College/High School Study Tips!

College 101: Study Tips/Essentials

     With the back-to-school season comes the back-to-school struggles: taking notes in class, doing homework, studying, and those dreaded tests. Lucky for me, I have been been graced with some pretty nifty studying skills that have greatly helped my GPA stay in the 3.2+ range for several years. And lucky for whoever is reading this, I thought it would only be fair to share my geek wisdom with anyone who wishes to hear it. Also, just to make sure I don't seem like I'm bragging, I am definitely not, nor have I ever been, the smartest kid in my class. I've always had a hard time with memorization, reading and comprehension, just to name a few things. It is mainly for this reason that it was drilled into my head early on how to be super organized, and now I cannot thank the people who did that for me enough! I know this might be kind of a boring topic but it really can help push your attitude towards learning and school into a more positive light and it can be super personalized! SO LETS GET STARTED!!!

Prepare

1. Get yourself some folders!!! Your best bet would be to get a binder, or two if you classes are very paper heavy, and put your hole-punched pages in it, as well as any loose leaf papers in the folder. But if you really cannot be bothered to do all of that organizational stuff, at least get yourself a folder for each subject or class and keep all of your papers in it. This way you cannot just stuff it in the bottom of your backpack where it will get crumpled and ripped. My personal favorites are the Five-Star Mead folders with pockets along the sides rather than the bottoms.
     Personalization: There are tons of folders with awesome covers on them and you can change them up every year!

2. Get a Weekly/Monthly Agenda Book. Some people are really for using these, some people love them. I've had ups and downs with Agenda books. In high school, I would always start out strong using these, and as the semester would go on, I would write less and less in the weekly pages. However, in college I found that just using the monthly section is extremely helpful. If you already find the weekly pages helpful, stick to those. But if you are like me and you haven't always faired the best with agenda books, try and write out all of your assignments in just the monthly part instead. What this allows you to do is to have a running timeline of what you need to do on a daily, weekly, AND monthly basis and can keep you more organized.
     Personalization: Use different colors to represent different subjects and the agenda book covers come in every color and pattern imaginable! Some even have nifty study guides in them like US State maps, conversion tables, geometric equations and more!


During the Year/Semester

3. KEEP EVERYTHING!!! And yes I mean everything. Every note you take, every assignment, paper, quiz and test, and anything else you work on through out the semester. These can be key study tools when it comes time to take the final or just the weekly pop quiz. It may seem like a lot but by doing this you can use it to study whenever you need to, and usually finals and midterm questions are taken from tests or from the notes you take in class. This way you can also go back through and cover up all the answers and make sure you know all of the material.

4. Keep things in order. So when you keep everything its best to keep it in the sequential order and in categories. What I usually do is start with assignments sheets, then work sheets, tests/quizzes and then anything extra in the back. Within each of these assignments I will put the most recent papers I got back first so that as I get my work I just put it on top of the first one in the category. This keeps everything organized and I can find it quickly. Its a real time saver and I would suggest everyone to try it out.
     Personalization: Try different sequential orders and category orders! See if going from old to new is better, maybe you need different categories than the ones I listed; do what makes it easier for you but keep it organized!

5. Take notes every class. Lots of them. Seriously its so helpful to take as many in detail notes as you can whenever you are in an academic or lecture class. By hearing it and then writing it out, it forces you to put the information in your mind in your own words rather than just passively hearing what the teacher is saying. I know it may be a little daunting taking a bunch of notes but you will have yourself quite the study materials when test time comes around.
     Get super creative with it: different pens for different subjects, different colors for vocab words, whatever makes it more fun for you!

6. Pencil Pouch. Everyone should have a pencil pouch. I'm pretty sure everyone has had at least one in their life but they really are awesome! My suggestion for these is to have at least two of your favorite style of pens and pencils(mechanical or regular) in your pouch at all times! This way you will never run out of ink or lead. Optional add-ons are White-Out pens, separate erasers, a flash drive, and maybe a sharpie or two.


Studying

7. Know what distracts you. I know for me, music and too much talking can be a big distraction, so I make sure I don't listen to anything other than classical music on low volume and go to the silent reading section of my library. If you need background sounds and silence freaks you out, go to somewhere like a library cafe or a Starbucks to get your study on. If you find that you're always sneaking onto Tumblr and Youtube, turn off your internet and study with paper and books; just find what distracts you and get as far from it as you can. And one thing I know is always super tempting, but dangerous for studying, can be study groups. If you are ALL serious about getting your work done, then you might be ok. Or if your assignment is a group project, of course you will have to do group study. But if you go with your friends to the library, more likely than not, you'll all end up talking most of the time, not to mention disturb people around you. So do yourself a favor, hit the books and power off the distractions.

8. Wi-Fi off. One thing I know distracts my friends more than anything is the internet. Yeah its great for surfing Google and checking the databases, but there's always the temptation of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, heck even online shopping! Make sure if you really need the internet, you are researching and nothing else. Otherwise, the cute cat pictures can wait.

9. Quizlet One online site that has been a great help for me is Quizlet.com. It is a website where you can not only make flash cards, but it will quiz you on them virtually as well as make them into questions for you to test yourself! As someone whose always been bad at memorization, this site has made studying for those pesky vocab quizzes super simple because I don't even have to print them out. It tells you when you get it wrong and then shuffles up the incorrectly answered questions for a second, third, and even fourth round so you can learn all of them. Give this site a try the next time you have Chem vocab to learn.

10. Before the big test... So obviously no one likes taking tests but everyone likes getting an A on them! Not to brag or anything but since I've started using this study technique four semesters ago, I have not failed a test(knock on wood). Basically, all I do is study a week before the test, that's it. This does require you to take a lot of notes through out the semester or chapter, and takes up a couple of hours every night that week. What I do is take all of my notes for that test/quiz and divide it into thirds. For the first three nights, I study each third consecutively; first night, first third, second night, second third, third night, final third. The fourth night, I read half of all of the material, and the night after that, the other half. The sixth night I will read everything all the way through and see what stuff I can almost say from memory and what hasn't quite sunk in yet.
     I read all of my notes OUT LOUD to myself like I am teaching it to myself. You may be thinking, she's crazy, but if you try and reiterate it to yourself, the more you can say it in your own words, the more it will be put into memory. It's kind of like learning a song. You learn the chorus first because it is repeated three or four times by the end. Plus by saying everything out loud to yourself, not only are you seeing the information, but you are hearing it as well and it just sandwiches the information into your brain. If you have any vocab you also add this to the notes you are studying. I really hope that this helps some people out.

     And there are my High School/College Study Tips! These have gotten my through many years of school and I hope to help some of you out there as well. Please leave any suggestions down below of things you would like me to write about. I hope everyone is just as excited for classes to start as I am and I also hope most of you are enjoying your last bits of summer!! Please also let me know if any of these tips help you and I hope they weren't too much. Happy Fall everyone!!

Back To School Essentials

Back to School Time!

     So whether you like it or not, it's back to school time! I personally have always loved school and loved organizing and the whole fresh notebooks thing. I think its gotten better over the years what with the new additions I got to add to my school supplies as well as all of the tricks I have learned. I almost wish I could redo high school just so that I could actually study and take notes correctly; there were so many things I learned just in the first semester of my first year of college that it would have made high school classes that much easier. But in any case, I thought it would be fun to talk about my school essentials and maybe give you guys some ideas on what to get in all of these sales :) Just as a note, these are things I use throughout the day.

Essentials:

     a bag or backpack - I will either use a backpack if I need to carry a lot or an over the shoulder bag if I only need a few items for the day. I go between two options: I have my purple L. L. Bean backpack that has three pockets plus a built in laptop sleeve so that my computer is nice and protected! The other option that I like is my Vera Bradley Get Carried Away Tote which is nice because it has a wide opening, a few pockets on the outside and nice strong handles. This is great for when I have only a few things to bring and I don't need my laptop.


      
     water bottle - I literally drink water all day long and I ALWAYS have either my teal or pink metal water bottle with me wherever I go. So for that reason, it is an essential.

     Cliff bars or peanut butter crackers - As with drinking water all day long, I also usually have food with me all day. I have Hypoglycemia and what that basically means for me, is that if I do not keep my blood sugar at an even level throughout the day, then I get sugar crashes and those lead to headaches, which turn into migraines and that means that I basically am stuck in bed for the rest of the day. Doesn't sound too appealing does it? So to insure that that doesn't happen, I keep high-protein stacks like Cliff bars and peanut-butter crackers with me to eat when I get hungry in between meals.




     my keys/wristlet - Most people in college carry a wristlet with all of their cards, money, their ID and their keys on it instead of a big wallet, since we need IDs to get into our dorm rooms as well as for our meal plan if we have one. I personally find a little wristlet works the best because it fits in many of my pants pockets and that way I can have it on me at all times. Usually I will go to the Vera Bradley outlet and stock up on them for $5 each! I have a lot of things inside my wristlet like some cards, cash, and punch cards. As for the outside I just keep my belay clip, my keys, the little rewards cards, and a cute little light up owl keychain :).




     weekly/monthly agenda - An ABSOLUTE essential for me. I use this thing sooooo much but ironically I only use the monthly, "at-a-glance" section to write all of my assignments. It allows me to see just how much time I have to complete an assignment, instead of just going week to week. As an art student, we have mainly project-based assignments and you have to do a lot of time management. There aren't just reading assignments or a few tests, you have on-going assignments that have deadlines and you need to know how much time you have to complete them. Personally I find myself being able to get everything done on time or in advanced when I use my agenda like this. Luckily for me this year, I found monthly agenda that does not include the week to week detail pages so I don't waste all that paper!!



     large calender - Along with a medium monthly agenda that I carry with me in my bag, I also hang a large calender in my dorm room and mark all of my assignments on it as well. This is good for a couple of reasons. First of all, I don't have to go reach into my bag every time I want to check my assignments. Another really good reason to have this hanging up, is that it basically makes you aware of your assignments all of the time. It allows you to keep everything you have in the back of your mind because you are glancing at it so much. I will say that it is an extra step to make sure that my small agenda and big calender are always in sync, but if it was too much of a hassle I definitely wouldn't still be using both calenders after 4 semesters.






     pencil pouch - I also carry my pencil pouch with me in my bag everyday. As you can see in the picture, its a long zipper pouch with some teal, purple, pink and green stripes.

        gel, clicker pens - I am for some reason very particular about my writing pens. I like them to have a thick line with no "breaks." Like I don't like writing with a pen that leaves little bald patches in my writing; it just bugs me.

        mechanical pencils - I use pens a lot but when I do actually use a pencil, I only really like using mechanical pencils. They are usually just yellow, HB/2B(#2) Bic mechanical pencils. I do love mechanical pencils that look like the old school regular pencils with fun designs, but only when they are discounted.

        flash drive - As a Graphic Design/Digital Media student I always am bringing my work back and forth from my laptop to the big design lab Macs. So obviously I need to have a way to transport it and a 8GB or 16GB flash drive is nice and large enough to keep lots of files on hand; the 2GB's fill up pretty fast.

     textbooks - This can't be too much of a surprise. For me my books tend to be about design and typography, though. For this upcoming Fall semester, my textbooks are Typographic Web Design, Designing Type, and Psychology: An Exploration.


     sketchbook - Whether it's for my class or because I get inspired, I always have a sketchbook or several in my dorm room/backpack.

     drawing pencil/sharpie - Also for most classes, I either need drawing pencils or sharpies, or I will use these and other drawing materials in my sketch book.

     any other art supplies for classes - Usually this consists of a sketchbook for each class; if it is a Fine Arts course, I usually need a some sort of pad of paper; drawing or painting media; tape; scissors; objects to sketch; basically I had a lot of stuff in my room Freshman Year. I also have software and the nice paper from the Design Lab at my school for my electronic art classes.




     spiral-bound notebook or composition book - Even though I type my papers and take notes on my laptop, something about outlining on pieces of paper works best for me. I usually can do everything in one note book and just use it for all of my classes where I have to write out a presentation or essay.

     non-zip binders - Since 6th grade, I have used the same system to hold my assignment sheets, notes, and anything else I get from my classes. I keep two hard plastic binders which I will try and switch out every other day. So either I will have all of papers for my academic classes in one and studio classes in another, or all my work for my more paper heavy classes in one and less paper heavy classes in another. Although now that a lot of my actual work is on the computer now, I still get hard copies of assignments from teachers. So what I like to do is to have all the sheets hole punched and usually I will put the newest sheets on top.




     folders, one for each class - Inside each plastic binder I keep a folder for each class. Anything that is not hole punched or a finished assignment will be put in the folder for that class. I kind of use these as dividers so my binders usually consist of a folder, class work, another folder for a second class, and sheets for that second class, and so on. This is part of the same system from 6th grade.








     Macbook Pro 15" - *Heavenly singing* My Baby! My Macbook Pro is a freaking god sent; I love this thing. Not only is it good for normal stuff like note taking, surfing the web, and listening to music, I do a lot of my artwork on this thing. I have a few programs that I am required to use for my classes too.

        Photoshop - A photo editing software, this is usually used for Digital Media classes but is also used in my other classes as well.

        Illustrator - A cross between a photo editing software with more illustrative options, I usually use this in my Graphic Design classes.

        InDesign - Mainly used for making great looking documents, posters and the like, this is used in both my Graphic Design and Typography classes.


     Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet - This little baby is amazing for drawing more accurately on my computer and I use it a lot for Digital Media assignments. I wish I had this earlier in life, you just plug it into the computer and then you can draw with a stylus and make amazing illustrations as well as photo edit with it.




     cell phone - And of course I have to have my phone with me at all times, checking up on friends, staying in contact with the parents, making sure I get to class on time, checking the weather... I'm pretty sure most people would say this is an essential and will know why. A cell phone of any sort is pretty much crucial in 2013.






     And those are all of my essentials. I know it seems like a lot but I mean it's all going in my backpack so it gets a little smaller in size and I really do use all these things on a regular, if not daily, basis. I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I really look forward to knowing what everyone else's essentials are; let me know in the comments! Hope everyone is excited for back to school in some shape or form and I'll talk to you guys soon :D Follow my blog if you'd like to make me happy!

DIY Jewelry Board

DIY TIME!!

     So as it is back to school time, and everyone is in the organizing mood, I have also been thinking about my own set up of things and what I will be bringing with me back to college. As well as buying things for my first on-campus apartment, I tend to live by the motto, "If I can make it for cheaper, why buy it?" Plus I am just a pretty crafty and creative person in general so any time I can make something I kinda jump on the opportunity if I feel it will come out lookin' good. This DIY came about because I have a jewelry box that I love but I cannot efficiently store my long or even short necklaces in it and remember to wear them. So I thought it might be fun to make a cool corkboard, like the ones that have ribbon on them that people put pictures on. Instead I thought I would make mine for jewelry! (just as a word of advice, use the pictures to guide you)

For this DIY Jewelry Board, you will need a few items:

          4 square pieces of cork board; I picked mine up in a set of 4 at Michaels

          A glue gun and glue sticks

          2 square pieces of fabric in a pattern or color of your choice; you could also choose two different colors or patterns, just make sure there is enough to cover an entire square board plus three and a half inches on all four sides; I got my squares at ACMoore and they are called Fat Quarters

          Scissors(not shown)

       Optional:

          1. Something to put your glue gun on so that it doesn't drip all over your work surface; I used a black box in a plastic bag

          2. A weight to hold your square pieces in place; for that I used a box of pastels I had laying around

Step 1:

          You're going to want to start with one of your cork board squares and one square of fabric. I used a board that's 12"x12" and the fabric was a pre-cut rectangle measuring 18"x22". Take the fabric and lay it out flat, back-side up. Then lay your board down as close to center of the fabric as possible; you can measure it to be precise if you want. Make sure that if your fabric has a symbol of some sort that it is center as well. Once you make sure that the fabric is completely flat and pulled taut behind the board, place your weight on top to hold the fabric and corkboard in place.






Step 2:
          Decide which side you are going to adhere to the back of the board first. You are going to take the fabric hanging off this side and fold the end up about an inch onto itself. Secure this inch by running some hot glue along the inside and folding the other side over.

Step 3:
          After gluing the folded inch part, take the side of fabric and pull and fold it as far on top of the cork board as possible without it becoming loose from under the square(this is why the weight is there). Mark where the fabric reaches(that's what the arrow is pointing to). Lay a line of hot glue on the thin side of the corkboard and press the fabric over it to create a tight seal. Then squeeze a ton of hot glue on the area of cork board between the line and fabric. Secure the piece of fabric into place
on the board.

Step 4:
          Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the opposite side of fabric and board.


Step 5:
          After securing two sides of fabric, which should be opposite each other, I found it helped to cut off the bit of fabric that was folded over and glued. It makes it look cleaner and insures that everything is straight but it is too thick to be able to secure other two ends. Cut off the inch section of the already secured sides.

Step 6:
           First thing you have to do is make another inch fold like you did in step 2. Take an inch of the new side and fold it over itself. Secure this with glue.

Step 7:

          Next, you are going to fold this side, 

as well as the opposite side, like you are wrapping

the short ends of a present. First, take the corners

of the unsecured side and fold them in along

the edge so you get a triangle; secure this with

a bit of glue.

Step 8:
          Once the corners are secure, fold and pull the fabric side up along the board and mark it like in step 3. Also like in step 3, line the thin part of the board with glue and press the fabric taut over it to create the tight seal. Finally, cover the part of the board between the edge and the line in hot glue and secure the fabric in place.






Step 9:
          Repeat steps 5, 6, 7, and 8 to the opposite and final side of fabric. When you have done so and flip it over, you should have a tightly covered piece of corkboard.

Step 10:
          The final step is to repeat all previous 9 steps to either one or all three remaining corkboard squares. I have done only two but like I just said you could cover all four or even do three and leave just one blank. You could also use different fabric on each board you cover, or like myself, use the same on both boards.

     I hope you guys enjoy this DIY Tutorial and if you would like me to do more and other types of DIYs it would be my absolute pleasure. Hopefully the pictures helped with this since I know it was a little hard to explain everything I was doing. Don't forget to tell me what you thought of this, be sure to try it out on your own, and if you could follow my blog that would be great! Talk to you guys soon.

10 under $10 Tag!

Beauty Tag Alert!

     First off I have to apologize for how long I've taken so long to post lately. Sorry. It is only because of what I was planning to write about. I've been super excited to do a beauty tag of some sort. If you have been watching any youtubers lately, you will know that the Ten Products Under $10 Tag is a big one right now. I guess I'll do the tag in the order of application that I usually use the products on ma FACE.

     Sooooooo I sadly do not have any foundations or BB creams that are under $10, so I'm skipping those products. I also am a very lucky girl who doesn't need concealer because I don't have dark circles (to me, it's kinda gimicky to buy). That being said, I do get pimples and spots, I just don't feel the need to cover them up; I feel like I would be gunking up those areas if I did. I have also tried a few low priced face powders and haven't found something I like yet. If anyone has a suggestion for a good one, tell me please! :)

      I do have an awesome eyelid primer though! My absolute FAVorite eyelid primer is the Milani Eyeshadow Primer. The shade is Nude 01 and I believe that is the only shade but it seems to have a similar consistency to Too Faced Shadow Insurance and like I said in my July favorites, it holds my eyeshadow and eyeliner in place ALL DAY. I would definitely suggest it if you only have a few dollars to spend on a primer. This came in at around $5 or $6 at CVS.

I have three eyeshadow products for you guys. 

First off, I have my L.A. Colors trios. I would seriously consider getting like all 6 of these since they are only $1 a piece! They have a wonderful pigment, a good range of colors and the pans are the freaking size of a half-dollar! Go get them! NOW!

     Second eyeshadow product is one from Maybelline. These are pretty old school, I've had them for many years, they just work super well and you get a lot of product for your money. These are the ExpertWear Eyeshadow 8-Color Pan Pallets. I have two(that I am counting as one product) in Twilight Rays and Hushed Tones. Some of the pans are shimmery, some are matte, and some are pearl. The quality is pretty great and I have always loved using them. They will only run you $6.50, so it of course I ha to mention it!



     Third eyeshadow product is one that is constantly mentioned on Youtube and those are any of the Wet'n'Wild Trios and 8-Color Palettes :). My personal favorite is the Comfort Zone palette(ironically placed in the back of my photo here) and I cannot say enough about these colors. They are creamy, pigmented, they last all day and many of them end up being dupes for MAC eyeshadows! So if you have a Rite Aid or Walmart near you, get your butt over there right now and pick yourself up some Wet'n'Wild!




     On to more face items, I have the NYC Smooth Skin Bronzer in Sunny. This is also a drugstore cult classic; everyone loves it, its said to be a dupe for Benefit's Hoola, and best part about it is that it's only $3. It's a wonderful shade of bronze and I use this for my contour and for my overall bronzing if I feel like warming up my face. Not much more to say about that lol.

There are two blush products for this tag:

     The first is another Wet'n'Wild product and that is their Color Icon Blush in Pearlescent Pink. This is just a nice rose colored blush with some shimmer in it. As with all of these products, its pigmented and its nice and smooth. It seems to be a pattern with all of my stuff; that I like high-quality items, whether its makeup or not, like I don't wanna buy the expensive stuff if something cheaper will work just as well.





 Anyway the other blush pick is the e.l.f.'s Studio Line Blushes in any color. These are not as smooth as Wet'n'Wild and they are more powdery but I just love the color selection so I couldn't leave this product out :)

     And finally for the lips. I am going to mention three (I'm counting the two Maybelline palettes as well as the Wet'n'Wild eye products as two products, so that makes it 7). The first ones, which I hate how expensive they are($6.99+) but I cannot get enough of, are the Revlon Lip Butters. As I said in my favorites post, I have like 9 or 10 of these, they are 'buttery' smooth, really hydrating and come in 20 freaking colors! I wear one of these at least once a week, and my favorites are Tutti Fruiti(right), Wild Watermelon(left), and Strawberry Shortcake(center).

     Second, I have the Rimmel Kate Moss Lipsticks. I have 7 of these and seriously I want all of them! They smell kind of like a chemically fruity scent that I cannot place but to me its super delicious. They are super pigmented(no surprise there) and they are all matte. The only thing I don't love about these is that they can be a little drying but if I put a balm on before, they end up being fine; nothing I cannot handle. You can get these at many locations for between $4.5 and $5.50.

    The third and final lip product is the Covergirl Lipsticks. I only have three right now but I find them to be pretty long wearing and that's why I like them so much. I wasn't sure if I would like them that much as I mentioned in my last post, especially since for me Covergirl can be pretty hit or miss. But they have a huge range of colors and finishes(many are MAC dupes!), so as long as you don't have super dry lips, you can find a one that you will love!



     And that is it for my 10 Products Under $10 Tag! I hope you guys enjoyed reading and I hope to post again in the next three days! Would love to hear your thoughts down below and if you followed my blog that would be awesome! Love all of you, my beauts, and have an awesome day <3 <3 <3 XOXO