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Studio Moon Journal: Grand Trine, Toy Camera, and the "Chin-Face" Singing Sensation

The moon is growing! Let's see? What's been on my mind...

I’ve been having sooo much fun with this new toy receipt camera. At first, I hesitated—thermal prints aren’t exactly archival—but something about the tiny, grainy, impermanent snapshots feels like magic. It’s like experimental photography but with the immediacy of todays tech.

....Whom which i just enjoyed an anniversary with. As my gift and means of celebrating i preformed a 30 minute long variety show for him last week. I feel so good about this recent performance art moment. A chin-face puppet theater, a swan dance (with full costume), burlesque, a ukulele rendition of Till There Was You, and the clumsiest magic show you’d ever see. Pure, joyful absurdity.

Please enjoy this gif i made of my chin face performance.

Also Transiting Mars in my ascendant is making a grand trine with my natal Pluto in the fifth and natal moon in the 9th on the MC, and Pluto is trining Saturn conjunct that natal moon. I don’t know exactly what that means yet, but I feel it.

I'm almost done with my "Brain Rot" Zine. A little practical, a little dreamy. A collection of thoughts, doodles, on escaping the digital haze.

In other news,

Lately, I’ve been in a strange mood to write Amazon reviews. Not the functional, “works great” kind, but the dramatic, needlessly poetic kind. Maybe the world needs a heartfelt ode to my the bulk almonds and organizer bags.

Been looking into Uranus in astrology and reading about machine learning.

My toddler is growing—funnier, cuter, more mischievous by the day. Such magic and goodness in my life.

I want to make special valentine conchas.

Hooophh... that was so much! Last January felt like a whirlwind. Life is slowly becoming more organized.

And now, time to decorate for Valentine’s Day and make my teddy bear valentines.

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Happy February! Here is another page from my little calendar.

(It's a silly Spanish play on words: in Spanish, "besos" means kisses.)

So... "Jeff's Besos" would be a reality dating show like Flavor of Love but bilingual (Spanish/English). The un-eliminated guest would receive a beso (kiss) from Jeff. Maybe it’s a big Hershey's Kiss, or maybe even a real smooch!

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Circa 2020, gouache. i imagen a beautiful Pokémon musical. It would be something like a nature documentary combining with a b plot love story.

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Circa 2022, marker and photoshop. I made these doodles of these little "merpigs" while working. Then later i felt like doing a pattern tutorial so i used these images to practice. I found the resulting pattern pleasant. I'd like to make more patterns.

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Sequins, Piñatas, and Teddy Bear Cake: Celebrating Two Joyful Years

Oh my my, two years of motherhood! My baby is growing so fast—I can hardly believe it.

This milestone has given me a chance to reflect on the journey, and one thing stands out: I’ve finally had the opportunity to try so many creative projects I’ve dreamed of for years. The irony isn’t lost on me. Before becoming a parent, I thought I’d never have time to sew sequins or dive into elaborate crafts. And yet, with less free time than ever, I’ve somehow found a way to make it happen. Motherhood brings a kind of resourceful magic.

Here’s a peek at what I created to celebrate my toddler’s second birthday:

Baby Shark Piñata

Finally, I made a piñata! This has been on my "things to make" list forever, and it was so much fun to create. I followed this helpful tutorial: How to Make a DIY Piñata, used Baby Shark coloring sheets from Kids Activities Blog to copy the shapes.

Teddy Bear Cake

This project kept me up at night, as my wannabe-engineer brain wrestled with how to make it work with my skill level and time. I had dreams of making a 3D teddy bear cake but ultimately decided to keep things simpler—and I’m so glad I did!

Here’s how I made it:

Cake pans: Two 6-inch round pans

Recipe: Eggless birthday cake (any box or standard cake recipe would work i would imagine.)

Details: I used white chocolate candy melts mixed with leftover cake tops to shape the ears and snout. The frosting was a classic American buttercream. It turned out adorable and delicious, even without the 3D ambition.

Felt Birthday Crown

I overcame my long-standing fear of sequins to create this beautiful felt birthday crown for my toddler. Using a single piece of craft store felt (9x11 inches) and some embroidery thread, I made an adjustable crown that can grow with her for years to come. It felt so satisfying to finally tackle this project—and the sparkly sequins added the perfect touch.

Balloon Garland

Since July, I’ve been inspired by balloon art, especially twisting unique shapes. While I couldn’t find the cool balloon designs I wanted (everything was sold out!), I improvised with what I had. The garland still turned out quite pinterest-y , if I do say so myself!

Pipe Cleaner Teddy Bear Party Favors

I LOVE making pipe cleaner animals. I glued on magnets, pin backings and key rings on to them for optimal practicality. I’ll share more about this craft in a future post. Sadly, photos came out streaky—it turns out buttery fingers and phone cameras only work for glamour selfies.

Furoshiki-Wrapped Gifts

Japanese cloth gift wrapping has always fascinated me, but I’d never remembered to try it! For this birthday, I used leftover fabric scraps and even some of my own scarves to create elegant, reusable wrapping. It’s officially a new tradition.

Wow wow, that was a lot. Now to get ready for my wedding anniversary and Valentines day..

Okay, byeeee <3

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Hand stitched ornaments for my advent calendar 2024.

They are based on family pets. Dog Valerie is a Nessy monster, the cats are mermaids and dog Eva as herself <3

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I've relapse into the draining grow and ramble of my smartphone. I'm trying to redirect my browsing queries and general fidgeting into a little zine sized journal to catch my leaking attention.

I had very strict usage rules that worked very well for a month of two, but now i'm not sure were to go from here...

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things i've been working on this week... if only to feel like progress is happening.

I'm working on matching berets made from felt for my little fractal and I. Some with bear ears some with sequins...

...and a special painting...

...and i've developed a fascination with pipe cleaner teddy bears.

These, i guess are all gifts for my family.

Mmmmmm....I feel fulfilled in my art practice. Who would have imagined family and gift giving to be such a satisfying muse

Toodles <3

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Throwback Thursday

Circa 2016 i think

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Marry an Artist, Become Their Muse

Recently, it was my husband’s birthday, and he also became a PhD. I’m so proud!

For his birthday this year, I created a new piece of art of him. He's so cool. Smart, handsome, strong and sporty, amazing papa, great guitar player, a breakfast connoisseur.

So cool, right?!

My dream is to add a new piece every year. Eventually, it could become an exhibition...but that sounds a little self centered lol

The ultimate goal? An amusement park island—something with Disney’s cult-like allure but entirely otherworldly.

I’m a little bummed that December is already over, and I guess it’s time to take these down for the season. But don’t worry—I’ll definitely put them back up for Father’s Day. 💖

This piece is super cool because it’s modular, so I can rearrange it and maybe even add to it later.

What I did: I started with a nice photo of him and used Photoshop to posterize it into three colors. Then, I separated the layers and cleaned them up manually. Afterward, I created and selected some color schemes, applying them to the individual layers.

I printed 17 different portrait color schemes on our home printer, using regular printer paper. Then, I laminated them and taped them to the wall. Tada!

Gifting my self a laminator last year paid off ;)

Toodles for now <3

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11%

Out of 1 Million... 110,000

That’s how much of my marital* happiness I am giving to the Insta and the Fb. (“The Opt-Out Family” by Erin Loechner) *feeling in my gut that it’s all happiness.

If I started with 1,000,000 happiness and it compounds 10% on average year over year, that means that I am actually losing 1% of my happiness before it’s even spent. So basically after 17 years of losing myself to scrolling on meta, my base happiness is less than what it was 17 years ago.

The light bulb moment.

That’s literally everything I need to know.

I absolutely need that 11% of happiness that social media is stealing from me.

I deleted my Instagram, Twitter (X), and one of my Facebook accounts. I’m planning to migrate my YouTube to another platform (tbd).

I’ll still be on Tumblr because I love writing and sharing and at least with Tumblr there is an “end” to the amount of scrolling (unlike ig/fb/yt).

I will probably go back onto one of my Instagram acc’s because I’m realizing that I want to keep some of the captions I made for some of the pictures and transfer that to an actual photo album. Then delete.

I’ve also been turning off my phone unless I absolutely need it for something.

It’s by my computer - where it should be.

I’d like to eventually go down to a dumb phone.

Things that I’m realizing make me dependent on a smartphone still:

Authentication App - I can probably get this on my computer somehow. But this is one thing I didn’t think of.

Google maps - I would probably want to get a GPS put in my car at some point. Not that I need need it, but it is a lot safer to drive with a GPS than trying to look at anything else (even mapquest printouts).

Things that I’m realizing about not having a literal computer in my pocket or ON while roaming the house/life:

Dependency on Tech and Info - I feel like having so much info and tech available ALL THE TIME is not this amazing thing we think it is. I remember moving to another country and I didn’t have Internet for those first few weeks and while it was tough, I would chose that over getting a SIM card right away - if at all. I also remember, in that same country, bussing to the cit every weekend, turning off my phone, and wandering around for the whole day. It was lovely.

Desire to connect with others - since I’m off the Insta, I’ve also realized how much I long to just sit and catch up with others. Show me your pictures, share your stories, laugh with me, be real.

Making time for what matters - Yes, I don’t have access to my phone during nap-times (the time I was using to post here). I actually snuck away and am listening carefully for when my baby wakes up. Writing is important to me. So important that I’ll risk waking up my baby to do it.

I’ve begun to notice this about other things as well.

…Studying Japanese, for example, I used to do on an App. Now, I’m reading through a book I bought back in Japan. It’s MUCH slower than learning on an app. Maybe… maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be?

…Learning to photo edit and scrapbooking. It’s so much easier with an app!! Then, have I actually learned to photo-edit or apply a filter?

…Sharing things with others. Again, so much easier with an app! Then, have I actually learned to share with others in a way that builds connection?

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That’s all my ranting about tech today.

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2025 Mini Calendar - January

^ The January page from my teeny pocket calendar zine i put in the DIY advents i made last year.

I've been craving the chance to create a small, special book to send to my family for Christmas. It’s a little fancy, highlights my abilities, and fits perfectly within my single-income budget.

It’s exactly what I’ve been dreaming of making!

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DIY Advent 2024 Postmortem

I’ve wanted to create this wonderful advent calendar since 2015. This is the third year I’ve actually made some advent calendars.

This is the first year it looks somewhat like how I originally envisioned it.

I started working on it in July, but I was sick for most of August, September, October, and the beginning of November. As a result, I completed most of the work in November.

The best part is that I mostly stuck to my no-spend artist challenge! I used up a few spools of baker’s twine, a roll of tape, and got to play with all the beautiful materials that I already had on hand.

(Confession: I did buy the felt numbers and tissue paper to finish the hats—smh.)

More details to come, I think... I hope. Right now, I’m trapped in a toddler typhoon, but my new years resolution is to post on Fridays!

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