Pen Review!

I recently bought a few pens off of jetpens.com and I wanted to share a do a little review of my nifty new pens! I'm pretty sure take reviews to heart way to often, but I mean how else do you know what to buy? Anyways here our my opinions about these pens! 

Number One: Copic Multiliner SP Pen 0.03mm

I love Copic markers and pens, but man are they expensive! I've only saved enough pennies to buy a few of them in my life time, cause lets be realistic 10$ for one pen is a bit extreme! I really wanted a nice ultra fine point and this was the tinniest tip that I could find. Which I found out was waaaay too fine and ran it into the ground within the first day. Luckily I was smart and bought replacement tips! I went a few sized up so hopefully it'll last longer. I love that about this pen you initially pay a lot but can save buy getting replacement parts. Overall, super sturdy and great for super fine detail, as you can see in my Frida quote! The piece of paper I did my quote on is only a couple inches big, I should've shown a comparison photo..darn. But in the end not so great on the wallet, you can get better for cheaper. 

Number Two: Ohto Graphic Liner Needle Point 0.3mm

This is by far my new favorite pen. I've gotten one of these before and I loved it. Its my go to drawing pen these days. I like that its metal tip so it never gets worn down. Which is good for me cause I have a bad habit of pushing really hard (micron pens get destroyed with me!) It's light weight and ultra fine. The only thing I don't like about it, is the ink doesn't last long and once it gets low its very inconsistent. Usually a shake or leaving it upside down for a bit will help, but at that point its better to buy a new one. At 3$ a pen I wish it would last longer. Overall this pen is the bee's knees. 

Number 3 errr and 4: Ohto Needle Point Slimline Ballpoint Pen & Staedtler Triplus Fineliner-Grey

I grouped these together cause they we're my two least favorite. First! The ball point pen. I was expecting to be in love with this pen but after using it for a bit I realized the ink flow is VERY inconsistent. Which is one of the most frustrating things ever! At 8$ a pen I expected more. I am finding that this is a good letter writing pen. Mostly cause its light weight and gives a pretty fine line. Its super slim and makes it easy to tuck way into a sketchbook or purse. You can get replacement inky bits, so maybe I'll have to try and get a refill to see if maybe the one I got was just defected. Second! Fine liner grey marker pen! I'm always on the look out for grey markers because I like to shade stuff and out line black drawings with gray shadows. The only thing I don't really like about this pen is that it looks slightly purplish to me. Maybe my eyes are just funky but it really bothered me. It was only 1.30$ so I'm not at a total loss and it does pretty well. Just isn't amazing. 

Well there you have it! My super long ranty post about pens! What kinda pens or art supplies do you like? I love reading what artists go to tools are! I think its so interesting!

Reminder..

Need to keep reminding me to let go of the stuff that gets me down. 

Poster Lettering by Ricardo Garcia

Song and a Doodle #15

One of the coolest things about Utah is the local music. My newest favorite is The National Parks. I'm totally in love with this song and I'm bummed that I haven't seen theses guys live yet!  But they've got a great sound and I'm in love with song! 

"Oh how I long for the wind"

Little Lazy Blogger

Awe man, I've been quite the lazy blogger lately. I feel like I'm stuck into the vortex of netflix and mopey music listening. But I love blogging and I always feels silly when I'm become inconsistent. Oh well, I think I'm getting back into things. I forget that I love blogging and I hope I didn't lose any of my followers. Onward and upward! 

"Oh, but its right hard to remember that on a day like today, when you're all argumentative and you've got the face on."

Outgoing mail!

I got around to writing some letters this weekend. I think they turned out pretty well! I like to use craft paper bags (like THESE) as envelopes. They are fairly cheap, although flimsy so I like to stuff postcards in mine to make them a little more stiff. I also like the brown because you can paint on it with cheapo white paint or write on it with sharpies. I wish I had more time to make these a little bit more fancy, but I think I did pretty good spending just an afternoon on these. 

Oh and I also cut up one of my receipt doodles to paste on the front of this one. Which turned out surprisingly well because the receipt paper is really flimsy and easy to paste down. 

I still have lots of mail to respond too. Oh well, I guess I'll have to tackle that another weekend!

Tattoos!

Photo by MISO

I was on tumblr admiring some of the artists on there when I was drawn to MISO's collection of stick n' poke tattoos! Which you can see HERE! I like that they call them "homemade tattoos" sounds a whole lot LESS scary. I had no idea what a stick'n poke tattoo was, so I asked my friend handy dandy Google! Basically what I found out is "homemade tattoos" are exactly what they sound like! Yup, poking yourself with a needle to leave a little mark, just like real tattoos but crappy versions. Well, I shouldn't say that because I've come across some cool ones! (like HERE and THERE) But beware there are some really REALLY icky looking ones out there. Like they clearly just got drunk and let there buddy poke them with whatever. Which after reading THIS I realized that it actually can be really dangerous! I was getting scared for all the moody teens on tumblr seeing their crappy tats, I mean that's FOR LIFE! Anyways, I never was a very good teenager and hardly do reckless things, so maybe a homemade tattoo isn't for me.

Photo by MISO

But I did a little research and wanted to share a cool finding! THESE people make a lovely little kit! That you can buy and have all the stuff sterile and ready to go. Plus awesome instructions that taught me a lot about stick'n poke. In the end I guess I learned that this isn't for me unless I happen to be in Australia and MISO wants to give me one, then I'd have to do it! Yet another reason why I need to go to Australia.

Photo by MISO

Aside from thinking about getting a homemade tattoo, I'm ready to commit and just get a real one already! I keep dragging my feet and go though phases where I really want one, then not so much. I've changed my mind about a billion times. My latest  idea is to get a bee tattoo. I'm not sure why but I've this odd obsession with bee's. Sometimes I just like to read about them and then rant to Zoei about what I've learned. So I've been working on some bee illustrations and I'll have to share once I get something that's actually worth sharing!

Phew! Enough ranting! Hope you all had a lovely Monday!

Linky Love.

I've been meandering the interweb lately and wanted to share some of the awesome findings! I'm constantly in awe over the amazing stuff that I come across. There are some cool people out there with some good ideas. It kinda of amazing when you think about it! Ya know...life and all.

Anyways! First off I'm smitten over the artist Nathaniel Russell. I love him even more after reading THIS interview. I mean, the guy is just cool. Plus I admire freelance artists/designers immensely.

Art by Nathaniel Russell

Second! I'm in love with THIS post from over at Sweetapolita! I mean baking goods as beauty products? I'm not even that girly and I love this post! I love learning cool facts about natural products and how to use them. It feels so much better then rubbing some chemicals that I can't pronounce on my face.

Third! I'm really saving my pennies to get Paper to Petal, a new book about making paper flowers. I love paper flowers because they look neato and last forever! I've found some cool tutorials on Oh Happy Day on how to makes them. I haven't tried yet. But I do know I want that book! Its so pretty looking! I always though a garland of paper flowers would make any room look pretty! Let's just say its on the bottom on my very long crafty to do list!

Last but not least I'm totally excited for Group Loves's newest album. Which thanks to the beauties at NPR you can listen to the whole thing before it comes out this week! I love first listen, I think its the main reason why I respect NPR so much, even though the voices always put me to sleep! I have some more music discoveries that I want to share, but I think I'll save that for its own post. Plus, I have been sharing a TON of music lately. Maybe even too much! Oh well, who doesn't love music, right?!

I hope you all have a lovely successful week! 

Receipt Doodles #2

I did THIS post a little bit ago about some receipt doodles. Here are some more that I did and wanted to share! I haven't done any new receipt doodles lately mostly because I haven't come across any cool receipt paper. That and I haven't been mindful about it and let them get all crushed in my purse before I had the chance to doodle on it.

I've had this idea to write a bunch of short stories based off of this lil bald guy I like to draw a lot. I haven't developed any stories that aren't nonsense. But when I finally do I'll share them all with you and make a little zine! 

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend! 

Nifty Things for an Adventure!

For a while now I've been feeling like I've been in need of an adventure. But instead of actually planning a adventure I've just been finding cool things that seem like they'd be very useful on an adventure. So basically the made up adventure in my head these are the things I wish I could afford to buy to take with me. Yeah, that sounds a whole lot crazier once I wrote it down!

First! Travelers Notebook! You can't go on a adventure with out an notebook. How else are you suppose to take notes and doodle to keep yourself occupied. I imagine theres lots of waiting when you travel. Not to sure though. Also THIS pen would go perfectly with this notebook!

Second! Messenger bag! Oh man I'm such a sucker for bags. I'm so in LOVE with this one. It just screams, I'm adventurous and I know what I'm doing!  Plus you have to have a good bag to tote all your stuff around, right?

Third! Cute phone case! Ok, so maybe this one isn't the more practical thing for an adventure. But it felt like it matched the rest so I couldn't resist. I'm having the worlds hardest time finding a good case that works for me! 

Forth! Water proof undies! Ok ok..now I know what your thinking. That seems weird and do you plan on wetting yourself while traveling? Well, no I don't. BUT you know if your traveling and you get your lady time, you're gonna be glad that you had these! I actually want these regardless of traveling or not. They are just practical AND adorable! Read more about them HERE!

I still haven't planned on where I'm going. But at least I found what I'm going to take with me! Well, if I had lots of money. 

List of thoughts as of late..

1: Exercise? Oh yeah...I should do that. 

2: Since when did Facebook get so complicated?

3: I wish I could write poets. 

4: I wonder if Miranda July is as cool as she seems. 

5: Is it Fall yet?

6: Why does crying feel so good sometimes?

7: I need to find some adventure. 

8: Love isn't ever how you imagined it. 

9: Does life ever get easier the older you get?

10: Maybe life isn't suppose to be easy. 

Always learning and trying to keep my head up. Hope you all had a lovely weekend! 

Song and A Doodle #14

This is definitely one of my new favorite songs. Although upon looking up the lyrics I've found it to be a bit depressing. But hey, depressing songs can be good, right? I'm kinda surprised that like this band because generally I don't like too much pop, or rap. They seem to have found a nice unique balance of the two and I've become quite enthralled. So much in fact that I'm probably going to catch these guys live when they come go good ol'Utah in October. PLUS, this fellow is adorable AND plays the ukulele! huh...yeah...I really gotta see these guys live!

Lovely Things: Songs No.3!

Current songs that I'm recently in love with! I'm finding it hard to find new music these days, so these songs will have to do for now! What are your current favorites?

Receipt Doodles #1

A little while ago I bought this mini booklet on Etsy that was made out of different receipts. (Like this!) I used it to fill up with ideas and words that I found interesting. I really liked how different all the papers were. Especially how different pens absorbed into the paper. Anyways it caught my interest so I started saving receipts that had cool paper and drew some doodles on them! So these are my first few that are sea themed! I'll post more once I stop being so lazy and scan them in. 

It's September!

I can't believe how fast August flew by! Its getting kinda scary how fast time in unraveling. Although I am quite excited for the fall. I'm a fan of scarves and sweaters. Plus, that means jeans and not shaving my legs! So maybe its ok that fall is quickly approaching. Oh I hope September is good to me! 

Etsy Findings: Dresses!

Aw man there are just way to many cute things on Etsy! There are tons of cute dresses. I can't believe people actually handmade these! I mean I know how to sew, but measuring is a whole other beast. Everything I make turns out 5 times smaller then I had anticipated. I should really follow the measure twice cut once rule. Oh well that's why we have Etsy so I can buy other dresses made by creative lovelies! 

Blue Bird Dress by Leah Goren

Croquette Dress by Fleet Collection

Moon Phase Dress by Gracie Chai

Hand Dyed Linen Dress by Thread Beat

Fox Glove Dress by Isabel Knowles 

I really should of called this post, dresses that I wish I could afford. But mark my words one day I'll save up enough for a cute custom handmade dress!