I've been busy

Okay so this past week I promise I *have* been working on my bisque ornaments, but I've also been a tad sidetracked!! Okay... really REALLY sidetracked! My husband and I have been discussing more and more actually letting me get a good camera! Not an $1800 one, obviously, but a Cannon EOS Rebel T1i. It's a great DSLR camera - 15.1 megapixel with an 18-55 mm lens included. Kind of exciting, but of course I'm nervous about any expenses to get these items! Although best-buy has a deal going on where I can get a credit card and pay no interest for 18 months assuming the full balance is paid off. I'm considering that offer - it would honestly help my credit!

Obviously I'd be buying more equipment for it.. a camera like this you can't just buy the camera and expect things to happen. I'm aiming to get some SDHC cards (saw 8GB ones on sale), an extra battery, another lens (I cannot remember the one I'm planning to get but it's a decent one), tripod, carrying case, and cleaning tools. I could get the price up there, but it'd be so worth it and the camera will last me a lifetime. Unfortunately, though, the one thing I'd *really* want to add to the bundle is.... photoshop. You seriously cannot go wrong with photoshop. Hopefully someday I can't get that as well - but a new camera will help out a ton.

Obviously if you have a great camera you need to be able to do things with it! So husband and I have been discussing going on short vacations every weekend he has off. It'll be good for all of us, even our little kiddo to go out and get to see the surrounding areas. Hopefully I can make some profit off the photos I take to allow us to afford the vacations more freely. If all means I might need to see if I can get a free job taking photos of someone's wedding and see if they'd be willing to buy copies for a little difference. Who knows, it's one of those things that will take me a while to work out. But as Aldon said, "at least if you don't sell any photos, you'll still have a camera you take great pictures with." Well said :)

When the time comes I might be making a blog only for my pictures and progress. It is a type of art/craft but this was meant for other projects! It sounds like a lot of work.

Digital camera

My husband and I were talking about how I love photography and we discussed cameras. I said if I want to take really good photos I'd need a rather expensive camera... he agreed with me if that I made $1800 I could get whatever camera I would like! My husband is insane, but so sweet. However that's $1800 I haven't made but at least I know now I have motivation to get projects complete and see what else I can do to aim for a camera I'll love.

I know it's kind of insane but one of my thoughts was how much I love photography and my camera (which is 10 MP) just doesn't cut it on quality or professionalism. I've always wanted to take photos and being able to sell them but when you blow up most photos past a certain point they start getting gritty.

I wouldn't want necessarily the picture I have on this page - it's just the first digital camera SLR picture I found. It would take a lot of time, research and comparing on cameras for me to ever settle down on one. I have a while any way - because first I'd have to make $1800 lol. Then maybe someday I can take photos for a living... or get closer to that step!

The last three days

The last three days I've been focusing on getting more of the ornaments done - since I only accomplished most of the front sides I was concentrating mostly on the back. I guess I wanted to make it look less bare. I still have a lot to do - once the two coats are on there is touch-ups and what-not. All the fun stuff which requires a ton more focus, more than I'm already having to do. I don't mind, although I probably will be touching up the touch-ups knowing me. LOL.

The mice in the wreaths are coming along great. I love the ones with the gold ribbon - I really think it helps them stand out more. These are harder to do which of course means one wrong move and I made a mistake. That's happened quite a few times. LOL. Just need to get those holly berries finished being painted.



Now these mice took some figuring out. I couldn't figure out what color to make their ears and front part of their face so inspiration from Tom & Jerry helped me manage a color that makes these mice look really adorable. I think I pulled it off quite well, but the real thanks goes to my dear husband who had the idea to watch Tom & Jerry to figure this dilemma out. I still need to work on coloring the snow - I'm trying to figure out a light blue/white that would make it look good but not stick out too much, just enough. That's last on my list though. Well second to the last since fixing my mistakes always come next. I never do mind.



It's sad but this one has proven to be more hassle to me although it's the SIMPLEST it gets. You'd think I couldn't mess up on this but you would be wrong. I have a feeling of all the ones I work on this one is going to take me a while to feel like I got it right. I think all the white makes it seem more like a blah ornament, but we'll see if in the next day or two I can make it fit my taste.



These wreaths are pretty easy to explain - fix my many mistakes. LOL. These came along "decent" but it is hard to not make mistakes unless you have a very steady hand and fine eye. I have neither but it's alright since I can still make it look wonderful in the end.



The trees got the rest of their ornaments painted both front and back. All left needing to be done is fixing where the ornament ends and the tree begins. Then I'm going to lightly paint pearl finish on them - thanks to my husbands idea - which seems to give it this neat silver glow to it. You'll have to wait and see :)

Teddy bear and Santa have been started the last two days. They're not too hard to work on, but the angles to provide an extra challenge. I'm more satisfied with the progress of these than any other, but they do look extra adorable. The teddy bear was worked on prior - probably 4 years ago when I only did some brown on his body so that needed fixed up as well.

These bears are a work in progress, thanks to my husband. He did two coats on the back of them so they'll be worked on by me soon. He's been trying to be a great husband (which he is) and join in helping me out or painting along side of me which is nice. Makes it so much smoother (and funner) with him around!

Once all these are done I get to start trying out my spray-on sealer. It should be interesting! I'm just hoping they will all look nice by the time they're done. I'm confident they will though. I'm excited to see the end results.

My progress so far

This one I got the most accomplished on - although don't let looks deceive you, his body is no where done on the back side! There's a few places needing fixed - which is why the first mouse has white on his neck. I also noticed a little too late part of the brown I covered was not his foot, it was part of the ribbon. At least I can cover it in white then pant it whatever the ribbon color will be (probably a silver or gold, although I did find a metallic blue which I like as well). This should not take too much longer to finish these, but last minute fix-ups will be a given.





This one was improved a little bit. I changed the colors to match mittens - since before I thought they were just his hands but husband proved me wrong. Would have looked good either way, but still. I finished the ears and face color - a lot more to do still, but it will get done. I need to find the perfect mix for the snow, probably going to go with a white/light blue and then put pearl finish on it in the end (that's what the shine on it is right now). I just want it to stick out more. Of course the back isn't painted either...









As you can tell these didn't get much accomplished on it. All I really did was add a few metallic blue ornaments on the trees, add metallic silver to the ribbon and crimson red to the holly berries on the wreath.

That's pretty much the update. Got a lot done considering but much more to finish along with fixing the mess-ups. Once these are complete I'll start working on a dozen more ornaments. I arranged them all into the ones that have more than one and am working on those before the individuals get started. If I can accomplish 7 in a week I think I'll be fine. I really should start looking up crafting fairs in the general area, especially the one they have here in November. If I find out I can sign up I need to make sure I can finish not only these but other stuff I want to do. That's my goal.

First craft blog *Imported from another blog*

This blog's main purpose is to get me motivated to do the thing I once loved - crafts. I used to do a lot of different things but found myself getting too "busy" over the years to focus on what I liked doing as well. I won't say I'm the best, but I aim to do as well as I can. I'm interested in a lot of crafts/arts - painting ornaments, painting walls (along with color coordinating), crocheting, cross-stiching, and a few dozen other things I'm interested in trying. I've had closets of crafts I've always wanted to finish and here is my chance! This is my hobby and love.

My goal lately is to finish these bisque ornaments. The majority of these pictures were painted today. Yesterday half of the wreaths were painted as well as the trees. As you can see I have a long way to go to get done and this isn't even 1/6th of my bisque ornament collection! I have a lot to fix - hard to paint small items so delicately without error. One single movement or interruption causes me to accidentally knick another part of the ornament and of course bisque dries way too quickly.

I'm a SAHM who doesn't want to teach my son to give up on what he loves. I honestly hope someday to start selling crafts on the side, whether it be on etsy.com or in craft fairs. I have always dreamed of making some extra money doing what I love as hobbies so here is my chance. One step at a time.