Update: Woggies #1 and #16 are almost complete!

Woggy #1 Update: BC Trip Scrapbook

I had been informed about a month ago that the site which is hosting alot of my old photographs has changed its policy to require you to buy something at least once a year or they might dump your archive. With my dumping date looming, I had alot of incentive recently to get some sort of a photo project going. The digital photos most obvious for this task was my collection of photos from my BC Adventure Vacation that happened last August. All of my photos were already on my computer, and I already knew I wanted most of them printed out as actual real life photos for my scrapbook project.

So it took a lot of time, but I sorted through all the photos and picked all the best ones and/or the ones necccesary to tell the story of our adventure. I uploaded them and made captions for whenever I get around to emailing the online album to everyone. And of course I started thinking about how was I actually going to get all of these photos put together. Now, it turns out this task itself became a major life distraction, as I discovered a site selling all of the vast array of things that the scrapbooking industry has to offer. It took alot of strength, and I had to resist many cute, shiny sparkly things that would certainly serve absolutely no useful function in my life (such as the Happy Camper wooden die-cuts pictured here...), but I did finally end up with a pared down order of just the essential items needed for me to put together something close to what I originally envisioned. So now, I only have to wait for my items to be delivered, and I can get to work on the fun part, which is the making of the scrapbook itself. This should not take too long to complete, but only time will tell...

I can now check some items off my Woggy To-do list:

X Select photos for printing
X Get photos printed
X look for a suitable book/binding system
X buy book/binding system

Things left to complete this woggy project:

• wait for photo and scrapbook cover,etc. to be delivered
  
• plan scrapbook layout
• create any needed text or other related content
• paste up/ assemble scrapbook

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Woggy #16 Update: New Bed

Lately on two separate independent occasions unrelated to either the purchase of a bed or each other, both my husband and I were each able to visit another local furniture store that also happened to have beds for sale, and we both actually happened to each look at the beds that they had there. Through some great miracle of the cosmos, my husband and I not only came to the agreement afterwards that we did not need to look in any further stores than the two stores we had thus far looked at, but after some brief discussion, we actually came to amiable agreement about which actual bed we each preferred to buy, AND, miracle of miracles, it happened to be the same exact bed.

Topping off this miracle sundae with some fabulous fruit, we even both went to the store together this weekend, and actually followed through with the actual purchase of the actual bed. Now all we have to do is wait for the shipment and delivery, and then actually do the final assembly of the bed after it arrives. It hardly seems any trouble at all that the bed is apparently somewhere in South America, and will be taking up to 14 weeks to get here!

Items I can check off my Woggy To-do list:

X go to more stores to look at other possible beds
X decide on a bed and buy it

Things Left To Complete This Woggy Project:

• wait for shipment of our bed
  
• put our new bed together
• say, "Hey, doesn't our new bed look great?!"

Woggy #18: Homemade window shade

Seattle is infamous for its dark and dreary winters. What is perhaps not as well known are our bright and cheery summers, of which I am beginning to be reminded of again at very early hours of the morning through my upper bedroom window, which under most circumstances brings a welcome amount of extra light into the room. The exceptions to this welcome would be during late spring and summer early hours of the a.m. when the sun peeks through and tries to wake you up, or on bright moonit nights, or perhaps on an evening when a neighbor with a porchlight is staying up to all hours...

In recent groggy mornings, as I have clambered in the wee hours for my eye pillow to shut out the light, I am reminded of a long overdue woggy project that I began a summer or two ago, which is to create a lovely, decorative but importantly functional window shade to cover this upper window when sleeping assistance is needed.

I considered the various prefabricated options, but the unusual shape & size of this window, joined with the way the window is normally used, really made most conventional alternatives difficult to find and rather inappropriate to the task. The solution I ultimately came up with was a decorative shade that could be raised up and out of the way like an awning when its use was not required.

I remember coming up with a complete design for this project, and some patterns, and I measured and cut out all sorts of fabrics, pinned, sewed, etc. I began working out exactly what sort of hardware I'd need to attach this shade to the window area, and was feeling pretty psyched about the whole project in general, most especially as this would mean complete sleepytime peace without need for an eye-shade, which I have never found to be completely comfortable.

However, it was at just around this time that a large and unexpected construction project began on my apartment building (yes, the self-same one that originally interfered with my bed frame woggy...) Since this would be involving among other things the tearing out and replacement of all our windows, I carefully folded this woggy up, bagged it, labeled it, and put it up on a shelf for safekeeping until all the window construction business was over.

Over a year later, when all work was complete, I was so busy restoring order to the chaos of my construction-ated home that pulling out another big project was the last thing on my mind. so the project sat and sat, up on the shelf.

Now that the longer days are on us again, and I have sufficent time and energy to devote to the shade, I've pulled it back out in the hopes that I will actually get some solid sleep at least a few nights before the end of the summer rolls around. Unfortunately, the notes I left for myself regarding my design plans are a bit scanty. So it will first take me some time to figure out exactly what was the design I was going for, or at least figure out some way to make all the pieces I already cut out work in a new design.

I have hopes that a dark and cozy slumber will be ours again someday...

Things Left To Complete This Woggy Project:

• lay all the pieces out and figure out a general idea of the intended design
  
• draw up some specific pictures to indicate how everything is supposed to look
• begin sewing all of the items which are already pinned together for sewing
• pin the rest of the pieces together following the design
• sew all the pieces
• put the various layers together and sew up remaining seams
• Make a list of necessary hardware
• buy necessary hardware
• Install hardware and attach shade to hardware
• Put shade down and enjoy a lovely complete night of sleep!

Updates! Woggies #8, #10, AND #16!

Yes spring has sprung, and it's verdant atmosphere has brought about updates in not one, not two but three woggy projects, all within the past two weeks!

Woggy #8 Update: "Lil' Me"

With my notebook-buying obstacle out of the way, and my proper time-era enhancing pandora station created and at the ready for inspiration, my mind and hands were set free to begin with the drawing. After a small bit of research to verify a few additional time-accurate details, I started my concept drawings and began the intro to my first book. I was a little slowed for a bit after completing the introduction, trying to decide what the story for this first episode/issue would be, but after a bit of brewing I was able to successfully work out a storyboard for the whole issue.

At this point all that is left is to sit down a little bit each day and continue the work on the final, finished-drawing versions of the storyboard for this issue to be finally complete. Time intensive to be sure, but right now the road is clear and straight up through the end of this book. Hooray!

I can now check some items off my Woggy To-do list:

X Dig up my old plot and story notes, and my folder of character drawings
X Sketch out a plot for my introductory episode/book
X rough storyboard the book

And for the record, I have begun working on:

• draw book #1

Things Left To Complete This Woggy Project:

• finish drawing book #1
• admire fab new book!
• repeat process for several more books
• research publishing graphic novels/ comic books, including self-publish options
• begin sending out stuff/ doing whatever initial stuff i need to do to pursue publishing of first few books
• continue making more books
• consider creating a dedicated website for the books
• write more to-do steps

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Woggy #10 Update: Understanding Comics

In the course of me working on the drawings for Woggy #8's introduction, I ran into a bit of a problem figuring out how to represent a particular action sequence that was very important. Considering how to solve the problem, I thought immediately of Understanding Comics and figured there would probably be something in there that might help me figure out a good approach.

Funny enough, the place where I had stopped reading, or more specifically the chapter I had bookmarked as the next one to begin, covered exactly the topic I was needing to read about. So that afternoon, while I had pulled the book off the shelf thinking I would just flip through to a section I had already read, for a few references and words of advice, I ended up instead sitting down and reading a whole new chapter of the book. In this way I not only learned what I needed to know for Woggy #8 right when I needed it the most, helping me solve my problem & inspire me, I also inadvertently completed a new step towards completing Woggy #10 at the same time.

Items I can check off my Woggy To-do list:

X Take book off shelf and begin reading again
X Consider buying another book from the graphic novel section! (actually did this a while ago, as mentioned in the last Woggy #8 update)

Things Left to Complete This Woggy Project:

• Set aside an evening or afternoon
• Read more of book
  
• Repeat until book has been finished

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Woggy #16: New Bed

Completely unrelated to the above two woggy updates, I am happy to finally report progress on this woggy. A lovely spring day brought us out for a walk in the park, and subsequent walk home right past one of our favorite furniture stores down the street. While there we both saw a bed frame we both liked and discussed it as a possibility, and found a fab couch on super discount, which after a half-day's thought, resulted in our decision to buy it.

While it was a couch purchased, and not a bed, those of you looking at the poster above might have noticed these are not unrelated. A new couch in the house brings about a quite urgent need to remove the old one, especially when one lives in a small downtown condo. Mind ever-quick, I jumped on this opportunity to point out that we would probably save alot of time and effort if we added the box spring and old bed frame to our flyer, since we already knew we were going to get rid of them.

And thank you, terrible economy, someone has already offered to take both of these worthy objects off our hands and out of our house within the week.

Of course, this means that from now until the date of bed frame delivery (to say nothing of all the steps in between) we will be sleeping on the very basic and chic "mattress on floor" layout, the ultimate in minimalist bed furnishment. But no one said progress was without its downside...

Items I can check off my Woggy To-do list:

X go to a store to look at a bed
X put our box spring and frame up for give-away
X give away our stuff to give-away person (ok, this one's almost checked off..)

Things Left To Complete This Woggy Project:

• go to more stores to look at other possible beds
  
• decide on a bed and buy it
  
• get our new bed delivered
• say, "Hey, doesn't our new bed look great?!"