10 Things I'm Liking and New Card

I started working on some new items. I got a tip from someone at a craft show to make collaged items with different papers instead of just doing one type of paper like I usually do. I always have a ton of scrap paper so I thought it was a good idea. I started on a journal using lots of scrap blue paper I had. I like how it looks sofar, we'll have to see how it turns out. I also listed this collaged heart card I made:

Collaged Multicolored Hearts Greeting Card



I have lots of items I've taken photos of, but I haven't listed yet. It takes a while to get all the photos edited and descriptions. It's nice to always have some items I haven't listed though so I can list an item anytime I want to. Look out for those. :)

I saw this idea on another blog of listing 10 things you're liking right now. I thought I'd do a list of things that inspire me, sites I'm checking out, etc. They're kind of relevant for my shop because it things that inspire me, but it's also just for fun.

1. Painting - I'm taking a Painting class in college right now and it's really fun. I always watercolor painted in my journal or on my greeting cards, but it's fun to use acrylic and oil paint, make your own canvas and things like that. I also like the assignments I've gotten in my class. I think my favorite painting I've done is a portrait of another member of the class (I don't have any photos of it now, but I'll probably post it here or on my Flickr eventually). This was my first project which involved following a list of instructions that involved experimenting with acrylic paint and collage:



2. Tumblr - I recently became addicted to Tumblr. It is a blog site where people post photos or short posts (like quotes, short lines of text). It's mostly photography related so it's like Flickr, but it's usually people blogging other people's photos instead of their own. You can find a lot of weird/funny/unique photos on there.

3. Bokeh Photos - I love the effect of bokeh in photos and how it looks like a dream. I used to try to get this effect in my photography class last year, but for some reason, a lot of photos I've taken more recently have had the effect on accident. Here's one I took of a street in Pittsburgh last weekend:



4. Collecting DVDS - I use this site called Swap Tree where you can get free items such as books, DVDs and CDs for trading your old stuff. It's a lot of fun. I always had books and CDs, but one thing I like is that I've been able to build my DVD collection without spending any money. For years, I've had like 5 DVDs of my favorite movies, but now I've gotten maybe about 15-20. I like that I can see behind the scenes footage/bonus material for my favorite movies that you can't always find online. It's interesting to see how a movie was made. Some of DVDs are music related things like concerts and behind the scenes stuff instead of just movies.

5. My Life is Average - Most people have probably heard of the FML.com where people write about bad things that happened to their day. I prefer reading My Life is Average though which are "average" stories that happen to people (even though a lot of them are more like random things that happen and not really average). You can tell some of them are made up, but it's fun to look at and makes you notice random things that happen in your life.

6. Get Crafty - I was looking at this website called Get Crafty the other day. It's kind of like Craftster because it's a forum where you can share craft ideas, but I don't think it's active anymore. I'm pretty sure it was started by the same people who started Etsy which is interesting. I was going through some old posts though and they're fun to read. One had advice from people that they wish they knew 10 years ago and it was really interesting to read.

8. Cooking - I always like cooking, but I've been experimenting a little more since I bought the cookbook from the EtsyVeg team. I love looking at it and deciding what to cook. I was also checking out the Cooking with Rockstars podcast last night where this girl interviews people in bands and sees what they like to cook (it's fun too because not all of them are good cooks and just sort of say what they like to eat on the road). I made this marinara sauce a guy from a band I listen and it came out so good. I didn't think it'd taste that different from my own, but he used olives (which I don't usually use) and a pinch of cinnamon sugar in the sauce which gave it a good flavor (try it).

9. Stop Motion Film - I was planning on making a short film/music video before I lost my camera using the stop motion technique. It's basically an animation technique where you take photos of an object in small increments and move it a little each time. When you put it together, it looks like it's moving. It's a neat technique because you can make something move without a video camera. YouTube "stop motion" to see examples.

10. The Holiday Season
I love the holiday season. Even though it can be kind of stressful, it means a break from school and time to make gifts, cook and relax. I'm also excited to do my gift exchange on Etsy this year. I love the process of making or finding a gift for someone and of course, receiving gifts. :)

I tag everyone who reads this so feel free to use it in your blog or in the comments. Let me know if you do it on your blog so I can check it out.