2016 In Review

2016 is ticking down to usher in 2017. I took a couple thousand or so pictures so here are some of my favorite pictures from the past year. 

Now to books. 

This was the last book of 2016. The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff. 

Last year I read 100 new books. This year I managed to hit 55. Even though I didn't hit as many as last year, I still read some great books. So out of the 55, here are the best ones. 

Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. 

This is a new adult fantasy series with a strong female protagonist (she's a talented assassin with a taste for the finer things in life. I really enjoyed these and can't wait for the next one. 

Next up is It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. 

I was still on the cruise when it came out and the second I got home I went to buy it. I wasn't disappointed. It's a contemporary hard issues new adult book that stayed with me long after I read the last page. The author's note at the end made the novel even more real. 

My last favorite book of 2016 was also by Sarah J. Maas. It's A Court of Thorns and Roses series. 

It's another aew adult fantasy set in a really cool world. When Feyre goes hunting to try to feed her family, she kills a wolf. Not long after a creature comes to demand retribution and Feyre is sucked into the world of the Fae. I loved the characters in this and again, Maas created a strong female protagonist. 

How was 2016 for you? Do you have anything that you're happy about accomplishing? Read any good books?

Tiny Tack

When I first started this saddle I was nervous about not getting enough detail into it. After the tree came out as planned, the next step was resizing my pattern using a scanner. Then came tooling, dying, cutting and assembling. When it was a pile of pieces it wasn't nearly as interesting. Now that I've been putting it together, I'm happy to say that even in doing this smaller scale I didn't have to sacrifice any detail. 

Good Day

Today was a great day.
I made progress on a pebble scale western working set. The tricky part to this was making the tree and making sure it wasn't too bulky.

I also went riding and rode Andrew the quirky Thoroughbred. I even convinced my mom to come along. Horses and her name rarely end up in the same sentence so her tagging along was nice.

RLB Art Box Studio

Art is a funny thing in trying to decide what works here and there. Anymore, I work 99% of the time on model horse related projects. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I do want to try to incorporate 2D stuff into my artsy life again.

Hence where this comes in.

I received the December project of RLB Art Box Studio in return for an honest review. The RLB Art Box Studio is located in my home state of PA and ships worldwide. It costs twenty-five dollars per month with discounts, such as free shipping, for longer subscriptions. Everything came wrapped in green tissue paper!

It's an art box for all art experiences with instructions detailed enough for the newest artist to excel. It even included the amount of time it'd take to complete the project. The December project was an Ornamental Illustration.

What came: Compass, Sharpie Marker, Eraser, Bristol Paper, Pencil Sharpener, Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, a reference image, and physical instructions

Each month an artist is highlighted. This month's artist included a coloring page!

The project consisted of using the compass to make circular Christmas ornaments on Bristol board and coloring them in before outlining with the Sharpie. Along with instructions and pictures of each step, the website had a how-to video to really solidify what the artist is supposed to do if he or she didn't pick it up from the instructions. I really liked the green used in the video and in pictures but wished it was the same color included.

The project was quick and relaxing. It was nice to make something with no stringent rules for how the final is supposed to be. I was going to pull out some other colored pencils to use but decided to stick to the colors included in the box.

 The only art supply I used that wasn't included was turpentine to blend the colored pencils.

Overall, I was pleased with the box. RLB Art Box Studio is still finding its legs in the world of subscription boxes. The stand out part of the box is how thorough the directions are plus the viewable video.
With all that said, who would I recommend this to? Based on the December box, I would recommend this to anyone that wants to do an art project that isn't overly complicated and comes with the supplies needed. I would put this box to more of a novice/ beginner level than an artist who experiments often and knows exactly that he or she is looking to create. The included supplies were of quality brands. Each month features a different medium, so the supplies and techniques used differ.

If you're interested in subscribing here's where you can find RLB Art Box Studio:

Facebook

Instagram

Website

If you'd like to subscribe to the box, I was given a code that takes off 5$ to pass on! 

The Coupon Code is: SAVE5$

Thanks again for sending me a box to review Rachel!