getting my crafty on...

WELL.

Summer finally arrived in Toronto and I was trying to get my fill of the sun all last week - it's been a crazy week (and I imagine it will get crazier in the upcoming months) but, I didn't forget to indulge in some art/craft time.  First though, I got myself a 2nd cat - my one cat seemed lonely and I was feeling pretty guilty that I never replaced his friend that he grew up with -and I was able to find a cat that was sweet and cuddly and playful.  So much of past two weeks were consumed in trying to get them to at least tolerate each other (my dreams that they would start snuggling right away didn't happen).  We are finally all getting along somewhat and the new cat was adjusting super well by week 2.  I finally caught up on some missed sleep and had some time to myself to start a couple of small projects - mostly crafty ones this time (which is good because I haven't done any in a while).

Usually I engage with my "crafty" side during the winter/fall season (which just means I'll knit endless amount of scarves) - this year it had started a little early, thanks to a coworker who posted pictures of little elephants she crocheted over the weekend.
Crochet is something I had always wanted to try but it never really made sense to me - but I was encouraged by my friend's post and decided to give it a shot at making a cat cave - I had a cat cave pattern saved for eons and had enough yarn to give it a shot. I had plenty of yarn left over from a previous un-started project and hook to go along with it.

While I was making this (I had to undo and redo a few times because it was ruffling) I realized because I didn't use a big thick yarn like the pattern said to, my project needed much improvising.

I can't even tell you how many times I've un-stitched this project due to ruffling and curing; I probably could have started and finished another cat cave with the amount of times I spent in redoing the thing. I just couldn't let either of ruffling and curling just pass me by though....-_-  The good thing of course, is I REALLY LEARNED how crocheting works and it allowed me to get a little creative and I added a band of colour using pink and red yarn I had lying around....which gave it the pop of color I wanted, not that my cat is going to ever notice :)
Hopefully I will be able to make two cat caves before winter comes...!!

Another little thing I wanted to get back into was sculpting.
Playing with clay had always been a favourite of mine except the giant mess- not that it ever stopped me. I stopped because there wasn't a kiln facility available and to get one was painfully expensive,especially for a hobby I wasn't particularly talented in.  I remember long long time ago I bought a bunch of Fimo but I never got around to play with them.  Not long after, I had been "forced" to give art as a way of life and entered the business world...I was super bitter then, and threw out everything I owned (I am kicking myself right now).

Anyway.
Awhile ago, a friend of mine from work made me a little chibi figure of Tootless from How to Train Your Dragon (excellent movie btw) while I was on vacation - we had agreed to make each other a little something - and it was a wonderful surprise to come back to.
He recently had gone on vacation ,I wanted to make him a little gift to come back to-- but then Mello & Mamba (my cats) situation took over all things...and I couldn't find the time. However, I was all prepared: I had bought some "Sculpt -it " by Sargent which was air hardening clay (I wasn't sure if my oven worked) and had reference pics of what I wanted to make. Of course, i found that air-hardening was not as easy to work with and hardened while you were rolling :S So I finally got some Sculpey - and popped out a little kawaii lion (he's a Leo) for him to find on a Friday morning.  That was also too much fun that I have little plans for more projects percolating...

That's all I think...Oh, I took up belly dancing but that's another story.

Hope you liked,


Love Always,
Shines.

Trust in magic....

It's been a wild little week~ I really wasn't sure that I would find the time to make a post at all but somehow I managed to find the time in the week to make a few spreads.

The week started with me getting a 2nd cat.
I originally had two cats but one had passed away and the other was left alone. The one that's left, Mamba (whom I named after the black jaguar from The JungleBook only to find out that it was not the name), always had a friend as long as he's been breathing so I thought it was finally time to get him another buddy.

I came by a cat who had just been rescued and was lovable and cuddly as can be; in my mind, they started snuggling immediately and life was rosy. So I was rather distraught to see that my cat was not at all happy to see the new cat; in fact, he made noises I didn't know he could make. I lost so many hours of sleep that my cuddly princeling was being a jackdonkey.
After a few days though , they've exchanged sniffles and the hissing subsided a little and I was finally able to get uninterrupted sleep.

Had a busy weekend with a couple of girl friends - which is a pleasant surprise - since I can't seem to keep good girl friends around :D my little hopes of having girls night out was...possibly on the horizon.

I even went on a date with a couple of guys and found one with possibilities....

So much is happening rather fast and while I've committed myself to being okay with not having control over everything that's happening, this was just hard to wrap my head around.

This was a super easy and super quick spread. I already had some blotches of ink sprays on the page -I gessoed over that. I have some fantastic acrylic paint from the dollar store - you know the kind that comes in tiny containers with all sorts of colors? It's for kids yes, and the paint is not very pigmented - which is horrible for anything else but for soft backgrounds like this. They are so diluted that blending them is super easy.   The main art work is by Karina Skalin - I really enjoy her big hairs and mythical settings. I had colored this one in Photoshop once upon a time and  thought it a perfect piece for something (its been sitting on my desk for a while) - slightly modified but I mean the artwork is gorgeous. There IS a link to the artwork on my digital version.

I really like the flow of the letters....it was just a great piece to put together <3  It felt great to pick up a pencil crayon too - I think I'll do some more of that.

I hope you liked,

Love Always,

Shines.

Your don't deserve me.

This woman is one of my favourite celebrities... Shes' talented , stunning and smart.

I think we are all beautiful, smart and talented in our own ways -but we often forget and let people treat us whichever way they please. We often remain in a relationship because we are afraid to find nothing out there and end up alone.  We often don't speak up because we don't want to seem "out of line."

A quick reminder that,  those who love us will love us for every part of us - the crazy, funny, emotional and weird- and those who can't handle that - don't deserve our love, affection and time.

hope you liked,

Love Always,
Shines.