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    • Archive for December, 2009

    Christmas Stocking Craft Day!


    2009 - 12.22

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    Posted in Art, Crafting, Design | No Comments »

    It’s a tradition in our family to have fun, unique hand-made Christmas stockings. Deb’s and my mom’s are simple felt stockings with fabric painted names and fabric decorations, mine is a green and white checker-board pattern high-heeled boot and the pets each have their own as well, a fish for midnight and a bone for Jett. When I was dating Bryce, he had just gotten back from Iraq so we teamed up with his mother and drafted a pattern for a Christmas stocking from his army boot. Deb created it and it looked amazing, sadly I didn’t take a picture of it before I mailed it to him last week so he would have it in time for Christmas. But it was awesome.

    So this past Friday, I designed a Christmas stocking for Chris, inspired by his favorite book series The Dark Tower by Stephen King. As you can tell by the book cover I posted last week, the main character is pretty much a cowboy, so this Christmas stocking is based on an image of a cowboy boot I found online and distorted a little.

    Here’s the pattern (sorry it’s a pdf)

    Roland’s Boot

    and after working on it all day on Sunday, this is the final product Debbie and I created from scratch.

    It lost some of the detail of the patter obviously (and turned out super tiny…oops!) but I think it turned out great! Somehow I found the perfect button for the spur  and the way I wrote his name ended up looking like fancy lasso work.

    And even his kitties, Inigo and Fezzik will be getting a Christmas Stocking this year!

    We had so much fun working on these! I need to have more craft days, but I always say that and never actually make it happen… I’m not going to doom it by calling it a New Year’s Resolution…

    Book Review: The Gunslinger


    2009 - 12.16

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    Posted in Book Review | 2 Comments »

    by Stephen King

    by Stephen King

    Quasi-Spoiler Warning

    As promised, wrapped this book up just a few days ago. Certainly wasn’t the smartest thing to dive into the week of finals…but somehow it all worked out in the end.

    This book came recommended to me by Chris, The Dark Tower being his all time favorite series. Although a very graphic and at times terrifying book, I found myself quickly sucked into this world. I have to admit, most of the draw in the first book is simply the curiosity to learn more about Roland’s past and what drives him to find the Dark Tower.

    I was told when I first started the book that by the end I would hate Roland, so much so that I might not want to continue the series. As I got into the book I realized that Roland is so determined to catch up with the Man in Black and ultimately find the Dark Tower that he is willing to kill anything and everyone in his way to do so, guilty and innocent alike. You get brief glimpses into his past that hint at why he grows into the man he is. But more importantly you get an image painted of the life he had before the world moved on, once lush and filled with a culture that was ruthless and demanding but still good, his home became a strange land where the Earth is barren and the people are treacherous. I think anyone that survived this kind of shift, losing everyone and everything they cared about, would lose a certain amount of humanity. Trust, Love, Friendship and Innocence are all dangerous things for him to have on his journey so he allows the death of the one that represented all of those things to him. I have a hard time hating him for it because I know there must be more behind it then simply what the first book says. That and knowing the Man in Black created this trap for him anyway. (goodness, it’s hard to write about a book and its meaning to you without totally giving important stuff away!!!)

    I give this book an 8/10, it is sometimes unnecessarily graphic and I’m currently really lost as to why he’s seeking the Dark Tower in the first place…but that’s more on my own lack of patience and overwhelming curiosity.

    Next book: The Drawing of the Three: The Dark Tower II

    Book Review: The Innovation Paradox


    2009 - 12.08

    Posted in Book Review, MCAD | No Comments »

    The Success of Failure, The Failure of Success

    The Success of Failure, The Failure of Success

    Just a quick book review…or recommendation really since I haven’t read the whole book yet. We were assigned a few of the chapters for my Senior Seminar class. I thought it merited a blog update because it highlights many issues that I’ve been facing myself in my creative work. Without going into too much detail, the best take away that I got from this book was the idea of “Productive Mistake Making”. Personally, I have trouble starting anything in fear that I might fail. I have to stop looking at failure as an end-all embarrassment fiasco and more like experiments in which I learn what works and what doesn’t. Something that I believe sites like Facebook and Twitter are contributing to is this feeling of our own importance, that people are constantly watching our every…EVERY move and are just waiting to see us fail miserably. In all honestly…it’s probable that no one actually cares enough to do anything more than giggle a bit and they’re ready to move on with their lives.

    Mistakes often lead to new paths, new ways of thinking that we might not have come up with on our own had we not “failed” to accomplish what we were hoping for. Evolution itself is a key example of “failures” turning into huge successes. If mutations never occurred, species would find it impossible to adapt to environmental changes.

    Ultimately, surviving embarrassment is a liberating experience and it gets easier with practice. I know when I’m getting ready to do some class presentation or other forms of public speaking I freak out and get super nervous, but afterward I feel amazing and wonder what I was so afraid of. It just takes practice (and realizing that most students are too busy worrying about their own presentations to be worried about yours).
    Anyway, good book, I highly recommend it if you’re looking for something to break you out of a failure-phobia. Quite Eye-opening and has countless examples of where failure turned out to be a good thing.

    Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!


    2009 - 12.03

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    Posted in Book Review | No Comments »

    cause who doesn't love some good zombie fun?

    cause who doesn't love some good zombie fun?

    I tend to be quite behind the times when it comes to reading and when I finally get around to picking up a book to read it generally takes me forever because of everything else I occupy myself with… but I’ve finally gotten around to finishing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith. This was an absolutely delightful parody of the Jane Austin classic. A good deal of the original text remains with brief, hilarious interruptions of zombie, ninja and warrior mayhem! The five Bennet sisters are not only fine young ladies with all the stresses of attending balls, seeking suitable husbands and dealing with a mother who won’t rest until each one is married off, but they are also Masters of Death, trained by Master Liu in China.

    This was a terribly amusing read and I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you love some good zombie fun. Also out by Seth Grahame-Smith is “Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters”,  his current project is “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. Check out the Quirk Classics’ website to learn more about their recently announced “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls”, the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies detailing the origins of the Zombie infestation in London and Elizabeth’s rise as a killer, due out in the Spring of 2010 by Steve Hockensmith. Something tells me they won’t stop until they’ve “ruined” every classic with insane pop culture and fantasy. As far as I’m concerned, anything is better than sparkly vampires…*gag*

    Edit: Next up…Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, Book one of The Dark Tower series. Recommended to me by Chris. Hopefully with the semester at an end, I’ll find more time for reading.