Things I like These Days.

1. Swap-bot - This website is awesome and perfect for a lonely, shy girl like myself. It's socializing and crafting without having any awkward lunches. Plus, there is always something fun in the mail on any given day.

2. Sabra Supremely Spicy Hummus - Tastes better than crack. The best hummus/food I've ever tasted.

3. Artist Trading Cards - These are SO FUN to make. They are without a doubt my favorite craft project. I almost don't want to send them on their merry way to another ATC collector.

4. Avery Mailing Labels - I'm always jealous when my mom gets mail from some organization or business trying to rangle her into giving them money by sending her sweet little return address labels. Little did I know that I can make my own for $5.00 that are better and more customized.

5. Cupcakes - Anything cupcake...except for actual cupcakes. I love cupcake stickers, cupcake pictures, cupcake erasers, cupcake necklaces. I just love the shape of cupcakes and how fun they can be. I just got Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook for free from Doubleday Book Club (they messed up on something way back when).

6. Doubleday Book Club - A lot of online clubs for books, movies, or CDs seem sort of unfair but I ran across doubleday book club and its actually really awesome. I've saved a ton of money on books I would have already bought anyway. I got a ton of craft books, including Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts for free plus 5 other books. I got into it really hoping it wouldn't turn out a scam and it wasn't! The customer service is great too. They messed up and I didn't notice whatsoever but they informed me right away and gave me whatever book I wanted from the site for free.

7.Mister Art - This is the cheapest online craft store I've ever come across. I buy polymer clay, liquid clay, glitter, and clay tools mostly. Fimo is $1.53 or less if you buy their VIP package.

Developed and printed two new rolls of film. I got a few good prints and even a few future assignments out of the way.

Rusting flower garden decoration from the backward. I had it in color on my new camera, which looked awesome, but have to re-take it because its MIA.

Lily's bucket and shovel in the sandbox. I think this picture is okay but one of my classmates really liked it. I think it's sort of boring.

 Eugene has this massive wall of fire wood in the backyard. Thought it might make an interesting photo. I'm not one for pictures of trees and things, sort of cliche to me. I think this picture falls into that category but it
looks alright.

This one of Lily is my favorite. I'll being using it for a portrait assignment in the future. Lily is the best model ever. She has the perfect features, pouty lips, long lashes, creamy skin, and big blue eyes.

 

Lily on the back porch. Just thought this was sweet.

Swap-bot ATC's

I'm doing 3 ATC (arist trading card) swaps on swapbot. I've finished two of them and I'm really happy with the way they've turned out.

This ATC is for a swap called "Artist Trading Cards for Beginners". There is no theme for the ATC so I did my favorite theme "Sugar" more specifically "cupcakes".

Front: The background is alternating dark gray, pink, gray made with triple thick glaze and colored pigments. Then the rest is made with paper, seed beads, and polymer clay little tiny fruits (not made by me..sadly). I sealed it because I want it to be as sturdy as possible.

Back: On an ATC, the backside usually has a little bit of information. Usually you put the title, what number it is in the series (this is 1 out of 8 I'm making on the same subject), and some sort of contact information. I put my e-mail. This is called "Sucre" and means sugar in French.


These next two ATC's are for the same swap. I'm making two because I have two partners, so one for each. The swap is called "ATC Yourself". Basically, you make a self portrait of some sort on it.

Front: Two self portraits of me, one with brown hair (like I have now) and one with blond hair (like I had 19 years of my life). I like the brunette me better. The buttons on the vest are real mini buttons! I took pictures of the back as well but blogger is making it vertical rather than horizontal like it should be. I don't know why... but here it is anyway.

Back: These are both called "Saristotle" which is my handle on twitter, esty, swap-bot, nearly everything (it's aristotle with an S..combining my name with the philosopher). They make up their own series, so one says 1/2 and the other says 2/2. My e-mail is the contact info.


I have another ATC swap coming up. It's part of a 26 card series on the letters of the alphabet. It's letter "J". I'll post when I finish it.

Hmm.. interesting day. It started with a giant headache but I had photo 1 and I was eager to get some more printing done. I'm glad I did too because I finished our next assignment, plus the one after, plus the half the one after that yipppee! Never in my life have I not been a procrastinator until now. I really enjoy this and it doesn't feel like homework. Wouldn't it be nice to make a career out of taking photos? It would be but I like security. The stress that would come along with wondering where my next paycheck would come from would shave 10 or more years from my life.

Annnnyway, I got some good prints, had some good conversation with a classmate (really good for me since I'm anti-social), and was complimented on my purple blouse as well as the way my breasts looked in it. The latter made me feel weird but, oddly enough, it made me feel like I was 20 and not 32. I felt like a part of my age group again.

But the most exciting thing was when I came home and "Sinus Buster" had perused my blog and offered to let me try their product FREE! You know you're a real blogger when companies are giving you stuff for free. I can't wait for it to get here to try it out and review it. I'm really relying on it to work because I can't be addicted to nasal spray forever.

Thank you to Lynne from Dynova Lab for making my day :)

This year I'm participating in Collinsville, Illinois relay for life event on the team Beat Cancer. Each team is to raise money and awareness about cancer in the months leading up to a "walk" event. At the event various games will be played, contests, and a walk where someone from each team must be on the trail at all times. My team's goal is to raise $2000 or $150 each. I haven't raised much but in case any family/anonymous people want to donate money toward my $150 goal and my teams $2000 please click here. Any amount can be donated and all amounts are greatly appreciated! If you'd rather send cash or check please e-mail me (hxndsxdown@aol.com).

#@%?!

All of a sudden, out of nowhere I have the worlds worst allergies. It makes me want to WTF really loudly. But I won't because family might be lurking my blog.

I can't stop sneezing and if I'm not sneezing my nose is too dry. I hate sneezing allergy sneezes because these aren't sweet little girly sneezes. These are monster scream sneezes accompanied by lots of saliva (the only kind my sister has, which make me want to smack her...so annoying). Half the time I need to sneeze terribly and all of a sudden it just goes away, leaving me unsatisfied. Damn it. Mostly I just run to the nearest bright light and stare into it until I explode.

I think I'm forming an "addiction" to
 my nasal spray but I can't stand nasal congestion. What the hell is that about anyway. When whoever or whatever was creating the human body, he or she really didn't think nasal congestion through. There is no need for it. I get it, I'm allergic to something, no need to close up my nose so I can't breath. I understand it is to block a foreign body from entering my body but I don't understand why a little pollen is so bad for me? I'm just going to breath it in through my mouth then. Same with cat hair, dog hair, whatever else people are allergic to. Allergies are mistakes and the body's response to allergies are even worse mistakes. WHY would anyone think its a good idea to puff up the body and constrict the airway of someone stung by a bee? Their own body is the the threat at this point, not the bee. The bee isn't going to suffocate them. Now I get why we're our own worst enemy.

There is an alternative to nasal spray. It's "homeopathic", ohhh. It's called "Sinus Buster" and basically, it's injecting a swift dose of pepper spray up the nose so that...something happens...and the congestion is gone. I'm really thinking about getting some. It's $10 on ebay or $15 on the Sinus Buster website. Maybe I'll get some soon...I'm running out of money in my secret bank account and I've spent $100 in Brandon and my account on crafts/office supplies (hopefully he doesn't notice...) so my nasal congestion will have to #$%! off.

This one sounds the best.

Decisions, decisions...

 I have a Photo 1 assignment due in April where we have to depict 'The 7 Deadly Sins' and we're permitted to use our manual cameras or digital cameras. I don't have a digital SLR but I really, really, really want one so that I can fulfill the assignment digitally and continue to take my own photos and "print" them without the giant cost of a dark room + supplies. It's not feasible on my 'budget', especially since we're buying a house in the next 6 or so months (I still don't have a time-line on that, thanks Navy..). But anyway, I love photography and I'm good at it. I want to keep doing it. I have a little extra money right now from financial aid, even after buying textbooks for school and I want to spend it toward a digital slr.

I've been looking extensively for a few weeks and I've narrowed it down to this one based on it's price, quality, and reviews:
Canon EOS Rebel XSi

I haven't seen any pictures from this camera up close, but it seems pretty nice. It isn't the newest model but that doesn't bother me so much. I think it's more about the photographer and his or her eye, rather than the fancy camera functions. It's in my budget, even if bought with the 18-55mm lense and the accessories. I already have a camera bag, though it's Kodak. But who cares what brand the bag has on it.

I don't really know much about cameras. I have a friend with the T1i and those pictures look pretty crisp, same brand, different model. So I'm not sure that helps. This camera has good reviews, but I don't know. I don't make big purchases. When I do I have to carefully plan it out and be completely sure I'm not buying it on a whim, but rather with a genuine desire to make use of it and that it's a reliable item. It's frustrating to buy something and have it turn out broken..

If anyone knows anything about cameras, please chime in. I don't want to spend more the price of this camera, which is $559. Edit: I bought this camera today plus a really fancy warranty! But now I am seriously broke.

My Photo's

I'm in photo 1 at SWIC (35 mm slr's, black and white printing). I took it for fun and I'm really enjoying it so far. We haven't had many assignments yet but I've been taking a lot of pictures anyway. Here are some of my favorites so far: