Yep, it's Sunday. Classes start tomorrow. Not really all that excited at the moment. Probably because it hasn't hit me yet, but tomorrow's going to be such a wake up call. Oi.
I'm trying to keep myself relaxed and productive today. It'll be my last relaxing day I'll probably have for a while.

So anyway, I was cleaning up yesterday and came across two items that I'm happy I found. When I say local finds, I mean super local, as in my very own room.

First I found this little cupcake journal. I think it was given to me as a gift around the time I graduated high school. Had it for quite some time. I stored it away because I'm not one to fill out journals or diaries. I had no idea what to do with it. Then it hit me that I should turn it into my very first recipe book. I always saved printouts and magazine clippings of recipes, but I like the more personal feeling of writing them down. I wrote in a few already. This fits perfect with one of my resolutions; to learn how to cook. Well at least, learn how to cook better. I've become a pretty decent baker over the years, so the oven was never a problem for me. It's that stove. I've been trying, making an effort. That counts. Keeping a recipe book I think will be a good thing for me.

Another little goodie I found was this little sunglasses pin. It's really small but really cute. I've always wanted to snazz up hoodies or sweaters with pins, but I always end up leaving the house forgetting to. After finding this pin, it has made me want to give into accessorizing. Why not. For years now, I've stopped wearing makeup, necklaces, bracelets, and rings. I think it's time to start that up again. I own so much. Why not put them to use?

I don't know what it was, but I had an eye opener a few days ago. Maybe it was the planning of my future - my plan of leaving and starting fresh by myself far away from home. I really like my plan, but I can't go on with it thinking the way I do. I need to change myself for the better. And I'd like to be prepared by then so I can move on feeling happy. When the new year came, I couldn't even think of one resolution. In the past week, I've made a whole list of resolutions. And I'm actually looking forward to trying. It's a weird feeling, but it feels pretty wonderful.
So here's to a new year, new resolutions, and accepting new changes!

One more thing? Song of the moment? Yes. It's by Local Natives. Those harmonies are amazing.

As I was sitting here during this rainy Friday, I thought about what I could post for this Flashback Friday. Then it hit me, I never spoke about my screen-printing class I took last semester. I made so many goodies in that class. Honestly I probably made so many things that I would need to expand it into a few posts.
This is the majority of what I printed in class. Lots and lots of shirts, some pillowcases, and other pieces of fabric that I plan on making into pillows. I drew out two designs, and the other designs were spontaneous play with paper and marbleizing.

One item I use a lot is my pillowcase I printed. I drew out the fancy "X", or in this case it looks like a plus-sign, and marbleized the spontaneous background.

This shirt I made for a friend. It was one of the first shirts I printed. I cut out an oval and pieces of paper to make a tree shape. For the bushy-leaves area, I used groups of yarn. My friend loved it.

I loved the class, but I learned that screen-printing requires so much work. There's a LOT of machinery involved. My professor showed us how it is possible to do this at home, but even she had some machinery in her loft. I can't imagine me personally trying this in my spare time because of all that's involved, but I'm happy I did take the class. Maybe in the future I'll try it again.
I'll leave this post short. Unfortunately, my other photos I have of things I've screen-printed are in my broken computer. I have made good progress on getting it fixed. My friend is going to build me a new one which I'm pretty damn excited about. Don't really have an idea when it'll be finished or how much it'll cost (I don't even want to talk about that, it makes me want to cry), but all that matters is that he has my computer in his possession now, so it's one step closer to being fixed. We also discussed adding some fun things to spice it up, so I'm quite excited.

There's always room for a song at the moment. While writing this post up, I've had Pandora on with my Helium station playing. So here's a Helium song!

Another week, another page.

Random sketches of models in magazines, doodles, and dried up flower petals:
Page 09, in my 001. Under The Milky Way art journal.

I set up my Etsy account today. I apparently created an account years ago when I made my first purchase. Made things easier knowing that I had a preexisting account. I think I'll list some items soonish.

My song of the moment is by Surf City! I love bands from New Zealand. They truly are a breath of fresh air.

The past couple of days, I've been sewing like crazy and watching Dead Like Me.I have to say, I am REALLY enjoying this show. I'm really wondering why it got cancelled after two seasons though. It's so sad to see quality television like that go, and reality shows like The Jersey Shore come in. Peoples' interests these days have gotten so skewed, and the entertainment industry has to swoop down to their level to spark their interest. Those who enjoy that quality entertainment have to suffer. There's not many of those people left because they probably all gave in.
Anyway, I'm rambling. No need to get into that kind of discussion now.

As the days are closing in, I'm trying to accomplish as much as I can before classes start. I want my break to last longer; I'm not ready to be bombarded with work. But at the same time, I DO want it to come. I want it to come and go. Aside from the sewing and watching, I've been coming closer to what I can do to make myself happier. When I did the math last semester for how many more years of schooling I'd need to accomplish, I felt so far from my dreams.

I'm not saying my first two years of college were a waste, but it feels like it sometimes. It held me back. Now here I am in my fourth year finishing up my second associates degree. I feel like I've been idle. I see all friends and acquaintances moving forward, graduating this year. But here I am still sitting in the same school ready to go on to my bachelors: another two years. Six years I'll be in the same school. Six. I feel like a super-senior. I am beyond irritated. But then again, if I didn't go down this path, I would have never concluded what direction and career I want. I guess this delay has given me a chance to think things over. And the more I think about it, the more it falls into place.

Things are starting to make sense and as each day passes, I'm getting closer to achieving my dreams. Yeah, everyone has obstacles to overcome, but I'm just anxious to jump over all of them. Two and a half more years I can go to graduate school. Two and a half more years I imagine is where my life will start: the subject I'll be focusing on, a new location, and leaving all my bad memories behind. I look forward to starting over. It's something I've been dreaming of for a long time, and finally it's looking promising.

I'm absolutely thrilled that good things are finally headed my way, but at the same time, I'm terrified. I'm afraid to go down my new path alone, but I know it'll make me stronger.
Two and a half years is quite a bit of time, so I'm stressing over something that I have time to worry about, I know. I just like looking ahead to make sure things go my way. And if not, I'll have enough time to push it in the direction I want them to go. I'm just afraid of what will come; the unknown. Fear of the unknown, I guess. I guess we'll see what happens!

Random thoughts and rambles, but it feels good to get out what I'm trying to express in writing.

Haven't had a "Wishlist Wednesday" post in a while.
I thought I would make this a shoe wishlist. I wish I could just splurge and buy all of these!

01. Trip Oxfords from Wanted. I love oxfords and platforms, and seeing them both together makes me super happy.
02. Amazing Platforms by Jeffrey Campbell. I'm not big into most Jeffrey Campbell shoes, but he knows how to design platforms that spark my interest.
03. Suebee by Jeffrey Campbell. Another JC pair that I love! They're classy, and platforms once again! I've been dying to find a Mary Jane like style in platform form, and these are perfect.
04. Page 8 Eye Boots in both Black and Cherry Red by Dr Martens. I've been all about everything velvet lately, and these are classic Docs that satisfy my cravings.
05. Grey Black Creepers by T.U.K. I love creepers and I love them in grey, just as these are.

Oh man, I really need to go shoe shopping, right now.

I've always loved cult classics. As I've gotten older, I've discovered more classics and my appreciation for them have grown. About a year ago, I finally got around to watching all of Twin Peaks, and I was instantly hooked.

The entertainment industry is usually my inspiration for any and all art I do, whether it's for a school assignment or a project I'm working on in my spare time. What I listen to and what I watch play a role in what I make, and I don't think that will ever change.
When I get assigned a project in school, my mind instantly thinks of a movie I can relate it to or pay tribute to.

Last semester for my typography class, our final project was to create three posters using different mediums for each. My mind jumped to Twin Peaks. All different kinds of ideas popped in my head and I was so thrilled to start it.

The first one is my favorite. I love doing collage + decoupage projects. I used magazines and tissue paper.
The second one is all colored pencil and a little bit of marker.
The third is acrylic paint. I edited it on Photoshop because it looked really sloppy scanned in. I'd definitely like to touch this one up in the future.

I'm happy with these. Definitely shows my appreciation for the wonderful show. I surely recommend it to those who haven't watched it.

Ever since I created this blog, I was anxious to get it up and running and looking spectacular. I was in a rush to get it looking professional, but I just couldn't get past a certain point. Then I slowed down and thought about it. I'll have this blog for a long time, so I'll have plenty of time to perfect it. It'll come together when it's meant to come together. Whenever I have an idea of what to work on at a specific moment, it'll come to me. Even though I would like to make it look presentable as soon as possible, the fact of the matter is that it was presentable. It just didn't look the way I wanted the final product to look like.

For a good few week, I thought of new blog names that says a lot about me and was catchy. Out popped a good one, and with approval from friends, I changed the blog name and URL. From there, it led me to think of some sort of logo to create. I came up with an idea to use a rocket, and it flowed. I made a curlicue rocket logo, and then drew together the rest. I scanned it into my computer today, fixed it up in Photoshop, added a texture in the background, and it was finished!

I like blogs having an overall light colored theme, so I followed that. It's a simple layout with a nice header. The point is that I'm getting it closer to something that I can be happy with. One step closer to a finished layout. And I guess I wanted to share my excitement. I feel like I'm moving forward, and that's a great feeling. Obviously I'm not experiencing some sort of "revelation", but something close to it with more of a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

It makes me a little nervous/bummed/anxious that this time next week I'll be getting myself ready for class that will be coming the following day. This winter break just sped by. I have to say, I am looking forward to going back, but I'm dreading what weather will be coming and how uncomfortable the commute may be. Oh, I forgot about the commute - spending an hour on a train to bring me to the big city. I might be dreading that hour commute the most.

For now, I need to get my mind off of it and get the most I can out of this week. I have a few pleasant plans coming up.

I really should wear these shoes now that they're finished. My grandmother gave these to me; they are definitely old lady shoes. They needed spicing up.
They were originally all black. I used red Tulip fabric paint, which you can find in your local craft store. Also went the extra step and studded them. That was a lot more difficult than I thought it'd be, but I made it work.

I've been in a weird, funky mood all day. I think the only song I can listen to today is B-52's Rock Lobster.

I've been in a big pillow making mood recently. I made two in the past month so far, but I have ideas and plans for more. I'm only getting started!

Here's one that I finished up yesterday. The orange was an old shirt of mine, and the plaid backing was an old pair of pants.

Before Christmas rolled around, my brother told me all he wanted for Christmas was for me to make him a pillow. He had a hoodie that didn't fit comfortably anymore, but he didn't want to get rid of it. He like the print on it, so I offered to make him a pillow. He uses it all the time now. My father loved it so much too that he asked I make him one.

I'm running out of stuffing. Definitely going to have to buy more being that I'm on a roll with this pillow making phase!

And my song of the moment - Elastica! It really doesn't fit my mellow mood at the moment, but this song always gets me up and jumpin'.

Turns out my computer problems are more serious than I thought. I've had my desktop for over six years, and only needed to get it repaired once. It hurts me to know that I may need to part ways with my computer and get a new one. I haven't quite figured out what move I want to make yet, but in the meantime I'm going to have to get reacquainted with my laptop. Hopefully I'll get this problem all sorted before the new semester starts.

Anyway, to keep my mind off of my dilemma, I decided to fill in my hand made books. I play around here and there, but I did some intense gluing and coloring today.
Page 10, in my 001. Under The Milky Way art journal.

I had this page done for a few months now, but as the weeks go by I'll obviously post more pages.
But for today, I'll keep this post short. I plan on calling it a day soon and sleep my frustrations off.
Hope you all have a wonderful night.

After finally reviewing my final grades for the semester, I remember I posted a little bit about my monster box a while ago. It was in the beginning stage at the time, but now that's it's all done, I'll share it with the world!

It was a fun arts and crafts project that we rarely get in our illustration program. Can't really speak for the rest of my classmates, but getting an assignment like this was a relief and a fun break from what we're usually assigned.

The point of the box is to be used for a kind of self promotion while having something inside the box that can be used - all following a certain kind of theme or illustration you make.
Our particular assignment was to choose one of the five senses. I chose taste.

I created a little monster chasing around a guy. He's so hungry that he eats the dude.

Being that the box itself is the monster, the item inside is the monster's tongue. I sewed up the tongue made of stuffed red fabric and added a snap at the end where you can snap it to the inside of the mouth, which keeps the tongue in place. At the end of the tongue I made a little charm of the man.
It's wearable as a bracelet. A tongue bracelet.

The box is small, around 1.5 inches tall and 2.5 inches wide. I used pieces of the box to make the teeth, painted everything in acrylic, colored the illustrations with colored pencil and marker, made the tongue out of fabric, and the charm out of cardboard and acrylic.
I love working with mixed media.

And of course my song of the moment, Princess Chelsea! This song is a good humming song. I'm humming it at the moment.

Holy computer problems, Batman. I can't seem to catch a break here. My desktop is angry at me and doesn't want to work. Luckily I have my handy dandy laptop to save the day.
But I won't let that bring me down.

I'm excited about the things I bought recently. About a week or two ago, my friend and I went on an unplanned adventure into the city. The day turned into a thrift-shopping-whole-lotta-walking day.

We went into this cute little shop that had so much good stuff, but this shirt called my name. It's most definitely a Maria shirt. I couldn't resist; I had to buy it.
It's a little too large for my taste, so I plan on taking it in just a bit to make myself happy and comfortable.

In another shop we discovered, I found these earrings. They're perfect and can be worn for any occasion because of their simplicity. They actually match really well with the new shirt I just bought too!

Last but not least, I've added more nail polish to my collection. I'm lovin' these colors, especially the hazy grey.

And to end the post, here's my song of the moment. Catherine Wheel will always have a place in my heart, no matter what.

My first post of the new year!
I didn't mean to neglect the blog, but my internet has been down for about a week and just got it back today. I didn't let it bring me down, so I took advantage and stayed productive! Saw friends, went shopping, cleaned, and sewed. I feel pretty accomplished.

Anyway, now that I'm back it's time to get down to business. It's Thursday!
Another Danny Elfman drawing. This was a quick sketch for a shirt idea I had. Colored it in and pasted it in my book. Scribbles make up the rest of the page.
Page 02, in my 001. Under The Milky Way art journal.

The past two weeks I've decided to make time to watch television shows that were on my "list of things to watch". I'm all caught up with American Horror Story [I'm hooked] and Portlandia [I'm hooked on that too]. Being that they're both fresh shows, it wasn't hard to watch their first seasons in full. Life has been more entertaining now that those shows have entered my life. I'll definitely be keeping up with Portlandia this season. I accidentally caught the first episode of the new season on Friday! I take that as a sign; it's meant to be.

This is the intro of the pilot, which sums up everything of the show. It is hilarious and the song is SO damn catchy.