HELLOOOO 2015

OKAY.
So clearly I fell off the blogging bandwagon once again (it seems to be an annual event at this point) except this time, I don't feel so bad because this time it wasn't life that caught up to me and drove me up the wall (although that's still ongoing) but it was creative adventures. At last, the year started on a creative note.
The many adventures I've been involved in include the world of Documented Life Project, Amigurumi, scrap bookbinding and return to coloring; soon, I am going to explore the world of need felting. Everything I have been interested in but "never had time for" - This year is the year I will try them out ! So far, the journey has been more than fulfilling and supremely addictive.  Here is a "brief" summary of how I got to this beautiful mess.

ONCE, when I was 8 my mama (also a DIY fanatic) introduced me to the calm world of knitting. I made a scarf and that was the end of that. I make scarves annually because I just can't find scarf I like enough to buy (super picky) and knitting truly is a slow and calming activity. Unfortunately, knitting wasn't my calling. I enjoyed things that are...less functional, cute and pretty things really... which made me feel bad...then I saw this meme which made it alll better; happiness and sense of accomplishment provides priceless intrinsic rewards!

ANYWAY.
I went to my first "Stitch & Bitch" session with a friend who LOVED knitting, hoping that it would kindle a spark. I was looking for a pattern to knit until I came across this cat cave crochet pattern which looked simple enough and I randomly had a crochet hook lying around.  Unfortunately at this time neither of my cats understood the concept of cat cave ,so it ended up being a cushion after days of trying to coaxed them to love the cave. They love the cushions though!

 This sent me whirling into the world of crochet, in particular, amigurumi (which means small handmade toy in Japanese, I think). There are tons of generous and talented souls out there that share the pattern they made. One of my favourites Stephanie of Amigurumei , who makes the easiest patterns for the cutest things! This thoughtful woman has even made a Patterns page on her blog for easy access.  This new hobby turned into an obsession really, and I was a serial hooker for a while there - eat, work, crochet was a daily thing until recently - now I sleep sometimes XD
You can see all the stuff I have made so far on my Amigurumi album on my FB page, if you're curious.

The bookbinding thing isn't new. I always enjoyed upcycling scrap paper. My entire art journal last year was made from upcycled Copic Market catalogs. I work at a place where printing is mandatory and scrap pages are available by the mountains. Being a hoard, I kept a lot of scraps but I simply couldn't use them up quick enough and my little apt was getting crammed up with all sorts of junk I had saved (Youtube is REALLY a great place if you want reasons to start hoarding).  After much hmming and haaaing, I bought myself a Cinch bookbinding tool - which turned out the be an excellent investment.  Instead of spending hours hand-stitching and gluing , which left little energy and motivation to actually do the fun bits like decorating, I spent minutes binding the book and hours playing and altering cardboard covers. So far I have made and given away 4 books which are all being used on daily basis. Having less in my hoarder box is good; knowing that the books are appreciated, loved and used daily is awesome; feeling that art/crafting didn't create more garbage is AMAZING. I don't get to make them often (because they're super fat books and takes a while to use them) but I certainly have a whole pile of 'em made for the next person who wants one. You can see what it looks like here.

The Documented Life Project is something I discovered last year. I fell in love with the idea of Documented Life Project 2015 page.

having a sketbook/planner/journal all in one place (deep inside, I am a minimalist. or multifunctionalist- I like things that can serve more than one purpose). In fact, my planner was already a mix of 3 but this gave it structure that it needed. I was bent on taking part this year and although the idea has migrated to more of Art Journaling, I am having a great time playing along. It really forces you to be creative and to play, at least once a week. This project has put my art journalling to a pause but I feel like it will only enhance my love for art journals.  So far, with the exception of ONE challenge (which I will fulfill soon when I have some under paper made) I have been following along. What is most exciting is that I can already SEE myself breaking out in baby steps from the way I have been journaling and actually having FUN.  In a strange way, the weekly challenges really aligned to the experiences I was going through during the week , which makes this even more remarkable journey to embark on! To see the pages of the week you can check out my

At around the same time, I had  become super interested in Wreck This Journal project - which from day 1 proved that I was not as "free flowing" as I was hoping I was. Unfortunate this project will have to hold for a bit as I've piled a ton on my plate already. LOL

Lastly, I have returned to coloring.

I can draw - and I enjoy being able to draw; but, I have always loved coloring and if I could, I would sweet piece of work for Valentines day. I printed it, stuck it on my planner and colored it using my trusty Crayola markers. TOO FUN.   Of COURSE I had to go and buy one of those books I've been pondering on. I debated but in the end the Secret Garden is what I chose - mostly because there are pages filled with doodly flowers I just can't do without. So far, I'm working on a nice little fishy page - I'm getting lost in the details but I LOVE IT.
make a living from it. Its another meditative therapy (apparently I need a lot of therapy these days) that I couldn't get a start on for whatever reason (mostly because I was busy crocheting).  Then, the amazing Johanna Basford who inked "Secret Garden" and "Enchanted Forest" for the kid in us, released this
I forgot how awesome it was to  PAINT SOMETHING.
This book is going to last me YEARS at the rate I'm coloring them which makes it SO WORTH IT! It also put all other coloring projects on hold but OOOH well, it's not going anywhere anyways. lol

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.

What a weekend!

Never mind, what a week!
It started with me flying off my bicycle on my way to work  -same route I've been using everyday - I got caught between streetcar tracks and by the time I realized what was happening, I was already on the ground.  Thankfully I got away with some serious bruisings and one wonky wrist and nothing was broken.
Over the weekend - my friends and I decided to take a short trip for a nice picnic and light hiking - which turned into some serious hiking and climbing down rocks to get to the bottom of a water fall. The next day I biked across town with an avid cyclist and I can't believe I made it alive.

These things made me realize what I was taking for granted - good working limbs and general good health and luck - that I avoided some serious set backs. Thank myself for always keeping active in case I have to climb down rocks at least few feet to get to the bottom of a refreshing waterfall.
It reminded me that I had good friends that I could have fun with - and good company makes all the difference in the world. Life was not still going the sour route, as the days like to let us think that it is.
I just needed to be more patient with myself, as I am with so many others.

I really wanted to write some of this down and I was so glad that I had started a Book of days where some journaling can be incorporated.
This page in particular, I am super happy with.
I did some collaging, some doodling and journaling - all three things I always  want to incorporate in a spread. I love the colors and the imagery- I really felt like I was springly and limber - and that I could do anything with the people I was with. I appreciated being alive and well enough mind and body, that I could enjoy such moments.

I hope more of these moments happen....

Hope you liked,

Love always,
Shines

Good things happen....

It feels like forever and a third since I've done anything in my art journals and nothing feels more creative to me then smashing some junk, paint and making something nice to look at.
I have a few projects in mind as you may know if you've been reading my previous ramblings - but I had to put them aside for a second (which is really hard for me to do because I'm very much about finishing what I started before moving onto new projects -but I'm getting better) and let some creative juice OUT.

Unlike most other times I had an idea of what I wanted to incorporate - I wanted to colour someone's lineart and incorporate it somehow. Drawing is not my strongest suite but I have a GREAT collection of line art by others who generously share their talents on my Pinterest page and in my DeviantArt folder (I have hoarding issues but that's another story)....another element that I wanted to have FOR SURE was some doodling. I really miss marking random shapes on paper that look good together.

I had a quote in mind but I didn't know what image I wanted to use; I wanted to use an empowering image JadeDragonne called Vail for this quote:

for this quote as it's something I strongly believe in even though life has tried to prove otherwise to me.  I chose this lineart by

Good things come to those who wait... or those willing to get up and get shit done!

For a long time, I was part of the group believing that good things come to those who wait and while I waited nothing happened but good things were happening to those getting out there and trying something.  So went and tried a few things and while it got me somewhere it didn't get me anywhere quick.  

It finally dawned on my infinite wisdom that, maybe good things happen to those who are willing to put in some work-and have the patience to wait for that perfect opportunity.  You have to be in practice of willing to work otherwise the opportunity will pass to another who is; and if you are willing to work, even if the opportunity you wanted doesn't happen, another will knock and you have to be ready to work for it.   Everything, I tell you EVERYTHING is an excuse; time is something we can all manage, its a man-made concept and the will of a human being is stronger than anything. When and if you really wanted to do something, you will find time in all sorts of places to get it in your schedule. Just change in perspective and mindset.  All this really were in my head as a jumble but the doodling I got done made it into a communicatable sentence.

What you see in the picture BTW, is a tissue paper with this beautiful doodle that I've been hanging onto for quite some time now -it had fallen apart so I am glad it found itself a good home and it certainly kick started my doodling.


Life, God, Divine Force or The Universe - whatever it is that you believe in - truly works in mysterious ways.... in my case so many have passed by that I could have taken advantage of but I wasn't really willing to work and I was to scared to try.  I went through a hiatus where I was sick of what I was doing to make a living and jumped into something utterly different - and came up top - but that probably only happened because I was willing to try something and put forth an effort.  Still, there are some  things I did right and now that I am ready to finally put forth some effort, things are rolling along rather well * knock on wood*.

Hope you liked my bit of wisdom-sharing there, LOL

Love Always,

Shines.

Travelbook update with tiny haul from a stationary store.

This took so much longer than I thought it would to put together.
As you know my first book binding experience using thread wasn't very good - it's now being held together by tape that I had placed on the spines to prevent bleeding and by the layers over the tape. Either way it's being held together, so I am not complaining.

Originally, I had started working on some covers because I felt that there was a real possibly that I will be making a book with hard cover for the trip, and of course to house all my little booklets that's now lost a home :(  While I am still going to make a home for all my lovely booklets that were once signatures - I have also decided to make another booklet for the trip using the pages I glued together, rather than a book on its own. I think what I will end up is a large fat book that will house all my little booklets from year 2014.  I figured a cereal box would be perfect for this but I digress.

So here is what the little booklet for the Nova Scotia trip turned out to look like.
I threw in almost EVERYTHING I had collected while there like the paper gift bags and snack holder I got on flight and of course the plane tickets. I forgot to show it in the video but every other page is only glued around the edges so that it makes a pocket for all the post cards I got, where a bit of journaling can live. Then I threw in a couple of envelopes that came in the mail as well just in case.
This book was bound using Saddle Stitch tutorial from Sea Lemon ,who really does short and to the point tutorials.

This sounds kinda crazy but instead of covering up theses ads and bits that's exclusive to Nova Scotia, I am thinking of just leaving the background as it is - I guess its more of a smash journal then an art journal.  I'm waiting for my pictures to "develop" so hopefully next week I can get an AFTER video here for ya.

In other news, I bumped into this super adorable stationary store while grocery shopping in Koreatown called MR. PEN.









 It's fairly new, but it was buzzing with people looking and omg there is a whole TABLE dedicated to writing tools -pens, pencils, mechanical pens and pencils... my jaw reached the ground and rolled away from me like they would in a cartoon show!!!


while browsing , I realized they also sold little glass charms for your phones, which glow in the dark so you can find your phone anywhere!! I had received one as a gift and left it in Nova Scotia, which was sad because I didn't know where it came from, but now I can replace it!!!

Of course I had to get a few pens too - and because retail therapy is awesome, I decided to buy a few pens and charms for my coworkers who had made my stay at my new gig incredibly enjoyable,so much so that Iit doesn't feel like a job.  I love these pens - they're so cute and funny :D

That's all today.

Hope you like,

Love Always,
Shines.