Living the Creative Life

One of my projects this week was to make a 25-step value scale in pencil. Well, technically 9 of the steps were computer generated, but the other 16 were pencil. It sounds worse than it is, and honestly it felt great to get my drawing pencils out again!

Hi everyone! How's life out there in the non-student world? I'm four days into my second year of design school and it's great (and tiring!) to be back in the swing of things. I feel like I know more what to expect this year, which is a great feeling. I haven't seen a lot of the first-years yet, since we have vastly different schedules, but the few I have seen all look scared and lost! Did we look like that last year? (Probably!). Of my class, about 25 came back this year. I really didn't expect that many, as the class a year ahead of us only retained about 6 or 7 students from first year to second year! It's nice to have so many familiar faces around, though! So far my days this week have been a flurry of lectures, reading texts on graphic design, art history, and biology (the one general ed I have left to take), breaking out the pencils, rulers, and papers to start on some illustration projects, and standing in long lines at the bookstore. I keep meaning to...

I'm becoming more and more convinced that stress is a key factor in not only our health but also in how happy we are and how long a life we live. Before I went back to school a year ago, I was sick constantly! I was also completely stressed out by my work environment. It was this situation where I wasn't being appreciated, I wasn't given enough to do, and I had absolutely no control over changing any of that. In this past year though, as I've struggled to keep two Etsy shops afloat, gone back to school full-time, and moved twice... I've actually been far less stressed! I rarely get sick anymore, either, was is quite amazing to me! I'd started to think being sick was just "normal" for me. So as I'm looking back over this past year and loving the positive direction my life is taking... it makes me want to continue in that direction! If you've been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I love setting resolutio...

Fall is my favorite time of year, in case you didn't know. The leaves changing, spices in the kitchen, crisp air, warm sweaters. The whole vibe of the season is so exciting to me, like something's brewing and about to happen. Which is why I'm so happy to show you some more of my amazing line of knit hats and accessories! (Smooth segue, no?) I've got acrylic hats and wool-blend hats, as well as a few gorgeous scarves and cowls. And all in super cute colors, too! Makes me very excited about this upcoming Fall season!! ***** What's your favorite thing about Fall?

Yesterday I stopped by the local farm store and was poking around their garden section. I've been meaning to start an herb garden for like 5 years, so figured this was a good a day as any to get started on that. Did you know you can buy cayenne pepper plants? Did you even know cayenne peppers grew on plants? I'm not sure that ever really occurred to me. I've only seen cayenne ground up in jars in the spice aisle at the grocery store! Lol. Anyway, after browsing everything they had, I decided to start my indoor garden with a pineapple mint plant. Pineapple mint is so named because supposedly it smells like pineapples when you brush past the leaves, although it just smells (and tastes!) like plain old mint to me. But it's a cute plant and should be fun to (try to) take care of! My grandpa had a patch of mint in his backyard when I was growing up that I loved to eat, so this seemed like a good plant to start with. Some of the other plants I saw at the farm store w...

I have this rule for myself that I have to watch through the opening credits of a show at least twice a year: once at the season premiere, and once at the season finale, so that I remember them. In this era of TiVo, I generally fast-forward through this part so I can just start watching the show each week, but there really is something great and memory-making about hearing a show's theme music! Plus a show's opening sequence is usually pretty fun and creative in and of itself. Here are a few recent-ish openings that I like. What are your favorite theme songs?

Okay I know I said I wasn't going to do sponsors anymore, but... I had so many complaints about that that I decided to continue in just a lessened way (so as to make it easier on myself while I'm busy with school). My blog is now open to swaps only , not paid spots, for creative and interesting blogs. I am not going to do anymore giveaways or Sponsor Intro posts or anything like that. I also have a disclaimer on my swap page that I do not wish to participate in anyone else's giveaway or Sponsor Intro posts. Sorry if that makes me a spoil sport, but that gets REALLY TIME CONSUMING when I have 10-20 blogs that I'm swapping with. Everyone seems to have their own version of interview questions or survey that they want me to fill out, along with submitting a photo, social media icons, an "about me" blurb, etc. And while I appreciate that each blogger really wants to make an awesome Sponsor Intro post, it's all just entirely too much (and besides... no one r...