Plush Presents!

This one needs some explanation, I do believe. My friend and I have original characters, and this one just happens to be one that we both love dearly. Zairin is a very scary little goth boy (I guess sixteen isn't that little) who is always grumpy....but we love to imagine one of his "friends" to stick big fluffy kitty ears on him on Halloween, because clearly his everyday clothes do not count as a costume! And one must always wear a costume on Halloween! He is rather displeased with this idea.
However, I have always said that I would make a plush doll of dear Zairin with kitty ears being all grumpy, and this year I finally decided to execute this wonderful plan and give it to my friend. I had no idea how to start this, so I kind of just jumped in...and the one on the top is my first attempt. There were many flaws, and I realized that I need to make pants as one would actually make pants, I couldn't get away with anything less (there were odd lumps in...odd places, it didn't work well), so I made a second attempt! It turned out much better, and I gave her that version...keeping the original for myself, heehee.

We have decided that the shorter version is Zairin and the taller, lankier version (the first attempt) is his {unknown} twin brother, Gary, who decided to dress as the infamous Zairin as his Halloween costume...and we thought having Zairin be shorter would be more adorable. Thus, you have two hopefully adorable plush dolls of twin brothers...who know absolutely nothing about their relationship. I love amusing drama, it makes life so much more interesting.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Well, this year I decided that I would be helpful and cook dinner with my mom. We are also going over to our neighbors for dessert, so last night I made chocolate chocolate-chip cookies and peanut butter cookies with reeces in the middle (if I dare say, they are delicious! Credit for the latter idea goes to my neighbor). Today I got up and made a scrambled omelet with onions, marinaded tofu, tomatoes and feta cheeze...usually I include broccoli or cauliflower in the mix, but we had none. This was my first time working with tofu and feta, so it was an experiment, but I made a "double batch" for my mom too. It turned out decently! Yea, I now have a delicious, healthy breakfast recipe!
After that, we sat and fooled around for a while until 10am. That's when the cooking began. We both were cooking from 10:00am until 3:15pm, when we ate our Thanksgiving "linner" (lunch-dinner). I am pleased to say that I was able to cook the stuffing, a green bean casserole type of dish, corn souffle, and my mom and I split the mashed potatoes. She cut up fruit for a fruit salad and did everything with the turkey...I held it while she stuffed it, but that is all I could bring myself to do without being utterly disgusted. She also did the gravy. Sadly, I cannot say, from experience, how the latter two tasted, as I am a vegetarian, but I'm sure they were delectable.
All in all, it was a great learning experience and a fun way to spend the day with my mom. I hope to do this for our Christmas dinner as well! And with any other big meals we have like this from now on. I learn a lot about cooking, I make her life somewhat easier, and I get to have fun and spend time with my mom- I see no negatives to this.

So, for my first attempt at helping with Thanksgiving dinner, I am rather pleased! ...And it was over within half an hour, but it was still worth it! One day my brother will come around to enjoy and appreciate more than the turkey, fruit, and mashed potatoes. I'm not sure when, exactly, but I'm sure it will happen sometime. Maybe he'll even learn to cook too!...
But let's not get too excited here.

Hufflepuff Scarf

So I've been working on knitting a Hufflepuff Scarf.

To explain- my three roommates and I took the Harry Potter house-sorting test and we all got Hufflepuff, so we decided to go as Hufflepuff students for Halloween. I did manage to finish the scarf a week before Halloween, but it was 85˚ that night, so I did not end up wearing it.
However, here is the completed scarf- it goes down to my knees when wrapped around my neck, otherwise it is...well, long, and very warm and cozy. I don't think the pattern, if there is one, required it to be so long, but I've always wanted a long scarf, and two years ago I made someone a Gryffindor scarf about the same length proportionally on him, though he is a foot taller than I. Ever since then I have wanted a long, cozy scarf, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity.
We also made wands and robes, and we bought ties, and I will post a picture of my full costume later- once I get a picture of it taken. I can't wait until I have a need to wear this to keep warm, as it is still very warm outside right now.

In two weeks I shall be home and welcomed by cold weather!

Website!

http://lizbell.webs.com/

I am still working, with quite a bit left to do, on a website. I have none of my art uploaded yet, a rather important part of my website, however- the rest of the site is live. I had been working on my own website in Dreamweaver, but it was taking an excruciatingly long time, so at the very least this is a temporary website. It might very easily become my perminant website. Though I put sweat, blood and tears into my own website, I can realize when it is time to give something up, and this might just be one of those times.

I should have my art uploaded by the end of the week, as this week is filled with an extraordinary amount of work- normally I would simply upload it all today!

I am not sure where this will take me, but I figure at least having some sort of website is better than nothing. If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to email me- I would love to hear them!

First Blog!

Alright, well this is going to be a blog about my life in general- anything and everything that is going on will be blogged about, unless I fall behind in life and wish to catch up on that before posting a new blog.

My recent crafty-work, social activities, school, art, interests, new recipes to cook, events, random blurbs that I feel like posting- anything to keep me on track and up to date, as well as share my lovely life with you! I'm going to focus on the positives, though, and try to hone in on my crafts, art, and any other inspirational things going on in my life.

For my first blog I would like to show you some of the artwork that I have been doing. Sadly, it has not been on my own time, which I am currently rather lacking, but for my classes.

This was an asassignment to illustrate an article about men saving their hair for later use as a toupee when they begin to loose their hair. The article was called "Saving for a Rainy Day". Done with dip pen and watercolor.




This illustration was another assignment to illustrate an article with facts about women and heart disease. The line art is done digitally and the watercolor background is done, well, with watercolor, taken into photoshop and added a few textures, as well as changed the colors slightly.














This was my most recent assignment- to illustrate the cover of Money Magazine, specifically an article dealing with the resurgence of "Main St." in small towns. This is done completely digitally, and honestly started out as my comp sketch to figure out linework, value, ect. But everyone loved it, so I continued working on it and this is what I turned in.







So that's a lot of my art so far. I will have pictures of a newly completed Hufflepuff Scarf that I have been working on for the past 3-4 weeks soon, and I'll explain about it then. I'll also, hopefully, have another illustration soon. For now, that is all.