August 2022: Victories, Video Games and Vaudeville

Is anyone else absolutely blown away by how quickly this summer is going by?? I, for one, am always Team Autumn so I’m not completely heartbroken about it, but it’s certainly shocking that August is already nearly at an end!

As per usual, things have been pretty busy. Family medical stuff, work, big career moves, and more haven’t left me with as much free time as I’d like but I think I still managed to squeeze in some time for a lot of good stuff. 🙂

READING:

Cupcakes & Machetes and I had a couple back-to-back buddy reads, and as luck would have it, we really enjoyed BOTH books!

Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was the first of the books we read, and we’ll be posting a buddy review for it in the near future over on our joint blog Sugar & Scream so keep an eye out to find out what we thought of this gothic horror! 😉

Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals, by Laurie Zaleski. This one was C&M’s pick and I was a little reluctant, expecting it to be a total tear jerker but although it definitely had its sad points, it was SUCH a good book. C&M already posted her review for it over on her blog, so be sure to check it out. We both loved it!

As for solo reads, I’m currently reading I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy. As shocking as the title is, it isn’t hard to see her motivation behind it while reading through the chapters I have so far. The author does not hold back anything as she unveils the story of her mother’s manipulative, psychologically abusive and toxic parenting, as well as the way the life of a young child actor was forced upon her when she never even wanted it.

BAKING:

I tackled a new dessert and baked a S’mores Cake for my sister-in-law’s birthday. We’re talking a graham cracker crust bottom, chocolate cake, vanilla marshmallow frosting, topped with toasted marshmallows, a chocolate drizzle, and graham cracker crumbs.

My dad’s birthday is right around the corner as well, so I just picked up the ingredients to make him the cherry cheesecake that was his birthday treat of choice this time around. 🙂

DRAWING:

With limited free time this month, I haven’t drawn anything yet in August, buuuuut I am brainstorming some ideas for a video game themed collaboration with C&M’s hubby for his streaming channel https://www.twitch.tv/heathen_rite this November. (More to come on that later!) 😉 I’m also eagerly anticipating the prompts for some of October’s art challenges like #inktober and #corpsetober to pop up (hopefully) in the near future so I can start cooking up some ideas for spooky season as well.

WRITING:

Writing has been touch and go lately. With a lot of family stuff going on and whatnot, I haven’t had much time for writing, but when I have, it’s been a lot more productive than usual. Now that I’m taking medication for my ADHD, I can definitely see a difference in my ability to focus and not get as distracted by other things during writing time and other activities. It’s been really nice. 🙂

EVENTS:

I recently got the honor of presenting at this year’s International Gentle Teaching Conference. It was such a great experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to co-present with. This was definitely a high point for me in my career and I’m so proud to have gotten the opportunity to present among so many wonderful speakers. Public speaking is TERRIFYING to me, but thankfully, since I’ve started actually treating my anxiety, it is now something that is much more possible.

As for events coming in the near future, after a few years off due to Covid, Theatre Bizarre finally makes it’s grand return to Detroit this October! If you don’t know what that is, imagine the most epic Halloween party ever. Multiple floors in one of Detroit’s historic buildings are transformed into one big spooky bash with live performances, sideshow acts galore, fire performers, devils and deranged clowns, and more. We immediately snagged our tickets as soon as they went on sale. Aaand, to make things even better, Mr. and Mrs. C&M are attending this year for their very first time! We’re so excited to get to go together this time around. Time to start working on costumes! 😀

In other vaudeville-themed news, I also recently got in touch with another event planner in our neck of the woods and got the inside scoop that they will be bringing back the “Carniville of Madness” (a Gatsby style upscale event with performers and oddities) which made its debut before the pandemic hit. Mr. Moth and I had a blast there but since their first year was right before Covid, we feared they may not make a return. Thankfully, those worries were put to rest and we now have another great costume event to look forward to.

Also, a couple’s resort vacation with Mr. & Mrs. C&M is right around the corner and after all the stress and chaos the past couple years have brought, we are ready for a relaxing vacation with our besties! ❤

AAAAND, we haven’t nailed down the details yet, but in October Mr. Moth and I will be celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary, so we’re hoping to swing another vacation at that point too to celebrate. ❤

VIDEO GAMES/ENTERTAINMENT:

Re-playing Mario games with Mr. Moth for fun is always a nice way to enjoy a bit of free time.

I’ve also been continuing along on completionist mode in Hungry Shark World. After you beat the game, you unlock 2 extra sharks that have really high goals and I just pick at those goals when I need to mindlessly de-stress for a bit.

I’ve had a lot of fun lately nerding out with Imperial Rebel Ork over the Predator movies. We even did a buddy review over on the Sugar & Scream blog for the latest film installment in the franchise Prey.

So, that pretty much sums up how things have been going on my end. How have you guys been? Any exciting August moments I may have missed? How’s your summer been??

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Very Late October Art Update

So, I just realized that I never posted the remainder of my drawings I did for October’s Corpsetober art challenge. 0.o Whoopsie. Well, better late than never, right? 😉

Prompt 9: Fairies

With a prompt like “fairies”, I just had to use it as an excuse to draw another moth fairy. ❤
Prompt 10: Valentine’s Day

Watch out, she’ll steal your heart! 😛 I did not intend for this woman to look like 90’s Alanis Morissette, but apparently sometimes these things just happen.
Prompt 11: The 80’s

Cute 80’s girl with Frankenstein’s Monster/Bride of Frankenstein fashion vibes.

Prompt 12: Anime or Manga

Originally I was trying to think of an actual spooky anime to do fan art of, but then I just decided to take an iconic horror movie like Halloween, and thought to myself, but what if it was an anime? Haha so here we are. I took inspiration for Michael and Laurie’s faces from Charmy and Noelle from the anime Black Clover.

Prompt 13: Retro Video Games – the 90’s

When I had to think of a 90’s video game with Halloween or spooky vibes, my brain instantly went to Banjo’s pumpkin form from N64’s Banjo-Kazooie. Specifically, the Mad Monster Mansion level. Not my best piece, but it was a quick and easy one based off a video game that I have so many wonderful memories playing.

I actually haven’t had much time to draw since I worked on these pieces in October, so hopefully I’ll get to change that soon. Too many hobbies, never enough time. What hobbies are you looking forward to this December? 🙂

October/November 2021

Well, to say things have been busy, would be an understatement, but fortunately (for the most part) October and November have been a lot of fun. I hope you all had a spooky season full of horror movies aplenty, sweet treats, and Halloween fun as well!

Here’s some of the highlights of what my October was like:

Mr. Moth and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary, as well as 6 years of being a couple. ❤ 

I completed about half of the Corpestober art challenge prompts for the month.

At work, I dressed up as Coraline for our fun Halloween festivities. It ended up being cold and rainy the day of the work Halloween party, so I was thankful that part of my costume involved a rain coat. 😛

Halloween weekend we went to Hell. (Hell, Michigan that is.) We went with Mrs. and Mr. Cupcakes & Machetes and met up with a couple of their friends for a hellishly fun game of putt putt, an amazing lunch, and just some general shenanigans and adventuring around the little town. It was such a good time. The day before that (Devil’s Night) we spent going to multiple cider mills, carving pumpkins, and watching scary movies. It was an absolutely amazing Halloween weekend with absolutely amazing friends. ❤

We also got our booster shots of the vaccine at my work, so that was nice to get that done so easily.

The whole month of October I took a break from writing and just focused on fun stuff, which meant getting to play video games, too. Something I love, but haven’t been able to devote much time to for a while. (Too many dang hobbies!) Mr. Moth got me the game Lost in Random and I absolutely loved it. ❤ 

So far in November my main focus has been NaNoWriMo, aaaand I have a buddy read of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells with C&M for Science Fiction month. I’ll probably be fairly scarce around here the next 3 weeks or so since I’m really trying to reach that 50,000 word count for the NaNoWriMo writing challenge this month. I’m a little behind where I want to be, but still hopeful I can make up for it. 🙂 I won’t beat myself up if I don’t make the 50,000 words I’m aiming for. I have a lot to do in preparation of the holidays, Mr. Moth’s birthday, and plenty other things to keep me busy, and I’ll still be co-hosting Sugar and Scream with C&M so we’ll see what I can do with NaNoWriMo this year.

Did anyone else watch the new Netflix show based off League of Legends called Arcane? Mr. Moth and I watched the first 3 episodes and it’s sooo gooooood! 😀

Anywho, I’m off to try to slay the NaNoWriMo beast. Hopefully I’ll have something successful to report when I return. Have a great November, everyone! ❤ ❤ ❤ Hoping to return to a somewhat normal blogging schedule in December. 🙂

 

Week 1 of Corpsetober Art Challenge

Can you believe the first week of October is already over? I managed to do most of the prompts for the first week of Corpsetober, an art challenge that this year presents you with very innocent-seeming prompts, but then dares you to make them horrific, spooky, or Halloweenie in whatever way you see fit. It’s been a lot of fun so far, especially since I’m not stressing myself out to complete each prompt for each day.

Prompt 1: Sunday Funnies (Comic Strips)

I had to go with an absolute childhood favorite of mine for this prompt, and choose Calvin & Hobbes.

Prompt 2: Childhood Toys

I actually never owned a Furby as a kid, but I remember them being very popular, and the recent Netflix animated film The Mitchell’s vs. The Machines has an amazing scene with Furbies that this pic I drew was directly inspired by.

Prompt 3: Retro Video Games (The 80’s)

It was so hard to pick which game to go with, but in the end I picked Pac-Man. Not only because it’s awesome, but also because I knew it would be pretty quick to draw. 😛

Prompt 4: Superheroes

I thought Zatanna would be a good choice for something fun and spooky, with her pulling some tentacled creature from her hat. I’ve always wanted to draw her, so this was a good excuse to do that.

Prompt 7: Mermaids

I love drawing mermaids. ❤ Especially creepy mermaids. This Deep Sea Mermaid was fun since I gave her a color scheme for when she was closer to the surface, and one for when she was down in the darker, deep waters. She was inspired by a few different sea creatures, some of which include: the angler fish, frilled shark, and leopard seal to name a few.

Bonus Drawings Just for Fun:

Even though I didn’t end up doing 2 of the prompts (Memes and Doggos), I did end up working on these 2 drawings instead.

I hope you guys enjoyed my weird little drawings this week. Haha I know I certainly had a lot of fun making them. 🙂 What have you been working on this October? Any goals or projects you’re working on this month?

 

Art Update: Rewinding Back to October 2020

Happy December and Happy Holidays, everyone! ❤ It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done a real art update around here so I figured I’d share some of the pieces I’ve been posting over on my Instagram over the past couple months. 🙂 It seems like I have dry spells where I don’t do much more than sketches/scribbles and then I hit my stride and put out multiple pieces right in a row. I’d really like to be more steady and consistent with my art output in 2021 but we’ll discuss that further when I do my New Year’s Resolutions post soon! 😉

These pieces were from back in October when I started (but failed to finish) the Corpsetober Art Challenge. It was so much fun, but October was such a whirlwind of a month that the challenge really got away from me pretty quickly in. I’m not upset about it though. With the stress of 2020 always looming I’ve spent much of this year being less critical of myself and more focused on mental health. ❤

I think part of the reason I enjoyed this art challenge so much was because it called for me to lean heavy into my interest in all things spooky, and that’s always a treat. 😉 What was not as fun, however, was dealing with my dying, busted ass brush pens and other markers. *SOBS* The silver lining of that, though, would be that it gives me a gentle push to try other mediums in the near future. I’ve been having fun with brush pens for the past 2 years or so and they’ve had a good run. Now I’m ready to tinker around with more tools of the trade. I’ll go more into that when I do that New Year’s Resolutions post I previously mentioned.

Since this post features mostly horror/spooky themed art, my next art update I do will feature some of the fantasy art I’ve been doing more recently. Gorgons, flying purple rats, merfolk, and dryads, oh my! 😛

Do you have any creative projects you’re currently working on before the end of the year? If so, I’d love to hear about them! ❤

Happy Halloween!

I’m baaaack! ❤ And just in time for Halloween, no less. I know things are a hot mess this year, but I hope everyone is finding some way to have a fun (and safe) time this Halloween. Mr. Moth and I are celebrating the 5th Anniversary since we became a couple in a low-key “Quarantine & Chill” sort of way. 😛 We got curbside pickup from one of the local breweries for lunch and we’re going to continue our month-long horror movie binge. I’m especially excited to check out the movie The Mortuary Collection on Shudder.

I think it looks like a lot of fun and a perfect viewing treat for Halloween! 😀

Mr. Moth also surprised me with these lovely and delightfully spooky flowers and bats for our anniversary. The boy knows my dark little heart so well. ❤

The past 2 months have been a real whirlwind, with the highlight of it all being that Mr. Moth and I officially tied the knot! We kept it small due to the pandemic but everything was absolutely perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. ❤ The lovely Cupcakes & Machetes was my Maid of Honor and her hubby and my Brother-from-another-Mother was our Officiant. (I’ll do a post with more info and some photos soon!) ❤

We had planned a honeymoon, bought our plane tickets, got our hotel, and got a city pass for a trip to Boston and Salem, a trip we had always talked about going on together since we first began dating, but ended up postponing the trip due to the pandemic. It was a hard decision to make, especially since (like most other people we know) we’ve had to cancel so many big and exciting plans during the ongoing dumpster fire that is 2020. Still, we know it was the right thing to do and we’ll make the trip one day when it is safer to do so. So, instead of exploring new cities together we just did what we’ve done for most of 2020 and stayed in for a little Stay-cation.

In other news: I returned to work in September after 6 months of us being closed due to the pandemic. It’s been really different due to all of the new safety measures we must take. Cold and Flu Season is always a rough time of year at my work, but now with the Coronavirus cases increasing in our state and it being a constant threat in the back of everyone’s mind, it’s been especially stressful and exhausting. We’ve been trying to make the most of things though, and keep everyone safe and happy. My room also hosts weekly Zoom skill-building lessons with some of our participants who prefer to join in virtually rather than in-person, so that has been an interesting learning experience as we try to find our groove presenting fun activities online.

Honestly, I’ve been too busy and exhausted to do much of anything related to my usual hobbies, unless you want to count power naps as a hobby. I’m hoping to ease my way back into the things I enjoy now, though. 🙂 It’s been a while since I’ve been able to do any writing and, for a while there, I really had my doubts that I would have the energy or sanity to participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo, but I’m going to give it a go. 😀

What are your Halloween plans this year? How have you been the past 2 months? I’m gonna try my best to catch up on some blog posts around here but if you have anything specific you wanna share PLEASE tell me or even hit me up with a link. I’ve missed my Blogging Buds so I’d love to know how you’ve all been doing. Have a frightfully fun Halloween, everyone!! ❤ ❤ ❤ Looking forward to catching up with all I’ve missed and getting back to a more normal posting schedule. 😛

Inktober 2019 Final Roundup & Farewell for November

Hello, and Happy Halloween, one and all! ❤ Even though it feels like I’ve spent half of October being sick, it’s been a really good month overall. I’m pleased to report that I have now officially completed October’s annual art challenge INKTOBER! Each day of the month I have unleashed a new ink creation to plague humanity, and it’s been quite the fun teaching experience. Along the way I’ve learned new techniques, pushed myself to think outside the box to meet the daily prompts, and I’ve shown myself that I can in fact make more time for the things I love despite all the constant business of adulting. 🙂 So, before I take my previously mentioned writing hiatus for November, allow me to present my final roundup of Inktober drawings. Thank you all for all of the amazing feedback and support during this month’s challenge. ❤ It truly means a lot, and hopefully November will see me through completing a second challenge for NaNoWriMo.

Day 22: The daily prompt was “GHOST” and my immediate thought was Boo, probably my favorite fictional ghost of all time.

Day 23: The daily prompt was “ANCIENT” so I went with an elderly Joker-esque batshit crazy granny because why not? 😛

Day 24: The daily prompt was “DIZZY” and maybe I was feeling inspired by my recent trip to Theatre Bizarre, but I wanted to draw a trippy clown girl for some reason. Hey, I just go where the inspiration takes me. 🙂

Day 25: The daily prompt was “TASTY” so I made a big shadowy werewolf looking forward to his next meal. Don’t mind all the doodles in the background, it was a sketchbook scribble session before I decided to slap some ink on it and call it a day. 😛

Day 26: The daily prompt was “DARK” and I figured since I’ve been drawing sooo many people throughout the month, I wanted to draw a piece without anyone or anything with a face. There are some moths, sure, but they’re too little to see their faces, so whatever.

Day 27: The daily prompt was “COAT” and due to how cold it has been lately, I guess I was feeling inspired to draw a cute girl in a cute coat on a cold, chilly autumn day with wind and leaves blowing about.

Day 28: The daily prompt was “RIDE” and what cooler ride is there than the Cat Bus from Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro? 😀 This one was a lot of fun to work on.

Day 29: The daily prompt was “INJURED” and initially I figured I’d draw a couple roller derby girls post-derby, with busted lips, bloody noses, etc. but then I was having an off day and couldn’t quite come up with the look I was going for, so onto Plan B. That’s when I decided to pay homage to Monty Python and the Holy Grail‘s Black Knight.

Day 30: The daily prompt was “CATCH” so I went with an arcade staple, the crane game.

Aaaaand FINALLY, we come to Day 31: And the daily prompt is “RIPE”. With it being Halloween, of course I had to go with a rotting pumpkin, past its prime and overly-ripe, with bugs crawing in and out of its face.

I hope you guys have enjoyed the various pieces I’ve worked on over the course of Inktober, and, again, thank you SO MUCH for all the kind words and encouragement along the way. ❤ It means so much, and I’m feeling inspired and enjoying drawing more like I used to again and that feels really great. 🙂

While I’m away for November participating in NaNoWriMo I hope you guys all have a very Happy Halloween, a fantastic November, and I look forward to catching up with everyone when I return to my blog in December, hopefully with good news of a completed NaNoWriMo challenge. I’ll still be doing quick posts and updates on Instagram and the NaNoWriMo website in the mean time. Until December, take care and have fun!! ❤ ❤ ❤

October (Thus Far) Monthly Update

Hey, guys! ❤ Halloween is right around the corner and as October comes to an end I’ll be shifting my focus from the Inktober art challenge of 31 ink drawings in 31 days, to the National Novel Writing Month challenge where I take on the goal of writing 50,000 words during the month of November. Like last year, I’ll probably be taking a hiatus from blogging throughout November so I can focus on writing those 50,000 words. It’s no easy task, but I’m determined to see it through this year. I’ve been prepping as much as I can throughout October, but as you’ve seen from my recent posts, a lot of my free time has been scribbling ink illustrations, one after another, the past couple weeks.

In other exciting news, Mr. Moth and I have been reveling in fun seasonal activities, like frequenting our favorite cider mill for fresh apples, delicious donuts and cider, and other goodies, and embracing our love for Halloween in any way we can this month as we celebrate four wonderful years together. ❤ We got the king-sized candy bars for our neighborhood ghouls and goblins when they come trick or treating, have been indulging in horror movies, and went to our second year (and favorite new tradition) of Theatre Bizarre.

Hail Zombo!

Theatre Bizarre was amazing. If you don’t know what Theatre Bizarre is, you can check out my post from last year to learn more about it, see what Mr. Moth and I dressed up like for last year, etc. 🙂 We had a blast, and this year Mr. Moth even got to be a part of one of the shows, getting pulled on stage by two devils as they lit up the stage in a fury of flames, battling over his very soul for one of the stage’s final acts of the night.

This photo wasn’t taken by me but it has Mr. Moth on stage in it 🙂

Here’s how our costumes came out. It was a lot of fun doing the pumpkin makeup and I learned a lot of tricks playing around with different makeup and techniques this year. I did a more cute and whimsical pumpkin grin for my look and a scarier pumpkin look for Mr. Moth.

The Gruesome Twosome

After last year’s skeleton makeup, and this year’s pumpkin look, face painting is definitely starting to become a seasonal hobby for me. It’s a lot of fun being able to completely transform someone like this. We have a lot on our plates for next October with the wedding and everything, but still, I can’t wait to figure out what we’ll be next year, too! 😛

Mr. Moth’s makeup was definitely my favorite! ❤

Other than all that, I’ve been catching up on some October reading. My most recent reads are The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, Bitter Root (an amazing graphic novel from Image Comics), and I’m currently reading The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. Tis the season for reading about things that go bump in the night!

Anyhow, I’ll do at least one more blog post before my November blogging hiatus with my final roundup of Inktober pieces. Other than that, I’ll probably do some posts over on my Instagram throughout November updating my progress with NaNoWriMo and whatnot. What are you guys looking forward to in November? How’s your Halloween season/October been so far? 🙂

Inktober 2019: Week 3 Roundup

Another week of Inktober bites the dust and I’m still chugging along right on track. 🙂 This month’s art challenge has been incredibly inspiring for me. I am drawing more than I have in a long time and a large reason for that was always a “lack of time”. This just shows that with some major determination and motivation, I can manage to make more time for the things I love. It’s been a great experience so far. ❤

Day 15: The daily prompt was “LEGEND” and I was not up for anything too ambitious since I was still feeling sick. I originally wanted to do a legendary creature and wound up doing Beefsquatch (Bob’s Burgers) which is sorta kinda maybe legend-ish, right? 😛

Day 16: The daily prompt was “WILD” and I went with Max from Where the Wild Things Are.

Day 17: The daily prompt was “ORNAMENT” and I wanted to make a Halloween-themed ornament.

Day 18: The daily prompt was “MISFIT” and my brain went straight to the band The Misfits. I don’t usually draw see-through things like glass so this was an ambitious piece of fan art for me to work on, but I’m pleased with how it came out. 🙂

Day 19: The daily prompt was “SLING” and what a random prompt that was! I wasn’t sure where this piece was going to end up when I started it but I’m happy with the end result.

Day 20: The daily prompt was “TREAD” and it instantly brought to mind the saying “tread carefully”.

Day 21: The daily prompt was “TREASURE” and my original intent was to make a pirate in this pose but for some reason once I drew the face it just screamed Catwoman to me and I went with it. 🙂

So, that’s that for this week. 🙂 I’m determined to keep my momentum with Inktober and finish strong. How’s your October been so far? What’s everyone being for Halloween this year? If we’re buddies over on Instagram you’ve probably already seen the look Mr. Moth and I are rocking this year, but I’ll do a post here soon with our costumes and recent shenanigans we’ve been up to.

Inktober 2019: Week 2 Roundup

Bailey rocking her new Halloween bandana.

Hello, it’s your resident sick girl here, living her best couch potato life with her trusted fuzzy minion cohort by her side, and we’ve got lots of new Inktober pieces for ya. A whole week’s worth, in fact!

Day 8: The daily prompt was “FRAIL” and I took my inspiration from old desiccated mummy faces. I then kind of took it into a more living dead sort of direction and ended up with this:

Day 9: The daily prompt was “SWING” and chose to do a little sketchbook quickie of my girl, Batwoman (Bombshells batter style, of course!) 😉

Day 10: The daily prompt was “PATTERN” and I was completely and utterly stumped on this one. I decided to just draw some quick little jack o’lanterns in a pattern of sizes (tall-short-tall-short). Hey, they can’t all be winners, right? 😛

Day 11: The daily prompt was “SNOW” and at this point I really wanted to up my Inktober game. I took inspiration from the legends of the wendigo since they’re associated with winter/snow.

Day 12: The daily prompt was “DRAGON” and I was feeling sick as a dog at this point, so I *technically* posted this the morning of Day 13, but oh, well. I did start it on the 12th, but NyQuil landed me in bed earlier than I would have intended.

Day 13: The daily prompt was “ASH” and I embraced my sickly current state and drew a sickly woman covered in ash.

Day 14: The daily prompt was “OVERGROWN” and I went with a wild forest nymph with overgrown, wild red hair and branches growing out of her head because why the hell not?? 😉

Well, that’s this week’s Inktober installment from yours truly. I hope you guys have been enjoying your October so far. There’s plenty of Halloween fun still to be had this month. What fun autumn hijinks have you been up to? What creative stuff are you working on? 🙂