My name is Sara. I'm a twenty-something from South-East Michigan who's a professional, organized admin by day, and a disorganized, layed back creative type by night.
Okay, so I wanted to share a few things that I've been up to recently (or not so recently....hmm). First off! I had my first paying gig for a graphic design job. Yeah, so it wasn't a huge deal, and I only got paid a little bit, BUT I've never been paid for it before! It was a banner for Tiffany's new Etsy shop, Spindelirium. She had something else, but it didn't quite work, so someone recommended me to her. And voila! My first paying gig was born! She makes handspun yarn and wanted something warm and cozy for her banner. So here's what I did for her:
Also, I realized I haven't posted any pics from my very first portrait photoshoot yet! Sarah Fox was SOOO kind in letting me use her camera. We switched on and off all day and she took a bunch of pics of me too. Here are some a couple I've uploaded to Deviantart so far:
Isn't she just a gorgeous girl?! If you click on the images you can see them larger if you'd like. After doing this photoshoot I realized how much I could seriously get into portraits. I took so many of her, it's ridiculous. I'll share more another day. I had a blast editing them too!
For an example, if you look at a side by side of the top one, you can see the immediate difference, but if you click on it for the larger version, you can see just how much has really been edited. Were you envious of her beautifully flawless skin? No one has that complexion. No one, but photoshop is a wonderful thing!
Or look at this one that I did of April when I was in Miami. The original was ok, but I gave her a hand makeover, and got rid of that speaker in the background. Again, you can look at the closeup to really see the difference.
And then, for a bit of a different effect and a more stylized look, I edited it further.
This is the one that I uploaded to DA. Speaking of DA, I just found this screencap that I forgot I saved. It's really funny! I went to look at my messages, and it always tells you when someone saved something to their favorites and whatnot. Well, look at when this person saved it! Behold the amazing time traveling abilities of DeviantArt!
And while I'm at it, since I'm just uploading a million pics in this post...Might as well finally show off my handiwork on the Oh I Love That! blog. It used to be white and boring, and I did a complete makeover. Complete with new colors, background, banner, navigation bar at the top, clickable & savable buttons, and other good stuff. It took me about a week to get done, and I learned a lot in the process. I'm so grateful for CSS! SOO much better than html. Still, I had all kinds of bugs. Things would work in EI but not in Mozilla, and visa versa. A few times I thought I was going to pull my hair out!
But it all worked out in the end. I tried to see if we had a screencap of the old blog, but all I found was a really tiny one. So I just made another tiny one of our new one, so you can see the difference at a glance.
I'm going to be redoing this blog too in the near future. I would like to be able to add the follower widget to this one, but I'm still deciding how I would like this one to look. I'll get to it eventually!Wow! Holy humungo post Batman! Time to put this baby to bed before I sit here and write a novel.
Labels: banner, blog, deviantart, editing, photography, photoshop, portraits
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Ok, here is some long over due and promised artwork of mine. I really got into photomanipulation a while ago, and although I still like it, I've been way too invovled in other ventures (or adventures! however you choose to look at it) to do more.
I'll just share a few. Here's the first one I ever did. It was really just an experiment more than anything, but I still like it. It's called Twilight Ballet.
And this one is called Life is Precious. It's my favorite manipulation. :)
Well, there you have it. Manipulations in all their manipulated goodness. I really love photoshop. Maybe someday I'll be able to buy a newer copy than 7. It's really outdated now, but hey, it's better than nothing!
Ok, so anyone who really knows me knows I'm not the neatest person in the world (possibly a serious understatement), but that I would like to be more organized. Even now, here I am blogging, when I should be cleaning up. I'm still going to, after I blog, but it feels like a daunting task at the moment. See, I don't just want to put the laundry away and do new laundry, I want to do a complete overhaul of the "things" in my life. Since I have such a hard time organizing, and staying organized, I know I just need less STUFF.
The problem with that however, is that when I start going through things I say, "no....but....I could use this someday!" Or, "but...but.....I really like this!" (even though I never use it) Or sometimes it's something that is still good, but no one else may want it (i.e. bath and body products...perchance partly used...or sometimes not). What would I do with them? Just throw them away? How wasteful.... Everyone and their brother gave me bath and body products for every Christmas and birthday for a few years. Now I have this huge collection of stuff I'll never use up until I'm 80.
So much of my things are like that. Stuff I just really don't know what to do with, but may be difficult for one reason or another to get rid of. Why oh why must I be a packrat? I already gave up a lot when I moved, because it just wasn't possible. I mostly took just clothes, some books, and my craft stuff. But still.....I'm feeling crowded. (Part of that may have something to do with the fact that I live in a room that was full when I got there, and it's about as big as some people's closets.)
I think it would be a good philosophy to live like I may need to move, and fit most of my things into a few suitcases if I had to. And whatever I don't use on a normal every day basis needs to be in some kind of organized storage, instead of disorganized chaos. You don't have to worry about straightening up your things if you don't have a lot of "things" to begin with.
So I'm going to try and get rid of a bunch of clothes. Clothes I haven't worn in a while, or things I just really don't need anymore. And everything else is going to go on those storage hangers. You know, the kind that you can load like normal clothes, but then collapses. I think those would be perfect for my closet, and a lot easier to use than the couple of verticle ones I already have. Then I'm going to go through all my paperwork and really file it, like it's supposed to be filed. Not just strewn here and there and everywhere. I have a filing box for them all, I just haven't used it like I should. So I have a lot of paperwork to go through and figure out.
Then I need to organize all my craft and business stuff. If I'm going to start up this business, I should at least be organized when I do it, so it makes my life easier.
Ok, well this post is getting ridiculously long, so I guess you just get the "art and life" part. "Other musings" will have to wait. Oh and I'm sure you'll be waiting, with bated breath.....
Random Song Quote
So Goodbye
Those bittersweet memories once so lovely
So Goodbye, I'm gone
So Goodbye
Those pretty stary eyes once just for me
So Goodbye, I'm gone...
So Goodbye, by Sogyumo Acacia Band
Labels: art, organizing, photomanipulation
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Well, after a good long while of being relatively lazy, I'm trying to get back into exercising on a regular basis. I'm back on my trusty treadmill doing at least an hour every single day except Sunday. My motivation should be because I want to be fit and healthy. Of course, that's not enough motivation for me at the moment.
So I'm giving myself an extra push. I haven't watched my beloved Asian dramas in a while now. So I've decided to watch them while I'm on the treadmill. I can get my hour in, and watch some great drama too! It's the extra motivator I need, since I get really addicted to the shows. Now I have to be on the treadmill to watch them, so the first thing I think about when I get home from work is jumping on that sucker to play my next episode.
Right now I am watching the uber popular "Boys Over Flowers", the Korean version. It's still airing in Korea, and I am enjoying it. I really loved the Japanese version, and this one doesn't disappoint. So hopefully I'll keep at it and get myself in the shape I want to be in. If I lost 10 pounds, I'd be an ecstatic 123. I think that would be a good weight for my height and frame. I just need to keep using my weights while I run for my arms too, because that's where I have the hardest time getting toned. I'll hopefully be updating as I go.
Here's a video I found on Youtube from the show. It uses the soundtrack and doesn't give away too much (if by some chance, you're worried about spoilers).
p.s. If you're wondering why I haven't updated about my screenprinting, it's because I haven't bought my supplies yet. I know I said I was going to, but having less money now....parting with it is hard. Plus! I got a surprise trip down to Miami to see my bestest gal pal April and surprise her for her baby shower. It was amazing, but I also spent some money for the shower and the trip. I'll add the pics from that trip to the "More things I need to blog about but haven't" list.
Labels: drama, exercise, korean, youtube
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Ok, I have not posted here for SOOOOO long! So many things to update, and I didn't even do all the updates I promised last time! I will blog about my photomanips sometime, I promise. For now, I have a new design for my shop. I'll be starting up soon. I have one more payment on my credit card and then I'm officially out of credit card debt for good! I thought I'd be able to save some more before I start up, but the economy being what it is, my hours were cut. (oh noes!) So now I really need to start up soon to get money coming in (i hope).
Without further ado, my design:
I drew them completely on my new tablet that I got for my birthday! I was so excited to get this thing. This is my first finished drawing done on my tablet. Also, I borrowed the pic from phippsart because it was just about the only picture I could find on the whole internet that had a clean back of a girl's shirt. Go check his shop out, it's great. :)I'm really hoping that once I start up, I can pay all my bills of course, but also save up for a good camera. I've got my sites set on a Canon XSi 12.2 megapixel. It'll take a while, but it'll be so worth it. My friend Sarah let me borrow her camera the other week, and I got seriously spoiled. I'll share those pics another time. Now I know I REALLY want one, and I can't wait until I can afford it.
Also, on a side note. I got bangs! I haven't had bangs in forever. Not since I was like 12. I had semi-sideswept bangs when I got my hair cut last september, but they grew out way too fast. I asked the girl who owns the hair salon in my office building if i could make an appointment to just have those cut, and she did it for me, right there! In about 30 seconds flat I had brand new bangs. She didn't even charge me! What a sweetie! I still wanted to give her a tip though, cause it was just so nice of her. I snapped a quick pic of them for you all to see. Here they are, in all their side-swept glory:
Sorry for the crummy pic taken in my bathroom with my crummy camera, but...that's whatcha get I guess. Someday when I can afford that new camera, you'll get high quality cheesy pics taken in the bathroom...in 12.2 megapixels! :PLabels: design, drawing, etsy, haircut
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Ok, so I'm finally getting ready to start up my shop. I don't have a set date, but in the near future. I'll be buying my supplies very soon. So here's most of what I have on the list so far. I still have a few things to add to the list, but this is most of it. Almost everything except for the screen cleaner is from SilkScreeningSupplies.com.
So here is the print press on sale for just under $140. I can't wait to get this puppy.
Here's the light stand I'll use to burn my screens, for $45.
Here are my screens, or at least a pic of one. I'm getting some 156 and 110 mesh in a pretty large size. For between $18-21 each.
Here's my handy dandy squeegie. I'm getting a big 16 inch one for $16.
Here's the presensitized waterbased ink safe emulsion. I'm getting a quart for about $30.
And this loverly scoop coater is newly on sale for $14!
The ever important light safe bulb for 3 whole dollars.
Loverly waterbased ink, I'm getting in high opacity white and black for about $18 each. In Quarts, so they should last me quite a long time.
Fabulous ink goopy scoopy thingymabob for stirring, scooping, cleaning up extra ink, all kinds of good things, for only $1.60.
Super cool heat gun for curing my fabuloso waterbased ink. About $30.
A nice big bottle of blockout, in case tiny holes appear in the screens while you're printing.
Concentrated emulsion remover for $12-ish. Good for if I want to reclaim a screen or fix a problem....the latter will most likely happen. I hope I get the burning times right for the emulsion, and the coating the right consistancy. But just in case I don't do it perfectly every time, I need this stuff!
Cool stuff that will help me clean my screens without leaving the screen greasy, harming emulsion, or taking up tape.Which reminds me, things I still have to put on my list.... packing tape to protect the edges of the screen from ink, shipping supplies (bags, business cards, other misc stuff I can't reveal here. You just have to buy something if you want to find out what I mail with my packages.), big piece of glass for burning the screens, apron for protecting my clothes, stuff for organizing my workspace (hangers, calander, organizers for inks and chemicals, etc), and a few other things. This of course includes none of the clothing I still have to buy once I get going.
I am going to start really small, and build from there. Let's see how it goes!!
Labels: screenprinting, supplies
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Ok, so I'm so excited! I recently got back into making treasuries. I've done a couple in the past week or so, but before that I hadn't made one in over a year. So I made this little Octopus one on a whim in the Poster Sketch section on Etsy. Then I saw the Treasuries were opening up, so I made it. And I woke up on Monday to see that it was on the Front Page!!! I was so happy. So here's a screencap of my lil treasury on Etsy's front page:
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So I put this new song up on the side bar, and I love it. I just had to share. :) I think I must be posting this song everywhere. But I'm just all about it right now. So you have to enjoy it everywhere. :)
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