The Flower Girl Is Dead.

Englanninkielisestä otsikosta huolimatta ajattelin kirjoittaa vaihteen vuoksi suomeksi! Eihän minulla ole kuin muutama seuraaja ja kaikki on suomalaisia, niin mikäs tässä.

Olen tosiaan innostunut tuosta Monster High -nukkejen customoinnista, ollaan siskon kanssa koitettu metsästää halpoja nukkeja joista sitten koitan maalata parempia kuin tehdasversioista. Toistaiseksi olen maalannut kolmen nuken meikit uusiksi, tässä vähän kuvia sun muuta siitä kolmannesta. Toisestakin nukesta varmaan teen merkinnän erikseen, mutta sen muutosprosessi ei ole vielä täysin valmis (odottelee uusia vaatteita), joten kolmonen on kakkonen.

Kyseessä on siis jälleen Frankie Stein, mutta tämä on joku jännä mustavalkoversio kyseisestä nukesta. En itse asiassa ole jaksanut perehtyä sen kummemmin siihen että mitkä nuket ovat harvinaisia ja mitkä ei, mutta jotenkin olen käsittänyt että mustavalkoversio olisi jotenkin tavallista jännempi. Noh, ainakin alkuperäiskampaus oli minun mielestäni tosi kiva, ei käynyt mielessäkään tehdä tälle mitään peruukkia saatikka rerootata (plus en edes osaisi, hahaa).

Ennen kuin alan maalata uutta meikkiä nukelle, poistan alkuperäisen maalin ja tutkin nuken "luustoa". Monster Hight on siitä tosi kivoja, että joka nukella on vähän erimalliset päät. Tosin Frankienhan olin maalannut kerran jo aikaisemminkin, joten tutkimiseen ei mennyt kovin kauan. Sitten koitan tehdä mahdollisimman tarkan maalausmallin/suunnitelman paperille, josta on sitten helppo seurata mitä tehdä ja milläkin värillä. Olen kuitenkin todella huono tekemään konkreettisia suunnitelmia. Siis tiedän todellakin että niistä on apua, mutta jotenkin sitä aina kuvittelee että ajatus on niin selkeä ettei mitään suunnitelmaa tarvi tehdä. Näissä nukeissa olen kuitenkin pyrkinyt olemaan tarkka ja tekemään edes jonkinlaisen suherrukset, että alkuperäinen idea ei ainakaan unohdu, vaikkä sitä sitten päätyisikin muuttamaan jossain vaiheessa.

Koska olin maalannut jo ensimmäiselle Frankielle täysin avonaiset silmät, ajattelin että olisi jännää koittaa tehdä tämä toinen niin, että silmät ovat puoliksi kiinni, tai että se katsoo alas. Kun hahmottelin suunnitelmaa itse nukkeen, huomasin kuitenkin ettei idea toimi, jotenkin se näytti luonnottomalta. Joten päätin tehdä avonaiset silmät (eli ihan turha suunnitelmapiirros, tässä se taas nähtiin). Päädyin myös tekemään nuken huulista aika sähkönsiniset tuon petrolin/turkoosin sävyn sijaan, jotenkin se alkoi tuntua paremmalta idealta. Koska en tähän kasvomeikkiin aikonut tehdä mitään eriparisilmiä tai arpea kuten alkuperäismeikissä, halusin että jokin ominaisuus on kuitenkin vähän outo. Siksi siis epätavanomainen huulten väri.

 

 

Tässä vielä kasvot eri vaiheissa prosessia.

Tämän nuken muutos ei kuitenkaan ollut tässä, sillä uusi naamavärkki ei mielestäni oikein sopinut alkuperäisiin vaatteisiin. Ihan kiva uimapuku, ei siinä, mutta lempeämpi kasvomeikki vaati jotain lempeämpiä vaatteita, ja erivärisiä myös. Viime viikolla siskoni antoikin minulle ihanan violetin mekon, jonka hän oli ilmeisesti alunperin suunnitellut kakkosnukelleni, Ghoulialle. Totesin kuitenkin nopeasti että mekon herkkä tyyli ei sopinut Ghoulialle ollenkaan, hänen kasvonpiirteet olivat aivan liian kulmikkaat, ja muutenkin väri tuntui vähän väärältä. Mutta tälle nukelle kyseinen mekko sopi loistavasti! Lisäksi siskoni oli ostanut söpöjä pikku kangasruusuja, joista sain valita mieleiseni värit. Päätin käyttää myös niitä nuken stailauksessa.

Astakin muuten teki blogimerkinnän nukkeihin ja kuvan violettiin mekkoon liittyen, kannattaa käydä lukemassa jos aihe kiinnostaa.

Pakko sanoa, että tykkään tästä lopputuloksesta todella paljon. Ei edes haittaa että nukella ei ole kenkiä, jotenkin paljasjalkaisuus sopii tähän tyyliin. Mekon ainut ongelma oli, että siitä irtosi hirveästi glitteriä. Kimalsin kuin vampyyri kun olin saanut taiteiltua ruusut Frankien päähän ja käteen... Mutta mutta, seuraavaksi onkin sitten vuorossa siskon nuket kun omat pääsi loppumaan. Ihan eri lailla pulssianostattavaa.

Journey to the world of DOLL CUSTOMIZATION.

I have been fond of Japanese BJD dolls for several years, but I have managed to stay away from them, though I think couple of years ago I almost bought one. I'm glad I didn't though, in the end they're just overly expensive, super beautiful dolls. I think collecting mangas is already quite an expensive hobby, I don't want another one. But doll customization isn't limited to only BJD dolls, and once I saw people repainting Monster High dolls I decided those would probably be cheap enough for me to get as well. In the end they still felt a bit too expensive to just start experimenting on, so I bought a couple of well-played-with dolls from flea markets before even trying to get my hands on a MH doll. And once I finally bought MH dolls, they were also used, I purchased them from a Finnish online auction website. Anyway, I got 3 dolls, and the first one I decided to start customizing was Frankie Stein.

The moment I got the doll I was so psyched up that I didn't realize to take any photos, I just had to strip her naked right away and restyle her hair! I even shampooed it because it felt sticky somehow (I don't even want to know what was in it). So this photo is after the hair wash and restyling. I think the original hairsyle was probably like this, but because it was a used doll, the hair was just... all over the place.

After that I made a design on how the repaint should look, but it took me a while before I was able to gather the courage to actually remove the original face-up. Besides, the last time I used acetone I splashed it all over our wooden table, so I was pretty nervous about using it again, ahaha.

Well, in the end I mustered the courage to remove the face-up, this time I also made sure the table was protected! Of course this time I didn't spill any of the acetone but better to be safe than sorry. Oh, I also needed to protect the torso of the doll, because I had read somewhere that if the acetone got in it, it would make serious damage to the body (it's different material from the head). And then I also covered up the hair, just in case.

I made the new face-up with watercolor pencils, pastels and acrylic paint. The subtle colors (well, the blush) was made with pastel dust and then I "sketched" the new eyes and eyebrows with watercolor pencils. Then I filled everything in with acrylics. The original sketch I had made turned out being very useful, even though I made some slight changes to it along the way, like the direction where the eyes look and the shape of the eyebrows. I used quite a lot of acrylic retarter, so the doll had to dry overnight before I added some gloss to the lips and eyes. I guess I should still seal the whole face somehow, but I haven't figured out what kind of product I should use for it. Anyway, the finished face-up looks like this:

I think it looks pretty nice for being the first "real" face-up I've made, but obviously I still have lots to learn. But I still have two more dolls waiting to be repainted, we'll see whether I'll continue this hobby after those, or will this be just a small summer fling.

Over the Edge.

Or over the border, whatever you want to call it.

Me and my fiancé made a small trip together yesterday, and it was to Haparanda, Sweden. It amuses me that going to Haparanda seems to be a big occasion to pretty much all the people I know (myself included) even though it really isn't. The main reason why people drive for about three hours to get to this small Swedish city is to visit IKEA and Systembolaget, the liquor store. Of course we went to these places too, but IKEA didn't really offer anything for us. Well, I did get another mini pencil, the kind you can write down your purchases so that you'll find them from the storage section. Well, the main reason why I wanted to go to Haparanda in the first place was to visit Candy World, DjurMagazinet and Skopunkten.

I've wanted to buy a proper climbing tree or whatever you call it for our cats, but in the end the only one that was the right size and right prize for us was broken, and they didn't have any more in the storage. So instead we bought this weird... wavy... thing. Yeah, I can't really describe it, and our cats seem equally suspicious about it, but I hope they'll grow to like the thing. We even put some padding underneath it because our cats are such diva princesses, but for now it remains unused. 8(

For several years I've wanted to buy myself a very basic pair of shoes that every girl should have. No, not black high heels, but ballerinas. Every time I happen to come accross some shoes at stores, I look for them and try them on but they never fit me the right way. And people should know, I really don't like to buy shoes, so it's been a real bother. But finally my search ended, in Skopunkten I was able to find these basic shoes in reasonable price, they're easy to put on but they also stay on. And today I walked around town with them and I didn't get any blisters, so I'd say it was a good purchase!

Then we also bought three packs of wine from Systembolaget (the name always makes me think of hardware stores) and then we were on our way back home. All in all we really didn't buy enough stuff for the trip to be even close to beneficial, but at least we had fun. And it was probably the only trip we'll be able to make during this summer, so I'm glad we enjoyed ourselves. And my fiancé pointed out that it was the second time we went abroad together (this year?). Cute. <3

I am so happy...

... That I decided to include the word "mind" in my blog title, because I totally forgot about this blog after the first few entries. It was just too overwhelming with all the other blogs I had to update. But now that I've graduated and am very much unemployed and without any daily routine whatsoever, I notice my mind certainly is starting to travel. I'm fully aware that I should be job-hunting, but something is holding me back, there's a block in my head that doesn't go away. I know people are expecting great things from me because that's what I'm used to doing: I accomplish things. People are used to it and so am I. Yet I somehow enjoy not doing anything, while at the same time I feel very guilty for just downshifting and procrastinating. I'm sure after I start getting depressed for NOT having a routine, then I'll start looking for reasonable options and taking course in my life. Well, hopefully.

Anyway, this is already taking a turn for the depressive, so lets change the subject. It's now been about two months since I came back home from Iceland. During my last days there I was very homesick and wasn't really able to enjoy anything there anymore, but now I already kind of want to go back. There were certain things that I really miss, though I'm trying to find those things in Finland as well. But here's a small list of the things I miss:

1. The Coffee Culture
It was something amazing, the quality of coffee was divine, and I loved how carefree people were in the cafeterias. If you wanted a good cup of joe, you had to wait for it. Coffee and hurrying didn't go hand in hand, which usually seems to be the case. Everyone seemed to ground their own coffee beans and really took their time to prepare it with care. It was great.

2. Matcha Latte
Something I tasted on my final week and fell in love with instantly. This could have been included in the coffee culture section, but doesn't taste like coffee at all and is actually tea, so it's worth mentioning on its own. I haven't seen matcha latte in any cafeterias in Finland even though Japanese things are getting more and more popular, but I have taken action into my own hands: Yesterday I bought my own bamboo whisk and matcha powder, and today I drank my first ever self brewn cup of matcha tea. It's not the same as matcha latte, but I plan on getting my own milk whisk as well so that I can make it at home. Though the plain matcha tea was also very delicious, and I guess it's more healthy if you don't add any milk or sweeteners in it. So for now just plain matcha it is!

3. Skyr
I've never been a big fan of yogurts, but the second I tasted skyr, I fell in love with it! Well, it IS a compeltely different thing than yogurt, not to mention super healthy. I ate it almost every day for 8 weeks, I felt so weird when I came back home and couldn't have it anymore. Recently I've noticed that they do sell skyr in Finnish stores as well, but the flavours are completely different, and they're a lot more expensive here. Still, it's something I have to buy every once in a while because I can eat something delicious without feeling bad about it.

4. The Scenery
I had my problems with Icelandic weather, though in the end I came to terms with it and was able to even laugh when a random rain came over or if it started snowing, but I sure loved the landscape. Mountains where ever you looked, barely any trees... At first the lack of trees felt horrible, but now that I'm back home I miss the fact that I can't see very far, the trees block everything, it's almost suffocating at times. And I also liked that when I had to go to the store, it actually felt like exercising because all the stores were up on a hill and to get there you had to put some effort into it. I like walking if I have a destination, and while I was there it felt like my fitness might even get better just by doing daily chores. It's not quite like that at home, you actually need to work out... If you want a work out.

5. Laugardalslaug
Okay, there's a ton of different swimming pools in Iceland, but Laugardalslaug was probably the biggest in Reykjavík, and the one I visited most. I was able to go there for free thanks to a friendly acquaintance, and swimming in general is such a big part of Icelandic culture that you were just forced to swim more, and it was great. Swimming is one of the few sports that I actually like, so it was perfect for me. Now I have decided to start going to the local pool regularly again, even if it's not completely free. The only problem now is, it's closed during July!

6. Sushi
Sushi shops/restaurants were everywhere, the fish was fresh and just perfect. There's only one place in my small town where you can get sushi, and it doesn't even compare. The next step is probably trying to make my own sushi, though even the thought of it terrifies me for some reason!

Seems like my small list was food-oriented, but that doesn't surprise me. I just love to eat and drink. Oh, I also miss lamb meat and the way the locals prepared it. Just divine.... TT__TT
Agh, now that I wrote all this stuff down I really feel like going back! I planned to go there again from the beginning, during late summer after a few years, but now I feel like I could go for a visit right away! That is, if I wasn't jobless and broke. Maybe that's the igniter I need to get out of this slump; the want to go back? :)

The Ice Lagoon

I thought I'd update this blog daily because I love writing about myself (narcissism much?) but turns out updating three blogs regularly doesn't work as easily as I first imagined. I have to write an internship blog that  mostly consist of work/school related updates, but I've ended up telling about my travels there also. Then there's the ArteCult blog where I have to write once a week to kind of confirm that yes, I actually am in Iceland, doing stuff.

So, almost two weeks have passed already, and time flies! During the first week I traveled a lot thanks to Easter holidays, I went to the Golden Circle tour and then we rented a car with my housemates. We almost visited Vík. I've also been to Eyrarbakki and Seljavallalaug. But this entry will be about the ice lagoon I visited yesterday. The trip took around 4-5 hours, and we had all kinds of weather during the way. At first it was raining, then the sun was shining, and then around Vík it was snowing! We even saw a small snow hurricane, but unfortunately the photo I took of it ended up being very blurry. But here you can see the weather contrast a bit:

At this point the sun is shining, but take a look at the car mirror... And around 50 from this the blizzard started. But when we got to the lagoon the sun started shining again.

You'd think a Finnish girl like me has already had her fair share of ice, snow and cold water, but surprisingly enough I really enjoyed the scenery. Even though there were a couple other tourists there, if you just walked far enough, all the sounds around you just disappeared. Complete silence. And the view.

I think we spent around 2 hours at the lagoon. At one point I remembered that Gult was with me, so I took some photos of him as well. He's been traveling with me all along, but usually it's been so windy that I've been afraid he'd fly away, so he's been safe in my bag.

I also made a small snowman because there were these blotches of snow that you were able to make snowballs with. The snowman us supposed to have a moustache, but it kind of looks like a sad mouth. Maybe he knows he's going to melt soon. :(

After the lagoon I was tired, but we still went to the other side of the lagoon, to the beach. It was filled with huge blocks of ice, it felt so weird to touch them because I don't think I've seen block that big before.

The waves were big and I almost got my shoes wet for standing too close. But it was so much fun, and on the beach there were nobody else but me and my housemates. 

On the way back the weather wasn't changing so drastically anymore, but around half way through there were three Icelandic horses walking on the main street. It was bizarre, at first I thought they were elks, but then I realized we're not in Finland. They were just walking calmly and nothing bad happened, but apparently something like this happens every now and then, and it's very dangerous. I can understand why, even if the horses are calm, in pitch darkness it's hard to see them. So I guess we were lucky. At one point we stopped the car and tried to see the northern lights, but no dice. But I did see a satellite AND a shooting star.

I also saw the Big Dipper. It looks so different here, made me understand that I truly am away from home. And during those late, dark hours I felt homesickness lift its head.

But I'm fine again, don't worry. ^^

Funky water.

I've now been in Reykjavík approximately 24 hours. Yesterday was very tiring, but I rambled about my traveling worries in another (school related) blog already, so I don't feel like doing it again. But long story short I was feeling sad and crappy during the whole traveling time, but when I saw the first snowy mountains of Iceland, I started feeling better. Today I went for a stroll around town and didn't even get lost once! I had a map with me, but I didn't need to look at it, the city is pretty straightforward.

Here are windows of the Concert Hall, located in the bay area. They looked pretty funny. I also really like the yellow fire hydrants that are all around town. I'd like to take a photo of them all, along with all the cats! I never knew it, but Reykjavík really seems like the city of cats. Today alone I've seen almost 20. One poor fella didn't have a tail. 8(

If I'm going to walk at least twice a week as much as I walked today, my legs are going to become very buff!! All the hills and slopes, climbing and going those down feels like real training. Probably because it is, really athletic looking people kept running them up and down while I was only walking.

And since the header what "funky water" I guess I should mention that this morning I took my first shower here and experienced the sulfur filled warm water. The smell was... Well, I kept thinking about bad eggs. But the cold water on the other hand tastes amazing, I could drink it non-stop.. Actually, I think I'll go get a glass right now!

Black suitcase is a problem.

I borrowed a suitcase from my mom. I don't own a proper one myself and her suitcase is really nice, big yet handy.

The only problem with this case is that it's so black and boring. Well, the problem isn't exactly the boringness, just that it's very generic and might easily get mixed up with other black suitcases. I'm very paranoid and almost certain my suitcase is going to lose somewhere along the way, and it's scary because my drawing supplies will be there. Screw clothes, if I lose my watercolors, I'm going to flip an airplane!
Anyway, I decided to brighten up the suitcase a bit, and started designing some flower stickers which I could attach to it.

They were supposed to be just very simple, plain flowers with flat color, but I got really carried away. But I just love to color with Promarkers. Once I had cut out all the flowers I tried to stick them to the suitcase with contact paper, but they weren't nearly sticky enough! Then I found some transparent tape and with that I was able to attach the smallest flowers, but they look really ugly, I didn't even want to take a photo of them! And now that I look at the suitcase again, it looks like even the tape is peeling off. So I guess I won't be able to use these flowers after all. Of course I could use something sturdier (like super glue!), but since it's still my mom's suitcase, I don't want to ruin it completely with my experiments. We'll see if I can come up with some other option to make the suitcase easier to recognize.

Worries and Expectations.

My departure is drawing near, only couple of silly weeks and I'm on my wayyy!

I haven't completely understood yet that I'm actually going. Until the end of February I was so busy with my degree work that I had no time to think about the whole thing. Now that I have time, my mind isn't working properly since I have a fever, heh heh. But I've booked my flights and I basically know what to do on 25th, the day of awesomeness.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous. And most of the time I'm not, but I do get anxious at times, mainly at night. I'm afraid I'll miss my fiancé so much that it gets unbearable. 8 weeks isn't a long time in general, but it's going to be the longest time we've been apart. So I truly hope he's able to get some time off and come visit me!
There was a time in my life when I enjoyed being by myself. I was used to it and I didn't feel the need to be around others. But now that I spend all my time with another person, I'm afraid I can't manage on my own. I fear that my head can't stand the loneliness. So no, the trip itself doesn't make me nervous, but the psychological side does. But I try not to think about it too much. I am so sick an tired of people being negative and pessimistic about everything, I don't want to be like that.

My trip will be perfect.
Nothing will go wrong.
I'm going to have the time of my life.
But if something goes wrong.. I'll just fix it.

Although I did have one major problem: Plushies. I love them, and I wanted to take at least one with me. But my plushies are quite big and I want to pack up my suitcase wisely. Thankfully my darling sister (whose blog can be found here ) seems to be a telepath since she gave me this gorgeous guy as a traveling company! She made him herself! <3

And so, I lamely name this guy Gult (Icelandic, means "yellow"), and he shall be my royal companion.
He has already packed his suitcase, but I have no idea what's inside. We'll see once we unpack in Iceland!
And if I can't make any new friends, this guy might be the only one appearing in future photos...

Okay, another thing that's been on my mind is the weather in Iceland. I think it's pretty much the same as in Finland during this time of the year: unpredictable. One day is sunny and pretty like this:

Aaand the next day God just seems to hate you:

And you know, since it's Iceland, let's just imagine there's a huge mountain in the background and the trees on the other hand aren't there. That's pretty much what I'm expecting. Maybe a tiny bit of lava somewhere.


Really though, I don't mind the weather in Finland, I actually like the cold. Even though it gave me the fever I'm currently suffering from, the drastic weather changes are kind of awesome. and if Iceland is at least somewhat similar, I think I'm going to feel right at home.

How everything started.

When my teacher started talking about student exchanges at school, I immediately thought I wouldn't be allowed to go. I've already been to Estonia from the same school once, so I thought they'd like to give the opportunity to someone else. Luckily my school is full of people who apparently aren't interested in traveling AT ALL, so I had an opening and I used it! My teacher was in Iceland last year for couple of weeks, and he really liked the country. After his stories I decided I want to go there too, and he was really supportive of my decision. Time passed and I was really psyched up about Iceland, when all of a sudden I was told that I might not be able to go there after all. Iceland is actually a very popular exchange country it seems, and my teacher said there's already so many people from other schools going there that there might not be room for me. I was a bit confused since I had made up my mind several months ago, why hadn´t he contacted the coordinators in Iceland about my exchange? I was sad for a while, but then my teacher came up with a back-up plan: I'd go to Munich instead!

I wasn't very excited at first, but the idea grew on me, plus I already had friends there. The coordinator in Munich was so hard working, he kept looking for possible internship places for me and he even found a perfect apartment for me right from the center of the city. But jobs seemed to be under rocks. He kept asking around, I kept asking around and no one seemed to want free labor in their offices. When nothing came up, my teacher started proposing other countries for me. There were several countries/cities on the list and my head was spinning with all the possibilities: Estonia (again), Wales, Ireland, Bilbao, Slovakia, France, Paderborn...
Things were messed up, I was afraid to get excited about any of the places since I thought I wouldn't be able to go in the end anyway and I'd be disappointed. But apparently Munich was still the main target. Around the beginning of February we still hadn't made a decision. I was really starting to lose hope and get depressed since I'm the kind of person who likes to take her time and plan thing, I wanted to start booking flights and I also needed to make school assignments regarding my exchange country, but I just had no idea what was going to happen. Then, out of nowhere, my teachers brought up Iceland again.
"Maybe I should ask from Iceland too", he said.

Um, okay? I had assumed that he had asked already and they said no, but apparently the whole affair was an assumption, nothing had been confirmed. So what do you know, inquiry e-mail was sent and within two days the coordinators replied that they'd love to have me there!

So the lesson of the story is: DON'T ASSUME. CONFIRM.

I still feel a bit bad that I won't be going to Munich though. Because the coordinator there worked so hard. I hope he realises how much I appreciate his work.