Penguin's Plunder

Starting New

2010-10-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

So I gave up on this blog forever ago. But now that I have so much going on, I thought I would add more to it!

A lit of my new activities?

-Working at Central Valley Vet
-Selling Scentsy Wickless Candles
-Part time job at Game Night Games (a board game store)
-Making and selling clay charms and selling my mom's handmade jewelry
-Figure painting on a commission basis.

And if that's not enough, I've got my three ferrets, cat, and frog to take care of and a husband on top of that. but you know what? I love it! I love it all. None of these "jobs" I have feel like a whole lot of work. It's FABULOUS.

Especially my new endeavor with Scentsy. What an incredible company, and what an incredible opportunity it has been. So...here will be my ramblings on the business of life. :)

We Don't Want Zombies on the Lawn

2009-04-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this AWESOME video. It makes me so happy I can hardly stand it lol.

Plants vs. Zombies

I can't figure out how to download it yet..but when I do I'll post the actual video instead of the link.

CHECK IT OUT

2009-03-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

So for St. Patrick's day I had some left over temporary green hair dye from last year. I never got to use any of my St. Patrick's day fun stuff from last year, actually, so this year I went all out. ^_^

Not to mention my husband bought me some more fun stuff!!! He got me cute little bows for my hair, and an AWESOME green plaid skirt. oddly enough I totally forget to wear the skirt after I got home from work...

But I bought cupcakes and cookies, painted my nails and did my makeup green. I even had green scrubs and socks!! It was GRRREAT!

So here's the ID I decided to make for deviantart, as it secretly is my wish to be Irish. It's the only country in the whole world I ever hope to visit some day.

What an awesome St. Patty's day...

Hope it is just as fun next year!

Tips Again

2009-03-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Allright so starting back up, I have more polymer clay tips from our lovely monsterkookies. Here is her next article:

"Don't use those crappy Sculpey or Fimo glosses for your creations. Their expensive as hell, you only get a tiny bit in a jar, and their usually very gloopy and annoying to apply. Do yourself a favour - go to the hardware store and ask for "Varathane". This is found in the paint department with all the wood stainers and such. Make sure you buy the WATERBASED formula, in GLOSS not semi-gloss. This stuff sells for about $7.00 for a 946mL tin and you will not need to buy anymore gloss for a very long time. This stuff works wonders - it may be for wood, but this stuff has IPN technology which means Interpenetrating Polymer Network which means it's going to soak into your clay, adhere well, and make your clay creations damn spiffy looking.

To get that lovely glass-look, give your pieces the triple coat treat. Dip it once and let it hang to dry. As it dries, say after about 10 minutes, give the bottom of your piece a little wipe with a paint brush. That way, your pieces don't dry with a hardened gloss-drip on the bottom. Do this three times and you'll have some damn shiny goodies! Looks especially good on coloured pieces.

After your pieces are glazed, leave them to dry in a place that isn't going to collect dust. Cover the top of your drying rack with something that keeps the dust out.

Let the gloss on your pieces dry for a good 24 hours. At this point, your gloss will be at it's peak hardness and it will have a nice flawless coat on it. Peachy!

Depending on where you live, eyepins can be hard to find. Instead, get yourself some good strong wire, make long "U" shapes and stick them into your pieces before you bake. After your piece has baked and cooled, take out the wire loop and apply a bit of adhesive to the ends of the wire and stick them back into the clay. This guarantees it will never fall out. I use a tube of Household Adhesive - it works wonders. It's like cement.

Keep all of your clay in Ziploc baggies or an airtight container. I prefer the airtight container. This keeps the dust out and it keeps the clay "fresh" and soft. It's like a good cookie jar! A good idea is to keep a container for opened clay and another container for unopened clay, that way you don't start a new block of clay when there is already one opened. If there isn't any more Red in the opened-clay container, than you can go to the un-opened clay container to get a new package. If there is none in there, I guess you should re-stock!

Stock up on clay at sales from Michaels, get coupons, do whatever you can to save a few bucks. Saved dollars equals more money to spend on nifty tools. Or food. Or something. If you don't have a Michaels craft store, TheClayStore.com sells Sculpey III for only $1.50 per block. You can also get blocks of Fimo for $1.75 and Kato for only $2.00.

People tend to get discouraged when making polymer clay icing for some reason. The problem is often not enough mixing. You have to work those muscles! The best tool is the handle of a plain flat-back spoon. It works much better than stir sticks and a spoon doesn't break. Just mix some warm kneaded clay with TLS and mix like hell. If it's too thick, add more TLS. It can be baked with the rest of your unbaked clay at the same temperature, so don't get flustered when trying to figure out the baking times.

When baking my clay, I always bake at 275*F whether I am using Fimo or Sculpey or both at the same time or Fimo or Sculpey or both with TLS. It's all the same. Smaller pieces that are under an inch thick I will bake for about 20 minutes. Thicker items go for a bit longer. This temperature hasn't failed me yet.

The bristles of a toothbrush work wonders for making fine-textured baked goods like sugar cookies. Just dab it into the clay until you get the effect you want.

A great way to make some texture in your cookies and cupcakes is to take a small square of polymer clay, stab it and scrape it with a sharp object to make it all textured, and than bake it. Now you have a texture stamp! Just press and push and drag in the clay that you want to texture.

The best clay to make icecream scoops is Fimo Soft, hands down. Sculpey sucks for making realistic icecream - it just doesn't have the same texture. Fimo has a more crumby texture if you drag your finger down a piece of clay, whereas when you drag your finger down a piece of Sculpey it warms up and smooths down.

Don't mix acrylic paint with TLS for syrups and such. It cracks in the oven. Use oil paints, inks, pastel shavings (both oil and chalk) and eyeshadows. These all work very well.

A great way to add a little bit of colour to baked goods like waffles, cookies, and such is to grate a little bit of brown dry pastel or eyeshadow and brush it on select places for that golden brown baked look. Just don't overdo it or you'll lose the base colour.

If you are making thin pieces on your clay objects, a great way to make them more sturdy is to build the pieces around wire or stick a piece of wire through it when you are finished sculpting it.

If you have to make a really big object but don't want it to be super heavy or use a lot of clay, ball up a piece of aluminum foil and build the clay around it. Just make sure the ball of foil is pressed nice and tight.

That is all for now! More next time! Hehe."

Amazing, as usual. This happens to be my favorite article of hers, and I'm actually going to go out and buy new glaze because of her. I have noticed how terrible the Sculpey glaze is...so I'm grateful for her advise!!!

Monsterkookie's website: LINK
Monsterkookies deviantart: LINK
Monsterkookies on etsy: LINK

Artfire Special Sauce

2009-03-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

I'm not in a huge mood to blog as of yet, but I'm getting there. For now I'd like to show off my little ninja charm!

GREAT news, he got featured as the item of the hour on artfire! How cool!?!?! I found out from a guild member, and then realized that they had sent me a message letting me know as well. lol.

On an even more off topic note, I've started playing the WoW trading card game (TCG). I looooove it!!! So fun. ^_^ And I also got a really cool haircut! Yay!

Feature!

2009-03-03T19:34:00.000-08:00

So I got featured by the awesome ABitOfColor. You can find her blog (where I am being featured! yay) here.

Please check it out! She has a great blog and I'm excited to be a part of it.

I super apologize for the recent absence. I am in the process of moving and have been at my mom's and internet-less for two weeks now. BUT tomorrow we get to start moving our stuff into our new house!!!

*rejoices*

Unfortunately the place STINKS like cigarettes SO bad it made my eyes burn. T_T Any good tips on getting the smell out? There isn't much carpet so we're repainting everything in hopes that will help some....

Wish me luck! Once I'm all moved in I'll continue with my posts on clay-crafting and other fun stuff I haven't been able to share. :)

Revamping

2009-02-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

So I've been playing around with the color scheme and placement of stuff on my blog. I completely forgot I could change all the colors around after I adapted this new format hahahah.

Anyone out there know where I might get some blog templets? I'm super new to this whole thing and I really want to be able to put my gadgets on the right AND left side of my blog...but I don't knw if that's possible. I'll try to do some research and post my findings, but if anyone else knows more than me and would like to share I would MUCH appreciate it. :D

Anyways...one of the people we're moving out with recently got in a car accident(technically his fault) and now he may not be able to move out with us. :(

We still have other options with the couple we're moving out with. We just may not get the house we wanted to rent. So...we'll see. Either way we're moving out, and either way it's going to be awesome.

Long Time No See

2009-02-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh so I totally noticed I haven't posted a blog in a reeeeally long time. My apologies. Life is a bit hectic, and I've put my business on hold for the most part.

We're going to be moving hopefully at the end of the month, and with that it is hard to try and be creative while packing...so I've just decided I will wait to make a clean start at our new place.

Until then...I'll tide you over with some more fun clay tutorials!!! YAY.

Here's the second part of Monsterkookies' wonderful polymer clay articles. Here is the original post if you would rather go there and check it out please do! Not only does she give some helpful hints but a lot of great info on what Polymer Clay actually is:

"If you remember your kindergarten days, you might re-call several occasions in which you mashed and poked away at that vivid and doughy sculpting clay called Plasticine. This stuff would entertain me for hours, and I always loved it more than Playdough because it would never dry up. Whenever something looked all wrong, you could just ball it in your hands and roll it around some more to create something entirely different.

Polymer clay is quite similar to Plasticine. Both of these clays are somewhat solid when you buy them, but are softer from the heat of your hands. They both have an "oily" feel to them that leaves that residue on your hands, and they do not harden in the air. Plasticine is one of those clays that does not solidify at all, unlike Polymer Clay which, when baked, turns hard as a rock. So, if you intend to create a figurine, piece of jewelry, or some dollhouse miniatures that you would like to last forever, than Polymer Clay would be your best bet.

But Polymer Clay is a clay in name only. It is actually PVC based, and is more of a moldable and sculptable plastic than anything. It doesn't actually contain any Earth clay at all. Polymer Clay doesn't require any curing in a kiln, but it does require you to bake it in a conventional oven, ranging from 265* F to 275* F for about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the object you are baking. Afterwards, you may choose to sand buff it to create a surface sheen, file down any imperfections, and than leave it as-is or gloss it with a water-based finish.

Polymer Clay isn't a new concept. In fact, it has been on store shelves for almost 40 years as a sculpting material, and even longer for other purposes. So, it's no surprise that there are a vast array of clay brands and colours to choose from.

The most popular and well-known brands of Polymer Clay are Fimo Soft and Sculpey III. Through the years, these companies have come out with different formulas for their clays, so the texture and feeling of the raw clay in your hands has changed tremendously overtime. For a beginner, I would suggest that working with either Fimo Soft or Sculpey III would be your best bet, namely because they are easy to handle and easy to find. You can easily find other brands as well online, such as Premo or Kato Polyclay, and they can also be found in your local hobby or arts & crafts store.

Polymer Clay generally comes in small 2oz packs of one particular colour, although many brands also offer boxes of 24 or 32 small packets of various colours to get you started. This may be your cheapest option if you have never worked with clay before. If you wish to create something with just a few colours, than you might be better off just purchasing the small amount of colours that you need. You may want to go ahead and buy just one block of each brand just so you can get a feel for their qualities and decide which brand works best for you.

One of the most favourable aspects of working with Polymer Clay is that it comes in so many colours. There is basic colours, fluorescent, metallic, pearl, glow in the dark, translucent, glittery, and even textured clays. Unlike sculpting materials like Terra Cotta, you don't have to spend all the work painting your creations afterwards. The option is always there if you would like to add details after your goodies have been baked with paint such as acrylics.

The great thing about colourful Polymer Clay is that it does not shrink or alter shape after baking, and most of the colours only change hues a very small bit and are quite unnoticeable. The downside of so many colours to choose from is trying to keep them separate. If you have several packages of opened clay, you may want to invest in some zipper-top baggies and an airtight container. If you have too much clay to handle, invest in one of those plastic organizers with the different compartments. Grab some sticker labels, write down the colours, and stick them on the matching compartments. This will keep your colours separate and clean. A good idea is to keep opened clay in one place and un-opened clay in another place to avoid opening several packages of the same colour when you already have some opened.

Cleanliness is another huge factor in Polymer Clay sculpting. Light colours such as White and Yellow just love to pick up specks of dirt and dust from the air and your hands. Even when your hands appear clean, these specks somehow seem to find their way onto your clay. Here are a 3 steps to keeping your clay nice and clean.

1) Keep a smooth and clear work surface. An ideal surface would be a big chunk of ceramic tile or glass. Clean thoroughly with soapy water, baby wipes, or some rubbing alcohol. After the surface starts to get tacky or oily again, keep paper towels and alchohol to give your surface a wipe down.

2) Keep your hands clean. I find that washing up with dishwashing liquid and letting your hands air dry works the best. Cotton towels are monsters for little specks of dust, so avoid them. Also avoid wiping your hands on anything or touching anything. A good hard wipe with a paper towel on your hands does wonders in getting off any dust. Keep a scrap piece of clay to roll between your hands to get off any spare dust that the paper towel didn't pick up.

3) Work with dark colours last. Dark colours leave dark residue on your work surface, and when you are rolling light colours on the same area, you are going to pick this residue up and your colours can get very muddy. Also, red seems to be a bad culprit in bleeding into other colours, so consider this a "dark" colour.

Another addition to Polymer Clay is the very useful "Liquid Clay" usually sold under the names "TLS - Translucent Liquid Sculpey" under the Sculpey brand, or "Fimo Decorating Gel" under the Fimo brand. Use liquid clay on your wire when you insert it into the clay before baking. This keeps it from slipping or falling out eventually, and acts as a very good adhesive or glue. When you attach pieces of clay to each other before baking, try adding a bit of Liquid Clay to the joint before sticking it on, as this will ensure a strong grip onto the clay base. Liquid Clay can make very attractive garnishes, such as frosting, icing, syrup, and glaze. If you add some colour, either by Oil Paint or by shaving in some hard coloured pastel, you can make yourself some glaze or syrup. If you add solid clay to the liquid clay, you can stir it constantly to a smooth consistency and make some very tasty looking frosting or icing for some clay cupcakes. Liquid clay can be baked with the rest of your clay at the same temperature and the same time, so they can be combined effortlessly.

Polymer Clay can be rolled out and cut out with cookie cutters, it can be pushed through a clay "extruder" to create strands in all different sizes and shapes, it can be sculpted with an unlimited amount of tools such as toothpicks and Popsicle sticks, and it can be rolled into different shapes and stuck on itself. Experiment! If you look up "Polymer Clay Tutorials" on the internet or in a bookstore, you will get many helpful resources to get you started as well if you do not know where to begin.

You can do a lot with clay. It doesn't just have to sit on a shelf and collect dust. You can wrap pens in it, create picture frames and light switch panels, or you could do what I do - make some jewellery! Before baking, try sticking some wire loops or eye pins in the clay so that it can be hung on things like jumprings and earring loops. Polymer Clay makes very attractive necklace pendants, rings, keychains, and all sorts of accessories that anyone can enjoy.

Sculpting with Polymer Clay is an entirely different world where you are free to create all that your imagination conjures up. What I have explained will get you started, but if you are ever curious to know more about the art, there is a wonderful Polymer Clay encyclopedia on GlassAttic.com. The creator is a Polymer Clay guru, and she is always happy to explain anything you need to know about the wonderful art of Polymer Clay. Experiment and enjoy!"

AWESOME is all I have to say about Monsterkookies article. I know she's helped me out a ton and her work is simply amazing. And I must reiterate what she says about GlassAttic.com. I talk to the lady who runs it on Craftster.org and it really is the encyclopedia of clay crafting.

I myself have a hard time managing the site, but it is still full of helpful knowledge if you can get along without pictures! lol

Anywas, here is a link to Monsterkookies Deviantart page, and here is a link to her Etsy shop. Once again, please check out her amazing work.

Delicious Giveaway

2009-01-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

This giveaway is from the amazing DoubleDippedSweets. And now I really want to go buy some of the awesome Valentine's sweets. ^_^ I want her Valentines Oreos SO BAD!!!!!

And these Valentine's Chocolate Caramel Pretzle
That's right. I haven't done a giveaway in awhile, so I'm going to show off this delicious Etsy seller, and encourage you to go check out the giveaway HERE. Sticks.

Clay Making Tips #1

2009-01-25T16:18:00.001-08:00

Ok, So I'm going to start a small series of some amazing tips that monsterkookies put out on Deviantart.

She has an amazing gallery that you should check out, and not to mention her cute items that are listed in her Etsy shop.

On to the wonderful tips that she so generously posted. You can find the original post HERE, and I highly suggest not only checking it out but also checking out comments on it that people have made.

Here is a copy of the post she made:

"I often get a lot of questions about the way I use clay, and I thought it would be fun to give you a bunch of random tips that can make things a bit easier and look much better! I use many of these tips myself, so I hope that you will find them useful!

- Your work surface is extremely important. I find that working with your clay on a ceramic tile works best, but you can use marble or granite or even a piece of glass. This is great because the clay doesn't stick very easily. Plastic is okay, but it isn't the best.

- Keep your work surface dust free. Dust is your enemy. It is everywhere! Before you work with your clay, give your work surface a nice big wipe with some paper towel and a bit of rubbing alcohol or get some of those alcohol wipes. This gets off any surface dirt that may be on the surface as well as the dreaded dust.

- Your hands need to be as dust free as your work surface. What I do is wash my hands with dishsoap before I start, and than I either air dry my hands in front of my fan or I wipe them with paper towels. Don't use towels - they are LOADED with fuzzies. Keep a good supply of cheap papertowel. I use the "Green" papertowel that is made from recycable materials because it is better for the environment.

- Your hands are dirtier than they look! Do yourself a favour and keep a white piece of clay on hand to wipe your hands and work surface with before you start. You can use this piece over and over again. You don't HAVE to use white, but if you do use white you can really SEE that it is working. You'll be surprised how dirty it gets after awhile.

- Before you begin, you need some clay! I would recommend buying one pack of each type of brand and see what clay you really like. This way, you don't buy ten colours of one brand and figure out you don't like it. A lot of people find that Sculpey III and Fimo Soft are the best brands to start out with because they are easy to work with.

- Richer colours stain your hands, such as blue, black, and red. When you go to use a lighter colour, this residue from the richer shades will discolour your lighter shades. To avoid this, you may want to do all your sculpting and shaping with the lighter shades first, and than use the darker ones. Or just wipe your hands down after each colour with some rubbing alcohol and paper towel and than give that scrap white piece of clay a little bit of a knead to get all that crud off your fingers.

- Your hands and fingers are your friends. Look at all the beautiful work they do! Take care of them. All that clay handling and washing of the hands can take it's toll. When you aren't working with clay, give those hands of yours some nice treatment. Keep your nails maintained, keep your hands soft with some cream of some sort, and be nice to them and they will keep working for you for a long time!

- The most expensive tools aren't always the best. In fact, I don't think I own anything spectacular. Things like toothbrushes, safety pins, and toothpicks are your best tools!

- No matter how clean your hands and surface are, white clay always seems to attract the most dust. However, there is a way around this. Before you begin to bake your clay, get a cotton swab and dip it in some rubbing alcohol, and give the white a little bit of a wipe. The swab picks up all the dust and leaves the surface nice and clean!

- If you hate fingerprints on your pieces, get yourself some of those surgical gloves. If they are too big and bulky or make the process more difficult, get yourself some "finger cots" to cover your thumb and index fingers. You use these fingers the most.

- Liquid cay is great for smoothing out imperfections. Just put a tiny bit on the clay and rub it in. Another good way is to use rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab to get a smoother surface.

- A fantastic way to slice canes is with a thin piece of wire! Or a one of those wire cheese cutters. Heh.

:tp: I would invest in an acrylic roller for rolling out clay. Wooden rollers really stain up easily and aren't too smooth. Instead of rolling out clay on your surface, lay down a ziploc baggie, some tracing paper, or parchment paper to roll on. It won't stick.

- When cutting canes, it is best to either put them in a freezer first and slice them when their cold to reduce distortion, OR you can bake a small piece of the cane at once, and slice it while it is hot right out of the oven. This completely gets rid of distortion since the clay is already set!

What do you think? Should I give more tips again sometime?

Want to see my work? Check out my website at MonsterKookies.com. You can look through my gallery to see my past work or you can check out my shop to see what's in stock. For those of you who don't use Etsy, you can also just get it directly through me. I am always taking commissions!"

As you can see her stuff is incredible and she knows what she is talking about. Those mechanical looking hearts are made out of clay. Her tips have certainly helped me out a lot, and I hope they help you too! Stay tuned for the rest of her posts, or check out her deviantart and find the articles yourself if you find yourself impatient! ^_^

There's Not Much to Say

2009-01-22T21:02:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to show you Sir Edworth Lawrence the First.

Store not available

Random Treasury

2009-01-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

WOW. Ok so I was totally planning on sharing some amazing tips on making clay from an awesome artist on Etsy...and then I check my Etsy today and I have a convo.

What is it?

Someone just randomly picked me for a treasury!!! This someone happened to be Swiediebie. And must I say suuuper cute store. Her items are amazing!

My item is the little mushroom charm on the right side. :3

So I have to show some of her shway cute stuff because I'm so grateful for her picking me to be in her treasury, and again, her stuff is adorable.

Super unfortunately there is no link to the treasury (probably expired) >< But it was nice of her anyways!

I'll just show off this cute little felt cake on the left, and an adorable little watermelon cakey treat yummy thing on the right.

She also makes the most adorable little monster things. LOVE IT!!!!!

THANKS!

New Stuff

2009-01-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

So I'm putting more stuff in my artfire shop. And I wanted to show it off!!!

^_^

Wish I had some more interesting things to post. I think I might be getting sick. Hope I'm not.

Store not available

Lemon/Lime/Orange Tutorial

2009-01-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

So lately I've bee having an urge to try out making some food products. I wanted to make some strawberry, kiwi, orange and lime canes. Alas, I don't do food. I would rather make little clay animals. So I have no idea how.

In all my extensive searching, imagine this: I came across a GREAT tutorial that one of the girls I watch on deviantart had made!! Lol.

Next time I think I'll just search the wonderful artists on deviantart before I look elsewhere lol.

It is MotherMayIjewelry who makes this wonderful tutorial, and I know it's going to help me when I finally decide to brave a cane like this. :D

Awesome, I know. Either click on the image so you can see it full sized, or go to her original deviation.

She does some of the most amazing stuff. Like these CUTE cookie necklaces. I snagged the pink one...hee hee. But the beautiful white one is still for sale in her etsy shop.

And up top we've got a cute little cupcake that she used some of her limes on. *squee* I love her work!!! Thanks so much, MotherMayIJewelry, for letting me feature your tutorial!

I've decided I like much better using other people's tutorials. One because some of these things I'm just learning myself, and two I get to show off all of the wonderful clay artists I have met and give credit to their amazing work. :)

I'm Pretty Freaked Out

2009-01-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

So I worked with a sexual predator...apparently.

STORY: I started this new job at a new vet clinic, right? So today, oddly enough, I discovered that I'm going to be working with a girl who did an externship at my old clinic. Crazy huh?? So that was pretty cool cuz I like this girl.

She tells me they got rid of Dr. Littledike, unfortunately the poor man was getting pretty senile but he's a nice dude. Then she laughs and tells me Dr. Durrant got arrested.

I'm thinking oh what now? But I'm laughing in my head because he's just like that. WEIRD stuff happened to him all the time because he was so scatterbrained and going a million miles a minute.

Then she tells me "Apparently he like little boys and Viagra." And I just got into shock. I'm like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???" and she tells me no, it was in the news.

SO I'm freaking out because this is TOO WEIRD. I mean, I really liked this guy! He was a great vet. I'm really creeped out.

When I get home I look online for the story. I guess he met a boy in an online chat room, and traded meds for sexual favors, and then the boy invited his friends. OHMYCREEPY. And sick. And wrong. And I worked with this guy!!!

And I guess he also got a viagra prescription by singing it for a pet. I hope it wasn't his dog Buddy...Buddy was an awesome little dog. I wonder how he is.

So ew. ewewewewewewew. I really can't tell you how disturbed I am.

Artfire and Computer Stuff

2009-01-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

So I recently have been introduced to a site called Artfire. It's sort of like Etsy, but I've noticed it has a lot more features that I really enjoy and find useful. Like it's little stat tracker, and the fact that they will be implementing shop blogs. ^_^

So I set up a shop there. My favorite feature is that it is free!! I paid the $7 for the artist stimulus pack. It's cheaper than Etsy's listing fees for a month of listing/relisting. I'm keeping my Etsy shop and some things in it, just becuase Etsy is more popular and it is good exposure. But I really would rather use Artfire.

I haven't been able to put up my banner or avatar yet, but my power cable should be arriving today!!!! So that means my computer might be fixed. :D I've only listed two items but keep a lookout, I'll be posting more when my computer gets all unbrokified.

Store not available

Just Because

2009-01-05T23:26:00.000-08:00

I just got 20 watchers and I'm sure I'll lose them all for this...but it's too good to pass.

I ran across some AMAZINGLY hilariuos critiques and parodies of the Twilight series. Don't mean to piss anyone off here but if you actually thought that writing was good..I guess that's you're opinion, and I do opologize for offending...but if this was Harry Potter (which I like) I would still make just as much fun of it.

Well...here's some fact.

EDWARD CULLEN IS A PILLOW BITER.

HAHHAHAHAHHAHAH

I seriously CAN'T stop laughing.

Need proof? Go HERE and scroll down to the Chapter 5: "Isle Esme" summary. It has direct quotes from the fourth book.

SUCK IT FANGIRLS.

Can I Be Random..

2009-01-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

....for just a moment?

Mostly because I haven't been posting anything lately. My computer part still hasn't come in...they didn't even register our order so five days after we ordered the part and checked on it, they told us it didn't go through. UGH!

Anyways...I got my job!! YAY. I start on Monday at the vet clinic, and I will be doing float work, which is exactly what I wanted.

Some random thoughts...

-It's hard to get any work done on my husband's computer. I don't like Vista at all, actually. I want my XP back!!!

-I miss my music. My husband doesn't have the Zune software or most of my music on his computer so I can't listen to any of my new stuff since I didn't sync my new music with my Zune before my computer exploded.

-I did get to order some more fun stuff off Etsy which I will probably feature. :P

-I don't like blogging on someone else's computer.

-I'm playing WoW again..unfortunately. :( But it's been wonderful to talk to my brother on Vent and feel like we're hanging out playing WoW together even though he lives in Cali.

-"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is HILARIOUS and my new favorite show. Man it is so random and weird.

-My sleep schedule is RETARDED. Even though I've finally been able to fall asleep around 3am (which is really early for me as opposed to like, 10am), I still can't wake up before 4pm. WTF??? Hopefully my new job will help me wake up at a descent hour. Or at least help me to only get around 8 hours of sleep instead of 14!!!

-I hope we get to move out in the next few months. I really am hating it here and the mice in the vents really are starting to bother me more and more.

That's the end of my random thoughts.

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

So I haven't been posting a lot...I super apologize...my computer exploded and the part to fix it might not arrive til next week. However, when it does I will be posting some clay tutorials. I have yet to make my own tutorials (I'm terrified the picture quality will be so bad the tutorial will completely SUCK) so I will be featuring other people's. But they're good ones. ^_^

ANYWAYS. New Year's Eve was awesome. We got some new board games for Christmas and last night we played a new game called Android. I'll tell you a little about it, though I doubt most people will be interested.

Android is porduced by Fantasy Flight, who make my all time favorite board game: Arkham Horror. They also make some of the most complicated games you will ever play.

If you're in to board games hardcore style...this is definitely for you. It got AMAZING reviews and is a really fun, competitive game. It's for about 3-5 and I don't recommend playing with less than 5 players after you learn how to play.

The premise is you each play an investigator who is trying to solve a crime scene. The crime is the same for everyone, and so are the suspects. Everyone has different "hunches" (hunch cards that award points for either convicting a suspect or proving them innocent) about the suspects, and I gotta tell you, convicting the killer doesn't necisarrily win you the game. It sure does help, however.

Now this game is INTENSE and has an extremely high learning curve because there is SO much going on at all times. Not only do you have to uncover clues to convict the suspect your character thinks is guilty, but you also have "plot" cards that your character has to deal with.

These plot cards are basically a character's personal life/issues interfering with his/her investigation. Along with these each character has individual cards that only they start with. One character is mentally unstable, one is a gambler with a card that deals with her money issues, one has problems with people in his past and his card deals with his memories etc. etc.

They make for really fun flavor text and add so much to the character development. They also give other players strategies to try and hinder any other character. Another thing you deal with is each character has light and dark cards, where you can play light cards on yourself and dark cards on other characters. Again trying to hinder them, and help yourself.

One more thing going on is there is a "conspiracy" puzzle, where instead of getting points to convict someone you can try to uncover a piece of the puzzle and uncover the conspiracies connected with the murder.

So needless to say it is one beefy game. Unfortunately it feels like they got a little overzealous with all these innovative new ideas that they had and just shoved them all in to one game. It's like, man, you could have maybe come out with two games and split all these ideas between the two and they both would be amazing. Also, the way they implemented all these new mechanics makes it so that you simply can't ignore any of the elements. I tried to ignore the conspiracy and focus on convicting my suspect, and that screwed me a bit. My husband took all his time playing my dark cards, and uncovering the puzzle and that screwed him over. Another friend tried not to play anyone's dark cards and that wound up screwing him a bit. So you can't ignore any of the elements in the game...which is annoying and cool at the same time.

Overall a great game, but certainly a game you have to play to learn. And even more so a game you need to play a few times to reeeeally enjoy.

It's Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

And I must admit I do get a little annoyed with everyone shouting "Merry Christmas!"

It is verrrrrrry nitpicky of me...but it's only Christmas Eve. :/ I guess people do celebrate Christmas differently than myself...some even open their stockings today and not on Christmas!! Weird but to each his own.

On that note... MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVERYONE!!!! lol

I'm so excited. My husband and I weren't actually able to get much for each other...but we were able to get ALL of our friends and family some pretty amazing gifts and I'm totally satisfied with that. Plus his mom, and our friend Ian made up for it. Their gifts to us just ROCKED.

Ian got me the Werewolf book for World of Darkness. I've wanted it for soooo long!!! And he got me some new nubs for my inking pen!! I can ink my drawings again! ^_^ And Brooklynn's mom got us a bunch of board games...not to mention other gifts we got from Ian and other friends so far.

I'm bragging...but it's been great. We're not going anywhere tonight, but tomorrow it's off to my mom's. Happy holidays you all - hope you have a great time!

Holiday Spirit

2008-12-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

So I've been posting a lot of other people's stuff lately...so now I'm going to show off some of mine. ^_^

Here are some ornaments I made for my little advent calander that I have.

This was a nice fun adventure. I just barely finished the rest of them. I have yet to paint on their faces, glaze them and take pictures. When I do I will post them.

I've also been getting more into the holiday spirit. :D My husband bought some nice fun sugar cookie dough and some cookie cutters so we're going to have a Christmas cookie day. lol

Not to mention I might be getting a job at a vet clinic. I should know by tomorrow. *crosses fingers* Let's hope that works out!

Unfortunately I haven't been doing much crafting lately. I just finished a scarf for myself, and now my husband bought some yarn and wants me to make him one for Christmas hahahha.

Hopefully next week I'll crack out and produce some new charms, as well as finishing up my friend's army that I'm trying to paint by Christmas. :/ Who knows if I'll make that deadline.

Here we've got some cute little onigiri's I've been giving as freebies for buyers this season. Check out my shop yo. Most popular lately has been my little mushroom charms. ^_^

Last of the Christmas Buys

2008-12-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

Allright...we're nearing the end of my feautring extravanganza! The next things I will be featuring will strictly be the fun trades I did with some awesome Deviantart artistist. So here's the last bit of my *strictly* Etsy features.

But oh man...was I saving the best for last. ^_^

First off, here we have the amazing Winemakerssister. She is an awesome stamp carver. She's got a lot of awesome stuff in her shop, but it was actually this leaf stamp that caught my eye. I saw it and realized what an awesome talent she has.

Her style is very unique and characterized. When I went to her shop and saw the other stamps she had made...I just knew I had to commission her!! So, I convo'd her and asked her if she would help me make a pirate penguin stamp. I sketched out a rough idea, sent it to her and voila!!! This is what she produced. --->

Amazing!! It was perfect. Again, I knew she had this amazingly fun style, and she brought it to life in to my request. And get this, she couldn't decide how she wanted to do the stamp, so she gave me both of these awesome stamps for the price of one!!

No joke, she is amazing to work with and I plan on commissioning her again. So go check out her stuff, even if you're not so much in to stamps she has paper goods, cards and tags, charm bracelets, pot holders...I mean she's got it all.

And next up we have one of my all time favorite trades. I actually started talking to Skookyspry (love that name!!) on Deviantart. You can check out my profile/gallery here, and Skookyspry's here.

So I did a fun little trade with skooky, wherein I got this AMAZING delicious cake. Can't tell you how much I love it. Not only is she amazingly creative in her work, but her cakes look sooo real and yummy it's ridiculous.

She makes the most fun star plate necklaces out of polymer clay, (this zebra one being one of my favs) fun charms (such as my delicious cake), keychains, magnets, buttons, supplies...I mean this chick is loaded with awesome. And, her prices are great!

So please check these awesome artists out. I'm not kidding when I say not only are they great sellers, and fun to work with, but they are very talented and do great work! Thanks you two!!!

Fun Stuff

2008-12-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

It's time for me to show off more of my awesome trades and buys. ^_^

First, I'll show off these wonderful pumpkin earrings I got on clearance!! Yay!! They are AMAZING. And so cute. They're made by the wonderful GeekToys. I must admit, one of my favorite sellers on Etsy.

Everyone has been so in love with my earrings, that I might just get a pair for my mom. Hee hee. Or I may just give her mine. *sigh* Please note they're not on clearance anymore but they are still for sale!!!! Grab yours here.

Anyways, I'm going to rave about GeekToys for a bit because I looooove her stuff!! Not only are they wonderfully geeky, they are also wonderfully cute, and they make more than just video game fun stuff.

I don't know how else to brag about them aside from liting my favorite items of theirs so I will. Their portal cube necklace is something I vow to buy for myself some day, and their cake is amazing. As far as non video game fun stuff I love their little bubble gum heart phone charm.

On to a fun trade I did, and the most expensive trade I have done to date. I saw Ikyoto's shop awhile back. I even linked THIS VERY design to my friend because I thought it was adorable and awesome and clever.

And he, bein a scientist type, appreciated it. I am not a scientist type, I honestly just love the funny idea of it all, but this shirt design on my left represents evaporation. lol.

Fun times. So anyways, Ikyoto contacted me because I was on the trade list, and wanted to do a trade with me!!! I was like GET OUT! I looooove your stuff. So I was happy to get a little army of charms together to trade for this shirt. ^_^ I'm actually still waiting for it (it just shipped a day or two ago) but I'm so excited about it I HAD to blog about it. I'll let you know how cool it is when I get it. lol.

Anyways, they also have a funny little oxidation shirt, stuffed shurikens, and buttons. So check it out. Great shop. One note however, if you's a small girl like me, or a girl at all (lol) make sure you let them know! They have women's sizes but don't normally post them.

So next I decided to contact the wonderful stardustsupply, and ask if she wanted to do a trade. And by my luck she did!!

I can't tell you how freaking cute her stuff is. I wanted a grab bag, because, I mean, who doesn't want a kawaii grab bag? Even if they try to deny it lol.

Anyways, Her stuff is wonderful and I totally plan on buying this grab bag some time after the hollidays, or one like it. It's sooo worth the few dollars. Super cute stickers and memos, honestly I've found they are perfect for thank you notes to my customers!! Great, great stuff.

Not to mention she has some fun candy grab bags as well. And deco tape, and stickers too!! And I will admit she sent me a free little piece of gum and it was delicious. Super delicious.

So check these guys out. I know I'll be back to buy from them when I can afford to splurge. Hee hee.

Buys and Trades

2008-12-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I realized that all of my Christmas shopping features are done!!! I haven't bought anything else for anyone else that is handmade so far. I've made some stuff for people...and I'll show those off later, but everything else is shown off.

So now I'll show you what I've been selfish about. These are the things I have bought/done trades for, for myself. :P

This is was one of my first buys for me on Etsy. These cute purple dice earrings are made by CjsDesigns. I saw them while searching through the geekery categories and knew that I just had to have them!!!

Not only do I love mini dice but I love jewelry, so it all worked out GREAT. Now don't think this shop is all about dice...not really at all actually. She's got beautiful heart earrings, anchors, necklaces, bracelets, so if you're in to jewelry check it out!! She has amazing prices and amazing products.

Next up we have this awesome 20 sided dice hemp necklace being sold by Quizzlebob. She was selling it at such a steal there was no way I couldn't snag it!

And get this, I asked if I could possibly get it in green instead of blue and it was no problem for her. I got the item just as fast only in a color I liked just a bit better! Great service.

Now if you're in to geekry quizzlebob's shop is the way to go. Dice and keyboard jewelry, legos ice cream, all sorts of stuff!! Definitely worth a look around.

The last item I'm going to show off is the first trade I ever did on Etsy!!! The wonderful Beckynot opened my mind to the world of trading, and got me started on my road to fun stuff.

She has an amazingly cute selection of stuff and it was very hard to pick just one, but I settled on this cute little kitty ring.

She's got wonderful stickers and magnets, cute jewelry, and even stuff for your favorite pet!! Not to mention bobby pins and other cute things.

Definitely worth a drop by, even just to get your fill of cute for the day. Hope you like my picks, there are plenty more to be shown this Christmas season, and I plan to show off all my wonderful stuff. ^.^

WoW, Scottie Dogs and Bacon: Christmas Buys #3

2008-11-29T01:07:00.001-08:00

All right, more Chrismas buys!!! First up I will show one wonderful little tidbit I bought for my brother. This wonderful WoW (World of Warcraft) iron-on that I have featured above is made by Stichenmama.

My brother is a new father, as he just had his little girl this month. ^_^ Yay for being an auntie!!! I'm working on knitting her a blanket. hee hee. ANYWAYS, Stichenmama makes a lot of fun baby stuff. From iron ons to burp cloths to comfort packs, quality is key, and their shop is full of qaulity.

Now to our left here we have a gift I bought for my step mom. Aside from the fact that I might actually give these to someone else due to recent events they are GREAT.

These little gems are made by AmazonCreations. She has the CUTEST stuf earrings. They're all sort of a retro style but uber cute.

Not only that but she has these great fingerless gloves that I might need to break down and buy. ^_^ Plus a load of other great items. Amigurumi, hair decor, jewelry, scarves and so much more! I couldn't believe how much was in their shop when I actually checked it out!! I found these little dudes in a search for Scottie dogs, and when I finally visited the shop I couldn't believe what a find I had made!! I highly recommend you stop by and check out all their amazing goods.

Last but not least in this little post is the amazing Bacon buttons!!! I bought these great little items for my husband, as he usese the picture of this that is running rampant on the internet as a desktop background fairly often.

Push button, recieve awesome.

Made by the amazing Slevin11, I must admit it was hard to choose just one thing from their shop!!! Their buttons are awesome and there were so many I wanted, and so many that I knew my husband would love.

If you love Mario, Half Life, Pokemon...pretty much games in general this is the shop to visit. They've got magnets and buttons, and both can be bought in large quantities. Which is super tempting to me still. ^_^

Thanks for the amazing items guys...you've made my Christmas shopping much easier this year. :D

My Christmas Buys #2

2008-11-25T16:24:00.000-08:00

So here I am again and I'm going to show you guys what I've been buying online for Christmas! These are my handmade Christmas shopping purchases.

First of all, The Fickle Pickle has such amazingly cute stuff it was hard to chose one thing to get. ^_^ My mother in law is a fan of hello kitty, so I decided to snag these cute hello kitties wearing ram costumes. They're cute and they're earring.

What I really want for myself are these cute cell phone charms, however. But tis the season for buying for others, not myself. SO I've been doing trades for some of the items that I want. ^_^

Allright then...on to my next buy!! Artsyathina has a lot of beautiful jewelry, but most importantly a lot of OWL jewelry.

You see, my good friend Laurie loves owls. And as I had already made her an owl charm I had to get her something new for Christmas. Perfect!!! Look at this wonderful vintage looking necklace. It's great. Artsyathina has listed 5 different beautiful owl necklaces in the same listing.

I bought #1 as I believe it is the style most suited to my friend, but it was hard to choose between all the different breeds and cute designs. I almost got #2 but decided green wasn't her color.

Oh boy. I can't tell you how hard it is to give these items away!! I want to keep them for myself lol. *sigh*

But they're wrapped and ready to go. Both sellers were great to communicate with and had fast shipping. The items were packed wonderfully, The Fickle Pickle ever threw in some cuuuute little stickers, and Arsyathina gave me some really cool tiny tags, which I used for the wrapping of her gift.

So go visit these wonderful sellers and see if someone in your life would benefit from their great products!!! Remember, these little owl necklaces are even on SALE!!!

Tutorial #1/messy looking blog

2008-11-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

So I was browsing deviantart yesterday, as I love to do, and I came across a wonderful artist, ChocoAng31! She does the coolest clay works. Being a clay artist myself I was happy to see that she had put up an awesome tutorial about fingerprints!!! -------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>

Considering I have no tutorials or great tips to share on my own, why not share some tips and promote her amazing work at the same time? Clever.

Or not so clever...lol. Unfortunately it's extremely small...SO please go visit her deviation for the FULL view of the tutorial, or simply click on the picture and it will full view in another window. ------------------------------>>>>>>>>>>>

Man, lately I have had so many problems with fingerprints in my clay. More than that, lint! I live in a dusty basement and there is so much lint that gets into my work it is frustrating. Well I asked Choco if she would let me feature her tutorial and she said yes. YAY!!! ^_^

Wow I'm retarded. Sorry for my lack of blogging skills lol.

<--- See this awesome kitty here? SO CUTE...and original!

And this cute little duck and egg charm?
LOVE it. Especially the little top hat and bow. ^_^

Anyhow, please go visit her deviantart page and check out all of her amazing work. ^_^ She's got some of the cutest stuff!

My Christmas Shopping - and technorati...

2008-11-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

Hmmm so anyone heard of Technorati? I was checking out Etsy forums today and someone posted asking how to make their blog more popular/get noticed. Well I need that! Then someone posted about Technorati. Well...there's a "claim your blog" button so I decided to use and wound up signing myself up for the site. *shrug*

Well let's see what it's all about eh? If you'd like to check it out yourself here's the LINK. Maybe we can hook up there as well!!! Lol.

Also I'm going to start showing off my Holliday buys from Etsy. First up is my most recent purchase from the wonderful Maytel! She's got some cute stuff, I want some of her cupcake fruity necklace but alas, I've already spent money on myself and I'll show you on what later.

For now here is her adorable cute truffle magnets I bought for my step dad. He's a huge fan of chocolates and I thought I would get him something to last a little longer this year. ^_^

Please visit her shop and her wonderful deviantart page, which is where she shows off many of her wonderful talents.

ALSO right now she's having a a SALE until December 5th, so get em while they're cheap!!

Here's a neat little button...if you do join technorati or already are on it, here's a little button to fav my blog! lol

Long TIme

2008-11-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

Showcasing time!

Eep, it's been awhile since I've posted anything. So here's some recent charms I've made, because I can't think of anything clever to do.

I seriously need to take better pictures, which I'm hopefully going to work on today. Unfortunately I don't have that great of a camera. T_T So it's hard.

Also here's a nice little Christmas bracelet I made! Whooo.

And on the right here we've got another little bumble bee. MAN I love making these guys. They're so freaking cute.

Job

2008-11-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

So, I'm looking for a dayjob. ^_^ Christmas time is coming and the figure painting business is going to be really slow around this time of year I'm betting.

I'm applying to all sorts of places, Borders, Petco, the mall lol. Well, the Buckle specifically. Let's see who hires me!

Wish me luck.

Don't Recycle

2008-11-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

.....your newspapers anyways. Ok so I wanted to post something different today.

So today I ask anyone who reads this to please consider donating any newspapers you might want to recycle to an animal shelter where they will be put to good use.

I got offered a job at the Humane Society. I went into for my first day of work and realized, it just wasn't for me. I really need to get back into an actual vet clinic in order to have my multitasking scatterbrained needs met. The place is great, don't get me wrong, just not my thing.

BUT, being there reminded what a great need they, as does Animal Services and other animal shelters, have for donations!! Not money, but just your newspapers are GREATLY needed.

At the Society I went to they have to spay/neuter about 40-60 cats and dogs (and sometimes bunnies) per day. And every day they have to change the cages etc. for each animal. That's where your wonderful newspaper comes in handy.

And that does not include all of the animals out front that those looking to adopt see, these are the animals that haven't even been released to be adopted yet.

How many more are in the adoption center?

So please, don't recycle your old newspapers - please donate them to your local animal shelter!

For more info you can go to the Humane Society's home page, or look up the local Animal Services for your area - just type Animal Services - (your state here). Here's Utah's site.

Giveaway

2008-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Yay another giveaway. ^_^ This time it is from the blog In the Shadows, for Beat Black's shop. Fun! Go visit her shop. It's rad.

On to the giveaway! Go visit the blog listed above (link included) and check it out. It's easy.

As for Beat Black's shop...man. I've seen her stuff around before and I had already faved her on Etsy before I found out about the giveaway.

She makes the coolest things, like these little truffle rings ^ up there, and to the left these awesome jawbreaker earrings.

But her unique style really shines with her little cupcake necklaces. This one here is just too cute. The facial expressions are priceless.

Now if you can't tell her truffles are my favorites, as I keep showing them with this truffle pendant that I'm personally hoping to snag some day, and these awesome little truffle stud earrings.

However not only are her expression filled cupcakes unique but so is her use of brains. Being a zombie fan and also fan of weird, unique things, these surely stand out.

This pendant in particular, as I like the way it is designed along with the fact that not only is it a brain, but a damaged brain.
So go visit her shop, check out the blog and maybe try to get yourself something awesome and free. ^_^

Pictures

2008-11-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

Not sure if someone messed with my screen when we had people over for games last night but all my pictures look weird...I don't like the coloring and I don't know if it's my re-adjustments in photoshop or my monitor. *sigh*...

On a better note, we went in to Hot Topic yesterday to look for a hat and I found out that they sell petticoats!!! Or are selling them right now. Unfortunately they didn't have the style I wanted in black T_T but I'm still excited. They're even cheaper than I've seen them other places.

How does that happen?

Well I won't question it.

Quickie

2008-11-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

Just a quick show-off of the latest clay creations I've been working on.

Man. Last night I was baking some of my clay stuff and we were watching a movie and I just now realized I forgot about it! Ugh I don't want to go look in the oven...luckily we live with the in-laws (which is why we're in the basement and partially why I forgot about them in the first place) and my mother-in-law turned the oven off. But I'm sure my stuff is toast T_T

And yes...I voted. ^_^

Halloween Story

2008-11-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

So I decided to share my depressing Halloween story....because my "friends" make me sad.

Don't worry, though, I'll post something happier tomorrow.

I wanted to throw a party on Halloween like I had a few years ago. So I invited everyone. Lots of people. Two people let me know they couldn't come. That's just fine, I don't care as long as I know. Well...midnight turns up and no one has come. One friend I had talked to earlier and offered to give him a ride (he's like a little brother to me, just turned 16) if he couldn't find one.

But then he wouldn't pick up my calls.

Another friend texted and asked what I was doing since I hadn't actually invited him (not because I don't like him just because I figured he wouldn't come). I asked him if he wanted to come. Never heard back from him.

Well I was pretty damn sad. At least my husband's best friend was there with us.

To the left is my husband in the Guy Faux (sp???) mask dressing up as anonymous, and our friend dressed as...well himself lol. Or his alternate personality, Grizmodious. He got a fake tattoo sleeve caught on his horn lol.

Anyways around 2am three of my husbands friends showed up and we wound up having a pretty fun time.

So there's my sad Halloween. Sad because it's my favorite holliday of the year and I wanted a reason to dress up, which is why I threw the party. I don't drink or party, so...what else is there to do?

I should have just gone trick or treating. Only...I didn't know if anyone would show up. I guess it hit me hard because honestly? I don't really have friends anymore. And it's not because I got married, my friends sort of started ditching me before that. So...anyone wanna be my friend? ^_^

<-----Anyways, here's me in my slutty candy corn costume. At least I got to dress up. I love dressing up. So since no one was there to see my costume I'm showing it here.

Last year I was this awesome little devil thing --->
A co-worker did my makeup all crazy for me. It was awesome. And yes...I took this pic in the bathroom at work lol.

Earring Giveaway?

2008-10-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Of course! Not from me, however, from the lovely Always Amy!

So if you're interested, go visit her blog. She explains how to enter for some awesome free earrings, which I want. ^_^

On to her shop!

Well I'm supposed to talk about two of my favorite sets of her earrings. But it's hard because she has so many. Hope she doesn't mind if I talk about more than two. ^_^ Up at the top there you see a pair of amazing looking pizza earrings. Did I say they're amazing? Because they are. ^_^ Definately my favorite pair. You wanna know why? How often do you see pizza earrings? And how often do people wear them? I'd like to wear them.

Now check out these nifty little bus earrings! I'm not particularly a fan of buses or vans or whatever but these are dang cute. I love weird things like this!!

Then on our left here we've got some delicious pretzels!!! More of something you just don't see in earrings. Pretzles are one of my favorite foods. Thumbs up for this.

Make sure to stop by her SHOP and check out her awesome earrings!

Fall is Upon Us

2008-10-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

And I'm not so happy about it. As much as I thoroughly enjoy Halloween and October, my poor little California frame does not do well in the dry cold of Utah. Other than the cold, however, fall is my second favorite season. ^_^

Anyways, I thought I'd take this time to show off some of my fall crafting projects.

These are my Halloween charms. ^_^ I love candy corn...I love zombies, and I mostly love the new candy corn Hershey kisses that have come out. YUUUUUMMMM

And this was a little owl I did for my friend Laurie who, as you can guess, loves owls. ^_^ And some awesome 1UP and poison mushrooms. BEWWWAAAAAAAAAAREEEEE!!! Hee hee. All but one of the candy corns and the owl are for sale in my Etsy shop (there's a link here somewhere). But mostly I just thought I'd post a bit of my stuff.

Dokapon Kingdom: party game extrodanairre

2008-10-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we had some people over, and our friend decided to bring over his Wii and his newly purchased copy of Dokapon Kingdom.

Holy crap was it a blast to play.

No joke, if you have more than two people who want to play some mindless hilarious fun, go out and buy it right now. And if you don't have a Wii, it's available on the PS2.

Now, I had never heard of this game, and it was given my charge to play it first while the boys went off and played Anima.

Anyways, it's a very simple game to learn. You get to create your own character, and though the customization is highly limited, it's alright. It's a strictly 4 player game, but you can play with more or less people. So, honestly, it can be a loooong game to play.

There are only three job classes you can be when you start the game, no matter the level you start as: wizard, swordsman, and thief. They're pretty self explanatory. The swordsman warrior class is shown above.

Now you can change jobs in game by returning to your main castle, which is also what you do when you want to change your hairstyle or get some healing. The only thing is, however, you have to max out your current job level before new jobs will be opened up to you.

This is the king, his daughter and the hair stylist who kindly will change your hair cut when you feel like it, or when someone shaves your head. Returning to the castle also gets rid of the drawings people can put on your face.

The game is almost entirely self explanatory. Every time you start a new game it pops up a screen explaining everything you do, when you try to do.

See the evil purple thing in the picture above? He's a monster who's captured a town that you need to liberate. Which is MUCH easier said than done, especially your first time playing.

Now, when you move on to the blank squares you either get an event or a fight. It's totally random and you don't know what level monster it will be. This just emphasizes how much of a luck based game this is. Which is funny but frustrating for someone who has TERRIBLE luck.

My biggest problem with the game is that it is ENTIRELY chance. There is almost no strategy involved at all, except try to fight and level up so that you can kill monsters and liberate towns. But even then, half the time you get random encounters instead of battles! And most of the encounters BLOW. So that ruins most of any "strategy" you try to make.

This frankenstein looking doctor came up to me in both games we played. The first time he just told me I was healthy and charged me 17,000gold for the "clean bill of health". I about crapped a brick.

You only start off the game with 1,000gold.

Not only that, but I stole from an enemy and got 50gold. Woot for me! Then the bastard stole from me and took 450gold. WTF!?!? The nice thing about the game, however, is that this kind of stuff is actually really hilarious while you're playing through, so you don't mind getting screwed most of the time.

Sometimes when an enemy kills you or if you fight another player and you win you can chose to humiliate them, which is awesome.

Poor Laurie got shaved bald, then I had to fight her and I drew all over her face so she looked hideous. She finally died and was going to go back to normal, but the enemy that killed her shaved her head again lol.

Well on to my breaking point.

As I told you, I got into debt. Never got out. The next game however, the franken-doctor shows up again while I was poisoned. He heals me YAAAY!!!

But then charges me 30,000gold.

Shit.

But whatever, it was so funny that it had happened twice I didn't care and couldn't stop laughing. Then all of a sudden this chick starts stalking me:
Trying to play rock paper scissors to steal my money. I'm like "I have no money to steal!!" and literally she finds me 6 times, which prevents me from fighting monsters and leveling, and just piles on top of my already terrible luck.

I'm alright though, because I beat her every time! I'm amazing at virtual rock paper scissors. Finally some luck, right...?

Way later on in the game, after I have a revenge bat hovering over me, an item that's gonna kill me soon, and a warrant out for my arrest, Laurie gets put in to debt as well (from a game that we are all forced to play where the winner gets rich and the losers lose 60,000gold each), and the stupid rock paper scissors stalker finds her. Laurie looses... and guess what?

The girl feels bad for her and brings her out of debt.

Now that's just made of ass and fail.

So, I set down my controller, stood up and walked away. I was done. Only so much abuse is funny. I couldn't take it anymore. So our other friend took over my player, and guess what? He doesn't get out of debt but he liberates some towns and gets second place.

Hot damn the game hates me. lol.

But overall? I loved it. It was so fun losing that I didn't understand it.

I highly recomend it to anyone for a fabulously fun party game. Just try not to play it for more than several hours...it does get a little tedious. Especially when you're losing as badly as me. lol.

Twilight Rant

2008-10-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

So here I go.

Everyone has been talking about the Twilight series. Everyone. And I saw a trailer for it the other day:

Twilight Movie Trailer

Looks rad, right?

I thought so too. My husband, Brooklynn, totally had the audio book downloaded, intending on listening to it after something else he's reading. So I think to myself "Let's check it out."

Well I will admit, for one thing I already had a problem with this "super attractive seductive vampire" being played by the uni brow bearing character from the 4th Harry Potter movie.
Is that a boy or girl in the background? I can't tell. But in all honesty, the guy is sort of growing on me, and it's not like I won't give the movie a chance.

Well, what happens, you may ask, as I am reading the first book. I can tell you. Nothing. ABSOLUTELY nothing. And that's the problem.

- The entire time it feels like this 30 year old pretending to be a 15 year old (or however old the main character is) who just is unhappy, bored, and boring. For one thing, there was nothing in this book that spoke to me, at all. If I were a teenager, and trust me I'm not that far past being one, I would feel completely deprived.

I'm not saying all teens throughout the world have to have the Internet or have to have a cell phone but honestly, who doesn't? I've seen 12 year olds who interact more with the world than this chick. She hardly uses the computer, listens to one CD, and reads one book, the ENTIRE NOVEL.

OK...I understand having no social life. I really do. I understand being depressed. But Even when I do nothing with my friends, or had no friends for a long while, I watched T.V., or drew, or read more books, or wrote in my journal, or I did SOMETHING. I didn't do nothing. Which is what this girl did all the time.

- Not only that, but the people in the novel were not characters. They were names. Not one of them had a distinct personality except the one vampire that disliked the main character. That's it. Everyone else was polite as pie, or sort of antagonistic. They all seemed the same.

It wasn't until midway through the book that the main character felt like she started to become a real girl. She started joking with this boy she's in love with. She started laughing and talking like a real person does.

Before that it was just "Hello Edward." Who says hello anymore unless they're joking? No one I know. Not even my grandpa.

There's my rant. Sorry fan girls and boys but the thing was terrible boring. The girl was depressed for a stupid reason for the first half of the book, and the only action happened in the last few chapters, which I will admit were pretty cool.

I just didn't like it. So sue me.

Blogging EH?

2008-10-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

So I've never really blogged before. But I'd like to try.

Plus it's a good place to put all my rants about books and movies and games and such. Just so that my poor husband doesn't have to listen to me too much. ^_^

So this is my first blog, and probably the shortest one I'll ever post. HAH!

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