My Minecraft Home

Hello Lovies!

Most of the day yesterday, and a lot of today I have been on Minecraft working on my home. When I first spawned, it was right next to a jungle temple, so I just made a door and used that as my home. I took out the traps and made a mine, I set up a bed and chests. 

The other day I decided to finally make it look more like a home. I started a base beside it trying to figure out how I was going to incorporate the temple, after all it was full of chests and had my mine entrance, I didn't want to destroy it and move everything. I figured, first I would finish what I was doing so I laid out the base and slowly worked up, going out and gathering more sand for glass and more clay for brick, and more wood when I needed to. Soon the house was completed but the temple, made of cobblestone stood out and did not look very nice beside it. I started putting wood here and there, changing the steps to brick and adding glass and before I knew it, the temple had become a new part of the house.

 I took the picture above and just loved the house but I wanted more to it, I wanted maybe a flower garden and a pond. Perhaps I could build a bridge. What I did notice was that the animals in the front with the farm just took away from the house. So carefully i moved the farm and the animals to the back, making a new home for them there with better pens. I happened to have some dandelions on me, as they grow everywhere in the jungle, and so i made some yellow dye and dyed a sheep yellow, capturing a black sheep as well and bringing it in.

In the achievements, there is one that rewards you if you collect all 16 colors of wool. I decided that sounded like fun, but I would figure that out later. I walked to the front and started digging down to make a pond, with a granite edging as a path. It took me many many tries to get the bridge right, but once I did it just looked magical, only problem was I really wanted lily pads in the pond but they are found in swampy waters, not a jungle. I had another problem, the only flowers in the jungle were stupid little dandelions, I hadn't seen any actual flowers. So I gather up my compass, clear up my inventory and started walking away from home. I walked a very long time, out of the jungle, through a pine forest, back through a jungle and then I saw it, a huge field of wild flowers. It had flowers of every color and kind imaginable! I was so excited i instantly started collecting a full stack of 64 each.  I looked around but could not find any lily pads though, so I turned around with my flowers and followed my compass back home, stopping to take wool from grey sheep, where I planted the flowers around my pond and in the back.

Something was still missing, a fence around the property to protect it from the monsters if I am out of peaceful mode. I decided on cobble stone and slowly set it around the entire perimeter. I put it around the house side of the pens, leaving a path. In some parts i had to dig away from the hill, but I got it done and after grabbing some iron and making some metal fencing, I put it around the cobble and made a lovely gate for my home. Now, flowers are the main ingredients for many of the dyes, so gather up some wheat for the sheep and making as much dye as i could, also using some lapis for blue, I started making the sheep mate and changing their colors, taking their wool when they were full grown. I took a picture of all the naked sheepies because it made me giggle.

 Their wool soon grew back and I added more and more colors until I hit a problem. I could easily do brown from cocoa beans since they were everywhere here, but the only way i could get green [and there for lime green and cyan]  was with cactus. Cactus grows in a desert and I had yet to find one. But I had to try. So I set out in a different direction and walked. I found another field of flowers, passed a pack of wolves and alot of bunnies. I even made a boat and set sail untill I finally found a desert. Happily I gathered up as much cactus as I could and returned.

On my way back I tamed a horse and now that I had bones ( taken from a desert temple) I could tame the wolves. 2 were tamed, the third didn't before I ran out of bones. So taking my 2 dogs I went home and worked till I had ever color of sheep imaginable except for the grey.

The reason i never made a grey sheep was that you need an ink sack to make black and grey. So, i just gathered the wool for the achievement instead. There wasn't a lot of room in my sheepies home, so i expanded it for them. The dummies however love to converge in one tiny spot.

The Important thing was, I got the achievement and all of the different colors of wool. I was very proud of myself. Not only did I have a rainbow of sheep, but I also had the achievment and my home looked amazing.

Now, while I was on my long cactus journey I found little patches of swamp and guess what was in the water? Lily pads! I gathered up tons of it and once home I instantly put it out on my pond. Lastly I planted some reeds in sand around the pond and I was finally done with my home. The inside I put flowers and dug a basement for my brewing stand and all my potions.

 
Walking around my home, making sure everything was as I wanted I put the dogs outside. They have a nasty habit of jumping up on the fencing and trying to go into the fire place. The cat is good so far, it loves to just sit around.

The cat I got from taming an ocelot I found wandering around. Ocelots are harder to tame then wolves. Wolves you just give a bone to till they are happy. Ocelots you have to have fresh fish and you cannot walk up to them. Holding the fish in your hand you have to wait for them to decide to come to you before you can feed it to them till they are happy. Then the ocelot transforms into a house cat. Mine became a tuxedo which reminded me of the first cat I ever owned, Princess, who died at 20 years of age. The red and yellow cube in the picture is glow stone I gathered from the nether. It is brighter then a torch so I used that to light the inside of my home. You need plenty of light, because in the darkness any kind of nasty can spawn.

Finally though my house was completed and it looks so fabulous. I have a picture of the front and the back so you can see my handiwork. I don't think it looks that bad for someone just going off random ideas. The squarish part of the house on the right is what used to be the jungle temple. The left is the home I built from the ground up.

 In the last picture you can see the back of my house, with all my farm and animals. I have pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens. On my cactus journey I found a village and gathered up some potatoes I have planted in my farm. The only thing I am missing now is carrots.

 I am super excited about my home. I hope you enjoy it to. I found that when life sucks and is hard to deal with creative tasks like mine craft are soothing to me. They are a form of active meditation for me. Active meditation is a task that takes up all your concentration. A task, such as drawing or knitting, or things like that that your mind shuts off to focus on. It's meditating without the stillness. Life is hard for me right now. The cardiologist is doing tests but does not think they will find anything and I am loosing hope. This is something I could do and enjoy while forgetting the world for a little while.

For anyone wondering I am using the Windows 10 version of Minecraft, and I have the Fantasy Texture added to it.

Goodnight Lovies!

J. K. Van'Ellessad

Beaded Cross Choker

This morning i followed a video on how to make this beaded cross. it uses size 12 seed beads and small pearl beads. The YouTube video is not in English however, so English speakers will have to just follow what she does. it is a very simple pattern, first you make 6 squares or motifs and then sew them together

Once I had it done, I grabbed 2 small jump rings, and 1 large jump ring. I inserted the 2 smaller jump rings on either side of the top of the beaded cross. Next I took the large jump ring and put it through both small jump rings. Lastly I put a pinch bail ( which i bought from Craft Fantastic)  and slid it onto the large jump ring.

The band which it is hanging off of in the picture is an inkle woven band that my mother wove herself. I slid the pinch bail over the band and then we tied 2 slip knots to make it adjustable. It easily slides to the largest size to slid over my head and then I can adjust it to be as small as I want, for instance a choker displayed in the last picture.  sometime soon I will be posting on how to make a bracelet on a Ricks Beading Loom.

Writing: Show vs. Tell

Hello lovies!

I am back again, this time I wanted to give you some examples of what I've mean on showing a story verses just telling a story. Lets start off with a simple setting.

• A cold jungle Night.

Tell:

The easiest way to just tell it is to leave it at that. "it was a gold jungle night..." Otherwise person you could tell it like this:

• A soft breeze gentle danced though the air, rustling the large leaves bringing the cool temperatures of night. Up above the canopy of trees, the large violet moon Eles and Its small companion Inah, rose into the sky showering the world in a soft moonlight. 

That was a little  better of course, but still this is mostly telling. I'm not showing you the scene I'm telling you. Its cold. The leaves are big. It wasn't bad, but if we pull back just a little more we can show the reader the scene.

Show:

The sun is falling. 

Brilliant colors sing a lullaby as the grand light of day fades below the horizon, temporarily cascading the world in darkness. when the light fades, the beauty of the night comes alive. Countless stars seemingly blink into existence as colors streak a crossed the once dark sky. The violet sphere of Eles peeks over the horizon to soon dominate the night, followed closely by the small, blue, Inah. The violet and blue companions cast the land in their soft moonlight, forever the silent guardians of our dreams. The moons of Narsayes let out a sigh upon the land. The wind, nothing more then a gentle caress, sweeps through the jungle canopy. 

Leaves, some larger then a man, rustle under the caress welcoming in the cool temperatures of the night. Many creatures, both big and small, sleep yet even in the night the jungle is filled with bustling life.

Can you see how instead of just saying it was night, and just saying it was cold, just saying the leaves were big I showed the reader instead.  Of course you have to be careful to not have to much description or the readers get bored. You should find the right balance. A good way to do this is to not just describe everything in one huge block. Break it up throughout the scene, showing details when they are necessary.

I hope this was helpful!

Take care!

J. K. Van'Ellessad

Recent Projects and Book Reviews: The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir and A Monster Calls

Hello lovies!

First let me show you what I've made recently with Craft Fantastic products! I used a heart base and glass that I got as a gift from my last order and an image i loved of part of a map. I used them to make a heart necklace. I have a fondness for maps, in fact I make my own maps for my fictional world which I keep in a sketchbook. If you look close enough you can see the N which of course stands for North. The North star has always been a point of great interest. It will always guide you. And in my necklace it says to me you will always be my north star.

The second necklace i made took a bit more time. The image isn't one I bought from Craft Fantastic. Instead, I got an image I liked and worked in word to get it exactly 1 in by 1 in. I then filled the page with the 1 inch images and printed them out. Then I followed the steps of putting glue on the glass, putting the glass to the image and pressing down, using a q-tip to clean up excess clue and then cutting it out and sticking it in the base with the double stick dots. This is perfect for the Fourth of July, and with all the images I printed out I can make many many more. The great thing about Craft Fantastic jewelry is you don't have to use their images, you can print out and use your own!  ( they do not recommend not using thick photo paper)

As many in my area know, January means one thing ( besides my birthday). It is time for the Adult Reading Program for our local library district. I look forward to this every year. I was very sad when I turned to old to participate in the teen reading program. But we have an adult one so it makes it alright. I started reading a book today for the reading program that I had checked out awhile ago and hadn't gotten down to.  The book is: The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir by Susan Daitch.

The premise and idea of this book is an interesting one. A civilization long lost. Most of the archaeologist community doesn't even believe it exists but everyone who goes looking for it ends up imprisoned or dead. The narrator finds the city accidently but before they can finish excavating it, war interrupts and they are forced to flee the country with stolen artifacts.

The book itself, however, is not well written. It uses the right grammar, the right language, the right words but that is all that it has going for it. The story is flat. The dialogue is almost non-existent. I have read first-person books before, and if done right you can have a wonderful story. In this, the narrator mostly just tells you what the conversation was about. You learn the narrator had a wife, and her name was Ruth. But you could not care less about Ruth or the others in the story. You don't feel for the narrator, you don't feel for this characters. You don't hate the villains, cry for the victims, root for the hero...

You feel nothing. Writers are always being told, "Show don't Tell" This book is a prime example of someone simply telling a story and not showing. It does not make you want to stay and read it. It does not make you want to care for the characters at all. Its simply as plain as a textbook.

After such a let down and the mental effort it took to finish such a poorly written novel, I decided to ready something else today as well. I chose A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. In the introduction, he states how the story began as an idea from Siobhan Dowd. Before she could write the book, however, she died leaving just the idea, the characters, and a beginning. Patrick stated he felt it would be wrong to try and mimic her voice, so he rather focused on telling a story he thought she would have liked to read.

A Monster Calls is truly an amazing story. I bought the collectors edition from my local Costco.  The had drawn images throughout are truly amazing an where The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir failed, this book succeeds. You come to care for Conor so much. I guarantee this book will leave you sobbing. You follow the story of Conor, quickly realizing his mother is suffering from some kind of cancer though they never actually say. The monster comes each time to tell him a story. 3 to be exact. The monster claiming the 4th Conor will tell him. And if he does not tell his truths, then the monster says he will die.

Although short, the story doesn't lack at all in what it is telling. It pulls you in quickly and soon you are feeling what Conor is feeling and suffering.  I highly recommend this book to any and all! I could not put it down.  The collectors edition, besides the story, also includes the following:

* enlightening new essays by the author (who also wrote the screenplay)
* interviews with the director, cast, and crew 
* stills from the movie 
* exclusive behind-the-scenes content 
* previously unpublished early sketches by the illustrator, whose artwork inspires animated scenes in the film

Another point i should add, about why i loved the book so much is while the monster is telling his 3 tales. Each time Conor acts like a normal human being and boy. He makes remakes and questions what the monster says and the monster reacts. All of this is in the book and makes it more like a real story.  You truly do care for Conor in the end. 

That is all for today lovies. Have a great evening!

J.K. Van'Ellessad

Back Again!

I am back again!

Please forgive me for my absence, I have been going through a lot lately. I have become ill again, like when I was younger. I started passing out and eventually the center I worked at put me on unpaid medical leave and now my 12 weeks are up and I am unemployed until the doctors can figure out what is wrong with me.

I have been trying to figure out what to do since all that I have worked for is pretty much gone at this point and so I have been doing a few things. I recently got into beading. I have an Indian beading loom, a Ricks beading loom, and a Wrap-it Loom.  I even started doing some netting and beading with just needles and string. Throughout this post I will post pictures of everything I have been working on lately.

At the moment I am trying to decide if there is a way I can mix beading and the type of jewelry done by Craft Fantastic. I met them a year ago while attending Yarn Fest and fell in love with the jewelry! Thankfully at the time I had money to spend on supplies, now i find myself without money struggling to figure out how to make jewelry and things i love, without any money to buy the supplies. It is hard to create when you have no assets..
I am keeping my head up though. I will find a way to do the things I love to do. In the lyrics of my theme song from Spamalot:

I am not dead yet
I can dance and I can sing
I am not dead yet
I can do the Highland Fling
I am not dead yet
No need to go to bed
No need to call the doctor
Cause I'm not yet dead.

I have been singing this song for the past few months now. I am not dead yet.

I am alive, and that will have to be enough. I worked hard to get my AAS in Early Childhood Education and if now that time is over, then I will find something new to learn, something new to create and express myself, even though every single day I will miss seeing those little children every day.

To the left is a bracelet I made using the charms and items from Craft Fantastic. The only thing I did not get from them was the jump rings and clasp. Isn't it just gorgeous? I originally took the photo for Facebook and I am going to start working on making more professional photos that don't look so bad. I highly recommend Craft fantastic's products. They are truly amazing and it is all so amazingly easy to make.

The other photo is a necklace I made that I and many others adore! I love the sheet music image  in it. And as I said before so simply and easy to make, not to mention quick!