Ten Things Thursday: Summer Reading List!

In no particular order, it is my plan to vanquish each and every one of these books by the end of summer! Which may prove a feat because there are secretly 21 books in here, and there's only so much time in the day before my eyelids just won't stay open any more! Not that I really sleep much, but that's not the point! Onwards with the books!

One. 

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanne Clarke

Two. 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen

Three. 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Four. 

Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle 

(I can't pretend that I haven't already read this book well over 100 times. I love it so!)

Five. 

The Edge Chronicles (all of them!) by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Again, with me and the kids books- I'm considering this research because it has some FANTASTIC illustrations, and I plan on having equally as stellar illustrations in my book. Justified.

Six. 

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith

I've read this book already too. But it's just so gooooood. It's also two books in disguise!

Seven. 

East by Edith Pattou

I have a thing for Polar Bears who are secretly Princes! It's been sitting on my to-read pile for too long now.  The time is right!

Eight. 

Game of Thrones Series by George R.R. Martin

This whole series was so totally recently acquired at the bookstore.

Nine.

 The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

Ten.

The Silver Skull by Mark Chadbourne

 Hopefully my brain won't overload with all the fantastical knowledge I plan on filling it with in the coming months!

Love and Strawberry Kisses xo

Workin' Wednesday: All that nonsense.

I've been keeping so busy this past week! I pretty much hide out in my studio (which grant it, is my room) but I've been making a gratuitous amount of things for etsy, and yesterday I made a stop at our local craft store to get some help with my resin necklaces- I've lost a good few to the resin getting under the tape and into the painting. Which is so sad, because you watch it slowly happen and you know all the hard work that was done is now wasted. So we did some trouble shooting, and hopefully all the glitches will be taken care of now! 

These are some snake-skin necklaces and earings, along with some wish necklaces that you can now find on my etsy! You can also find the necklaces below on etsy!

You can't really tell from the picture, but the leaves under the owl are all golden-like!

I'm also brewing up some new embrodiery for etsy! I've got a few more mentally planned out, I just don't want to take on too many! The blue is a new marker that dissapears with water, it's kinda cool to watch. 

I finally added some watercolours to my tattoo idea! 

One day, one day...

That's all for now, so I suppose it's back to work for me!

Love and Strawberry Kisses xo

How-Tuesday: Glitter Shoes!

I'm just darn mad about glitter shoes. They're the tops! So after seeing a few DIY glitter shoes on the good ol' internet I decided it was high time that I make my own! I would just like to preface this post by saying this guys take time! Alas, they're a full day/ two day project! But still awesome to have, either way.

These are the first pair of Doc's I've ever owned, they're hand-me-downs which I seem to be quite lucky at getting hand-me-down docs, I have three pairs none of which I've paid for.

 The full list of ingredients:

Shoes, Mod-Podge (matte)

One large cumbersome brush

Glitter (I should hope so!)

Tape, for any place you don't want to paint!

and a bowl that you don't eat from.

I wanted a blue/silver glitter, so I mixed the two together until I got it the colour I wanted!

I made the endevor to tape off my shoe (just one) only once, I figured if I paint for a living, I should be able to paint my shoes no problem! Right?

So I poured some mod-podge into a bowl,  and slowly added my glorious glitter concoction untill I was satisfied with how much glitter was in there. You don't want it to be over-loaded with glitter because it'll be a pain to get on. So when pouring have enough glitter in there to get a good coat on, but not enough to make it cumbersome to use. This is what the first coat looked like!

Here's what the second coat (wet) looked like next to the other one-coat-boot. You can also see the cool design thinger I had going on as well! You want to make sure everything is completely dry before applying the next coat!

To get the tongues! I used a micron to keep my boot open and not touching the tongue at all, I didn't want the boot to somehow seal itself shut. That would be rather unfortunate.

All in all, I did two coats and then a third touch up coat.

The final step is to Mod-podge over the very dry glitter! The boot on the left has gone through the final phase, the one on the right is pure glitter still!

After letting them dry, you can lace these babies up and take them out on the town! Not that our town is very large. Or really exiting. I mean, we do have a coffee shop that I love, but that's neither here nor there. But aren't these the raddest of the rad?! I'm wearing them everywhere I go!

Love and Glitter filled Kisses xo

Makin'it Monday: Found objects hanger thing!

What are these things really called? I have no idea! But I made one! I was out on a walk and found these two peices of wood, which of course I picked up and threw in my bag, because that's just what I do, and instead of hanging them from my ceiling (which is what I normally do) I decided to make something out of them! I had these old nails laying around since forever ago- they were the nails used to build out house so they're from sometime around the 1830's! How cool?! Anyways, here's how I did it!

These are all the materials I used! 

(minus the glue, really.)

I hammered in my three nails, one was a bit stubborn and required some glue to hold it in there.

And so I went and put some glue down on my wood, and it turned bright purple! This photo doesn't quite do it justice, it was florescent. What is with that?! It was too weird. So I wiped it off, and went for the probably better alternative, hot glue!

After getting that situation all taken care of I carefully attached my Lichen covered wood.

Then I came upon the realization that I needed to hang this bugger up! I wasn't really sure how to go about it anyway proper, so I took some metal thread and thumbtacked it to the back, and while that did work, it would tip forward and nothing would stay on the nails. So that was a bummer, and then I realized I could just but something to prop the wood off of the wall to prevent that from happening, so I stuck on two more thumb tacks, and they worked like a gosh darn charm! 

And that's how I made that! I was so proud of myself, really. I've got a few necklaces hanging from it now, but since my camera is making every single picture of it blurry, you'll just have to to use your imaginations!

I'd also like to give a shout-out to my super rad Dad!
It's memorial day, and while for most people it means parades and super sales- we use it to remember those who've served, and those we've lost. He's gone through two tours in Iraq, and has been proud to serve his country throughout the years. He's truly an amazing man, and I couldn't be more honored and lucky to have him as a father! 

Love and Creative Kisses xo

Fabulous Frocks Friday: Woodland adventures!

Remember when I was talking about that photoshoot I went on? These are some more awesome pictures from the absolutlely wonderful Robin! You can also find more of her photography here! We had such a blast, and she even put up with my face and intense akwardness. Which makes me love her all the more! Together we traversed this wooded area and drank copious amounts of coffee. 

This last one is to show off some of my tattoos! 

I'm so exited for the warm weather we're finally having here! The trek to work isn't so bad when there's sunshine and a warm breeze gracing my bike ride. On the subject of bikes, a couple of friends and I have seemingly started to make a lengthy journey (16 miles) to a few towns over. for kicks really. Which got me thinking, there's a state park I've been dieing to camp at, and it's only 54 miles away. That seeeeems like super duper long, but the 16 mile trek is about 2 hours so it'd be about 6 hours to get there. And then collapse while I coerce Dan into setting up the tent. So that's one of my goals for the summer! Now for the weekend!

Love and Strawberry Kisses xo

Ten Things Thursday: Movie Edition!

These are my top ten, all time favorite movies (excluding the movies of my youth) which have just the right amount of sadness balanced with some brilliant joy.

One.

I can never get enough of this movie, it's just so perfect. Also, several of the cast members from Brick (number two on this list!) show up briefly in it! So wonderful.

Two.

All things beginning with D. Death, Drugs, Damsels, Distress, Danger. I could go on.

Three.

This one and the next are both Wes Anderson movies, and I would like to make mention that I really can't wait for Moonrise kingdom to come out in 4 days! In any case, This is a beautiful movie about three brothers, their mother and the death of their father. 

Four.

I might be watching this right now.  This movie is based off of very complicated family and all their inner workings! Also, brilliant sound track.

Five.

I have a little more than a little thing for the coilour scheme of movies, Ondine nails it. Being a sweet movie to boot, it's got a very special spot in my heart. It's also takes place by the sea, and makes me miss the ocean so. 

Six.

""No no, my question. I get to go first. Why in pluperfect health would you pee on a corpse?!"

Seven.

 This pretty much had me bawling until the very end, which was so perfect and wonderful that it made up for all the heavy sobbing. 

Eight.

This is my ultimate feel good movie! Also, Amy Addams is one of my favorite actresses. 

 Nine.

I've watched this movie so many times, I don't even need the subtitles to know what's being said. Amelie makes me itch to move to Paris! And work in a cafe. And own a cat. So many things.

Ten.

This last one is a fantastic movie done by the same director and writer that did Amelie. It's cute and clever and had me giggling to the very end!

And so concludes Ten Things Thursday, movie edition!

Love and Strawberry Kisses xo

Workin' Wednesday: Sketchbook work galore!

I decided to finally kick my art block in the patoot and get on with some drawing!  I was telling my mom about how I was trying something new and drawing girls heads with nature entwined with the idea, and she laughed and pointed out that I do that sort of thing all the time. It's true! But I promise these are different that what I usually draw! I think....

This one is going to be finished and framed and the put up on etsy! 

The cover is still unfinished, but I figure I have awhile before I fill this guy and it needs to actually be finished.

 

And this last one is a goofy card I made for my super swell dude.

 But seriously, white chocolate is gross.

The plan is to keep up with all this drawing and try to get at least five small drawings done each week!

Love and Strawberry Kisses xo