A post of Firsts

My goodness.  Have you ever seen so many firsts in one post? Well probably not because you don't even know what they are firsts of. Here. Let me tell you.
You see, I went on a short little vacation to New York (for the first time) at the beginning of August as one last hurrah before I go off to school. So I decided I wanted to make something to document it.
In the past, I've taken tons of pictures of trips, events, etc. and plan to make some awesome scrapbook or album after the fact... It has never actually happened. Well, actually, I take that back. I did start and fail on a few and one ended up being completed about 2 years later.
So THIS time, I decided to be proactive and begin making a book BEFORE the trip! Smart huh? What can I say?
I used my newfound love for art journaling to create this guy here (My FIRST travel journal) with some help from Mary Ann Moss. I haven't actually taken her class YET but I watched quite a few "Remainders of the Day" journal flips from others on the wonderful YouTube that helped me get the gist of things. I read up on some book binding tutorials and I was off to work!
I gathered up some old folders, papers, envelopes, etc. and bound them all together to make something I could easily take with me on the plane and work on in the hotel after eventful days in NYC.
While we were there, I collected ticket stubs, receipts, brochures, business cards, and anything else that would make for a memorable (and pretty!) travel journal, then added journaling so I won't forget everything we did once I'm seventy and senile. Once I got home I stuck in some pictures I developed from Walgreens.. And this is what I got!!
Behold.. My FIRST stop-motion video.

I apologize, It's not the best. But I was too lazy to go back and re-do it. For your information this took 542 pictures to put together. So enjoy this, gosh-darnit!

It's July Already?

Oh goodness. Look at the time. Or rather the date. Unfortunately it isn't 3:15 in either respect so it's neither my birthday nor a perfect time to blog but it has been quite a while since my last post regardless.  So I think I'm long overdue.
Where to begin?  But does it really matter?  No one is reading this anyway, I'm sure.  So I could start writing my own graphic novel similar to that of the oh-so-popular 50 Shades of Grey.  But don't worry I won't. {You're Welcome.}
Well I suppose I'll just share my newest creative encounter. And let me tell you, it's a good one.  While on a shopping spree with some of my besties (pardon the teenage girl-talk, but there's no better word for them) I stumbled upon "SO MANY DEALS."  One, in particularly, blew my mind.  Regularly priced at 100 doll hairs and found at lovely and hipster-esque places across the land such as Urban Outfitters you may find a Diana Mini Lomography Camera that looks something like this.

However, mine is simply black.. like the color of my skin this summer (you wouldn't believe me if I told you I'm the tannest I've ever been this summer considering I'm still pasty a.f. but look at this watch tan!)

Ok back on subject. I was so excited to find my Diana Mini at the local Marshall's for less than a QUARTER of the price!  Being a college student now, it only makes sense that I'm cheap and broke. Especially since I just got my new MacBook Pro for studying and working hard at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities this fall where I will major in Graphic Design and Minor in French! HoOrAy! And I'm sure that's all I'll use my MacBook for. ;)
Jeez! my thoughts keep wandering! Oh well, who cares. This is honestly more for my personal enjoyment that for any of you "readers" cuz lezzzbe honest I have no readers. I'm such a nerd. So much so that I'm going to start a legit journal. I've been art journaling for about 2 or 3 months now after finding out about this hobby while on a different shopping spree at Michael's. Wow I shop too much. I think I might die in college. That's sad. I'm really not a materialistic bitch, I promise! But anywho, I had never heard of such thing as art journaling, and let me tell you, that's sad.  I can't even explain how obsessed I've become with it and how much I love it. The majority of my free time these days is spent scrolling through instagram, blogs, youtube, and anything I can find for inspiration, tutorials, and just something pretty to look at.  Someday soon I'm going to make a stop-motion video of me flipping through my art journal and post it on here so "everyone" can see it.  But really just so I can check it off my Blog Bucket List.  I've always wanted to do a stop-motion vid.
But as for my journal, It's been mostly just slamming/scrapping/junk journaling rather than truly journaling about my life. I always thought that kind of thing was cheesy and something eleven year old girls did under their covers before they went to bed at night so they could brag about how they just kissed little johnny, the cutest boy in school, on the cheek during an intense game of truth or dare. However, after watching The Vow with my mother like a total coolcat, I kind of had an epiphany. It may have started with a little bit of irrational thinking and playing the "what if" game, but I decided that I don't want to take any chances that I may lose my memory someday weather it be from a brain injury like in the film or simply from old age. I want to be able to know what my life was like, what my thoughts were from day to day, the crazy stuff I did, the awesome friends I had. So today marks that day.
I'm not sure what the book will turn out to be, how big it will be, how awful it may look (I'm still an amateur here. Don't judge me), or even the type of book it will be. There are so many things I want to try -- things I will add to my Blog Bucket List.  Everything from my own book binding, to altered books, to smash books, to project life.  The possibilities are endless. ENDLESS I TELL YOU! And it doesn't help that I'm the world's worst decision maker on top of being a little bit of a perfectionist.
I'm hoping that through this journal I'll not only have some awesome documentation but perhaps I'll become a bit of a better writer and photographer, as this will urge me to capture more of life's moments through the lenses of my many cameras.. Starting with the ones I took with my Diana Mini on a trip to the Zoo with some of the greatest friends I could ask for.

                                                                                                             

Wow.  Would you look at that ^^
I talk way too much.
I'm starting to see that this is going to be one full art journal.
My apologies.
Over and OUT.

Slowly but Surely

Getting a grasp on this whole blogging thing.  After messing around with html and all that jazz for hours upon end, I'm actually starting to become more comfortable with it.  Now I just wish I knew how to write code.  **sigh**
More posts of my photo edits like these + lots more to come :)

Check it out Here!

Loupe Love

It's been a long time since I came around..
  Been a long time but I'm back in town!   --   Lady Gaga, what a lovely lady.

Hello all you whipper-snappers!
So today I unintentionally had a busy yet very free day.  If that makes any sense.  Contrary to my usual likings, I woke up at 6 am (surprisingly with ease) to go to the local farmer's market with an old friend.  Though there wasn't much selection due to it still being early in the season, we had a lovely time which we followed with a leisurely 5k run to support the American Cancer Society and some friends!  With plans for later in the afternoon, I decided to take a quick nap before my parents and I took a short jaunt over to New Glarus for a special dinner.  However, my parents being the oh-so-intelligent people they are decided to come in to wake me up just minutes before we were to depart with our friendly neighbors.  Anyone who knows me knows that they will not succeed in getting me up from a nap in a time frame of less than five minutes.  It's just not possible. So of course, they left without me, leaving me with a completely open agenda.  After failing to acquire plans with any other human beings, I settled on enjoying a night on my own which turned out to be quite pleasant.  I spent some time here and there on twitter, pinterest, instagram, etc. and found something truly awesome to add to my love of Google Chrome.  Oh, the possibilities.  You should really check it out.  I made this neat little collage that's totally the best of both worlds.  Instagram + Loupe = Love.

Project Pinhole Camera

Good evening BlOGGERs.
    Well after procrastinating yet again, in more ways than one, I might add, I finally made my own pinhole camera. While visiting the University of Minnesota for a dean's reception late in February, my parents and I found ourselves wandering aimlessly around downtown Minneapolis near the Nicollet Mall. In order to kill some time, we sneaked (snuck?) into a nearby Barnes and Noble where I came across two fascinating things.
    Number one is this oh-so-ahhmazing magazine. It's a quarterly magazine on contemporary art and visual culture that features up-to-the-minute visual material, fresh faces, original voices, and new trends and talent in contemporary visual culture. So basically it combines my two absolute FAVORITE things. Elephants. And art. These people are geniuses. You definitely need to check one of these out.
    The second thing was something I'd just recently learned about in my rigorous Media Productions class. And when I say rigorous, I mean the teacher is an awkward noob who doesn't know half of what he's talking about and seems to like moving at a snail's pace. ANYwayyy, he did share with us his "adventures" with a homemade pinhole camera he made out of a paint can as an assignment in his college years. This sparked an interest in me to go on my own photography adventure and it just so happened that I stumbled upon this lovely creation while meandering the aisles of Barnes and Noble on that chilly day in The minneAPPLE.

    You can find a lot of cool DIY pinhole cameras all over amazon and other online photography stores like this one: http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/diy-camera-kits/ Check it out; it has a LOT of nifty photography tools.

    Now it wasn't until this past week that I even got a chance to put the camera together. It took me about 2 hours to make but only about 15 minutes to go through a full roll of film.  It was a lot of fun to control the shutter speed and wind the film around on my own.  I felt very.. old school inventor-ish.
    I took the roll of film into the local Walgreens hoping that they still did developing.  Who actually uses film anymore?  Well, besides my 72 year-old grandmother.  To my surprise my photos were ready in under an hour and it only cost me about 10 buckaroos! I was a little nervous as to how they were going to turn out considering I was just free-balling the whole experiment.  Things became a bit more unsure when the lady behind the counter sort of crinkled up her face and said, "Oh just so you know, they didn't turn out that great."  Awesome, I just wasted $10.  I'm 18... $10 is a lot of money, people!  When I got home I slowly opened up to the envelope and was pleasantly surprised with some very interesting looking photos.  And when I say interesting I mean FREAKING COOL!  Dontcha think?

The Hoarder's Vases

Trees

Yours Truly

Birdhouse

Campfire Smoke