Leo

Let me introduce you to Leonardo! He is a brown mitted ragdoll. I am a huge fan of TMNT and always have been. My favorite character is actually Donatello but since I am also a Da Vinci fan I much more prefer Leonardo as a name.

 Also being able to use Leo for short is so convenient and I think Leo and Leia pair together nicely as names! When we first got Leo home he was about as big as Leia already, even though he was about 5 months younger. So we new from the start he was going to be a big cat.

He grew quickly and now he weighs over 6kg, about twice as much as Leia! Also he loves sleeping on his back, taking up as much space as possible. Leia is just the opposite, she prefers to squeeze in to a small space and curl up to a ball.

Sleeping in his favorite spot!

Leia and Leo usually get along nicely but sometimes Leia feels Leo can be a bit clingy. But since she is smaller and more agile there are a few places she can go where Leo can't reach here and she can be left alone. She still loves him like a little brother and they often take care of each other!

Now Leo is about 9 months old, he will be 1 year on August the 9th. Leia's turned one on March the 17th on St. Patrick's day. They are just the best cats and they are so cute together and Leia is so happy to have a friend to play with!

Flower and floral photos

On Tuesday me and my brother went to Malmö on the evening. I wanted to learn how to use his digital system camera so that I might borrow and use it from time to time. Perhaps even buy it from him. All previous photos on my blog has been taken with my mobile camera. Since I do not have any other camera. This makes me feel very limited and hate that I can't take proper photos of the things I create.

I love flowers, gardens and parks. So I thought we would go to Malmös Castle Garden. It's a beautiful park with lots of flora. I am unsure about most of the names of the flowers so I did not try to name them since I thought I would get them wrong. Also that was not my goal at this moment.

This is my first time shooting whit a digital system camera. So I am very much still a beginner. Luckily my brother knows a lot  and is a great teacher. I learned the most common features of the camera pretty quickly.

I used Photoshop to edit the raw images. This was a first time as well for me. Most pictures I have posted on the blog before have not been edited. Only when really needed have I used Photoshop to edit the lighting. Recently I tried out pixlr, a online photo editing that just opens in the browser, I used it for the cake pictures in my Rainbow Party post. It was very simple and I liked the result. Thought i would only use it for simpler images.

I am still learning how to play around with the focus. For example how to set the focus not in the center when still using auto focus. Also I have started to test out using manually focus but still need a lot more practices.

I am also reading up a bit on basic photo guidelines, like Rule of thirds. We could not figure out how to get the grid on the camera to show, hopefully that will help me out in the future. Would also like to learn more abut composition. I might but a book but as with everything else practices makes perfect!

I am so pleased with he results of the images. Considering this was my first time using almost any other camera then my phone! Also editing images in raw format will take a lot of time and practice. Though I am looking forward to learning all I can about it.

Hope you liked my photos and look forward to seeing a lot more pictures of flowers and other beautiful things. Thinking of visiting the botanical gardens in Lund sometime soon! So hopefully I can take a bunch of pretty photos there.

Growing

So a few days ago I found some old cat grass seeds at my mom's place and thought I would plant them. The box they came in was broken so I used a transparent kitchen dish instead and added some soil. They started to grow real quick so thought it would be cool if I took several pictures of them growing. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to try my hands on making a gif.

This is my first try ever at making a gif and I realized that I should have had a stand and not move the camera at all. So it looks rather crappy whit the movement. The lighting is different in each picture but I like that since you can sort of see that at least the pictures are taken at different times of the day. I used 8 pictures taken over 9 hours, roughly 1h apart, when creating it.

Also for comparison I took two pictures about 24h apart. Its really insane how fast it grows. I think its really cool that I can literally watch the grass grow over a day. The cats are still a bit unsure if they like it or not. So far they have only tasted the grass a little bit.

Rainbow Party

Yesterday was my 25th birthday and I decided to throw a rainbow themed party! I made me some simple paper decorations. These garlands and confetti was all made from a A4 paper of each color. I think its neat getting this much out of 8 sheets of paper! Even though it might seem really simple I prefer them over store bought decorations, also much cheaper!

I decided on making two cakes. One chocolate with melted chocolate on top with mini marshmallows. It has gooey chocolate toffee candy inside.

The other one is a rainbow melange cake with taste of pineapple, coconut, lime and vanilla. On top it has whipped cream and lots of smarties. I also added sprinkles on the edge of the cake!

I mixed the cake batter with six different colors in separate bowls. Then I carefully poured each of them down in the center starting with the purple one. The next color in the center of the previous. I used coconut flakes to line the tin.

Around new year I crocheted a bag in box cover. It had a rainbow color scheme that fit the party perfectly. Also have a bunch of things in my home that are rainbow colored so did not have to do to much else. I did paint my nails to match though.

I had a wonderful time with my friends. We barbecued and drank a few beer and glasses of wine on our backyard.  The weather was amazing and we could sit outside until the sun went down! I also just bought some outdoors lighting that is powered but sunlight. I think I will leave them up all summer :)

Rainbow T-Rex

I got this wooden puzzle assembly toy t-rex some time ago. I instantly knew what I wanted to do whit it. Even though I had the idea it took me a long time before I sat down and did it. I wanted to paint it in the colours of the rainbow. I was just torn on how. Do I take out all the bits and paint them one by one? How should the colours line up, since some pieces are big and go together whit several others.

In the end I sort of winged the colours and settled on painting the pieces before taking them out. I thought this would be simplest and fastest. Before I started panting I used colored pencils on the sheet to mark witch color each pieces should have.

I used acrylic paint to paint the pieces. A good tip is to not use much water, if any. If they swell to much they will be harder to get out later on. Also use minimum amount of paint since the pieces still need to be able to fit together. Then just paint one side and let it dry. After you can just flip it and paint the other. When both sides are completely dry gently push out the pieces.

The legs looks a bit like flamingo legs, love it!

Then its assembly time! Just follow the instructions from the paper when you put it together. The drawback of painting them before taking them out is that the edges get a bit uneven and the paint can chip away on the edges when you are pushing them out. It is more visible on the darker colored bits the brighter and lighter bits look fine. Though overall I am pleased, and I looks just the way I thought it would!

In its natural habitat (where I will be standing). Rawr!

Debating whit myself if I should paint it whit a varnish or not. I only have glossy and thinking I want it to still be mat. It could be good to do it when it's assembled though, then it would help to keep the pieces together.

Leia

Last year I finally manage to convince my significant other that we should get a cat! However he had some conditions. The cat should be relaxed, calm and smart. Also we can't have a outdoors cat (we will have to move in a few years). So with those conditions we did some research on different cat breeds and found the breed Ragdoll. Seeming like a perfect fit we went to a local breeder and it was love at first sight!

First time we went to see our new little kitten, she is about 8 weeks old in this picture.

When we went to visit the kitten we intended to buy the kittens mother came and welcomed us at the door just like a dog! She was so calm and curious, it was such a big different form other cats I have had and meet. The kittens was just the most adorable, soft and fluffy kittens you could imagine. Needless to say we had made our decision. The wait for her to get old enough for us to take her home was a pain but so worth it!

Our ridiculously photogenic cat posing for the camera. About 4 months old in the picture. 

When we went to pick her up we had just barely put down the carrier on the floor before she strolled over, went inside and curled up and began to purr! It really felt like she wanted to come home with us. Once we were home she quickly felt comfortable and at home.

Leia exploring the outside from the safety of a chair last summer.

Now she just needed a name. We had lots of different ideas but one name I liked a lot was Cassiopeia. Though it just did not fit her and it was so long. Instead we went with Leia, after Princess Leia from Star Wars. Also Leia has the same last three letters and I really think they work well for calling after a cat. Now Leia is 1 year old and have a "sibling" which I will write about and post pictures of in another post!

Leia looking a bit sleepy and grympy.

Elder scrolls online simple fishing chart

I put together this simple fishing chart that shows what bait to use where and what fish you get from them. If you use the right bait in the right kind of water you have a 100% chance to get something useful. That means fish, loot, bait and the rare achievement fish. There are four different types of waters and 8 different kinds of bait (9 if you count the simple bait form vendors but its pretty worthless). So I felt like I needed a quick cheat sheet and thought I would share it if someone else might find it useful. I took the screenshots myself but the icons are all from the game taken via UESP. Hope you like it even though it's super simple.

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Invader Zim

When I first watched Invader Zim, several years ago, I instantly fell in love with the cartoon. Especially the quirky robot GIR. On a sci-fi convention I bought some GIR patches, never daring to use them on anything I still have them left. I use this one as a wall decoration instead, hanging from a line in the bedroom wall with a clothespin.

A cloth patch I bough on a sci-fi convention.

The first Invader Zim crafts I made was an acrylic painting of MiMi. MiMi is the robot of one of Zim's nemesis named Tak. Compared to GIR's patchy and to be honest rather crappy dog disguise MiMi uses a sleek, dark and creepy cat disguise. To make here even more spookier she swirls around almost into a shadow when moving, in contrast to GIR's clumsy and awkward movement. And of course one can not be an evil robot whit out red glowing eyes. So this I my take on MiMi, hope you like it!

MiMi from Invader Zim. Panted in acrylic paint on canvas by me.

My next craft I made was the lovable floating mini-moose. Though he only appear in one Christmas special episode, I could not help myself and just had to make him! I decided to not make his mouth since I did not like how it looked on him when he was finished. The one teeth he usually have sticking out I do miss but this was the best compromise I could make. He is made with acrylic yarn and the design is made by me. Though I have not written a pattern of it. When I crochet I usually just scribble down a few notes for myself. Mostly I use drawings to describe my idea.

The mini-moose I crocheted. Posing on the sofa for the camera.

Of course I had to make a mini hama bead GIR. He is currently attached to my monitor along with my Yoshi mini hama bead. I based the him of a pattern I found online. Unfortunately I don´t remember the source since it was a long time since I made it.

A mini hama bead version of GIR. 

I made another painting combining what might be the two cutest characters in the show. That is if you can call piggy, the pink rubber pig toy, a character. I made the painting in a much brighter background than the MiMi painting to make it more joyful. Also really love the whimsical feel the painting have so I am very pleased with the result of the painting thought more with the background I think!

GIR and Piggy from Invader Zim. Panted in acrylic paint on canvas by me.

The next project, if I ever get around to make it, will be to crochet GIR in his robot form. I do think I have the yarn for it at home just need to find time, will and energy for it. Perhaps it's time to re-watch all the episodes. That could give me the motivation boost that I need!

Fear of pushing send

I live in a constant fear of pushing send or publish. It may sound silly but it might even be my largest fear. Sure I can be afraid of the occasional spider but that's just the thing, they are only occasional. Not something that I encounter every, single, day. Whether it's texting with a friend, writing on Facebook, sending email or just typing this on my blog. I know my dyslexia is a big part of the problem and I hate using it as a "excuse" for my spelling and grammar. I hate having to explain my bad spelling and grammar mistake. I wish I just could think about what I wanted to write without having to worry about the letters.

I'm from Sweden so English is not my native language. Sure I could use that as a "excuse" as well but that is so not the point. The thing is I have just as much trouble writing in Swedish as in English. Perhaps even more since almost all I read is in English now days. When I got my diagnosis I was 19 years old. Had just started university and had a lecture in what different aid the school provided for handicapped persons. When the she started talking about dyslexia I almost cried. I knew I had to do something. They provided a free test and I took it. The results was clear, I had dyslexia.

I sort of always knew though. I have always struggled with spelling and grammar. No matter how many hours I prepared I always made several mistakes. Even thought I know how to spell the word, the letters just do not want to come out in the right order. Or even the right letters for that matter. A common mistake for me is to mix up the letters b,d,p,q. My mother have always tried to get the teachers to make me take a test before but they always said "But she is doing so well in school, she would never do that if she had dyslexia". Fact is I did, except in learning Swedish, English and German. I somehow did okay though.

I have always liked to read and that is probably the one thing that saved me. The test showed I had way below average reading speed, ability to detect misspellings, and trouble with rhyme and have no innate understanding of the phonetic alphabet. On the positive side it also showed that I have above average understanding of meaning of words and that when writing a summary of a text and getting the time to think, re-read and focus I do very well. So the theory is that since I have read so much I am doing well as long as I get the time I need.

A bookmark I made to remind my self to continue to read

This has encourage me to read even more, since that seems to be the thing that helps me the most. Of course spell-check is a huge help, but I find it hard to learn from that. Also it almost feels like I rely to much on them. Though many of my mistakes don't show in the spell-checker and that is what I usually worry about when writing a text. There are so many weird and odd mistakes I do and that I can't find myself. Sometimes if I can, I take help from my boyfriend. Other times I just press send especially when it's something that I have to send just at that time. The absolutely worst is when I want to write but don´t have to. More times then not I am to afraid so I simply just don´t write it.

So no matter how illogical it it. It is one of my biggest fear. Because I know how unprofessional spelling mistakes look. How much comments and hatred grammar and spelling errors can cause online. And at the same time I know that there is no easy way around it. When I was little I instead of trying to write a word that I did not know how to spell, I instead rewrote the whole sentence using other words. Sometimes ending up with totally nonsense sentences. I know it's a bad habit but still do it sometimes and I have to try really hard to stop myself from doing it.

So perhaps I am using this as an excuse for not posting for a few months, perhaps I just really needed to get this of my chest, hoping that I wont hesitate about writing. I guess I just need to keep calm and write on!