Quote of the Day Challenge Day Three

Here's my third and final quote for the Quote of the Day challenge. :)

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

                                                                               ~Frodo and Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

I love this reminder from J.R.R. Tolkien that while I may not be able to control what happens in the world around me, I can always choose how to act in the midst of the challenges I face. :)

Thanks for tagging me for this challenge, Treesa! :)

Quote of the Day Challenge Day Two

Today's quote is from the 2015 live action version of Disney's Cinderella:

"I want to tell you a secret, a great secret that will see you through all the trials that life can offer. You must always remember this: have courage and be kind."

                                                                                                      ~Ella's Mother, Cinderella

As a mother of young girls, I so appreciated the beautiful message of this movie. :)

Again, if you're reading this and feel like taking the three day Quote of the Day Challenge, consider yourself tagged! :)

Quote of the Day Challenge Day One

I completely forgot I was tagged in the "Quote of the Day" challenge by Treesa. :}

Here's my quote for day one:

"I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."

                                                                                                      ~Aslan, The Horse and His Boy

While this is kind of an unconventional quote, it's from one of my very favorite parts of The Horse and His Boy, when Aslan introduces himself to Shasta, the main character, and gives him the Narnian version of "Footprints in the Sand." After Shasta shares all of the hard things that have happened to him on his journey, Aslan reveals his hand, or "paw," in each part of the supposedly negative things that happened. :) It's such a great reminder to me of how God works in my life. :)

I'm supposed to tag three people, but I think I'm just going to leave this open to whoever feels like participating. (I know, I know, I keep cheating at this stuff. Sorry, guys.) ;)

Fan Art Friday

We've been super busy over the past few months, but the girls and I have managed a few art days. :) I thought it was about time I shared my first "Fan Art Friday" post here on the blog. :) I also thought it would be fun to share a little more about the materials I use for my art, so throughout the post, I've included links to my art supplies on Amazon.com. (These are not affiliated links.)

My first project was a sketch of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This episode (the two-parter at the end of Season 2) remains one of my favorites in the series. I thought it would be fun to try and capture them in ink and marker. :)

I started with a printed photo from the computer and sketched out the basic outline.

The picture...

...and the sketch. 

After I'd drawn it in pencil, I outlined everything with one of my "Pigma Sensei" art pens. (THIS is the set I use.)

Once I had the outline complete, I erased all of the pencil. (THIS is my favorite brand of eraser.) :)

Time for some color! As you can see from the picture, I switched to an image on my cell phone to get the colors as accurate as possible. My favorite markers (featured in the picture) are my Pentel Color Pens, a set of thirty-six. I've been using this brand of markers since I was about five years old, and they're still one of my favorite types of marker to use. :)

I also got a fantastic set of Sharpies from my mom and dad a couple of Christmases ago, which gave me a few more color options. :) (THIS was the closest I could find to the set I got.) ;)

I like arranging them in color families: 

Here are Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, all colored in.  

Because I didn't have a light enough pink for Princess Cadance, I used colored pencils for her body. The rest was done in marker, though.

(THESE are my favorite colored pencils, a gift from one of my Japanese exchanged students when I was a child. I also really like Prismacolor colored pencils. I have a set of forty-eight soft lead pencils that were a gift from a friend and art mentor.) :) 

So, overall, I'm pretty pleased with how these two turned out. I like Shining Armor better than Cadance. I ended up making her head a bit too wide, and her horn a bit too long, partially because I drew her a bit too far away from Shining Armor. I messed her mane up a bit, too. But for my first attempt, it's not too bad. ;)

I decided to play around with some colors and effects on Ribbet.com: 

Another project I tackled was a sketch of the Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I used to draw the Beast all the time when I was younger, and I wanted to see if I could pull off another sketch of him now that I'm older. :)

This is the print out I chose to use from the computer. I love how expressive his face is in this picture.

I started with a very basic outline... 

...then slowly started to fill it in. 

I have to say, drawing this guy again was like revisiting an old friend. My pencil knew exactly where to go. I still had the pattern of his fur, his eyebrows, and even the design of his goatee memorized. :)

I was pleased with him overall, but I decided I wanted to bring his right eyebrow (on the left of the page) down just a little more.

A comparison of my drawing and the original. As you can see, I messed up the angle of the head a bit.

Here he is with the adjusted eyebrow. The difference is slight, but the result is much better. And he doesn't look so bad when he's not next to the original picture. ;)

Time to fill in some details!

This time around, I decided to do a pencil sketch instead of a colored picture. It was fun figuring out the light and shadow needed to bring the Beast to life. 

All done!

And a couple from Ribbet (I cropped the photo and played with the lighting a bit):

I also had a few abandoned fan art sketches this past month.

I've been wanting to try to draw some of the characters from the live action version of Disney's Cinderella. 

This is a far as I got on this one. (Kit's face is all wrong!) 

And this is as far as I got on a portrait of Prince Kit before giving up. Maybe I'll attempt him again another time. ;)

In preparation for Mount Hermon, I worked on a sketch of concept art for some of the characters from my second book.

The initial sketch...

...and the beginnings of the ink outline.

I wasn't completely happy with how the outline turned out. But it wasn't a total loss. All I had to do was re-draw the parts I didn't like, outline and color them separately, and then attach them with acid free photo splits:

The final product...almost. The parts I redid? The redhead's head, the child's head, and both cloaked figures. :) Later, I went into Ribbet.com and blurred out some of the paper lines.

Back in high school, I developed my own set of cartoon characters, which I used to make cards and artwork for friends and family. I haven't shared them online until now, but thought it was time to play around with them again.

Here's a pen and ink sketch of a cartoon family. 

A closer look at the human characters.

And a slightly blurry rendition of them in marker. ;) I kind of wish I hadn't done the freckles, especially on the mom. It's really hard to do freckles in marker without them bleeding into the rest of the marker. :( 

Now, on to some fan art from the girls. :)

Zootopia was a big hit in our house, as you know from our movie review. Little Gal did pictures of Nick and Judy:

Nick was traced from a printed picture.

Judy was drawn freehand.

Here's Middle Gal's version of Judy, drawn freehand.

Oldest Gal didn't do as much artwork as the rest of us, but here's her sketch of Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Little Gal and Middle Gal were in major drawing mode these past few months. ;) Here are some of their favorite creations:

Lizzy and Mr. Darcy from the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, drawn by Middle Gal.

Jane and Mr. Bingley from the same movie, drawn by Little Gal.

A picture of a horse jumping across a stream, drawn for me by Little Gal. :)

A pretty lady, drawn by Little Gal.

A sad girl, drawn by Middle Gal. :)

I hope you enjoyed this look at our artistic endeavors from the past few months. :) Have a wonderful day, and happy drawing to you all.

Have some fan art or just regular artwork of your own to share? Leave a link in the comments below. We'd love to see it! :)

All links to products on Amazon.com are NOT affiliated links. Opinions expressed about art products are my own. :)

Shopkins Shoppies Donatina's Donut Delights Review

One of my most exciting toy purchases from this last month was the Donatina's Donut Delights playset from Moose Toys. Donatina is one of the dolls in the Shoppie line, which ties into the popular collectible Shopkins toys.

My daughters got the three original Shoppies (Jessicake, Bubbleisha, and Popette), which we reviewed on the blog HERE and on YouTube HERE. While I thought those three Shoppies were super fun, I wasn't interested in getting one of them for my collection.

However, when I first saw stock photos of Donatina, I fell in love. ;) She appealed to me in a way that the other Shoppies didn't, as cute as they were.

Donatina's photo showed up on the Toys R Us website months ago, but it wasn't until early March that she finally became available to purchase. I ordered her online (with free shipping...yay!), and she was waiting for me when I got back from Mount Hermon. :)

Here she is in her bright, colorful packaging. As you can see, she comes with a donut cart and all sorts of accessories.

Donatina herself

Donatina's donut cart 

Package details:

The sides of the packaging:

The back of the packaging. I love the artwork. :)

More package details from the back: 

Everything was attached to the clear plastic insert, but was fairly easy to take out. 

My Shoppies credit card.

When I first got this yellow package out, I wondered if there was some sort of surprise Shopkin or something...

...but it was just her stand. :)  

Here's everything that comes with this playset. The pieces include Donatina, her donut cart, a donut purse, a donut brush, a donut box, two regular-sized donut Shopkins, and four exclusive mini donut Shopkins.

Let's take a look at adorable Donatina first. :)

Here she is from the front...

...and the back.

Her headband is plastic, attached to her head with yellow thread, and features donuts and a little pink and white food service hat.

Her hair is twisted into two almost buns at the back of her head.

She has big brown eyes and a sweet expression.

Her dress is soft plastic at the bodice and upper skirt, and cloth at the lower part of the skirt. I like her cute donut "buttons."

Her outfit from the back.

Donatina's purse is a pink donut, and the strap is made up of tiny pink donuts.

She even has a donut bracelet. 

Donatina has pink molded underwear, adorable lacy socks, and pink shoes. 

Like the rest of her clothing and accessories, her shoes also have donut motifs. And just like the other Shoppies dolls, there is a hole in one of her shoes that allows her to attach to the peg on her clear stand.

Also like her fellow Shoppies, Donatina's skirt and shoes are removable (and her headband, if you cut the thread). The rest of her clothing is not. 

Let's take a look at the rest of her accessories.

Here is her blue plastic donut brush.

The two full-sized Shopkins donuts are "Rolly Donut" and "Daisy Donut," according to the packaging.

Here are the four adorable mini Shopkins donuts, who did not come with names.

They fit perfectly in the pink donut box. (The lid does not close, just in case anyone is curious about that.)

The donut box fits perfectly on the biggest shelf of Donatina's donut cart.

And speaking of the cart, here it is: 

Side one

Side two

The little donuts at the bottom are wheels, so you can push the handle at the other side and wheel the cart away. :)

Here's a look from the other side.

A closer look at the sign at the top...

...and at the shelving.

So, I'm not going to do my typical full review for Donatina since we've already done a Shoppies review in the past. My feelings about the Shoppies are the same. (They're adorable and recommended by all of us here at the Never Grow Up house.) :)

Her cart is cute, and while it is made with thin plastic, it feels like it will hold up nicely to normal play. Mothers of younger Shoppies collectors might want to watch them with the thin donut wheels. I could see those perhaps snapping if playtime got a little too rough. The box recommends this set for ages three and up, which I think is a fair assessment. I might bump the age to four and up, personally, depending on how careful your three-year-old is.

This playset is priced at $24.99. While I personally would have preferred it if Donatina came by herself so I didn't have to pay the extra, I liked her enough that I didn't mind paying more to have her. And considering that individual Shoppies range from $14.99 to $16.99, it's not all that much more than you would pay for the others. For the extra $8-$10, you get the cart, the donut box, and the four mini donuts.

Overall, Donatina's Donut Delights is a "delightful" playset that should provide hours of fun and play for kiddos and collectors alike. :)

You can get your own set at Toysrus.com HERE.

To get more information about Shoppies or Shopkins, you can check out the following links:

Moose Toys' Shopkins Website

Shopkins Facebook Page

Shopkins Twitter

All opinions and views expressed are my own. This post was NOT sponsored by Shopkins or Moose Toys. I'm just a fan sharing my thoughts. ;)