tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26137696598021569892024-03-14T01:18:32.283-07:00Griffin Dry GoodsHome to my various craft projects.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-85761105314947011532015-10-23T11:41:00.002-07:002015-10-23T11:47:07.702-07:00WatercolorsI signed up for a monthly subscription art supply box, <a href="https://www.getsketchbox.com/">SketchBox</a>, a few months ago. It is really fun because it encourages me to try new mediums that I have either never tried before or been too afraid to really embrace before. For example, my very first box was filled with watercolor paints and an awesome watercolor brush that holds water. I have experimented with watercolors before, but only casually, and because I spent the money on the box, I felt motivated to give the paints a real try. It took a lot of learning and fiddling to get it right, but I love them now. I might even try a landscape some day soon. (But don't get too excited, I'm still pretty terrified of muddy watercolor horizon lines.)<br />
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As those of you who follow me on instagram (<a href="https://instagram.com/griffindrygoods/">@griffindrygoods</a>) know, I started out with my favorite subjects, vegetables! What else? The eggplant was the first veggie I experimented with.<br />
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When I was happy with the way they looked, I moved on to asparagus.<br />
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I jokingly called them the Hulk veggies because of the color palette. Next came carrots, and boy did they take a long time to do. After the eggplant, I decided that the outlining with micron pens should come before the watercolors, so I spent hours drawing each individual leaf on the carrot tops before I got around to adding color.<br />
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And so, my Salad Series was born. It snowballed from there, here are the rest of them without discussion.<br />
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How do you get yourself inspired to try new things?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-55721619962327343892014-05-21T13:53:00.000-07:002014-05-21T13:53:52.549-07:00Wedding InvitationsJohn and I wanted our wedding invitations to reflect our character and interests. We also are using our favorite fictional universes at our wedding reception, so it made sense for the invitations to match. I have previously posted about this,<a href="http://griffindrygoods.blogspot.com/2013/01/wedding-invitations-in-works.html"> here</a> and <a href="http://griffindrygoods.blogspot.com/2013/01/working-on-that-geeky-wedding-invitation.html">here</a>. While it was my original intention to make six complete paintings, and as a result, six invitation options, I only ended up using two designs. I made a Doctor Who inspired invitation, and a Firefly inspired invitation.<br />
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In the Doctor Who invitation John is the doctor and I am a companion, (inspired by Donna in "The Runaway Bride" only in that she wears a wedding dress.<br />
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In the Firefly invitation, John is Simon and I am Kaylee, a character <a href="http://griffindrygoods.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-york-comic-con.html">you all have seen me play before</a>. <br />
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I love how both options turned out and of course, we had them printed by <a href="http://us.moo.com/">Moo</a>.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-29117540863805315532014-05-20T14:16:00.001-07:002014-05-20T14:16:36.698-07:00Save the DatesMy wedding to John is coming up in just a few weeks now. You may have noticed my absence here and on <a href="http://hungrygriffin.blogspot.com/">Hungry Griffin</a> for several months. I have been planning and organizing and it has been taking up a large amount of my time and attention. I will of course have some diy projects to share once the wedding is over, as I have done quite a few in preparation. As a sneak peak, I thought I would share our save the date cards with you.<br />
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John and I have been together for seven and a half years and we have been engaged for the last three. We are aware that this pace is not the traditional one, but we both wanted to take our time. We thought we would incorporate that into our save the dates.<br />
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This was my original sketched out idea for the cards. I made it late one night after John and I came up with the idea and I didn't want to lose it. It actually is quite similar to how the actual cards turned out.<br />
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We had a good time with it. I bought us some "mature" clothing for us at a thrift store, some old glasses (neither of us could see a thing through them, and I bought John a bubble pipe. The knitting and newspaper were easy. <br />
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We had a lot of silly options to choose from, but we love the one we went to and the cards turned out great! We got them printed at <a href="http://us.moo.com/">Moo</a>.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-50929573525095714582014-05-19T15:17:00.001-07:002014-05-19T15:17:29.665-07:00Camera StrapRecently my mother passed on one of the things I remember most fondly from growing up, her Nikon. It was made in the late 1970s and it has real heft, something I miss in newer cameras. The camera is in great shape, all of the gears and buttons still operate and there isn't even much wear on the body.<br />
While the camera itself is in fantastic shape, the strap was another matter entirely. The two layers of the strap had separated and the leather/faux leather (I am not sure) was looking pretty beat up and worn out. I decided to do a little revamp.<br />
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What I ended up doing was tearing out the remaining stitches between the two layers and tidying the loose threads left over from wear and tear. I then covered the leather strap with a beautiful red cotton with a sunburst pattern, and reattached the two layers. I left all the original hardware as is, including the two leather ends of the strap. I think the effect is nice. The strap retains the character to match the camera, but the color is bright and the strap is secure.<br />
What old things could you give a lift?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-8498881953238333242014-02-19T14:13:00.002-08:002014-02-19T14:13:46.507-08:00TARDISWho loves Doctor Who? I do!<br />
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I've been working on a nine inch tall TARDIS. It's for the wedding, so I won't give specifics on how it will be used, but I can give you some sneak peaks.<br />
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I made it from cardboard and paper mache with a top piece made of sculpey. I gave it a coat of white paint as a primer so that the paint color would really pop.<br />
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The hardest part was the lettering for the Police Public Call Box signs. I printed the sign for the door on the computer. <br />
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What kind of crafts take up your time? What's your favorite TV show?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-64775295454250580422014-02-04T15:07:00.000-08:002014-02-04T15:07:07.869-08:00FebruaryIt's February in San Diego, and I feel like I have a lot going on. It doesn't feel like February in any other place I've lived.<br />
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I just got back from a week in Portland with my sister, brother-in-law, and their now five week old baby boy. It was so nice to see them all, and to feel really useful, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of that little boy. When I got back, it was to a pile of reply cards from our wedding invitations. The wedding is coming along. It is less than four months away and I am really starting to dig in now. In fact, one of my major projects for the month is sewing tablecloths and napkins for the reception.<br />
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The checked fabric is for the tablecloths, the solid blue for napkins. How do you like my makeshift ironing board. <br />
John and I are also considering a bit of redecoration in order to create better (read tidier) storage, and to maximize seating. My sewing projects have kind of gotten out of control, even taking over some of the floor now.<br />
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I'll let you know how that comes along.<br />
I have a sewing date for tomorrow, so maybe I will have something fun to share after that.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-19157229202010599322013-12-18T13:31:00.001-08:002013-12-18T13:31:28.312-08:00Catching UpHello all. It has been quite a while since I wrote a serious post, and I am sorry for that. I have been running around the last few weeks and it has been hard enough just crafting, without writing about it. First off, I spent a weekend at my sister's for her baby shower. The whole family is very excited for her son's arrival, so a lot of my crafting has been baby-centric for the last few months. My mother came for a visit after that, and we played tourists for the week, visiting art museums in Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, and of course the beach. Then came Thanksgiving which ate a week of my life so easily, and finally, John's parents came to visit at the beginning of December. While all the visits and trips were exciting and fun, the near month of hosting or being away was exhausting, and I feel like like the ground is finally under my feet again and I have space to share what I've been up to.<br />
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I've completed two paintings, this abstract one, and one of the San Diego skyline at night. I haven't been satisfied with the photos of the skyline paintings that I have been able to take, but I do have these two detail shots:<br />
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I am really happy with both paintings, and hope to list them both on my etsy shop when I can get some better photos.<br />
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I have also been enjoying making baby clothes.<br />
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This cute cardigan.<br />
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And this onesie. The great thing about baby clothes is that they are so quick to make that I finish one and can move onto the next quickly.<br />
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I also make a paper mache box and painted it to look like a Super Mario cube.<br />
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I expect that we will be using this as our ring box for the wedding because the <a href="http://griffindrygoods.blogspot.com/2013/10/companion-cube-ring-box.html">companion cube</a> is too big to really put in a pocket.<br />
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Well, now you are pretty much caught up on my recent crafts. What have you been up to since I last posted? Any big Christmas crafts?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-80695853302927659602013-12-13T15:17:00.000-08:002013-12-13T15:17:07.849-08:00OrnamentJohn and I are heading to a tree trimming party this weekend, so I made this ornament.<br />
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It was fun to make and I think I'll make some more for other people.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-28531738791716554972013-10-15T14:45:00.001-07:002013-10-15T14:49:59.557-07:00Exploring My New NeighborhoodThe first comment I got on facebook about our moves was Albert Einstein's quote, "The only thing you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library." The first thing that John and I do when we move to a new state is get a new licence, the second thing I do is go get a library card. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now I have all three.</td></tr>
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Well, I found the library and it is spectacular. It is the Central Library branch for San Diego and it just opened at the end of September. It has nine floors, and with the exception of two floors that house a charter school, all of them have books!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see the library dome here on the far left.</td></tr>
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The dome on the top of the library is 143 feet in diameter and made of 1,500 aluminum panels. It shades a reading room on the 8th floor (with a series of bright turquoise furniture in it that has to be custom) and from the ninth floor, the center of which is open to the dome and sky, you can hear the panels sing. The wind moves through them in a way that makes it seem like the whole building is trying to speak to you.<br />
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With the exception of the ninth floor the library is, as all libraries should be, very quiet. In fact, walking the fourth floor was the first time since we moved to San Diego that I have experienced true silence. I think I will be going there at least once a week for the silence if nothing else.<br />
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Beyond its structural significance, this library is very welcoming. Unlike some other urban libraries I have frequented there is a feeling intention to learn. This may just be the difference between a city where people go to the library to keep warm and one where it is sunny and beautiful every day. <br />
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Something else that I thought was clever about this library is that it has a dedicated teen space. Now I don't mean a YA department, but a space where teens can go, read, spend time together, and feel like the space is theirs. They even have a sign.<br />
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The view of the Coronado Bridge and what I think is one of the Laguna Mountains (correct me if you know I am wrong) is pretty spectacular from the upper levels. I think I took these pictures from the 7th and 9th floors, respectively.<br />
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The library is right on the trolley line and located near the convention center and Petco Park. To learn more about the building and verify my facts, check out the <a href="http://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/about-the-library/projects/newcentral.shtml">Central Library website</a>.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-27930549904299881062013-10-10T14:47:00.002-07:002013-10-10T14:47:29.493-07:00New House OrganizationAs our new home is considerably smaller than our last place, it is really important to keep things tidy. To be successful in this task, I made myself a dry erase board will all my daily and weekly tasks. <br />
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I used a large picture frame, glued some fabric down on the cardboard backer and then added a calendar template I made from paint samples and a couple of lists. <br />
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I separated my cleaning tasks into daily and weekly and then assigned a weekly task to each day of the week. I find that just having these lists up makes me more conscious of clutter and helps me to keep our apartment tidy.<br />
What do you do to keep up with your daily tasks?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-36292898626991682282013-10-08T13:33:00.001-07:002013-10-08T13:33:06.644-07:00Companion Cube Ring BoxSo the wedding plans move forward. Now that we are eight months out it is actually reasonable for me to do all the planning and crafting I have been doing all along. My most recent wedding related craft is a box for our rings. As you may have suspected from previous posts (see <a href="http://griffindrygoods.blogspot.com/2012/12/geeked-out-for-christmas.html">Christmas Decorations</a>) John and I are a bit geeky. We love video games, comic books, science fiction and fantasy in print and on the screen, and of course, tabletop games of all types.<br />
When it came to creating something special to hold our wedding rings, I turned to our geekiness for inspiration. John loves the Portal games and I had a good bit of fun playing the first game before getting a bit overwhelmed by the motion (I have some trouble with queasiness). I love the dialogue and the characters in both games. The AI are especially amusing. Anyway, what better geeky icon that is shaped like a box than the companion cube. You know, this guy:<br />
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Anyway, after a bit of fussing with little pieces of wood, I got a bit frustrated. Looking around for alternatives, I decided to go the Sculpey route.<br />
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I got this little ceramic box at a Michaels and proceeded to cover it with Sculpey.<br />
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I then scraped the engraved lines in the sides of the box that don't join.<br />
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Then came adding the sculptural elements of the box. I found using a template and eyeing it from there to work well.<br />
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Once the piece was completely built, I baked it and started to apply the acrylic paint.<br />
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I took breaks to let the box dry between sections.<br />
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Once it was painted I sealed it with a clear spray coat. While it doesn't have a perfect finish, I love the idea of our rings living inside it for a while.<br />
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I still have to make a little bag for the rings, but there is our companion cube ring box. We probably won't have the heart to incinerate it when we are done with it.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-87187060006728616952013-06-20T11:38:00.001-07:002013-06-20T13:11:59.201-07:00Benefit for Gracelyn This is my niece, Gracelyn:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit is not mine.</td></tr>
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Gracelyn is ten years old and she love to read. She is a beautiful young woman with a contagious smile. Gracelyn has cystic fibrosis. When I first met her, she was six years old and like most children of that age she was excited to share her daily life with me. She asked me to come sit with her as she used her vest. I was amazed at how happy she seemed wearing the vest, using her nebulizer, and watching SpongeBob. I couldn't even hear the show but she was excited to explain to me what was going on. She has a really positive attitude.<br />
The time has come and Gracelyn needs a lung transplant. This means that she will need to be within two hours of the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Her parents, her sister and brother, and she will be making the move down at the end of this month. This is the time when they need our support.<br />
This Sunday there will be a benefit lunch for Gracelyn at Marino's in Fridley, MN. There you can enjoy good food, good company, and a craft fair and silent auction to help support her family. I made a crib quilt for the occasion, so head over there and make a bid.<br />
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If you are not able to make it to Minnesota (I know it is a long haul for a lot of us) you can also add your support through <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/DonateForGracelynBenefit">GoFundMe</a> or you can give at any Wells Fargo under the name Gracelyn VanGorden Fund.<br />
If you want to read more about Gracelyn or watch the spot on local news that was recently aired about her situation, here are a few links.<br />
<a href="http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/22581235/family-of-mn-girl-uproots-to-texas-for-lung-transplant#.UbnIeuroakw.facebook">Fox9</a><br />
<a href="http://focus.mnsun.com/2013/06/19/benefit-scheduled-for-new-brighton-girl-battling-cystic-fibrosis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SunFocus+%28RSS+focus.mnsun.com%29">MNSun</a><br />
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Please keep Gracelyn and her family in your thoughts and prayers.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-34248221695532145682013-06-13T12:31:00.002-07:002013-06-13T12:31:58.477-07:00Drawing Challenge Part 6This 30 day challenge was a really great way to stay inspired to draw every day. Having a prompt made me go outside my comfort zone and draw things I hadn't drawn before. This post represents the last 5 days of the challenge. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the work I have produced during this challenge.<br />
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Day 26, something I don't like. Wasps, enough said.<br />
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Day 27, someone I love. John, that is all.<br />
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Day 28, I felt like drawing a squirrel.<br />
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Day 29, a place I want to go. Glasgow City Chambers, representing the area of Scotland my Grandfather came from.<br />
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And day 30, a banner congratulating myself for completing the thirty days,<br />
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and reminding me to keep drawing.<br />
Now that I have shared all thirty days of drawing with you, my posts should return to normal crafty projects, but before I am done, which drawing was your favorite?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-28726891980100784422013-06-11T08:38:00.001-07:002013-06-11T08:38:38.367-07:00Drawing Challenge Part 5The fifth week I definitely felt like I had a routine for my drawings. After each day I would look at the next day's prompt and just keep it in mind as I went about my daily life.<br />
Day 21 is something I want, a juicer. And I chose a nice one to draw, the <span class="small productTitle"><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hurom-Juicer-HU-100S-Silver-Cookbook/dp/B007V26FCM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1N3IPITYQ5TLG&coliid=I1VP5RABO9IF72">Hurom Slow Juicer Model HU-100S.</a></strong></span><br />
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Day 22 is something I miss, the island from the kitchen in our apartment in Newark. Although living in Newark, NJ wasn't the best place overall, I do miss the counter space I had in the kitchen.<br />
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I got all weird about day 23, something I need. Because I feel like anything I say I need reveals just how spoiled I am, never having lived outside the United States. So I chose water. Everyone needs water, right?<br />
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Day 24 was a couple I saw at the laundromat. I didn't draw them until I got home, so they have the same facial structure as any face I try to draw from memory.<br />
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Day 25 is scenery, specifically Multnomah Falls in Oregon. I went there once with my family and was struck by the magnitude of it.<span><br /></span><br />
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I should post my next and last drawing installment Thursday. Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-20067687775076096212013-06-06T07:47:00.000-07:002013-06-06T07:47:10.023-07:00Drawing Challenge, Part 4I had a really great time doing this week of drawings. I got to choose subjects that were really interesting for me to draw and things I had been trying to figure out in my head how to draw a lot recently. So with no further ado:<br />
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Day 16 was inspiration and since I had been looking at the huge (and I mean for the east coast in an apartment complex) trees in our neighborhood recently and trying to figure out how to draw or paint them, I went for the tree I can see out my window.<br />
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Day 17 was my favorite plant, one of my tomato plants. I got the composition off so it is mostly the pot, but you get the idea.<br />
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Day 18 was just a doodle. As you can see I kind of let it get out of control and it covered the whole page. It was actually slightly too big for the scanner bed, so about a half inch is missing off the bottom. I like the bottles in the bottom left and on the right above the cloud, so I think I may be drawing more bottles in the future.<br />
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Day 19 was something new. I took a long time figuring out what that meant, a new object, or something I haven't drawn before? I went for something I have never drawn before.<br />
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Day 20 was something orange and my favorite orange thing is carrots. I love carrots! <br />
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I am having a great time with this. I am currently in my last week of drawings so expect this all to wrap up in the next two posts. Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-50677800574704199622013-05-29T13:57:00.001-07:002013-05-29T13:57:30.376-07:00Drawing Challenge Part 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For your viewing pleasure, the next five days of the challenge.<br />
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Day 11 is a turning point in my life, and I chose moving back to Ohio from Connecticut after graduating from college. It was a quick decision that really affected my life from that point on.<br />
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Day 12 is my most recent accomplishment, a dress I had just finished making.<br />
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Day 13 was a comic. I think the intention was a comic strip, but I went another direction.<br />
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Day 14 was my favorite of this week. It was my favorite fairy tale and I chose <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Goose">The Golden Goose </a>from Grimm's. I chose to illustrate the princess who had never laughed having a good chuckle.<br />
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Day 15 was a family portrait and I went with a theoretical future family. Myself and John of course in our little house with our beagle. I wanted to draw in the style of a children's family portrait with the boxy house and the tree in the front yard.<br />
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Day 15 marks halfway through the challenge and halfway through these posts. I hope you are enjoying them.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-84289987349622772862013-05-21T07:23:00.004-07:002013-05-21T07:24:55.039-07:0030 Day Drawing Challenge part 2Here is the next week of drawings.<br />
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Meg Murray from <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i>. I really identified with this character growing up and always felt that here description was very much the way I saw myself. I gave her early nineties glasses because that is when I first read the book and so she has always looked like this in my mind.<br />
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Day seven was illustrate your favorite word, which is a weird assignment because I love language. I don't really have a favorite word, but this one works.<br />
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My favorite animated character has to be Superman and I chose to draw him the way he was drawn in The New Batman/Superman Adventures, that started to air when I was eleven. It was a half hour show with two stories, one about Batman and one about Superman. It was one of my favorite Saturday morning treats.<br />
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My favorite television show ended up being a bit of a silly choice. I chose <i>The Great British Spelling Bee</i>, because I had been recently inspired by it. In retrospect it should have been <i>Doctor Who</i>. <br />
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And day ten was favorite candy. This is vegan chocolate covered nougat from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesiderioChocolates">Desiderio Chocolates </a>on etsy. You should try it, it's amazing.
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<br />Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-21994395617361145412013-05-14T08:23:00.000-07:002013-05-21T07:24:45.709-07:0030 Day Drawing Challenge part 1Remember the Challenge I shared with you in t<a href="http://griffindrygoods.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-current-projects.html">his post</a>?<br />
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(Credit to <a href="http://blog.allisonlehman.com/">Be Up & Doing</a>, a very cool blog.)<br />
Well, I promised to share my drawings, and today I have days 1 through 5.<br />
Day One is me. <br />
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Day Two is a polar bear. Because since I was five and my older sister got me a stuffed one, they have been my favorite.<br />
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Day three is potatoes, because is there a better food?<br />
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Day four is my favorite place, sappy but self explanatory.<br />
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And day five is my best friend of 25 years, Camille who writes <a href="http://glutenfreesoyfreevegan.wordpress.com/">Gluten Free Soy Free Vegan</a>.<br />
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The next five drawings are coming soon, so keep your eyes out for them.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-30470900640921454372013-05-11T13:50:00.003-07:002013-05-11T13:50:49.350-07:00Handmade SkirtWhen I was a kid, I made a few pieces of doll clothing from patterns as
well as making at least one dress with the assistance of my mother.
After that, most of the sewing I did were modifications of garments I
already owned, or making home-goods like pillows, tablecloths, napkins,
quilts, and stuffed animals. I hemmed pants or altered the neckline of
shirts. I have never sewn an item of clothing all by myself, that is
until this week. I thought I should start with something simple, so I
found this pattern from <a href="http://fabric.com/">fabric.com</a> for a very simple 8 paneled skirt. I
figured that as long as all I had to do was cut the panels, sew them
together, hem the skirt, and insert the elastic waist, that would give
me a good idea of if I was cut out to make more complicated garments.<br />
I
got some lovely red cotton crepe and started work. Once I had cut
the eight panels I realized that the fabric was very sheer. Being me, I
decided to modify the patten, and not in a small way. I decided to
make a short underskirt to make the skirt a bit more modest.<br />
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I ended up
cutting the pattern and cutting eight more panels.
I joined the panels at the edges and hemmed the bottoms of both the
under and over skirt. I then inserted the underskirt into the
over-skirt with the seams facing one another. This had the somewhat
unintended consequence of making the inside of the skirt tidier.<br />
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I then
followed the pattern instructions, folding over the top of the skirt
and creating a sheath for the elastic by stitching almost all the way
around the top. Next time I will try to create this sheath while also
folding under the raw edge of the fabric. As it is, the inside of the
waistband has an unfinished edge that I finished with zigzag shears so
it won't unravel. The instructions called to pull the elastic through
using a large safety pin. I couldn't find one (until, typically, 20
minutes after I needed it) so I used a paper clip. I just had to
carefully push the end through between the strands of elastic. At this
point, the pattern instructed to "join the elastic", since it was no
more specific, I consulted the internet and found some advise saying to
zigzag stitch the two ends to a piece of ribbon, so that doubling it
doesn't create extra bulk. I did this, pulled the ends up into the
skirt and sewed closed the opening, being careful not to catch the
elastic in this seam.<br />
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All that was left was to trim the rough edges and
any stray threads I missed earlier.<br />
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It think it came out very well.
What do you think?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-101528079650784182013-05-05T18:00:00.001-07:002013-05-05T18:00:03.154-07:00My current projectsThis morning, I shared with some friends the reasons that I have not been posting here much in the last month and I realized I should be sharing this with you. I am particularly bad at keeping up with posting when I have started things but have no finished product to show. Right now I am working on a few things that I thought I would share. Think of it as a mini internet roundup with status updates about my own projects mixed in. <br />
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The first thing I want to share with you all is this amazing British television show that I heard about from the blog<a href="http://thefeistyredhead.blogspot.com/"> The Feisty Redhead</a>. If you read my blog and like my posts about sewing, you will love the Feisty Redhead. The blogger, Ashley, is a crafter who used to work for Martha Stewart and now writes posts for a few online publications. She is always making interesting projects and sharing not only the results, but also detailed tutorials about how to make the items she creates. I am an avid reader of her blog and recently she mentioned the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0165nj8">Great British Sewing Bee</a>. She found episodes of it on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8te1WAO20I&list=PLdPQHWnWlCxe_FqZpczwhZFUkNgLocq8q">YouTube</a> and I followed suit. The show is about amateur sewers making clothing. Each episode has a cute tutorial on how to make something simple and some of the finished garments that the contestants turn out are truly spectacular. I have always wanted to do more sewing of my own clothing, and this show inspired me to find a few simple patterns and get started. I should have a few finished projects to show off soon.<br /><br />Next up is <a href="http://750words.com/">750words.com</a> This website provides its users with space to write every day. There are challenges to complete every day of a month, write certain numbers of words, and a feature for looking at your most commonly used words and some data about your topics for each day and eternity. The nice thing about it is that it allows you to journal and it gives you little rewards every day (even if it is just a completed day on the calendar) without the need to share with the world what you are writing. I have been writing on the site on and off for over a year but I am back on and trying to write every day. 750 words lets me write about my life, write about my beliefs, plan for future creative writing projects, or creatively write. It gives me an accomplish-able goal of 750 words every day and getting the daily emails reminds me not only to write, but that I want to.<br /><br />The last thing I have to share with you today is a drawing challenge. I found a pin on pinterest of this graphic. <br />
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After some serious searching (come on guys, make sure the link leads somewhere before your repin) I found <a href="http://blog.allisonlehman.com/2011/04/30-day-drawing-challenge/">the original source</a>. I have taken it on and have just finished day 5. The challenge will take me more than 30 days because I am taking the weekends off so I can spend time with John and catch up with other creative endeavors. I have been having fun doing quick sketches every day and having the chance to challenge myself with different subjects. I plan on sharing the results 5 drawings a time in future posts, so look forward to that.<br /><br />I am sorry if you have been looking for new posts regularly and I have let you down. I will continue to try to post something fairly regularly, even if I don't have a finished product to share. Thanks for reading.Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-81606312762871297832013-04-23T07:47:00.000-07:002013-04-23T07:47:03.098-07:00My Internet Favorites for April 23I think we all probably have a problem with internet drift these days. There are so many ways to share the things we love and look at the things others love that, personally, I could spend hours just drifting on the web. Today I thought I would share some of my recent favorites and hope that by doing this regularly, I can get my drifting under control.<br />
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First up is <a href="http://www.themonsterengine.com/">The Monster Engine</a>. This is a website by Dave Devries sharing his project to make children's drawings into realistic pieces of art. If you haven't checked it out, you should head over there.<br />
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Cool, right?<br />
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The next one doesn't need any description, because you can just watch the YouTube video here:<br />
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Next is some gardening tips about growing basil. I haven't tried them yet, but I am restarting my basil plants and plan on using these tips in the next few months.<br />
<a href="http://offbeathome.com/2012/08/how-to-grow-basil">http://offbeathome.com/2012/08/how-to-grow-basil</a><br />
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My fourth favorite this week is <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/SnoogsAndWilde?ref=pr_faveshops">Snoogs and Wilde</a>, an etsy shop that sells cards and other stationary with original art featured. Check out this wolf birthday card!<br />
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How awesome is that?<br />
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And last, a piece of jewelry I have been drooling over.<br />
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It is from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/109457231/sale-mini-telescope-mini-working?ref=shop_home_active">BANJOandBONE</a> on etsy. How unique, right?<br />
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What are your favorite internet finds? And how do you control the urge to drift?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-76625092545760937482013-04-19T15:14:00.000-07:002013-04-19T15:14:15.615-07:00Today's craftingI have been sewing all day, that and reorganizing my scrap stash. I have way too much fabric at this point, and I am not sure how I am going to use it all. Anyway, I made a pillow case to fit an 18" throw pillow for my etsy shop. I plan on listing it tomorrow, but I thought I would preview it here first.<br />
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<br />Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-77546201752953588682013-04-15T10:30:00.001-07:002013-04-15T10:30:39.854-07:00Work in Progress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am working on another wedding invitation painting. Anyone recognize this background? Can you guess who we will be masquerading as this time?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-39828249350952521842013-04-09T06:35:00.001-07:002013-04-09T06:35:39.662-07:00Stuffed DinoI made a prototype stuffed dino. Further versions may be a bit more simple. I pieced and hand stitched each panel. I feel like I made a fearsome predator a bit over cute. Anyway, the pictures say it all.<br />
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And while it was in progress:<br />
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<br />Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2613769659802156989.post-43229623359683828602013-03-31T10:20:00.000-07:002013-03-31T10:20:41.083-07:00Ukrainian Egg Dying 5th and final partHappy Easter! (to those of you who celebrate the holiday, otherwise happy spring day.) The final two eggs are most appropriate to this day. During the annual Easter egg hunt at the church I grew up in, there were always three special eggs. If you found those, you could trade them in for a big prize, a chocolate rabbit or a coconut lamb cake. When I was a kid, my mother used to make these eggs, writing the word Alleluia on them in latin, greek, and hebrew. When I made my version to give as a gift to my new parish, I decided to go with latin, arabic, and hebrew. A disclaimer is needed here: I don't nor have I ever written or spoken any of these languages. I got them off the internet so I apologize if they are terribly recreated here.<br />
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My mother created a beautiful egg also celebrating this season.<br />
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I love how she made the purple mottled looking. This has been my Holy Egg Week. I hope you enjoyed it. What are you doing to celebrate the season?Hungry Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17177941603226877214noreply@blogger.com0