Dreaming of... comfortable warmth

Today I felt cold. It was a mixture of a sudden cold wind, open doors and sleepiness (I get cold when I'm sleepy). But, it got me thinking about the cold days in the near future... winter in New Zealand.

This Jacket = style and fuzzy warmth
Find at AliceCouture. Lots of stylish clothing to check out in this etsy store.

A comforting screenprinted jacket from ellembee

And a gorgeous swishy skirt for winter from idea2lifestyle

I am hatching a plan for a cute and cuddly way to keep myself warm this coming winter. Yes, I am not a fan of the cold. I am very determined to stay warm this year (hopefully all without the use of the electricity guzzling fan or oil heaters).

Tomorrow, I have decided to wear jeans, just incase ;)

Tea Party

Wow, this is the cutest idea! I spotted this on FrostMeBlog -> shortbread cookies cut into teabag shapes, dipped in chocolate and tied with string and tag. I really REALLY want to hold a tea party now. Maybe I'll do one when I settle in Brisbane.

Lessons in colour

For some time now I've been wanting to sit down and deconstruct some pictures and their amazing colour palattes. I love colour, but I am the first to admit I am not so good at coming up with colour schemes on my own. So, inspired by the colour studies from blogs like The Inspired Bride, I have decided to download some prints I liked from blogs and select some colour combinations. I chose prints and already stylised images to start off with as the colours have pretty much been chosen already. I think this is a great study and hopefully I'll be able to work out what goes with what in the future.

Please click on the link to go directly to the post and find the original artist.

This one was found on decor8

A beautiful photograph from Susannah Tucker

And this one was found on Print & Pattern Blog

Rainbow

A beautiful embroidered pillow by MeringueDesign. Check out more simple and bold designs in her etsy shop. I just love how effective simple shapes and colours can be.

On another note, I am thinking about moving my Crafting Movement blog back here. Having two blogs is a bit confusing, especially when they're both about the same thing; craft. We'll see what happens.

As for me going awol for awhile, sorry about that. I went back to Brisbane for a week to attend my cousin's wedding and also to catch up with my family and friends. It was a wonderful getaway, and just what I needed to get my focus back. Now I'm back ready to do more Animation Mentor, Crafting Movement and job search. And of course, I'll be posting more often. Got lots to show! Talk to you later :)

New Line!

Finally, I've listed my new line Crafting Movement at my shop Sodalight Creations. I've made several items, however at the last minute I've decided to list them as Made To Order items. Not only do I want my customers to have a bran new one with customizable feature (like change colours), but it also allows me to have a set to refer to. I can also use them and market them that way haha, plus I love them and want a set for myself. Please pop over to my shop to check out the bags. Will be listing more over the next couple of days.


One final thing, I was watching Martha Stewart today and she was featuring Bakerella, a cupcake maker, check out the really gorgeous looking cupcakes on her site. I really want to try this one.

Nearly ready

Well it's been another week and gosh it was busy, but a lot of fun. I've been wanting to sit down and put these ideas into action for ages and now... I've almost got enough to set up shop. My inventory now has

3 tea towels (1 each of Seedling, Hatchling and Leaping)
1 small bag (Seedling)
3 hankies (1 of each design)

In progress is a shoulder bag and 3 other bags.

So far I've been good and not fallen into the temptation of buying more supplies, even as I watch my embroidery thread supply deplete like crazy (or perhaps I just see it that way and it's actually ok). I'm also trying to hold off on the need to buy more bags and things to sew on. I really love the small bag I finished yesterday, and so I will definitely be getting more of those once I see how it performs on etsyland.

I have a small side project I wish to do after I'm done with my first batch. It will include items for those who like my design, but is not ready for a bag or tea towel yet. And it will allow me to be creative with the supplies I've got.

Well, back to it! Sew sew sew.... love.

Embroidery

It's been aaaaages! But I've been busy busy and have settled into a crafting groove finally. And I must say it was a PLAN that saved me. Since I last wrote, I've made a plan with what I wanted to achieve and then a plan of attack. I'm following it and it's such a relief. I know what I'm doing now.

Another thing that saved me was a trip to the library. I needed some guidance to embroidery and painting (for Crafting Movement and Fabric Art projects respectively). I've dabbled in both in the past and so I know a bit about each, but to take it to the next stage I needed to do some tutorials. The books I've found will take me a long way. Let me brief you on what my projects are

Crafting Movement is a series of images embroidered onto usable items (tea towels, napkins, hankies, towels and eventually bags, hats and skirts). The images are a sequence of events, currently they are called:
Seedling, Hatchling, Pounce, Dance
Want I want to achieve? I want them to look really modern, none of that floral, cottage, blended coloured look (which I love btw, but not what I want here). Something that wont look out of place in a modern apartment like the one I'm living in now, which means bold, confident blocks of colour. I also want to learn how to embroider neatly so that it's not messy on the back.

Fabric Art is the project you've seen floating around this blog. A 3 dimensional picture made out of repurposed fabric. So far I've made one batch, 4 waiting to be framed and they're called:
Still Life, Attitude Derriere, Firebird and Solitude
What I want to achieve next? I would love to work on my painting skills. While my painting isn't bad, it's time to take it to the next level and give these pictures even more dimension.

My two projects. Love them both. Watch this space, seriously. haha

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Animation: ever heard of working something to death? I've never worked on an acting shot for so long! My acting shot for my animation mentor class was done over 5 weeks! So abnormal for me, a tv animator who would do it in about 2 days. What I was meant to learn in the class is to make this good enough for feature animation, and I didnt quite make it. I worked it to death, over polished it till it became mushy. Doh! Next term (next week), keep my focus and only fix what needs fixing! Oh and DON'T watch something while I work on it (bad habit of mine).

Tissue Pouch

Martha Stewart Tutorial for felt tissue pouch! I use tissues so much this might be an awesome idea for the likes of me haha.

Back to basics

A long long time ago, a little girl got up at 5am every morning to practice drawing disney characters. She drew Simba, Nala, Pocahontas, John Smith and their friends. The day she showed it to her friends at school she felt a change, her best friend told her about the mysterious art form called animation. From that day forth, she began her journey towards an animation career.

As you can guess, that person was me. 13 years old. I had always been drawing but until the disney 'how to draw' books came along my work has been exceptionally boring and out of proportion. I learnt about circles and line of action, how to build a proportionally correct figure and work from that. That process has stayed with me and along the way I felt it was more interesting to sketch out quick figures than to pushed for heaps of detail, shading and textures (though I wish I could slow down and try it out). Since delving into the world of 3d however, my drawing skills have been shelved. Can I still draw?

Today, I have gone back to basics, I am going to pick up drawing again after abandoning it for so long. So I began with Cats. I am hoping drawing will help take me away from browsing etsy endlessly and do something constructive towards my animation career and Crafting Movement. I've been stalling when it came to working with Crafting Movement because I didn't think I could draw, but now that I've tried, I feel like I still have it in me somewhere... I'm back on the bike.

I came across this page and I think it might be a way to present my ideas... Yet another crafty idea :)

Progress Notes

Hello hello, just had a really wonderful lunch, Portuguese style kangaroo (like a hanging kebab). So tender and tasty. Anyway, now I'm in this sleepy comfortable state and I thought I'd blog while I wake up.

Creatively I'm at this funny stage where I want to do something crafty but don't really think I should. I need to spend some time planning and playing with layout, colour and design options. Do some research and exploration. I might have to restrict myself from actually doing any painting or Crafting Movement until I've got everything planned. Of course this doesn't include making tests and samples, but I've had enough of wasting paint so whatever prevents that.

Last night I implemented this idea and began cutting out magazine sections for colour swatches. I then stuck them into my notebook and mixed and matched the colours with my existing fabric art and the colours already painted onto it. I have a few ideas, though I might play around and see what else I can include, maybe think about adding depth or textures. I'll also have to think about refining the piece and make it look really neat even when you're up close.

Crafting Movement, really looking forward to exploring this. As I said notebook research first, then in April around easter, I can start making these items. I want bags, skirts, homeware, towels and linen. I want to play with stencil, embroidery, stamping and iron ons. Really excited, but I can't jump the gun and waste all the good materials I have on hand already. Perhaps I should stay away from buying stuff as well. Fun fun!

ps: I passed the framing shop and it says they'll be open again on March 22. So yup, on that day I will bring Attitude Derriere, Still Life, Solitude and Firebird and get them framed up nicely :D then off to Etsyland they go.

Tutes and decisions

Horse Silhouette bag :) By the New Handmade found on Etsy


Isn't this dress lovely? I love the freehand look of the spirals. You can find the tutorial on Etsy, referencing the work of Natalie Chanin who wrote the book Alabama Studio Style.

Argh, I really need to work on my eye for colour and painting. I tried to do some more painting yesterday and its going nowhere. I'm wasting a lot of time and a lot of paint. Matt keeps telling me to do some test paintings, regular painting on flat surfaces, and I think it's about time I listened to him. The reason I've been avoiding it is I have no idea what to paint. Perhaps I'll borrow out a book and do a tutorial, or do a still life.

Anyway, I have made a decision regarding Secret Project 2: Little Book for Dreamers... I am going to shelve it until further notice as I am way to excited to do Secret Project 3: Crafting Movement. While I am not going to do anything today in regards to it, I want to use the cat figures I cut out the other day and create iron ons for a bag I bought awhile ago from the thrift store. Today however, I am going to work on my animation homework. I was really disappointed with what I submitted last week and so I am going to give myself lots of time to get it right this week. I also have a LOT of lectures to catch up on.

Anthropologie

Gorgeous flower necklaces (this one called Just Add Water)

Shadowed Vine scarf

Pictureshow Dress

Thank you Red Thread for alerting me to the fact that Anthropologie is now shipping to Australia! These are some of my favourite items and I am tempted to get the scarf!

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I had a really really wonderful weekend with my family and I miss them dearly now. We spent every day wandering the shops around Chapel Street and Melbourne Central, and also went for a nice long walk along the beach and looked at mussels in the swirls. The weather was interesting and pretty crazy, on Saturday while we were shopping in Chapel Street, a huge hailstorm decided to spice up our afternoon. We were in a little alleyway with cute little shops and so we ducked into the closest one for shelter. The hailstorm pelted the tin roof and it sounded like someone had set off firecrackers inside the tiny store. After the hail came a flood of rain and the street turned into a river, half the cars were swimming in water. The whole time I was worried about my work friends who were camping over that weekend (but I later found out that where they were, they didnt even have a storm, just a drizzle every now and then. Which is good). Ah, my sister and parents were having the time of their life, and while were did get a bit drenched and uncomfy, we were still in good spirits. Even when we found out that the trains had stopped running and the bus we took got stuck in some floodwater and shut down. I love my family and I can't wait to hang out with them again soon.

btw, the Early Morning picture has been claimed! When my mum saw it, she said that I should give it to my dad as a birthday present (which is coming up). So happy :) She was also very supportive and gave me tips on how to make this project better (and what sort of price I should look at selling them). So I will be getting the rest of my pieces framed soon and list them up on etsy.

Needle Felting

Oh my gosh, I have found yet another project I'd love to try one day. I've always admired needle felted creations, so soft and and so beautiful. The arctic fox baby pictured above was created by JaniceCordeiro and I just want to try my hands at making something like it! Ok, put on to do list... hehehe.

Pre framed

Hm... today I noticed that the shop downstairs from where we live sell picture frames (it's a shop for last minute gifts and various things). Some of them look like shadowboxes as well. Interesting. I'm finding more and more options for my Fabric Pictures, buying pre framed backing boards and working over the top of that is definitely something I want to explore. But first I gotta list the ones I've done already and see how they perform in the etsy marketplace.

Another great idea (and I hope this stays private until I get a chance to explore it), iron on Crafting Movement series :D So for example, the cats I cut out last night, I could have them partially interfaced and so people can stick them onto their own skirts or bags or aprons. Of course I'll have to make it for personal use as I want to make things with these iron ons as well. Maybe after the Crafting Movement products do well I will think about doing this, if they do well that is.

Oh and one last thing, I love this business card by Winged Wheel Stationary! Love how the edges look torn. The letterpress is gorgeous too :) Found via Design*sponge

Alegria

This Cirque Du Soleil production has captured my imagination and is one of places I turn to for inspiration. I love everything about Alegria, the acts, the costumes, the characters and especially the music. Simply enchanting. Here are two of my favourite acts.

Cerceaux (love the characters, gorgeous poses and stunning tricks)


Taruka (best music and beautiful lines)


Lots to do this week in terms of after work activity. I have to get my animation mentor homework done, first and foremost. This is because I am going to have an awesome weekend hanging out with my sister and parents, who will be visiting. And also because of that I have to do some cleaning and tidying up around the house. Not much fun until the weekend. What's funny is this realisation has triggered a response in my creative brain... I want to craft something again. Damn you silly brain!

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Actually scratch that last bit, I been trying to do something crafty all night and all I managed was cut out some cat shapes haha. Still enjoying my time though and still looking forward to getting back into crafting (those cat shapes may have helped). Good night!

Cute

Isn't this plate from Ninainvorm so cute?? If I were a kid I'd love to eat breakfast off it. Since I'm an adult I'd love to put it on the shelf and admire it (or serve fruit and cheese around the cute colours). Love the bunting. This is her blog.

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Here is another great article about what should be included in a package when something is sold.

1. Branded Invoice
Don’t simply print a receipt from Etsy or Paypal. Instead, design a professional, branded invoice with your logo and fonts. Include details such as date, billing address, contents of the package sent and their price.

Bonus Points: When customers place an order on my retail site, they can check a box to indicate that the order is a gift. When they do this, we mail a gift invoice instead of a regular invoice. Our gift invoice does not include any pricing information and includes a note from the sender. Implement a similar feature on your website so gift recipients get a special invoice with their order.

2. Return Information
On your invoice, or someplace else in the package, you should reiterate your return policy and return instructions.

3. Contact Information
Provide customers a way to get in touch in case there is something wrong with the order. Include your website URL, your contact email address and, if possible, a customer service phone number.

4. Swag
Provide a little something extra that will surprise your customer, preferably something they will keep, like a pen or magnet, although samples may make sense too if you sell edibles, cosmetics or bath/body goods.
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Yesterday I got the rare motivation to work on my animation homework after work (usually I leave it till the weekend as I need a change from working in animation all day). The motivation sparked from the ideas I got from the Q&A class I had earlier that day. It's looking pretty cool and I hope to give it a few days and really hone in on it and make it perfect (for blocking that is).

I'm still getting new ideas daily and it's' getting a bit overwhelming. I want to make so many things (I jot the ideas down, but it's hard to sketch out exactly what I see in my mind's eye). I wish I could photograph the images I see in my head so I wont forget any details. Anyway, I havent decided what I'm going to do tonight, but I will go through and put some pictures up of the fabric pictures. One amazing this happened though, I think my Arabesque picture is evolving... I was pretty down when I added the black shadows to my dancer and I thought I ruined it. Tuesday it looked the same, black and yucky. But yesterday it feels like the shadows have blended with the fabric and it's working again. So so weird, was there some chemical reaction? or have I adjusted to it and am now seeing it differently? Anyway, I feel like that picture is done. It's hit on the Love level and I love looking at it. Approved. Hehe, I'm kinda excited about sharing this with the public... I'm scared of course, what if people think I'm crazy. But I would really love to see how people react to it.

A picture to finish the post off... Gorgeous costumes from last night's So You Think You Can Dance Australia. Love the colours in the dress especially

Design*Sponge

More awesome tutorials on Design*Sponge.

Notebook Lunchbag

Silhouette Tealights

Cool print transfers linen. I really really want to try this out, but I must stop buying new things and use up the felt and fabric interfacing first haha.

Felt Wall Mural

Oh and the Life Instyle show in Sydney which I saw via the red thread
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Progress report, I started on the Little Book for Dreamers last night, it's pretty fun putting all the elements together, but it's clear I need more photoshop skills.

I also decided to put all the Fabric Pictures I've done around the room and live in it for awhile. So far, I've decided that Early Morning, Still Life, Firebird and Solitude are done. The only other one is Arabesque, which needs a bit of a touchup. Oh, btw, the gold just makes me happy :) Might do it again tonight while I do either mentor homework or more LBFD...

I'm thinking it might be an idea to buy frames from IKEA in the future... These ones have 'wood based panels' for the backing and it might be just like the MDF I've been working with. And this one is extra deep for a shadowbox effect.

Time to move on...

Yesterday I did some painting but somehow it felt different, like I couldn't hold on to the excitement and inspiration I had the last couple of weeks. So I've decided to move on... leave the paintings for a few days (or weeks) and come back to it. It's really only 'Summers Day' and 'Water sleeves' that I'm having trouble with. I lay down one colour and I just cringe immediately, no idea why...

So today I'm going to jump on to Secret Project 2, which is Little Book for Dreamers... I did say I was going to reveal it one word at a time and I forgot about it about 2 weeks later oops, sorry. What is it? you'll see :) I've collected all the resources already so now it's a matter of putting it all together. Will give you some hints when I have something substantial to show.

oh and a little note to self: try doing some tiny ones, is that even possible?

Dreams

I'm dreaming about making skirts after seeing this tutorial by Amy Karol (from Angry Chicken). Actually I love the idea of sewing, I'd love to make some bags and pillows and skirts, but I don't own a sewing machine and the idea of sewing the whole thing by hand just puts me off. Oh well, I guess it's probably a good thing I dont own one just yet as I have way too many projects I wish to try already. I'll just keep on dreaming :)

Over the weekend I didn't get a chance to work on my Art as I was working on my Animation homework (and watch Avatar, which is awesome btw). I did make some nice discoveries on Friday, so I'll blog about that instead, tehehe, it is a craft blog after all...

After work we went to replenish my paint supply and I decided to try some metallic bronze paint. I didnt really know what I was going to do with it, it just looked pretty sitting there on the shelf in the shop. When I got home I tried it out, dry brushing it onto one of my Wip art (which I decided to call) 'Solitude' and it really surprised me! Such a simple glowing outline really gave the picture an atmospheric glow. The colour reminds me of Egyptian gold and the background felt even more quite and mysterious. I was tempted to do something with the extra space, like some bronze swirls or something but I decided against it when I looked at it from a distance. Simplicity and mystery is what this piece is all about. I love it, and it's fast becoming one of my favourites.

That's the thing I want to achieve, I want to feel a little bit of giddy happiness whenever I look at these pictures. Even though I plan to sell them, I still want to experience the feeling of ownership. Selling them would be like giving these pictures a stable home (instead of travelling along with a digital nomad like me).

I also tried the metallic paint on two other paintings. 'Firebird' which is the red figure on the black background, and 'Arabesque' which is the beautiful dancer with the mottle sunset background. The bronze metallic paint really worked on Firebird, and added the fire element. Firebird was the one I was unsure of as it had funny proportions and the black annoyed me. But after adding in the bronze/gold it looked beautiful, so I am going to deepen the black today and finish it off. The gold however didnt work as well on Arabesque which is kinda weird. I thought it would bring out the highlights in the skirt but for some reason it hid it instead. I'm still trying to work out what is wrong. Perhaps I should make the figure a darker shade to enhance the gold? Will have to try and work it out today.

Ooh, such a long post. Well those were my thoughts. I plan to finish painting ALL of my Art work today (I've already prepped 'Summers Day' which will be mostly white with colour peeping through, and then I'll work on 'Water sleeve' which needs a new colour scheme). Lots of work, but I need to get them done so I can start on Secret Project 2. Trying to get through my list of projects hehe. Photos will be uploaded soon.

Colours of the Wind

I can definitely say that this movie and song was a HUGE influence when I was a kid. It was around that time when I seriously thought about becoming an animator, and was (along with The Lion King) one of things I woke up at 5am in the morning every day to draw before school. I use to sing Colours of the Wind all the time and would have bought a Pocahontas costume to wear (but couldn't cos I was too little and none would fit me). I guess it gave me a taste for grace, power, colour, dance and nature, it has inspired me to dance. Thank you Disney.

Oh and another side note, I love this website, especially the layout and design. I wish I could take this course because I would love to know how to use my camera properly, or to it's fullest potential.

www.503photography.com