Party Time!! *throws confetti and glitter*

Yoohoooo!! *waves* Are you wearing your party hats and outfits? If not, no fear, you can find a bunch of outfits and hats on the table on your right. It's okay, you may browse around and pick whatever you like. Why you wonder? It is my....BIRTHDAY! We have to party and dance and for this you gotta look festive ^_^

Every year I wonder how it's possible for the time to pass by so quickly again and I think I mention this in each celebration post as well. Seriously though...how?!

Okay, that aside, for the first time in my blogging career...I don't have a Birthday Giveaway on my actual birthday. I will have one later, but it sucks as to me it's like a little celebration with all you guys as well! But, last week I got plagued by head-cold and I've been sneezing me brains out of me head (and yes, I meant to say "me head" and not "my head"). No fun! However, I can't force things (I will ramble about this soon) and I'm not completely better. I've only worked on commissions and put my own little projects aside. So in a couple of weeks I'll have the giveaway which I'll combine with the Holidays, so stay tuned for that please.

But as many of you already know, I could not have gotten this far without the help of everyone who supported me and my art throughout this year (and the years before). Really, such a huge thank you goes out to all of you for following me on my magical & creative journey. Here is to the third year and you can grab whatever piece you want from the cake below...

*raises many glasses in the air, throws confetti and cupcakes*

Gotta say that I've been feeling like it's my birthday for a few days already; got lovely goodies from across the world! How lucky am I?!

Oh! I also took this day as the starting point to start posting on Expats Post again. I've been quiet enough now. So if you like to read a more "serious" ramble, please click The Magic Carpet.

Lastly, you can tell me what you picked from the outfits & hats table...only if you want of course. Hehe.

Have a lovely Sunday & Till next time everyone!

Shopping For Art Materials.

Greetings Everyone,

The time has come again that I need to stock up on a few arty things. Whenever this happens, I always get the urge to buy stuff that I may not really need. There are SO many types of paint, ink, pens to be found and as much as I love the pens I use now, there could be one out there that is a better. The thing is I'll never know unless I try right? 

But! My budget is not big at all, so I have to be sensible when I get new art material. So I made a pact with myself that whenever I need to stock up on the usual things, I pick one or two new arty things (depending on the price) to try out. It also forces me to think about possible future projects and what results I want to achieve with them. That way I know I will use it and it won't end up on my desk in the pretty packaging... unused.

So what do I do when I have to shop for art materials? Well, I read reviews. Lots of reviews. There are plenty of art review blogs out there, but one I always read is from Alberto Lung. His reviews, to me, are honest and straight to the point and it's a good site for reference if I want to get something specific. His blog is named Lung Sketching Scrolls. I love to read art blogs with reviews as it simply saves me time (and often money) to try and test out new material.

Quite selfish huh? But to be honest you do need some sort of strategy when trying out art material otherwise you can't give a solid review regarding e.g. light-fastness, flow of ink, pigmentation and so on. If I was to try out an art material my review wouldn't be as good as some of the sites on the web as it would simply be aimed at how I would use it and not for general use among artists. This said, I *do* have an art review waiting for the ones that are interested in the paint I use haha. Not sure if it will be helpful, but I had to put a few thoughts for myself on paper as the paint I use did give my art a new feel and quite a lot of people started to ask me about the paint I used now...so maybe it will help the interested ones in the decision if they want to get the paint? We'll see!

In general, I don't like shopping. I dislike how, especially ladies, can get all pushy and touchy in clothing stores. Please respect my personal space people! It's like the entire world is going to end if they don't get this special shirt, skirt...whatever. No offense to everyone who do like to shop a lot; it's just not for me ^_^

I do LOVE art stores, book stores, beauty stores (make-up pallets are often brilliantly put together when it comes to colors and textures) AND let's not forget food stores. I can easily get lost in one. Goodness. I do not want to think about how much art material I'd probably get when I do have more money to spend...or maybe I won't spend as much as I think. Over the years I kinda thought myself not to get stuff that I don't need. It is a waste of my money in the end you know. It's probably also one of the reasons I blank out in a store hehe. Seriously though. I often forget why I go into a store in the first place. Much to the annoyance of my sisters hehe.

But okay, my rambling aside, I wanted to shine a bit of light on Alberto. Do check out his site for the reviews, especially on pens, pencils & ink and if you're on Twitter...you can say Hi to him as well.

It's my grandad's birthday, so gotta run now!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Running Around in Circles while Rambling.

Ah you guys! I'm in an odd mood lately, nothing negative, just...odd. I have tons of stuff that I could and want to talk or write about, but as soon as I sit down to write a post, I tend to wander away with my mind and I end up doodling something or just doing other stuff. I have a bunch of drafts now. So instead of coming with one of the many ideas that I have floating in mind for a post...I will just ramble and show you pictures ^_^.

So what have I been up to? Well, last few weeks have been crazy with arranging commissions. I say arranging as I need to keep my admin aspect in mind as well. Then I also have to actually work on them as well, but that is the fun part haha. You can still commission me though! Just e-mail me if you want to have more information. Next to that, I'm also working on my own little projects and seeing what direction I will head in for now. I'm dabbling in Fashion illustrations...dabbling in kiddies illustrations, cupcakes and monsters and I don't know what else. Have to say that the monsters and cupcakes got a life of their own and I'm working on something that I don't want to share just yet, need to think a few things through hehe.

But I do have to say that I feel...a tad all over the place at the moment. With the art fund being completely discarded, I started to re-think a lot of things and doing a lot of things. So many things, that I kinda lost track of what I want to do. So I took a few days where I was less behind my laptop and did some thinking as I definitely need a focus point for myself. I can't completely stop networking or sharing my doodle peeks (I'm addicted to my doodle peeks on Facebook). Let me just tell you that this...is...difficult. Most of you know that I love to do so many things *head desk*. And as much as I love to aimlessly wander around, this is not realistic. But I do have a better insight in what I want now, but times like this where I simply want to sit in a corner and stare are a tad annoying. However I'd annoy myself even more if I did nothing though.

Funny thing about the ink I used for the inky ladies. I absolutely disliked the fact it wasn't waterproof, while it says so on the bottle. After playing around with it for a while, I love the way it "bleeds". It creates an instant depth, so I don't need to mess around with washes of grey. Only thing is, I can't add a whole lot of color as the lines will bleed again if I add too many washes and the painting can result in a piece of...ehm...annoyance.

Can't curse as I probably scare people away.

And you know what else? I've been postponing the giveaway as I wanted to ponder a bit longer about the price and now my 3rd Blogoversary is almost here! Can you believe it? The third year will start soon. Never thought I'd be rambling to the World for three years in a row now hehe. The regular readers knoooooow that I always do a giveaway, so I'll wait a bit longer and do a giveaway in June ^_^.

 

Ah Pirate Cupcakes. How I love theeeee!!

I'll end my rambling now. Till next time everyone!

Sifting Through Thoughts and Papers pt. 1

(peeks from behind piles of paper)

Oh my goodness! I reached 400 readers :D So happy here! Thank you so much lovely people! You know, I wonder if I ever get out of this cleaning mode, but okay, I have a few small updates for you.

Canceled 2nd blog.
I chatted to a few friends and after some thinking I decided to cancel my 2nd blog and post my columns solemnly on Expats Post (more on this soon). I divide you guys a bit all over the place now and to be honest keeping track of all I do is a tad much at times. So my column will be published there and every now and then I shall post a reminder here. Of course everyone who has me on Facebook or Twitter will see the tweets and status updates twirling by.

To everyone who followed me there and not here, please keep an eye on it and switch to this one if you want to stay up to date ^_^.

New commission/shop policies
I re-wrote my commission and shop policies. The last one was focused on the mugs I created, but now I changed directions, so needed to change my policies. I highly advice you read them as I (hopefully) provide you with enough information on how I work, price calculation so you can decide whether you want to hire me or not. Prices are quite difficult to point out as I used to end up doing more work then planned and as much as I love creating, I have to be sensible and realistic with my time and pricing.

Do NOT be afraid to e-mail once you've read it all and still have questions though. I don't bite...hehe.

Shopping!
Don't forget that you can get my stuff at two places now: Etsy & Zazzle. I have a permanent tab and a widget in the sidebar for them. Zazzle is really for those who just want to order stuff without the hassle of contacting me. All products listed on Etsy have gone through my hands. I signed it, added extra details, wrap it up for you and fly to the post office. Also, original pieces will be listed on Etsy alone as well. Remember, I'll work with small stocks, so if prints/cards are gone, they are gone unless you guys keep asking for moooorrrreee! hehe.

NOTE: I've FINALLY ordered new prints of sketches and new art. These will arrive next week and will be added in my Etsy shop and I'll be doing a giveaway when I reach 300 likes on Facebook!!! Stay tuned for an update.

Random Rant: I dislike doing VAT and tax thingiessssss, but I have tooooooooo (head desk)

Column Post: My latest column is about Mirrors. Do have a peek if you're intrigued :D

Ciao Everyone!