Thursday, October 27, 2011

House/Halloween Update

Yup, so I called my Dad and asked him if he would do an inspection on the house I liked because we were considering putting a bid down. My Dad is a firefighter and does construction on the side and well he got to the house and called to tell me that he had gone on 3 OD cases within 3 blocks of the house and that about 3-4 blocks away was a big Heroin area. So needless to say that house is no longer on my list. 

The good news is I pretty much finished my Halloween costume. October for some reason is always a very busy month for me, so I usually just wear what I want from my closet. Basically, I half ass my Halloween costume because I'm not paying $50 + dollars for a costume and for a "Sexy" one at that. Well this year I was thinking about buying, but I really couldn't find one I liked and when I did I didn't want to show that much skin. New this year is a Sexy Ninja Turtle costume, but I hated the sleeves and they didn't have my size so I decided to create my own Ninja Turtle costume. I will be posting pictures of it soon.
Love,
RobbinZombie

Monday, October 24, 2011

House Hunting Catastrophe

For the past 3 weeks or so I have been house hunting. It all started with a house I liked and wanted to go see, well the realtor owned the house so he insisted that I get pre-approved for a loan before I could see the house. So I jumped through some hoops and got pre-approved by not 1 but 3 different agencies, if you are going to do something you should do it right ;). Needless to say I hated the house, it was 1000sqft but as soon as you walked into any room in the house you were pretty much halfway out of said room meaning tiny tiny rooms. Since I had been pre-approved and saving up for a down payment I figured I already started this house hunting process I might as well finish it. So I began looking for other houses and calling up the realtors and looking at said houses after work. I had been trying to resist getting a buyers agent because I didn't think I really needed one and well I'm stubborn and like to do things on my own. Well, last week a realtor cornered me as I was walking through a house and was aggressive in trying to get me to allow her to be my buyers agent so that made me think "maybe I do need a buyer's agent" and then last Sunday I made an appointment to go see a house and the realtor asked if I would like to see some of his other listings in the area I figured why not, until I found out that the listings were like $10,000 out of my budget. He might have thought he could trick me into falling in love with a more expensive house, but he didn't realize that I am SO much smarter than him. I called him back and told him the one house would be fine and I didn't need to see any others. After those two incidents I decided to contact a friend of my moms who is a realtor for over 30 years and could be my buyers agent. 

After combing through about 80 listings we decided to go see 9 houses this past Saturday and let me tell you some of those house were scary. I'm talking warped floors, carpet hiding warped floors, dungeon like rooms in the basement, etc. When I was telling my Grandma about each house I kept ending it with "but that wasn't even the worst one" because I would then remember another one that was worst. 

The first house we saw had a front yard that had had an almost 90 degree angle, the only thing you can do with that is try not to kill yourself mowing it and put up a retaining wall, which of course can be expensive. The living room had this awful 80's mirrored tile on the wall, the kitchen never left the 60's in a bad way and the bedrooms were so small that I would have to put my bed in one and make the other into my dressing room. Oh and there was a room in the basement that looked like a serial killer lived in it. It also needed way to much work, I know that for my budget which isn't a bad one I might have to get one that needs a little love, but there is a BIG difference between a little love and a whole hell of a lot of love.

The next house had mega warped floors and the scariest bathroom i have ever seen in a house, it was so bad I took a photo.
It looked worst then a public restroom in a public park. I laugh at this photo every time I see it, mostly because I can't believe this exists. Needless to say I let that house go.

The next house had puke green shag carpet going up the stairs to the second floor and huge cracks in the walls because the whole left wall of the house was detaching from the rest of the house, um get me out of here now, before we die.

The next house had asbestos tiles and my buyers agent jokingly said "if you paint them you'll be fine, just don't pull them out" of course all I could see was the little girl in American Horror Story saying "you're going to die in this house." So the death trap house was a no.
The next house I actually really liked, it had all the good things about South City houses, beautiful multicolored brick house with recent tuck-pointing, beautiful hardwood floors, glass blocks in the bathroom window, and stained glass windows. The only work it needed besides painting was the front stained glass window needed to be replaced because it was letting water in, so there was a little water damage under the window (the inspector can tell me if it is worst than it looks, hopefully not) and the concrete stairs on the porch needed to either be redone or patched. Oh and it needed a little sanding and painting on the windows and trim outside. This house is currently #1 on my list, if I can get the house awesome if I can't then it wasn't meant to be. I'm trying to not totally fall in love with any house because you never know what will happen.

The next house the hardwood floors looked like they spilled beach everywhere, the bathroom was awful 80's gross, and so was the fireplace. Oh and in the bedroom of this "vacant" house was a blowup mattress and an alarm clock so who know if someone is still living there. Finally the finale was the second bedroom was in the basement. Basically, they built a room randomly in the middle of the basement it was platformed up (probably because the basement still leaks) awful blue carpet, oh and the ceiling in this "bedroom" was about an inch taller than me, I'm 5'5'' and Sasquatch is 6'2''. Sorry to say that house was a hell no, mostly because they also covered up the stained glass windows to create a closet and of course to hide the mega water damage in the corner.

The rest of the houses were not as bad as the ones mentioned above, so I won't really go into detail, but none of them I really liked.

My grandparents were out of town until Saturday night so they could go with me to see the houses and since my grandpa has dubbed himself my "personal buyers agent" (My grandpa has bought many houses before for the housing corp. to fix up and resell so I trust his judgement) I took him over to the house I did like  on Saturday to show him the outside and to look in the windows. My grandpa really liked the the house and told me to put an offer down, once I hear back from Fred my buyer's agent to make sure there isn't anything that would prevent me from getting the house. So fingers crossed.
Love,
RobbinZombie

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Creepy Cute Joker Nugget

So between working on a baby blanket for my friend's sister, working on the hoodie swap, and house hunting I have created a Joker Nugget. Lately, I have been crazy busy house hunting it is almost like having another full time job, but I am enjoying it so far, but I haven't found the right house yet. 

Last week when I had sketched out the Joker Nugget in my new sketchbook, I knew that was going to be my next project because I always have to have 3+ project going at once in case I need a change (or because I'm crazy ;) ).
So I went to the craft store last weekend and bought a bunch of different colored felt to create a number of kreations including The Joker. I modeled him after the Health Ledger Joker with a little inspiration from the comic book Joker.
I decided on a light purple shirt, dark purple pants, and a green tie and vest. I wasn't sure at the time how I was going to do the hair, but I just figured I would wing it and if I didn't like it then I would try something else.

For the face I decided that I was going to recreate the scars with a little sewing, I know in this photo they are hard to see, but they look very similar to the scarring the Health Ledger had. I decided to use oil pastels to recreate the make-up, I think I might go in with another red to try and make it a little more dark red, but it could also be the lighting in this photo.

For the hair, I decided that I would try something new. When I was looking up photos to model the Nugget after, I noticed that yes there is green in his hair, but is almost looks like it is washing out so I decided to lightly paint individual pieces of hair and glue them into place to not only get the stringy effect of the hair, but the green fading and the blonde showing through. I still haven't decided if I like the hair, but it does give the effect I wanted. He does look a little happier than I wanted, but I'm sure that's because he just did something very bad, who know what I will walk into so I must keep a very close eye on him.

What do you think?

Thanks,
RobbinZombie

Thursday, October 6, 2011

What I've Been Up To

Lately, it seems I have been working on a bunch of random things. I have the hoodie swap that I am currently doing, papercrafts, and working in my sketchbook.

The hoodie swap is going great so far, I forget how relaxing it is to paint. My partner, Errka requested among many themes Old School Sailor Tattoos which I of course picked instantly. Here is a progress shot so far.
I am painting directly on the hoodie with regular craft paint, but I have added textile medium to it so that she can maybe one day wash it. I have found that when you are painting on fabric especially hoodies, you need to do a couple of coats to layer up the paint so that you can smoothly paint and get the effect you want, which is also why you see the crazy blue and gray. I have plans to paint two other designs on the front, one on the left breast area and maybe one on the pocket. This is my second time doing the hoodie swap and the second time painting on a hoodie. The last hoodie swap I painted it so that when my partner wore it, she was a zombie with exposed brains, ribcage and anatomical heart, spine, and arm bone (there are pictures somewhere on Craftster of it). I am still working on my painting skills especially since I really haven't painted anything since high school, but I think I should paint more.

The second thing I have been working on are these fun folding paper monsters.
 I had seen a review on Papertoy Monsters on one of the many blog I read and paper craft toys have interested me for a while, so I decided that when I saw this at my local bookstore, I had to buy it. What I love about this books is that you just punchout the design, fold, and glue, no need for cutting. The only thing about that is those tiny little tags that are left over from where it was attached, but they don't really bother me.
The first one I did was a take on The Blob, I had it make him especially with the awesome tongue. I figured this was another crafty thing me and Sasquatch could do together. He of course called me a dork when I showed him my purchase and our new monster, but I know he's excited to make some ;).

The last thing that I have been working on is my new sketchbook. The only time I have ever really used a sketchbook was to do my sketching homework for art class. I never found the need for one until I started creating my own patterns and creations. I have a tendency to doodle and draw my new creations on any random paper I can find, but then I sometimes lose or end up crushing my sketch. So I decided the other day I should get a sketchbook so that I can sketch the creations I want to make and so they are all in a safe place and then of course use notepads to draw out my patterns and cut them out. I love using legal sized notepads because they are long so I don't need to tape two pieces of paper together (most of the time) and they hold up to pinning and multiple uses. Now I just need to put all those patterns in an extendable folder I have so I don't lose them. I don't have a picture of it, but the first creation I sketched in my new sketchbook was a Joker Nugget, Health Ledger style. I think it turned out pretty well and maybe soon I will start working on it.

Thanks For Listening.
Love,
RobbinZombie

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Halloween Ceramics

I have been housesitting for the past couple of months and this week their internet decided that it really didn't feel like working, but hopefully I fixed it. 

Last weekend Sasquatch and I decided it was time to go to our friendly neighborhood pottery painting place and paint some pottery. Our favorite place to go it Baked Goods Pottery on Gravois in St. Louis, MO, they are very friendly, fun to talk to, and we love their selection. We decided to go because I had received their newsletter letting me know that they had received their Halloween pottery and we LOVE Halloween so it was perfect.  When we first went to Baked Goods about a year and a half ago I wasn't sure if Sasquatch would really enjoy it, but he loves doing it. In the past we have done gnomes, dinosaurs, etc and this time we decided we would do these:


 Sasquatch did Satan and I did Frankenstein. It was funny because Sasquatch took the longest time to decide what he wanted to do, until he saw the "Tommy Lee Jones" Satan (Doesn't he remind you of Tommy Lee Jones?) Besides Satan they had a witch, a skeleton, a pumpkin man, and death figures to paint, they were a little creepy and a lot awesome.


Get ready for a lot more Halloween posts because lets face it Halloween is in fact the best holiday EVER!

Love,
RobbinZombie