Shopping for clothes has always been a chore with me. It’s a tedious process of going through racks of lame/unrealistic outfits that would or would not fit despite the correct size. Every trip is a compromise in quality vs price, and the number of things that fits my style varies with the capricious turns of the fashion world.

Shopping for art supplies, however, has always been like a trip to the candy store. ^_^ Since I’m not big into candy, supplies are my guilty pleasure.

I am teaching myself some rudimentary watercolor techniques, so today I went to Daniel Smith to pick up some necessities. Just walking around the store has such a calming and grounding effect. A sense of Zen, if you will. And it is good for keeping up with the new things in the industry. Iridescent watercolor paints, anyone?

So I got some artist’s tape and gum eraser, a sponge, new brushes of course, a giant roll of gummed tape (for stretching watercolor paper), and a tiny jar of art maskoid. OMG, I am in love with this stuff! Whenever I attempted watercolor in the past I had trouble keeping my colors separate at the hard edges. “How do the pros do it!?” I’d wonder. And now thanks to one pro in particular, I know - masking fluid. The v.secret weapon of color separation. LOL

Feels like I’ve discovered a whole new world of possibilities. ^_^

P.S.: Do check out Dustin Nguyen’s blog or DA gallery. Not only is he an awesome artist, but a kind and generous person to boot!

Packaging! Oh cousins, how I love me some pretty packaging. Be it food or soap or stationery, I love it all. In my humble opinion Japanese have mastered the art—I’ve never seen more innovative way to present a product. You could say they go crazy with it!

The bad thing about unnecessarily elaborate packaging? It’s a waste of resources, especially with paper products. As an artist I already use enough paper, so I curbed my desire to wrap everything and stayed away from glorified packaging plans. But as fate would have it, I found myself in need of protective wrapping while shipping ACEOs and bookmarks. And I thought: Why not combine practical needs with an aesthetically pleasing presentation?

Thus I made these handy-dandy card cases that protect the ACEOs during shipment and can be used to store several cards.

They’re made from sturdy acid-free card stock, recycled with 20% post-consumer content. (In terms of sustainability I could do way better, but this is what I have available to me at the moment.) The important thing is that the card stays protected and is presented to the buyer in a simple and elegant setting. :)

And now the card is ready to leave for its new home. ^_^

Funny story. Say a number of years ago – four years to be exact – your service provider somehow cancels your web hosting subscription. The e-mail doesn’t reach you, the service continues uninterrupted for four years, (you even continue receiving tech support) and you don’t find out until last week, when all of a sudden you owe the hosting company hundreds of dollars for past services. Is it just me, cousins, or should the company have caught on to this a lot sooner? How is it possible to provide service to an account without, apparently, receiving any payment?

Well, long story short, it took me a week to figure this out and square things. Sorry about the broken site, cousins! I actually like my hosting provider very much, I just wish they didn’t allow this to happen and slam me with unexpected expenses at the end of the year. :/ Mew.

Today is the season 3 premiere of my most favorite show in the world - Supernatural. I cannot express how excited I am! :D Never, in my entire history of television viewing, have I been so enamored with a show. Two seasons of rolickin’ good times and there’s no end to my affection in sight. ^__^

If you’re a fan of Supernatural, you might also like The Dean Show. It’s a bunch of silly chibi comics conceived by my genius friends, and drawn by me. (it’s art, really!)

And if you’re not a fan, maybe the comics will intrigue you enough to give it a try? Hey, stranger things have happened! ^_~

Supernatural is on the CW network, 9pm Thursdays. (Right after Smallville.) The first two seasons are out on DVD, if you want to catch up.

In my quest for simplicity and zen and uncluttered living space, I have been going through the various piles of papers and books and toys and all the lovely things that I used to love but simply don’t have the space for anymore. I’ve been forced to make some pretty hard, and some “why didn’t I get rid of this sooner?” decisions.

Well, one woman’s clutter is another’s shiny new object to hold and to love, right?

Since recycling books makes me very sad (and there’s no way I’m bringing yaoi into a second-hand bookstore), I hope to find a new home for these poor magazines and dj collections. Some blank journals, too, because I just couldn’t say “no” to stationery one too many times…

If anything on this list strikes your fancy, just lemme know and it’s yours. (Choose display style E if it’s not already selected. For other details just click on the title.)
There’s nothing over $5, most of it is free, and I’d really appreciate it if you covered the $2 media mail shipping.

First come first served. PayPal is probably the easiest way to transfer funds. :)

Thanks, cousins!!