Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!



Another Healthy year together!
Don't eat too much...

If you do you might feel like Macy's newest Thanksgiving Day Parade float!

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Who knew we were so trendy. In case you missed my post about building Mt Rushmore, we were busy last week making our own mini version of the float!



When we were busy paper mache-ing we were imaging it being a big float in a parade and thought "How cool would that be?!" And what do you know, there's a big Mt Rushmore float in the parade this year!! Spooky! (We may have to visit South Dakota this year!)


You can read more about the Mt Rushmore float HERE
Have a wonderful day!

Using the gradient mesh tool

Only a few more weeks of fall semester! Wow time sure does go fast. This semester I took Vector graphics I which is Adobe Illustrator. I also took the Intro to Digital Media which covers Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. I'm still trying to decide what my next classes will be.

In my Illustrator class we are learning how to use the gradient mesh tool. It's amazing how realistic you can make your illustration look using this tool.

Here is an exercise that I did using this tool

This is the photo reference:


And here is my digital rendering using the gradient mesh tool:



I think the stem gives it away. I tried to fix the stem a little:)
This exercise was to prepare for the final project, a still life.

Here is a link to a series of GRADIENT MESH TUTORIALS

I had something exciting happen last week, I'll share on my next post...

Busy building Mount Rushmore

I've been busy! I hate neglecting my blog but sometimes life gets a little hectic. I'm sure you know what I mean.
One of the things we've been busy doing around here is building Mt Rushmore (all in a days work:))
Actually, my middle school aged son had a geography assignment to do, which involved the whole family. The assignment was to recreate a monument, either from the US or Western Europe. So, my darling child chose Mt Rushmore! (The monuments will be set up at the school to create a mini golf course! FUN!
Anyway, I found a great instructable for a Mt Rushmore costume. You can get the directions HERE

The whole family worked together! I think the kids were amazed at what they created with chicken wire, wood, newspaper, glue, paint and masks! I know my son was very proud to bring it in to school today. Everybody oohed and aahed.



I shouldn't do this because you'll see all the imperfection. but here's a side by side



If we were to do this again (which we will not) we would keep a photo of the real thing handy to get better placement of the faces.

The only things that we did different from the instructions were:
1.Added the Roosevelt mask( I had to make it from a generic craft store mask. I sculpted the features out of toilet paper and masking tape. )
2. We covered the entire structure in paper mache, front back and masks.
3. We painted the entire structure with brushes, no spray paint (with a 12 year old boy, are you kidding). I added a dry brush technique using white paint to bring out the rough texture of the surface.
4. And of course we made a hole at the bottom with a tunnel out of cardboard connecting the back and front, for the golf ball.

Stop by one of the greatest blog Todays Creative Blog to check out more creative ideas with Get your craft on Tuesday!

Now my younger son wants to make a whole bunch of paper mache structures to create a mini golf course in our backyard!

I'll be back to post more of what I've been up to...to be continued...

How to make progress...

Keep a level head!

Ok, so my morning didn't start out that way. First, go on a good rant! Than, relax, think clearly, take the appropriate steps to get things done.

So what am I talking about?
Well, this morning I woke up to a giant puddle of oil under my car in my garage!



I immediately knew what had caused it! It was the giant pot hole that my car fell into on the way home from school last night. It was dark and rainy and the gaping hole was not visible. The car bottomed out hard. I thought for sure the van was done. I slowly moved forward and thought I had escape this one. It wasn't until this morning that I realized that I had not.

I immediately jumped on my new form of transportation (my bicycle) with camera in hand and an axe to grind and rode back to the scene of the crime to take a picture of the hole.



It was already covered up! I guess that's a good thing:)

Anyway, home I went. It was time to calm down and think clearly. And clearly the responsible party was going to pay! But who was the responsible party? I started by calling the county, who directed me to the right division. I spoke to the engineering division/Project Manager. I was kind and respectful and in return was treated the same. He was very helpful and advised me of the steps to take and the people to contact. Within an hour I had completed all of the steps keeping a level head and treating each person that I spoke to with respect, while clearly stating my case. Within an hour the contractor of the job was at my home inspecting the damage and without hesitation took full responsibility, assessed the damage and promised a mechanic would be in my garage to fix the damage this morning. (As I'm typing this, the contractor called and said the mechanic will be here in 10 minutes.) They also promised to clean up the mess in my garage.

When something unfortunate happens it's understandable to become irritated by what may be the carelessness of other. However, as with my situation this morning, it's best to quickly get the anger out of your system before solving the problem.

I'm so glad that I kept a level head. And I'm please with the integrity that others have shown in this situation. I think if we treat each other with respect we can get so much accomplished!

SITS HALLOWEEN PARADE-DAY 3

Today is day three of the SITS Halloween Parade and a chance to win a Canon Rebel T2i.

Sadly, the pictures that I took of the day have been lost:). I was upload my pictures from my memory card and my computer crashed losing the pictures from my card and picasa. In an effort to get at least one picture of costumes and the kids awesome jack-0-lanterns I used my phone camera. I tried sending the pictures to snapfish and received errors both times! So, no pictures of this year.:(
So here's a picture from last year. I loved this costume!



In any case, the day was fun! Halloween on the weekend is great! Like last year we went to a pumpkin patch at a local church and the kids picked out two great pumpkins to carve. In Florida, carving pumpkins too early means rotten pumpkins on Halloween, so doing it the same day insures the best results. The weather was beautiful, there was actually a little coolness in the air. When it was dark the kids put on their scary masks and were ready to go. Our neighborhood is great for trick or treating. People decorate and kids are swarming the streets in their costumes. It's one of the few things left of that traditional hometown feel.
The kids trick or treated for a couple of hours and came home with lots and lots of candy! Oh what to do with all that candy?!

If you have any creative ideas of how to use it up without making candy a steady diet for a year I'd love to hear it.

Hope your Halloween was happy, fun and safe!

Don't forget to head on over to the SITS parade!