Werewolve boyfriend drinking antifreeze...

Just a note to all hot wing lovers out there...don't take a nap after eating. I seriously had the scariest, most realistic (in terms of physically feeling every dreadful thing that happened to me) and outrageously obtuse dream of my life.

It started in a theatre. This wasn't any normal theatre however. Shaped like one of those futuristic apartment buildings from The Jetsons (only much shinier) and with a HUGE escalator leading up to the top. I'm with my boyfriend and some other random people I know from high school, old jobs...totally random, which didn't faze me in the least. We sit down in this theatre (that while looking like something from the year 4027 on the outside resembles something you would find in 19th century England) and it gets dark. The movie begins, but for some reason I'm not facing the screen and all the colors are distorted. This continued for quite some time like I was tripping on acid or something. Really weird. Then I get up and leave the theatre, and when I walk out, it's back to being the normal kind we see today. Very strange indeed, but again I was not bothered by this.
I try to pass through a crowd of men who may or may not have been collecting for something. Which really doesn't matter, but they wanted me to do something...I can't recall what, but the main man chased me (well..followed is more like it) around for a bit, we had a few spats, and this was over. I thought it was an invasion of my personal boundaries, and went back to the theatre to tell Dan (my boyfriend) all about it. He says "Something weird happened to me too" as the lights slowly brighten and he turns to face me....with a face that could still be his, but now resembles something dog or wolf-like. Of course, I back away and run out of the theatre with him calling after me "It's no use running, I can SMELL you!"

ok, now I am totally FREAKED OUT by this. He is no longer this sweet and loving guy, but a slow-moving Michael Myers creeper with a dog face! uhhh...scream.

You know that artist from NYC that builds inflatable sculptures from trash bags? He tapes them to the vents above the subway and when the train goes by, the creature blows up and you can see it move and sway with the wind, and then it deflates and goes back to the ground. There was one of these things (it was GIGANTIC) outside the theatre. Me and my bright self thought that it would be a good idea to climb on and fly out of the situation despite my horrid fear of heights. Soooo, I go up, up, up, and up some more (higher than the theatre) and look down to see Dan down below me. Just staring. Then I start to fall back down - note that these things feel like they are really happening. I'm out of breath my stomach is jumping into my chest every time I fall to the ground...it's intense.
Somehow (this part escapes my memory), I manage to run off to some house with Cutco in the kitchen (Cutco knives are the best...I sold them for a few months but had to stop due to my serious fear of being stabbed). I grab the biggest knife I can find (somehow forgetting that you need silver and not steel to kill a werewolf) and then I hear him sit down and start talking to me just like normal. I think he's between phases (kind of like the full moon covered by the clouds except it was a bright day in the dream) so I talk back and slowly peak my head through the doorway.
He is just taking a break! He's sitting there with a bottle of antifreeze - YES ANTIFREEZE,....WTF? drinking it like there's no tomorrow. I realize it's all a trap and turn to run with my knife at the ready. Then he pulls the Michael Myers trick again and appears like magic in front of me with an even bigger knife than mine, and it's ON MY CHEST. I really feel the tip of the blade there...I'm about to die, and am having a panic attack - like if I wasn't asleep I'd have passed out. I couldn't wake up even though I KNEW it was a dream. Then, as he pushed the blade in I was numb. I couldn't feel anything and everything went all cloudy and well..dreamlike (the hollywood version).
Then, I was back at the theatre, still facing sideways, but the colors were normal. Everything was normal, but I was still suspicious. I knew I couldn't get out of it that easily. I touched Dan's hand, and a slip of paper fell out of his shirt with words that he had said to me while he chased me scribbled on it. I looked in his jacket and it was full of them. Everyone started laughing at the funny prank they pulled on me...and then Brooke (a friend from high school) comes up beside me after they tell me it's a joke, and says in a very dramatic tone "or is it" (cliche to the max, I know) and I scream, and ran back out of the theatre, followed by an army of werewolves. Freeze-frame this moment...and I wake up. I'm never eating wings before sleeping EVER AGAIN!

back into the swing of things...

Ok, I've had time to recover (kind of) and am planning a small flower garden for Bella. I'll spread her ashes there in the spring time.

Lately I have really been into hiking and nature and the whole getting lost in the woods feeling. I went to Fall Creek Falls last weekend and stood atop Buzzard's Roost with my family. My sister and I did yoga up there, and it was fantastic. You wouldn't believe how relaxing it was...which is odd since it's on a cliff...a leg spasm could send you plummeting to your death. 0.0;

And am I the only one who is sick of hearing about New Moon? Honestly, you'd think it's the only movie that's out! Oi.

Hmmm..what else to tell you?

I'm transferring schools and majoring in Dance. I know, right? Huge change...but I'll still be working on stop motion in my spare time, no worries. :)

I'm going to take lessons at the Nashville Ballet sometime soon, and get myself back in shape (I have lost a lot of flexibility in the last two years). I am quiiiiite excited about it...you have no idea how much I've missed dancing. :(

Rest in Peace, Bella

I adopted her last year in June, and she had been abused. She was blind in one eye and had some neurological problems, but after I had her for a few months you really couldn't tell anything was wrong with her. She sat around more than the average kitty, but overall she was normal. Two weeks ago the fleas got the best of her, and I took her to the emergency room. She had become anemic, and they gave her a magic pill that killed all the fleas on her within five minutes. She was discharged, and I promptly came home, bombed the house (w/out the kitties in it of course), and everything was good. Last week she had a total relapse, and was just incredibly lethargic and puny. I took her to my vet who told me that her electrolyte levels were off, and her sodium count was extremely high which was causing dehydration and flaring up her neurological symptoms. He asked me to keep her there for a few days to get things back to normal and send her back home.

The next morning, I went up there to see her, and the vet comes out and tells me she didn't make it through the night....I was completely caught off guard. They told me the night before on the phone that she was doing better. They left her there all alone during the night. Had I known that there wouldn't be anyone there I could have taken her home with me so that if something did happen I could take her back to the emergency room. But no. She died in a little metal cage, scared and alone.

My baby is gone forever, and they couldn't even tell me why or how it even happened. No longer will she wake me up in the morning, and nuzzle my nose asking for breakfast, or come running every time she hears Paula Dean the Butter Queen on the TV. I'll never get to pet her again...I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye...they just snatched her up and took her...

I'm having her cremated. This spring I'm making a flower garden for her, and spreading her ashes there where she can always watch the butterflies and listen to the birds sing.

the foulest stench is in the air, the funk of thirty thousand years!

I looove Halloween. :)

Also, I have some armature fixin's and some clay. There is a puppet in my future! I need a drill...perhaps I'll borrow one from the boyfriend, yes? I've decided to do a few experimental animations before I get started on the short I had planned. Just to get a feel for everything, you know? I'm pretty excited about it, and it'll make me feel like I'm being productive. Always good, right? They'll just be really short things like sitting around a fire, a lady feeding the birds, a guy playing a harp. Stuff like that. Then I won't feel really overwhelmed with it all, and I'll get a lot of practice in. ^^

Tomorrow I get to paint my sister's new room (she's moving back here!), which is seriously inconvenient, but whatever. I need to be finishing up my homework for the week - by the by...I got an A on my art history exam!!! It'll be quite interesting to see how this month works out what with school, working, nanowrimo, stop motion, and my sister moving home...hectic, much? That's ok, I'll enjoy it all. :D

Help!

Ok, so I went sketch crazy last week and I colored them all w/colored pencils. They look super nice in person, but when I put them into the computer they looked quite trashy. xP So, I decided to just upload them as line art and color them in w/my neglected tablet.

My problem is that I cannot decide what is wrong with it...This is my first attempt...



I don't know what's wrong, but it just doesn't feel right...Too busy maybe? Anyway, I decided to give it another go, and totally changed the style of it.



Now this one looks crappy in thumbnail, but I like it when you can see everything. *shrug* it doesn't feel finished either...I'm so frustrated! :(

You shine like gold in the air of summer

A lovely watercolor I did a few days ago. :)

I love that new colored pencil smell. Especially that smell it makes when you sharpen it with an exacto knife - so raw and real. *heavy sigh* Today was spent with my pad of Vellum paper and new pencils. I had a spectacular time. It's bizarre how the day just slips away from you when you are so involved in something you don't care to pay attention to the hour.

Would you believe that I had never enjoyed listening to Commentaries until Coraline came out? I suppose it's my sincere love for that movie - everything about it...I just can't get over how magical it is. Anyway, I listened to the commentary today (again) as I drew, and it really got me started on a kick. I think I'd like to listen to the commentaries of some of my other favorite movies (The Dark Crystal, Nightmare Before Christmas, Wallace and Gromitt, and definitely a few old Disney movies) while I do my work tomorrow. It's crazy exciting to learn about all that happened behind the scenes of the movies...Ooooh warm and happy feelings!

I can hear the crickets

Sorry for my absence. My kitty has been sick the past few days, and is finally starting to show some signs of improvement. I think I'll have to take her back to the vet tomorrow since I think she is a bit backed up. Of course she may just be doing it in secret somewhere...I sincerely hope not. xP

On a less nasty note, I made a super delicious smoothie today with organic berries and some kale leaves. Oh, it was so yummy! I may be getting on a fresh food kick, which will involve a trip to the farmer's market! Teehee, I'm all giddy just thinking about it. Who else LOVES food?! Yum :)

Ok, I am fully aware of how early I am for this rant...we haven't even gotten past Halloween yet. However, I just have to say how disappointed I was in The Santa Clause 2....they totally ruined Bernard's character...*heavy/frustrated sigh* The last two were totally unnecessary really. I am just going to pretend they don't exist.

Oh, how I love scatterbrained posts like this. I kind of wish my first paragraph started with an O.

Lover of things won't you agree how the winter could bring the darkest spring?

"Joringel looked through the bushes, and saw the old walls of the castle close at hand. He was horror-stricken and filled with deadly fear. Jorinda was singing,

“My little bird, with the necklace red,
Sings sorrow, sorrow, sorrow,
He sings that the dove must soon be dead,
Sings sorrow, sor -- jug, jug, jug.”

Joringel looked for Jorinda. She was changed into a nightingale, and sang, “jug, jug, jug.” A screech-owl with glowing eyes flew three times round about her, and three times cried, “to-whoo, to-whoo, to-whoo!”

Joringel could not move: he stood there like a stone, and could neither weep nor speak, nor move hand or foot."


I long to do a stop motion of Jorinda and Joringel. My favorite fairy tale. <3

Fleas are the epitome of demonic harassment

I hate fleas. Honestly, I don't think it would be humanly possible for me to hate anything quite as much as fleas. I can't even walk into my house without them jumping all over me. Ew.

I know it's 2:30 in the morning, but I am bug bombing the house....right now. Yuck. xP

Wow, it's been how long?

I've been crazy busy lately! School is just wearing me out this semester, but that's okay. :)

The other day, I went to the park and I found a fallen bit of a branch that looks just like a full sized tree...in miniature. It has roots and everything - just perfect for my film! I am so excited about it, and will be posting pictures of it soon (like this evening probably). I've also got a few new things for the shop that I'll show you. They are paperclay sculptures. ^^

Also, while at the park, I was nearly bonked in the head with a hedge apple....0.0;

I haven't had time for much of anything else, which is crazy sad. Hopefully, since I think I've gotten into the swing of things, this week will go much more smoothly. I'm going to start taking my dogs to the park in the morning for a walk instead of the neighborhood blah that we do. That will be nice for us both, and I can take some work with me to do as well. That would be soooo nice.

Well, my cats believe it's time for food! Thanks for reading :D

Character Design!

I whipped out my gouache last night and went to town! I want to try to stay as true to my initial design as possible, which means I'll need to be able to control the hair...and there will be A LOT of hair. Ah, challenges. :)

Me and my resourceful self are considering using this HUGE bag of wool roving for my film. I tried out painting a little needle felted ball with gouache (I'm waiting for it to dry now), just to see how it would look. As far as I can tell now, it looks like it would make some interesting rocks and scenery, but for use on a character...not so much. I'll have to break down and buy some acid dyes to play with.

I'm thinking that I will felt a base for my character and then punch in synthetic hair of some kind (sort of like how they did the hair for Coraline) with wire. This way I can show it blowing in the wind, and bounce a little when they walk. I would love to do it with silicone, but I have a very limited budget, and am trying to use what I've got sitting around here...which is a ton of wool. :D

Any ideas you might have would be crazy helpful! Thanks for reading :)

What Good Curves Can You Throw?

I learned how to throw a "fastball" last night. :)

Better yet, I talked to my dad as well, and he said he would write the music for my film! I'm so excited! I'm sending him the story today, and he should be writing soon. In the meantime, I've got some armature wire to play with today. If I have time I may do a few set designs, and see where that goes. I know what I want it to look like, but I need to hack out those details! Wish me luck! :D

Oh, and I started my classes yesterday and I'm taking History of Animation! I have a whole bunch of old cartoons I have to watch this weekend, and I'm seriously looking forward to it. In a few weeks we are having an entire module devoted to stop motion! lol I can't wait for that either. ^.^;

Thanks for reading!

How It Took My Breath Away

Well, I've been cranking out ideas all morning and I've got a rough outline of a short involving one of the characters from my last post. (The little guy with the hump on his back). The third photo has a nice view of him. I acted it out roughly, and it should be about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. I'm really excited about it.

My plan is to post a new "episode" every other week. This is just for me to practice stop motion since I don't have any experience...I would LOVE any constructive feedback you have for me! :D

I'm off to make a storyboard now. Thanks for reading! ^.^

Insert Nifty Horn Intro Here....

Well, I've been up for about 2 hours just kicking back browsing the internet, which I've done far too much lately. Anywho, I decided I would upload a few character designs for my new stop motion project. As of this moment, the story isn't set in stone yet, I just know that I have to do something with these characters...I'm just hoping the story will come to me soon.

These are just quick sketches that need fleshing out quite a bit, but I am loving the ideas so far. Enjoy :)

Squish, Squash, Pumpkin Sauce

I listened to the Coraline commentary yesterday while I crocheted. Twas so awesome I followed it up with the Nightmare Before Christmas commentary. lol After which I watched all the behind the scenes stuff for both...*sigh* Oh, how I LOVE stop motion. I would have given anything to walk around the Coraline sets, or see the puppets in real life...Those people are all so incredibly talented!

Anyway, I'll be opening up shop as soon as I can. *shrug* I'm trying to wait for my medium sized boxes to get here, but you can see everything I'll be selling on my blog before I open up. That will give me a bit more time to make some more dolls beforehand though. I'm thinking about selling some sculptures, but I'll have to buy a whole new kind of clay (I use modeling clay here, and there is a TON in my house). Oh well, I need to make some set pieces anyway...



Here is my first doll. She's pretty floppy, and her head is heavy. Could you just see a little girl running around with her?! I totally could, and she would be the coolest kid in the cul de sac because her doll is handmade and awesome to the max. :)




This guy is only 2 3/4inches tall when standing, 2 when sitting. As you can see, he's only as big as her foot! He is 5-way thread jointed (head, arms, legs) and has a super awesome purple helmet.

So, I kept my promise of two pictures! Yay! Today I'm crocheting another doll, and I may do some sculpting. Thanks for reading, and be looking for another post tonight! :D

Right Wing, Left Wing, Chicken Wing

I painted my library today. That sounds SO fancy, doesn't it?! Really, it's not lol it's just a hallway type thing with shelves everywhere...and now it's PURPLE!!! :D

I got absolutely zero crochet work done today. *frowns* I'm in the middle of a project, literally halfway finished, and am dieing to have it done. I am also trying to decide the best way to give my crocheted characters a wire armature. In January I'm starting a Grimm series, where I make stop motion movies for the stories (there are PLENTY to choose from...I loooove them all!). I wanted to start this last January, but I had an accident, and had to spend all my money on medical bills. I didn't even get to go to school that semester. :(

Speaking of school, I start this Saturday!!! I'm so excited, here's a list of my classes. :D

Introduction to Computer Graphics for Animation
History of Animation
History and Technology of VFX and Computer Animation
Art History through the 15th Century

Lots of History this semester, eh? I don't mind though, I love that stuff.

Sorry there aren't any picture today. I'll give you double tomorrow. ^^

Oh, and don't forget to feed my fish! Looove them :D

Abdominal Stars are Abominable.

Hehe, remember the Sneetches?! :D

Welcome to the wonderful world of me. Here you will be visited by my curious creations. Some of these will be for sale in my shop (opening next week on September 3rd). However, others will be used for a stop motion film I am starting soon, and also a graphic novel I'll be writing in November.

That's right folks, this fall is going to be busy, busy, busy! I've got 2 1/2 Etsy shops to run all by myself (one vintage, one for my little creations...I must come up with a new word for them!).

For your viewing pleasure, I'd like for you to meet the Man in the Moon. He will be starring in my graphic novel. Made out of Van Aken Modeling Clay, he has a wire armature, and is fully prepared to go on stage in November. I am SO excited!



There will be characters of all shapes and sizes shown here. I make crochet dolls (they remind me of Invader Zim characters...lol). These can range from normal sized dolls to some that are 3 inches high. There will be sculpted characters (as shown above), chalkboard lovelies, and some hairy painted monstrosities! I love trying out new things, so who knows what could show up here.

I hope you keep up with this, because there will be loads of exciting things coming around at the beginning of the year! *coughAMINATIONScoughcough* and other things. :)