Scissor Quirk.

Escaping Me.

This week is just flying by! Goodness. I spent last night crocheting up a project I've had on my plate for a bit instead of blogging/answering e-mails/making my Halloween costume and it was lovely but feels counter-productive, now. lol...

I'm finding it hard to fit the blogging time/answering e-mails in lately, other than quickly squishing it at the end of lunch hour or into the wee hours of the night, so my apologies (if I owe you one!!)! I have one more week of full-time work left and then hopefully I can make somewhat of a new daily schedule for myself so I keep up with things better & conquer those to-do's & blog without feeling rushed! :) It feels like a bit of a snowy uphill climb right now, til then...lol.

Anyhoo, a colorful little peek from around the house this week:

There's a pile of bright happy new & vintage fabrics and yarn (and even the odd tiny old record) to be made into shop goodies waiting for me on the work table.

Currently: Dreaming of diving into that pile of fabric & stitching, noshing on caramels & tootsie rolls in early celebration of Halloween (lol), looking forward to some crafty/handmade window shopping at Portobello this weekend, jonesing for some vintage dresses & the perfect soft gray cardigan, loving my flat boots & the red leaves that lace the ground, shop & craft fair plans whirring in my head, aching from the first week back at boot camp, looking forward to drawing, scrapbooking, and sewing this weekend - hopefully! Aah.

What are you up to? Tonight is costume-sewing night!
Happy Friday to you!

And aother hiatus for Pirate Friday, I do decree.
It will be back next week with a vengeance!

Stitcheroo.

Dude. Thanks so much for your sweet words, guys! :)
I'm psyched you like my Peter Pan's - they were such a labour of love! Aah.

A little glimpse into the 'making of', because I find editing through a bunch of badly lit photos (hah) taken by myself at odd hours while working on these things to be tedious, so I only got one done to post last night...lol.

I'm contemplating making prints of them for the upcoming holiday season - well, I was thinking about whether to or not, but you've swayed me - my lil Epson printer would just make the detail stand out like crazy!! So watch for that soon...

As for me - meeting a crafty friend for coffee + craft fair talk after work today, then finishing a much overdue project for my bestie, and then continuing on with (hopefully) the end of fall cleaning tonight & some odd orders & to-do's and things - I just started boot camp again yesterday & I tend to wind down a lot faster in the evening after getting up at 5:30, but we'll see how it goes! lol.

Happy day, friends!

A Little Peter Pan

Ah, finally! :)

This weekend flew by me, friends. I literally looked up on Sunday night (from the chaotic pile of fall cleaning that was my craft table/living room) and realized that I hadn't touched my computer all weekend or done one thing on my list! Agh! At the same time, though - Aah. Much needed.

We went out on Friday with some work folk to play giant jenga at this rad new pub in town, Guilt & Co. - and then met up with my cousin & her hubby who were in town. I spent most of Saturday thrifting for Halloween costume stuff with mister husband & stocking up on supplies needed to make craft fair goodies (yay!) which I can start very very soon, and then Sunday I started fall cleaning the house, because it was in dire need of it, and I'm weird and can't work on something new until it feels fresh & uncluttered in here, right now. lol.

So, here we are, Monday. I vote for 4-day weekends every week, yes? :)
And, alas - my Peter Pan illustrations!

These are for a collective book that some animation friends & I all collaborated on - every page in the book will have a different illustration style & the story has a little twist to it. It's being finalized as we speak, and eventually printed - I'll let you know the when's and where's of that as soon as I find out!

Here's the first one: (click here to view it larger)

And close-ups, so you can see the stitching & texture - for this one I drew & embroidered the outline, and then colored & textured it in Photoshop.

And the second one: (click here to view it larger)

And some close-ups of this one, too, so you can see the detail - I drew the outline in pencil and stitched/embroidered most of the color on fabric, & then I put the two together & added more color/texture in Photoshop. 

I had never tried combining embroidery with my drawings, before, and I do a lot of compositing of things at my day job, so I figured this was a good chance to try a new look/technique! I'm pretty happy with the way these lil guys turned out, for the first time at it, and can't wait to see them printed!!

I have a few work in progress shots/how I did it photos & sketches and things, too, from throughout working on these illustrations, so I'm going to sift through those in the next few days and post them, too!

Which one is your favorite?

I totally want to watch Peter Pan, now...
The mermaids & lost boys are the best! :)

And this...

1. I remembered right when I got to work that I forgot again to e-mail the Peter Pan illustrations to myself to blog today. lol. Agh! Sleepyhead...

2. I also forgot to say, alongside the Instax Mini reward for catching up on work (which I've been trying not to buy daily for the last long while to save some moola - now, I'm resisting the urge to buy the normal instax...lol), I had been eyeing my local friend Viv's amazing photography class for a bit - dying for the moment to actually treat myself to it. :) And I just did! Must share it with you:

I met Viv at Sabrina Ward's workshop in Seattle - and was immediatley enthralled/in love with her bag of cute multiple cameras & lovely photos.
She totally made me yearn for a polaroid SX-70, too. :)

Her class is called, 'You Are Your Own Muse' & focuses on how to take beautiful self-portraits & capture yor story through the lens, a la Viv.

I seriously die a little inside everytime Viv posts one of her stunning self-portraits. (And this class peek is just too rad - 'the dangers of self portraiture'). Her blog is super-lovely, too - as is her Flickr stream. :)

All photos by Vivienne McMaster. 

I can't wait for the challenge/push it takes to finally get me to learn my poor not-intentionally neglected 'new' DSLR (which I love very much, mom, I just haven't had a moment to pick up and learn more than point-and-shoot in a year! I'm so excited!!). It needs some love, badly. Must make myself proud and enjoy and have fun with this special treat & learn, learn, learn!

I highly suggest it, if you're looking for inspiration and it hasn't even begun yet! You can sign up for the Nov. 1st - Dec 10th class right here.

Will be back with more blog rambling, probably today - I have so many posts in draft, it's silly. lol. Maybe even a Pirate Friday? Maybe, maybe not. :)

In the Meantime...

A little card I made for Bella Blvd back in the summer for their CHA release of 'The Socialite' - bright, fun papers & trimmings perfect for party/New Years':

'You're Invited', full list of Bella Blvd products used, here.

It's kiiiinda bright & crazy, but I never know how these things are going to turn out when I make them, you know? he he. Especially, cards...