Here are the results of today’s play time. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with them other than learn from them. If you’re curious about techniques, read the captions or ask questions in the comments. Hoping to experiment with something less abstract in the future. Need to work on learning more control

Played with: dripping and combing

Played with: containing inks in a circle (jar lid), salt, iridescent medium, and used a hair drier to push the ink out

Played with: wax crayon resist, laid down base coat of teal, used textured paper towel to pick up extra ink, added colors to the circles individually

Played with: watering down the inks, soaking ink up with a towel to drag it down, picked up with textured paper towel, jar lid to trap ink in circles

Okay, so this was an old one. Made it as a birthday present for Chris last year. Had to include Cthulhu

After some time browsing Pinterest, I was inspired to make something quick and easy. A while ago I had seen these neat crystal dagger earrings that the company was selling for $30. I thought that was pretty ridiculous so I ordered the crystals myself in the hopes of making something similar in the future for half the price.

Lo and behold, I think I one-upped them! pretty happy with these babies, can’t wait to wear them to Dr. Sketchy’s tomorrow. Speaking of which! I’m sponsoring a Dr. Sketchy’s prize tomorrow. Donating a chain mail choker for the fun of it. Trying to get my work out there more. Too bad this website isn’t done being updated. Oh well, it’ll get there

Oh and that headache I had earlier? gone once I started pushing past it and focusing on the creativity. Pretty awesome!

What was the point? that’s a really good question. Actually, Chris asked me that the other day. “Why do you blog?” I wasn’t quite sure how to answer it because I didn’t know what I wanted this site to do for me. I thought about it more and I came to the conclusion that I want this site to promote things that I’m doing, things that I’m passionate about. It’s a portfolio site but it’s also a process site. Putting my work out there for people to see is a terrifying thing, but the act of putting it out there gives it more value, more weight for me. Letting people interact with it instead of just letting it sit in my house and gather dust. Sure, I use Twitter and Google+ to quickly post blurbs about what I’m doing, but for some reason this website makes it official for me.

I feel like I’m still looking for the answer to Chris’ question, but I’m close to defining it better. This site is as much of a process to me as any of my art projects are. I’m pretty sure the structure is set, now I just need the content to fill it. I think I do pretty interesting things, they’re interesting enough to share. That’s why I want to blog.

After spending a few hours tonight building out the Stencil Art section as well as the Community Involvement section and having certain frustration with image alignment, I’ve decided I have to walk away and do something like cuddle up with my dog and read.

Thanks for your patience with all of this. Even though this is a down right pain in the butt, I’m glad I’m doing this.

Last year, Sawyer had built a reputation for himself as being the sassy, unapproachable dog with more attitude than his little body should contain. But as we took classes and I continued to work with him throughout the year, he started to open up and trust people a little bit more. Chris has done a lot to help Sawyer be more comfortable around men too, which has been wonderful to see.

Adopting rescue dogs means you have to deal with the baggage they come with, and sometime it isn’t easy but it’s always worth it. Around this time last year, my family was telling me Sawyer was beyond help and would never be a family dog. Some of them even insisted I give him back to the rescue group I got him from. I just couldn’t see myself giving up on him though, he had a home for life with me when I adopted him.

How could I not fall in love with this adorable puddle of pointy?

I’m glad I didn’t give up on him because now he’s starting to come into his own. These agility classes have shown me just how far he’s come. He plays well with other dogs and trusts me enough to learn new tricks, even the scary ones like the boardwalk (shown below). Plus, he was built for this kind of activity. He’s fast on his feet and learns quickly enough that after 2 tries on new equipment he looks like a pro.

Sawyer and Chris working the boardwalk!

And of course, after everything is all done, the only thing left to do in the day is to hold down the couch with your buddies. Jett even got in on the action.

Tuckered out after all that running around!

I can see this being something I keep doing with Sawyer, it’s been a great way for us to get some quality time in together and it’s obvious that he loves it. I find myself looking forward to Saturdays even more now Especially the wonderful days that Chris gets to join us!

If you have a dog and have ever wondered about taking agility classes, I can’t recommend them enough. I’m pretty sure all breeds would benefit from this activity and you will build a closer bond with your furry friend. Canine Coach offers some of the best classes in the area, so check them out!

I went to Europe for 2 weeks, I started the best relationship I could imagine, I began volunteering for the Central Roadracing Association and continued all my work with The Wildcat Sanctuary. I lost 15 pounds when I started a gluten-free, sugar-free lifestyle (although I got off track a bit recently and gained 5 of it back, oops!). I have the greatest job at EatonGolden and love my EG family.

So, when making a new years resolution, can I just say…more of the same? No? I should try harder? okay…well, in addition to “more of the same”, let’s go with:

1. Get back on the Gluten-free, Sugar-free kick

It worked for me…it’s working for my aunt (she’s lost 55 pounds since February…she’s a new woman!) But between going on my trip and finding myself happier than I’ve ever been, I kind of gave up on caring so much about what I ate. It was difficult eating based on Maria’s guidelines, especially when it came to eating out…and desserts… I definitely think the benefits of the lifestyle outweigh the momentary joy of eating certain tasty foods…

2. Pay off my credit cards

I started the new year by paying off one of my three credit cards. Let me tell you, there is no better feeling. Earlier this year, Chris created a spreadsheet that has helped me stay on track and manage my money better. I saw where my money was going and focused on minimizing my expenses. I’m on track to be done making payments by early spring of this year. This is really really exciting…anyone who has had to see a sizable chunk of their income go to pay off things they don’t even use anymore can relate. At one point, three years ago, I was using credit cards to buy everything. Being a full time student and a part time employee at a beading and jewelry supply distributor, I barely had enough money to get by. But I continued to live outside of my means and I’m still paying for it…literally. I’m glad I’m finally at the point where my finances and my future are top priorities, and I have the support I need to reach this goal.

3. Read more

It has been rather difficult to give myself dedicated reading time between work and all of my crazy personal projects. This is something I think is pretty tragic. I love reading and I have so many things to read. Bookstores are such a hazard, I can rarely walk out of one without buying at least one book… again…I have SO MANY THINGS TO READ! Not to mention the iPad everyone in the EG office got last year, suddenly I have a vehicle for hundreds of books that weighs less than a new hardcover. 2011 was a year I really got back into reading. Aided by audiobooks, I finished Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, I also read American Gods by Neil Gaiman and Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. Chris and I recently started reading George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series with The Game of Thrones which has been impossible to put down. But we are thinking about reading each book after watching the respective season of the HBO show since that’s how we started. Truth be told, I don’t think it’s going to happen that way. I’m way too engrossed in this book to want to have to wait for a TV show…

4. Finish what I start

Here’s a fun fact about me, I have way too many hobbies. I can’t let myself focus on any one thing because EVERYTHING is so much fun. I’ve also found that sometimes life gives you an opportunity to pull on random skills that might not get used all the time, but are unique and take whatever I’m working on to the next level (example: Bookbinding, I don’t do this all the time, but this skill has come in handy so often!) Anyway…back to the point…All these hobbies lead to many project that start but don’t always get finished. I have paintings, cross-stitch designs, sketches, sewing projects, books, jewelry, things that I started years ago but got distracted from. Now these things clutter up my studio and make me feel guilty every time I’m down there (which leads to me not wanting to be down there very often…)

5. Take daily actions to create positive change

I started reading a book tonight called Add More ~ing To Your Life by Gabrielle Bernstein and this concept really jumped out at me. Yes, this is one of those touchy-feely self help books for Generation Y, I will admit that they are a guilty pleasure of mine, shush. She’s done something really interested by creating a supportive community of empowered women on her website called herfuture.com. This site allows women to network and seek out mentors, or become mentors themselves. I’m excited to explore what her book offers and see what it does for me. It sounds a little like a more trendy “the artist’s way”. So far, all of the “groovy”s and the “~ing” branding is getting rather irritating but I’m sticking with it for a few chapters to see if there is anything to all of the hype around it. I think the part of this process I am most looking forward to is the guided meditations that I was also suckered into…although I’m kicking myself for buying it through her website…now I’m pretty sure they’re sending me a cd (who uses cds any more?) I just found it on iTunes for the same price and with the added bonus of instant gratification. Keeping a journal again and taking time to reflect on things that are blocking me from personal growth and moving past them will be a fun journey and I’m looking forward to the process.

6. Spend more time with Sawyer

I love my dog, he’s definitely one of the smartest animals I’ve known. He learns tricks and hand signals remarkably fast (in part due to his intense food motivation) and he loves spending time with me. Unfortunately it is easy for me to get swept up in my own goings on and I haven’t been as dedicated to taking him for walks or training/socializing. While I had the week off from work, I was able to take him for daily walks and we had a great time. I even managed to teach him “roll over” which I thought was pretty exciting. Although now he’s kind of like Zoolander in that he can only roll right…but I find that adorable in it’s own quirky way. This Saturday, he and I start a 6 week long “Agility for Fun” class through the Canine Coach. This is going to be a blast because Sawyer is built to run and he has so much fun tearing through our living room like it’s an obstacle coarse

Last year was an awesome year, lots of great momentum to keep this going. I find myself incredibly excited for what life has to offer!

I’ve started the process of transferring my domains to namecheap.com because they have a pretty spiffy coupon code going on right now (“SOPAsucks” in case you’re wondering), making it really cheap for me to leave GoDaddy. I don’t know if this process means my site will go down temporarily…but it’s still up so that’s a plus…not that I update this much anyway…but I’m hoping to get around to it…

It’s been fun watching GoDaddy react to the mass exodus from their services. Their Twitter stream is exploding with spam, telling people they’ve taken back their wicked ways, begging people to stay. When I called customer service to figure out their painfully difficult site, the service rep. started bad mouthing the company I was going to which I thought was unprofessional. I just calmly told him that I appreciated NameCheap’s constant opposition of SOPA and the support I’ve been getting from them in my research for a new domain registrar.

SOPA was the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back for me though. The user interface on GoDaddy’s account manager is atrocious and I dread every moment I have to be logged into their site. Not to mention their objectifying use of women in their commercials…ick. I want my money to go to a company that doesn’t spend thousands of dollars on debasing advertisement.

I hope NameCheap has a better UI, and I hope I don’t experience any of the glitches it seems countless others are currently experiencing. Time will tell! In the mean time, I’ll keep thinking about  updates to my site and I hope everyone is doing their part to prevent SOPA from ruining the internet as we know it

The location was the 439 Bar in the northern part of town in the middle of a residential area and the host was the fabulous Hedo Luxe. My travel partner and I were getting ready to hop a train to Berlin, but before we left I was determined to experience what other branches did with the Dr. Sketchy’s concept, even if it meant catching the last possible train (which is generally a terrible idea and should be avoided at all costs).

439 Bar, yes the sign is upside-down

The Bar

FIRE!!!! anything with fire makes me happy...

Although it wasn’t a terrible hindrance, I missed the whole introduction besides my name and Minneapolis because I don’t speak a lick of German. But Hedo Luxe was a wonderful host and wore the most spectacular costume so I didn’t care too much! He even played Prince for us to make us fee at home.

Hedo Luxe himself!

We were blessed with two models that day that took turns posing for us. The stage was set up between the bar counter tops which gave almost everyone a good view to work from.

The first model had a nautical theme, which seemed appropriate to us because Hamburg is a harbor city and we had just learned a lot about the city’s growth because of trade and the creation of the new Harbor City within Hamburg. The second model was wearing a cute, lacy black combination with flowers in her hair, holding a feather teaser…but don’t let me get away with just describing them…enjoy some pictures!

Lady Sailor

Lady in Black, she made flirty eyes with me A LOT. so cute

By the end I had a few fun sketches to commemorate the evening and entertain me for the train ride to Berlin while I colored them in. I may or may not have purchased these pasties too…  They are pretty much the most amazing souvenirs one can buy on vacation!

Pasties by Hedo Luxe

Next time you’re on vacation, near or far, remember to use the branch look-up on the website to see if there are any Dr. Sketchy’s events going on near you. You are sure to meet some great people and it might be the perfect way to get away from feeling like a tourist…

@NikkiPilkington‘s #30DayBlog challenge: Day 5 – “Be their Guest” Link to other blog will be here when it is approved and posted

Yes I’m jumping around a little…I wanted to get this one up since it was written… besides I’m waaaay behind in writing about this trip…

1. Using a calendar

Sounds rather basic, but for a long time I was going on with life not using a calendar to organize my schedule. I would just remember everything…for the most part…until I didn’t. But life got considerably more complicated when I graduated from college and started working full time. My regular work schedule allowed me to start doing a ton of other things that I couldn’t do when I didn’t have any money and my schedule was a little more chaotic. All of these new hobbies had a pretty flexible schedule and became challenging to manage just in my head. I started using Google’s calendar because of how well it integrated into my life via my computer and my phone. This has helped me to keep my commitments and get more of the things I want to do accomplished.

2. Taking action

Recently, I discovered that Behance offers a great project management tool called ActionMethod online. It gives people a way to take all of the things floating around in your head, put it in manageable bites and in an order that will help you make it happen. Then, during a staff meeting, my boss suggested we all read David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”. I remembered having this book lying around somewhere so I dug it out and decided to give it a try. The first chapter in, I realized that ActionMethod was likely made with GTD in mind. Using these tools together I’ve started to prioritize my actions in order to make sure I do more with my time. Still working on the clearing what’s in the inbox though…

3. Putting myself out there

Lately I’ve been packing up a portion of my studio and bringing it with me to work on projects at Dunn Brothers while I visited my boyfriend who works there part time. Working on projects in public makes me nervous, I feel like the work I do there is being judged and that everything needs to be perfect or it’s not worth doing. As I’ve been doing this, I’ve attracted some attention to my usual table and enjoyed conversations with new people, learning about their own creative efforts and fears. I’ve passed out a few business cards which made me realize that this needed an update because I was directing traffic to a site that I’ve long been neglecting. Putting myself out there has to come full circle, I need to put my work and the things I am passionate about out where people can see it. Writing about what I do is going to help me find more connections between the people I meet and the things I love.

4. Keeping it clean

Although this task isn’t close to being complete, cleaning my room and studio has started to help de-clutter my head. My various unfinished projects are starting to find homes in boxes where I can easily see them and have everything in one place. When I want to work on something, I can just grab a box and get to work. When I’m done, everything goes back in and the box goes on the shelf until I’m ready for more. Like I said, this system isn’t perfect yet and my studio is still in disarray until I get things buttoned down better. But I like looking next to my desk and seeing projects looking at me waiting to be done. It tells me I have no reason to let myself feel bored.

5. Taking time

A couple of months ago, I went on a trip to Europe (Amsterdam, Bruges, Hamberg and Berlin). I let myself use the previous year’s vacation time that I was too afraid to use and splurged (I mean REALLY splurged) on the next big trip since Guatemala in 2010. It was a little spontaneous (and I would be lying if I said my pocket book didn’t feel like it took a major hit) but this trip was what I needed to jump start so many new avenues in my life. An example of this is how I was inspired by the street art in Berlin and now I’m working on stencils for The Wildcat Sanctuary of their residents. The first stencil is already going to be used as a design for their new temporary tattoos. That feels so cool! All because that spark I felt while traveling.

Another example of how taking time for myself is working for me is just this weekend when I volunteered for CRA (see previous post). It took me over a year to feel able to take a Friday off of work to go do something outside of my comfort zone. I don’t know why asking for days off is so hard for me but I’m realizing that I earn that time in order to explore what makes me tick. Taking this time benefits not only my personal life but also my professional life in ways that might not be obvious, but are profound and unique. I grow more as an individual when I let myself play and break out of the routine. Traveling and taking time off does that for me.

@NikkiPilkington‘s #30DayBlog challenge: Day 2 – “Top Tips”

Yes, I’m still behind. Getting caught up won’t be easy, but I’ll get it done…It’s in the ActionMethod system

After many months of being harassed, hassled and begged to volunteer at the Brainerd International Raceway for the Central Roadracing Association I finally took the plunge, took a Friday off of work and drove up to Brainerd, MN with Eric to see what all the hubbub was all about. I am so very glad that I did…

I don’t want to bore you with details that I’m probably the only one that will care about, but I will describe some of my favorite things in hopes of enticing more people to volunteer with me next month, August 5th, 6th and 7th.

The Omni-Mok – Thursday night, Eric and I drove up to BIR and arrived around 9pm. As the sun was setting, we found Dennis’ RV where we settled in and chatted with some friends. Later, the infamous Omni-Mok drove back into our campsite and I revelled in its awesomeness. This vehicles former life was to test the jaws-of-life, which was apparent in the fact that the roof was totally hacked off. Dennis modified it to be a joy-rider with fancy lights, upgraded speakers, musical horns to honk, a trailer hitch for extra passengers and most importantly…cup holders on the outside for a nice cold beer while we ride around the private property at 10 mph. We were armed with water guns while other vehicles had bubble machines and we all had a good time messing with each other.

The Omni-Mok was the perfect way to watch fireworks!

Being close to the action - Working as a Flagging & Communication volunteer puts you right on the track. You can’t get closer to the action than constantly being at the ready to jump in and help racers in need. Every time the pack approached, it sounded like we were about to be bombarded by a very angry group of giant wasps. Watching them take corners was exciting and terrifying, I felt the need to hold my breath every pass for fear of something happening. But of course they are all expert riders and from where I was, I never saw a rider fall (although it did happen on other corners and I saw what was very nearly a major crash on the last lap of the last race on the last day, but the rider was a quick thinker and saved the day). Coming into this weekend, I didn’t care much for racing and just thought bikes were pretty, but being so close makes you feel the excitement and connected to the racers.

Rider 5 - Speed fiend and racing demon, he rode in almost 30 races... Although, I hear he popped one too many wheelies on one of the corners and took a little tumble.

The Family - The instant I set foot on those grounds, I could feel the camaraderie between everyone, even total strangers. Track is something that everyone had in common there and it seemed to bring all of the great misfits together. As the week went on, I got to meet people from all walks of life and they all welcomed me with open arms, ready and waiting to pick on me like all of the regulars. I really, truly felt like I belonged there and I can’t wait until next month so I can see all of my new friends again. Nick’s amazing cookies are also something to look forward to…that crazy man made 581 cookies for the workers, 6 different kinds…that’s love…

Kari, Eric and I waiting for the fireworks to start

Pretty Pretty Bikes – Not going to lie…I’m kind of wanting one now…that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Soooo pretty...

So this was an extremely fun and successful weekend, I made a ton of new friends and got some of the craziest sunburn lines. More people need to get in on this and join the crazy family. Just don’t forget the sunscreen and spf lip balm…burning your lip hurts like hell…