Friday, December 16, 2011

Winter Break At Last!

Who else is happy to say that they are finally on their winter break? If you're not a student, then cheers for the holiday season anyway!

I've had quite an absence from the blogging world since Halloween, so much has been going on it’s been crazy! Well, as for a few updates…I am working on some things on my bucket list, such as painting a mural! A friend and I are painting a mural of a WW2 scene for a woman who wants it for her son’s room. So far it’s turning out pretty nice, however it’s now been put on pause for winter break until we get back in January.

Some other updates include that I am making commercials for the Imperial Symphony Orchestra, I have already created one that will be airing in January. I should be making two others after that. I have applied for graduation, and this upcoming semester will be my very last semester before I graduate and enter the real world…Exciting, and terrifying at the same time, haha.

Roo-Roo got me an early Christmas present that I absolutely love, “The Big-Ass Book of Crafts” by Mark Montano. There are so many cool ideas in this book! Seriously, it’s amazing. Definitely expect to see some crafts from this book on my blog! Now that I have a few weeks of free time, I can finally do all the crafts and recipes I want to try!

Much love,
Xy

Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Lately I've become addicted to a website called 'Pinterest'. Although many people may have known about it for some time, it's still relatively new to me and has inspired a new creative spark in me. There's so many interesting things and possibilities on there! So, after a few days of drooling over cool crafts and recipes and such, I was itching to do something creative that didn't have to be school related. I decided I wanted to do something with what I could find outside. So, as my roommate (let's call her Roo-Roo) and I walked to a pumpkin patch today, I collected some leaves and such.


We found some great little pumpkins at the patch (they called them Wee-Be Littles, lol) and picked up some funky looking squash too. When we got back to the apartment with our pumpkins and my outdoor finds, I got out some supplies and got crafty!


First up was my little swan squash...thing. I added soome googly-eyes, and an acorn cap covered in glue then dipped in gold metallic powder, yet it still needed...something. So, I took some mini-bows I had (as I didn't really have any ribbon or fabric scraps) and sewed them together to wrap around it's 'neck'.




Then took a real swan feather and dusted it with the metallic gold powder, and glued it to the back for a tail.




After little swan squash was done, I moved onto a nature mobile that I made by threading some leaves onto a large stick I found. Turned out pretty cool, but I doubt it will look good for long as the leaves continue to turn brown...Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts, right?



(Does anyone actually know what those little pod/leaf/flower things are?)




Hopefully I can hang it up on a wall later. =)  With that finished, I went ahead and decorated one of my pumpkins into a pirate, complete with a paper eyepatch and plastic sword! Still have to decorate my other little pumpkin...







So everyone, how have you decorated or carved your pumpkins this year? Happy Halloween!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The Bucket List

As I had mentioned in my last post, I've created a bucket list! Well, both my roommate/best friend and I created it after wondering what we could do with our lives to not only look back one day and say, "Yeah, I did that!" But to also bring us together once a year after we graduate to keep in touch and reach our goals. Some of them may be a little out there, and we may not be able to do them for another 30 years, but we won't give up until we've crossed off everything off this list!


Our Bucket List!
  1. Travel all across Europe
  2. Change a tire (alright, so maybe not 'bucket list' material, but it's an important thing to learn!)
  3. Learn to dance the tango
  4. Learn to play a whole song on guitar
  5. Learn to play a Ukulele
  6. Hold a snake (See below! A red corn snake)

  7. Eat at the world's best donut shops
  8. Roadtrip across the USA
  9. Take pictures with as many "World's Largest" things as possible
  10. Snorkel a river or spring (Roomie's suggestion)
  11. Learn to scuba dive
  12. Do TRUE rock climbing (i.e. not a 'rock wall')
  13. Sky Dive
  14. Go for a hot air balloon ride
  15. Pet a Cheetah (Bonus points if it's a King Cheetah!)
  16. Ride an elephant through India
  17. Write a book
  18. Illustrate a children's book
  19. Get our own art exhibition
  20. Teach a college course
  21. Meet a famous actor or actress
  22. Learn German (I'm rusty though, gotta get back on it!)
  23. Visit Japan
  24. Own a horse
  25. Wear a kimono
  26. Be part of a flash mob dance
  27. Get a college degree (Almost there!)
  28. Go on a ghost hunt (For my 21st birthday my fiance took me!)
  29. Visit the world's most haunted places
  30. Ride a bull (or a mechanical bull)
  31. Get something named after us
  32. Be in the newspaper
  33. Donate blood
  34. Paint a mural
  35. Make a music video (this is actually going to be one of my next projects for a class! I'm so excited!)
  36. Make enough money to own a large house
  37. Restore a victorian style house
  38. Win an award
  39. Pay off college loans
  40. See Criss Angel perform
  41. See a Cirque de Soliel show
  42. See the Lion King on Broadway
  43. Go to a Renaissance fair
  44. Ride a jet-ski
  45. Go backcountry camping
  46. Learn to ski
  47. Build a snowman
  48. Learn to jump while on horseback
  49. Go horseback riding on a beach
  50. Play paintball (Roomie did this already!)
  51. Learn to play piano
  52. Learn to belly dance
  53. Visit the Submerged Scultpure Park off the coast of cancun
  54. Go on a canopy tour
  55. Go on a helicopter ride
  56. Go hiking in a rainforest
  57. Race a sports car (I'll leave this one to my roomie, haha)
  58. Go on an African safari
  59. Break a Guinness world record
  60. Walk through a corn maze (The corn wasn't even fully grown, maybe up to our hips, but it was still difficult in the heat of the afternoon.)
  61. Stay overnight in a haunted hotel
  62. Drive down Route 66
  63. Get in a human hamster ball
  64. Experience zero gravity
  65. Indoor skydiving (considering my roomie doesn't want to do actual skydiving, lol)
  66. Swim with dolphins
  67. Ride a camel
  68. White water rafting
  69. Visit the Grand Canyon
  70. Shop at the Mall of America
  71. Visit Mount Fuji, Japan
  72. See Dracula's castle
  73. Visit Yellowstone National Park
  74. See the Egyptian pyramids
  75. Go on an archeological dig (I believe that's what they are called, correct me if I'm wrong!)
  76. Make wine, including crushing the grapes!
  77. Island hopping in the Caribbean
  78. Watch a sumo wrestling match
  79. Go to Salem, Massachusets
  80. Dress up in Victorian attire and walk through a historical district
  81. Buy something we would NEVER buy (we get to tell each other what to buy) (Halfway done!)
  82. Eat an insect 'delicacy'
  83. Ride in a cable car in San Francisco
  84. Go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras
  85. Participate in a food fight (preferably La Tomatina!)
  86. Build a bird house
  87. Repaint a breyer horse model and enter it in a competition
  88. Enter a competition
  89. Learn to make candles
  90. Participate in a reenactment of some sort
  91. Learn glass-blowing
  92. Sell our crafts and artwork
  93. Go on a wine tasting trip
  94. Get a complete makeover for fun
  95. Get a master's degree
  96. Become 'financially literate'
  97. Go on a major shopping spree (the kind you see in movies with lots and lots of bags in each hand)
  98. Sleep in a castle
  99. Stay at the Atlantis hotel in the Bahamas
  100. Fly first class
  101. Go on an overnight train ride
  102. Own a Tuscan style house
  103. Visit Tibet
  104. Take a yoga class
  105. Build a Habitat for Humanity home
  106. Volunteer at an animal shelter
  107. Create a cartoon
  108. Create a real website
  109. Go to the Sundance Film Festival
  110. Go to the Kentucky Derby
  111. Try 3 new exotic fruits (1 down, 2 to go)
  112. Eat at the undersea restaurant, Ithaa
  113. Go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
  114. Go to Time Square on New Year's Eve
  115. Learn to read palms (eh, sorta lol)
  116. Go mudding (surprisingly, this was my roomie's suggestion!)
  117. Be in a tv show audience
  118. Start a snowball fight
  119. Get a henna tattoo
  120. Be on a reality show
  121. Visit a movie set
  122. Go to a Masquerade
  123. Attend a murder mystery party/dinner
  124. Attend a midnight screening of a blockbuster movie
  125. Do a 365 day challenge of some sort
  126. Put 3 dollars away every day for a year
  127. Ride a gondola in Venice
  128. See the "Wonders of the World"
  129. Watch a sunrise on the beach
  130. Explore ice caves
  131. Be in a parade
  132. Speed down the Autobahn
  133. Touch an iceburg
  134. Bungee Jump (I'm on my own with this one!)
  135. See the northern lights
  136. Speak in an accent for an entire day
  137. Roll down a hill wrapped in bubble wrap
  138. Win a giant stuffed animal from a carnival/fair type game
  139. Drop a watermelon (or similar object) from a high roof, see whose watermelon busts first
  140. Teach Roomie to coupon (yes, I admit it...I am a couponer...a lazy one, but I still am xD)
  141. Save 90% or more on a couponing trip (and NO this does NOT mean clear shelves or any other stupid thing like that)
  142. Visit the Winchester Mystery House

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Welcome to Xy's Sketchbook Moments!

Whoever would have known that coming up with a creative blog name would be so incredibly difficult, right?

Ah well, as this blog is still under some work and just now starting out, it may be a while for me to get the hang of things. With that being said, allow me to leave you with some small tidbits as to the adventures I have already been blessed to experience. Maybe even some not so blessed moments...
  • I have amazing best friends, you may hear about them every now and then on this blog.
  • I am obtaining a degree in what I love at a school that I love.
  • I have played with wolves, hugged skunks, and pet foxes.
  • I've ridden an elephant.
  • I've seen amazing artwork from artists I can proudly call friends.
  • I am in love with a wonderful man.
  • I've met amazing musicians, such as the men from Apocolyptica (backstage vip ticket!).
  • I have been on a cruise.
  • I have been to a foam party.
  • I have attempted to be hypnotised...It didn't work, had to fake it the whole time! Ha!
  • I have had major surgery on my spine to correct scoliosis.
  • I've started a bucket list, because these little adventures are just a small taste of what I am hoping to get out of life!


A fun little drawing I did of my character 'Nameless', yes that is his name. Enjoy life as much as you can, even if it's just the little things like basking in the warm sun on a beautiful day.