A Beautiful and Just-Plain-Full Day

That rainless day I've been hoping for finally arrived so I started off my day with coffee and window sealing. A test of how well I did will come when it rains again, but just checking it off the list feels good all by itself...

After that, I was treated to one of my writer friend's screenplays that I've been anticipating reading since he started it. I intended to break up the 160+ pages over the week but I couldn't put it down once I got going. He has a way of blending both familiar and alien concepts in such a way that I'm never disappointed. I had plenty to say, as I always do once I get hooked.

Of course, I couldn't squander such a cool and sunny day so I stepped outside quite a bit to enjoy it. Probably pulled a lot of interesting faces while I daydreamed but my street was pretty quiet today so I didn't have a big audience for that.

Then onto the task of test printing and affixing borders to business cards. Since this isn't the first or even second time I've brought that up, I'll snap a quick pic in this low-light room of mine. It'll be a bit grainy but easier to show than explain.

The backside has a simple header as well as my website, email and phone info; very simple and functional. I used one of those handy roll on tape dispensers to put the borders on the top. I still plan on getting some higher quality cards--thicker card stock with better ink quality, but I'm happy with this design. The muted brown and purple also doesn't drain my ink supply so even after printing 100 of them, I'm well away from needing to replace the ink. One of the reasons I chose this printer to begin with was its ink conservation and it doesn't disappoint, even when setting it to best quality.

Admittedly, these tasks carried me well into evening, so I feel a well-deserved rest is in order before I tackle another couple chapters of another writer's work tomorrow. Hopefully it gets me revved up to do some more work on Totem or a writing project of my own. One or the other; drawing or writing, I'm not picky. As long as inspiration is on point, I'll go for it.

Oh, and picking a layout for my site. I have most of the pictures together for it, but still haven't gotten to that. Put that on my list. Probably working both Wednesday and Thursday so best to get as much of that in as I can. 

So, that's that. Ready for bed and open to dreaming. Well... As long as it's not one of those awkward dreams that makes me glad no one is privy to some of the dumb shit my brain dumps from time to time.

Seriously. Not even useful. For any genre, muse or pursuit. Just plain garbage. Better out than in, though. Either way, I'd rather it not be the stuff I remember on waking. It just makes me want to punch my skull.

Print-At-Home Business Cards and Editing

Fun stuff... But not really. Allergies, computer updates, restlessness. Despite uncooperative technology and drowsiness, I've at least managed to get a little done. I snatch up those little spots where I'm feeling better, but they're few for now. 

I bought the cheapest business card paper I could find, enough to print out 1000 business cards, but unfortunately, I got what I paid for. It's not as thin as printing paper but definitely not heavy card stock. The micro-perforation leaves messy edges. However, I feel like these are still sufficient as back-ups in a pinch. I'll definitely pay a printing company for better quality cards and likely use the nicer ones to hand out to people I talk to or sell something to. The color is nice and I like that it isn't a smooth paper, a little textured. I wanted it to have a sort of linen, book texture to it, so those still work for that.

I do know Avery's print costs are on the high side, but for what I want (either cream or ivory paper with a matte linen textured look), it's not going to be cheap anywhere. I feel like it's worth it, and then some, to go for what will make a custom design look its best. I'm not run-of-the-mill and I believe that anything worth having is worth paying more for. Not breaking the bank, of course, but cutting corners everywhere will leave people unimpressed.

Then there's the computer update part. One of those lovely updates that holds your computer hostage pre-boot. I have them turned off of Auto Update, but this means I have to manually check it when my computer is running suspiciously slow. Lo and behold, nearly every time, there's an impatient update making things gummy. So before I can hunker down for some reading and editing, have to wait that out. I mean, sure--I could sit on my desktop. Except the allergy part. Nauseous, watery eyes... I'm banking a lot of faith on autocorrect right now as it is. I don't dare risk the effort of sitting up distracting my work, especially when I'm doing it for someone else.

I have a feeling I'll nod off in the meantime. More energy for the task ahead though, if I do.

Just saying it made it harder to open my eyes after blinking. Well, I at least got to tell you the devil in cheap at-home projects and... The other stuff.

Yup, nap time...

Rainy Day Insanity

I'd like to say I've worked on digital drawing.

I'd like to say I've written something worthwhile.

I woke up at 8:30, adhering to my new resolution that sleeping in bites ass and I need a schedule of some sort. Despite noon still being early in the day, waking up at noon usually means my brain saying 'aw, fuck it. Day's half over so let's do nothing.' 

Instead, I made coffee and baked cookies. My grandma's recipe for M&M cookies. I looked on the big package of M&Ms I bought and there was also an M&M cookie recipe. I compared the very similar ingredients and scoffed at the different amounts. 3/4 cup of brown sugar? Pfft, amateurs. Nothing short of a cup! 

My cats are shit helpers in the kitchen. After tripping over them a few times, starting to count how many times I tripped over cats then losing count altogether, I took to scooting across the floor and wading through the sea of cats. Two. I have two but I also have two feet and each was clearly assigned to one of them at all times. After making most of the cookies, I end up with not enough dough to fill one last tray so I turned down the heat, made one massive cookie of the rest and decided my nephews could make breakfast out of it.

Made my way upstairs where I went back to punching out borders for my business cards. Fucking sparkle paper everywhere, but I got through the whole stack. I looked at my floor, horrified by the disparity between my ugly ass brown carpet and the pixie-esque paper freckles and dove for the vacuum cleaner.

Once I was sure I was rid of them, I browsed through my Amazon wish list and added some glue dots and roll-on adhesive to the cart. I'll need those to affix these damned borders to the cards, along with the trinket bags. Might have to order printed bookmarks though. Although I like the tassel selection, I rue both the cost of ink and the size selection. 2 1\2" across which just seems about an inch broader than I'd like. Looking to go about 1.5 by 5.5 or 6 on those. The smaller books people buy are about 6 inches in height so exceeding that is inconvenient. Besides, I'd like them coated after printing, both to preserve the print and make them stand up to accidental water or coffee damage.

I've had some people wonder about the borders. I'm not hording the idea like some trade secret so I'll disclose what that's about. I ordered some fairly cheap small origami paper, about 7cm square (though the 7x14 sheets were also good--these are going on the short edge of the card so I don't need a lot of excess). You can pick up a 50 sheet pack for $1 if you're thrifty.  I also ordered a border punch from Walmart, this one a rather simple flower or crown sort of vibe. That went for about $13-14. I have to line up and punch twice to get across the 7cm, so I'd say the actual border punch length is about an inch and a half, give or take a few millimeters. (Don't hate; I use standard and metric like a bastard queen.) On a 7x7 piece I can get about four rows. I stack about two or three of the sheets together at a time. The border punch is pretty sturdy but it doesn't go through heavy cardstock and anything more than three thin sheets is both hell on your hand and risking breaking it. Once the cards are printed, I'll run roll-on glue along the bottom of the border and attach it to the back of the card.

Again, I'll get pictures of that once put together. Feel free to steal my lovely ideas. I doubt I'm the only one to come up with them, but I embrace being extra (and don't really think many people would care to put in the extra work anyway).

I'll keep regular business cards out on my table, but reserve the extras for people who buy something or just talk to me for a bit. I'm not looking to bark at people and make them endure my enthusiasm. Like in real life, I tend to draw people in by my easy-going nature and reserve the enthusiasm for those who engage my interests. At a convention, there are hundreds of other vendors and hawkers wearing people down. I'd rather be people's respite and meet them where they're comfortable.

It's nearly 1:30 as I write this and, as you can tell from the shift to active insanity to informational babbling, my brain is threatening to declare this time 'noon' and squandering the rest of my perfectly productive rainy day. I might not be able to seal my windows just yet, but I might scoot my lazy ass over to my computer and work on my sad pink princess picture for a bit.  If I hadn't worked yesterday I might have done more then. Not that she's going anywhere or serving any purpose. Just a vanity project, which is what I call anything that isn't boosting some specific goal. Everything is portfolio worthy, to be sure, but she's just my excuse to play on the new displays, get used to them and such.

So! Off to attempt to disabuse myself of bad summer habits and try to make something more of the day. Working tomorrow and Dad's birthday is Friday so those will eat up the better part of the next two days, if only because I'm making my dad his favorite kind of cake, carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I'd like to do it by scratch. The store bought icing isn't bad, but I think it's a little too sugary and not enough cream cheese. A rich cream cheese flavor really makes carrot cake amazing.

Business and Pleasure

While deciding what I want to do about business cards, I remembered the time I ordered sticker sheets to print out my logo for the crochet pieces I sold--under a name I still sometimes use: KitaCraft. So before I go ordering any fancy cards from a printer, I thought I'd give home printing a try for this and order some perforated sheets that work with a template. I know that business cards tend to get gobbled up at conventions so I'm crossing my fingers that it works out.

I've been working on little extras. Bought nice paper to punch borders into to glue to the edges, little bags the size of the business card to put miniatures into: little books, swords, fantasy themed goodies. I'm extra so I like to upgrade a basic idea. It appeals to my craft side. The business cards will say author, illustrator, crafter so I'd like to show as much of that as possible.

The writing part is slightly neglected at the moment, but I've been playing with the new tablets here and there. Using them never gets less enjoyable. They really make digital drawing less of a chore. They come with their own challenges but nothing I wasn't prepared for. Pressure sensitivity and calibration can be a bit less intuitive than traditional but digital brushes can do a lot that traditional can't as well.

Really, I'm spoiled by summer sleeping. I'm tempted to set an alarm in the morning because it's been making me too lazy and my hours less productive as a result. Being without a schedule was great in my teens and twenties. It's just frustrating in my 30s. I actually have come to craving discipline. It's a holiday weekend though, so it makes the most sense to start tomorrow. I have windows to seal, rooms to clean, laundry to do, plans to start fulfilling. Getting the nitty gritty squared away by noon is ideal...

As usual, I'll post my impressions of the home printing experiment, as well as my finished digital drawing projects as they happen. I'm also still working on rounding up pictures for a website. I feel like I'm slacking off but, truly, my so-called organized folders are badly labeled and not as complete as I thought. Really have to do a digital clean-up, get everything making sense again!

Work, Work, Work, Work, Work

It's my favorite kind of weather and I woke up tempted to go back to bed. The only way to get the energy going was to bend to the joyless task of housework. Not just the normal fare like vacuuming, dusting and wiping. No, I went whole hog and bleached the kitchen garbage can, scraped my windows (I'm installing some of those heat-reducing films later this week), and covering evidence of where my adorable little hell-cats managed to scrape paint off of the wall.

It worked. So I worked.

Finished up the business card image:

Done with my XP-Pen Artist 22E Pro

Playing with the design for it, but not yet done with that. I spent the better part of today just cleaning this image up and hadn't set up a business card template beforehand so I just took care of that part.

I may do more tonight, if not, tomorrow is going to be another gorgeous day to do it!