The Quest for Equality

Today I decided to let someone else share their thoughts. I don’t normally “share” like this, but this is a wonderful piece from Nerdy But Flirty that really speaks to why our differences shouldn’t matter. ❤
Enjoy!!
— Elise M. Gross

Nerdy But Flirty

Not long ago, when I was doing an afternoon retro stream of Kirby’s Adventure on the NES, someone in the chat room brought up an interesting point. He said, “I applaud your courage in streaming and doing YouTube videos – most members of the LGBT community shy away from that, you know?” At first, I wasn’t really sure what to say in response. In truth, I usually avoid conversations that might get preachy in some fashion while doing media like that because, honestly, I know people come to these things for the gaming and to relax for a while — not to have some kind of ideology tossed at them.

But, in any event, I think he had a very good point. There are trolls all over the place, especially on the internet where they can hide behind a veil of anonymity and spit venom at people as they will…

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Yes, I’ll defend Daylight Saving Time

This is an extremely fascinating piece defending that unholiest of days, DST. I’m actually (begrudgingly) convinced…!

Treasury Tuesday : Robots!

Good morning, everyone!! It’s been an exhausting week, so I apologise that I haven’t had time lately to get on the blogosphere. 😦 Luckily, I’ve resolved to try posting at least thrice a week, if not more! I think Tuesdays for certain will work, now for the rest of the week… any suggestions?

Speaking of Tuesdays, it’s that time again!! Treasury Tuesday! This week’s theme is a personal favourite of mine: r0b0ts!! [bzzt! beep! bzz!]

In case you weren’t aware of the intimate love I hold for our cold friends, here’s my absolute favourite painting I have ever created, based on a character from the children’s book I’m writing.

His name is Wrig, the Wrenchbot.

I have an undying passion for those cute, clunky guys. 😀 though, I’m sure we all do, yes?? With that thought, I figured it’d be a stellar idea to have a robot themed treasury post. All of my treasuries have distinct themes, but this is one of my favourite. I’d also like it noted that I try to update the treasuries often, so once an item sells, I’ll add new items — usually trying to put in another items from the same featured artists, if possible. If they don’t have another item that fits the theme (or the same, in the case of prints) I’ll look up another item. I’d also like it noted that I do not just create these slap-dash, willy-nilly, like some people…. I go beyond the first page (usually all of them, but it depends on the theme) & I use more than generic terms to search.

‘The Robot Express’ by egcom

Choo-Choooo!!! It’s the Robot Express,
Whisking you away to the best of the best
of gadgets and gizmos, metal and gears;
Find a friend to love you for years!
One ticket good for you & a guest,
All aboard the Robot Express!!

Custom Robot Weddin… jennibcreativ… $125	Steampunk Robot Wiz… Freeheart1 $25	Melancholibot – Ope… bohemianchaos $20	Baby Voodoo Felt & … tinyrobotfact… $20
Robot Bike Rack voigtmetal $850	Steampunk Felt Robo… GinnyPenny $30	Steampunk Robot Tis… sockmonkeyfun $22	Robot Captain – Art… natalierobots $15
Custom Rusty Robot … Spacecowsmith $100	Reserved listing fo… ckudja $210	Electric LOVE Robot… crankbunny $29.7	Love Robot sleepyrobot13 $12
Custom Steampunk An… OilandLace $85	12 inch tall, cute,… Gizmobots $65	Crazybot Robot Post… violintide $7	where baby robots c… bampop $10

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks theme! I’m planning on making a new treasury soon — what do y’all think the theme should be about next time??

Tomorrow, I shall post about my latest adventure with Mod Podge!! Eee! I have some pretty awesome plans involving Mod Podge & a desk, but needed to test something first… oh, well! Tune in to see! ;D

Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

 

 

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• Treasury Tuesday (cheekygeeks.wordpress.com)

Jellyroll Quilt Update

As promised, dear readers, I finally have an update for you with regards to the previously posted jellyroll quilt! Now, bear in mind, this is my first attempt ever at making anything of this magnitude — it’s usually just adorable reversible totes for me! — so… Be kind. (Winces) To be honest, I’m sort of … Making this up as I go along? (I believe it’s called “quilting by the seat of your pant,” but who knows?) 😉 With that said, I’ve done a simple basting stitch just to get a look at how it’ll all come together, so no binding yet. That’s a project for another day!!

Without further ado, I give you… My first quilt, tacky-jelly-style!! Wooo!!

Remember how originally I only had that cool blue-green-sea sort of theme going on? Well, we ran out of jelly strips, & couldn’t locate another matching set (I had already scrapped what matching cloth I had), so Boo picked out another set… For the life of me, I’m not sure why, but he chose the silver/purple combo. It actually turned out pretty neat… Well, interesting, at least.

We Boo also selected the backing — a lovely, soft, fuzzy number with “comfy bumps” on it. Here’s some shots of that fancy back:

Ooooo!! How exciting, no?! (Squee!) I’m so nervous about the binding, but the links that the fabulous Sevi left me were oh-so-helpful, so I’m sure it will turn out just fine. ^_^ Hooray for calming nerves!! (Though some amaretto helps with that, too! Haha!)

Wish me luck!
Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Treasury Tuesday

Greetings, & here’s hoping you all had a fabulously-fun-filled-Fourth! 😀 I know we did! Unfortunately, I had camera issues, so there are no photos of fireworks this year to share with y’all. 😦 Sorry, folks.

However, I am in the process of creating a bigger & better CheekyGeeks blog, so hopefully at the end of the week you will be able to find us at http://cheekygeeks.egcom.tk instead! (It’s still under construction, but feel free to take a peek & give input!) So, with that news… Wooo! I’m still debating on whether I want to pay to have this page redirect there or if I just want to put up a message saying we’ve moved… that’s $13 per month! What to do?! T_____T What do you fine folks think?

As you may have noticed, this post is called TREASURY TUESDAY!! 😀 One of my favourite things to do is peruse Etsy & check out all of the nifty things people are creating. If I feel inspired, I pop my favourites that fit a theme in to a Treasury. I thought it’d be fun to share one of my my popular — & first! — treasuries I made, called Rainbow Strange!

 

‘Rainbow Strange’ by egcom

Rainbows are fun! Everyone loves rainbows!! There’s a pot of gold beneath them!!! …but wait, not all rainbows have gold. Some have strange things, unusual things. Those kind of rainbows aren’t as loved. But they should be.

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Gah! Well…that was…interesting. What do you guys think? Isn’t it just FAB?! Srsly. Who doesn’t love rainbows… even more when they’re…different?!

I’ll try to post again tomorrow or Thursday, but I’ll be working on a freelance project this week, too. I’ll post another fun-fill Treasury next Tuesday!

Do any of you have some awesome treasuries to share? Leave them in the comments!
If you’re interested in seeing my other treasuries right now (you impatient things, you!), click here.

Until next time, dears!
Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

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• [Etsy Treasury] Etsy team “Let’s support and promote each other” bundle of treasuries (funkyboxstudio.wordpress.com)

Happy 4th of July — Part III

Just a quick post today to show you guys the finished products from baking!

I know I said I was gonna make some cookies, but what I made instead was patriotic brownies & raspberry crumble top with blueberries. The patriotic brownies were inspired by this post here (check out the awesome America cake!!!)

I’ll be sure to take awesome fireworks photos tonight! That one up top is a compilation of a few I took last year & the previous year.

Well, y’all have yourselves a fun night, & be safe everyone!!
Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Happy 4th of July!! — Part II

Good morning!! Happy 4th of July, folks!!!!

Alright comrades! I promised you a looksie at what I ended up doing to that rad button, so drumroll, please, & without further ado, I present to you all….!!

Ta-daaaaa!!!!!!!

Isn’t it just FAB.U.LOUS???? I adore how homey it looks/feels. I feel like I’m looking at one of those crafts you find at the state fair, haha!! And it’s so BIG! (Insert joke here.) Seriously, it’s almost gaudy (the button alone is about 2.5″ across!) But it is very patriotic, no? Looooove!!!! Look, you can even see the threads where it’s sewn together! (Honestly not intentional, but I just adore how kitschy it feels..!)

I took some ribbon I had from the mass of sewing notions given to me last year & created the ribbon circle & ribbon strand (the blue with stars). The red “ribbon” is actually some binding I had, also from previously mentioned sewing notion stash. The ruffled part was done by simply sewing (set to 4 width stitch) a straight line down the binding, no backtacking, then grabbing one of the strands & gently maneuvering it down the other thread to get it ruffled. Sew it all together & huzzah! Then I grabbed a sweet flag print wrapper that I have had in my scrap box for years & sewed it on top of the ribbon strands. For a final touch, I snipped all the ends of the ribbons to get that cute ribbon shape!

Now, in other news… I know I had stated I’d make cookies tonight, but I was so in to sewing that I totally got side tracked… You see, if you weren’t already aware, I own an adorable Rat Terrier who was bequeathed to me with a… {shudder} …really obnoxious purple “Princess” shirt. Seriously. I had never owned a dog who wears clothes before, let alone who enjoys wearing them!! Like, seriously, she tries to dress herself all the time — this usually results in her having a paw through the head-hole with her face, haha!! (It’s been a very strange thing to get adjusted to, admittedly, but I’ve embraced it now.) In fact, now that I’ve learned to sew, I’ve even toyed with the idea of making her some clothes (not that she doesn’t already have a mini closet full… -_-;; ), so I went ahead & tried my hand at making a double layered patriotic-like bandana for her. Nothing super special, but cute enough. (Most of her other clothes have skulls & such…not particularly patriotic like. Heh!) So, here’s my slap-dash attempt at making something cute for my pup:

And here’s our lovely model:

(Pardon the messy carpet…it needs a good vacuuming!)

A close up of the bow:

And all together now!!

Aaaah….a job well done. Probably worth not baking tonight, but I’ll try to bake in the morning. 😉
Good night, all!!

Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Happy 4th of July!!

As many of you may or may not be aware, tomorrow is the United States’ Independence Day. I’ll be with Boo & his fam, participating in the typical celebrations include barbecuing, being outside, sparklers & fireworks! Ooooh…and swimming!! If I’m able to, I’d like to try my hand at sewing myself a swimsuit tonight, but I doubt I’ll have enough time! 😦 Well, we will see!

In honour of the celebrations, I wanted to post a picture of one of the NEATEST little accessories EVER:

This is SO. FRIGGIN’. CUTE. My lovely co-worker, owner of Deb’s Silks, made these hair clips for herself & her daughter — I wish she’d made more so I could totally sport one at tomorrow’s festivities!! 😦 [sobs] Well, I’ll come up with something…

I did make a pretty awesome button, though. Okay, well, I only made the button…the graphic is a cut-out from a magazine that Mrs. Debbie found & gave to me. (She’s awesome like that, always giving me random things to use for projects!)

Here’s my totally rad, patriotic button:

It’s not finished yet, though!! Mrs. Debbie’s hair bows inspired me, so I’ll do something neat to it when I get home tonight.

Oh, drat! I forgot, I planned to bake cookies tonight for tomorrow’s celebration….hmm…guess I’ll make a swimsuit another time, then. Drat. Oh, well. I’ll post pics of my cookies & what I do with the button later tonight or tomorrow for y’all’s viewing pleasure! 😀

Until then, everyone celebrate SAFELY & COURTEOUSLY (no blasting fireworks out of your back yards at 4 a.m.!) Also, make sure to abide by your local laws regarding fireworks. 😉

Peace out! Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

Magic the Gathering

Tonight is MTG night with my friends — we usually try to get together once a week, generally Friday or Saturday. I figured I’d share one my favourite photos that’s MTG themed:

I have a few ideas for some neat decopodge projects I want to do with all of the spare MTG cards I have lying about the place (that are NOT worth anything), but I’m open to any ideas!! Has anyone seen any cool things done with cards like this? I don’t want to make cards with them — no paper craft scrap book sort of stuff…

There’s some more neat things in my head involving games, too, such as everyone’s favourite-and-most-hated board game, Monopoly. Here’s another fun picture I took:

Aaaaaaanyhow….we’re just chilling, listening to some great older rap/hip-hop (‘Damn it feels good to be a gangsta‘, anyone??!), playing some MTG, & having fun. I hope everyone is having a nice, relaxing weekend, too!

Oh noes! I’m being attacked!! Gotta’ go now. :O

Cheers!!
–Elise M. Gross

Junk journal designs

While at lunch the other day I was inspired by a someone’s post about a quilting technique. (I’ll need to locate & post the link later..!) I’ve been wanting to create a junk journal for some time now, & have plenty of scraps to get started, but this neat idea for quilting a rose made me want to try out a junk journal with a fabric cover, so that I could sew on this style of rosé! Here’s the sketch I came up with using the Paper app on my iPad:

Using that same quilted rose idea, here are a few more (surprisingly girly/elegant for my own tastes) ideas I came up with — mostly just working out layout… It probably won’t turn out this…pink… If I were to create it.

That second one is NOT something I’m fond of…that layout bugs me to no end. However, in the interest of sharing my process, I’ve decided to share even the ones deserving of the bin. 😉 Perhaps it’ll be suitable if I played with that arrangement more…it’s just too….(shudder) centered. Where’s the rule of thirds in it?!?? Oh, well. I do like the last one, however.

I then got a bit side-tracked coming up with journal ideas… -_-;; (If you haven’t noticed by now, it’s difficult for me to stay on just one task..!) So, without further ado, here are more (Nintendork) sketches of journal ideas:

This Chomp Chomp one could use some more tweaking, as well…

I love the quilted look here. I’ll have to make this one cloth cover as well. 😉

Lastly, someone mentioned to me today that I should continue to use my full name for all of my work, even my blog, since I use it for everything else, so from here on out, I’ll sign off as I do for everything else! 😀

Cheers!!
— Elise M. Gross

P.S. Ehh…not sure…what do y’all think?