~Sketch Journaling~

I've been extremely inspired by sketch journals lately. As you can tell from my pinterest board. I thought I would share with you some of my journal pages.

  


The first page: This is just a bunch of things that describe me or that I really like. I wanted to do it in a very typography way,
but you can only come up with so many font 
types. *wink*
The second page: I was just having fun with one of my favorite colors. Currently I'm really into anything done in ink. So the little postage stamp was my first try at doing something like that

 The first page: This is my new years journal entry, which is the same as this post here.

The second page: One of my favorite bible verses from Esther, as well as some notes from that Sunday's sermon.

 The first page: An entry about making a medieval dress which I'm still working on. I did a french seam for the first time. A sample of my fabric as well as some embroidery ideas.

The second page: Some sketches I did of a little mockingbird who has been coming around this winter.

The first page: This was a sketch that I did after watching Jack the Giant Slayer. It's a beanstalk. I'm still deciding if I want to do it over in ink or not.

The second page: This is a cute little doodle I did. It is not at all as big on my journal page as it looks here.

Do you keep a sketch journal? What are some of your favorite things to draw?

~Of Apologies and Obsession Based Projects~

Well my dear readers, 
I'm must apologize. I have neglected you again, let us blame it on the weather. Which has absolutely nothing to do with it, but was the only thing that came to mind.

It is my great pleasure to present to you a couple of obsession based projects. Contrary to what you are probably thinking and the evidence of my posts, it is not based on Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. 
It is actually Doctor Who! I was introduced to the show by my older brother in 2010. I first watched all of Ten's episodes, then proceeded to watch Nine's and finely Eleven's. 
It went something like this: Ten was cute, Rose was okay. Ten was cute, Donna was okay. Ten was cute, Martha was awesome. Noooooo come back Sally Sparrow!!! Nine was great, oh it's Rose again...OMGOSH IS THAT ELEVEN? calm down And Amy? I'm going to die this is so good!!!  Immediately turns into a obsessed fangirl. 

And that explains my obsession timeline basically to the present time. 

So on to the projects, the first of which was done for a Christmas present 2012. The second has just been completed and I have no idea what to do with it.
So so...pictures....

Ignore the horrible quality, the in-progress pics were done at night...in the laundry room....

It is a Doctor Who pillow with a TARDIS cross-stitch. Yes, I know it's just to much awesomeness.

These pictures on the other hand were taken just the other day with a new camera. A Canon EOS 40D, simply awesome!

If there is anyone out there who wants the pattern for the cross-stitch, you can email me at elizabethnovak1@gmail.com and I'll send it to you. 

And this is the Dalek cross-stitch that I just finished. No idea what to do with it. Suggestions? 

So that about sums up this post. What have you been doing lately with your obsessions?

~God Called~

Sorry for some many LotR/Hobbit related posts. Can't help it! I had to share my favorite quote from the new movie with you.

"I would take each and any one of these dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills. For when I called, they came. Loyalty, courage, honor, I could not ask for more then that." - Thorin - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
 
This quote reminds me of how God has called us. He accepts us not because we are perfect, but because when he called, we answered, and accepted him in our lives. And now he is free to work his power though us to a greater end.

"God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles." - Galatians 1:15-16

Thoughts on The Hobbit ~SPOILERS~

The Plus Side ~SPOILERS~

Thorin:
Thorin pretty much lived up to my expectations.

He shows a very emotionless face to his company but it a couple of scenes you can see his great sadness over losing his home and family. He is quick to judge and  see a lack of courage (especially in Bilbo). He is embittered toward the elves for abandoning his people to exile and yet he (if not exactly forgiving them) agrees to Elrond's help in deciphering Thrain II's Map.
As the movie progresses Thorin begins to see that great courage can come from small people. In the end when Bilbo saves his life, Thorin apologizes for doubting him.
I am going to enjoy seeing how Thorin's character grows throughout the rest of the movies.    

Eagles:
The eagles where magnificent. I would have to say that some of the flying shots with them were the best in the movie.

The over all youngness of everyone:
I was very impressed with how they where able to make every one look younger then the LotR. 

Especially Frodo. To be truthful I really didn't think they could make him any younger then he looked in the FotR. And yet he seemed even younger then the shots from the beginning of FotR. Even Galadriel looked younger. 

The Elves:

I loved the glimpse of the elves I got.  King Thranduil was so out of this world perfect. It was weird just looking at him because his was features where so perfect. I enjoyed seeing a close up of Elrond's armor as well as some musical and serving elves in Rivendell.  I only wish they had shown more of Bilbo's love of Rivendell, I think they could have shown him walking around it a little more.

The Trolls:
The trolls were awesome! I could not have wished for them to be better.

Gollum:

As usually Gollum was pretty awesome. Just when you think they can't get anymore facial expressions on this guy they pull something new. The whole riddle game scene was really funny and well acted.

The Minus Side

Azog the Goblin:

A little background here:
Azog entered history in the year TA 2790 due to King Thrór's desire to revisit and perhaps refound the lost realm of Khazad-dûm, in whose mighty ruins Azog dwelt. When Thror was found in the armories of Khazad-Dum he was brought before Azog being accused of thieving. Azog decided to kill Thror.

When news of this reached Thrór's heir Thráin, he was greatly angered and mustered a force of Dwarves to seek revenge on Azog. So began the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. The dwarves hunted Azog, and many battles were fought beneath the earth. After nine years of war, the climatic Battle of Azanulbizar was fought before the gates of Moria itself.

King Thráin and his son Thorin were in that battle (it was here that Thorin gained the surname Thorin Oakenshield). Near the end of the battle, Azog himself emerged and fought with Thráin's cousin Náin. After breaking Náin's neck, his young son Dáin; only 32 years old, swept the head from Azog's shoulders and helped to win the day. -LotR WikiSo I didn't really remember much of this background well watching the movie. In fact I didn't even remember if the "white orc" was in the book at all. The first thing that came to mind when I saw him was "that doesn't look like any orc I've ever seen." He reminded me more of the Ice Giants from Thor then an orc. I would have liked it much better if he was some kind of icky looking goblin.
And of course they changed the plot from the above. Making Thorin the one to fight Azog, cutting off his arm but not killing him. I didn't really mind the plot change, but I wish they had made him look more like a goblin.

3D:
It was really strange for me to see the Hobbit in 3D, going into this with the LotR in mind. I was not prepared for a LotR like movie in 3D. It was not at all bad, just took about half the movie to get used to it. 

Also the thing with 3D is that if you aren't watching a HFR it tends to be very blurry at the action parts. Going from a highly detailed LotR to blurry action was somewhat disappointing.

 

The Music:
I had listened to the full soundtrack before seeing the movie. I wasn't to impressed with it. I thought maybe it might be better with the actually movie, but I was disappointed again. The only really good songs where renditions of The Misty Mountains, Concerning Hobbits from LotR and Neil Finn's Song of the Lonely Mountain.

All in all I enjoyed it. So what were your thoughts on The Hobbit? How did you like it?

Obsessive Hobbit post

So y'all should know by now that I'm a HUGE LotR/Hobbit fan. I've been really excited about the up coming Hobbit. I've watched all the trailers and TV hotspots, memorized the Misty Mountain song and obsessed over the movie in general. I have a feeling that Thorin is absolutely going to be awesome! Who agrees with me here? 

And then there is Bard and Legolas....no words here...jdklajflsdajfal;jdl

Okay....I'm calm now.....
So I've bought my ticket for The Hobbit Premiere early. I was not planning on dressing up, just because I was extremely busy with work and didn't really have time to put anything together. But then I thought about it some more and realized that I will never be able to go to the premiere of the hobbit again. This is a one time deal here. So I had to do SOMETHING. There was only about a week before the hobbit, not enough time to put together a costume. But then I ran across these on Etsy:

These whimsical pieces are each carefully handmade and designed by Kimberly Nichole of Woodland Wire Works. I had to have them, so I contacted Kimberly about shipping them overnight. I didn't have much hope that they would get here in time. But she absolutely made it happen, she got them shipped out yesterday and the post office said they would arrive Wednesday afternoon. But what a blessing, they arrived this morning! And of course I put them on right away and did a rush elvish hairstyle so I could send her a picture.  ;)

So I'll be wearing these lovely ear cuffs come movie night and generally be trying not to hyper-ventilate. 
Are you dressing up? What are you wearing?

Poem of the Week: The Ballad of the White Horse

         
I thought I would post the Ballad of the White Horse for a poem this week. 

I found this poem quite interesting knowing that J.R.R Tolkien had based his 

Riders of Rohan on the Anglo-Saxons. In a short clip in the extended movie 

of the Return of the King you catch a glimpse of a white horse carved 

into a hill. We see Theoden ride past it with his riders. 
The white horse is based off of the Uffington White Horse (picture shown

above). The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylized prehistoric hill 

figure, 374 feet long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed 

white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of White 

Horse Hill in the English civil parish of Uffington. The hill forms 

a part of the scarp of the Berkshire Downs and overlooks the Vale of

White Horse (name for the Uffington horse).
Studies have shown the horse to date between 1400 and 600 BC.

The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton is about the 

idealized exploits of the Saxon King Alfred the Great, it was published 

in 1911. Written in ballad form, the work is usually considered one 

of the last great traditional epic poems ever written in the English 

language. Here are two quotes from the poem, if you would like to read

the whole thing you can find it here.

 "Before the gods that made the gods
          Had seen their sunrise pass,
          The White Horse of the White Horse Vale
          Was cut out of the grass.

          Before the gods that made the gods
          Had drunk at dawn their fill,
          The White Horse of the White Horse Vale
          Was hoary on the hill.

          Age beyond age on British land,
          Aeons on aeons gone,
          Was peace and war in western hills,
          And the White Horse looked on.

          For the White Horse knew England
          When there was none to know;
          He saw the first oar break or bend,
          He saw heaven fall and the world end,
          O God, how long ago."
-----------------------------------

          "And it fell in the days of Alfred,
          In the days of his repose,
          That as old customs in his sight
          Were a straight road and a steady light,
          He bade them keep the White Horse white
          As the first plume of the snows.

          And right to the red torchlight,
          From the trouble of morning grey,
          They stripped the White Horse of the grass
          As they strip it to this day."

Narnia design drawings.

Had fun drawing these today from the Narnia concept art book.