Sep, Oct, & Nov

These are projects from September, October, and November. There are some doodles, sketches, digital work, and an oil painting.

August (and a bit of July)

Here is a dump of what I have done this last month:

New Digs

I have my VERY OWN STUDIO in my house Yep! My hubby and I rearranged rooms and instead of sharing an office and having a guest room, we put the guest bed in his office (which is bigger and doesn't contain a guest-frightening reptile) and I got the guest room as my own office! I moved in my bookshelves and computer desk, then I got a sewing table AND a glass drafting table! And some other goodies, but I don't want to brag...

...ok, I totally do want to brag! On top of a new drafting table, I got a Bamboo Create and a set of Copic Sketch Markers!!! Set 72A babay!!! WOOO!!! I've been using them and LOVING them! The only complaint I have is that there aren't very many skin tones to work with :\ Oh dear, that just means I'll have to buy more, I guess

Here are some pics of my new digs:

Anyway, I've definitely been drawing more now that I have my own little space. It's been awesome! I'm really excited about this next year!! Bring it.

Summer Fun!

My my, it has been quite a long time since I've blogged! Now that's a familiar phrase. If you go back through my older posts, you'll find that I say that, or something similar, an awful lot. I...I think I'm a binge-blogger. I have a problem...

Anyway, I am currently working on quite a few projects. I recently opened an Etsy account with the intentions of selling crafty things, hoping that will offset the money I'm not making while taking classes. It won't completely catch us up, but it's a more fun way to make money anyway, even if it is less :) I've got a bunch of milk rings ready to be made into earrings, some sculpey waiting to go in the oven, and some recycled bottle cap earrings ready to be posted!

On top of earrings, I'm thinking about indulging my inner snark with some "crapestry" projects and some re-designed paintings. Crapestry is a type of needlepoint that takes the cutesy, kitsch craft and adds a bit of humor (sometimes quite dark), making it more relevant to those of us with an ironic taste in home decor. I don't know if I'll go so far as to depict grotesque scenes of mass murder in a Thomas Kinkade vista, but I may add some superfluous facial hair and top hats to a couple of unsuspecting bunnies. Re-designed paintings are old thrift store paintings or prints that have been tweaked to add humor or interest. The ones I've seen tend to be sarcastic as well, but less irreverent than the crapestries. My favorites are ones that add giant monsters to landscapes! Time to get my garage sale bargaining on!

Lastly, something I'm working on just for me :) As some of you already know, I am a bit of a fan of My Little Pony, especially the most recent TV series, Friendship Is Magic. One of my groups on Ravelry is doing a Pony craft-a-long for this month of June, which entails going to the Pony Creator, making your own pony, and then MAKING your own pony! This is what "I" look like :)

She's so cute. Her cutie mark is a light bulb with butterfly wings to represent creativity. I did have a pencil and a paintbrush as antennae in my sketch, but I couldn't get them to look right when I Frankenstein'd it in Photoshop, so I left them out. I think the point stands anyway. Now that I made her in the Pony Creator, I'm going to physically make her using yarn and a crochet hook. Without an actual pattern... Well, I'm *kind of* basing it off of another pattern, but I'm changing so many things, it's going to be a completely different animal  (pun somewhat intended) when I'm done. Should be fun! Right?

Of course it will be :)

Adventures in Probiotics

Well, it's been a couple of months since I got my water kefir grains and my SCOBY for kombucha. I must say, I am pleasantly surprised by the kombucha! It really does look gross when it's sitting on the counter fermenting, but it tastes pretty darn good! By itself, it smells strongly of vinegar. I haven't tried drinking it plain, but I've mixed it with grape juice and let it ferment a second time in the fridge. It gets so fizzy and delicious, you could replace pop if you wanted to!

If you want to know how to make the kombucha or the kefir water, watch the tutorials on this website: www.culturesforhealth.com

And here's the photographic evidence:

This is the baby SCOBY that formed on top of my kombucha. A new one of these grows with every batch!


Closeup of the baby.


The mother SCOBY in fresh tea.


Closeup of "Big Mama."


My bottled kombucha! The airtight seal is essential for prime fizziness.


Closeup of my water kefir. Look at the bubbles!!


The kefir water is harvested every two days, but the kombucha takes much longer to ferment. I give it ~10 days, but you could go up to a month. So, if anyone wants a baby SCOBY in a couple of weeks, give me a holla! ;)

Not About Snakes

I decided to post a crafty entry to make up for the slithery one from last night (I have more readers than I thought! And I was right: normal people don't like snakes! ^_^).

SO! Here are some pictures of the scarf I made my sister for Christmas!:



She really likes Pokemon, so I made her a Pokeball scarf. There was going to be a hat, but I ran out of time. There's always her birthday, I guess!



And here she is modeling it her lovely self. Those are my grandparents in the background. Photobomb'd!

So, Mom, friends, lady from church, I hope you still love me even though my interests occasionally venture beyond the crafty and include the reptilian ;) Thanks for reading!

Snakes

Some of you may not know this about me, but I like snakes. I used to catch garter snakes with my dad when I was a kid, and I always wanted to keep one as a pet, but my mom wouldn't have it. She's straight up TERRIFIED of snakes. I can't say I blame her. Snakes aren't exactly the most popular pets because most people are scared of them, or at least look at you funny when you tell them you want *ahem* five. And, I will admit, I still get a rush of adrenaline when I hold one, thinking in the back of my mind that it just might bite me...at any second.

Anyway, freshman year I met a Brazilian Rainbow boa, and have been lovestruck since. In the sunlight, they have an iridescent sheen on their already gorgeously patterned scales. Look at the pretty:



Right?? Can I get an amen??

Unfortunately, I have zero experience with reptiles, and these babies are intermediate-level pets, at least. Basically, I need to start off with a beginner-level snake (or two...) and build up experience and resources from there. Some good starter snakes are corn snakes and ball pythons.

Here are some more pretties:

Snow Corn Snake:



Ball Python:


Aaaand, someday, I'd like one of these. An Albino Red-Tailed Boa. They only get, psh, ten feet long. But they're sooooooo pretty!:





So, anyway, Mom, I hope you'll still come visit me and my house full of snakes.