LifeBook 2014 ~ Week 12 ~ Tangled

This was a mixed media collage project that was taught by Finnabair. I have to admit when the lesson first came through my email and I saw it I didn't feel called to the lesson. Now remember I am way behind on these lessons, but I am trying to go through them as best I can. As it got closer for me to start thinking about this lesson and especially after I watched the video. I thought it would be a great tribute to my Mom and Siblings. Then as the idea came to me, I knew my siblings would not allow me to just make one for myself so I ended up making three of them. Here is the finished piece.

I did decide to take some progress photos. Here is a picture of all the found objects glued down. Some of the pieces I chose for a reason and others either made me think of Mom or they were just for decoration. The few pieces I chose with meaning are: the bottle cap - it is from Guinness bottles (one of Mom's favorite beers), the little clock - to remind us that time is short and to live it to the fullest, the little lock is a heart and the key - they represent my Mom holding the key to my heart because she means the world to me. The items that just reminded me of Mom are: the shamrocks (because you can't do anything representing my Mom without shamrocks), the butterflies, birds, and flowers (because anything with nature reminds my of Mom).

After everything was glued down, I covered everything in gesso. I ended up doing a few layers of this.

I then took some shimmering spray inks and sprayed them down.

It took me a bit to find the frames that I wanted at an affordable price. I ended up purchasing them from an Etsy shop called Scruffyrumpkins. I wasn't sure what color I wanted them, so I just purchased them in white. I then painted them with this shimmery powder type paint.

I then added a layer of antique gold.

Then I glued down the photos and added some highlighted details to the rest of the piece.

Here are all three of them side by side.

After completing this project I fell in love with the process and already have ideas for more projects.

Technology Tradeshow Banner Design

This is a banner I designed for a tradeshow that my company exhibited at. We attend quite a few of these education tradeshows every year. This show in particular was for promoting technology in classrooms. We have several of these programs to help with reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.

May Adventures

Well May started out with a bang! We ended up meeting the boyfriends brother and family up in Orlando and went to Universal Studios. You can read about that here. 

I had planned on getting this posted on Tuesday but last week I updated my computer and found out that it replaced iPhoto with a new program just called Photos. It doesn't allow you to edit in an external application anymore so I had to figure out the best way to go about editing my photos. I finally figured it out though!

I decided to change my profile picture for May to a throw back image of me and my Mom. May is Mother's Day and also my Mom's Birthday. When I look back at old pictures there are so many of me right by my Mom's side. She is still in a nursing home in a minimal state, and I miss being able to ask her advice on things. She is my best friend and the only person who completely understands me.

We ended up down south and finally made it to the Cheesecake Factory. Oh My Gods this thing was amazing! It is a Toasted Marshmallow Smores Cheesecake. I couldn't eat it all in one sitting.

This is the sunset from our ride back home from the Cheesecake Factory.

This was a sunrise on my way to the gym one morning. I loved the tall clouds with the yellow of the sun coming up behind them.

We went to the local winery a couple of weekends in a row. The first was Memorial Day weekend and they had a jazz band playing. They played a couple old patriotic songs. Then we found that they had this Hard Root Beer. This tasted just like Root Beer and you don't realize there is alcohol in it at all.

The next weekend we ended up out there they had their house band playing. They play mostly country and southern rock. I really enjoy seeing them play.

I have started the next lesson for my LifeBook 2014 classes. I know I am so behind still on these. I was hoping to finish them this year but I am not so sure that is going to happen. I get frustrated sometimes, because I wish I had more time to work on them and my own projects. Here are some work in progress photos from this Week 12 lesson. I have been hiding parts of the project because I don't want my sister or brother to see it just yet. I will write a full blog post on this as soon as I finish it.

I hope May was wonderful for all of you and looking forward to a busy creative June!

The Adventures of Stanky and Amazing Gracie Book Design

I was able to work on this fun little book a few months back. It is about a little girl who still loves her blankie and uses it as as her superhero cape. The book follows her on her adventures to find out what her superpowers are. The story is super cute!

I designed the Cover and did the page layout for this book. The best part of working on this book was seeing the illustrations come in. I was truly amazed that the illustrations for this book were done by a 15 year old artist.

To find out more about this book and how to purchase a copy go to Pigsfly Publishing's website. To follow the progress of the story you can follow the Facebook page for The Adventures of Stanky and Amazing Gracie.

Universal's Diagon Alley Adventures

We went to Universal Studios a couple of weekends ago, to see the new Harry Potter section, Diagon Alley. I was so excited to see this new part. I had seen the first section Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure about 5 years ago.

We ended up staying at The Fountains which is one of the Bluegreen Resorts. It was a beautiful resort. The beds were super comfy. We ended up in a 2 bedroom and asked a couple friends if they would like to come stay with us.

These carp were in the lake of the resort. They were huge!

We went to Universal the next morning. We did end up at both sides of the park but I didn't take pictures of Hogsmeade because I had already been there 5 years ago. I wish I would have taken pictures of the Train and during the ride over to Diagon Alley. When we got off the train in looked just like the Knight's Crossing Train Station. Before you get to the entrance of Diagon Alley you see the Knight Bus parked out there.

You can also see the outside of Grimmauld Place. If you look in the window you can see Kreacher peeking out at you.

The entrance to Diagon Alley was just like in the book and the movies. It was hidden behind a brick wall. When you enter the first thing you notice is the dragon on top of Gringotts.

We did ride the Escape from Gringotts ride. This ride was really fun, I liked it better than the Hogwart's Castle ride. While waiting in line you go through the bank and towards the vaults.

Here are a couple more shots of the dragon!

He also breathes fire every so often.

They had a store called The Money Exchange where you can exchange regular money for Gringott's Certificates that you can spend throughout the park. You can also buy little trinkets and a gift set of the coins. While you are waiting in line there is an interactive goblin that will answer questions while you wait. I asked him if he would smile so I could take his picture. This is his smile!

They also added Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. This store had all the candies mentioned in the stories, like Puking Pastilles, Nose Bleed Nougat, Fever Fudge, and Fainting Fancies. There were also a bunch of the jokes and gadgets from the stories. They also had the love potions and the pygmy puffs. They were so cute.

Here are some random shots from the area.

They now sell these interactive wands and have little interactive areas throughout the Harry Potter areas. There is a little plate that tells you the motion that you need to do with the want to get the interactive area to work. This one if you did the spell correctly the umbrella would rain.

They also had Knockturn Alley with Borgin and Burkes down in there. It is really dark down there but neat to check out.

This window of shrunken heads was down in Knockturn Alley. They were all talking to each other. Then I realized this was another one of the interactive things. When you get the spell correct they start singing!

I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was so excited to see everything. I also enjoyed 2 Butterbeers while there, they are delicious.

As we were walking around the rest of the park, the boyfriend noticed they had people dressed up in Transformer costumes. We sat out there and watched them for a bit. They had Bumblebee and Megatron!

We had such a blast! I would love to go back in a smaller group when I know it isn't going to busy and get some better pictures. I took most of these with my iPhone but I would love to take the DSLR with me next time.