Jewelry Class

My last jewelry making class is tomorrow night. Boohoo! I didn't get into the next one because they fill up too quickly. I like the slot and tab bracelet project a lot, and I think that I'm going to do it again! I have some of the tools that I need to do it on my own; I just need to buy a saw frame, bench pin, more saw blades, and sheet metal. I think that as long as I'm creative I will be able to make a wide range of designs just using simple techniques.

Since I went to design school I don't feel the need to "experiment" too much with materials. There's nothing wrong with that but I just want to make beautiful things. I don't feel like I have to prove my creativity... I have a whole portfolio to show show it!

I'll post some pictures of the finished bracelet once Jacob is home from Japan (with the camera).

The knitting project is on hold until I get some jewelry done and the holiday excitement is calming down!

Bathroom Art

High Five Montage

Baby K Update

I realize that I haven't mentioned Baby K much lately. I'm still watching her full-time which is an awesome job! She's about 7 months old, and she's sitting up and moving all over the place. (Well... right now she's in her swing sleeping!) She's cuter than ever and plays and "talks" all day long.

We went to Baby Laptime at the library today, and we sang songs about snow. She had fun listening to the storyteller and looking at all of the other babies. While we were there, I got a Columbus Metropolitan Library card... woohoo! Now I will be able to borrow books and movies from there when we visit! (As soon as I finish the million or so books I still have yet to read at home)

He's On His Way...

Jacob's on his way from the right side of the map to the middle of the map today. He's gonna be there for about 10 days. I'm a little jealous of him because I've never been to Japan! Lucky!

Wedding Pictures from Elbe

I just took the proofs that I like from the photographer's website yesterday, so I've been posting them around! I like this one, it was taken right after the bridal party entered the reception. I like how it's pretty casual, and the lighting is kind of harsh... which is kinda cool!

Say Goodbye to the Cute Animals on the Internet!

New iGoogle Theme

My new iGoogle homepage theme!

Christmas Tree!

Jacob and I finished decorating our first Christmas tree! It might be a little sad and scrawny, but we're proud of it! We have some old ornaments and a lot of new ornaments from Target.

Happy Post from Decor8

I found this nice post on Decor8 and I have to share it!

I came across this wonderful image in the flickr pages of Matirose and had to share this message with you. It's a simple one that we can all to often forget as creative professionals trying to navigate the wild, wild west of freelance, the web, new careers, reinventing ourselves, launching a business, or anything else that was once "the greener grass" until you got on the other side and realized that you were on the grass alone with your big idea and now it's 100% up to you to do something with it. And there you sit, sometimes frozen. And your idea may not be taking off as quickly as you'd like. Or you feel like you made a really big mistake. Or maybe you aren't that talented. Let me remind you of this...

I'm not a shrink. But I am a human being sitting here writing these posts each day. And sometimes I think something is wrong with me. For every 10 supporting you, there's a few that want you to disappear. Let's face it, bad motives do exist. It's part of life. So often we feel like Ugly Betty on some level. It's our hips, if only they were more boyish. It's our career, we're not where we expected to be at this age. Maybe our family life sucks right now. When will he propose? Should we have kids, all our friends are having them? Or maybe it's time, we need more hours in a day. Our hair is falling out in clumps, we can't keep the plants alive, the dog likes our spouse more, the weather is depressing, oh the list can go on and on. We can be high on Friday and at the lowest point in our life on Saturday morning. But I assure you that you are not alone. We are all in this together. Nothing is wrong with you. Accept this simple truth with me today.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other because, what's that quote, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Yes that's it. So keep steppin'. You're fierce. You can do anything you have passion for as long as you take steps and make progress on some level. Remember that.

So if you're about to go into the month of December with any doubt in yourself or your dreams at all, remember There is Nothing Wrong With You. Back straight, chin up, eyes ahead, keep your dreams in front of you and don't stop until you can hold them in your hands.

Now it's Friday, go have some fun! See you on Monday. :)

(image from matirose)

http://www.decor8.blogspot.com

No Jewelry Class Last Night

So sad today... my class was canceled last night because the teacher is sick. I'm going to an open studio on Saturday (unless something else comes up), so I will be able to show an update of my project then!

Perfect Day

Since I don't want to be part of this:

I'm staying home and watching this:
Pride and Prejudice is still my favorite book, and today is the perfect day to watch the whole BBC miniseries and knit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This video was posted on Cute Overload first. The first one they posted was just the cats meowing, and then somebody translated it!

Jewelry Class Progress: Part Un!

I had my jewelry class last night, and I cut out the shapes for my slot and tab bracelet. Right now the pieces are pretty jagged and ugly from sawing the shapes out of sheet metal. Next week I'll start to file the pieces so they look pretty and uniform.

Here is what the bracelet will (kind of) look like! I'm really excited, and I'll update next week!

See That? Over to the Right?

Yeah, that's my Coroflot.com badge! It links you to my Coroflot portfolio and resume. If you're interested in hiring a freelance designer (or are curious about what I do), please check it out.

Movie Quote Time: Breakfast at Tiffany's

You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, "Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness." You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

Knitting Project

One of my most recent projects has been knitting a vest for myself. I have never knitted something that has had to fit before, so I'm a little nervous! This picture is the progress on the front piece of the vest, from the bottom ribbing up. It's already a little "imperfect" but I figure that's part of the deal when hand-knitting something. I'm working off of a pretty simple pattern, and I guess that is the best way to start knitting clothing. If this vest goes well, I may knit a sweater (with sleeves)!

I'll update with new pictures of the vest as I make progress. I might take a while though because I've been working on some other stuff lately, like thank you notes for the wedding.

Happy Halloween!

I'm not dressing up tonight, just going to hand out candy to the little goblins in my sister's neighborhood!

And yes... I was dressed up as a baseball "player" this year. Woo!

Portfolio Example

Mmm... I think I like it. I'll keep working on it.

New Portfolio

Well... at least it's a start! This is the cover of the portfolio. When opened, the book is a square! I figured I'd get away from the landscape format because most of my projects and renderings work better in a letter or square format. The colors for this portfolio are pretty girly, but most of my projects lean that way... so the portfolio might as well fit my projects. Wish me luck with the rest of the pages!

Charley Harper

Just saw this on the Oh Joy blog. I want it for Christmas fo' sho! Putting it on my Amazon wish list today!

Cooking

I got this cookbook (well... we did register for it!) at my bridal shower and in the last few weeks I've been trying it out. So far I love the recipes. It has a really good vegetarian chili that is easy, fast, and cheap. It's good for a couple of dinners! Also, I made a "Festive Pork Roast" on Monday. It was way too fancy for a regular Monday night, but I'll make it again for a special occasion. The pork turned out delicious and the marinade/sauce had lots of interesting flavors. I'm actually planning on making the chili again this week (I make it at my sister's house while watching Baby K and bring half of it home).


I got another yummy pork recipe from www.RealSimple.com. Definitely try it!

**Funny side note... the pork with roasted tomatoes called for "pounding" the meat to make it a certain thickness, and we didn't have a meat tenderizer... so I used a spatula. Didn't work so well b/c the meat wanted to slip from underneath it and shoot across the room! Haha... got the proper tool now!**

Ready to Take a Class!

It seems like the jewelry-making class I want to take is never going to get here! Registration isn't open until the 22nd, and the class doesn't start until November. Boo. I hope that jewelry making will come back to me, like riding a bike. I'm going to be taking a beginner's class, so I guess it won't really matter if I remember... haha!

In Gear

This post is kind of random... but this is what is going on today...

I'm trying to get in gear so I can get some freelance design work. I'm actually starting to think about my new portfolio and sketching on ideas for it! That is always a big step... just getting started! I also updated my Coroflot profile, but none of the content yet. I need to get my capstone project ready to share with companies! Agh!

I'm also trying to sketch some jewelry. It will be a goal of mine to sketch at least a couple pages a day. I need to keep ideas flowing so I will have a nice amount to choose from when I can start making jewelry. Also, on the jewelry front, I am collecting inspiration from magazines that I have kept over the years and putting it into a binder. This binder will eventually become an invaluable place for me to go to get new ideas!

Watching Baby K is still so great! She keeps me busy for most of the day, which is really good for me. I love taking care of her, and I miss her when I don't see her!

Inspiration

I was looking for some inspiration for sketching this afternoon, and I started with looking for photos of jewelry, but then I came across this:
I'm hoping that this photo, and other stained glass images will inspire me to sketch up some ideas for some jewelry pieces. I'm hoping to start cloisonné relatively soon, so stained glass imagery is a good place to start! Wish me luck!

Nannying: Day 2

Right now, Baby K is in her bouncy seat, zoning out. So far today she has had 2 naps, 1 bowl of cereal, 1 small bottle, and 2 diaper changes. She might be taking another nap in a few minutes. Around 2 or 3 she will eat some peas, and then probably nap again! She's a nappin' fool, but I guess she needs the sleep... she's growing a lot. At almost 5 months, she's really starting to fill out.

We're Married!

Got back from the honeymoon on Friday! Starting my new job tomorrow! Life is good.

La Romana

Next Monday Jacob and I will be in La Romana, Dominican Republic! ::screams::

Baby K

In just about 2 weeks I'm going to be starting my new gig as a nanny! I'll call my new boss "Baby K", in order to protect her from all the crazies out there. :) Not you... the other crazies!

Baby K is getting bigger, she's probably about 13 pounds by now. She plays a lot and coughs if she thinks she isn't getting enough attention.

McLovin

Saw Superbad. It was everything I hoped it would be!

Superbad...

Drankin' some Merlot, and waiting to go to P.F. Changs for dinner. Yum! I'm looking forward to the crispy honey chicken!!!!!!

Today we went to a Honda family event downtown. It was okay, but kind of a cluster-f*ck. Haha. They had this deal where any of the attendees could see movies (for free) at a movie theater downtown, but the tickets sold out really quickly. The problem was that the tickets would only go on sale an hour before the show time.

Big UGH from me.

We wanted to see Superbad, but we couldn't get tickets b/c we were either getting to the ticket window too early or too late! I was pissed off, but we saw 3:10 to Yuma, which was really good (for a Western!)

I'm hungry...

Yum!

I saw this image on a blog that I read, Bluelines, and it reminded me of the summer I spent in Rhode Island! That was the best summer I had in college.

I...
worked at Hasbro
raced with fellow Deceptacon on Big Wheels
went to Newport on Friday afternoons
went shopping
rode my bike around Providence
visited Boston on the weekends
toured Newport mansions
and...
drank Del's Lemonade!

Ah, I hope I never forget it!

Good Morning!

Coffee, anyone?

Love Quote

"I don't want to live. I want to love first, and live incidentally."
~Zelda Fitzgerald

Frog and Ladybug Croquet

My Google homepage buddies. They are playing croquet!

Fireworks

The fireworks were awesome, but I don't know if we'll attend again for a while. We were so tired and hot by the time the fireworks started, and then we had to wait forevER to get out of where we were parked! Meh... I'll only go again if somebody we know has a nice place on the river with a view!

Labor Day Weekend!

Riverfest Fireworks: Bridge Waterfall

I'm at my internship right now, taking a wee break from research analysis. Sounds fun, huh? Well, I guess it's really interesting to some people, but I don't find it very intriguing. I have to give a presentation in a couple of weeks about what I've learned about the company, myself, and what I'm doing next.

Ooh I'm nervous... mainly because the other interns last day is today and her presentation was ::tight::! I just have to make myself think about what I've been doing! I tend to be very task oriented, forgetting about the big picture, only concentrating on what I'm working on at the moment. That doesn't leave very much brain power or opportunity for contemplating my education and making great insights!

This weekend, Jacob and I are going down to Cincinnati for a wedding. I'm pretty excited, because this will be the first wedding that Jacob and I have ever attended together! Our second will be our OWN! Weird, huh? On Sunday we are going to church, and after church we are going to talk with the minister who is marrying us. Then the WEBN fireworks on the river (Riverfest)! I used to go every year when I was younger, so I'm happy to be going again!

This will be a pretty busy weekend, with some reading, wedding ceremony planning, and parties!

Craft Inc.

Chapter 2:
Is about the business side of this whole "turning my creative hobby into a business" process. I took a basic entrepreneurship class in college, but now it's a little more real and a lot more scary. All of the legal, insurance, tax, record-keeping stuff is overwhelming when it's listed out all at once.

I'm starting to get a little nervous but this is good! I just have to keep reminding myself that I can do the business thing. I'm a hard worker and I can make and keep plans.

Right now my plan of action is (Thanks, Craft Inc.!):
Write up rough rough rough draft of business plan.
-this will include a time line
-mission statement / company description
-location of business
-company id (start with a brainstorm)
-target market
-market research (big project in itself... will start with a placeholder and hypotheses)
-line of products and how often they will be released (the fun part!)
-equipment required (seems like basic research)
-production (me)
-selling plans (Etsy at first, then my own website, then a physical store!)
-marketing plan (online, most likely)
-budget and financial plan (this'll be interesting, may need Jacob's help here)
-projections and exit plan

::breathes into a paper bag::

More Books!

I also got the three jewelry making books that I ordered! So far I've looked through them a little, and decided that this whole jewelry thing is soooo exciting!

I tried to register for the jewelry making class today, but the evening beginner classes were all booked... boohoo. It's okay though, because the next set of classes start in November, so it's not like I have to wait for a year. I just didn't know that some of the classes fill up on the first day. I'm thinking that I will start on some projects that require less tools than cloisonné enameling (which is the method I'm really excited to start working on), like making chains. I would need a fair amount of tools to start making my own chain designs, but I wouldn't need my own kiln!

::okay, now I will read::

Got My Craft Inc. Book Today!

Oooohh... this book looks really good! I'm going to read some tonight even though I should sleep.

Chapter 1: Your Creative Mind...

Money Tree

I don't care what anybody says... money does grow on trees!

Eh... well I guess I don't really think that. Going to the financial advisor this evening! Gonna bank... in like 45 years.

Gilmore Girls

Oh jeez... the "Gilmore Girls" is an awesome show. I would watch it all day everyday if I could and if it wasn't insane. Rory and Lorelai are awesome. That's all.

Favor Boxes

Is it backward that I bought my favor boxes before I figured out what to give out as favors? Eh...

Anyway... the wedding is in less than four weeks! I'm so excited that it is coming soon, and that also means that the honeymoon is coming soon! We are so excited to go on a real vacation together, not just dropping someone off at co-op... which was always bittersweet. We're going to the Dominican Republic!!! We are going to try to do lots of fun things, but also just enjoy being together!

Etsy

www.etsy.com

This is a cool site where people can sell handmade wares! I created a profile, MollyStuff, but I haven't done much more than that yet. I have to settle down into my apartment(after the wedding) before I can do much of my own work. It's way too crazy busy with my internship and wedding at the moment!

Craft Inc.

I hope this book helps me... this is another Amazon purchase. I'm so excited to start this!

Amazon Order

Books I ordered... so I can refresh myself on jewelry making. I can't wait! I'm also going to take a jewelry making class this fall. That is... if I ever sign up for it!!!!

About me...

I am 23, engaged, and underage... okay... just kidding! I am 23 and engaged, but I am ready to be married! My fiance and I just graduated from the University of Cincinnati in June. I have a degree in industrial (product) design, and I look forward to using my degree.

I live in Columbus with my sister and I am working at a design research firm for the summer. My internship will be over in September, and then I will get married!!!

My job after the wedding will be working as my niece's nanny during the week. I'm really excited about it, because I will work on my own designs and freelance work (toy design and accessories, jewelry) at night and on the weekends. I will get to do what I want without being overwhelmed by the corporate world.

New Blog

I am starting a new blog to go along with my new life! I will post stuff that's going on with my career, wedding, family, and everything else. I will try to post pictures with my blogs so they are more interesting to look at every day!