Week #36

This week, I started making bracelets with embroidery floss using this tutorial. It's amazing how I'd completely forgotten how to make these since high school (or was it junior high?). I got major backache and shoulder ache by the time I finished this one. Signs of age? I don't remember this being a painful hobby.. but I digress.

This is what happened when Mr. Lilacmoon saw my finished piece above.

Mr. Lilacmoon: Hey, that looks nice!
Me: ..
Mr. Lilacmoon: Make me one, too!
Me: Really?!?
Mr. Lilacmoon: Yeah!
Me: ... okay.

So there you have it. One for me, one for him. No rhinestone chain for him, though.

'Roid Week 2011

Today is the last day of 'Roid Week 2011. Have you noticed all the new Polaroids at my Flickr stream? ^^

Most of my recent Polaroids have been Spectras (because I have way more Spectra film than 600 film) but 'Roid Week inspired me to bust out the SLR680 and shoot something new. It took me awhile to warm up (as evidenced above) but it felt good! 'Roid Week is good like that, you see.

Not to mention all the wonderful work you get to see from fellow Polaroid lovers! This is when everyone pulls out their best shots and shine.. I love it. If you haven't, you should check out the 'Roid Week Flickr pool. I'm sure you'll find some new people to follow. :) My favorites can be seen here.

A Preview

After days of squinting my eyes at the computer screen and color testing over and over again, I think it's almost ready. A shop update! Please stay tuned.

Paper Quilt Project

Hello, my dear readers. I kinda fell off the face of the earth, didn't I? I am slowly climbing back up though.. ^^

Here's something I worked on while I was away, a collage for the Paper Quilt Project. It will become part of a paper quilt and I'm very excited I was able to participate. (Please do look at all the other participants' submissions right here!)

This is what I started with, a lovely package from Dawbis:


I did lots of sketches on the project's theme, which was "A Day in My Life". I knew I wanted to work with the theme of being positive (because I can be quite negative) but I didn't like any of the sketches. I was already being too negative about my progress. Finally, I decided I was thinking too hard and let my hands do the work, cutting papers into strips and then making little +'s.


And there you have it. My daily struggle to stay +, illustrated. :)

Slow Week

Monday's rain was quite something.. It caused flooding in many streets and a subway station had to be be closed. Luckily, I was home most of the day and observed the pouring rain at the back of the house.

I've been editing some Polaroid scans for a mini shop update at the end of this month. The color matching is nearly impossible but it is a necessary step that I have to be patient with. I can easily spend hours on it.. With the strange weather and all, this week has been kinda slow, for sure.

I hope you are having a good, dry week.

Yesterday..

This is how my desk looked like yesterday. I spent a big chunk of the day finalizing a couple Valentine's Day card designs and getting used to Gocco all over again. The heart design in the picture won't make it to the store update, I don't think. It fails the ultimate test: "Would I buy this myself?" The answer was no, unfortunately, and I already gocco-ed a handful of them, too. :( It's not ugly, and I learned a lot while working on it (like, doing digital mock-ups is really helpful). But I just don't feel it!! Do you??

Well, at least the other design didn't tank. It coordinates nicely with the Poladoodle print I will have in the shop soon. It won't be a big update, by the way.. just a teeny weeny one. :)

My second successful Gocco project

Hello, folks! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been having a sort of an artist block lately.. I did work on more projects with Gocco but I ended up wasting lots of screens. So far I've only flashed master screens with original drawings, and I learned that mixing two kinds of pens is not a good idea. I think I will start using copies of drawings, or scan them and then use digital print outs. Still lots to learn about Gocco..

But I managed to successfully print some Thank You cards:

I spent many agonizing hours sketching ideas on what to print on these blue note cards but in the end, I decided to print a simple text, something that Gocco can handle better than a handmade rubber stamp can. Once I decided that, the design came easily, and the master screen was made without any problems.

I'll show better pictures of the cards when I am ready to do a shop update. :)

Working...

These days, I've been working on creating some new kinds of goodies featuring my Polaroid shots.

I've been tinkering with the idea of making cards with Polaroids for a while now. I struggled for hours on finalizing the design, too. What you see isn't what I decided on; you'll see them very soon on my Etsy shop. I tried so many combinations of polaroid + patterned paper without making the cards look too busy, it was almost painful. I even doubted whether the card needed anything else other than the picture but I really wanted to add more than just the Polaroid.. so when that perfect combination happened, I was so happy. It was quite a problem solving experience. When you solve it, the answer makes all the trouble you went through worth it. I hope I'm not hyping it up too much. ^^

I also stopped by the printer today to check the proofs for my next set of Poladoodle prints. Yup, I'll finally have some new stuff on Etsy very soon! I'll make another announcement when I update the store, along with few other news.. Stay tuned!

Playing with food

Hello, everyone! Last week, I got some fancy vanilla biscuits from Artisan Biscuits. I admit it was the packaging that made me get them.


Aren't they cute? I really like the illustration (and the little story that goes with it) but I didn't expect the biscuits to be shaped like the owl and the cat. As soon as I opened the box, I knew I had to take out my Polaroid camera and the close-up kit I recently got on Ebay.


I don't know, I feel a Poladoodle coming.. ^^;;

{ hi! } in progress

I forgot I had this picture! Here is a shot of my desk when I made this Poladoodle:

I remember, my sister called while I was working on it, so I put her on the speaker phone and we chatted for a long time. By the time I got off the phone, my doodle was almost done! I love it when things go smoothly l like that.. too bad that's not the case every time.. ^_^

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!