Emily Rachelle Writes

Alice in Wonderland Unbirthday Party {Activities} Theme: Alice in Wonderland; Guest list: Girls, ages 15-18 As you might see in the photos, one fun thing to do for a crazy party like Alice in Wonderland is to ask guests to come in wacky outfits.  I wore a prom dress with one crazy sock and one silk glove.  My friend Christa wore a t-shirt with a wide zebra belt, fur-lined wrap, and flower hair clip. Crack the Cards What you'll need: Last week's string of cards ; cell phone(s); pencils or pens; scrap paper; prize (optional; I used a gift-wrapped bottle of scented lotion) What to do: Give each guest a piece of paper and something to write with.  Make sure all the guests have a cell phone or can share with someone.  Tell them that there is a secret message hidden in the card garland and the first person to crack the code and write down the correct message wins.  Have fun!

Miss Part One: Starting a Bible Study ?  No worries!  Go check it out before moving on. Part Two: How to Keep Your Study Group Alive Nobody wants a Bible study group that's bored, grudging their time together, or doesn't get along.  Sometimes (especially with that last one) you do everything you can and it still seems to end in disaster.  However, there are ways to nurture a united, friendly group that has fun together.

Isn't it funny, my lovely readers, how little of my real life actually makes it into my blog?  Sometimes that's because life is messy, and bloggers are notorious for avoiding sharing their messy reality online.  (Although sometimes, life's messes don't need to be shared online.  There's a fine line between being authentic and being a complainer/gossip/busybody/fill-in-the-blank.)  Sometimes, life is just boring. There's the one that's usually my problem... sometimes, we bloggers just forget.   We forget to take photos while trying a recipe, or we forget about that big party last month, or we forget about all the cool real-life people we hang out with that the followers would just love to read about! (Or our cameras break and our blog posting options are suddenly limited because a post without photos just isn't as good.) Anyway, today I have a post based off a big part of my summer this year - Bible study! Even before I went to summer camp,  I wa...

Alice in Wonderland Unbirthday Party {Decor} Theme: Alice in Wonderland; Guest list: Girls, ages 15-18 String of Cards What you'll need: A deck of cards (I used giant ones my brother had); hole punch; ribbon; scissors; a cell phone

Check out my interview yesterday at Zara Hoffman's blog!  I won third place in the story pitch contest at her shared writing blog, A Pocket Full of Pens . :) There I was, sitting in church on Sunday, just like usual.  Picture it with me: second red-upholstered wooden pew from the front, in the set of pews on the right side of the auditorium.  I'm sitting in my new black dress with blue and green polka dots, if I remember correctly.  In my hands is a copy of one of the INSPY book nominations I'm helping to judge.  People sit or stand scattered around the auditorium, waiting for service to start in about 20 minutes, and the music of the orchestra practicing in the meantime combines with the chatter surrounding me.  I tune it all out and dive into a great story, at least for the twenty minutes I have. You can see it now, yes?  As I sit there, alone and happily oblivious to the world, a young woman approaches.  I notice her standing in front of ...

Good morning, my lovely readers!  Many of you know by now of the Go Teen Writers group which I am quite actively involved in.  A good friend from there, Brian McBride, is gearing up for the release of his debut Christian fantasy novel, so today I'm doing a cover reveal and spotlight on his book!     Paradox is a Christian fantasy novel aimed at the young adult audience (14-18).  It's being self-published by Outskirts Press and is the debut novel of seventeen-year-old author Brian McBride.

As I mentioned last week , I just spent June 3-8 off in a beautiful mountain retreat in North Carolina called the Wilds Christian camp.  (P.S. - The fanfiction also mentioned in that post has a new chapter up !) Green Team Rally Well, my camera broke before we arrived, I got sick in the middle of the night, I almost broke my nose twice, and I went to breakfast and chapel in my pajamas one morning. But overall it was totally, completely awesome.

Good morning, my lovely readers!  Today I'd like to share a website with you: Slavery Footprint .  This interactive website is a place for people to learn about and begin to fight against modern slavery ( human trafficking ).  When you first enter the website, you can either learn about modern slavery and then take a survey or go directly to the survey. The survey is eleven questions long, starting with demographics - location, gender, age - then getting into the specifics of your lifestyle and material possessions.  Topics include food, medicine cabinet, and kids.  Several questions have the option to "fine tune" your answers for more accurate results.

Just a friendly reminder that DIY Party Diva is on hiatus this week, but will be resuming next week on June 15!

Guess what, my lovely readers?  I know I just sent you off to Caitlin's blog last week, but today I have another interview!  Natalie Noel is another friend from Go Teen Writers (an amazing community, by the way).  She blogs at Reading, Writing, and Somewhat Profound Thoughts - and I'm her special guest!

Happy Tuesday morning, my lovely readers!  As you read this I'm off having adventures at the WILDS Christian summer camp in the absolutely beautiful mountains of North Carolina.  You should definitely stop by the website and check it out.  One of the best ways you can spend your summer, trust me. ;) Anyway, another thing I've been doing lately is writing a Narnia fanfiction.  As some of you know, I've fiddled around with fanfiction before but not much.  With this piece I'm jumping right in to the fanfiction world - writing for one of the biggest fandoms and writing a piece longer than a oneshot! For those of you interested, you can read the first installment (it's short) or stop by my profile .  I'm working with Susan The Gentle on a YouTube trailer which, due to her amazing Suspian (Susan/Caspian) video skills, will hopefully be amazing.  I also created a YouTube playlist for music that goes with this piece. And, while some p...

Just a friendly reminder that DIY Party Diva is on hiatus this week and next, but will be resuming June 15!