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Miscellaneous Monday - Meet Your Maker(s)

Meg Holbrook

This week's edition of Miscellaneous Monday isn't as somber as it sounds, I promise!

It's been proven time and again that smart people tend to also be creative people, and I know you're all smart cookies. Today I'd like to showcase your side hustles, your creative outlets, all the things that you work on when the day is winding down.

I consider myself a Jill-of-all-trades, which my husband will tell you means that I am a borderline hoarder of craft supplies. I enjoy knitting, crochet, sewing, painting, needle tatting, the list goes on and on. Give me some string, and I'm a happy kitty.

Below are some projects I've worked on this past year, and I hope you'll share some of yours as well

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Halloween costume for a coworker: 'Mortgage Loan Officer Barbie'

Holiday Mug: "All the Jingle Ladies" (Thanks Bey)

Aluminum Cuff Bracelet: "i am enough"

Resin and Micah Paint Pour

Aluminum Cuff Bracelet: "You Got This"

Comments

miikhy

Wow Meg, even when we feel we know you a bit, we still have a lot to hear about you :P

Can a Jira App be considered as a creative thing? hahah

I wish I could use my hand anywhere else than on a keyboard but I'm kind of bad when it's dealing with creating stuff

Meg Holbrook

@miikhy, I am a terrible, terrible programmer, so I envy your ability to create apps! What have you been working on lately, anything you can share?

miikhy

Thanks for being that supportive. I do feel like programming is not as useful as hand skills in day to day life but hey....

I'm working on an App to bring new features to SIL (Scripting competitor of Script Runner) such as integrating with Tempo. Nothing very secret here, seems like nobody else wants to try it anyway! That should be ready for Summit

Not that much exciting, terribly geeky but..... welcome to the Facebook generation lol

Bridget_822i4b

@Meg Holbrook love this theme

When I'm not *making* content for our community, I'm making art! And coming from a print-on-demand company, much of that art has also made its way onto other things (aside from walls).

Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 9.46.47 AM.png

Monique vdB

I love that Barbie box, @Meg Holbrook! And please tell me you have an Etsy store....

My daughter likes it when I do art with her, and I was pleased with how this recent watercolor came out:

Screen Shot 2018-06-04 at 9.50.21 AM.png

I'm also working on a young adult novel that's a loose retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion:

I am woken in the middle of the night by a tap on my window. The house is heavily alarmed, of course. I have a panic button next to my bed. I’m bleary, confused, about to hit it -- and then I see who is at my window. Erin.

I’m shocked. I had no idea she even knew where I lived. And I’m going to be in so much trouble if my parents…

...well, I’m being shipped off tomorrow morning to a gay conversion camp. I don’t know how much more in trouble I can be. I enter the code to disable the alarm and open the window.

Bridget_822i4b

OMG Mo I'm going to line up at Borders until midnight when this book comes out.

Tinker Fadoua

I agree with you @miikhy! I love what you do @Meg Holbrook you are amazing.

Meg Holbrook

OMG, that sphynx! So much personality.

I'm so impressed by your artwork, I'm in love with all of the color. At best, I can doodle stick figures to amuse my children.

Meg Holbrook

@Bridget, you're giving me the Borders sads right now. Many hours I spent waiting for new Harry Potters in front of one ;-;

@Monique vdB The fact you're adapting Persuasion is amaaaaaaazing. You're going to blow all that Twilight/YA nonsense out of the water, just IMO.

As for my Etsy store, it is barren. I have some machine embroidery patterns up right now, but that's it. I was too busy with my career and new kiddo to spend any time on it. Funny that you mention it though, because I was making my new bracelets and such to start ramping up my shop again. I mostly used to sell knitting supplies, but it's going to turn more into miscellany.

Community Manager

@Bridget 😍😍😍

Meg Holbrook

Also @Monique vdB, I think it's awesome that your daughter enjoys making art with you. My oldest son thinks working on projects with me is just the worst thing he's ever been subjected to. I was that mom that made him awesome hats for winter and he tossed them aside.

I keep telling him that someday he's going to make me a granddaughter to make up for his lack of interest LOL.

Community Manager

@Meg Holbrook Love this topic, Meg! And I'm obsessed with your paint pour. I've mentioned it before, but I really love taking photos — I find it forces me to appreciate the little things, the things other people might miss. This is a recent favorite from my neighborhood in Brooklyn:

BiancaE

That pillow of your cat with him posing is so great @Bridget Sauer!

Meg Holbrook

@Community Manager BEAUTIFUL! I wholeheartedly agree with your statement that it helps catch the things we all miss. So many amazing things that just live right in front of us and we're too busy to stop and look. Especially in a place like New York which is so dense.

Tinker Fadoua

@Community Managerwe have a passion in commun

Bridget_822i4b

@Fadoua that is a beautiful photo! Where was it taken?

Tinker Fadoua

Thank you @Bridget! Top of the mountain in St Thomas U.S.V.I.

Bridget_822i4b

Just wow!

unknown

I have quite a few different things I am creative with...

I make cosplays like Masquerade Harley Quinn:

I love to draw! Mostly anime:
Nignog by dragonvampiress0115

Fail Face by dragonvampiress0115

And a comic from my high school days:

Leaving Home Quest by dragonvampiress0115

((did you notice she loses her tattoo in the last panel?))

Of course, I also Stream Video games and create my own graphics and website etc. for it... which I have now been sponsored by a pro-gamer (DAFF, CS:GO and Overwatch) to go to TwitchCon!!!!! (October)

I'm also a huge DIY fan. I'm currently redoing my bathroom (pics to come?) and we just finished the porch. Which I don't have pics of right now haha.

I also dabble in photography. And I love to cook all sorts of food. I also knit and crochet but I'm not that good at either.

Meg Holbrook

Go Heth!! I did Poison Ivy one year, it's a little *skimpy* for a public forum LOL.

Davin Studer

I like working with wood. This is a project I made for my wife (in secret .... which was no small feat) for our 5th anniversary. I kept all the stuff in the basement of my church and worked on it for months here an there.

Meg Holbrook

Davin, that's amazing!! Did she love it? Of course she loved it, it's awesome.

Davin Studer

Yeah, she liked it. When I told her I made it she was like "Wha!? How ... where ... when did you make this?" We had been wanting to get a real bed frame and wood is the traditional 5th anniversary gift ... so the idea was born.

Scott Theus

Nice work, @Davin Studer! I enjoy woodworking too, I'll post some photos.

Omar Herrera

@Community Manager and @Fadoua that's my passion too

Thomas Schlegel

Years ago, I used to paint. Pictures like these:

Today, I'm more into photography. I like rainy, dark photos, I think, they are more interesting than the sunny bright ones:

(Oslo)

(Florida)

(near Dresden)

Scott Theus

Like @Davin Studer, I enjoy wood working in my spare time. I make pens and other stuff as gifts for friends and family (and the occasional random stranger via the Reddit Gift Exchange; the yellow fountain pen and the slim pen/pencil set went to anonymous internet users in Ireland.)

But my biggest project is my kayak...it's 18" 6" long, 22 inches wide and based on an Aleutian Eskimo baidarka design. It's strip molded and finished with fiberglass. I have about 400 hours into it now, I expect it will be finished by the end of summer.

carolyn french

Gorgeous rainy day photos! with the convenience of already having my phone everywhere I go, I find that I'm most into photography as a creative outlet as well.

When I travel and live in apartments, I fight the urge to accumulate stuff (including art and crafting materials) and try to live as minimalistically (not a word?) as possible.

I've always been curious about doing pottery on a wheel, so in the next few weeks, I'm going to take a class to learn and hopefully produce something!

Any advice from potters out there in the Community?

carolyn french

Gosh, can I be your not-so-anonymous-"pen pal"? Did you make the metal on the fountain pens too?

How did you learn to work with wood?

Alana Fernando

I sketch, make polymer clay charms, cards and my favorite is photography.

Alana Fernando

As always you have a awesome eye Erica

Alana Fernando

Awesome clicks @Thomas Schlegel

Alana Fernando

Awesome work @Scott Theus Pens look super cool.

unknown

The kayak looks amazing. How much time do you spend on it per day?

Manon Soubies-Camy

Awesome thread @Meg Holbrook! I love your holiday mug!

Looks like there's a lot of knitters over here I knit almost everyday, from baby shower gifts:

To scarfs/shawls:

And sweaters:

Alana Fernando

wow @Manon Soubies-Camy you really got the talent. I love the scarf and the sweater

Manon Soubies-Camy

Thanks Alana! I love your polymer clay charms btw, I've never been able to make anything out of polymer clay haha

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

I tell people that all the creativity in my family bypassed me, and I just got a knack for computers. My little sister, and aunt can both sing, beautifully, my mum is a polymath, picking up all sorts of random things, my uncle was in a folk band but found making the instruments for them more interesting than playing.

In my spare time, I tinker with computers. When I get time, I volunteer as a counsellor (sadly, not enough over the last year, I need to get back into it). And very very occasionally, I paint.

Scott Theus

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- Nice work! Back in the day I loved destroying Gobboz with my Undead army

Mirek

Panama?

Davin Studer

I don't know @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- that looks pretty creative to me. Not only that programming can be a very creative process. Those look pretty cool. Nice paint job.

Omar Herrera

No Mirek that photo was taken on Curacao

Davin Studer

@Manon Soubies-Camy Wow that scarf if pretty cool. Curved knitting looks difficult. My wife knits so I can appreciate the work that goes into it.

Tinker Fadoua

@Omar HerreraI would never guess that this is an island!!! Gorgeous!

Tinker Fadoua

@Meg Holbrookthank you for this great topic! We got to learn a lot about other champions. It is really interesting. Thank you all for sharing your passion. I am speechless.

Meg Holbrook

wow @Thomas Schlegel, your paintings are excellent. I enjoy the darker photographs as well. Something about stark contrast gives me that nostalgic feels. You have a keen eye for tonal balance.

Your photo of Oslo is particularly striking.

Meg Holbrook

So cool @Alana Fernando! Is that a tiny Baymax I spy??

Meg Holbrook

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist-, those are awesome! Do you play tabletops as well or just enjoy the painting hobby? I heard there is a much larger community of miniature painters in every country besides the US.

My husband is into miniature wargaming (warhammer mostly), and I like to browse the shops when he goes for new models. I picked up one made by reaper miniatures recently and don't think I did too shabby for a first-timer.

Meg Holbrook

@Tinker Fadoua, you're too sweet. I appreciate you sharing as well

Jack Brickey

Another wood worker here. My current project is a wood and leather laptop case for my wife. I'm also playing w/ wood and epoxy but I haven't quite hit the right recipe.

wood@epoxy.jpg

Scott Theus

That's very cool, @Jack Brickey! What kind of epoxy are you using? I'm using System Three for my kayak, and planning my next challenge: stabilizing wood burls for turning.

Alana Fernando

Yes it is a tiny baymx @Meg Holbrook other two are Elsa from Frozen and Merida from Brave. :-D

unknown

OMG, THE CHARMS ARE SO CUTE!!!! If you ever make anything from Harry Potter... lemme buy it off of you XD

Jack Brickey

For that project I used Epox-it 80. I've had good luck on smaller pours but this one was a bit cloudy. I think I will have to have to move up a few notches on the epoxy quality but don't want to do that until I get my playing out of the way. Too, I really need a vacuum to be successful on these projects.

Scott Theus

A vacuum will help quite a bit. It's a different application, but when I was selecting the epoxy for my kayak I found these test results: http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Epoxtest.htm

If anything, it will be an interesting read for you.

Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM

@Community Manager - Your pictures are always amazing when you share them on here. Makes me stop and take that moment to appreciate the views captured in your photos.

Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM

That is a lot of awesome creativeness there. What video games do you stream?

unknown

@Bryan Trummer - ReleaseTEAM Pretty much anything I can get my hands on. Mostly League of Legends as that's my primary game. But I have a function in my stream that lets viewers buy an item that makes me change the game I'm playing... Recent ones have been PUBG, Minecraft, Overwatch, Layers of Fear, Shark Attack Deathmatch 2, Subnautica, Town of Salem, and sadly... their favorite is Amnesia. I. HATE. AMNESIA. I have to play with my Teddy Bear.

carolyn french

A wooden/leather laptop case is so perfect! How will the leather be incorporated (I see only wood in the picture)? Post pictures when you finish.

Emily Errico

I'm not brazen enough to share but when I get home from a day of technical writing, I like to kick back, relax and....write for fun. I'm full of variety and surprises, I know. Right now I'm working on a one-act play and a poetry chapbook, but I'm not picky, I like all sorts of writing.

Meg Holbrook

Emily, that's fantastic! I remember writing a lot when I was a broody teenager, and I never really got back into it.

Writing is one of those things that you can do anywhere, and I think that's the coolest thing of all. Do you find yourself daydreaming your stories and then jotting them down in your spare time?

When you're feeling brazen, I'm sure you'd find mad support here

LarryBrock

Great topic @Meg Holbrook! Built some nice Adirondack furniture for a new sitting area we put in our backyard.

Kimberly Deal _Columbus ACE_

wow....You'll never get me out of the chair, if I come visit ;-)

Meg Holbrook

@LarryBrock! That's fantastic! Sweet Adirondack/loveseat, so cool. I'm impressed.

Jack Brickey

@LarryBrock, those will go well around the campfire at our Community Commune we are planning! :-)

Scott Theus

In the spirit of Christmas (and the 2018 Advent Calendar!) here's a picture of what I'm giving my co-workers this year. The pen and pencil are made from wenge, which looks really good against chrome. The box is bamboo.

Shhhh...don't tell anyone!

Thomas Schlegel

Oh, this is so nice :-) I wish I'd be your co-worker

Tinker Fadoua

I was under the impression that being community champions we are co-workers @Thomas Schlegel 😉

Thomas Schlegel

Oh, yes, @Tinker Fadoua - I forgot - hooray, pens for all of us :-)

Zero Technicals

Thanks, for sharing this keep doing this work.

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