The First Weekly Doodle! (408)

This week I read a post on Kerry's blog about blogging. Very meta, right? It made me realize that whether or it's a blog post, or a workout, or a painting, I have the hardest time with actually starting things. So I made this doodle. (It's on a Post-It note. No judging.) I plan to keep having weekly doodle posts, as well as reminding myself not to stress so much about starting new things. Because, frankly, I often end up loving them once I'm in.

Doodle from week #408

Don't believe me? Fine. Here's a list.

1999: Marching band - Definitely changed my life for the awesomer (yes that's a word).
2003: Varsity tennis - I sucked at it, but we had a good time regardless.
2005: Intramural indoor soccer - You can bounce the ball off the walls? Fun!
2007: Driving - I had my license, but didn't start liking to drive until I bought my own car.
2010: Guacamole - I'm eternally grateful to Justin for convincing me to try this wonder-food.
2012: Conventions/Cosplay: Made steampunk outfits and went to MARCON and had a blast.
2014: Ultimate frisbee: I don't love it yet, but it's growing on me and based on past precedent, I just might someday. ;)

Have you ever been reluctant to try something and ended up loving it? Let me know in the comments!

DIY: Fangirl T-shirts

Once upon a time, there was a semi-angsty college kid who had finally begun to develop her own taste in music. One of the very first albums she fell hard for was Fall Out Boy's "From Under The Cork Tree" sometime during her sophomore/junior year of college. As you may have guessed, that college kid was me and that love continues to this day. (Fun fact: if you Google my name and Fall Out Boy, you'll find the article where I was randomly called by my college newspaper while listening to that album.)

As you know (or don't know because you don't care) Fall Out Boy went on hiatus in 2009 and I was sad that I never got to see them in concert. But then they got back together last year AND were coming to Columbus. So much fangirling! Luckily for me, in the meantime I had rekindled some college friendships, one of which was just as excited about the Fall Out Boy reunion as me. Somewhere in the midst of totally freaking out about the new album, we decided to make our own FOB t-shirts to wear to the concert.

I guesstimated how big these should be and free-handed them onto freezer paper.

Using much research (read: Pinterest) we decided to try both the freezer-paper/spray-with-bleach as well as the write-with-a-bleach-pen techniques. We wrote lyrics from The Phoenix "change you like a remix" and "raise you like a phoenix" on the fronts of our shirts, and used the freezer paper to make bigger letters for the album/tour name on the backs.

This is my pal Bre, getting ready to iron her letters down.

As it turns out, writing with bleach pens is not something I would recommend if you like precision. The flow is hard to control and unless you use VERRRY thin lines, your words will bleed together. Or where your letters cross back over themselves, like in my "k" below. Or if it globs out too fast, because there is no undoing bleach. We also did a little spraying on the front to make it look similar to the backs.

Cursive was maybe not the best choice, but I have to say I still like it even with the blurs.

Ironing on the freezer paper actually worked pretty well. If you were doing something really intricate, it might blur your lines a bit, but with our big block letters, the edges came out surprisingly crisp. However, I would also recommend going easy on the bleach spraying. At first, it will look like it's not doing anything, but it will eventually get there so be patient. If you want to bleach it all around, get close and spray right at the shirt. If you want a more splattered look, stay back a little ways and sort of spray over the shirt so the bleach falls like a nice, toxic rain.

Here they are, after the bleach did its job and we took off the letters.

Once the bleach had done as much work as we wanted it to, we carefully peeled off the letters and rinse our shirts in cold water in the sink to get most of the extra bleach off. Then we just washed them like normal (but not with anything else you might not want residual bleach on, obviously.) And then after all that, we ended up running late the day of the concert, so Bre didn't have time to change into her shirt, and I forgot to take a picture of me wearing mine, so I got you this shot from the concert instead. It was so awesome: they played most of my favorite songs from all their albums, and I could not be happier that I got to go.

So fun. So loud. So much sitting in the parking garage after. So worth it.

These shirts were actually pretty fun to make, and as soon as I have another reason to make a t-shirt, you can bet I will be doing this again. I knew that my black shirt would bleach to that rusty color, but I actually like that Bre's fuchsia shirt went pink with bleach, so I'll probably experiment with other colors too. So what do you guys think? Want to DIY some sweet band t-shirts? 

DIY: Rinse & Scrubs

Happy New Year! (Is it too late to say that? Happy Current Year then.)

This week/weekend I spent a lot of time cleaning my kitchen and simultaneously messing it up some more. It's a fun game I like to call "Never-ending Dishes" and it's not really that fun. The main reason for this was preparations for my oldest nephew's birthday cake (another story for another post), but while I was at it, I decided to make some things I've been seeing around Pinterest.

The recipes I chose were this hair rinse with rosemary and ACV, this salt scrub inspired by LUSH Ocean Salt, and this lip scrub inspired by LUSH Mint Julips. The rinse I made according to the recipe and I've only used it once, but it did make my hair smell good all day. So the jury is still out on that one. I changed a lot of things in the scrubs though, so here are my altered versions.

Citrusy Salt Scrub
1/2 c. fine sea salt
1 1/2 T. lime-infused vodka
1/4 to 1/2 c. coconut oil, melted
10 drops Lemon essential oil

Salt scrub ingredients! (And reusing an empty LUSH container.)

You basically mix all these things together to a consistency you like, so it's pretty simple. I did infuse the lime vodka myself (1/2 a lime, zested and chopped plus 3 T. vodka, mix and let sit for three days then strain), but you could probably sub in 1:1 citrus juice to vodka, or even all juice if you don't have vodka. If I made it again I would add some orange or grapefruit zest to the scrub itself for more citrusy goodness. (Citrusy is too a word.)

The original recipe calls this a face scrub, but I used it on my feet and it seemed pretty rough to me, so I probably wouldn't use it on my face. But hey, I'm a sensitive little flower. I usually like scrubs for shaving my legs, so we'll see how that works. If it's still too harsh, I'll give it to someone else and just use the rest of my sea salt for something else. Like French fries.

Warm Vanilla Lip Scrub
1 T. vanilla sugar
1/2 t. honey
1 to 2 T. coconut oil, melted
Dash of cinnamon

Once again, mix everything until you have a nice consistency and pack it into little containers. I've seen other recipes for this that call for castor sugar (which is white sugar ground more finely) so I put my sugar in the littlest cup for my Magic Bullet and blitzed it a couple times first. And if you don't have/don't want to buy vanilla sugar, you can use regular sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mine will just look fancier than yours because of the cute little vanilla seeds in there. #opulenceclub

Fancypants sugar scrub! (And reusing more empty LUSH containers!)

I was going to make the mint version in the original post, but then I opened the cupboard and my vanilla sugar was staring at me. In my world, vanilla-cinnamon-honey is in the top three best flavor combinations of all time, so obviously I'm in love with this stuff. Also, it works like magic. My lips were so, so chapped that day but then I used this, licked off the rest (because it's completely edible and totally delicious), and put on the lip balm my sister made me for Christmas. It was the first time I hadn't been mad at my lips in about a week. Since our predicted high temperatures for the next couple days are in the single digits, I'm sure I'll be getting more use out of it soon. That is, if I don't just eat it.

The 2014 Pinterest Success Score (which is a thing I just made up) is now 1 okay, 1 undecided, and 1 love-it-so-much-I-would-marry-it, so I'm declaring this an overall Pinterest-win. I'm planning on keeping that up this year. What about you guys, make anything good from Pinterest lately?

Food: Paleo Zuppa Toscana

I made soup for dinner last night. I spent the long, holiday weekend helping my parents move my baby brother across a few states for his new big-kid job. By the time I got home Monday afternoon, I was ready to crash, but knew I'd wake up at 3am and not be able to sleep anymore. So, I made soup. I have several easy soup recipes in my brain-storage because most soup is easy and also I love it. Here's one of my favorites, inspired by The Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana with some changes from yours truly. It's paleo if you're alright with dairy, but you could probably sub in coconut milk if you prefer. As long as you make it, because it's delicious. Warm, creamy, savory, a little spicy and a little sweet. So good.

Some soup I made. And Instagram'd.

Paleo Zuppa Toscana
1 lb Italian sausage
1 onion (Mine was white, but any onion will work.)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp of thyme
2 cups diced butternut squash (I got the pre-cut kind in the bag. [Lazy.])
1 bunch of kale
6 cups of broth (I used one carton chicken and one can of beef. It's what I had, don't judge.)
1/2 cup half-and-half (This is a guess; I didn't measure it. I also I usually use heavy cream instead.)

Put your soup pan on the stove. Turn heat to medium. Add your sausage, breaking it up as it cooks. I leave mine in larger pieces that seem like they'll fit on a spoon with some of their friends. (Or you could cook then dice links of sausage if that's what you like. I'm not the boss of you.) While your sausage is cooking, open a beer. (That's just for you, not the recipe.) Also, chop your onion in to similar friendly pieces and mince your garlic. Wash your hands if that smell bothers you, vampire. Check on the sausage. If the sausage is browned, add the onions and garlic. (If not, drink some more beer.) After the aromatics are in, add your seasonings. I guessed at those measurements, but obviously use as much or little as you like, especially of the red pepper flakes. When the onion starts getting transparent, add the squash. Let it cook for a few minutes while you remove the stems from your kale, chop it, wash it thoroughly, and let it drain (I use my salad spinner). When the squash starts to get soft, add the broth. Season it some more if it seems like it needs it. Add the kale. Bring it to a boil, then turn it down and let it cook until you like the texture of the kale. I like mine kind of crunchy still, so I pretty much turned it off after the boil. Stir in your half-and-half and nom away!

ReFashion I: Vintage Wool Coat

You all know I love thrift stores, but part of their nature is that you might find something you like but it doesn't fit you. Or you would like it more if it was slightly different. Well, a while ago, I discovered ReFashionista.net and was majorly inspired. Since I don't own a sewing machine or dress form, I have been slow to start refashioning things (although I do have a small to-do pile in my closet).

Fast forward to one of the many thrift store trolling days I have with my sister, and me finding a lovely red, vintage wool coat that fits me perfectly! However, I am kind of a shorty and this coat was almost floor-length. TOO MUCH RED! Also, shoulder pads = ew. But it was half-price day and I loved it, so $2.50 coat came home with me.

The alterations were pretty easy. The coat has visible stitches anyway, so that made it pretty easy for me to hand-sew, since I just had to keep mine looking about the same, and now having to worry about the thread being seen.

My room was messy and my cell phone was old!

So long story short: I made a long coat short! And ripped out the shoulder pads, obviously. With the length hacked down, it is much more flattering on my short frame. I would call ReFashion I a success! Apologies for the crap pictures; I'll have to remember to haul out the tripod next time!

Makeover May 2013

Hey friends! May 2013 starts in a little over a week. Why am I pointing out the obvious, you ask? Because I have big plans for May. I'm calling it Makeover May and here is what I'm making over:

1. My Eating
Why? I went 70/30 paleo for a while about a year ago and it worked well, but then I got mono or something and fell off the wagon. Since then, I've only been around 50/50 paleo or less. And I'm sick of looking in the mirror and thinking "meh" about how I look. I've done quite a bit of reading about being paleo/primal, and have even been attending an on-going lecture series called, My Boyfriend Is A Personal Trainer And Talks About It A Lot.
How? I'm doing a Whole30. Strict paleo, 30 days, no cheating. I've already identified what will be the hardest for me (caffeine and "social eating"), and have started working on ways to avoid the temptation. For example, Justin is doing it with me, because I made him promise not to try to talk me into getting pizza on weekends because I know I'll cave. Who doesn't cave for pizza?

2. My Spending
Why? I've been noticing lately how many bags I carry into my apartment. Maybe it's because they feel heavier when you have to walk up 20 stairs, or maybe it's because I've just accumulated a lot of stuff. Either way, I know I buy more stuff than I actually need. I bought three bottles of nail polish in the last two weeks; obviously not because I needed it.
How? Well, obviously, I'm just not going to buy unnecessary stuff. I'm still going to pay my bills and go to the doctor if I get sick, but I'm definitely not buying clothes or cosmetics. This applies to junk food like chips and alcohol too, but since I'll already be not-eating that stuff on the Whole30, I obviously won't be spending money on it.

3. My Downtime
Why? I do a lot of pointless sitting. I sit all day at work, and it seems like the minute I sit on the couch to eat dinner at home, I am glued there for the rest of the evening. I don't have cable or anything, but I rent a lot of movies from the library and have the TV on pretty much all the time. I love to read, but I think I've only read one book so far this year. Also, I have a hard time getting up early because I stay up too late, but I'm staying up late just to watch movies I literally have memorized. Lame.
How? Well, for starters, I'll have more free time from not aimlessly wandering around Target or Walmart. I've got my "to read" list split based on which library branch has which books, so I know what to look for when I'm there. I'm going to go for more walks, play with my nephews, basically anything that isn't just sitting in front of the TV like a potato every day. And if I do want to watch a movie, I'm going to do something else at the same time, like finish some of those previously-mentioned craft projects!

What does all this have to do with you? Well, technically, nothing. Unless of course, you'd be interested in joining me in this challenge. :) I am a big believer in having other people to help keep you on track, because I know I do better that way. That is why I'm putting this out there; because I know it's not going to be easy for me, so I'd appreciate some help staying accountable. If you want to follow along, I'll be attempting to share at least one aspect of the challenge every day via Twitter, either what I'm cooking, reading, or doing in my free time.

So you have about a week to decide: are you going to join me and Makeover May? If your answer is yes, I definitely want to know what you want to makeover! Your basement? Your bad habits? Your skin-care regimen? Tell me in the comments and follow me on Twitter for my #makeovermay updates, starting bright and early on May 1st!

How Some Colorful Cupcakes Came To Be

Here is the twelve step process that lead to the creation of my Color Run Inspired Cupcakes.

1. Sign up for The Color Run with a bunch of your girlfriends from college and come up with a catchy name for your team.

2. Decide you're staying with Vickie for the after-party Breanna and Matt are having.

3. Instantly feel obligated to bake something for said party because that's how you roll.

4. Be wandering around Hobby Lobby one day and find some pretty colored sugars.

5. Realize it would be adorable to make cupcakes that look like they've been through The Color Run.

6. Make Love & Olive Oil's Fruit-Filled Lemony Cupcakes (and raspberry filling)

7. Make Smitten Kitchen's Cream Cheese Frosting (because it's white like your Color Run shirts and it's the best cream cheese frosting you've ever had and you should know because you're a cream cheese frosting connoisseur)

8. Cut little cones out of your cupcakes to make room for the raspberry filling. (ooh pictures!)

9. Fill cupcakes and replace tiny hats.

10. Frost and decorate by dumping random amounts of different colored sugars on top.

11. Refrain from eating one right away and take to party where everyone will love them, even people who claim to not usually like lemon-flavored things.

12. Don't forget to actually participate in The Color Run!

Lyndsey, Lexie, and moi!

Design: Coffee

If coffee ever becomes self-aware, bands together and decides to take advertising into its own tiny bean-hands, I've got its first campaign covered. I hope coffee remembers that I've been there with it through hot and cold brews, from my first gas station 'cappuccino' to the caramel brevé I ordered this morning from my favorite coffee shop, usually with cream and sugar but even the one time when I was little that my grandma made my brother and I try it black to teach us some kind of lesson.

My sweet fancy graphics were done as Illustrator practice, and the slogan comes from something my cousin said on one of those facebook surveys that used to be popular waaay back about a year ago. Thanks for the inspiration, Danelle!

But really, who that loves coffee would ever argue with this sentiment? I say no one.

Sketch: Baby Epbot

I randomly drew this just now. I was reading Epbot earlier and reloading repeatedly to see all the lovely, supportive comments on her most recent post. So I drew this baby version of her robot. That follows logically, right? Does it sounds conceited if I say I think he's really cute? Because I think he's really cute. And it's my first ever fan art. Unless you count making a Pikachu sweatshirt for Halloween.

Disclaimer: Epbot Robot belongs to Jen Yates. I just drew this wee version.

- - - - - THIS JUST IN! - - - - -

I posted this on the Epbot facebook page and Jen replied!

I about had a heart attack.
But! I don't have a scanner. So, I traced a picture of him in Illustrator. Now, he's in color. 

- - - - - AND THEN! - - - - -

She sent me an email! You can't see me smiling like a total weirdo, but I am.
Thanks for making me feel famous-on-the-internet for a second, Jen!

- - - - -
 
EDIT: Baby 'Bot now can be printed on t-shirts. :)

Design: Invisible

This was another prompted piece; this time the word was "invisible." I also wanted to experiment with text as a texture, and this is the result.

Food: Monstrosity Brownies

I have mentioned before my love of Pinterest. And obviously, I love to cook and bake. And even more obviously, I love chocolate, because only total weirdies don't like chocolate. So when I saw a picture of brownie batter being poured over chocolate chip cookie dough that had been covered with Oreo cookies, you know I had to make that crap ASAP.

Crappy cellphone picture of what I like to call Monstrosity Brownies.

And they were glorious. I had friends over for dinner and BJ, who notoriously doesn't like sweets even said he liked them. So, there you go. I also brought some in for my dad and my co-workers Jonathan and Joseph this morning, just to spread the love... or the calories... or the sickness. Whichever you prefer.

The original recipe/madness is here, but I didn't follow it exactly. I just used the concept, so here's my altered recipe. Since it was just a ridiculous experiment, I bought pre-fab ingredients. No snooty face. Every rule has an exception, right?

Monstrosity Brownies (makes 16)
- 1 tube of pre-made cookie dough (mine: Great Value Chocolate Chip)
- 1 package of chocolate sandwich cookies (mine: Double-Stuf Oreos)
- 1 box of brownie mix (mine: Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge, I think)
- And whatever your brownie mix calls for, i.e. water, oil and eggs.
- Square baking pan (9x9)

Line pan with aluminum foil, with enough over hang to use for handles later.
Mash cookie dough into one layer in the bottom of the pan.
Line Oreos up across cookie dough. My pan held 16. (If they are evenly spaced, you will have nice guidelines to cut by later.)
Make brownie mix according to package instructions, pour over cookie layers. I had to use a spatula to spread it around, then I tapped the pan on the counter a few times to be sure it filled in the spaces between the Oreos.
Bake at 350F (ish) for 40 minutes (ish) until a toothpick inserted near the center (but try to miss the Oreos) comes out clean. Mine were still kind of gooey, but I like them that way.
Let cool, or mostly-cool before cutting (serrated knife, clean after every cut), serving, eating and going into a well-deserved sugar coma.

I might do it again in the future with different flavors of cookie dough and/or brownie mix. And if they ever bring back the peanut butter, or even better coffee-flavored Oreos, I will be all over that.

P.S. Elsewhere on the internet, I've also heard them called "Slutty Brownies" which is hilarious.

Design: Alphabet Posters

I saw something like this online (Pinterest: the source of a million ideas I might never get around to) and made my own version for my nephews' rooms. They're 24x32 inch posters that we printed in-house at work and my sister-in-law framed and hung up. 

Alphabet posters for Q&E (08.18.11)

Ironically, I'm going to pin that image to Pinterest now, so it shows up on the board my sister-in-law made for the kids' rooms. Ha!

In the spirit of Link With Love, you can find the poster that inspired my design here. Oh Pinterest and Etsy, two of my biggest time-wasting sites in one post

Nurturing Creativity & Be Bulletproof: idea2

For idea two, we were supposed to write down our "bullets" (things that have hurt us in the past, our fears, anything that has affected our creativity in a negative way) and then destroy them. Even though I've been told that before about bad things, I've never really bought that method. But I did it anyway. I grabbed some scrap paper the printer messed up and a red pen and ended up almost filling the page with things that have been said to me (well-meaning or not-so-much), about me, about my art, and what scares me when it comes to "being an artist." When I was done, I took a black sharpie to the paper, not looking at the words, not reading them again and just randomly scribbled on it. Then I got up, walked to the bathroom, and tore up the paper. Strips, then smaller strips, then pieces, all the while saying to myself, "I'm bulletproof. It doesn't matter what they think if you like it. It is what it's supposed to be." When I decided the pieces were small enough, I threw some in the trash, I sprinkled a handful into the toilet, and put the rest on a paper towel. Then I thought they could use some soap; I was going to get them wet to destroy the paper. So I wadded up the paper towel and torn up bullets and ran them under the sink. And a funny thing happened. The paper towel began to turn red from the ink I wrote the bullets in. And the more I got it wet, the less red came out of my hands. I was washing the bullets away. By the time there were no more suds coming from the towel, it was a light pink color all over, rather than white with vicious red spots. I was kind of amazed that it felt good. I even unwrapped the paper pieces and they were the same pink color. All you could really see was the black sharpie lines and some faded shapes that might have once been letters. I felt clean. They were gone -- really gone. You never see pain wash off your heart. But if you ever need to, this is the method I would recommend. And I wouldn't have found it without this class. Thanks Kal, so much. Two ideas in and it's already beyond worth the monetary cost.