you know, it's yupo!

A few days ago I finally caved in and bought a pad of Yupo paper.

Since I've been hearing great things about it for the past 3 years or so, I figured it was probably time to go ahead and give it a try.

And you know? It was rather exciting!

It took me a while to get the hang of it, so I just played around at first. Since it's made of synthetic material, it doesn't absorb moisture like watercolor paper, so the paint dries in all sorts of lovely little rainbow puddles.

Then after it's dry you can actually scrape it away (sort of like a scratchboard), like I did on the bird's tail.

Or, you can wet a cloth and completely wipe away an entire section:

(It was pretty splendid to be able to make such a clean line whilst using watercolors!)

For the final exciting challenge, I decided to paint two identical cat-ladies, one on Yupo paper and one on regular watercolor paper.

Can you tell which is which?

okay, well, I guess it's kinda obvious that the yupo-cat-lady is in the wiped-off area... but still... :)

At first I was completely convinced that I preferred the regular watercolor paper version... but now I'm not so sure.

Yupo is a lot smearier, but there's something so alluring about all those puddles...

coffee shopping

hello, little ol' me here, saying hi to you from Magnus Joe coffee shop!

Well, not exactly, because they don't have internet at Magnus Joe,

BUT,

this picture was taken there about 10 minutes ago.

The other day I found a random $20 bill in my pants pocket. This doesn't happen very often. I wanted to spend it on something meaningful + worthwhile.

(inotherwords, I immediately thought of about 10 different books I'd like to buy...)

But although books are definitely meaningful + worthwhile, I decided to do something a little different. Since I work from home much of the week, some days it's really helpful to just get out of the house for a bit. I'm notoriously bad at answering e-mails, but somehow when I take my computer out somewhere for the sole purpose of getting work done I'm really able to concentrate. Same goes with brainstorming or researching.

So I decided to use my $20 to take a little tour of the area coffee shops. Perhaps then I will be able to find my perfect little working-away-from-home spot!

Today: Magnus Joe

Reason chose: it's part of/right next to Thaicoon Thai restuarant, which I love... plus their little monkey-coffee bean logo always intrigued me

Ordered: Hot Cinnamon Spice tea

Pros:

-not very crowded

-clean

-several varieties of seating: booths, chairs, and stools

-friendly staff

-decent variety of teas

Cons:

-music was super loud (I didn't ask them to turn it down, though)

-no internet

-no comfy armchairs

-really cold!

Final verdict: I think there are better coffee shop atmospheres out there, and no internet = no good. I shall keep searching. However, it might be a fun place to meet up with friends... you could get a booth and have the place to yourselves! But bring a sweater!

happy Monday, dears!

so delicious

I can't help it, I'm happy.

This post isn't very well thought-out. You wouldn't believe how many posts I haven't published just because I was afraid they were too boring. Or because I haven't felt like what I've made was creative or interesting enough to share. And I haven't even made anything this time-- I got these lovely yarns and ribbons in the mail today.

But they're delicious and beautiful and I thought,

you know what?

I'm going to share them anyways.

And I'm going to keep writing blog entries.

I've missed you guys.

So you may have to put up with a few boring entries in these coming days (you know, all 7 of you who read this), but I've really missed spending time in Little Storyland.

It's time to go back.

Oh, and by the way, the new official band of Little Storyland is Owl City. Mabel's completely smitten.... and maybe I am a little bit too...

more coming soon. <3

I can't promise it'll be interesting, but I'm doing this for my sanity.

Happy weekend, everyone!