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"

Review: WSPS Tiny Mail DIY Kit

I'm not sure I've ever written on this blog about how much I adore Lea Redmond. She is one of my all time favorite artist inspirations. She creates and sells lovely curios on her website, Leafcutter Designs. What appeals to me so much about her work is its simplicity and sweetness. Her art is intended to make people smile and appreciate the little things. For instance, she sold small containers of cocktail umbrellas with instructions to hand them out to people on rainy days. It's both clever and silly and absolutely adorable. It's the kind of art that I hope to make.

Lea Redmond, among her many projects, is the genius behind the World's Smallest Postal Service (WSPS). Ordering a letter from her costs less than 10 dollars and is totally worth it. The WSPS prints a tiny version of your letter and sends it, with a magnifying glass to a friend. Today's review is about the DIY tiny mail activity kit. A couple years back I ordered what I guess could be called the beta version of this kit. I loved it so much that I went ahead and spent the extra money on the deluxe version of Lea's new full-size kit. It cost me 50 dollars. Quite pricey, I'll be honest, but I don't mind supporting artists I love. As you can see, I sort of combined in the leftovers from the first version.

The deluxe kit contains: boxes to make tiny packages, wrapping supplies, ink pads and stamps with postal phrases, tiny stamps and postal stamps, tiny envelopes, tiny paper (some lined), a magnifying glass, an extremely thin pen, large clear envelopes to send the small letters in the real mail, and a little paper mailbox. The contents in more detail is available on the website.

The kit also includes little sticker 'wax seal' stamps to close the envelopes but I never find that the envelopes stay shut. Having actual wax adds an extra special touch so I bough some and made a tiny seal stamp out of fimo clay. It looks like this and the envelopes do stay closed:

I can also use some of the contents for projects besides tiny mail. I created small hand bound books to mimic Lea's tiny packages. The stamps are useful to me for things like that. In the end, spending the money was very much worth my while and I get to make friends smile with tiny letters all the time.

Calendar Carton

This new year I am keeping a different kind of calendar. I have wanted to do it since I first saw the beautiful one on DesignSponge. There are more details on the website but essentially you cut index cards in half and use a date stamp to mark each day of the year on the individual cards. In the tutorial they used postcards to divide the months but my dividers are blank. I will be creating the designs for each month divider and posting them on the blog. What I love about this concept is that you can grab the cards with the dates you need whenever you are going away. This makes it portable. It's shape also allows you to glue in fun things or write interesting notes. Its a really cute concept.