I have several ongoing series on my blog. Well, I have several folders of ongoing blog series in my blog folder. I haven’t actually updated any of them in far too long. So let’s update one now.
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The Twitter challenge Animaloon Collective is another series I enjoy occasionally.
And just like every other challenge, there are some months that I do, and some that I don’t, and some that I add to my list of ones to do eventually.
I didn’t do Giraffe, or Whale.
I did do Spider – although he’s not a balloon. I appear to be very sucky at turning the animal into the loonie.
I didn’t do Kids.
January was Mythical, which you’d think would’ve been perfect for me. Except I was super busy and never got around to more than a sketch.
I did do Wolf, and had loads of fun doing it. I love this piece.
And then I did Dolphin.
I skipped Anteater.
I did Meerkat.
I only got sketches done for Hippo.
I did Llama – as colourfully as I possibly could.
I skipped Cricket and Lynx.
And I’ve done Fish. Which is actually today. So not only have I done a challenge, but I blogged about it in time! Go me!
I have several ongoing series on my blog. Well, I have several folders of ongoing blog series in my blog folder. I haven’t actually updated any of them in far too long. So let’s update one now.
I have several ongoing series on my blog. Well, I have several folders of ongoing blog series in my blog folder. I haven’t actually updated any of them in far too long. So let’s update one now.
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I don’t think I’ve ever actually blogged about this one before but there’s a Twitter challenge called Colour Collective. It’s nice and simple. They post a different colour every Friday and you use that colour to make art.
I don’t do all of them, but here are some that I have done in the past.
Jasper helped with that one.
Hmm, why doesn’t the gallery thing show the whole picture? That’s annoying.
I have several ongoing series on my blog. Well, I have several folders of ongoing blog series in my blog folder. I haven’t actually updated any of them in far too long. So let’s update one now.
There was the Fan Art series that I mentioned at the end of that post.
A lot of these I wasn’t a fan of. A lot of them I didn’t recognise. And a lot of them I just couldn’t be bothered to draw. I’m trying not to force myself to complete every single challenge cos I get behind super quickly and then I get guilty and stressed and end up never completing it.
So I skipped Animal and Bingo.
I did do the Cheshire Cat though.
I skipped Droopy Dog, Enormous Crocodile, and Fantastic Mr Fox.
I did the Gruffalo.
Then I skipped Hardy Har Har, and Iago – although I would’ve liked to do Iago. Maybe I still will.
I did Jiji – and loved them so much I made them into stickers.
I skipped Kermit the Frog (he’s another one I might do though), Lion, Mojo Jojo, Nutsy, Ozzie (another on my maybe list), Pink Panther, Quick Draw McGraw, Road Runner (another maybe), Snorkmaiden (another maybe), Tony the Tiger, Uncle Scrooge (another maybe), Velveteen Rabbit (another maybe), Wile E. Coyote (if I do Road Runner, I’ll have to do this one), Xerneas, Yogi Bear, and Zell.
I could’ve just said that I skipped the rest of the alphabet, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to name them all and decide which ones to come back to.
The next theme was Rainforest.
Again, there were lots of animals in here that I didn’t do. There are a few that I have on a list to draw at some point though – obviously.
The ones I did do were Bengal Tiger…
…Cockatoo…
…and Toucan.
The new series is Musical Instruments, with us picking our own animals – so maybe I’ll get round to some of those other ones I want to do.
I have several ongoing series on my blog. Well, I have several folders of ongoing blog series in my blog folder. I haven’t actually updated any of them in far too long. So let’s update one now.
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In the more than a year since I last updated you on my self-imposed challenge to draw 1000 hands, I haven’t smashed that goal. You’d think that in a year I could have drawn several thousand. But you’d be wrong.
My problem is that I load myself up with too many challenges and projects and then I get sidetracked. I usually get back to them at some point. I’m trying to get back to this one. I’ve even done some hands in the last week.
So here’s the last year of hands. Hands number 149 to 287.
I nearly doubled my total. And I’m more than a quarter of the way to my goal. Unfortunately (fortunately?) SamBeAwesome has decided to also do the challenge and she’s waaayyyy ahead of me.
I better get drawing more hands. I’ll try not to leave it another year before I update y’all again.
Last time I mentioned that there may be more Christmas posts from last Christmas. I was right.
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Sometime last year I kept seeing adverts for a TreeMendous online.
This cute little tree machine spun the ornaments around so that you (your kids) could decorate the baubles with pretty patterns.
I needed it.
Each advert lead to a different site – none of which exist now that I’m writing this a year later. The tree itself was a decent price. Ranging from £6 to £10. But the shipping was stupid. So I went looking elsewhere.
I ended up getting a Magic Tree from AliExpress, for £8.
The TreeMendous pun was missing, but I wasn’t paying £30 shipping for that.
It’s not the most impressive-looking piece of equipment, but I wasn’t really expecting it to be. It included everything it said it would.
The markers were vibrant, and actually worked on the plastic baubles.
I put in the batteries, and pressed the switch, and watched it spin.
It didn’t play a tune like the TreeMendous, but whatever.
Next, to add the colour. It’s simple. Just hold the tip of the marker against the bauble while it spins.
It doesn’t look too bad while it’s spinning.
But when it’s stopped you can see just how uneven and patchy it is.
This could be user error. It could be the cheap markers, or it could be the very low quality plastic baubles. But still, it was fun and kinda addictive. So I did another one.
I don’t know if the actual TreeMendous had a steadier spin to it, but this one is really wobbly.
It’s hard to get a solid colour too. The markers are essentially cheap Sharpies. And because the plastic doesn’t absorb the ink, once you go over it more than once or twice in the same place it all starts to come up.
Jasper helped with that one.
There’s no bad rainbow though.
At least until I messed it up by trying to do a nice black spiral.
I stopped after my fourth bauble was a total disaster.
Warning though, the ink never dries and it WILL smudge off as soon as you touch it.
Overall it’s a neat little gimmick. Kids would probably love it. I couldn’t figure out a way to buy more of the baubles, and I couldn’t find any other baubles with the same screw fitting. They might be out there.
If there was a grown up crafter version – with ceramic baubles maybe, and ink that would stick to it – I’d probably get it. Come to think of it, it couldn’t be too hard to make a manual version…..
It’s very cute and has a great concept with a little trivia attached.
Because I’d ordered the book online, I had no idea what the pages inside were like. The cover and title page had me fairly reassured though. Until I flipped to day one…
What is that?! Is the whole book that simple and boring?
Luckily, no. A few were more simple than others, but there was nothing else so bland and easy.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to complete a whole piece every day, so I decided to adapt the tradition a little. I would colour as little or as much as I could each day, on the appropriate day’s page. And then the book would go with the Christmas decorations, and next year I’d do it again. After a few years I might end up with a finished book.
So I coloured the gorgeous Santa on the title page.
And then realised that I’d not be able to do the numbers on each spread if I didn’t use the right mediums. The paper quality is not fantastic.
That’s fine. I’d just be careful.
And on, to Advent!
I did a Zentangle design for day one, to make use of those big empty shapes.
Day two was fun. Look how gorgeous that tree is!
Day three was another simpler one, and I finished most of the page.
Day four was a couple of birds. Doves? Pigeons? Pheasants? Penguins? Who knows.
Day five is going to have more sneaky rainbows.
Now, day six had limitations. Remember I said that I wouldn’t be able to colour the numbers because pen bleeds through? Well luckily I had flipped through the whole book, because days seven and eight were only pages with numbers.
So day six had to be coloured pencils. No problem.
Here’s day seven.
I got a bit rainbow happy with day eight.
Day nine was some lovely ornaments.
Day ten is just delicious.
Day eleven is a beautiful snow globe. You can’t have a Christmas colouring book without a snow globe.
Day twelve got some rainbow confetti star shapes.
Day thirteen is an army of snowmen.
Day fourteen is some more ornaments – these ones looking delicious.
Day fifteen is a fireplace scene with a cute little kitty.
Day sixteen is sooooo many presents!
Day seventeen is an overflowing stocking.
And that’s as far as I got because Boris Johnson cancelled Christmas, and because Covid and all that shit and because it was all I could do to not sink into depression.
But there’s always next year. This year. A couple of month’s time.
One of the people I follow on YouTube did a video a few months ago about doing a retro three marker challenge.
That seemed like a really good idea, so I did one too. I got my boyfriend to randomly/blindly pick three markers for me, and ended up with a fairly cute combination.
I drew out my sketch, and then erased as much pencil as possible.
I did my colouring.
Being extremely neat and precise while I did so, obviously.
And then I gave it an outline.
It wasn’t quite finished. There were a few final touches I wanted to do with a white gel pen, but I was at my boyfriend’s house and didn’t have any with me. No problem, I’d do it in a few days when I got home.
Then I broke my leg.
Yeah. I slipped on the bottom step of the concrete steps outside my boyfriend’s house and fractured my fibula. Fun times.
I finally got home after two weeks in hospital but everything was completely derailed and off track and messy and I didn’t get round to finishing the three marker challenge until five months later.
It’s nearly that time of year. When big-hearted nerds the world over gather around phones, laptops and computers to watch more big-hearted nerds do silly things for a week straight to entertain us.
That’s a pretty good description of Desert Bus, but a more accurate one is that it’s the world’s longest running internet-based fundraiser, combining video games and hilarity to raise money for Child’s Play.
Every year crafters of all ages, experience, and skills donate prizes for the Loading Ready Run and Desert Bus teams to give away in either live auctions, donation drives or silent auctions. I’ve donated a few times, and I’m donating again this year.
What you see here is a Pokemon Shadow Box, created with layers of white cardstock cut on my Cricut, and backlit with LED light strips. It’s simple, and genius, and awesome. If I do say so myself.
Here’s the very cheeky description I wrote for the prize page that will appear on the Desert Bus website nearer the time.
Prepare to be a-Mew-sed. I’m gonna Raichu a description so filled with awesome puns you won’t Bayleef it. Whether this prize comes up in Omanyte Watch, Zeta Shiftry, Dawn Gardevoir or Abra Flight, you’re going to be stunned by the Beautifly prize I have for you. Just take a Pikachu.
How Charmeleon is this? I know it’s Farfetch’d but this Scrafty trainer combined only sheets of white cardstock and LED strip lights to create this Tentacool framed artwork.
It took an Unown amount of time to create, but I’m no Fletchling. I took some time to Meditite and finally got it Rhydon.
The frame measures 247mm by 247mm, and is 31mm deep. Batteries not included unfortunately. You’ll need six AA ones. The frame has a hook to hang on the Walrein, but it’s thick enough to Butterfree-stand. I’ve included some velcro tabs if you want to affix the battery packs to the back of the frame.
It would be Onix-ceptable for you to ignore it, so don’t be a Slowpoke and place a Bidoof. Shout about it in the Chatot and let everyone know – let’s get a full on bidding Wartortle going.
And if you’ve read my previous Desert Bus blog posts, you’ll know that my good friend Sam also makes prizes for the Craft-Along. This year he’s made full scale replicas of the M8 Avenger and the M77 Paladin from Mass Effect. Because he’s a forking genius! Follow him on Twitter, and tell him I sent you.
Desert Bus For Hope 2021 starts on Friday November 12th this year, so make sure you tune in and see all the fun.
On Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th August I will be participating in Emily Harvey’s Creator Showcase.
This is a fantastic idea by Emily. She’s created a webpage that literally showcases all the wonderful and creative people who support her on Patreon.
More than one hundred creators are taking part – you can find them all here. Lots of people are going live on various social media doing a whole range of different things.
I’m not going live, but I do have a sale on. From now until the end of Wednesday 11th August you can get 21% off everything in my store by entering the code EHARTS21 at checkout – with no minimum purchase.
Please go and look at the page, click around, join some lives, visit some stores. I can guarantee you’ll make these creator’s day. There are a whole bunch of hashtags you can follow to keep an eye on all the activities
And Emily herself will be going live on her Instagram at 6pm on Friday to launch things off.
And don’t forget to go check out my store too. As of 5pm Friday 6th August I’ll have a whole new range of stickers you could use that discount code on.
