For Students
Go Gimp
0Whatever happened to GIMP bracelets? So many things from the 90′s have come back, but not these and I do not get why not! Gimp was so rad. If you have absolutely no idea what I am talking about, let me remind you. Gimp bracelets are strips of coloured plastic that you weave together to make cool designs and turn it into a bracelet or necklace. You can use two, three or even five depending on the design that you want to make.
So I’m bringing it back!! I remember sitting in summer camp, and everyone was making gimp friendship bracelets and it was such a good time. I think I might run to Michaels right after writing this post and grab myself some! Wait… I don’t remember how to gimp?
Ok – with a little bit of research, I found some awesome sites with directions on doing different patterns! Check them out. Some are extremely easy and you could probably teach a three year old it, but then there are some that I honestly believe you need a degree in computer science or something!! Honestly, some are pretty intense but I’m always up for a good challenge.
I’m going to do all three all together in one. It’s going to be one fabulous bracelet! Let me know what you guys decide to do with your gimp! What a perfect way to add some spunk to your fashion, or friendship as well!
Personalize With Silhouettes
0Silhouettes are a great way to spruce up your dorm room, or any room for that matter, and add a touch of your 
personality and you can do it yourself! Save money and add some sparkle? Does it get any better then that?
I personally love them – but not of faces. For me, that’s just a tad creepy. I do not want to feel like I have people and faces looking at me all day, all night. No. Thank. You. I feel like a crime scene investigator would show up eventually, to investigate a dead body – which would be mine… murdered from the people on the wall. Okay, apparently my imagination is getting ahead of me again – but seriously… creepy and stalkerish? If my boyfriend put a silhouette of my face on his wall… I’d be scared. Body, I can understand – ’cause my body is BANGING! Just kidding… I can seriously understand a man wanting a female body silhouette but face… I’ll pass… and run for the hills! You have seen all those scary college movies, right?
However, if you’re into being creepy, by all means make a silhouette of someone’s face. Maybe you really love yourself and want your facial silhouette up on your wall… but you will need someone to help you. I personally suggest making sihlouettes of things you love. Of course, if you love basketball…. this probably won’t work and you might as well just cut out a circle and paste that up on your wall. Some great ideas are high heels, animals, a candle burning, guitar, a silhouette of my hair dryer….! You really have to kind of look around your room and see what items there are that have something to offer. A unique perfume bottle…. your hand….!
Okay, once you have your idea down pat, you are going to want to follow these steps.
- Get a light facing straight on whatever you want a silhouette of
- Get funky paper, wrapping paper, coloured construction paper and tape that onto a wall for tracing. (It will be moved from this place – so don’t put too much thought into this)
- Get chalk, white eyeliner or a pencil for the tracing part. I suggest chalk as it easily rubs off
- Put your object or whatever you want to trace in front of the light so the shadow is on your paper that you have taped on your wall
- Carefully trace the outside of the object onto your paper. Be sure not to move the light, object or paper as your tracing will be off
- Cut the silhouette out!
- Place on your wall
Simple, right? Using an item is much easier then tracing someones face…. just a little extra to deter you from putting faces all over your wall. If you want to get creative, you can also colour on some detailing.
Make An Extra Wall
2We all love our privacy, and it especially gets invaded when you have a sibling sharing a bedroom with you – or god forbid, a bad roommate. Been there – done that…. never again! On the bright side, I discovered amazing, innovative ways to maintain your privacy (as much as possible) and get away from the intrusive, obnoxious person that has a bed across the room from me.
Now, if you have a roommate, I am going to assume you live under someone else’s roof – whether it be your parents, your schools dorm or a rental. If you own your own place and hate your roommate, kick them out or tell them to find a different room. HAHA! I mean, it’s your house right? But the chances of you having a horrible, unwanted roommate and it being YOUR house is highly unlikely. Just admit it – you rent your room, or dorm and you really can’t do much about it, now can you? Okay, my apologies – apparently talking about roommates has erupted a bitter 
feeling within myself – go figure.
Alright, as per usual – I’m off topic. If your roommate is that bad, try to avoid him/her at all costs. If you’re taking online courses and your roommate is always there and won’t leave you alone, you can always go to the library or even MacDonalds! Yup, they have WiFi now! Of course, there are going to be times when you don’t want to leave your dorm – or you can’t – or you just want to be able to enjoy the space that you pay for. I mean, in all reality – why the heck shouldn’t you be able to be there, you know?
So… you can create a wall! No, no… not with wood, drywall and all that other stuff you need for an actual wall – but you can improvise with what you can do in your dorm room and create a way to separate yourself/your side of the room – and you don’t even need a construction management degree.
There are two ways for you to create a “wall”. The first way would be to hang a curtain. 
Now, curtains can get a bit pricey, so you can always even use a shower curtain – just make sure it isn’t see through. You can get little hooks that screw into the ceiling to hand from, but if you aren’t allowed to do this type of thing in your rental space, you can tie a strong string, such as fishing line, from one end to the other and have the shower curtain on that.
Another option is to purchase a screen, or a room divider. Of course, if you are a student, the possibilities of your budget allowing this purchase is unlikely. But hey, at least it’s an idea right?
If you’re dreadful roommate hasn’t gotten the hint yet – these options should drill it into their head a bit more that they need to back off! Sorry… again, I’ve been there – done that.
Make A Stylish, Affordable White Board (Dry Erase Board)
2I recently came across this post from one of my favourite blogs about a whiteboard. Yeah, Yeah… what’s the big deal about a White Board right? Well maybe it’s time that yoouuu read the fabulous post that I am talking about because having a white board is a super idea and great for everything!
I want to go out and get a super large white board. Heck, I want to make every wall a giant white board. Hmmm… I wonder if someone has invented that yet? I know you can get chalk board paint for your walls which is a great alternative if you want to spend the time and money painting your dorm room! All the power to you, but like me… your online college courses probably comes with a low budget that doesn’t allow you to spend very much on extras and chalk paint ain’t cheap! Plus, I want a giant white board, not a chalk board. However, when I went shopping for one, I was dumbfounded by the prices of these things! I thought maybe $5-$20 bucks. Wronnnng! Thus, I walked out of the store empty handed and determined to make my own!
After a little bit of research – I was back at the store.
But not for a white board, but to price out the materials I would need to make my own and the price is considerably lower, so that light bulb went off in my head again and I gathered up my materials and headed home to make my own white board (dry erase board). 
Okay, so what you need is a “Showerboard” which you can find at your local department store. What it is, is basically cheap plywood with a waterproof, plastic coating on one side. Yup, you guessed it… that’s your white board!
Now, of course you could go ahead and just nail this into your dorm room wall and get some dry erase markers and you’re set, but if you are eager to make it extremely cute – here are some extras that you can do!
Instead of buying a huge picture frame (not cheap!), and nailing my new white board into my walls, I decided to go back to my love for Duct tape. Not only is it strong enough to hold, but it will act as a cute frame! I used a designed duct tape that matched my room decor and went around the edges and taped that all up on my wall… and it’s fabulously amazing!