#gettingcrafty: smash it up !

Greetings ! It's been almost a week since I last updated with the progress of how my SMASH Book is going... and not much progress has been made within that amount of time. Every time I do something creative, I feel like I have to let my creative juices rest and do other mindless things until they are recharged, kekeke. With the short break I took, I managed to do two pages (sadly, only two pages).

One of the reasons why I took so long in doing another page or two was because I didn't know what to smash next or how to order things from that page onward. I'm trying to do it chronologically, but I have so much stuff that don't fit together chronologically, but the categories can be arranged chronologically, so I decided to just go with that.

Before I get to the pages, I bought some more stuff to help me with my SMASH Book ! I was in Target and I passed the scrapbooking aisle. I curiously looked and saw a few SMASH products on sale ! :D I bought four pockets, these magnetic clip thingies, and this booklet for around $4 :D

And without further ado, here are the two pages I did !

The theme of these two pages is FTC (Fall Training Conference). It is an annual CNH Circle K event held in Sonora, CA. Bunches of workshops, new members are called on stage and get a certificate welcoming them into the organization and clubs hand out/trade cool goodies to put on your name tags and show off during the event.

Here is the first page~

A close up of the first page.

My certificate ^__^ I went on stage to receive this ! 

From SD to Sonora in NorCal ! The washi tape parts say what school I got the cool goodies from.

And the right page~

I got that bag from UCR. I'm using it to hold the FTC program. The space-related stickers are also from UCR, since their theme was Men In Black. It took forever to get the bag to stick on the page.

The beautiful program~

Behind the straps of the bag, since I didn't want there to just be an awkward space.

That's it for now ! I'm debating whether or not to do a giant Circle K chunk (aka a few pages, since I have random Circle K stuff) or KP/Phamily pages next, since I don't know what would be better chronologically. Maybe I'll do all Circle K stuff (including DCON, which is after those two chunks) and then KP/Phamily pages afterwards. Or my birthday after the pages I just did THEN those pages ? Maybe I should've done my birthday before these FTC pages.... AHHHH, I don't know.

I still also do not have a cover. I know what I want on the cover, but I don't know how to design it yet. Hopefully, I'll get a random burst of inspiration and design the cover before the book gets TOO fat.

I'm excited to work on the rest of my book & keep you all updated ! (:

#gettingcrafty: how smashing !

Earlier this summer, I decided I wanted to make a SMASH Book after seeing it all over Pinterest. I thought it was a cool way to store all of the small memorabilia I keep throughout the years. I'm going to document my journey with my SMASH book here~

After buying some washi tape and some more scrapbook supplies and salvaging other scrapbook supplies from our hallway closet, I decided to get to work!

They sent me two rolls of the bird tape on accident/purpose ? Most of these I got from downtowntape.com. Two are from cottonon.com, and two are of the SMASH brand.

All the scrapbooking supplies I found in the closet. The red composition notebook is what I'm making into my SMASH book, which is an old notebook I used in the 7th grade.

Two SMASH pens (I'll buy the blue one next time !) and a paper pad by Teresa Collins.

Close up of the SMASH pens (with New Girl in the background) !

First, I covered the edge of the composition notebook pages with washi tape. This would help group the pages to make them thicker (versus gluing the pages together) and make the side of the book look pretty at the same time ! Tutorial is here.

I didn't know what to do for the cover, so I skipped to the inside cover. I glued a paper patterned with a field of lavender flowers and a flower-related quote... something girly and cute to open the book with.

"Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower." - Shigenori Kameoka

It took me a couple of more days from the point when I made the cover to actually do the rest of my SMASH Book. I had to dump out all the stuff I had from the past year of college (I'm starting the book here; I have a bunch of stuff from high school that I think I'm going to save for another book) and think of how to organize the stuff together and arrange it nicely on a page.

I didn't even realize how much stuff I had ! It doesn't look like so much, but, trust me, it is.

Here's what I came up with for the first page. I imagined this to be a two page kind of design, but I lacked name tags. I had a bunch more name tags but I think I threw them away when I was moving out of my dorm. I'm still mostly satisfied with how the page turned out though. I think it's a pretty good introduction page, right ? I used washi tape to decorate the page more.

Hello ! My name is...

It took me a while to decide what to do next, but I decided to make it UCSD/Triton themed since it was my first year attending university. I didn't have a lot to work with, but I think I made it look good !

Program from Convocation ! Inside the program, this guy & I were writing messages to each other. Kinda cute.

Underneath the Convocation program.

Sun God wristband and a bunch of pins I've gotten from school so far. I don't know if I'm going to keep the pins in there or not since it makes the book so fat already.

Signed concert tickets & the wristbands, Sun God babies, random stickers...

Underneath the tickets. Back of the Sun God babies & a random star sticker (which I wish I placed differently, but I couldn't remove it after I put it there >___<).

Under the wristbands.

Anyways, that's all I have done for now. I'm excited to keep working on my SMASH book and improve my scrapbooking/creativity skills ! (((:

#concert: jonas brothers concert !

I went to two concerts in about one week, which is pretty unusual. This time, I went to the Jonas Brothers concert ! It's been about three and a half years since I saw them live for the first time, back when they were still super popular, when tickets were sold out almost instantly. I'm not obsessed with Jonas Brothers like I am with One Direction, nor was I obsessed back when they were popular, but I always loved their music.

I went with my cousins and my sister. One of my cousins (who was visiting from Vancouver) is a HUGE Jonas Brothers fan. She obsesses over the Jonas Brothers like I do with One Direction (which is enormous, if you can't tell). They made the concert experience so great. I don't think I would've had as much fun if I went with just my sister.

My cousin in the middle is the super obsessed JB fan :P

We got there at almost 6PM. My cousin bought a shirt (which was as expensive as 1D merch... I guess merch is that expensive. How annoying !) and we found our seats. On the way there, we saw my cousin and aunt and uncle, who got free seats. Their seats were pretty good ! Our seats were pretty good too, since they were floor, but it was kinda hard to see sometimes.  It was also kind of sad because there were a good amount of empty seats open; they didn't completely sell out like they used to. Nevertheless, it wasn't too bad... and as soon as the concert started, the people next to me and in front of me left because they couldn't see, so I had more room to dance/peer around heads, waving hands, and cameras to see. I wish I had a picture from the Jonas Brothers concert I went to in December 2008 (I think) so I could compare views... but I don't have one handy on me !

Some DJ was the opening act, starting at around 7PM. He helped pass the time a little bit before Karmin, the other opening act, went on. A guy on the stands was dancing to every song he played and it was so funny/awesome. I couldn't stop laughing. I wouldn't mind dancing with that guy. THEN KARMIN CAME ON AND I WAS SO EXCITED ! I've been a fan of theirs since I saw their "Look At Me Now" cover that caused their current status of fame. They opened with my current jam from them, "A Capella," played some new songs, sang "Look At Me Now" (I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS, OMG), then ended with "Brokenhearted." Their set was long, but I didn't mind because I thought the Jonas Brothers would be out after that.

But I was wrong. The DJ came back and started doing a set with only his mouth or whatever, which was cool at first, but got kind of boring really quickly (plus I don't think he's that good of a singer). A lot of us were getting restless.

Finally, the Jonas Brothers came out a bit past 9PM. A lot of us were feeling bored and tired while waiting for them, but instantly woke up when the lights turned off and when they came out. It was so exhilarating seeing them after so long ! I can't believe it's been over three years since they last toured. Here are some pictures I took !

This was so cute, omg. I screamed so loud.

Nick played piano for "A Little Bit Longer" and the drums for Joe's solo song, "See No More." Ugh, musically inclined boys are so hot.

They brought Karmin back on stage during their song "Let's Go," which I guess they are featured in. It was so sick. I was so happy they did a collaboration... only makes sense since they've been touring together this whole time.

They even brought back Big Rob (apparently he isn't their bodyguard anymore ;~;) via video chat (probably pre-recorded, but still cool) to do his rap in Burnin' Up ! I was so excited, omg. I wish it was a real appearance, but this made me so happy.

BIG ROB'S FO REAL (AND THAT'S NO LIE) !

Although it's been a really long time since I've seen them live, I'm so happy they're coming out with new music and touring and still playing old music with perfection ! Being a loyal fan pays off so much. It was such an enjoyable and fun concert and man it was just a great night. I hope that if One Direction ever took a break and decided to tour again years later, they would have a successful comeback like the Jonas Brothers are, and would be able to fill a big arena with loyal fans. I'd be there in a heartbeat.

#concert: one direction concert !

If you don't know already, I am a massive One Direction fan. I originally didn't have tickets to their concerts happening this weekend, so my sister and I were trying so hard to win from our local radio station. However, we didn't win (Marita got pretty close a couple of times though !). My parents saw us working really hard and they ended up buying us tickets for waaaaay more than they're originally worth. You could say my sister & I were pretty excited; we got to see them two years in a row (hopefully we'll get to see them next year too !) :D

So many more posters since the first picture !

I also took my first selfie with an actual camera for the first time in a really, really long time. Most selfies are taken through the front camera of a phone so this is almost ancient history !

We got there at around 5:30. We waited in line for merch (my beautiful shirt is below) and drank Starbucks until we waited in line to get into the venue.

Once we were inside, we took pictures with this cool phone booth photo op thing. The girl in front of us came from a hispanic country and was watching the concert by herself ! We had to take her picture for her.

 

Then we went to get our seats, which weren't too bad, even with a side view and being in the balcony. I liked this year's seats much better because we were closer, and we didn't have heads blocking our way.

5 Seconds of Summer was their opening act. They were so great and they're so cute, omg. I knew only the choruses of two or three of their songs, but now I'll be listening non-stop. Marita was fangirling since she's in love with them.

I think Calum is my favorite ;)

I didn't take as many pictures or videos compared to last year, but I did get a handful of pictures and videos (which are uploading to YouTube as we speak !). Also, I don't have the best camera, just some touch screen Nikon Coolpix I don't even like, so the pictures might not be the best !

They just popped out of those squares, which was pretty neat.

THEN THEY STARTED FLOATING ON THIS PLATFORM, WHICH WAS EVEN NEATER.

My babe Harry Styles looked fabulous as always, even with a ridiculous scarf headband. I can dig it. I can pull that off too ;)

Silly Harry.

And there were so many Nouis/Niam moments ! I wish I could've captured them ! And Louis did a lot of lyric changes, although I couldn't quite understand what they were ! And Liam's Stitch & Kermit impressions and dancing ! And Zayn's high power notes ! And Niall's guitar ! Ahhh everything was so perfect.

I am on such a post concert high and depression... only the boys can make me feel this way ! I like going to concerts because it reminds me that they are real people, not just people I hear about, see on the internet, in music videos, in videos, on posters, in magazines. I love them so much ;___; Can't wait until next year (hopefully) !

A cute picture of Marita & I at the concert. We look so happy~