The Nites Meow

Battle of the Names

2010-02-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

Monkey Raper vs. The Nites Meow vs. nitemare420i

I have been troubled with trying to market myself because I go by so many names. While nitemare420 in any of it's forms be it "i" or "me" is of course my old and reliable so it's not a big deal. The main battle is between the name of this blog and Monkey Raper Studios. And although I do <3 how Monkey Raper is such an edgy name, in that is it's downfall, cause some might take it as an offensive name.

Monkey Raper Studios	The Nites Meow	nitemare420
Deviant Art	RPF	Deviant Art
Facebook	Etsy	Etsy
My Space		Twitter

HTML Tables

I will be adding more, when I remember them. But yeah, this is where I stand at this moment. Maybe if I get them listed and figure what name to use for where or something like that. I really don't like the idea of fading out any of them.

OWOH Winner

2010-02-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

That poor random number generator had a hard time picking a number. So three comments later (that'll teach me to procrastinate) we has our winner.

Constance Muller of Rochambeau

"Hi Marian,
Sound great! Throw my name into your hat!! Couldn't figure out the map thing for you.
Have a nice night.
Constance"

And yes, that is why the random generator is coming out of my hat. Thank you all for visiting. That was fun. Next year will be even better!

One World One Heart 2010

2010-02-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

*Edit* Unfortunately I am not a listed participate in the One World One Heart 2010, because I wasn't able to reply to an email of technicality in enough time. (freakin' Spam box, hiding my important stuff.) But I am still going to host my give away, unaffiliated.

I've been thinking about doing some kind of blog candy give away. Now at last something has come along for me to get my butt in gear!

http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/one-world-one-heart.html

"The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way."

My Give Away
Keeping with my paper craft roots, I'd thought I'd offer some paper craft supplies.

I am offering a little bundle prize of 4 Vintage Sheet Music, 4 Individually Bags of Tea (You can use to drink, or dye things with) and 1 Black and White Photography Test Strip. I'm thinking about picking up a few more items to add and depending on the response I get, maybe even a second prize. But as of right now the above is what can be won! Huzzah!!!

How Can You Win?
Just leave me a comment on this thread with some means to get in contact with you, in case you win. An email or your blog would be preferred.

Sign ups end Feb. 14th, 2010. The winner will be drawn and announced Feb. 15th, 2010.

And just for fun. Pinning your location on my map. If you'd be so kind..
My Map
*Edit, Yeah another edit. I've had a couple people tell me that the map has been difficult in that it's being a spaz about letting people pin their locations. I still would appropriate if anybody would want to post their location, they can try the password "5150". *crosses fingers hope it works*

New Whatnots

2010-02-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

Not sure what I'm gonna do with them yet. But I picked them up at the Flea Market and now it's time to brainstorm. They're art glass candy. Yummy!!

The Captian

2010-01-30T19:29:00.000-08:00

Yup it's that time again. Time for a new post. Craftiness has been in little spurts, probably spreading myself a little thin. Still haven't cleaned out the studio and more and more things keep coming in. And so just because I can, here's a fun picture taken in San Francisco, Ca.

Yes, it looks like a Gap ad, and yes, you may call me The Captain. And isn't the Murial in the background just awesome.

So other then that, there is school in the way of me being crafty. Only one graphic art class this semester, huzzah!! But yeah must get to work on craftiness!!!

Bats, Cats and Skulls

2009-09-16T21:26:00.001-07:00

What does it all mean? It's that time of year. The seasons changing, leaves are turning different colors and I wonder just how many other people are starting a post just like this? Yeah!! Fall is upon us and with it, the greatness of Halloween! So maybe I should be doing homework right now but where's the fun in that? Ney, I say!! I shall bring more of this greatness that is Halloween into the void that is the interwebs and the world for all to enjoy! (Psst, fyi.. no worries on my hw, I plan to do a lot of Halloween projects for them.)

Love that wonderful man of mine! He was kind enough to search the web and find me all kinds of Halloween themed pictures. Most of the stuff is from a theme that Target did a couple years ago. Which was a very good design if I say so myself! Which I do. I now have a whole folder full of assorted Halloween .gif, jpegs and I think a few .bimps. But I try to avoid all these formats when I can and so into the Illustrator and Photoshop pot they go and Victor, he is editable... Anyways, thusly they come out as .ai, .psd or the lowest format I'll go .png. What does this mean? What does it mean!? "There's something here I'm not quit getting, though I try I keep forgetting"... What? No! It's very simply really, avoiding try not to go into song here, that it's higher resulotion, which makes a prettier picture and the capibilty to do more with it!!

So enough of my tangent. Halloween is upon us, soon! And so Halloween crafts are in need of being made! I have a few new patterns that I am working on(below). That I'll be using in print outs for assorted undetermined projects. Again from the Target line. And with that I think it's about time to start a new blog. One devoted to my love of Halloween and that way get all these freakin' Halloween files off of my computer and shared with the world!!! But mostly, I gotta see what I got. I know I have sooo many stored from years past. Like the time I made a coloring book for a party I was throwing. Eek!! Watch out for that flashback! But anyways, be on the lookout for when I start The Halloweenies blog!

And now for the countdown! What we've all been waiting for. Watching that pumpkin drop!

be

Deviant Blog Candy

2009-08-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

DeviantArt just had a birthday, didn't get to play in it like I wanted because internet was being a jerk and I was pony huntin' at the flea market. But it's all good, more bummed out that da still hasn't got it together to support pngs properly. I shouldn't have to compromise and settle for the lesser format for my images just because da only wants to read transparent backgrounds in gifs that are 150 x 150 pixels! Grrr.

Hunting down Blog Candy again.

One of these days I might win one. But at last here they are. I'm sure there are more but I have yet to find them. And OMG!! I am so out of html practice, the above really should not have been as troublesome as they were. But I digress, time for some cheetos and twinkies! I'm such a foodie.

Kitty-A-Day

2009-07-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

While artist Noah Scalin's idea of Skull-A-Day is awesome and if you haven't heard of it you really should look into it. But as much as I like skulls, they are not a big part of the art that I do here. Plus I want to make a Reece's Butter Cup of artist ideas. Putting two great taste together to create on awesome creation!!!

So what happens when you fuse together Noah Scalin ideas with that of David Horvitz in a mad scientist lab known as The Nite's Meow that is non government funded or regulated! Especially not regulated!!

You get some crazy lady with a posting like this! Asking you to do something as silly as the below picture will demonstrate.

Also your kitty art can be posted here in a comment or you can watch for it to show up on the slideshow on the right.

So, my project. that includes anyone that accepts to do it is to find or create kitty object everyday, in their everyday life and post it on flickr with the tag "BEEBOOBOD".

Logo Wuv

2009-07-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

One week left of Summer classes, then a two week break and then Fall classes start. And within this week I have 1 Chapter and 3 Projects to complete.. so why aren't I working on that stuff right now. Well duh, it bores me at the moment. Besides it's lethargic Sunday. But speaking of school, Project 2 was to create a letterhead, envelope and business card and if necessary a logo for the business. Project 4 was to design three logos. Well the logos are as followed and were designed for actually sites and friends.

Which *dramatic music* has lead to a revamp of the blog! All new and swanky looking. Still have a banner to work on but hey I can do that in my down time if nothing else. Well hope everyone enjoys the new look.. I for one am not in much of a writing mood. Shocking I know.

But at last let me leave you with a couple of awesome graphic sites that I enjoy using..

Veerle's Blog
Blue Vertigo

Zen Weekend

2009-07-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend on ATCsforALL we had the 3rd ZAT! <-...Hmm, wonder how many people looked at that and asked themselves, "Is that a real sentence?" It does have all the elements of a sentence and he is sitting. So this weekend; Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On the website ATCsforALL.com. There was a Zentangle-A-Thon. Zentangles are an abstract, repetitive doodle art usually done in black and white, the idea being that you relax and make beautiful works of art by letting the lines tell you where they want to go. Hopefully no one gets perturb that I refered to them as doodles. Heh. And so, yeah.. A repetitive, abstract doodle thon. For this event we were given optional challenges. Usually they are done on standard ATC, artist decided everything so with the challenges setting some boundaries, it hopefully gave people more ideas.

Well Friday didn't actually have a challenge so it was open Zen ATCs. Saturday was Zen Inchies, Twitchies Challenge. And Sunday was Zen and watercolors. Granted I didn't get to do too many of any of the challenges, in fact, I was not able to make any cards for Sundays challenge because my watercolors have gone MIA. But I do need a post in here about Zentangles. And Ta Da!! This is it.

Sand Art

2009-07-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

I actually had written and was going to post this entry a while ago. So get ready for a filler entry!! Ha ha, I'll have to do more of these, just for those special kinda days.

Sand Art

Remember when you could go to a carnival and they would have those booths where you fill plastic honey bear jars with sands. And it was the neatest thing!! Cause you're bear had the fuzzy troll hair... no? Don't remember? Well that's okay, I don't remember having one but my sister did! And you could fill it with all kinds of different color sand! And when the sands layered it created a trippy different layers of colored sand effect. Okay so it's not so impressive now, but years later I found myself buying a sand art kit.

It was a Rose Art kit that came with seven different colors of sand, about five different contains (none of them where plastic honey bear jars with troll hair) and an assortment of color by number picture sheets that had adhesive on them for the sand to stick to. After buying it I did a couple of projects, but got bored of it quick!

Fast forward to seven years after I bought it, still surprised it has hung out with me for that long. Brushed off the cobwebs that had settled on it and opened the kit, four of the containers, 2 color by numbers pictures and the majority of the sand left. Then had the great idea to do one of the color by number pictures, some of the adhesive wasn't sticking too well anymore but I managed. And woo-la, after some spray adhesive and the cutters I now have 16 inchies (would have had more but some where damaged in the cutting process) and 4 twictes, my first set ever!

Moral of the story; don't smoke in bed. Or have fun digging out old art kits and coming up with new uses for them!

*whispers* These are in the available for trade category. Inchies and Twitchies for 100, Alex.

Kitties and Candy

2009-07-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe there's a program that rivals my attention from photoshop. God, I love Illustrator! In my adventure's to work on "the studio" I decided it would be nice to organize my supplies and so instead of doing my homework for my Illustrator class I made little 1.5 x 3 in tag, that I'm going to probably print up in class and glue to card stalk for a colorful labeling system. I can't wait till fall, so I can get my G5. I know my work on this computer is making it cranky.

So not only have I been working on "the studio" (I just love saying it that way, it reminds me of the episode of The Venture Brothers with the nozzle. Do not look away from the nozzle. Yeah, I went there! Also 24 dies!!!) um, where was I? Working on "The Nozzle" er Studio. Actually my point was going to go more towards, I wanna make this blog match my studio in that they'll both be awesome! So gonna re-due the banner and damn you Illustrator and all your awesomeness again!! But I'm gonna do a new logo for the site. Sorry to my dear Lilly cat but you is no longer gonna be it. Well actually the design I'm gonna use will use one of my cats but being a silhouette, who I'm going to use.

Which brings me to Ren. Now I have three cats already, this is including the newest addition Fink. I have his mother; Gabriel (yes, everyone keeps telling me how that's a boys name but I don't like the way the feminine version sounds), his sister; Lilith and now it's kitty
number 4! Ren, we found her on the side of a nabors house, she had been crying all day and we could hear her. So when we went looking for these kitty cries of distress, she came running to us. Took her home and poor thing ate like she hadn't eaten for some time, that always manages to break my heart. So, slowly but surely, I'm working on being the crazy lady on the block with hella cats.

And last point, word up to Sassy's Designs for her awesomeness of Blog Candy! I'm thinking in the near future probably gonna have some Nites Meow blog candy, as soon as I go through my supplies but if nothing else I'm gonna have to keep on the look out for others blog candy and put it up like I have for Sassy's Designs in my side bar. I also have to thank Paula at Art and Home, well because she has it up on her blog. *whispers* I know I still have a trade and owe you an ATC Paula and I have one for you but because I've been taking it everywhere I go to show it off, I kinda miss placed it. But yeah that's another thing I need to get done ASAP.

I think I've rambled on enough. Now it's back to work, with me on top and never ever pull the lever that says stop! Santa cooked ya Christmas in his Navajo but why's it so cold. ..yeah, I'm probably not singing the right words but oh well.

Project Monkey Raper Studio

2009-06-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Everything I do, I do in vain. Especially my writing, always manages to get fucked somehow!

Whatever. Tomorrow starts the new month (I can't believe I have to write all this again, from memory no less.) A busy month, with Summer classes and house projects coming to their end and having to gather $800 for first months rent and then August finacial aid finally kicks in! So yeah, a whole lot of clutter going up on ebay; MTG cards, MLP extras and lots of RAM. Most starting at .99 cents, that's the boyfriends department. Don't quote me, boy. I ain't said shit. Okay, maybe I said to check it out..
Wink, Wink

Which brings me to my shop.. on etsy that is. Actually working on it, getting new items! College sheets and templates at the moment. With more on the way, including Kittie Cats and Sabbat college sheets! This of course leads to Project Monkey Raper Studio, where all the magic happens. I'm giving myself one month to get my studio together to the point of awesomeness! FYI, for those who want to be in the know. Cloth-Paper Scissors has an awesome issue on Studios; Inspiration & Ideas for Your Art & Craft Space. And thusly this is what I have to work with..

Working on a floor plan, more to come on it. It's quite a lot of work, especially with the distractions. Like this one, our newest addition to our home...

Ye Haw!

2009-06-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

Farm Town/Farm Ville, oh the evils of apps on facebook! Evil in that facebook is already pretty addictive but then introduce fun little mini games to waste away the time with! Yus, this does actually have a crafty point. Cause when you throw in a student of graphic arts, who is just learned the ins and outs of a new vector art program.. okay it's not new but it's new to me! Not gonna drop any names here but Adobe Illustrator is a pretty nifty program and being that I have started a little garden of fruits and veggies, it would be nice to have some way of identify them. Oh holy crap would you look at that!!! I made a 1 1/2 x 4 inch Plant Stick! Although, I have no intention of actually planting Eggplants, eww gross. But hey, nuts to me for making it. I have a set up of making 9 more; I'm thinking Strawberries, Pumpkins and Corn.. that's as far as I got for ideas. When I have completed the set, then I will print them out on card stalk and use a pop cicle to stick them into the ground. Woot!

The only reason I'm adding this is so I can have a shout out to Smelly Cat! Who is awesome and my study buddies version of this project. I don't know, I guess I can name mine Doey or Pedro. Doesn't really matter cause everyone loves Smelly Cat!!!

Yes, my class is awesome and it's projects like these that keep me loving to go!

Maker Faire 2009

2009-06-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

Was Awesome! Fun time was had by all! It was great to get the Crafty Panda group together. Inspiration was around every corner and hopefully we'll be able to get more going for the group. I had made, via photoshop con badges to wear. One representing yours truly; The Nites Meow, The Unrepentant Tinkerer (the bfs blog) & of course Crafty Panda!

It was great to see the faire had grown so much sense last time and it was hard to fit everything into one day. Well we actually were unable to fit everything! But we were able to come home with all kinds of free stuff!! Lots of flair! Hopefully next year we'll do the two day thing! And that way we don't have hurry to see everything. Be able to catch at least one showing of the Mentos & Diet Coke showings, little bummed that we didn't have time for that this year.

Got to meet Adam Savage from Myth Busters and was totally denied an autograph to the bewb. *le sigh* But he did inform me that Jamie would do it and now I have that as a mental note to stalk him for it! Moahahahahahahaha! I am more then certain that Adam was the main attraction that most people showed up for and he totally delivered.

Steampunk was big this year, which was really neat. Had lots of fun seeing everyone in dress and all the metal mechanics stuffies. But thee coolest thing I'd have to say that we got to bring home, hands down with luv, the predictor vision group pic. It was too awesome cause we drank ice suckies and then stuck out our toungs!

Available Tradable Mail Art

2009-03-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well I was gonna have all my flickr sets organized with neat little flashy badges but the badges are being bastards! So this way will have to do I guess, what a disappointment...

Oh well. *sigh* Anyways!!

And for even more fun!!! While working on this whatnot I created my own gradients for photoshop. You can download them for yourself here..

Tea Time

2009-02-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

Like most crafters I enjoy a nice hot cup of tea while I craft. I love serving it at any craft projects I host and the majority of people I craft with enjoy it as well. And then I came upon Twinings of London's Herbal Revive. An enlivening blend with blackcurrants, ginseng and Tahitian vanilla in it's pretty purple box. It smells delightful while brewing but then I took that first sip. Ugh! It's drinkable but not enjoyable. No amount of sugar can take the strong bitterness away. Needless to say I am not buying it again and trying to foist it onto others hasn't really worked either, (I found the one you left behind Panda). Although I do also go on more of a tangent of my distaste for it when I have tried to give it to friends.

So for you daring souls or maybe just curious, I have this proposition for you. If you have a trade with me of any kind; be it inchie, atc or even a crochet square and you would like to try this special blend of zesty blackcurrants, invigorating gingseng and aromatic Tahitian vanilla, then treat yourself to this signature blend as it enlivens your spirit compliments of me sending one of the individual packed tea bags with my trade. Granted I like the idea of being revived but can't revive me if I don't drink it!

Left to Give
6

If you end up loving it or it's the worst thing you've ever had, feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think.

Holy Cracker Monkies

2009-01-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

With the Holidays over and the start of 2009, hopefully now I can focus more on some swap art and the like. Christ Mass was pretty quite this year, which was nice and gifts that I gave consist of crafts I made with either Perler Beads or crocheted. Well except for my dads gift... I doubt he'd like a perler bead pendent so he got baked goods of sugar and oatmeal cookies, plus rice crispy treats.

Still having some computer issues.. but that has been taken to the back burner because of the more important concern of restoring our house that we just moved into. It's difficult to focus on crafts between the plumbers doing a half ass job of whatever they did and the heat and air guy building a vent for the water heater but telling us to just open a window to vent while cooking, cause the vent in the kitchen just goes to the attic.

All is not lost and although this was more of a personal note update and not so crafty, there are projects under way. Oh yes, so many projects. Although to the untrained eye, I am merely obsessed with playing Loco Roco or Legend of Zelda but little does anyone know that it is all apart of my nefarious plan.. YUS! Nefarious is back, with my plans that he was borrowing. And soon, oh so soon they will be put into action and all who have doubted me will probably go get coffee or something... after they gravel at my feet!! Excellent.

Get With The Program!

2008-09-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Okay so where are all the art projects I promised!! Well few are under way and with the great and powerful Monkey Raper busy setting up a new base of operations.. er I mean.. getting my computer set up properly, it's a little hard to do the projects I want with out the things I need. So while I piddle paddle with finding of proper drivers, power cords and programs so that operation art projects can be on their way, here are a list of art programs others may be interested in...

Freeware~

Paint.net
http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
Very easy and fun to use. Also loads up quick and easy too, not too many system checks and when is the program going to be done uploading. Currantly not using it cause it's for PCs.

Artweaver
http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?en_version
Never used it but heard it was good. Again another one for PCs.

FastStone
http://www.faststone.org/
Again, have never used it but it's for PCs.

Gimp
http://www.gimp.org/
I loath this program.. but it is free.. for PCs.

... Where are all the freeware art programs for Macs!!!

Stuff You Gotta Pay Fo What Ya Owe~
(Shit That Ain't Free)

Magic Splash
http://www.magicsplash.com/index.php
Have not used but really want to! Looks like lots of fun! And YUS!! Score one for Macs!

Paintshop Pro
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1152105040688#tabview=tab1
One of my favorite programs to use, I especally love the added program that comes with it, Animation Shop! Makes Animation soooo easy! Only problem is... not Mac friendly.. :(

Photoshop
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/compare/?sdid=DOPFO
Of course as anyone will tell you, one of the best programs out there! I mean really.. you'd have to be living under a rock to not have already heard the pros and cons of this program!

Did I miss any programs? Well if I did, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll add them up here and check them out! Now I'm off to get that stupid cord to fit into it's home!

Paper Crafts

2008-09-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

My newest crafty drug. I have turned into quite the paper craft whore. It's not that hard, they are quite addicting but not widely known about. So five bucks says, it has something to do with paper! Ha, smartass! Anyways, more to the point what are these things I talk about when I say ATC's or Inchies. Well here is a run of the basics..

ACEO~ Artist Cards Editions & Original - 2.5" x 3.5" in size, an offshoot of ATC's but made with the intention of selling as pieces or art collectors items.

Accodion Style Photo Album~ A small folding book, 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" or bigger 6" x 6", usually with foam board cover. Inside can include quotes, poetry, photos, rubberstamping and/or collage.

ATC~ Artist Trading Card - 2.5" x 3.5" in size, is a card of art made to be only be traded, not sold. They are originals, small editions and, most importantly, self-produced.

Chunky Book~ A small book, usually 4" x 4", filled with original art, dangly charms, ribbons, fibers, tags, and heavier embellishments, hence the "Chunky" name. Also called Fat Books.

Chunky Book Page~ An individual page from a chunky book. In accordance to theme is exchanged with other artist to create the book.

Inchie~ a 1"x1" square piece of art that is painted, collage, etc and traded, usually 6-9 in a set.

Rolo~ Rolodex cards, usually 3x5 inches. Decorated and traded.

Twinchie~ a 2"x2" square piece of art that is painted,collaged, etc and traded.

More to come as I get into them.

Opening Blog

2008-09-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hmm, yeah. My first blog post of craftiness and it's of a nifty dollar store find. Quite excited, don't even know what I'm going to use them for but am completely in love with them! Each with 25 different types of stickers, four of each different type to compose 100 little stickers for my grubby little hands. So where do I go from here, I know I have plenty of paper craft projects to use them on, my computer montior does look quite bare but I think for now they will remain in a pile of crafts that I'm not currantly using. Aww, I know.. that's kinda sad. But I also have so much to do!! Oh so much!!! Like my 15 Unfinshed Projects, which I should start that list here and now as to have a direction of which I shall travel...

15 Unfinshed Projects

1. Crochet enough squares to make a blanket.

2. Create Armoire and fix up dresser.

3. Torn Paper Collages.

4. Organize and Post Flash for future tats.

5. Finish Sculpy Charms. Maybe start some new ones.

6. Fix up to have a proper Alter.

7. Ren Faire Goblets.

8. Type up and save on computer, stories and writtings.

9. Finish Some of my Photo Albums.

10. Organize and trade more ATCs.

11. Get Back Into Playing Piano & Get New Sheet Music.

12.

13.

14.

15. A Me Day, manicure, peticure, highlights and trim.

Now let's hope I keep going on the crafty road I travel.