Kpop Haul #3 and News - July 2019

This month has been a roller-coaster for EXO-Ls. We got a new sub-unit, we got a solo album, we lost another member to the military and we got a new concert. The concert I won’t be talking too much about because I’ve only seen bits of it (which I really enjoyed!). So let’s start. 

In the beginning of the month, D.O. went into the military. On the first of July he also dropped a solo song as a goodbye for his fans. It was beautiful and every time I listen to it I feel like he is patting me on the back and telling me that everything will be alright, part of the song says 괜찮아 which means That’s Okay and that is also the name of the song.

Take a listen to the beautiful song.

We also got some pretty pictures of the boys sending D.O. off including Lay, who was very busy prepping for his solo concert, but still found the time to come see him off. 

On July 10, City of Lights, Baekhyun’s solo Album dropped. I had already pre-ordered the Album (there are two versions) but of course I had to get the digital version too because I needed to hear that album NOW. As usual, Baekhyun did not disappoint. The album was AMAZING!! 

Here is the tracklist:

1. UN Village
2. Stay Up (ft. Beenzino)
3. Betcha
4. Ice Queen
5. Diamond
6. Psycho

My favorite favorite songs of the whole album are: 

UN Village: The sound, the MV, the moves! Just everything.

Betcha: This song is so dang catchy!

Now let us look at the physical albums:

The two versions are Day and Night. 

It came with a folded poster. 

A booklet. 

And a card. 

A book. 

All that is the Day Version. 

The Night Version.

A poster. 

A booklet. 

A card.

A book 

All that is the Night Version.

Another thing that happened this month is that a new sub-unit was formed in EXO. This sub-unit is made up of Sehun and Chanyeol. You know that the Maknae is on top when his name appears before his hyung on the name of the sub-unit which is EXO-SC. The album dropped on July 22, 2019 and there are three versions. One which has a picture of both of them on the cover (yellow) and one with Chanyeol's picture (green) and one with Sehun (red). I just realized that the three albums should be lined up in a certain order so I'll take a new photo and add that in so you can see.

The Tracklist is:

1. What a life
2. Just Us 2
3. Closer to you
4. Borderline
5. Roller coaster
6. Daydreamin'

I have not chosen a favorite yet because I love them all but here are the MVs for some of the songs.

What a life

Just Us 2

Closer to you

So starting with the Yellow version. Here is everything in the packet.

A folded poster with both Chanyeol and Sehun.

A Tag

A book that lays flat which is my favorite kind of book.

A CD

A postcard sized card.

A sticker.

A card, can you tell Sehun is the maknae?? Also a dork, but he is still our baby golden boy.

All that was in the yellow packet.

A folded poster of Sehun...Look at that beautiful boy!

A tag.

A book that lays flat.

A CD

A postcard sized card.

A card of Chanyeol, that giant baby knows how to take a picture ❤

A sticker.

And for some reason this version had two cards, not that I am complaining lol.

All that was in the red version.

A folded poster of Chanyeol, and like I said previously, our happy virus really knows how to take a photo.

A tag.

A book that lays flat.

A CD.

The cover of the book.

A sticker.

A card of Sehun. This reminds me of a picture that D.O. took for Universe if I am not mistaken...looks like Sehun already misses his hyung.

A postcard sized card.

All that is the green version.

I love how the Chanyeol version had a lot of Sehun in it while the Sehun version had a lot of Chanyeol in it. I wasn't happy with SM because I felt like they short changed the boys with the logo and the versions but then when I saw the actual copies and heard the songs I felt like the versions fit well with the concept the boys were going for.

And this is it for the July Haul.

Starting from the Beginning: Art

          I've been away from my art supplies and drawing for a long time mostly because I have Psoriartic Arthritis, which cased a deformity in my dominant hand. I can hold the pencil or brush but not for a long time and not in the way that I used to hold them before so now I'm relearning everything while working with that deformed hand. Doctors orders, because using the hand helps with physical therapy.  

          So now I am working my way slooooowly through a class in Udemy.com called How to Draw and Sketch for Absolute Beginners with an amazing instructor. Once I finish this class I'm going to do a perspective class and an anatomy class with the same instructor because I like his style. He starts slowly and builds on what you have already learned in the previous class but you must be willing to put in the work.

          Also on the watercolors front I realized that even with tracing elements from different reference pictures my "coloring" skills were pretty 2 dimensional and colors are not as great as I would like them to be.

Traceable from Art Sherpa on YouTube.

So now I am working my way through a book on called "Exploring Color Workshop". It starts from the basics of how to mix the primary colors to get secondary and tertiary colors. This is what I am looking for right now. To just have fun while I learn. 

This is my set up. Paper from SAA which I use for practice because it is cheap and at the same time one sheet can be cut into 2-4 depending on how big you want your work to be. A porcelain palette, which was actually a plate for samples. I have two of them and use either one or two depending on how many colors I am using or need to mix. I usually use Windsor & Cotman paints but I decided to go simple and use the Daniel Smith Starter pack which has 3 cool primary colors and 3 warm primary colors. Two cups of water, one to clean the brush and one for dipping or for adding water to mix the paints, a pipette to get water and a round brush.

I did the exercise in the book with both the warm primaries and the cool primaries and I loved playing with the paints. Here are the results.

The exercise in the book.

I did the cool colors first and then the warm colors. I found the warm colors harder to mix and keep getting muddy but I wasn’t really sure if that was from the paints or the water was too dirty by the end and that made my mixes muddy. I’ll probably redo these again before moving to the next exercise.

Repurposed notebook

My Leuchtturn 1917 journal is almost at its end. So I decided that July was going to be the last month in this journal. I didn't want half a month in one and then the other half in another.

The notebooks I backed on kickstarter I'm not sure when I'll get so I decided to re-purpose a notebook that I have and know I'm not going to use as intended. (*update: They actually arrived and I will be doing a post on them soon but since I had already decided to use this journal for the rest of the year I'm going to set them aside for next year.)

I don't do well with writing prompts and I honestly don't remember if I got this from a subscription box or if I bought it myself thinking to give it a try and failed at it. Anyway...it is getting a make over.

The first thing I did was cut the jacket and take out the slice that is the spine. Then I cut the pen that was on the jacked because I was sure I wanted to use it somehow.

I took the spine and using PVC glue, glued it to the exposed spine of the notebook. I stood it up between some books so that its weight will help the spine stick. I have a bookpress, but it is useless in this situation. I left it like that over night.

As you can see the spine and covers of the notebook are not perfect but that is okay since it will be covered anyway.

Next I'm going to decorate the covers. I'm going to use some decorated light paper and modpodge. 

This paper was covering some journal that I got as a gift or maybe in a subscription box, I can't remember now and I loved it so much I kept it. I’m going to use it to cover the notebook.

The first thing I did was measure out the paper and cut it to a little bit more than necessary (in case of accidents). 

Next I put a scrap piece of paper between the first page and the cover so that the modpodge doesn’t get on it. 

Then I applied the modpodge to one cover and the spine and stuck the paper on it. I’m going to wait for it to dry before I do the other side. 

Now both sides have modpodge on them and I already folded the edges of the back cover. This is when I realized that the cover needed reinforcement so I added a white sheet to the inside of the cover and then I decided I needed to line the edges so I used some washi tape. 

I’m not too concerned with it being neat because I like the messy look here. 

Now I’m going to start on the front cover.





The first thing I did was cut the corners and trim the extra long edges.

I decided not to use modpodge on the cover so I used a double sided tape to tape the edges down. Next I added a white page to strengthen the cover only for the double sided tape to finish on me and I didn’t have a spare one (I did this at work) so I ended up using modpodge to stick it down. 

Finally, I used washi tape on the edges (this looks neater than the back cover)  Now I’m just going to apply a final coat of modpodge to the cover before adding embellishments. 

I was going to add the pen to the spine of the notebook and add my stickers and decorations to the front and back covers. However, I loved the look of the covers so much I decided to add the pen to the front of the cover and leave the back alone. I was also going to add some ribbons as place holders and for a closure for the notebook but in the end decided against all that because I hated the place holders in my journal and I didn’t want to ruin the covers by cutting them to add the closure ribbons. Instead, I went looking for some paper clips that I’ve been saving for just such an occasion. 

I added stickers to the inside of the covers. For me they seem too empty, and being a KPOP junkie I added stickers that I made...

Some that came with the seasonal greetings from my favorite group...

Some that came with the album of one of my favorites...

And some that I bought online...

So this is the inside of the front cover...

This is the inside of the back cover...

And it is done my new journal is born. 

Back cover and inside back cover.

Front cover and inside front cover. 

All in all, it took me four days to work on this journal because I needed to give modpodge time to fully set. I love the final product and I’m glad I did this. I hope you enjoyed the journey with me.