My Scrapbooking ventures

I have done a lot of different things since I posted last, I just haven’t had the time to post much. I have had work, and I have played a lot of Final Fantasy XIV (still doing : D) but now that summer is coming, and vacation is just around the corner, I thought I should just try to post a few more things here.

First I will try to show some pictures of my adventures in Scrapbooking! I know I posted some about it earlier, but I’ll try to tell and show a little more of it now.

Some of the basic sets I bought later, because even if the book I bought with the first set was good, it was really small, one of these had a medium book, that seemed better for me to use at journaling.

I always just thought scrapbooking looked really boring, and I mostly saw it as making pretty family albums or just more hardcore cards. But I found

I bought a set at Panduro first, with how to books, and all you needed to start, I also got a lot of things beside that, so I think I got broke the first time I started XD

out I could actually do more with it than that, when my little brother’s girlfriend started wanting to make a scrapbook journal. I raided Panduro when I got back home that summer, and got all the journaling stuff I thought looked cool. After that I realized I sadly am not one for journaling. But, on the other side, I like making stories. And what better to give a fairy tale feel with, than fantasy filled scrapbook art?

I already posted some pictures from my original story book idea that I were working on as a gift for my niece. I weren’t able to finish it for christmas because of lots of work, but I will still work on it as time goes, and hopefully it will be finished while she can still enjoy it. Someone also told me it could be a good idea for a children’s book, so who knows?

Other than that I started working on an original short fairy tale story based on my own stories. I even bought a really pretty album with a fairy tale theme, together with the background papers that came along with it. It has everything from dragons, fairy tale quotes, to really fantasy inspired designs, and I know I will get to use most of them in time. I also bought a lot of different design papers at different shops in town, and I feel quite pleased with a lot of the things I have gotten. Stamps with ABCs on them, and different stamp colors. A lot of smaller design papers to use in different ways, and also lots of pretty things to put on to make the designs even more unique.

To be able to do something smaller as well, that I can just really focus on, and then get it done without feeling like I have hundred more things to do with it, as an eventual book would do, I also started a small project. A sort of series with one picture done at a time. It will be a series of unique ideas, all linked together with it being about the characters from my books. So basically each of them gets one verse, and one page to their unique personality and story. So far I have only made one, but I really liked how it ended up.

The front to the fairy Tale book I started to make for my niece. Still have no working title on it =)

Character design for the book, Noin ends up everywhere, so why not XD? It was really nice to draw on black with special pencils =)

The design for the heroine. I think it came out cute =)

The first page, it is in Norwegian though XD

Second page, still in NorwegianXD But I found that the fairy tale themed design papers I got works well with this story XD

The single page to show the character Todd Wordsworth. I went back and forth with the idea of the hat. First I tried to make it with fabric only, but it didn’t come out that well. I pressed each single letter individually, and it was sort of fun XD

started on the next one as well, this will be for Mana, but will see how it goes ^-^

 

 

 

 

Once upon a early start on gift season

I am usually the sort of person that uses a lot of time during Christmas to get people gifts. I enjoy getting gifts myself, but because I am over 18, I don’t get much from not close family anymore, and most of my friends lives too far away. So my satisfaction, is to give gifts to the people I care about and hope they enjoy it. I think I each year actually tell them to not open any gifts from me before I am standing before them so I can see if they like it. (I am so sorry family XD)

Last year I found out something new and fun to do, and that was to make the gifts. I have a lot of fabric, so I made table runners and decorative stuff to have for christmas. I at least hope people liked it ^-^.

This year I have started on some other projects, which I will not tell of here, since most of the people getting them know me on facebook and will then sort of know what they will get for Christmas. But there is one special gift I am making this year, that will be a challenge at least, and I am quite sure she does not have a facebook yet.

My little brother’s girlfriend started doing scrapbooking during the summer, and when I got back to Bergen, I might have raided Panduro, and then Nille…. and then hobbykjellern… and then more Panduros, and then all the Nilles…. So now, I have a really big collection of various paper and stuff to make scrapbooks. I then found a really nice album, and ordered a pretty one with lots of fairy tale papers from America.

So, since I love fairy tales, I decided to try and make a original fairy tale book, with scrapbooking and soft pastell colors on black, for my youngest niece, and about my youngest niece.

So far I have just done a little, but I hope I can get it done for Christmas ^.^

Why I write

Ever since I learned to write I can remember writing. As a kid I would cut up my drawing papers and make my own little note book where I wrote the long awaited sequal to Roald Dahl’s Witches, or I would get drawing books  from school and make lines, for then to continue the stories of Jill Valentine after the T-virus was defeated the first time.

I remember starting my own stories and letting my close friends read them ever since I entered high school. To hear them want to read more made me happy, it was like I was sharing a deep secret that only they could ever understand. I wrote adventures that I read to my little brother when I put him to bed and we felt like we were both on adventures, my brother even cried at times, as his favorite characters faced dangers it seemed they would not recover from. Those are still our stories, and we have never let anyone else read or listen to them, and I know we never will.

But as the times went by, I started to develop my writing a little, and I started writing more in english, something that had left me, if I can say so myself, quite good with understanding english. I started to dare write more dramatic, and I kept writing even harder. I felt like if I just continued, something great would come, something amazing.

Then, around 10 years ago, I started writing a really dark story, and I kept writing it when I could, adding more and more layers until I almost fell in love with my own characters. They were my babies, I had created them and I cared for them, let them grow up, and let them progress as I felt they should. But there was something not right yet, there was like something was missing, something amazing.

That amazing thing started around that same time, all those years ago, I just didn’t know it yet. I hadn’t formed it into the right thing yet. It hadn’t become amazing yet.

With my brother and my cousin I went out to try and create adventures when we found ourselves bored one summer, and we made our own characters to play. I found the name from a manga I read at the time, gave one name to my brother’s character, and the other to my own. A naive creation, a seemingly failure driven wizard, haunted with only knowledge and no luck.

Noin Celestine.

From an innocent and carefree start, a new universe started to expand. My old stories got new form, as I added the blue haired menace of a wizard into all the stories. As a side character or as a unseemly hero. He grew with me, I went to University with him, and he changed as I changed, for good and for bad.

I think I could let someone read my stories through the ages, and they would see how my mentality changes through my stories, through my characters and through how happiness tends to change to darkness. In the start I wrote a happy start for Noin, where he lived a good life and ended up with the Lord of Destiny, who he became apprentice for and learned magic. But as I redid the story around 10 years later, it turned dark and even his time as an apprentice had its dark sides. No longer alone with his Master, but also with a group called the Reapers, all different people with different values in life, and each their dark side.

But through all that darkness, each of them showed that they could face the light. I think I grew and learned that people are not always kind and gentle, I was no longer naive about life, but I wished so hard for kindness that I would stick to all the darkness until at least a shred of light could be salvaged. Until a smile was saved, I would not let it go.

Through hundreds of different stories, with hundreds of different characters and thousands of words, I searched for light, and it was always found. People would find each other, and people would laugh and be happy, and I would find myself smiling and being happy with them. When they cried I would now and again cry with them! But still, even if everyone else were happy, I would always somehow break Noin in the end. If he was happy he would tear everything apart, if he was happy he would break the world down and be left with nothing. In the end, he ended up as nothing but a watcher, that could only watch his loved ones be happy and be sure to keep them happy. He gave everything for his loved ones, and was left with nothing himself. We will never get anything back.

As a person that has always tried my best to do everything right, I help people, and often don’t ask for anything back. I listen to people and try to support them if I can, and through the years I have noticed that most of the time, I get nothing back, and a lot of times I seem to stand back alone, without anything to show for my time, or any sign of gratitude at all. It is like people grab a part of my being each time, and in the end only my essence stands back, and it gets more and more tiering each time. Like I am slowly fading away, and want to scream for someone to notice. I am here. This is me. Listen to me back, please.

But I thankfully have someone who listens, and lends me their strenght, and my way of thanking them is by borrowing their virtues. My cousin’s amazing personality for the villains that just wants to be evil because they can. My first roomate’s playful yet serious demeanour that fit perfect with how Noin’s Master eventually ended up after I lived with her for three years. And my second roomate’s gentle and kind personality she put into her own characters that she let me use for my Reapers.

Through the years I have understood, that Noin is me, and I am Noin. The stories and the character change with my life, and I cannot let him be really happy, because I myself still has yet to reach that. I can write the part of it well, but it will just be an illusion until someone comes along and spreads a neverending happiness in my soul. Until then I will live strong on the kindness of others and the universe of my own creation.

I write because I am nothing without it. I am a silent person normally, and my stories is my voice. It is how I try to let others see my vision and views. My entire life I have been plain, and easy to overlook. I am average at everything, and never really outstanding. I draw, but don’t really feel like I am amazing at it. I sew, but don’t feel like it is any good. I write, but the sad fact is that I have never been outstanding in it. Never once have a teacher taken out my hand ins and read it to the class, never have I even gotten a good grade on a story.

I write to let my voice out, but until I feel strong enough to scream out, no one will ever know these amazing stories as I do, no one will ever know who I am, no one will listen and when my time is over, all I want is for someone else to know who Noin is, and who his precious people are, because, then I at least know I will never be forgotten.

Because, what I have learned from my writing, is that even if a lot of people you meet on the way can suddenly stop talking to you, and even if people go away and leave you alone. Never regret the moments! Live with the memories, and never forget the fun times! All the pain is worth it then, as long as it leaves good memories, if it just leaves sad memories, it was not worth it.

Be happy, be creative! Let no one bring you down, and you can create an universe!

 

 

 

What can happen during a 3 hour walk?

What can happen? Firstly, you will get painful horrible blisters. I have been limping around since I got home and took the shoes off. Class act, I know XD

But besides that, I have been able to see a lot of nice scenery, found a nice place to rest and draw, and found a place to bring my family for bathing and to grill when they come to visit during easter and May if it is nice weather!

New nice bathing/hangout place:

 

Random places seen while walking:

    

 

And I think I found a haunted house XD:

I have no idea what this building is, but it looks giant and there is no people there as far as I could see. I really want to look over all the pictures and see if I can see a ghost or something XD.

 

And my drawing done in the wonderful sunlight:

The character is from a new story I started after I finsihed one I have been working on for ages. And I were quite proud of how he turned out =)

Tired XD

I’m tired nowadays XD I have my final exams in one week now, and I have been reading non stop for exams for about one month more or less. I have had to read, and have to read, around 50-60 pages each day for exams to finish in time. But right now it seems like I will be able to do it=) I have read all I have to for the first exam, and just have two books left for the second one=)

Other than that I have my own sewing machine now=) My awsome and kind mother bought it for my birthday=)

It is a Singer Promise, and it is just a basic machine, but I don’t really need anything else than that=) This far I haven’t used it much, but I have learned the skill of setting the machine XD And I have used it for the aida in cross stitching and I have also started on a shirt from the newest Burda style magazines:

But since it is exam times, and I am supposed to study, I have started to do everything else once again, so I am also working on other stuff!XD I have started to do more patchwork, and I am working on my first log cabin blanket!:

It is in a lot of colors, with violet stars in the middle, and color teams on the side=) I am still a newbie, and I suck at making it all become the same size XD I’m not good at being accurate XD

I still work on cross stitches as well, and I have gotten longer on my beautiful Halloween cross stitch:

But since it isn’t halloween times anymore, and I wanted to have a summer cross stitch, I brought this to work with for the time before exams XD.

I really love this cross stitch, and it remind me a lot of some Norwegian fairytales, as well as the crime book written by Andre Bjerke “Lake of the dead”. So this is perfect for my summer XD.

Other than that I am now a proud scanlator and loved on the net XD. Waiting for any releases here? Keep waiting XD Since I post none-worksafe doujinshies most of the time, so I won’t share it, so haha XD. I have translated around four Bleach doujishies now, and because of exams I have to wait a little before I can translate more.

I also draw still, and am working on coloring a character from my story, and I hope that I for once will get done with one of my coloring jobs XD.

I am also wondering about starting to work on my visual novel again, and wondering if the smartest thing would be to get someone to do the drawings for me? then I could focus on doing the scripting? But the best thing would be if I also got someone to do the sound and music, but I still want to do this without putting money into it XD I just want to have fun with this and make it happen, I have time, not money XD.

Also, saw the Avengers XD I sort of want to see it again just for all the fun and epic XD. You have to have done a movie franchise well, when I, the nut over norse mythology actually overlooks the faults you have in your mythology XD. No world, Loki and Thor is not brothers, Loki and Odin IS brothers through blood mixing :P. But still love it all XD And I have a fun game for all of you: look through all the Marvel movies leading up to this movie and see if you find a wild Stan Lee XD We did, and found him in all of them,

Screw moderating hobbies and just focusing on school!!!

PS: Would anyone read if I put up any chapters of my stories on this blog?

Quilting, Epla shop and new drawing equipment!

First off, I have opened a Epla shop XD I have two products for sale, but so far my profit plan does not look like it is going well XD. Well, maybe someone will buy something later? Or I might have to do more with the products? I think I might be able to sell one of them if I make it into a children pillow or something? My shop is located here. I might be able to sell better if I put on a frame too, but I thought it was less hassle with sending it if it wasn’t there XD.

Then I decided that I wanted to try drawing with soft pastel again! I haven’t done that since art school! And I think I were really good at it. It was really fun to draw colorful pictures on black sheets! I bought a basic kit with 12 colors, and a black colored sketch book! I also had to buy a fixation spray later, since the pictures fades easy by touch.

The first one isn’t done yet, since it was not smart to make a portrait when there is no real ability to make a good skin color in the kit. I have bought two colors now that I will use, so I might get it done later=) But the second picture I am really proud of! I used a picture on deviant-art for inspiration, but since it was just a test draw I allow myself the weakness XD. I wonder if I would be able to sell pictures like this? Maybe people would buy then XD?

Like I have told before, I got a big case load of quilting fabric from my aunt. I really didn’t think I could start with it yet, since I couldn’t even get more than 10 fabrics or something with me on the buss back to Bergen. But my mom sent me some of it in the post! So I have half of this now, and I have also bought some stuff from the Stoff & stil shop in Bergen! So now I have the scariest cutting blade ever (got my finger the first time XD) and a big ruler and big cutting board=) I went to fretex as well, and found two really good books on quilting! So I started on a starpillow, and I have worked hard on it in between school work=)

First there is four triangles, that are laid together into one Quadrilateral with the open sides up. (the Quadrilaterals that makes up the triangles is 7×4 cm, and around 0.6 cm on the top is pressed down before it is made into a trinagle.)

Then make eight ones, and put them out like on the picture above. (try a little more accurate than me XD)

Then eight more, for two more rounds.

After that make 16, and put out this way.

And 16 more once more XD. Yeah I know, I should really have been done before starting to make a sorry excuse for a tutorial XD.

Other than that I also found a Quilt store in Bergen! And even thou it is expensive, I will return there in the future, cause they have a lot of nice fabric! And also cheap sewing machine, something I really think I might need in the future now…

I also want to make a dress for a special little girl, but I just need to get this pillow done first, and wait till I get money to buy colorful happy fabric!=)

My new Wacom Intuos4 M!!

So I decided to scrap the idea of buying a Cintiq for a lot of money, and bought a Intuos for a lot less money=)

And I am in such a soon Christmas mood now that I keep wanting to draw a lot of christmas pictures! I have also ordered a few cross stitches I will stitch for christmas XD. I will post pictures of them when I finally get done with the one I am doing now.

I am planning a big picture I will draw for christmas! It will be little Noin, Mana and also Todd! I hope I can draw what I imagine it to look like ^-^.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a great update from the one I had. It is bigger, with the usage area around a A5 side, and the pen has pressure support, and also a lot more pen nips for different sorts of pressure=). It has a lot of express keys, and also a touch circle for zooming! I also got to choose from three programs when I installed it, either one from autodesk, from photoshop or from corel, I took the sketchbook program from Corel=).

I am also working on coloring a picture of Mana, but it might be on hold a little while XD

Need… to… blog… something XD

Haven’t blogged for a little while now, and I just want to update with something XD Well, I have a iPad, and also a pogo stylus now! It is really easy to use for kanji practice on the ipad, but it is still a little hard to use it for drawing, but it works better than using my finger XD

It was a lot smaller than I had thought it would be, but that just makes it easier to hold.

I also found out that I can use it on my phone, so that was a little fun XD

I have drawn a little with it since I bought it, but not much really, but I will add some pictures drawn on the iPad since I got it ^.^

 

This picture I drew before I got the pogo stylus, and I am really proud of it! I never really draw people with that kind of hair, but it was fun XD I think I drew a really cool woman XD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next picture was the first I made with the pogo, and I were trying out the layers and colors a little. It is really easy and fun to play around on the sketchbook pro program, if you have a iPad I do urge you to try it out if you like to draw ^.^

This picture I made yesterday, after I have started on writing my story with Noin as the main again I just keep remembering that he is not always such a nice guy XD He can be really scary if it is asked off him. I will try to draw more of Noin in the future! And maybe start on the reapers comic again, as well as maybe put up some of the chapters here ^.^ I got the Manuscript program on iPad too, and it is really easy to use, I just have some problems with importing and exporting between ipad and computer XD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like the things you can do on this. You can make pitches and also arrange a lot of character cards and stuff that is good to have when you do want to plan what you are going to write, and you can just send it over mail to yourself when you want to store it, and everything auto saves!!

Next month I will buy something to put my ipad in, so I can take it to use in school, and I might also buy the keyboard for it in the near future ^.^

In other news I have started to buy a lot of Shiki doujinshies XD I post them on the other blog as I get them, but my collection is growing so much that I had to buy new folders to put more in XD

I and my roommate took a almost two hour walk one day, and we took a lot of nice pictures! It was really fun, and I can’t wait for the spring to come so we can walk around a lot more!

I have been playing some pangya lately, but I will update with that here later, so I won’t say much now ^.^

And the most important news in the end! I have become a aunt again! My brother and his girlfriend just got their third adorable little heartbreaker! Now they have one boy (the oldest) and two girls! I regret not being able to spend much time with any of them when they grew up, since I lived away when the two first were born, and now I only see them around the biggest vacations… but I really love them all a lot! ^-^

Damn Filler material animes!!

I haven’t posted for a little now, have a free week. Just wanted to say it so people don’t think I have fallen prey to a army of spiders.

Well, first to mention what is awsome! The Grell scenes in the anime is always glorious! But Sebastian is getting meaner! (I think he felt bad and set up some tea… but still mean!)

But it was really mean of him this time! He got Grell’s hope up, and then thrashed them! First Sebastian is acctually really nice and arranges some afternoon tea for Grell.

(Of course he puts salt in it! I am happy he did, or I would suspect that Sebastian had hit his head or something bad…)

It seems that Grell has started taking photo’s so the rest of the episode is a angry Sebastian doing fanservice for Grell in order for him to take things he can not.

Then in the next episode, Sebastian is too cruel! Don’t take your hate out on innocent bystanders!!!

First, Sebastian pulls in Grell closer:

(Wah! I just can’t come over how cute Grell looks in this picture! The look on his face is adorable!)

Then he lifts him up bridal style!:

(Note how Sebastian’s face says: Yeah, I know I am good, I always get this reaction from people.)

Ok, by this point we all know what is going to happen, but Grell don’t! And he looks so happy! Wah!!! Stupid Sebastian then does this!:

He throws him trough a exploding door! T-T It is all so mean…

On other notes, the last episode came out last night, and is already subbed. I won’t spoil what happens, but I think that the anime script writing has been taken over by a Sebastian and Ciel fangirl…

But I am looking forward to the OVA at least… and the last ep did have a few seconds long scene with Sebastian giving the three shinigami’s tea…

Poor Grell is bored XD But I really hope there is no salt in the tea…

And other than that I drew a picture ^.^ Of woman Grell XD Yay!

Original Cosplay! Noin Celestine!

I am working with my first original Cosplay idea! It is my alter ego Noin Celestine, apprentice of the Destiny Lord (Yeah, I know only I will get that one XP)

My first design can be found here. But I have updated the idea a little, so the basic idea is this:

So the jacket itself is something that will have to wait until I have money, but I am going to start with the vest first. And I will continue with the rest when I get money.

I bought a pattern for a normal vest, but I will modify it as I go along XD The vest will be black (I even bought expensive fabric this time!) and the sides will be s deep red ^.^

I also found a japanese gothic magazine with a lot of great patterns. It wasn’t cheap, but I just wanted it. (And I felt a little bad for asking to tear the plastic off so I could see inside.) And I found at least two tings inside that I want to make, a really cute bunny, and a shirt that would be great for my Noin!