I think I mentioned before that I am participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). In order to do this, I will be forfeiting a good portion, if not all, of my computer time.

I do have several things to post (Halloween costumes... shaln't say more!), but that will have to wait until I have time to upload, edit, and post the pictures!

So hold tight until I get a chance to post!

And since writing can be considered a form of art, I will eventually post a summary and maybe the first two chapters from my book. :)

 I remembered I had posted a "tutorial" on my personal blog, and thought I'd "import" it to this one. It is a "pen and pencil" drawing- my favorite mixture of artistic mediums. Don't forget to click "read more"! Here it is:



How to do a "pen and pencil" drawing, which is what alot of my artwork that are not sketches are.

1) Draw a rough sketch of the picture and trace the outline. This is usual the hardest part- especially picking out what you are going to draw!!! (btw I'm not left-handed, I was just erasing with that hand. lol)


2) Color in the main shadows with the pen. At this point, the picture should look like a half-finished ink drawing. (This usual takes the longest, because you are figuring out how you really want the picture to look.)

3) Pull out your trusty colored pencils, and...

... color it in! Use those shadows you colored in before! Don't be afraid to pull out your pens and go over any black line that gets smeared by pencil.

4) Add in shadows (you don't want your people floating in mid-air, do you?) and a background (I didn't draw a background on mine because the picture did not turn out the way I wanted it to...)
The effect is a fun picture with very dramatic lighting!
Volia!

But WAIT! We're not done!

Step 5) Take pictures of the drawing from weird angles, just because you can!



and... 6) Post them on your blog because you think that the picture above is simply hilarious!

Here is a recent creation- a very fancy ear cuff! I used Czech glass leaf beads. The two pictures shown below show how amazing these leaves are. They change color with the light! Both pictures are of the same ear cuff. The one on the right was taken with a yellow-y natural light, and the one on the left was taken with a white flash. This is my favorite earcuff so far!








EDIT: Another picture:


AND! I have decided that this is one big overkill. :P Unless its for a very hyped-up costume... :D

The new widget seen at the bottom of posts is this thing called "Link Within", and it shows other posts that are related.

Unfortunately, (and I haven't messed with the HTML to fix this yet) this gets in the way of my "jump breaks" on posts, where it allows me to put a READ MORE. The jump break makes it easier to navigate the blog, but now it is hidden below the Link Within widget.

On all new posts, please peek underneath the widget to make sure that you are not missing half the post!

Here are reasons for the upcoming lack of updates:

1) School. High school, to be precise. Homeschooling with Kolbe Academy and honors in most subjects typically eats up alot of time.

2) Family. We are still trying to sell our house, Dad is commuting for the time being, my grandpa is sick, and we have lots of activities.

3) Sports. I am playing volleyball, and 4 out of 5 siblings are doing other sports. When I don't have volleyball myself, I am babysitting various siblings while Mom takes the others to practices/games/tournaments. This should be over come last week of October.

4) A very big sewing project. I will spend most of my free time making my second ever sewing project (barring one doll dress- techinically my first project- I made up my own pattern for that, that didn't count). I am going to keep you in the dark, but I promise I will post pictures of it when I am finished! Oh, I should get someone to take a picture of me in my first every sewing project, and post that. :)

I recently wrote an article in the FT-Fourm Newsletter about Elvish jewelry! Actually, it was that article that made me start a separate blog. I wanted to link to my personal blog, but that maybe wasn't a good idea since the audience is more than just the people on the fourm. So I created a separate one, which you are obviously looking at now, which I am pleased with. :)

The fourm, where I spend 90% of my computer time, is manned by faithfilled, crazy fans of Regina Doman (people like myself, in other words). We have interesting discussions on everything from religion to music, random discussions on everything from school to ear wax, and of course the Family Tree, which is a major roleplaying section. Book reviews by fellow teens, sharing and critiquing of art, poetry, and other scribblings... Anyways, it is wonderful.




I found a site called Issuu where you can publish documents online for free. So now I can actually link to it on my blog. :)

Here is the second issue of our newsletter. My article is on page 8 and my comic strip is on page 4. I suggest printing out the entire newsletter and reading all of it- it is worth it.

Click here to see it!