"You're focus needs more focus"

Jackie Chan in the new Karate Kid movie.
Had a small blurry ref pic. But I think it turned out alright. I need to find a better way to take a picture of it.

Which image do you think is best?

Update.

SO I'm updating. Simply because people say that I don't. Well ya know what? If you would comment once in a while I might feel more inclined to do so.

Well anyway. I've been working at Jo-Ann Fabrics this summer. But before that I had some time to get some drawings and such done. So here ya go. They are all 4"x5" except for Princess Tiana, who is...9"x12"

The Bowler from the movie "Mystery Men"




The Spleen from the movie "Mystery Men"



Amy Peterson from the movie "Fright Night" . ( i don't know anything about this. someone on deviantart.com suggested I draw it)



Wikus Van de Merwe from the movie "District 9"




The infamous John Wayne. Duh.




Princess Tiana face character from WDW




Alan Cumming as Glitch from the Syfy series "Tin Man"
Crispin Glover as Willard from the movie "Willard"

Finally Finals!

It's finally getting to be finals time. FINALLY.
So most of my stuff is due next week. A 3min monologue in Japanese ( which I have to have memorized by Thursday morning), a 10 page paper on a Chinese movie ( harder that it sounds), Two Exams, a project, and an art show. Then I have a full week before I have another final. So I have a full week up here doing nothing but studying. So I will probably also be doing a lot of walking and drawing. So I'm excited for that.

Also, I bought business clothes recently. And they are awesome.
And I got a free plant today.So I really had nothing to report in this journal. It was just something to do to put off memorizing the rest of that monologue. So I will leave you with some pictures and a link to the ePortfolio I just made!
ePortfolio My new clothes! :D




All my plants together... except for the new one I got today





WDW Tianna that I'm drawing, took this pic before I blended in the newest layer, that;s why it looks funny

"How can there be a tale...

...when there ain't no tail?" - Song of the South

In my opinion, one of the best movies ever to come out of Disney. I only wish I could find a good copy of the movie. It was banned for being "racist" I believe, but really it isn't racist at all. If anything it just made white plantation owners look like jerks, and what's wrong with that? You see much worse in movies today, so I like Song of the South deserves to be digitally remastered and released to the public on DVD.

So, I had wanted to draw Uncle Remus for a long time now, and finally a group on deviantart.com offered a prompt. It was to pick a live action movie ( since you don't see much fanart for live action movies), and make fanart for it. So I immediately signed up and claimed SotS. This was back at the beginning of the month. On the 1st of March, because we had a month to do it, and mine is due April 1st. So I have been working on it on and off since then. Mostly struggling to make Uncle Remus look darker ( first time I've ever drawn and African-American).

Then when I added in the colors I had my first experience coloring with markers ( outside of junk coloring for school, and coloring books as a kid). So... that was interesting. I used Stampin Up! markers, but I hear Copics work better... so maybe one day I can try those.

And then I encountered another problem. Bre'r Rabbit. At first I colored him with brown markers because he was brownish in the movies. But in order to get a more solid coat I had to add another layer of ink, and by this time he was DARK brown. The next day, I went to Disney and went on splash mountain. And wouldn't you know it, this darn rabbit is GRAY! So, the day after that, I painted over the brown marker with gray acrylic paint. And I think he looks much better now.

One day, when I have the software and know-how to do it, I'm going to make images that show the progression of each of my drawings so people can see how positively aweful my drawings look during the first few sessions I work on them :D

And now, without further to do..............

Image is a little blurry towards the top. Might take some better pictures at some point and switch out the image for a better one.

Billy Bibbit

This is Billy Bibbit. My little grass buddy. I love him so much :D




My mom slipped the kit to grow him into my luggage so when I got back to school I found him.
He is of course named after the adorable Billy Bibbit in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", a fantastic movie by the way.

Happy Bird day to Me!

(Click picture to make it bigger!)

This is the card my mom made me for my birthday this year. It's super sparkly :)

Nick Pitera!!

So... I drew Nick Pitera. I'm not sure if it's done yet or not...
But I like it :D
I think I will try and get some more drawing stuff and eventually fill in the background :)


If you don't know who Nick Pitera is....
Here's a sample :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wceKiDBjFM

He's singing the Glee version of Don't Stop Believing.

Getting back to the basics

Well I'm back at school now and consequently living away from the crafting and card supplies. So, I've been left to my own devices and gone back to drawing. Here is a drawing of Spock I did over the early part of the summer. I have no formal drawing education or anything like that, so try not to judge me too harshly :)


(In actuallity it is much lighter since I drew it in graphite, so I used the computer to darken it )
I apologize for it looking kind of blury. But I don't have the original file on hand so I had to save a copy of a smaller image of it and then enlarge it in this window.
Anyway. I really kind of like it and I think it's the best thing I've drawn to date.

ciao for now
Melissa

Red the blood of angry men, black the dark of ages past!

Today's challenge on 365 was to use only black, red, and white to make our card.
Well, I was not feeling at all inspired by this, so I just made this up real quick.
The way it scanned the polka dots makes em look orange, but they are SU Real Red with red stickles on top. And the rose was done with SU Real Red and SU Riding hood Red re-inkers with a water brush thing on watercolor paper.



Melissa


This Card:
Paper: SU Black, cheap white, watercolor paper.
Ink: SU Real Red, SU Ridinghood Red, black Stazon
Stamps: Polka Dots and Paiselys, happy harmony, and that one with this rose ( sorry forgot it)

Today's Challenges!!

Todays 365 Challenge: Windows!
First things first. Guess where I got the color scheme...... Anyone??? I'll give you a hint, It's from a t.v. show. ( stay tuned for the answer at the bottom). ANyway, the cat and the coral paper is on the inside of the card, and I cut the windows out of my window. There is acetate between the front and inside, but it didn't show up in the scan.

This Card:
Paper: SU Ivory, groovy guava
Ink: Bermuda bay, chocolate chip, black stazon
Ribbon: groovy guava
Stamps: SU Best Yet, SU Window Dressing, SU Polka Dots and Paisleys ____________________________________________________________

Next, The Crafty Creations Challenge. (#23) This challenge was to involve birds. Here's my bird!! Not that this is important... but I was watching the movie "Death by Murder" while making this... That is a Hilarious movie! OH, and don't you just love when you don't stamp straight? Fun isn't it?


This card:
Paper: SU groovy guava, perfectly pomegranate, river rock, flower print paper
Stamps: Clear bird set, Polka dots and Paisleys
_______________________________________________________________

And now the Mojo Monday sketch!( week 95) I've been stuck in a tropical rut lately, if you've seen my other posts you would now what i'm talking about.


This Card:
Paper: Bermuda Bay, night of navy,old olive, hhhhh, copper paper, happily ever after print paper
Stamps: MFT tiki lagoon, SU Do the Hula
_____________________________________________________________

Last, but certainly not least, The Creative Belli Blog Challenge: Texture! (69)
This is one of the first stamp sets I ever bought, so I was pretty excited to get to use it again. My texture is the flowersoft on the lettuce! That fancy paper I used for the Chef's jacket was paper my mom has saved from an old fabric sample book. It's fun to use old stuff :)

This Card:
Ink: SU chocolate chip, SU more mustard, black stazon
Stamps: SU Voila! and Voila to Go, Inkadinkado clear stamps, harmony
Accessories: green flowersoft

Thanks for looking!
Remember my question at the begining? About the color scheme for my 365 card?
Well, It all come from "The Golden Girls". The pink paper is more of a coral color in person, so combine that with the bermuda bay spots and the off white paper, you get the colors used in the living room ( and most of the house) on "Golden Girls". Just a fun fact for ya ^_~

Melissa

Sweet Sunday Sketch

Here's my card. It looks like a halloween card doesn't it? I didn't mean for it to be, but it is now. I just wanted to use the cracked-glass technique on that tree.

Melissa


This Card:
Paper: SU Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant



Didn't have time to put up the link to the challenge yesterday, here ya go!

In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room...

Todays challenge on 365 cards was a sketch. Initially I was going to try and make a card that combined 3 other challenges, but then when I was looking at other peoples cards for this sketch, someone had a picture of a tropical resort on the side of their blog, and then I knew I had to make a tropical card. So, This took me over an hour, maybe two. I think I over-stickled, but I like it. Enjoy.

If I were to do this card again I would probably rip the Bermuda Bay down further so that more of the photo paper showed, and buy a different color of stickles for the purple flower. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with it.

ON BRACKETS:
Oh! I didn't have anything to make the brackets with, so I punched a scallop, then stuck the scallop into a circle punch. Of course, the two times I did it they didn't come out even so I had to trim them a little. ANYWAY, then I was looking through the new cards people entered for this challenge and found Catstamps. Thanks to her entry I learned how to make brackets without a bracket punch!! If you have time check out her blog. If not, I'll tell you real quick that you use a tab punch. So you are using the side of the center ( where you will see it dips and bumps like a bracket) and you just punch once onto paper, and then again lining it up about a centimeter from the first time and it should leave you with a bracket. Pretty cool, huh?

Melissa



This Card:

Ink: SU tempting turqoise, rich razzleberry, crushed curry, pink passion, pacific point
Black Stazon
Stamps: SU- Do the Hula, Circle Circus, My favorite things- Tiki Lagoon
Paper: SU Bermuda bay, Craft paper, white, beach photo paper
Stickles: dark blue, star dust, yellow, fruit punch, waterfall
Accessories: Cuttlebug bubble folder, dimensionals

By the Sea...

Noticing a theme in my challenge cards today? Totally unintentional. Anyway, This one was for a sketch challenge, Sketch Saturday to be exact. I knew immediately that I wanted to use this stamp. This stamp, which my mother says she "hates it to death". Do you feel the same way I wonder? Anyway, I finally used up some photo paper on this one both the dark blue, and the beach scene were from the same sheet of paper. My image is stamped on SU! Ivory paper, colored, and glitzed with yellow Stickles. My phrase is from the SU set "Crab and Company". I threw some stickles on that as well to make it a little better. At the bottom are some pearls, and a crystal brad in the center of the flower. There is also some Lace Stickles on the foam of the waves in the photo paper, but you can't really see it with this scanned image. I'm not really impressed, satisfied, or happy with this card. It didn't come out at all as I had hoped. But I guess it isn't half bad. Anyway, here it is.
Sketch:

Card:


So what do you think? Is the stamp really so horrible?? I know my coloring job leaves something to be desired but....


Melissa

Under the Sea!

Todays challenge on 365 cards was to be inspired by "Bubbles." Immediately I thought of the sea.
So here is my card:



The Stamp I wanted to use was the turtle from the sea life set from "Local King Rubber", but I don't own it, so I used the puffer fish from SU! Whale Wishes. The fish is rock n rolled, and then i used a sponge dobber to add the green of his face. The green bubble paper is Cuttle bugged, and then i used a dobber to highlight the bubbles with SU Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, and Night of Navy inks. The rest is pretty straight forward. I stamped SU Circle Circus on the sides, and added some Stardust Stickles to the left side. I darkened the corners of the main card, and all the edges of the smalled pieces. Then I added some eyelash yarn ( from a vast stash collected for knitting :P). The middle piece of yarn became a little crooked in the scanner, but the card looks a lot better in person. Also I stickled the air bubbles coming from the fish!

Melissa

And the beat goes on....

Here is my second Challenge card for today!
It was based off of this challenge at 365 Cards:
http://365cards.blogspot.com/2009/07/132-picture-this.html
The Inspiration:

The Card:
For this card I used SU paper ( So Saffron?) , stamped SU Baroque Motif in SU Chocolate Chip ink on the top and bottom left corner. Then I attached red ribbon at random angles. Next I stamped the birthday phrase from SU Big Bold Birthday four times to make a box, cut the paper around it ( since my stamping was a little crooked), then used a set from My Favorite Things to make the cupcakes. Embossed the frosting in white, put a brad in the top for a cherry, and used silver Stickles for the cupcake wrapper. I hope you like it!

Melissa

Let the Games Begin!

Today I did my first ever challenges!
Here is the first one based off of this challenge:
http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/friday-sketchers-60-sponsored-by.html



To make this one I took a 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 piece of SU cardstock ( I think it was Cranberry something). Then I added some embossed patterned paper, went around the edges with SU Rose Red ink of a dobber and some SU (sun somethin) ink on the corners. Then I cut the strip, edged it. Stamped the Queen card and colored it 9 different ways before I decided to do just red. I added some Stardust Stickles to the queens hearts and the patterned paper, attachde the flowers with the brads, and that was it. Of course, all of this took at least an hour to figure out. It didn't help that I always cut paper in the wrong dimensions even when I measure it carefully.

Melissa

Some Things Get Better With Age

So we have established mom's blogspot. It can be found here:
http://www.dswatek.blogspot.com/
That being said. Here's another card.


There is actually a story to this card. Approx. 2 years ago when my mom first started taking me to card classes, we went to a class at a library where Sandy Nicotra was teaching. The technique involved stamping an image in versmark and coloring it with chalk ( that i believe was rubbed on to a cotton ball). I decided to make my coloring stormy looking, finished the class, and put the little piece of paper with my colored palm tree into my card box. Where it sat. And sat. And sat. Until just a few days ago when I decided I finally wanted to use it and get it out of my box. So, I pulled out some hawaiian t-shirt print paper, cut it, ripped it, ripped the bottom of my palm tree paper, and set about to pick a color. I grabbed one of the first grayish blues I saw and asked my mom if it was a good color. She went back to our paper supply and returned with the most perfect shade of blue I could have asked for. Next, i scored the corner at random angles, rubbed all the edges of the folds in SU Very Vanilla ink, pinned the corner back with a dull silver brad, added some ribbon threaded through holes, stamped a phrase and glued everything together. And there you have it! A card 2 years in the making, and I couldn't be happier with it.


"Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them."

Melissa



This Card:
Paper: SU Not Quite Navy cardstock, hawaiian print paper, beige cardstock
Stampsets: SU Carte Postale,
Inks: SU Very Vanilla, Versamark ( for the palm tree)
Accessories: hemp, SU blue ribbon, silver brad

There's A First Time For Everything

Today I am just checking out this blog place to see if it's a good one for my mom to start on. So far so good.
Expect to see lots of greeting cards in the future.


"Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them."

Melissa


This Card:
Paper: Stampin Up! paper
Stampsets: SU phrase , Mickey and Friends stamp set
Inks: Black Stazon
Accessories: tampin Up! Crystal Effects,