Wednesday, January 30, 2013

01/19

From 01/19:
So bored today. We were on the hunt for some succulents (particularly some Hen and Chicks, which are nowhere to be seen around here). Ended up looking at a couple nurseries before we came home defeated. But then Maria called to hang out for dinner so the day ended up lovely. Chris and Paul held hands over the table. As they do. I did not take any pictures at dinner because I'm a loser and I forgot.




Mt. Fuji Garden w/Android fisheye

01/18

Stamps and watercolors. I can't stamp or paint.

01/17

The lighting in this house is a lot different from our old apartment. There aren't a lot of sockets for lamps and the lights that are built in have a yellow tint. It's really hard for me to work on stitching. I've actually been wanting an Ottlite lamp or something similar for awhile. I have a little one but it's a fold-up one that would be better for a desk. Normally they are waaay too much but I found a floor lamp (similar to this) at Tuesday Morning for $40.00. It's kind of ugly but it's really really nice. My strained eyes have thanked me.







Tuesday, January 29, 2013

01/16

A police standoff outside our house! I already said it on Instant Gram, but they actually said "Come out with your hands up!" which was way exciting.

For as many police were there they seemed pretty unconcerned about everyone watching and walking by.

Kitten bro hug

01/15

Gingham

01/14

Lego Lord of the Rings today. And housework. Boring! Only posting for the sake of the project :/

01/13

One of the best restaurants in prolly the universe is Clearman's North Woods. It's an old steakhouse that has snow on the roof all year round. The snow is totally real and a Christmas miracle. It's dark and feels like a log cabin and has paintings of naked ladies on the wall and you can throw peanut shells on the floor. My family has gone there for as long as I can remember for big birthdays and stuff. And we went there for the posse Christmas this past December. You don't need to eat anything on the menu but their cheesebread and salad. Just put ALL THE BREAD AND SALAD in your gullet.

Chris and I went on the 13th to celebrate our family friend John's 65th birthday. 



Lemondrop at the bar with the Android fisheye.

My mom and John




My Photojojo Android macro lens closeup of one of my grandmother's purses. It took it with me to dinner. It's very classy.










01/12



My new friend Snapdragon. Don't worry, he lives at Lowes, not at my house.

01/11

The only important thing I did today was watch the Facts of Life.

Monday, January 28, 2013

01/10/13

Totally haven't been writing like I wanted to do, but I've been keeping on my photo taking at least.

E.T. in a space jar?

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Axe Cop!

I don't know how this escaped my notice, but Axe Cop is going to be a TV show! I can't wait! It was announced in early  2012, and they released a clip in late 2012.

I learned about Axe Cop in a roundabout way. Chris has been collecting all the versions of Munchkin. He had most of the main versions he wanted, so I started looking at some of the others. Axe Cop was one of them, and when I read the description "Axe Cop is the hit webcomic written by Malachai Nicolle (age 5) and drawn by his brother Ethan (age 29)" I was in! I was worried it would be a little gimmicky or it would get old, but when I finally got my hands on Axe Cop: Volume 1  I could not stop laughing. It is literally the mind of an imaginative 5-year old brought to life. It's the funniest thing I've read in so so long. What makes it so great is the small details that an adult couldn't come up with. And then the M Night twists that happen just because they do. No need to go back and foreshadow. Characters die just because and are revived just because the next page later. It is a joyous comic to read.


Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier in my favorite outfit.


When Chris sent me a link to this article about Fox adding it to their upcoming late-night animation block, I was a little skeptical at first because I didn't know how well it would translate from print to screen. However once I watched the Ask Axe Cop Halloween clip  my fears were quelled:



First of all: NICK. OFFERMAN. as Axe Cop. Yes x infinity. I wouldn't have gone that way because Axe Cop gets very emotional, and it's hard to picture Nick Offerman as anything but the even-keeled Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec (except when it comes to BBQing or woodworking maybe). But now I don't think it could be anyone else. Also the dialogue and wording is kept in line with the comic, and the delivery is in the tone I'd imagine. The series will also feature Megan Mullaly and Patton Oswalt, so that sounds pretty sweet.

We have to wait until Summer for this, but hopefully we'll get more clips and MORE AXE COP!

Whimseybox Review

There are a million different subscription boxes out there now, but the one I wanted to try the most was Whimseybox. Whimseybox costs $15.00 per month and you are promised cool craft things to get those creative sparks flying.

Their website has some really slick photos of how the box looks and all the super cool projects you can make. Their blog features even more projects and things they find cool and washed out photos of women gingerly holding their craft projects in their hands.

Of course I want a craft project of my own to cradle, so I purchased one of these awesome boxes.

It sucked. Like so bad. I like complaining, obvs, but when I Googled Whimseybox reviews (by Binging it at Computer.com) a lot of others had similar things to say.

First off, a lot of the subscription services make an effort to surpass the price you pay for the service. Birchbox and Ipsy seem to typically send products that at least quadruple their $10.00 per month fees. I did take into consideration the usefulness of the items, because that brings the value up more too. I am also a pretty savvy craft supply shopper, and rarely purchase anything at full price. Joann Fabrics and Michaels send a million coupons per week, on top of normal sales and clearances, so unless I really need something I can usually wait until I have some sort of deal.

Let me break down what I received in my Whimseybox:
-Sturdy reusable box with velcro closure. (Upon reading some of the reviews, this box used to be a bit better with a magnetic enclosure, but this is still useful). It's a lot smaller and more shallow than those photo storage boxes which I use a lot for random storage. I typically pick those up when they are on sale for $2.50. However it's not much better than some other boxes I've gotten in the mail when I ordered something, which are basically "free" I guess. 
I'll value the box at $1.00

-  Everything was wrapped up in some lime green ribbon and tissue paper. It looked very nice when I opened the box up. It seems like others include this wrapping stuff in describing what they received, and I do tend to save these things and add them to my stash. There was about two and half feet of ribbon, and one sheet of tissue paper. It's hard to put a value on the ribbon - it's not a color and texture I'm likely to use, but it feels really nice and I would probably use it to wrap something else up. So I'll say 50 cents. I buy normal colorful tissue paper sheets at the 99 cents store. There are about 20 sheets per package. So the tissue paper is valued at five cents.

-Also in the box was some natural kraft paper shred. Joanns has 4 oz valued at $2.99. Uline sells it for $24.00 for 10 pounds. I'm not sure how much I actually received. Obviously I would never buy 10 pounds of it, but I also wouldn't pay $2.99 full price. It's not something I'd buy unless I was putting together a gift basket specifically. Just for the sake of me being grumpy and unfair, I'll value this at 50 cents as well. 

-Now we've got some crafty stuff. I received four Crayola fabric markers in a fairly hideous color combination: yellow, purple, brown, and blue. These are something I would not normally use because I don't really like how markers look on fabric. Just not my thing. Maybe if I could draw better? However I know that because I have them I will probably use them at some point. So not the worst, but just wish I would have gotten some better colors. A 10 pack is listed at Joanns for $4.99, but is currently on sale for $3.74. If I purchased them I would definitely use the sale price or a coupon, so based on the sale price four markers are approximately 38 cents each, or $1.52 total.

-Next I received a bottle of DecoArt ink effects in Pink. Apparently you paint it on any light color paper, let it dry, and then you can iron on the design onto fabric. It is supposed to work like iron-on transfer paper, but without that weird plasticy film that ends up on the fabric. I could always use stamps with the ink so this will be more useful than the markers. Whimseybox's idea for this ink was to make this nebula pillow, which is pretty cool. I don't know when I'll use this but I'm glad I got it. I think it would have been neat to get the colors shown in their idea. But that's a lot of product to send out. Joanns has this for $2.99. I would like to purchase more colors, and would probably use coupons or wait for a sale. But I'll keep this at 2.99 because I would pay that much if I were picking up a single color.

-I can always use another blank notebook because I don't already have 500 of them. So I was meh at receiving a 4x6 spiral notebook. The notebook has a white canvas cover presumably to be used in conjunction with the fabric markers. I don't like spiral notebooks because when I throw them in my purse the wires always get all bent or tangled on something. I was even more disappoint when the inside back cover said it was from Oriental Trading Company. I like OTC, but I just don't think quality when I think of them. Some very similar notebooks (mine has a white spiral) are selling for $15.00 per dozen, so each notebook is worth about $1.25.

-Also from Oriental Trading was a white 19" polyester bandanna. It's pretty small for an adult bandanna, but is probably good for a child. I'll find a use for this but it's not the most interesting or inspiring item. It looks like this product, which is $13.00/dozen or $30.50/50. I would be more likely purchase in bulk if I found a use for them where I would make multiple items (napkin sets perhaps?), which would make them 61 cents each. I probably wouldn't buy the dozen, which is $1.08 each. But I'll go for the $1.08 for the Whimseybox purpose.

-I received two paintbrushes (size 2 and one that looks like it's for 1st graders - the purple one shown in the link below). OTC sells 200 mixed brushes for $28.00, which would make them about four cents each. I haven't used them,but they definitely look cheap and I'm sure they will shed right away. I have a million cheap brushes that are almost disposable, so these will go in that collection.

-Finally there are some promo items thrown in. I got a Whimseybox 6 inch wood ruler, three "Stop Pinning, Start Making" stickers, and what they tout as a "collectable art print" card which lists more about each product on the back. I do appreciate the art card. Mine says "Creativity is a drug I can't live without". It's a good size and I'll be putting it in my craft room eventually. The problem with the print is that it is difficult to value. Nice art prints are all over etsy and have such a wide range in prices. The Whimseybox print is cool but still serves as a promo item. So I'm not going to value the print, but I really like it. The ruler is nice because it's easy to stash in with a small project. And the stickers are cool but again are a promo item.

So the total I valued my items at is $8.97, not including the promo stuff. Again this is just subjective and based on my buying habits. I feel like I would have gotten more satisfaction if they'd included a whole set of markers, or maybe two ink effects. Even a nice brush would have been cool! The make-up subs like Ipsy often include nice makeup brushes and other "full-size" items. I think if Whimseybox put together something a little more cohesive rather than what I might throw together to entertain my 10-year-old cousin I'd feel better. There wasn't one suggested project I was inspired by. I thought that because Whimseybox was fairly established they'd be able to obtain more sample type things from these companies. But it feels like they are shopping in bulk and filling treat bags. And for $15.00 a month I think the value should exceed what the customers pay. Because otherwise what's the point? I'll browse Pinterest for cool stuff and then buy those supplies myself. I guess it's good maybe for parents with children who can do simple crafts like draw with markers on a notebook. Or someone who doesn't normally craft but wants to start and needs a little direction. 

I'm scheduled two more before it runs out and I seriously hope it gets better.

/end of negativity.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Kitten Toes!

Ramona De Pomona

Kitten Toes

Heyyy Bros!

01/07/2012

365 Photos

So I'm obviously trying to do 365 photos this year. As I was skimming my photo files from last year, I realized I didn't have too many photo adventures and even when I did something cool I sometimes didn't even take my camera out. So I'm going to make myself take a photo a day, even if I don't leave the house. That will at least get my brain working and thinking about pictures.

I had the lofty idea to make a post on here every day too, but I know that won't happen, even if I only challenge myself to just post the 365 photo.

These aren't the most artistic photos, but the weather last weekend was my favorite. 

01/06/2013


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Jan 5th

I ran a little more of my DnD campaign I'm working on. There's usually only two players since anyone else I know who plays has a dumb schedule. So it was Chris and Scott again. I remedied some of my frustrations about it moving so slowly by creating extra characters for them to each play. I think it went a little better this time. Except I think I'm going to ban smart phones at the gaming table. Distractions and stuff. I try to pay attention when Chris or Lou are running a game. Don't always succeed, but I try.

Chris. 01/05/2013


Monday, January 7, 2013

Ray Gun - Jan 4th

I found two of these lights in the shed when we cleaned it out. I'm not sure what they were used for, but I want to turn them into ray-guns or something. I don't think the actually will work to light up though.




Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Wednesday - Work in Progress

I think I have about 50 works in progress right now. I finished a bunch of stuff for Christmas, so now I just have house projects and birthday projects coming up.

This is one of my satin stitch practice pieces. The stitches aren't very neat, but the entire thing will be satin-stitched so I think that will make it look neater. Maybe?


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Reasons Why

 When we moved into our house, we had to go through a ton of his parent's stuff. They were both collectors so there were a ton of figurines, collector's plates, rocks and minerals, and glass and crystal containers. On top of that his mother was very good at documenting their lives through so there are at least 30 photo albums along with countless framed photos, random cocktail napkins and matchbooks, and greeting cards. The stuff was awesome, but at the same time overwhelming to sort through. A lot of cards didn't have a year or even who they were to. And there was a ton of regular schoolwork from Chris and his three brothers. Like I mean worksheets and busy work stuff, not just school projects and papers. So a lot of stuff ended up getting thrown away because Chris isn't sentimental about those kinds of things. And a lot. We also sold a lot of stuff at a yard sale and on ebay.

But it made me really really sad  because they collected this stuff for a reason and we didn't really know why. I didn't know if a vase was a family heirloom or something that she just picked up at Macy's because she liked it.

Chris and I are collectors too, and we both have weird stuff that we've kept because there's a story behind it. I don't know if we will end up having kids, but I some day someone will need to go through our stuff, and I want them to know why I kept something. 

This year I am going to make an effort to catalogue some of these things. Some things won't have a story because I pick stuff up all the time just because I like it. But I hope a lot of things do have a story even if I've forgotten it.

For January 1st, the first thing I photographed was this crewel flower that my grandmother made. I think I can remember them hanging up, but I'm not sure if I'm creating a memory from photos. I have a few different variations, but I really like this one. I wish I would have discovered needlework earlier. She tried to teach me cross stitch when I was maybe 12 years old, but I didn't get into it. I got to show her a couple little things I did before she died, and I think she liked that I was doing that. She sewed my entire life for as long as she could. So I guess I always do this stuff and hope she'd think it was cool.