If you are a crocheter or a knitter then you've most likely heard of Ravelry. If you haven't and you do crochet or knit (or even if you don't) you should totally check this site out. It's the most awesome community for yarnaholics. So it should come as no surprise that I've accumulated around 180 patterns that I want to try from Ravelry. This is probably not unusual, but as my friend pointed out it would take me half a year to complete all the things on my list if I was to do one each day. Which is pretty impossible. And since I don't want to take 5 years to get to everything on the list I decided to get in gear. The first thing I went for was this lovely little construction cone! Perfect for when I want to mark a work in progress zone. Which is, believe it or not, most often my computer. I also thought it would be pretty funny to leave these things in the middle of the sidewalk and see how people react to them. That might just be my first yarnbomb project for the summer. Heh heh. Anyways, if you'd like to make one of these for yourself you can find the pattern here: You can also check out Ravelry here:
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For some reason I had the phrase "Express Yourself" stuck in my head today. So I rolled with it! And one of the ways I like to express myself is by doodling. Put those two together and you can probably guess how this week's journal page is going to turn out. The first part was fairly easy. Draw out the phrase and draw some squiggles around it. But it can be surprisingly difficult to fill an ENTIRE page!! I started just throwing really random things in there.... Initially I thought that I'd outline in a design and then color it. Because I really don't like blank white spaces. I get this urge to fill them in. I decided to just leave it in black and white since that's a challenge for me and I actually really liked how this page turned out. So I shaded in a few areas to add some contrast and left it at that. How many different things can you see in there? What would your "Express Yourself" page look like?
A couple weeks ago my mom mentioned that she needed a key chain. I had also been browsing Pinterest and wanted to experiment with some ideas I had gotten. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I originally thought to play around with a little popsicle but as my mom is such a huge meat eater, I decided to do a burger instead. However, finding a proper key chain to attach to said burger was harder than I anticipated! I wanted something a little durable. Not some delicate little chain, or flimsy clip. I'm also not one to order things online because I like to see and touch what I am purchasing. Maybe I am a bit old fashioned. For my first prototype I used a heavy duty looking key clip from the hardware store. It was a bit overpowering. My mom didn't mind since that was the kind of clip she wanted. But I was not satisfied. I went ahead and created a second burger even though I still hadn't found the type of chain I was looking for. I then shopped around a bit more to see if I could find the chain I wanted. I didn't. So instead I bought some findings to create my own key chain. I've got the necessary tools, so hopefully this will look a bit better. But I've already started working on a tutorial for this delicious little guy that I will be featuring on my Curious profile.
Today was a sleepy day for me. I had spent all day yesterday crocheting an order (woohoo!) and woke up with a little bit of a yarn hangover. At least that's what I am calling it. Anyways! As it is Sunday and art journal day I couldn't be lazy and sleep, though I really wanted to. Though sometimes when you are feeling a bit hazy and out of it, that is the best time to be creative. Because you don't have all your emotional restrictions in the way. Know what I mean? I didn't want to work with stamps today, so I went for a good old fashioned doodle. Starting with a random cloud shape... Only I wasn't thinking of clouds. More like a thought bubble maybe. But then decided that wasn't really what I was thinking of either. I don't think I was actually thinking. Just grabbing whatever color marker I fancied and then adding things with it. Then I randomly decided I wanted a nice dripping effect. Using my all time favorite marker: Real Red. I was going for a spilled paint look, but uh....well... Ahem. Well I have been watching a lot of the Walking Dead recently... Moving on! The marker kept smudging on me because when I draw I sometimes get sweaty hands. I was not pleased. So I added some details to cover it up. But I didn't think it through on complexity. Half way through I kind of just wanted a nap! xD I then decided that it might be a great idea to sort of even out the "killer" atmosphere of the bottom of the page with "love" at the top. It got a little cutesy. And finally, to complete the page I added in some words to my "speech bubble". I combined a few of my favorite quotes from Pinterest: "Don't take life so seriously. It's not like you're getting out alive." and "When something goes wrong in your life, just yell PLOT TWIST and move on!" Kind of has a horrific Valentine's vibe doesn't it? Haha! What will I come up with next? Even I don't know.
Over the past couple of months I've been working on a rather large art project. I've been painting a two man handsaw! I took on this project because it's not every day that I get to paint other things besides a plain old canvas. So I couldn't pass up this opportunity. However, I began to feel like I had bit off more than I could chew. I enjoy painting but it seems every experience I have doing it for other people leaves me feeling like I never want to paint again. It comes in many forms, but basically it comes down to the fact that the person asking me to paint is not respectful of me and my art. Part of it may be because I am afraid to take pride in my ability to create art. But then I usually don't take enough pride in it because I feel that art in itself is not taken seriously. It's a vicious circle. I think the same thing can be applied to having confidence. You must first have confidence in yourself before you can expect others to have confidence in you. Anyways, I also learned that if you love doing something you can't just do it expecting others to love it too and get upset if they don't. You just have to do it anyway for yourself. Even if you don't get anything from doing it except your own satisfaction for having done it. I'm sure all my babble doesn't make much sense. But one thing is for sure. I did it and I made the best of it. If you're interested in seeing a bit behind the scenes, be sure to check out my vlog here: And here is a sneak peek of my favorite part of the entire painting. The hay bales! I love me some hay bales. =) Until next time, keep doing what you love no matter what!
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