My list of favorite books!

So you guys know that I love to read, so I am going to make a list of my favorite books with a mini review and summary. First off, I love fantasy/paranormal books. I always have (even before it was cool!)

1. My most favorite collection of books ever.
Harry Potter
By J. K. Rowling

-about a boy named Harry Potter who lost his parents as a baby due to the evil Voldemort and his adventures while attending the Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry and trying to defeat Voldemort in the process.
I love love love these books. I grew up with them. I remember my 1st grade teacher reading the sorcerers stone to the class. I remember staying up to the wee hours of the night reading the massive books. One of the only books I can read over and over and never get bored. I love the complexity of the story and the characters. Never had I read any books that made this fantasy world so real. There is such depth in Harry that at times you can feel his anguish and triumph. Though i'm sure most people have seen the movies (which are pretty good) I HIGHLY recommend reading them.

2. Best Paranormal Romance
The fever series
By Karen Marie Moning

-MacKayla Lane, a ditzy blonde who love pink frilly things has been happy in her perfect bubble of cute clothes, sunshine and dreaming of cute boys. Then she finds that her sister has been killed in a mysterious way while studying abroad in Ireland. Determined to figure out who (or what) has killed her sister she makes her journey to Dublin- where she discovers the awful truth of the fae and with the help on a dangerously dark man named Jericho she searches for the heart of all evil the Sinsar Dubh so she can destroy it and save the world from destruction.
As I got older and grew tired of Twilight but still searched for the great romance I was recommended these series by my friend Christy. Im not gonna lie it was a little hard to get hooked on at first but once you do Karen takes you by the heart for this not so typical paranormal romance. MacKayla goes through so much of a change- a loss of innocence if you will gradually from start to finish. Its horrifying and wonderful, it made me burst out laughing and the next second fill tears in my eyes. These books stick in your mind for a long time.

3. To kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

-The story comes from the perspective of a young girl named Scout Finch, living an a small town of Alabama during the great depression. Her father Atticus Finch is a lawyer who is representing a black man Tom Robinson accused of raping a white woman. The author lets us see through Scouts innocent eyes of the trial, thoughts of her father and the man down the street named "boo" Radley. 
Such a great story. In the time of inequality this book has risen above all in terms of the message.  A book of a child growing up and a lost of innocence. And also a look at the world back then and what humans are capable of. Ill never forget reading this book in high school.

4. The Chronicles of Narnia
By C. S. Lewis

-For a lack of being able to type a summary of the books heres how Wikipedia describes the series:
Set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil, the series narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of that world. Except in The Horse and His Boy, the protagonists are all children from the real world magically transported to Narnia, where they are called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil and restore the throne to its rightful line. The books span the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in The Magician's Nephew, to its eventual destruction in The Last Battle.
Every child should read these books. Classic battles against good vs Evil. Teaches courage against fears and excites your imagination. Aslan is one of the best characters ever (its hard to beat when you are inspired by Jesus.) So many adventures to go on with the children in these books.

5. The Vampire Chronicles 
By Anne Rice 

A collection of books mostly told from the perspective of a Vampire named Lestat throughout his years.
-I haven't read these books in a really long time but I do love them. Way before Twilight there was Lestat and Anne Rice. Dark and beautiful, they are like no other vampire books.



Well I hope you liked it! Comment if there are any books you would like to add and what you think of my list!

xoxo
Alyssa

Frame it up!

Hola!

Sorry I've been gone so long, just haven't had the time or the motivation!
Today I am going to show you a really easy craft that I love!
When Daniel and I first got married and got our house we had a lot of people donate decorations to us (which helps so much for first time home buyers with no money!) anyway, we had these set of frames with what looks like vintage illustrations of fruit. Not that I didn't like the illustrations, they just weren't my kind of style and I didn't think it really fit with our house. So I decided to do something about it!

Here's a picture of the illustrations that were in the frames to begin with :

Like I said, not too bad but just not my style! (I am saving them for any kind of craft later...)

So I pulled those out and started looking online for a little piece of inspiration. Then I came across this awesome site called the The graphics fairy Its actually a blog where this lady has collected a TON of vintage images that you can print and use. The best part about it is that its FREE!!! She even has a craft section where you can see other peoples crafts to get some great ideas. So after about an hour of searching through all the wonderful images I found some vintage feathers that I really liked and that would fit well into the rectangular shape of my frame.

Here they are before I manipulated the images:

Pretty eh?

With the lack of having colored ink in my printer and the drive to Walmart I decided to manipulate the photos in the online picture editor Pixlr to make them black and white and gave them quite a bit more contrast. Then after some trial and error on printing I printed both of them on old vintage book paper and slapped them in the frames! 

Here's the finished product:

 I don't know why but in this picture the frame looks blue, but its really dark green like the one above....

I am still contemplating on weather I should paint the frames or not, even if I wanted to I'm not sure what color? 

Hope y'all liked it and I have inspired you to do something like it! Leave me comments to let me know what you think!!! 

xoxo

Alyssa