Week 13

A Few Wonderfully Amazingful things about this week:

• Like usual I've started work on a few really exciting projects (that I can't tell you about just yet, lame), but when I do you'll be excited! Just a little hint... I'm working on illustrating another book. Yippie!

• Another month has nearly passed so my real count down to moving can finally begin. (55 days until moving day!) I was excited before, but now I'm really really excited!

• I've been treating myself to a few new things lately, via online shopping. I never ever shop online (well nearly never), I just like looking at things in person. But as I've discussed before, Sweden is sooooooo expensive. Even with high shipping costs and even extra taxes when the items arrive in Sweden the prices I've found online have been more than half the price of items I'd find here in Stockholm. The wait is killing me though! I've treated myself to new gorgeous makeup brushes, a little haul of makeup, a book, and new phone cases because I'm getting a new phone. Double Yippie!

• It is still insanely cold and there is still tons and tons of snow, but I swear it's starting to really feel like Spring. Johan and I even enjoyed a fika in the sunshine on our balcony the other day (in all our winter clothes of course).

• Today we are spending the Easter holiday with Johan's parents at their place. Kind of nice to have a free relaxed day out in the country where they live.

Have a great weekend!

Wine Tastings

For 6 weeks at the beginning of this year I took wine tasting classes with Johan's University wine society. He's a major wine dork (expert who holds tasting and classes), he talks and teaches me about wine all the time, and I've really gotten into it. I really enjoy getting my private lessons but I thought it would be fun to sit down and nerd out with other wine dorks. So I did.

During the 6 classes I got to taste 6 or so great wines from each region/style we learned about; Red Bordeaux, Dessert Wine, Syrah, Riesling, and Red Bourgogne. It was a great way to get a good overview of how wines of a certain style usually or can taste. Though I also learned that every wine really is all it's own, and the only way you can ever be certain you like something is to try it. We also tried wines from different price ranges anywhere from 100:- to 800:- SEK ($15 to $120), we would vote on favorites and the most expensive wines didn't always win. Wine is really annoying in this way. Just because a bottle is more expensive doesn't mean it's better. (Side note, there is a big difference between wines under $15, which I am never very impressed by. Why? They just don't taste as much in my opinion, like juice, and I don't like juice.)

 

At each tasting we set up our wine tasting glasses in a row, and got a small glass of each to try blind (the bottles were decanted and numbered so we wouldn't be swayed). We also all received a form to fill out with notes on color, scent, aromas, and any comments. We also voted on best and worst (worst is pretty easy to figure out, but finding a favorite was the hardest. There were so many that were great!) Over all it was a really fun experience. One usually doesn't have the opportunity to try 6 of the same type of wine at the same time to really figure out what one likes (at least I don't.) Sometimes Johan and I do mini tastings with just two bottles, which is really fun, and makes a fancy weekend dinner time a little more interesting and interactive. Also fun to do with guests too of course!

Ballerina

This week's Blogger What's in my Bag is getting replaced with something a little more personal, in the form of a What's in my Ballet Bag.

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I studied ballet nearly all my life, about 20 years. I think I'd even still describe myself as a ballerina even though it's been a few years since I stopped dancing. I started taking lessons at a very very young age, maybe 3. At age 7 the ballet classes moved from being just play time to something more serious. I then started Pointe at the age of 11 and continued on rather seriously until the age of 17 when I moved to Florida. I continued to dance in Florida and at college as well though not at the same level as in Maine (I went to a really really lovely school there, and performed in lots of shows such as The Nutcracker; miss it horribly). I even took a few classes here in Stockholm, but have since chosen to work out at the gym instead. Ballet is just too expensive, and tough on my 'old' body. I never danced professionally but I'd say I was rather good (had nice technique at least.) I think the ballet sensibility will stay with me for the rest of my life. Probably the daintiest gym goer ever, haha!

Since ballet was such a huge part of my childhood (and adulthood) I think it's a bit strange that this is my first ballet inspired illustration. What is the deal?! I think I need to do a whole collection of ballet illustrations. That would be pretty wouldn't it?

p.s. I can also say it took many many many years for my feet/toes to recover from the abuse of hard pointe shoe wearing. My feet have thanked me.

Hermes Orange

New print in shop, Hermes Silk Scarf in iconic orange. Hope you like it!

Deep Clean

Hello Monday!

This weekend was spent cleaning, tidying and hiding lots of items as our current apartment (which we rent) is up for sale, and this weekend was the open house. It's actually really nice having a perfectly cleaned and clutter free home. Wish we could always have it this way.

I didn't get much work done this weekend, so I'm feeling rather guilty today. Gonna work work work, got lots to catch up on and get finished!

Blogger WIMB: Helena

This week's fun Blogger What's in my Bag illustration takes us all the way to Madrid, to the lovely and super cute Helena of La Flor de Lys. Helena a student and blogger has the prettiest, relaxed, sophisticated style, and such a gorgeously natural look. If you're not following this girlie already, you definitely should.

To view all of the great bloggers I've collaborated with and all the illustrations I've created you can visit my Pinterest board here...

and if you'd like to commission a What's in my Bag illustration for yourself you can purchase this Etsy listing here...

Have a Happy Wednesday!

Drugstore Hauls

print available on Etsy

One thing I really really miss about living in the States is all the great drugstores. We don't have drugstores in the same way in Sweden (which are mainly just to pick up medicine duh, and other boring essentials such as unscented lotions or toothpaste etc.) We don't have drugstores filled with random stuff you didn't even know you needed and especially don't have drugstore beauty sections. Sigh, that's of course the part I miss most. I loved going with my sister to CVS or Walgreens or Target to stock up on lots of new beauty products. I'd of course come home with far too much stuff, but the prices in America are so affordable it's totally okay. (My sister and I would always some how come home with about 5 pounds of candy too, very necessary.)

In Sweden makeup is just sooooo insanely expensive! Even brands like Maybelline cost nearly 3 times as much full price as full price in America. (Not fair!) I've come to see makeup in a completely new way since moving here. First off I wear much less makeup here than I did before, most Swedes are pretty natural in their makeup looks, and I haven't wanted to stand out. I feel more comfortable here now, so I've been amping up my looks a bit (haha.) Also since I'm spending more money on makeup I really invest in products that I know I'll love and use all the time. No more testing and playing, sadface.

Over the weekend I really got sucked into the beauty guru world on Youtube. I watched hours and hours (dork alert) of the cutest girls showing off their hauls and reviewing products from the drugstore. This of course really really made me miss America in the strangest way. I want to go on a haul sooo bad!

Maybe I can get my Mommy to send me a few things. :)

Drawing Essentials

My Drawing Essentials:

My drawing supplies are really really simple. I don't use fancy pens, pencils or even fancy paper when I'm creating my illustrations. I just think it would be a waste since they all end up being digital. Plus fancy materials are so intimidating (Gah I need to create the most gorgeous illustration ever!) I use just regular HB pencils either mechanical or the regular ones you sharpen in pretty colors. As for pens (I've talked about this before) I still haven't found the perfect pen. I have tried what feels like every pen on the planet. They either spit, bleed, or wear out far too quickly. A few that I do really like are from Pentel or Pilot, but I just have to deal with them not lasting very long. As for erasers, which I also go through like woah, I'll go for any white and cheap one.

For paper I usually buy what ever sketch or drawing paper that is on sale at my local hobby shop, which usually is geared towards kids. I think they are for the most part nice quality, as long as they have some weight to them they work fine for me. I go through paper pads like crazy, either for multiple sketches or for final illustrations, so only using high quality paper wouldn't be an option for me. I seriously need to figure out a great way to store these drawings though (I feel kind of bad throwing them away.)


My Computer Essentials:

Since buying my Bamboo Tablet last year I've been obsessed. I seriously don't know how I worked in Photoshop or Illustrator without it. I seriously can't use those programs with out it now... even the tiniest of actions. If you don't have one, go get one!

Photoshop is my go to program. I'm really comfortable working in Photoshop and I fix, perfect, and color the majority of my illustrations digitally here. All the illustrations available in my Etsy store have been worked on in Photoshop. I usually don't have to mess around with my lines too much, as I try to draw as perfectly as I can on paper, but when I do mess up a line or two it's nice to know that I don't have to start over. I love keeping my lines looking rough and hand drawn in photoshop, so that my illustrations have that hand drawn quality and aren't completely computerised. But the digital coloring gives them a nice finish I think. It's also really fun and simple to do. Love digitally coloring in images. (I could do that all day!)

Illustrator is kind of new to me. I've only used it for a year or two and am still trying to get the hang of it. I use this program sometimes to vectorize just the lines of my drawings (and then fill with color in Photoshop) so they will appear more uniform and perfect such as for my silk scarf designs. Or I will create full vector icons/designs here, such as my work for TM Stock which would be blow up at a huge scale.


Yep so that's all I need, and my gorgeous 27" Imac computer of course!

Signs of Spring

Who would have thunk it?! Spring seems to be approaching Sweden (just a little bit.) It's still insanely chilly, and there is tons of snow and ice left... but still. Flowers!

Now if it could just warm up even just a little bit. I'm tired of having to bundle up with a million layers and not be able to take long walks with out constantly worrying about slipping on ice.

29

When I thought of doing this post I had at first planned on naming 29 things, but when I struggled to even come up with 5, I just decided to go with as many as I could. Here we go.


A Few Things On Being 29:

1. I thought I'd feel much older, but I still feel like a little girl. My knees and other joints snap, crackle, and pop when I've been sitting for too long or my muscles are cold but I would blame that on my 20+ years of ballet dancing rather than age. (I can still do my splits by the way.) I also still giggle like a school girl about just about anything. (Especially farts... even fake ones.)

2. There are all sorts of things that I thought (at like age 16) I would have done before turning 30. Such has be married and possibly had a baby. Now I just feel too young still. Let's save that for the 30s. :)

3. I still can't figure out my skin. What is the deal, are you dry or oily?! We've been hanging out together 24/7 for 29 years and I still don't get you. One thing I have discovered though just this year which has forever saved my Winter dry skin is Coconut Oil. Why couldn't I have discovered this 5 years ago when I moved from humid Florida to chilly dry Sweden. My skin is forever grateful for the extra moisture and my sensitive skin doesn't break out or get irritated buy this great stuff. Even got the boyfriend hooked.

4. Love not caring as much about what people think is great. I'll wear bright pink in a sea of black! Or stand at the front in a group gym class. Love feeling confident in who I am and what I like. Growing up I was terribly shy, which took years and years to over come. Even not too long ago I used to be a little embarrassed by what I do (illustrate lipsticks and shoes) and felt that people don't take me seriously. Now I just embrace the girliness, I know myself that that's not all that I'm about. (I'm multifaceted like everyone else, hehe.)

5. Being 29 is just awesome. I've already experienced all sorts of great times in my childhood and as a young adult... and then I have the rest of my life to look forward to.

Week 10

This week I had the opportunity to go to Swedish conference Webbdagarna with the lovely and gorgeous Ann Charlotte of Pouf Magazine. As you can kind of guess by the name, it was all about the WEB! Two whole days of speakers and presentations about the web, new technology, apps, great websites, and how people are using the web to build their businesses etc. So much fun, and so informative! I have soooo much new information crammed into my head, but I have no idea what to do with it or where to start.

Gah just so many ideas! First off I want to redesign absolutely everything, my website especially (but that would be a pain as it feels like I did that just yesterday), and second I really want to figure out new and exciting ways to present my work or create new work. (The hard part is figuring out just how to do that... hmmm.) I also want to be a little more technically savvy. Felt so behind with the times with all the other 1500 attendees all on their Iphones and Ipads, tweeting and blogging and being all cool on site. I've got a smart phone, but it's getting pretty tired and slow, couldn't take any photos of the stage etc it was just too dark for my phone camera. (Ordered a new phone today, yay!)

So yeah, pardon me while I try to organize all my thoughts and try to come up with all sorts of great new ideas... and also have a great weekend!

image via webbdagarna.se

p.s. This is my 1000th post! How crazy is that?!

Hello Monday!

Yay! Another week. Only 80 days till we move to our new apartment (of course I haven't started counting down already, that would be silly.)

I had a really regular nice kind of weekend. On Saturday I got myself all dolled up and went to town to do a little shopping, haven't treated myself to anything new in quite a while. Thought I'd get myself a belated birthday present. I did too, a gorgeous printed tote bag from Svenskt Tenn! (I'll show that off later.) Thought it was going to be another gorgeous day, as it's been for a while now, so I didn't bring any real winter gear. Of course Stockholm was hit by a strange mini snow storm, and my pretty hair and make up was just Destroyed! I had planned to run lots of errands in town, but with the crazy weather, it just wasn't an option. Oh well, nothing like a few new things to brighten your mood, plus I had a girl's night to look forward to too.

Sunday was used to catch up on a lot of bill/receipt/tax organisation, and lots of work too. Boring.

So it's another week, and I've already gotten lots done. Starting off the week great with a new illustration too. (Proud of myself.) What do you think of 2 Pastel Pairs?