The "Others"

Oscar: Pam and Jim are on their honeymoon, so there's not the usual balance between "sane" and "others". Toby has mentally checked out since June. It's a very dangerous time. The coalition for reason is extremely weak.

This quote very accurately describes most of the people in my life. They are either sane or "others" and "others" is trumping the sane at the moment. The coalition for reason is extremely weak.

The Seven Deadly Sins

I've finally finished my final for my photo class on the Seven Deadly Sins. My main subject were human lips to depict each sin. The model is my sister, Amanda. These are moderately photo-shopped since I don't know my way around the program. I like how they turned out.

Pride

Envy

Greed

Sloth

Lust

Gluttony

Wrath

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Also, join the swaps I'm hosting:

Seven Deadly Sins ATC Series: Pride swap (I will be hosting the remaining 6 as well.)
Food ATC: Dessert swap 
Food ATC: Breakfast swap
Cryptozoology ATC

Kawaii Fun!

I LOVE kawaii, but my favorite is kawaii foods (cupcakes!!). Don't ask me why..maybe because I love bright, happy, fun things and food. Probably. Because of this I've scouted out some cool kawaii swaps on swap-bot. The one I'm most excited for is "Kawaii Jewellery Box and A Handmade Jewel" hosted by loreley. As of now only 4 people are officially in the swap (22 watching) so if you're interested PLEASE sign up! The last day to sign up is April 30, so you have a few days.

Here is the jewelry box I made with a wooden 5'x5' box from Michael's:

The teal bubbles and Kawaii cupcake were made with Fimo, the red/white stripes are decoupaged tissue paper scraps, and the entire box was sealed with DecoArt's Triple Thick brilliant brush-on gloss glaze (which I love and practically cover everything in).

I want to keep this little box SO BADLY because it's got all my favorite colors and a cupcake on it but I won't :( I'll just make another one!

Thanks for reading!

PS. Join the swap I'm hosting: http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/60076

GLEE!

WOW --is all I can say about the newest episode of Glee. If you haven't watched the show yet, you should start. The first half of the season is mediocre compared to episode 15, which aired Tuesday night. It was a Madonna themed episode that carried a whole lot of plot and a perfect amount of melodrama. I'm not even a Madonna fan but now Glee has definitely sparked my interest in her. There is also a new cast member, Jesse St.James ( Jonathan Groff, Taking Woodstock) and now I don't know who I want a centerfold spread of more: Finn or Jesse? My heart will always be with Finn (pictured on thr right) but Jesse is definitely tempting. I'm so excited about the next 7 episodes of season one of Glee!


Included in the episode is Sue Sylvester posing as Madonna in her own "Vogue" music video:


Anyone who has already seen the episode, here is a comparison of Sue's video vs. Madonna's...pretty close, right?:

Paper Stuff

I've made a lot of paper stuff lately, mostly ATC's for swaps but one is a cupcake bookmark swap. I had fun making mine, and I can't wait to get what my partner made for me. I love cupcake things!

My cupcake bookmark       

the finished bookmark
 

A-E ATC Make up swap - I'm hoping to get every letter of the alphabet in ATC's so, I have to make up the first 11 or so. My partner needs to make up A-E, so I made her "C" for cookies!

Tree of Life ATC - Depict the tree of life...I did this one..come to find out my partnet hates pink :-/ but it was senders choice so I'm still sending it.

"K" ATC Swap - Send your partner a "K" themed ATC. I did "K" for Kettle. I know it looks like a teapot but there are subtle differences....like the handle across the top, and not on the side of the kettle. IT'S A KETTLE, OKAY?!

Thanks for looking!

ATC's

I finally received my SD card reader in the mail today. I got it for $1 and free shipping on eBay. My new camera and my computer don't like each other so I can't get my pictures onto my pc without the card reader. So if you need one, head over to eBay! Now I can upload pictures wayyyyy faster.

My latest ATC's, which have all already been mailed out to my partners. THERE IS NUDITY.

Scrap ATC- Use any scraps of any materials to make 4 ATC's of any theme:


Frog & Sunset front:

Frog and Sunset back:

Butterfly and Jellyfish Front

Butterfly and Jellyfish Back:

The Letter "J" ATC. Make an ATC, any theme revolving around the letter J:

Jellyfish front:

Jellyfish back:

Naked Lady ATC, make an ATC with a naked woman on it:

Naked lady front:

Naked Lady back:

I <3 Owls ATC, make an ATC with owls on it:


Owls front:

 

















Owls Back:

Sorry so many of the pictures have a glare. I use a glaze to seal each ATC for extra protection, so there is a shine. Also, blogger is turning some of these vertical when I've uploaded them horizantly. Don't know how to fix that.

I have lots of ATC swaps coming up  but I haven't started on any, so I better go and get creating.

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 :)