Launching Hello Planet Earth!

Oh my goodness I finally did it! I launched my very own online shop. I'm actually really proud of this. Sure it took me a while to get around to but here it finally is, in all its Yael-like glory.

So what am I selling? 'Books, Prints and Other Curios' to use the tag line. Truth be told that's pretty much what it is. Hand bound books of various sizes, mini book jewelry, and silkscreen prints. Orders will be wrapped in purple tissue paper and sealed with HPE logo stickers. It's all handmade, it's all organized by myself, it's all products I feel good about selling. Yay for accomplishments!

Self-Indulgent March

March involved artsy instagram accounts, Brit lit reading, and experimental drawing techniques. School-wise it was rough, but I made it to the other side.

*Life Hacks*
Driving Practice 
The majority of the adult population may know how to drive so feel free to laugh, but yes driving is a useful life skill. I'm not the most comfortable with doing it but I've been forcing myself to practice so I can get my license before the summer. It's pretty cool being able to get myself to destinations out of walking distance.

Jukebox the Ghost Concerts
I technically saw the Jukebox the Ghost concert at the very end of February but I've been thinking about it weeks into March. I want to make it a priority to see more concerts. It's honestly a great human experience.

*Beauty Choices*
ModCloth Grace Notes Dress
I adore ModCloth. It's my favorite online clothing store. Maybe my only online clothing store. It's just got the cutest things and always a perfect dash of vintage. To get to the point, I bought my prom dress there and I'm kind of in love. It's flouncy when I walk around in it. It's such a pretty cut. I just love the way it makes me feel when I wear it.

Pantene Hair Smoothing Creme 
In my years-long quest to find quality hair smoothing serum, my friend may have just pointed me in the direction of something that works. The Pantene line is just fantastic.

*Recent Readings*
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
I didn't get to do any pleasure reading in March but oh well, I did a lot of reading for my british literature class. I'm writing a research paper on Mrs. Dalloway, the book that popularized Virginia Woolf. I didn't necessarily relate to Clarissa but the stream of consciousness style was incredibly unique.

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Another Brit Lit reading, Gulliver's Travels is pretty hilarious. I love the lilliputians, that section had me smiling and laughing audibly as I read it. Swift is the king of satire. It's funny how these books we read aren't really so modern but they remain really good at what they do.

*Internet Obsessions*
lorraineloots
Time for some art instagrams. Lorraineloots I've been following for a long time but might as well discuss her here since I'm working on my february watercolor series (yes, it's march) inspired by her. She is incredibly talented and I am in awe of her style. I kind of want to be her.

elfandiary 
This guy is also an amazing watercolor artist. I even purchased the same watercolor set he uses, that's how inspired I am. He just has such a crisp, realistic drawing style. I'm so impressed.

*Art Explorations*
White Charcoal on Craft Paper
Another life drawing class. This time I brought some old brown craft paper and tried sketching and then adding white charcoal on it. The dark background really makes the white stand out.

Water Brushes

My grandmother insisted I buy this. Basically how it works, you take off the body of the brush. It's plastic and hollow and you fill it with water. The bristles are made of this cool synthetic material and you can squeeze the brush slightly and water flows through the bristles like ink through a pen. Pretty interesting.

*None of these images, excluding the charcoal figures, are my own

UNICEF Club

I'm an officer in my high school's UNICEF club. We raise money and awareness for children's relief. March is world water month so we've been promoting the tap project. As someone who is artistically inclined of course I wanted to make some posters. They feature a pipe and a drip of water, along with cell phones for the time challenge and a link to the website to try it out.

Along with the posters I made water drops with facts on them. They promote the tap project and educate people in the process. We definitely take proper sanitation for granted. 

Drawing Nudes

Today I have something very exciting to talk about, my first nude figure drawing class! There's a group that organizes life drawing sessions about 10 minutes from my house. Of course Hannah, my partner in creative crime, had to check it out with me! 3 hours long, here's a breakdown of what I drew and how my figures developed. We started with 30 second drawings which I don't have a photo of, but they were practically impossible. And the timing continues from there:

5 minute drawings

10 minute drawings

20 minute drawings

The final 40 minute drawing

I actually feel really good about some of these drawings. I think for my first time doing this they turned out pretty well. It was nice to do some drawing just for myself.

PaperPanduh Haul!

I finally received my package from the most adorable online shop I've ever found - PaperPanduh! I am addicted to looking at cute stationary online so in the past I've forced myself to indulge as rarely as possible. I knew that as soon as I started buying stickers and pens I would never stop but PaperPanduh is the store that has cracked me. The website is so simple, the product shots so lovely. I want to buy everything. Here's a rundown of what I purchased.

First of all, my order came in a beautiful gold foil padded envelope. Inside the padded envelope my purchases came in a pretty floral paper folder. Within that the products were wrapped in green tissue with some twine. The whole thing was so fun to open. Best of all, she included some extra stickers and a personal note to me. So sweet.

I bought beautiful little crane scissors, and three felt tip pens. I loved all the available colors so I got one of each kind; pink, cream and mint. I used my terrible phone camera to take these photos but they still photographed so well.

But I can't forget the original point of this order, the stickers. They are gorgeous. I bought the brunch stickers, tea cups, and perfume bottles. Did I need these in my life? Absolutely not but I could not resist.

In conclusion, I've lost my mind when it comes to my new sticker addiction but Emma, the woman behind PaperPanduh is lovely. There was a mix-up with my order that she easily helped me to fix. The whole purchase was a wonderful experience.

Self-Indulgent February

February was full of knitted socks and podcasts and some other bits and things.

*Life Hacks*

AYL Mini Portable Speakers

Speakers are really useful, especially portable ones that you can keep in your bag and take out at a friend's house. The AYL mini speakers are definitely worth the 15 dollars I spent. Some cool features: the size is so small and can twist open to blast more sound, the headphone jack folds in, and it has a little outlet to attach to other AYL speakers if you want even more sound. 

Kikki-k Time Planner

I'll go into further detail about this particular purchase in another post. A lot of craft blogs are dedicated to cute and trendy planner decorating and I pretend I'm above that silliness but I secretly love the layouts and designs anyway. Of course I wouldn't spend the absurd amounts of money on a planner that many people do, but this beautiful Kikki-k one was 50% off!

*Beauty Choices*

Aquis Towel Hair Wrap

I picked up one of these at Bed Bath and Beyond. It's one of those things I would never get around to buying but I'm glad I finally did. I have a lot of hair and keeping it bundled up in a heavy full-size towel practically breaks my neck. Do I feel incredibly superficial writing a blog post about this? Yes. 

*Recent Readings*

Can't we talk about something more pleasant? by Roz Chast
Roz Chast is one of my favorite artists. Her cartoons show up in a lot of places in my life. Her newest book was a memoir about her aging parents. I thought it was really well done. It had a few moments that actually made me laugh out loud but a lot of it was surprisingly emotional, and for lack of a better word, 'real'. I also really loved the photographs she included and the old sketches.

Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger
Weird, weird, weird. Of course I love me some volatile Salinger characters but wow, this was odd. It definitely had me thinking for days. I can't say I fully understood these short stories or that I liked them completely but they were definitely cool pieces of literature. 

*Internet Obsessions*

EarBiscuits
Rhett and Link are my generation's Oscar and Felix. They think deeply about new media and so I think it's perfect that they created and host this podcast. I'm impressed that they've kept this up every single week for over a year. So many of my favorite YouTubers have graced the round table of dim lighting. The interviews are wonderfully in-depth and I think they'll go on for a long time.

Not Too Deep
In a beautiful stroke of genius Grace Helbig created the antithesis of Ear Biscuits, and it works just as perfectly. The interviews are the opposite of in-depth. They never get 'too deep' and stay silly and stupid and just incredibly hilarious. I'm so glad I live in a world where thoughtful reflection and just, ridiculous humor can coexist so beautifully.

 

*Art Explorations*

Loops & Threads Woolike Yarn
I've been knitting socks this month. It's been too cold for too long on the east coast. It was time to make something warm. I bought this Woolike yarn in some gorgeous colors and I'll do a separate blog post about how I made the socks. The yarn is incredibly soft. 

Sue'sCountryCreations Deluxe Animal Felting Kit
Another separate blog post to come but this felting kit by Sue is so thorough. Her color selections for the wool are perfect for animal felting and she provides every single tool you can think of for crafting them. The price for all of it was only $40 and buying this all separately would have cost me so much more. Her kit is seriously well done. 

*none of these images are my own

Folding Origami Dinosaurs

I enjoy doing a fair bit of origami. Knowing how to fold a couple complex origami figures can make some of my boring classes go by faster. Maybe I'm a bit delusional but I like to think it's kind of impressive to the people nearby. I should probably get a cooler party trick. Well anyway, one of my favorite folds is the Brontosaurus Design by John Montroll. Here is one I made in chemistry the other day:

(Just a tiny origami dinosaur in a big world!)

Learning how to fold more complex figures is all about reading diagrams. Like learning a new language you need to understand the drawings and terminology. Montroll's book "Animal Origami for the Enthusiast" took me a while to decipher. Once I did it was all a matter of practicing the folds over and over until they became a part of my muscle memory and I could make complete figures without referring to the book. The Brontosaurus has become one of my favorites to fold.

Mix CD Exchange Party

This year my friends and I collaborated on a CD exchange. It's a bit old school but everyone had a great time. We also all shared our spotify playlists which meant we could combine the best of the modern world too. 

At the party all 10 of us made our track lists and covers. I had actually made mine the night before using a typewriter, maps, and collaged images. I took the whole thing and made copies of it in black and white for an extra DIY feel. The rest of the images are from the actual exchanging during the evening. Great food, great music, great company. We're hoping to keep it annual. 

What an intense deliberation process:

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards 2015

I don't enter too many art competitions. It's hard to give away work to be judged by strangers. This year, though, I submitted 6 pieces to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Below are the submissions they chose to recognize of mine. 

I received a silver key award for the following print, "Three Pairs of Legs".

I also received an honorable mention for this digital art piece, "A Passive Existence". 

I'm excited and grateful for this recognition but I take it with a grain of salt. Judging art is incredibly subjective. Sometimes seeing a piece on a different day, next to a different artist, or by different eyes can change whether you get any award at all. I have been on the rejected side and it can be hard to take. Artistic preference is kind of random. In the end all I can say is I worked hard and got a little bit lucky and I appreciate being recognized at all.

Self-Indulgent January

Beauty gurus popularized the monthly favorites series online and I wanted to include my twist on the same concept. It's called 'monthly self-indulgences' because all the things I write about are pretty silly and superficial, or at the very least no help in getting my schoolwork done. Here we go!

*Life Hacks*

Sunbeam Therapedic Heated Mattress Pad
I guess I would call this my winter boyfriend. It's similar to an electronic blanket except that you tuck it under your bedding rather than on top. I plug it in and it has a little remote with dials to preheat and increase levels. I got it for my 17th birthday and it's lovely to curl up under the covers with the bed all toasty and ready to go.

Trader Joes 
Goat Cheese
My friend Hannah and I discovered that crepes with goat cheese are unbelievably delicious. We went straight home after midterms and cooked some up with cut-up strawberries. Maybe it was the timing, maybe it was that Trader Joe's never fails us, but it was seriously scrumptious. Now an essential exam tradition.


*Beauty Choices*

'Strawberry and Cream' Ultra Nourishing Hand Cream
My mother bought it for me from cakebeauty's Be Delectable line. I had become consumed with finding the perfect strawberry lotion after discovering Angel Foam by Natural Benefits. The company is based in Mexico so this was the cheaper alternative. I like it a lot though, the scent stays on my skin for a long time.

Chi Air 1" Flat Iron
I invested in a quality brand straightener because the thickness of my hair kind of makes it necessary. The Chi straightener is popular and well known for a reason. It heats up almost faster than I'm ready for and straightens strands on the first pull. Highly recommend.

*Recent Readings*

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Over winter break my dad and I took turns reading this book aloud and it is truly sweet. A short read, the writing turns mathematics into a poetry I had never appreciated. The novel is about a housekeeper who comes to work for a mathematician who's memory lasts only 80 minutes. It's a story about love for math, for teaching, and for companionship.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
My third Vonnegut book, this one did not disappoint. Always weird, always dark, and always funny. I underlined countless hilarious quotes. This story explores a fake theology called Bokoninism, along with other bizarre characters. Like all Vonnegut works in its strange fictional way it speaks a lot of truth.

*Internet Obsessions*

CutiePieMarzia 
I love Marzia's videos. She is adorable and always thinking of new ideas and creative projects. Her travel videos are great to watch and she seems like a really genuine person. It's hard to find 'real people' on YouTube anymore but Marzia always comes off sincere. I'm also impressed by her courage to make videos with a language gap. Obviously her english has improved greatly but when she first began filming speaking English wasn't quite as natural to her.

SaphiraFashion
Saphira is my age but she's a legitimate role model to me. As I mentioned with Marzia, she is a YouTuber who comes off genuinely and I like that a lot. Saphira is full of opinions and not afraid to share them. She regularly speaks about controversial topics. This is something I find rare in online content because people are often too nervous to get criticized for even the smallest non-mainstream opinion. Saphira has a great attitude and an awesome sense of self and that's also uncommon for people our age.


*Art Explorations*

The World's Smallest Postal Service Deluxe Kit
I did a review of this on the blog but I thought it should be included here. I won't go into too much detail but I love Lea Redmond's work and the people I've shown this kit to adore it. It's a really fun activity to sit with people and write small letters. They literally never fail to make people smile.

Memorex CDs and Sleeves
This particular section of the monthly favorites will have blog posts explaining further so once again, a blog post explains more. Memorex sells CDs and sleeves. I bought 50 CDs and CD sleeves for a mixtape party for my birthday. They were a decent price and functioned well.

*none of the images here are my own

Calendar Carton 
Here is the cover for the january entries in my calendar carton. It features Carrie Mulligan, eggs, rabbits, cameras, and a Childish Gambino quote.

"Don't be mad cuz I'm doing me better than you doing you"