The Late Blooming Artist

These words written below came to me as I was trying to draw this pink suitcase at the left. Most of the stuff I've created so far has been done using simple vector shapes combined together with only a little bit of what I have called "actual drawing." But I am trying more often to do more drawing from scratch, if only for practice. As you can tell, this drawing is kinda sloppy, I'm sure the perspective is off (I also rarely try to draw perspective), etc. So as I struggled with it I paused to write my thoughts down.

You go your whole life telling yourself that you can't draw. Then one day you decide that you can actually draw. You may not be perfect. The lines you put down on the paper aren't quite right. Things look a little odd. But the lines on the piece of paper are proof that you can draw.

 It feels foreign at first. You get frustrated sometimes (okay, a lot). At moments it is like speaking a different language that you know only poorly. What goes where? Does this line go here (does the verb go before or after the noun)? Why does it look/sound so funny? But you persevere and do it again and again (or throw it down and decide ... momentarily ... that you're forever done with this hard, difficult foreign art language). Something reminds you that you Can draw. Deep down you want to try again because you know that creativity is a part of you. It is not about being the best artist. It is that you are, within yourself, art. And that imperfection is part of the beauty of it. It is about your joy, not your perfection. Like the mud pies you may have made as a child. Anyway ... this is somewhat like my journey has been for me as a "late bloomer" to creating "art."
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Once Upon an Eiffel Tower (T-shirts)

Maybe it is because it is spring that thoughts turn to romance and Paris. One of the most widely adopted iconic and romantic image of Paris is the Eiffel Tower. I may not be visiting Paris and this well known landmark any time soon, but I can still enjoy it by adopting it myself...as an addition to my wardrobe. Here are a few t-shirts I saw of the Eiffel Tower on YesStyle.com and Zazzle.com that I really am liking right now (plus a little something else).
The first is this Effel Tower t-shirt with the words, "Hello Paris" and "have you been to..." written on it. It is one of those loose, cozy kind of tees and comes in four different colors.

It's not a shirt, but I couldn't resist mentioning this pretty and sweet jewel Eiffel Tower keychain from Miss Girl that is available atYesStyle as well. The color is silver with a tower covered in rhinestones that is perched upon a clear crystal ball. It has a a "Miss Girl" charm on it as well. There is also a pretty white bow tied on it (that, alas, I do not think would last long in my purse). The site lists the measurements as Strap Length: 7cm / 2.8", Tower Length: 2.2cm / 0.9", and Tower Height: 6cm / 2.4". (I'm not quite sure what is the difference between the "Tower Length" and the "Tower Height.")

Over at Zazzle, designer GirlyTemplate has a few girly, Eiffel Tower t-shirt designs for us...all tied with pretty bows.


Here are a few more Paris with the Eiffel Tower inspired shirts I found on Zazzle to close. I'm off to dream of spring in France. Ooh, la, la!!!


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Kawaii Furniture Socks

This is one of those products that I knew nothing about, didn't know they existed, until just today. Chair leg socks. But they can be used on any furniture with legs too, so really they are furniture socks. Protect your floor from getting scuffed and prevent you chairs feet and legs from getting scuffed and beat up too with these cutest little socks.

I think they would help add a little charm to a small apartment or cottage.

Here are some other styles that are available. I have to say that I think the strawberry socks for furniture legs are my favorite.


I also saw these style of "furniture socks" that are so pretty and frilly. They are kind of like mini drawstring pouches, with a leather-like base sewn to the bottom. The base part is especially a good idea. In fact, with the knit version it could be a good idea to sew or glue something like felt or faux leather to the bottom so they will last longer. They are not as tall as the knitted socks though.

I think it would be easy to make these yourself too...but they are fairly inexpensive so I think it makes sense to buy them instead. They also come in a few different colors or prints.

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Cute Anime Wigs

Cute Pink Anime Wig
I've been writing a bit recently at a website called Squidoo. Some of the stuff I've been writing about are anime cosplay wigs. There is one about anime wigs in general it shows a wide selection of wigs, plus some videos I found about cutting and styling wigs for cosplay. Then there is one about wigs for Hatsune Miku and my favorite is about cute, pink anime wigs like the one shown to the left.

It is so fun looking at all the anime style wigs available. I think I like the multi-color ones the best, especially if they have pink in it.
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Playing with Polyvore

Hey there...I've just been playing with Polyvore.com and noticed they have this blog feature so I'm trying it out to post my first "set" here. Polyvore is really fun to play with and find cute things.

Sleepy Kawaii

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Keep Warm wth Snuggly Bunnies

It's getting chilly! (I am wearing a couple layers of shirts and even two pairs of socks.) So this long sleeved t-shirt by PencilPlus with its trio of cute napping bunnies makes me feel warm. How could snuggling and napping with cute bunnies not keep you warm? Okay, so you won't be suggling with these bunnies for real. Still I think it would be great to pair this shirt with comfy, flannel pajama pants and snuggle under a nice, soft blanket or quilt with a good book or movie.


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Cute DIY Vinyl Toys

Every now and then I think I would like to try my hand at creating my own custom vinyl toy from one of those diy vinyl toys kits, such as a Munny or the cat like Trikky (shown here) by Munnyworld.

If you have never heard of diy vinyl toys before basically they are blank (usually white, but sometimes other colors) vinyl toys that you can paint, add Sculpey clay to, use markers on, or use anything else that takes your fancy to decorate it with so you have your own custom vinyl toy.

You can also take existing vinyl toys and paint or otherwise modify them as well. (If I ever do end up doing a custom vinyl toy I think I will probably go to the thrift store or dollar store and pick up some used or cheap vinyl toy, such as a rubber ducky, for my first one to screw up practice on.)

Awhile back I raptly followed the progress of some artists as they painted some specially issued, gigantic (I think 18") My Little Pony blank vinyl toys for the My Little Pony Project 2012 event. Some of them turned out so cool and beautiful. I loved the one by Miss Kika especially. Now that size is not available for the average person to use their diy skills on (you have to be invited by Hasbro to be able create one of these special editions).

But you can get a smaller, regular sized blank, My Little Pony from the Hasbro website here. (Normally I'd link to where you can buy it on Amazon.com, but in this particular instance you'd pay a Lot more for it there than you would if you buy it directly from Hasbro.)

So anyway today I happened across a blank, diy vinyl toy that I had not seen before. It is issued by Toki Doki (whose Japanese culture inspired illustrations are Amazing). And I think the Stellina Unicorno DIY Designer Vinyl Figure by Simone Legno of Tokidoki is definitely my favorite I've seen so far. It's kind of hard to see here in this pic, but I think you can still see it is of the sweetest, cutest unicorn.


Another cute DIY Vinyl Toy I have my eye on is this cupcake vinyl toy.

And if you are a fan of the cute little Android mascot for Android phones and tablets you can even make an Android custom vinyl toy.

There are a ton of cute diy vinyl toys on Amazon.com for the creative and artistic souls out there. But if you really get into making diy vinyl toys then you might want to check out myplasticheart.com or similar sites to it for an even wider selection of diy vinyl toys you can customize.

 If you'd like to see some examples of some customized vinyl toys that others have done check out these kawaii ones on flickr. (Note the toys shown on that link may or may not be "kawaii custom vinyl toys", I just used that as search words and these are the results that showed up.)
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