I missed a day

Actually yesterday, but for some reason Saturdays post says it was published on Sunday, so Saturday is the day I missed?

Yeah.

So, today's been a bit odd. But odd days are OK sometimes.
And I have a job interview on Wednesday - it's only for one day a week and if I get it we won't actually be any better off cash-wise (because it'll take me over the earning threshold with my Student Allowance), but as we're looking at buying a house next year, and a measly one-day-a-week job will mean the bank will lend us up to $50000 more. Which would be good.

And it will get me out of the house meeting people, and it's a great excuse to get a long-over-due haircut (which I'll still have even if I don't get the job).

Feeling lazy tonight...

... So here's some "box opening" photos of my Impldoll Xiaowei, who arrived in July.

1:12 scale BJD

During my 100th post, I posted this "sneak peek":

By the end of February, this is what he looked like:

And here he is as a physical printed model from Shapeways:

My business blog Garmonsway Design has a wee run down of my progress in getting him ready to mould and cast in resin.

Impldoll Xiaowei

My sad little fox girl.

Rocksmith

My husband got a new toy today - and he seems super happy with it. It's a play-along guitar game on the PS3.
He plays the actual guitar really well and has always been a bit sniffy about games like Guitar Hero.

Snob.

But Rocksmith uses an electric guitar or bass as a controller. It comes with an adapter or something that lets you plug the guitar into the Playstation.
As he has taken his beloved Ibanez to pieces in order to repaint it (he still has to do a final paint coat and then lacquer it and then not touch it for four weeks), he is using his bass instead.
He got me to have a wee go, but my fingernails are a bit delicate (I broke one making the bed this morning) so I opted out very quickly (also, looking at the screen and not at the fret board was too difficult - I can't even look at the screen while I'm typing).
He seems to be having fun, but it's now 10:40 at night, so I may have to be a party pooper and get him to watch some more Breaking Bad with me....

A list of some of what we've Done as at Oct 2012

I have:

• Completed three papers at Aoraki Polytechnic (Accounting Principles - A; Business Communication - A; Business Computing - A+).
• Starting following UFYH on tumblr (warning- very sweary language).
• ^ Have made my bed EVERY DAY since.
• Had more panic attacks.
• Started counselling with a therapist who insisted that there must be some repressed traumatic childhood event causing my anxiety (there isn't - my memory is terrible, but not that terrible).
• Stop seeing that therapist after two sessions because the thought of talking to her again set off another panic attack.
• Finally bought myself a "commercially made" BJD - Xiaowei from Impldoll
• Fixed a dead PS3
• tentatively started my own business
• Watched The Avengers multiple times

The Husband:

• Got a job within a week of moving here
• Had his PS3 die
• drove me to night classes
• built a new gaming cockpit for racing games
• is currently repainting his guitar

The Sprog

• Started her new school
• made screeds of new friends
• watched Brave
• watched The Avengers
• watched The Hunger Games over & over & over
• is insisting that I find a local archery club

Blogtoberfest

Already?!?!

Ah, my poor wee neglected blog...

Ahem... the object of Blogtoberfest is to blog every day during the month of October - simple right?
Well, I managed to arse it up last year - after getting off to a roaring start, I petered out after a couple of weeks.
This year  - I'm going to attempt to not only blog every day - but I've also signed my new blog up for it too - Most of my arty stuff will be over there, and any possible doll related potential giveaway might possibly be over there too. Maybe. At some point.

Cheers,
Me.

Every day, she said....

Here's the thing I was going to post last night.
But didn't.

It's one of those nauseating look-how-clever-my-kid-is posts.

We watched Tom Burton's Alice in Wonderland a couple of week ago, and immediately after, the Sprog got into my watercolour pencils and produced this.
She said she likes the Red Queen, because they both have "abnormally large heads".

She also painted the Hatter, but I don't have a scan of that yet.

Two out of Three ain't bad

Sooo, I missed a couple of days (4 in total) and have been avoiding the blog...
A bit silly, right?



I'm going to look on the bright side - I got two solid weeks of daily blogging done before fizzing out.
I found that writng a rough outline of each post in advance, and setting reminders to complete/post was working really well initially, but I got slack about writing new drafts, so burned through my list too quickly. I've blocked out a bit of time for me tomorrow, which I'm going to use to draft-up a bunch of posts.

I intend to jump back in with both feet tomorrow, and finish up Blogtoberfest with at least 27/31 posts.
(I might even post a few extra times  -and see if I can't get caught up...)

Uh oh...

Eep - I missed a day!
I ended up spending most of yesterday organising drawings and craft stuff and culling broken/ugly old sculpts - I completely forgot about blogging.
I did, however, half-fill the wheelie bin with teeny scraps of paper (why I feel the need to keep every.scrap.ever. I don't know).

Spring cleaning is one of those jobs that really should be done more often than once a year I suppose.
I did unearth my box of paperscraps and when I got home from work did a bit of cutting and pasting. (I really should have been finishing the organising, but whatevs).

I now have glitter mod-podge under my nails.

Repaint Tutorial

It's quarter to midnight, so I'm kinda phoning it in tonight, but thought I 'd share a nice wee repainting tutorial I found on Flickr:

Click on the picture to go to the tutorial.

Monster High Dolls

The Sprog is seriously into these - and boy, do I want one.

In fact, my mother found a broken Frankie (and bought it for $5) for me. But the kid wasted no time in nicking the doll off me once I'd replaced the elastic.

Little Horror.

Artist Interview - Rhiannon Stone

Rhiannon Stone is a mixed-media artist, photography enthusiast, blogger and all-round Awesome Person. 

Her blog is Pierced Beauty where she writes about her journey to becoming an artist and the assorted things that make life beautiful. 

I asked her some hard hitting questions!

If you woke up tomorrow as an animal, what would you be? 
A leopard. They are just such amazing and elegant animals plus I love all kinds of cats. Big cats, wild cats, domestic cats. That and I love everything leopard print (which I'm sure Alana can confirm!)

Describe your Art: 
This is a hard one. I don't feel like I have found my 'style' yet so its hard to describe but I think I would say my art as honest and full of emotion.

I create art that has feeling, and is relatable. I love using words (which is why art journaling is a perfect fit for me) and creating something beautiful. I love using colour, despite tending to wear black most of the time.

What are your favourite materials to Art* with? 
I have two big passions; art journaling & painting as well as photography.

For art journaling and painting my favourite materials would be gesso, watercolours, acrylics, bubble wrap, sponges, indian ink, sakura gelly rollers and all sorts of collected images. Most are from free promotional magazines you can pick up at coffee shops, or sewing patterns from Opp shops (about $0.50 each!). I love collecting clothes tags, receipts, lace, pretty packaging and old books.

 For my photography, I'm currently saving for a new camera (Canon 600D + 18-135mm lens) but in the meantime my partner is nice enough to let me use his camera (Canon 550D + 18-135mm lens). I love being able to play around with the photos in Photoshop afterwards to create new effects or looks.
There are a lot of wonderful bloggers/artists out there that share Photoshop actions they have created which is quite fun to try (check out Alex Beadon & Carrie from WishWishWish as a starting point)

Where do you get inspiration from? 
I am a sucker for websites like Pinterest and I spend hours looking through my favourite set of blogs. I do make a point to focus on what is around me everyday (instead of what is on a screen in front of me) as well though. A small flower growing through a cracked footpath, a particularly colourful sunset, even just spending the day with friends. Look for every day things in your life that you love. It doesn't have to be something huge, it can be as small as the pattern on your coffee.

Do you sell your art/do commissions? (and if yes, where and what's the process?) 
At this stage I don't do commissions (although it is something I would like to do eventually). I am however working on resurrecting my Etsy shop and hope to be open within the next 2 months. If you would like to be kept up to date with all the happenings head to my Facebook page or blog for the latest updates.

Where do you hang-out online? 
I am all over the interwebs! Primarily over on my blog (www.rhiannonstone.blogspot.com) but you can find me at all these other places:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/piercedbeautydesigns
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/rhiannon_e_stone
Pinterest: pinterest.com/piercedbeauty
Tumblr: pierced-beauty.tumblr.com
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/piercedbeauty

Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring artsy people? 
Keep learning and keep trying new things. I still consider myself to be relatively new to the art scene so I am continuously looking for new techniques and ideas. If I ever get stuck for motivation I find a tutorial for a new technique and give it a go. The absolute biggest thing to remember though is that absolutely no one starts out amazing. I have done a lot of art journal pages that I don't like but from that I learn things that I do like.


 *Yes - I'm using "art" as a verb.

My vinyl girls

Part of the reason that I make dolls is that I love, but can't afford to buy lots of, them.
I do however have a motley crew of Barbies, other fashion dolls, and assorted bits/bobs.

I love the interchangeable head system on the
new Fashionista Barbies

Going bald...

When the My Scene Barbies first were released, I got one of each. I love the cartooniness of their features, and the fact that their heads are a bit bigger. When the Sprog was about 3 these dolls got assimilated into her dolls, and they are now looking decidedly worse for wear.
Oh well. :)

wig

Lexi - a Moxie Teenz doll - I'd been pressing my nose against a window with these dolls for almost a year before I got one for my birthday. I love her. I think she looks better without the wig.

sans wig

Holly Hobbie!

She has a hilarious smile.

And my Jan Mclean Dolls - a cheapie Lollipop Girl and the gorgeous Amelia, who was. not. cheap.
Amelia was the spark that sent me away from cloth dolls, and back to polymerclay and resin.

The "Zuko" Bishie BJD

I'm not really too far along with him - the Kitsune doll had arrested my attention.

One of his knees is a bit burnt!

His knees need more work, and I think I'm going to re-work his hip joints.

I've noticed that I have a tendency to leave the arms/legs for last (or just not do them at all). Most of my unfinished dolls are waiting for limbs.

Might be that the next doll I start will have to get its arms and legs done first.

Oh! More Dragons!

GIVEAWAY TIME! MyMemories software package.

It seems that have once a blog has more than ten followers (HI! Love you guys!), it is customary for strangers to approach you to shill their stuff on your site. :D

I usually turn stuff like this down, probably because most of the people who ask appear to have not read this blog and their product is way off topic (in so far as I have a "topic" to be "on"). Actually, the same day that the following company got in touch with me I had just sent a curt reply email to someone else telling them that I would not be reviewing their dodgey sounding downloading software.

OK, disclaimer time.

I have been provided with a copy of the MyMemories software for review purposes.

The opinions expressed here are mine (and the Sprog's - their website claimed the the software is simple enough for kids to use, and that's the kind of claim I need to put to the test).

I used to do a lot of paper scrapbooking, and I work with industry standard imaging software (cough~Photoshop~cough) on pretty much a daily basis. I teach people how to work with said imaging software at the Day-Job. I'm also a wee bit picky.

For the most part, this software is very easy to use. It comes preloaded with basic "kits" and the  MyMemories site has dozens of free backgrounds, embellishments and whatnots. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. I, of course, spent a couple of hours trawling through and downloading stuff. The priced stuff is very reasonable, most of it being under $6 or so.

When you add kits to your cart, you are given the option of downloading an *.exe file, or a zipped folder (containing *.pngs that can be used in other software). I haven't checked the licenses of all the stuff I downloaded, but the ones I have checked have a provision allowing use on personal blogs - so if you are after some new design fodder for your blog banners I highly recommend having a nosey around.
To use the kits, you download and install the *.exe file (it installs into the right place), open the MyMemories program, and you're away.
The kits are filed into themes (some minor deduction work might be needed at this point - I downloaded one kit that I could have sworn was "Vintage" that got filed into "Love").

The embellishment files are very clean - there's no iffiness in the alpha masking - so you don't get weird artifacting when overlaying images (translation: there's no jagged white line around digital flowers etc. when you add them to the page), which makes it simple to get a clean, professional looking product.
I love the drop shadow option for elements - it is based on a Y, X pixel offset which can be tweaked with the arrows keys.

There are a couple of things that I think that the software would benefit from:

• when resizing elements you grab a grey bounding box guide and pull it - but you don't see the result until after you've let go of the mouse. It would be nice if there was an interactive update - but as I said earlier, I'm used to working with hefty imaging software, so I'm a bit spoilt.
• Some sort of Layer box/indication of what elements you have added - preferably something that you could select elements in, as sometimes elements on lower layers became difficult to grab.

But these are relatively small quibbles, and frankly this software is absolutely wonderful for it's price. And as you can see, the claim that kids can use it is absolutely true:

Is that what I sound like? Really?

They have given me a "Share the Memories" code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!)

Enter STMMMS92447 in the "Enter Coupon/Promo Code" box at checkout.

I also have a copy of the software to giveaway!
Just pop over to www.mymemories.com and come back here and leave a comment telling me which Kit is your favourite, and I'll do a random drawing.

You have until Midnight, Oct 31st.
Tell your friends. :)

Another Sketch Dump!

What's this? More dragons?

Clownfish mermaid.
Why I drew boobs, I don't know.
Fish ain't mammals.

A harpy.
You'll notice that I left the breasts off this one.
Birds don't got boobs either.

Wampire!

Annnnd, another dragon

Cutie Creepies

It's Friday, and I'm tired and not using the word-type things so well, so here are some random doodles from my sketchbook...