My mom called me up one day telling me a project she wanted me to work on for her. I’ve made bottle top magnets before, and she loved them. She moved to a new desk at work and had a magnetic board that was in need of pretty magnets, so I obviously had no problem taking on the task of making pretty magnets.
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It’s always a sort of relief when you’re able to get rid of things. Clutter is a real problem, and nostalgia is a true instigator.
Before and after a move is a great time to rethink what you own, especially as you’re sifting through your things planning on how to pack and then unpack. When I was making my last move, I really dove deep into my closet. My wardrobe includes a lot of custom made things, which I usually reuse and upcycle anyway. I’m constantly reworking clothes. It’s really my shoes that collect, and especially the custom ones I don’t have it in me to throw out. Shoes I tend to hold on to. Which of course is a problem if I’m just collecting and piling shoes on top of each other.
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For Christmas, just this December that passed, I got these hanging umbrella doodads that have double sided stickers to stick them to the wall. I never got around to hanging them up until recently.
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With everything that’s been happening lately, I’ve been trying to keep myself busy with art projects. I figured it’s what my aunt would have wanted and enjoyed seeing. She was always interested in seeing what I was capable of creating.
So with this recent project, let me start by saying this was supposed to go in a different direction.
My couch needs some fun stuff happening to it (a bigger project possibly involving patchwork is in the works). In the meantime I wanted simple and fun. I came across eye pillows that caught my eye 😉.
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It’s always hard to lose someone, especially if it’s family.
Over a week ago I found the news that my aunt had passed. Since then, I’ve been getting over the shock, and it has left me speechless.
A year and a half ago I went through the emotional roller coaster of dealing with defeat while trying to find what to do with myself. When I moved back from my short time in Portland, I felt so lost. I guess my dad was keeping his sister up to date with my doings and she offered to let me stay with her in Greece as long as I wanted to.
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If you want to know the truth, this is the first time I’ve turned on my laptop since mid-May. Part of me was nervous my laptop would be in such a deep sleep that it wouldn’t turn on, or I would forget how to use it. But fear not, those turned out not to be problems.
So, where have I gone? What have I been doing?
Long story short, in May I went on a hardcore apartment search. I officially found a great 2 bedroom apartment with my friend in Astoria, Queens. Memorial day weekend we moved in, and I have been adjusting since. I didn’t realize I would be MIA for over two months, but I learned that it is quite a process to furnish a whole apartment and to set things up such as internet, gas/electric, etc. My daily life after work consisted of unpacking, food shopping, and cleaning for a while.
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You know, I didn’t realize how much into photography I’ve been getting into lately. Being one who grew up learning the ins and outs of arts and crafts, and graduating with a degree in illustration, photography never was something I was into. That said, I’ve been really getting into taking photos and having the option to print them. The physical copies allow me to get crafty with bookmaking and scrapbooking, which is something I’ve been wanting to dive into more than when I started teaching myself book binding.
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As of late, photography has been piquing my interest. I’m a visual person, so anything with bright colors and a fun composition grabs my attention.
The photos I take I don’t really consider “artistic” as it’s just more of “documenting life” in a way for me. Seeing other peoples’ photography is more exciting, and it can even be fun being the model every so often.
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Crazy how time flies when you’re just living life.
It wasn’t a conscious decision when I took this month+ long break from the internet. It was kinda just an accident. This also included a break from my already limited social media use. To be honest, I don’t regret it, and it was actually relaxing to avoid technology during my downtime.
Since I’m now deep into the 9-5 working life, I’ve been trying to get myself out and about after work hours and on the weekend. I’m trying to live a little bit because I guess I’m noticing how fast time flies when you fall into the trap of work, eat, sleep. The first few months were an adjustment period for me which is why I was okay with the work, eat, sleep ritual. Now that I’ve adjusted, I’ve started craving the outside world, which is strange being a super introvert. I guess I’m working on finding a happy balance between my social side, and anti social side.
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While on the topic of developing photos that I meant to develop a while ago, I’ve had this idea of using my bookbinding skills by making fun little photo albums.
I’m still old school in the way that I like physical copies of all kinds of things, and photography is included. I always forget about much I appreciate film. I don’t consider myself a photographer, but there’s something about the surprise when you get photos developed because it’s not instant and controllable like digital cameras.
I could talk about it all day, so I digress. This past weekend, I figured I’d finally get a start on my handmade binded photo albums. During my last semester of college, I had taken a bookbinding class and we learned a specific binding method that I thought would be perfect for photos. I wrote up a post about the project two years ago on my old blog.
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