Lobster Shorts books, Pens and Ink

I Made A Fountain Pen Ink Swatch Journal – And Swatched The First Four Inks

I started an ink swatch journal this weekend – and I love it so much!!! These bound books evoke impressions of hidden treasures and secret knowledge. Where did this book of mystical wisdom come from? Sigh, Amazon… It came from Amazon.

It wasn’t as easy to make as I had thought it would be.

The very first page turned out poorly. I used a stamping platform, but it was too awkward with the book and the second stamp went off-kilter, blurring the words. The page can’t be ripped out (especially the very first page) without it being very noticeable. It’s not the end of the world, I can just design something on paper and glue it over. That’s a project for another day and I’m confident it will turn out.

I tried again on the second page with an acrylic block and it turned out much better. I was using Stazon ink which was part of the problem. It’s so fussy, but it truly stays on and doesn’t smear, even when liquid substances are spread over it. It’s good enough for the second page and I’m going to leave it as is.

I used Stazon to stamp ink blotting circles. I didn’t want to use dye-based stamping pads for these because the fountain pen ink and the stamp ink might bleed together. The circles did okay, but the lines weren’t coming out, and I switched from Stazon to regular dye-based stamp pads. It worked so much better that I’m going to use it for the rest of the book (I’ve only stamped about 22 pages so far. I’ll complete more as I go).

For the first swatch, I used a sample of Sailor Manyo Haha (I bought the sample size instead of the full bottle, they were sold out. I’m glad I did because it’s too pale for writing letters, although it’s a beautiful blue). The ink was sucked into the paper like a sponge. This was the only ink that did this. The rest of the swatches took a bit to dry. The second Ink I used was Diamine Inkvent Winter Spice and it’s currently my favourite of all my ink colours. I love the brown with shades of deep dark blue and shimmer I love the way the colours change in the light.

The second page was shimmering superstars. The top one is Robert Oster Rose Gold Antiqua and the Second is Robert Oster Terra Australis. Both are heavy on the shimmer. I usedglass-dippedped pen to swatch the writing for these two. If I’m swatching more than one ink the nibs are too much of a pain in the butt to clean in between. The glass dip pens are so much easier. I really should take the time and clean the pen, as fountain pens are my preferred writing implement. The glass-dipped pens write more saturated and I’m not going to get a true version of the colour.

I love this book. I’m going to carry it around flipping through it often. Obsessively. I have so many more inks to swatch.

Lobster Shorts books, Food, happy mail, vegetarian, weight loss

Cookbook Haul!

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I went on a tear at bookoutlet.ca shopping for cookbooks. I love this store. I heard about it from Shannon’s Bookish Musings on YouTube. It’s a lovely store that sells books at discounted prices. I’ve ordered from there several times and each time the shipping was fast and the books in perfect condition. I love it.

This time it was a cookbook spree (I keep hoping From A Buick 8 by Stephen King, will pop up in there one day. I lost my copy in a move and I want to read it again. Stephen King is one of those authors I love to reread. What happened to that book??). Anyway, cookbooks. It was all about cookbooks. I’m not sure where that came from, I don’t buy them super often.

I’m not sure what exactly I was looking for, mostly quick and easy by the looks of it (and clearly cheesecake too. I love cheesecake). I’ve gotten back into bad habits of not cooking and getting takeout all the time. The new rescue dog is home from Turkey now and we’ve been focusing all our time and energy on the dogs. This is probably going to continue until we get our routines established and puppers has settled a little more. I’m feeling a little shell shocked (probably not as much as the dog!). I need to start cooking. For awhile I was making really fantastic, healthy breakfasts. That stopped after the second dog came home. I don’t recall cooking at all except once in the last week. All takeout! It’s terrible..

Something I’m really guilty for when buying cookbooks, is spending hours browsing through them… and then never making anything. What IS that all about? A lot of these cookbooks are hopefully going to check all the boxes, quick and light on dishes. I’ve got a recipe picked out for the sauce recipe book, tonight. I was going to chuck some veggies into the airfryer, add some pumpkin seeds and soba noodles and the top it with one of the sauce recipes. That sounds pretty easy.

This last recipe book Speedy Bosh, has fantastic sounding recipes. I hope they are as quick as it implies. I’m looking forward to trying them (possibly the cheesecake book will come in handy this weekend). I’ll post an unboxing video below, if you are into that sort of thing

Lobster Shorts books, card making, crafting

Cards,Books, and Gaming

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I made a couple more cards this weekend. My favourite is the one on the left (the little frenchie dog). I’m sending that one to my future inlaws for a Valentine’s card. They have a little frenchie and it looks so similar to the one on the card. I bought the stamp for this reason and I love how great it worked. It was another of my Aliexpress purchases. The one of the right was made with cutting dies, also from Aliexpress.

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I finished a book I really liked, by Samantha Irby (I wanted to hear more about pooping in a blizzard). I enjoyed reading her work and want to read her other books, she’s a funny lady.

I got an old playstation on the classified adds and I’ve been binge playing it off and on since the holidays. I ended up buying three consoles. The first two I bought from a gaming store and had to return them twice. Both consoles didn’t work! The shop owner refunded me and I got one through the classifieds. This one worked (YAY)!

I’ve been playing Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance. I want to get my hands on Dark Alliance II, it’s my favourite game and I can’t find it anywhere (unless I want it for $80 or more which I might actually pay one day, but not right now) and Scooby Doo Night of 1000 Frights. Now that I’m old (haha) I get nauseous if I play games too long and my butt gets numb. I’m sitting on a Bosu Ball while I play. If you don’t know what that is, it’s exercise equipment. I’m sitting on my butt playing video games on exercise equipment. I realize how laughable that is. It’s been fun.

Lobster Shorts books, card making, crafting, happy mail

New Hobbies, Books, and Hair Care

The end of the week found me at the mall, shopping for a birthday present. I went to Indigo (I still want to call it Chapters) and saw this book that sounds hilarious. I’m looking forward to reading it. I can’t go to a bookstore and leave without a book.

As for what’s in the Sephora bag, I got some hair care products.

I tried using cornstarch for dry shampoo, but it just doesn’t work very well. It does help, but left white powder in my hair, even through the next day. So, I’m giving real dry shampoo a try.

I tried the hair scrubby thing this morning and I loved it! I have a problem with shampoos building up on my hair and collecting on my scalp (I also found out your not supposed to use a handful of shampoo, you’re only supposed to use two dime sized amounts. I tried it, it’s true, that small amount of shampoo will clean your hair. I was basically doing everything you’re not supposed to, insert video here). This scrubby felt amazing, my scalp felt better, and it did feel like it helped with residue. I think with time, I will love it even more. It had great reviews on Sephora. I must have seen it advertised somewhere, like a lot of other people, because the salesperson at Sephora said it was super popular lately. I don’t even know how I was brainwashed into buying it, I don’t remember where I saw it advertised, but I like it.

Also at the mall, I got shampoo and conditioner from LUSH, to try. I haven’t tried many of their products. These are tiny bottles and they were really expensive for the size. Maybe I’ll love them and since I don’t use a handful of shampoo anymore, it will last a long time (I still use a handful of conditioner).

The box with Paper Pumpkin on it, is a card making subscription box. I haven’t opened it yet. I’m always really excited these kits and happy when it’s delivered.

I’m about to take on a new hobby, or really pick up an old one I haven’t done in a long time.

Making soap! I used to really like it. This kit is the melt and pour glycerin based soap, that I got at Michaels. With this style youbasically melt ready made soap in the microwave and add fragrance and colourants to it. I used to make the oil and lye style soap, and I will be again. I’m waiting for a loaf mold and soap cutter to come (it’s going to take a long time to arrive). I’ll also need a stick blender, which I am positive will be easily found at the thrift shop. I got this kit to play with until my loaf mold comes in. It also takes over a month for lye soap to cure, before you are able to use it. I’ll be using natural colourants, like turmeric and beet root powder, when I make my own, and scenting them with essential oils. I’m so excited!

I also want to learn to sew, all because of this video. what a beautiful dress! But I don’t have that much time to add another hobby at the moment, and that would be taking on too much on top of all my other much loved hobbies. One day though. How amazing would it be to make your own clothes!

Lobster Shorts books, Food

Kitchen Gadgets, Books, and Breakfast

It’s been a great weekend so far. It started with breakfast at a café with the puppy, apple picking, soon I’ll be visiting family, and I’ve started a new book ( I do love Stephen King).

Our beautiful step daughter, gifted Jay this fun kitchen gadget.

It’s a mini pie maker! As we have a monster sized bag of apples, we decided to make an apple pie. I used a premade vegetarian pie crust, waited until it was at room temperature, and then rolled it, and cut out the pie crust shapes.

The filling was made with grated apple, cinnamon and sugar, with a little cornstarch to thicken it up.

The recipe was designed to be fast and easy. The pie was then topped with the remaining crust cut out, then baked.

It was baked for only 5 minutes. It was the fasted pie I’ve ever made.

It was good too. It reminded me of the pies you get at Mcdonald’s and Harveys. I will probably make a different apple pie filling recipe for it, when I make it again. I’m really excited to try other fruit flavours. It was fast, easy, fun, and yummy. I will definitely be using this little gadget again.

Lobster Shorts books, crafting

I Made Ink!

I was passing time and went into Wordsworth Books, in Waterloo and saw this fascinating book, by Jason Logan.

I’ve tried a couple recipes in the book awhile back and decided to try some more. I made the recipe for yellow ink in the book using turmeric. It turned out really bright and pretty, but as I wanted it for writing letters, yellow was not the ideal colour. It didn’t stand out enough for people to read.

Using inspiration from the book, I decided to go rogue and try my own recipe with wine, cherries, and berries (all things I had at home). I added some salt and vinegar and boiled it down to make the colour darker. I also made sure to run it through a coffee filter a couple time.

It turned out really well! And even better I used it in a fountain pen without the pen clogging! I’m so happy with it. The ink didn’t pool everywhere, bleed through the paper, and it came out really consistently. It was really easy to work with.

The next day the colour had turned a dark blue-grey. I am hopeful it doesn’t fade over time. I’ve had so much fun. Yesterday I went out foraging, looking for things to make more ink with. I brought home sumac and lichen that I found (it was mentioned in the book as good sources of ink). I hope they turn out as great at the wine ink. I am curious if grass ran through a juicer will also get me great results (after all it does stain your clothes. Remember those grass stains a lot of us came home with as kids?).

I’m so happy I found this book. It’s gotten me outside and exploring nature, in different ways. I am so excited to keep experimenting. Go visit your local bookstore, you never know what fun and exciting adventure it will take you on.

Lobster Shorts books, card making, crafting

Book Mail, Cards, and Vacation

This came in the mail awhile ago, from a gracious friend and talented writer, Shannon (you can find more about her here). I finished the book I was currently reading (The Escapist, by Gabriel Filippe and it was SO GOOD) when she sent this one . I like to read every night before I go to bed. I usually only manage to read a couple pages before I get too sleepy, so it takes me a really long time to finish a book. I’ve never read this author before and I’m looking forward to it.

I made a couple cards while I was on vacation as well. I like the minimalist aspect of them. I only added sequins to the one because I got some ink smudges on it, otherwise I would have left it as is. I don’t care for the pink ink as much as I prefer the dark ink, for the Thank You sentiment.

As for my vacation, I went to a cottage on Lake Huron. It was on an island and the water was so clear and beautiful. One of the highlights of my vacation was snorkling. I saw lots of little bottom fish they told me were called gobis. They were really cute, but apparently invasive. They reminded me of mud skippers, but the lake bed was all rock. I saw lots of little shells, I think they were zebra mussels (also invasive). The company was lovely and the water was beautiful. I made it up to visit my folks as well. I’m always a little nervous to visit them during these difficult times, COVID is still a big threat here in Canada. There has been rain the last few days, so I’ve had some time to play with my newest craft supplies.

As for OMAD, I’ll be restarting that tomorrow. I had lost three pounds, but I’ve since gained it all back. I ate like a fiend during this vacation.

Lobster Shorts books, happy mail, weight loss

OMAD and Mail, August 17/2020

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.

One of my current reads is David Sinclair’s book about longevity. My spouse and I are reading it together, we’re about 1/3 of the way through and it’s not a quick read. There’s a lot of “sciencey” stuff to wade through.

One of the things this book recommends for longevity, is fasting and calorie restriction (without malnutrition). I’m carrying extra weight I’m having trouble getting rid of. I tried intermittent fasting before (the fancy way of saying your skipping breakfast), but I didn’t lose any weight. I think I made up for the missed breakfast at lunch and dinner. I’m trying something similar OMAD (eat one meal a day).

Today was my first day and it wasn’t too bad. I skipped breakfast and lunch. I had a banana on the way home (around 6pm) and a couple cookies as soon as I got home (I know super healthy). I had a veggie burger and more cookies. Then a couple more cookies (cann’t imagine where this extra weight came from). Maybe I didn’t have the best first day with the horrendous amount of cookies I ate. I’ll eat healthier tomorrow. I plan to stick with OMAD on weekdays and eat however I feel on weekends.

I got this package in the mail today.

It had this pen with different sized nibs.

To switch the nibs you yank out the current nib and put a new one on, then shove it back in then again. I haven’t tried it yet to see if it works properly yet. I think the wider nibs will work better with shimmery inks.