Tim Burton Inspiration

Tim Burton is one of my favorite artists! He is well known for his movies, but he is truly an amazing artist. I had a great opportunity to see his exhibit in Los Angeles, California last year and I absolutely loved it! It was by far the best one I've been to. I spent a good three hours to see all his never before seen sketches and art work. What was amazing is that I got to see how his style evolved through his career.

I absolutely love his dark and whimsical style.

With that being said, I made a pendant with Tim Burton in mind. This is my Tim Burton inspired resin necklace. I drew the image onto a blank white resin piece using a paint pen (because I can't use a brush to save my life). Then, I glazed the artwork with resin to seal it with a shiny finish. I absolutely love it! I hope you guys like it too.

My Resin Jewelry

Still having issues with resin, but definitely getting better....geez about time, after all the fails! Check them out in my etsy store!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmysDelights

Since I've been spending way too much on craft supplies, I've decided to put a one month shopping ban! This is going to be a challenge for sure! It's going to be hard when I get bombarded with craft store coupons! Must resist the urge! aaah! I need all your support! Lol, I sound like a drug addict!

Have a great weekend everyone!

To ALL Artists, Miniaturists, Crafters!!

Hellooooo everyone! I wanted to get an opinion from all of you who crafts and sell their creations about something that just happened to me today. I wanted to share because I thought it was quite interesting.

So I "liked" a fellow resin crafter's  Facebook business page a while back and I've been regularly liking her posts and leaving her nice comments about her work. Then today, I commented on her photo of her creations and asked her where she got the mold (we use molds to make charms for resin). I asked very casually not truly caring about where she got it, because I already knew (hello!! ebay!)  I just asked to be nice. Then she came back at me, offended by my comment and gave me a very rude comment back. Basically she got offended because she thought I was trying to get the materials together to copy her work.  Plus she stated that her fan page is only for true fans and not for people like me; who shares crafts. I was completely thrown off by her reaction because it was the first time.Usually crafters don't mind sharing amongst other crafters about where they get their materials and stuff. Or am I wrong? Did I just make a complete fool of myself with my ignorance? This really made me sad because I truly had no intension to offend her...and now we will never talk to each other...

In reality people copy each other all the time...but we don't really call it "copy", we like to call it "inspiration". Because as artists, we don't want to completely duplicate other people's work, we want to add our own touches because we want to make it our "own". So i'm very confused about her fear. If she's really scared, she should make her own molds and copyright everything she uses...just sayin!

I would like a feedback of what you all think about this. Do you get offended when people ask you? Do you like to share your learned tips and tricks? Thanks guys! Comments are truly appreciated!

Solar Eclipse!

I wanted to post some photos I took from the solar eclipse I saw for the first time ever! My sister made a pinhole projector so we could see the shadow! It was so cool! :-D

The pinhole projector. Looks more like a cannon haha!

This is Me! This is What's Behind this Blog!

I always wonder what the author of the blogs I read look like. Is it actually a real person behind the screen, is it a robot? I know a lot of people avoid posting pictures of themselves online and that was the case for me.  Even for my profile pictures, I chose something that was discrete. I'm not quite sure why...Maybe I felt there was the need to separate my blog and my personal life so I can stay focused on the crafts. Or Maybe I felt too exposed if I did that. Anyway, this blog has become so personal and special to me, I feel ready to reveal myself and post a picture for the whole world to see! Yay!

This is me and my love

:-) There it is! Have a great weekend and happy crafting!

My Etsy Store Grand Opening!!

YAY!!! I opened my etsy store finally after thinking about it for a while. I was hesitant to get it started because I didn't have much to put in the store, but I decided to just go for it. You have to start somewhere right? I can start building up my inventory as I go.

Right now, I have my crochet miniatures up for sale, but I'm planning to add hand made jewelry in the near future. I'm very excited for this experience of having my own store!

Please come visit my store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmysDelights

Also, please visit and like my facebook page! I would appreciate it your support! Wish me luck!

Happy Holidays to You!

Happy holidays to all of my followers! Thank you for reading my blog! I hope you have a safe and wonderful time with your family!

This card is designed by my very talented little sister. Check out her website and her comic.

My First Visit to a Mini Store!

Yesterday, my mom and my sister took me to a miniature store in San Carlos, California to have me pick out my Christmas gifts! It was supposed to be a surprise, but they had to tell me because they were afraid of getting the wrong items since they don't know much about miniatures. I was still surprised though because I didn't know there were still miniature stores around!  I can't believe there's one near where I live. I was so ecstatic when they told me about Shellie's Miniature Mania located in old town San Carlos.

Hard to see, but there it is: Shellie's Miniature Mania

I felt like a kid in a candy store, running around, trying to look and touch everything. I had so much to see since they had so many wonderful displays. I felt like I could spend hours in there!

Wow!

They also had building supplies like lighting, flooring, windows and doors, moulding, wallpapers and more! (wow...that rhymed...totally unintentional!)

Ooohlala!

I've actually never seen a 1 inch scale house in person, so I was surprised how big it was! Perhaps too big for me, so I'll stick to my 1/2 inch scale.

My mom and my sister bought me some furniture for my Fairfield which I will show them to you after Christmas since I can't open them until then. I had so much fun in this store! I will have to come back again real soon!

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Shellie's Miniature Mania
732 Laurel St.
San Carlos, Ca 94070 (map)

Thanks to my Followers

Since it's the season of thanks, I wanted to take this time to say thank you to all of my wonderful followers. It means a lot when you guys follow my blog and comment on my posts; it motivates me to keep this blog going. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving! *hugs*

Thank YOU!

Be Inspired

I'm always looking for ways to improve myself; whether it's for my health, my education, or my general outlook in life, I'm always striving. Lately, I've been looking into raw food diet to improve my diet and my overall well-being.

I've always been fascinated by this genre of vegan diet that will only consume raw foods or anything that has not been cooked over 118 degrees. Naturally, a diet that's high in plant-based products. The theory here is when you cook food over 118 degrees, not only are you destroying the vital nutrients, but also the enzymes that help your body absorb the vitamins and minerals. When the natural enzymes in foods are destroyed, your body has to use its own enzymes to help digest the food. This is the reason why you get a "food coma" after you eat; you body is using a lot of energy to replace the enzymes that were lost during the process of cooking.

Love and eat your veggies!

I have tried a couple recipes and tried a few raw vegan restaurants, and I gotta say, I'm very impressed with the creativity that goes into creating delicious food without cooking. The only "cooking" they will do is by dehydrating, blending, and processing the food. I'm not going to convert to a full raw vegan because that's just crazy talk. I love my cooked carbs too much and raw diet will be an inconvenience when it comes to socializing, but I believe incorporating some of this diet can be beneficial to my health. Plus it's a great way to get more veggies and fruits into my diet

This weekend I was even more inspired by the benefits of raw food by my Pilates instructor/mentor, Leah's first "Pilates in the RAW" workshop at Livelife Pilates that include a 90 minute mat Pilates followed by a raw food demo. The mat Pilates was pretty brutal; I've forgotten how difficult mat Pilates can be, lol. Leah showed us 4 recipes: almond milk, raw zucchini pasta, dates torte, and peachy green smoothie.They were all so delicious and very simple to make.

Leah lecturing on benefits of raw foods.

From now on, you will see me posting some raw recipes as I experiment with them so be prepared!

My goal: Be more conscious about what I put in my body, nourish my body and eat more foods in their purest form. Try to avoid heavily processed food as much as I can.