Welcome Home

Garage Sale Season. Need I say more?

It's that time in Texas. Every neighborhood has decided that this weekend is THE weekend to have a huge garage sale. So, naturally I am drawn to old wooden tables, wire carts, strange plant holders, old knick-knacs and all kinds of rubbish. But sometimes the best things are right at home.

My mom produced this strange welcome to our home slate sign and showed it to me. I guess I don't understand, but apparently pineapples are common on welcome signs. Not sure why. I took one look and knew it had to be mine... with modifications.

I present: The New-and-Improved Welcome to our Home Sign.

A close up in case you cant see how I changed it...

I took one look at that pineapple and went "who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!" I felt like Doodlebob was an excellent choice given the little doodly flowers around the sides. Silliness, but it fits me, my home and my life.

One other thing to note: I changed my signature... :)

Keep smiling. Stay young at heart. Be happy.

Baby Shower

Tis the season I guess for friends to have babies... To be fair I have gone to A LOT of weddings last year.

A friend requested a drawing of a baby monkey for her shower invites. She is going with monkeys as her theme since she is waiting to find out the sex at birth. So... from a quick sketch...
to a cleaned up and painted photoshop cutie!

In Progress

So, I am in a new game being run by a friend of mine called Dark Heresy. Kind of a gritty system in a dystopian future that reminds me of the Necromonger society from the Chronicles of Riddick movie. Basically it is like any other RPG, we have a group come together to figure out something weird. I play a Tech-Priest. Basically it is a religion that worships the gods/spirits of the machines. These machines that exist are from the past and we have lost the technology to make them new, but these tech-priests have learned and passed on enough to keep what tech the universe has up and running. These people become more and more machine as they move up the ranks in their faith. It really is quite interesting. Certainly darker than the D&D games I have been in the past. With a new character with such striking features and characteristics I could not help myself. So here is a sneak peak of what I've got so far.

After laying down a collage of images pulled from the internet (e.g. the borg queen, hands, a golden eagle, an aquilla logo, the logo of the adeptus mechanicus, etc) I have created layers over the collage and begin blocking out color and creating layers for the details and wires and things that will be needed to make this character really look cool. This is all in Photoshop of course and it is roughly twice the size of what it should be when finished so that maybe it will look really good when it is done.

New beginnings

So. Change is good. Especially when I have been looking forward to it for a long time. Finally I am Mrs. Angela Skees! October has always been a good month, what with it finally cooling off in Texas, the smell of cinnamon pine cones in every craft store and, of course, Halloween. But now, I have another addition to the list; my wedding anniversary. And I couldn't be happier.

Here's to a fuller life and new inspirations.

Photoshop Fun

So my fiance is off on vacation, but sends me photos of his hotel and a note which says that the place reminds him of the bath house from Spirited Away. After a suggestion or two, I found a few images I could work with and added some characters into his images. The result: Awesome.

Just in Time

So, Have you seen the TV show on Nickelodeon called Avatar: The Last Airbender?
Yes? Wonderful!!! Aren't you excited to see the movie Last Airbender? Cause I am!
No? What is wrong with you! Go see it all now!!!

Arguably the best show on Nick when it came out, and still, it is a fantastic series following a few main characters, the most prominent of which is Aang, the avatar and last airbender mentioned in the title. His love interest from early on is Katara who sports this lovely hand carved necklace. So I decided to make one of my own. I know you can get pretty good replicas in resin from a few places on the internet, but I'm not that crafty. Instead I opted for paint.









On the reverse side? The White Lotus Pai Sho tile from Uncle Iroh's set. Pai Sho? It's a fictional game, I think, that they play in the Avatar TV series. Seems to be kind of like chess I would think. Not to mention there is a great little subtle plot line around the White Lotus. Anyway, its just in time for the movie and I can't wait to show it off. Along with my Appa hat!

Conventions

So, its that time of year again. A-kon was just a few short weekends ago, before that Scarborough Faire, and soon Gen-con. So, for the upcoming conventions I felt that I needed to create something that says... "Hello World. I'm a crafty nerd and I play pokemon!" Behold, the pokewalker pins. They serve a dual purpose, a) I have some extras to sell and b) they announce that I have a pokewalker and that people with one should link with me! I made them out of a cardboard backing and four colors of felt. The faces and eyes are fabric paint.




Also. I have modified the pipe fox with two very important additions. Safety Pins. Now he is a poseable, wearable subtle way to announce to the world that I like xxxHolic. I had very many compliments at A-kon and three offers to buy him! Perhaps once I have a house and a craft room I can go into production, as it seems there is a demand...