do at a certain time? Aka Dinner at 7. Also, star the items that are very important (you have to do it for tomorrow.)
  3. Write down how long it will take to do each thing.
  4. Now put the items in an ordered list, and write it into your planner*
* I hate planners, because I hate going to all that trouble, but if planners float your boat, then by all means! This does seem like a good idea though. I just can't be bothered.

Helpful Tip: Break down big projects into bite-sized pieces so you can tackle them day by day.

Article #2: Ways to get Organized
  1. Color code your subjects. Maybe you might want to get red for math. Or green for English. You can also use a marker and color in the bottom of the notebook so that you can see it from your desk (if you have this kind of desk.)
  2. Have a pencil case. If you use a binder then you can get one with holes but that's really not necessary, as long as you don't lose things and or lend it to friends who tend to lose things.
  3. Type up your notes. I've never done this before because I think it might tend to be time-consuming but I'd LOVE to try this! Except for the pictures of course. I dislike scanning. Hey, maybe I could OCR my notes? (Gotta write legibly enough.)
  4. Use Post-Its to write down tasks. This is a great one for me as I have TONS of Post-Its lying around the house (over half of them are NEW!!)
Did this post help you at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

~dana!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

A DIY tutorial!!!!!!

So, omijosh, today is a HUGE day! Guess what I made with this chevron-ish calico cotton I purchased from Jo-Ann's? (I had a 40% coupon due to my overly-frugal attitude when it comes to shopping).

Can't you guess?!

OK, fine. It's this "Fabric Covered Notebook or Binder" diy project that I found on CrazyLittleProjects.com (link to original tute.)

Since it's time for BTS (back to school) anyway, I thought I'd make something to make the school day more bearable than it already is. It's like boosting an 85 to a 90. ^^ (Don't remind me of the Great School Makeover epic fail.)

So, I had this incredibly ugly plain black binder. I sadly don't have pictures of the original, but here's what it looked like.

Now I shall attempt to write the instructions for my very first DIY tutorial ever.


So... yup. ISN"T IT GORGEOUS?!!

Anyway, I probably will add a follow-up post when it dries................. like in a month or two. No biggie ;)

Anyhoo. Oh yes, I have a motto poster (for once!!)


I have a blue version too!


I found the quote from a poem by Emilie F on allpoetry.com, titled "1964". It's a very lovely poem, y'all should go check it out!! :)

Till tomorrow, or next year,

~dana



Friday, July 26, 2013

Outfit of the Day!!!

Hey guys, it's me AGAIN! I seem to have soo many things to share with you! That's a good thing :)

BRR! It's soooooo cold here. Come on! It's only the end of July. And it's New York. Not the Arctic.

I took this selfie with the help of a self-timer and a piano. I wish I had a tripod and a camera remote. Oh well. That's part of the list of things I want, which goes on indefinitely and includes items like "a smartphone that's not dumb (unlike my current one)" and "another cat" and "a sibling" and "an allowance" and "pierced ears before high school."

So, without further ado, here's my #ootd!

I know that it's unlikely you'd want to replicate my casual look, but dark red and navy go together very well, and just in case:


~~dana

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Ooh guess what?

Guess what? I just thought of something. The Great School Makeover totally failed. BUT I did make the chalkboard, to be fair, and it made me super famous (within our school) so YAY!

EDIT: Wait wut....






OH I JUST FOUND OUT THAT I NEVER PUBLISHED THE GREAT SCHOOL MAKEOVER POST WHICH I SPENT LIKE TEN MINUTES WRITING LIKE DURING WINTER BREAK............-.-'''

Aack!

Aack! It's been forever, hasn't it? I made a motto poster for today but I don't know where my USB is and I should be doing homework but whatever because I'm a bad person.

Anyhoo.

WOW AMAZING THINGS HAPPENED IM SO EXCITED.


by now your reaction is probably:


Ahem.

So yes. Guess what? If nobody submits any songs (YES!) I am going to find the best Taylor Swift songs ever and put them on there. Too bad. I know at least five (?) people will like it. Oh, that's only 1/12 of the whole grade?!?! Oh well.

ANYWAYS. I love this song. Yay.

The Moment I Knew~~~~


Okay. Luv ya lots! See ya on the morrow ;)

JUST KIDDING I probably won't be on tomorrow.

What did I just do to this post.

Whoops. Let's put in a nice little quote, shall we?

“Another good thing about being poor is that when you are seventy your children will not have declared you legally insane in order to gain control of your estate.” – Woody Allen

Uh. Not exactly a good one. Oh well. TEE HEE. (No I did not get that from that YouTube thing.)

I wanna do a Draw My Life some time! Should I? Am I too young? I possess the ability to make something sound really good/really bad. So yeah. Like, when someone bit like ALL OVER MY FACE so much that people thought I was contagious, that was physical bullying!!! And when my best friend told me not to talk to this boy, that was social bullying!!!! BTW all of this happened in preschool ^ ^.

Bye~~~~

Dana <33

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Apologies

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I am so very sorry for not posting very often.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Great School Makeover

A new school semester is about to begin, so I'm going to plan a huge School Makeover. No, I'm not making over the school. That's a ginormous project too big for me to undertake. Rather, I'm only going to make over my class, my cubby, and try to inspire happiness among the classroom.

I have a couple of plans in this project.

  1. Organize cubby
    1. Place all textbooks vertically to decrease used space.
      1. Place a scrapbook-page-made 'placemat' under the vertical textbook 'fence' to make your bland mint-green cubby look more festive and inviting.
  2. Shopping bag caddy 
    1. makeover
      1. Paint a shopping bag
      2. Tape thin(ish, compared to the corrugated kind) cardboard along the walls
      3.  Then tape thick cardboard to the bottom. Be careful! Pick only strong-ish cardboard, not flimsy, looks-thick-but-really-isn't cardboard.
      4. Put in gardening/craft stuff!
    2. Purpose
      1. Part of this is to organize my cubby, but part of it is also to plant things around the school and cross my fingers to hope they grow.
  3. "My Happiness" board
    1. makeover
      1. Take an old, expired stand-up-by-itself desk calendar and rip out all of the pages.
      2. Paint one side (or both, if you like) with chalkboard paint. I bought a taupe colored Martha Stewart chalkboard paint and am ever so excited to do this project!
      3. Let dry following manufacturer's instructions.
      4. Optional step: Using a Sharpie or other permanent marker, write either "I am...." or "I am feeling" or "My mood" or "My feeling" or whatever.
      5. Have fun and rock n' roll! You can draw faces to represent your happiness level, or a temperature degree thing with a lot of marks and labels, or just scribble down your mood in a word or two with chalk! Easy to clean, too: magnificent!
    2. Purpose
      1. Inspire kids all over the classroom to be happy and laugh whenever they see it.
Okay, but I still have to make a motto poster, because it's not good enough, right? Laugh out loud! That is so mean! Whatever, I really do want to make a motto poster, but I'm just not sure how because I'm using an old Macintosh computer. Well, I'll figure it out!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Amazing Kids!

I am ashamed to say that I have been putting off posting for a while, and part of the reason was because  of my vow to you that I would post beautiful motto posters every time! Well, I'm back into 'photo frenzy' mode, so I have lots of pictures to work with-- but maybe not so many cute sayings. But maybe that's alright!

Anyway, I come to you today to say that I've got some really good news. One of my submissions has been accepted to Amazing Kids! Magazine! You can access their online magazine publication's website through this link.

I have been informed that the submission will appear in the March issue of their magazine. So look for it there! I will post the link to the article when it has been uploaded to their website by the Amazing Kids! Magazine staff.

Looking forward to it!

~~Dana

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Self Poems!!



Self Poems are a really fun activity, even though some students may fool around with it. Here is the format:

I am leading a _________ life

I am watching ___________________
I had a ___________but I lost it
I used to believe _______________
But now I know_________________________
And now, at ____years old, I have seen ____________
I have touched _________________
I believe _____________________
I don't know why______________________
I hate_______________________
I love_______________________
I hope____________________________
And my heart is_____________________.


An example might be:

I am leading a standstill life
I am watching the world go by
I had a beautiful ponytail holder but I lost it
I used to believe in happy endings
But now I know they only happen to some people.
And now, at ten years old, I have seen the inside of a surgery room
I have touched a cow’s udder (for real!)
I believe that dreams can come true
I don’t know why feelings is the hardest subject
I hate jump rope
I love the unpolluted world
I hope something I don’t dare to say
And my heart is waiting for someone to take the reins.


You could make a serious one, such as the one above, or a lighthearted one, but both are very cool and interesting activities for kids!


--Dana


Friday, January 18, 2013

The Daily Motto Poster

I started turning my photographs into Motto Posters and I will try to post them up here. Although it definitely won't be a daily event, every time I post there should be a Motto Poster at the top. Today's is:

"To be a rose......is to see the sunshine lurking everywhere."

Yes, I made that up. But so what? It's uplifting and cheerful and bright and pretty. Well, sorry about the Tahoma font for "To be a rose...." but yes, you can fix that with Microsoft Paint because that's the software I used to put on the words!


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

A Thought for Today


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does. -Josh Billings, columnist and humorist (1818-1885) 
~~~~

Conscience, in this example, refers to that feeling of guilt when you do something wrong. So, is he saying that we often make mistakes regarding reason but are always saved by our conscience? Or is he saying that there are often unreasonable things, but never things that are not conscientious? This is a bit confusing, because it's one of those things that sound easy to understand but aren't really, and its profound meaning is quite interesting.

Luv ya lots!

Dana xoxo

P.S. More to come.