Spike the watercolor kitty

I'm having a hard time drawing anything besides my cat. But that's okay, right? I'm also having a hard time scanning these watercolor illustrations. I used my scanner at work this time which surprisingly is more craptastic than my "3 in 1" Lexmark printer that I use exclusively for scanning. I don't know, they just don't look very watercolor-y to me. Colored, yes. Watercolor painty, eh? Especially compared to the original, that looks perty and soft and texturey. (sorry for all of the imaginary words). The wrinkled paper makes the color of the paper uneven too. It took a lot of Photoshop to get the whites to look this even. Do people usually photograph their watercolor pieces instead of scanning? I'm not used to these issues, since I usually scan in a black & white drawing and digitally color it. No muss, no fuss. Oh well, I'll keep practicing. Maybe I'll even paint something other than my cat Spike! hmm...maybe my other cat Ein. That's something different, right?....



My giveaway ends in TWO DAYS! I'm so excited to see who wins and what they choose! It's been a lot of fun promoting and really nice to see all of the sweet comments.

Revisiting watercolor

I picked up a set of watercolors (in pan form) and some new brushes a few days ago. The lady at the register said to me "oooh! trying out some painting, are we?". I had to disappoint her though. And revealed I actually had a pile of watercolor tubes at home, but I just couldn't find them. She looked like I shot her puppy when I said that. Like I had ruined her incredible detective skills. Oopsie.
Anywho, I've been meaning to go back over some of my illustrations with a bit of watercolor, for funsies. I really love the soft look it has. And it's a lot of fun to work with. For me, anyways.

So here's Spike. I drew him up on my break at work. He likes to sleep all twisty like. His top goes one way, and his bottom goes the other. Who does that??



P.S. If you haven't already, stop by TokyoBunnie and enter my giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment there! Ends April 4th. Winner gets their choice of anything (minus the wedding cake toppers) in my shop! Click here!

Goodwill finds

Last week I stopped into a Goodwill store. There's actually a few in the general radius of my area, but for some reason I always forget take a peek. And boy am I glad I did!
I found the most amazing dish set in a super cool aqua color. It kind of reminds me of fiestaware. I was going to take a picture of it, but I already put it away in the cabinets, and there's so many dishes, and they're heavy....and I'm lazy. Oh whatever. Lou, of course, was full of positivity when I showed him my fantastic find....telling me the color makes him nauseous. Apparently in high school art class, his teacher had them work with an aqua colored glaze for pottery that looked just like the dishes I bought. He said the smell made him nauseous. Wonderful.

Another one of my amazing finds....some sort of shadowbox that is absolutely perfect for displaying my figurines!


I've been tirelessly searching online for a display for them and focused in on typeset print drawers. They're giant vintage drawers that were once used to hold the letters that were used in old time printing presses. There's lots of little sections and I think they'd be great for figurine displays. Unfortunately, they're all $30 and up in price. While $30 isn't very expensive, I've yet to find a decent shipping price.
Anywhoo...this shadow box only cost me TWO DOLLARS and is exactly what I was looking for!


Also got a great "vintage" looking frame for a dollar that I'm going to spray paint some bright awesome color like pink or neon green.
An artist easel for a dollar, and a belt for $2.
All in all, I left Goodwill feeling like I robbed the place. Looking forward to stopping at another one tomorrow. It's payday after all......I might come home owning the whole store!

And just for funsies....darn, I wish these weren't blurry. Spike just loves to get scratches when I'm busy taking pictures.

Sundays are for stuffing my face

One of my favorite things to do is use the ingredient search function at allrecipes.com to use up the random stuff in the kitchen. I happened to have a stray jalapeno, half a container of cream cheese, a plain bagel and some mexican blend shredded cheese. Even though I didn't really follow any of the recipes I came across on allrecipes, I did get some inspiration.

I toasted the two bagel halves in the oven (because Lou set fire to our toaster oven when he unsuccessfully tried to toast some bread, ugh...boys). Then I layered a generous helping of cream cheese, diced jalapeno and a mountain of the shredded cheese on top. Might I recommend NOT scratching your nose after chopping the jalapeno. You'd think I'd learn to remember that by now. But instead, my entire nose is on FIRE. Anyways, I left it in a 350 degree oven until the cheese got nice and melty on top. And wow, it tasted just like a jalapeno popper, except it was easier to eat! Am I the only one that takes one bite of the popper and the whole jalapeno slides out and burns my bottom lip? Or I take a bite and all of the cheese squirts out the back and burns my hand? Yeah, those little poppers are live hand grenades if I've ever seen it.

They might not look award winning, but trust me, freakin delicious.



Aside from food experimentations, I managed to finish up most of my craft show table display. Everything is tagged, bagged, mostly packed, organized, printed, blah blah blah, etc etc. I just have a few loose ends to tie up, a few more supplies I need to buy, and everything will be ready to go! I can't believe it's only a week away. Will I be ready???? I hope I don't forget anything.

Spike was more than willing to help with the table cover fitting, which I think came out pretty good! Folding it was a nightmare though. I hope it stays wrinkle free in time for the show! I hate wrinkly tablecloths.

Guest blogging and kitty shenanigans

On Monday [yes I know it's almost Thursday..I'm a little slow], I was the guest blogger for my company's blog! I wrote about the upcoming Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and how you can host a kid's party in the theme. Check it out here. My friends and I are going for opening weekend this Saturday and it's going to be awesome! Pictures to come, naturally.

In other news, I've discovered why there's always cat hair in and around my light box.



It kills me because it was so cute and I couldn't yell at him, but he's messing up my crafting area and he has no idea!

Also, I whipped up another summer sale advert. I'm loving the way the cartoon Plini came out.

Yay for snowdays!

I'm super excited today. Not only is there a flipping blizzard going on outside, but my mini pastry stands (2 of em) came in the mail today from Gingerbread Supplies. This was a total impulse buy, but I'm so glad I did! These little stands are perfect for Plini photoshoots! I can't wait to play with them some more.




As for the blizzard...this is the glorious view of the side of the other apartment building that I have 24 hours a day. Luckily for today...it's kind of pretty with the snow.



Spike was really anxious to go outside too. This is his first snowstorm!

painting Spike.

I have a special paintbrush that I keep near my other paintbrushes on my craft table. I don't use it for painting as one might assume. Instead, it's Spike's personal paintbrush that he likes for me to brush on his face. So he'll come by every now and then when I'm working and give me the "brush my face" eyes. So I do. Sometimes Ein gets jealous and wants me to brush her face too. But I only have so many special kitty paintbrushes to go around at one time. She'll have to wait her turn.

It's really hard to get my painting done because god forbid I put down his paintbrush and try to pick up my other brushes to actually do some work. Intricate detailing will have to wait no doubt.



And also at some point when I was actually painting he also managed to rub himself into my paint covered brushes.

Ok that's a lie. I poked him with my paintbrush because he was curious. And it didn't seem to phase him one bit. I'm a terrible mother.

coOoOoOokie crisp.

I've come to realize that I only eat cereal as a dessert. Which makes perfect sense since I'd rather eat a bowl of chef boyardee raviolis for breakfast than pancakes with sausage on the side (*barf). My food timing is off I suppose. And I'm guessing it's all my mom's fault since she'd reguarly feed us pancakes for dinner when I was in highschool...trying to pawn it off as something exciting. Which maybe it was for everyone else, but I was never really a pancake person.

Much to my delight today, Lou bought cereal! And it was the perfect finisher to our chili dinner. (which I neglected to take a picture of when I should have because Lou was the one that actually made it! ...always good to document these momentous occassions).

Cookie Crisp is in my top five favorite cereals, I'm pretty sure. The list changes every now and then. Kix and Lucky Charms are always up there too, with Fruity Pebbles popping in and out.



Once when I was little and my grandma was babysitting me, she gave me a plate with fruity pebbles on it as a snack. I remember thinking "who puts cereal on a plate??". I must have been only 7 or so. It was a pain to balance on my lap as I watched cartoons. It's such a strange fruity pebbles memory.

I think Spike likes Cookie Crisp too. That..and french fries, spaghetti, and any other thing he can get his paws on.