Creations from the end of 2014

I made an inexpensive Halloween center piece from an empty cocktail sauce jar.
I just wrapped some black and purple netting around the bottle neck,
tied a dollar store spider to it, and added dollar store roses.

My cousin has been a huge TMNT fan since he was little.
For Christmas I made him a TMNT pillow out of felt and a circle pillow from the craft store.

Also for Christmas I made my niece a Skittles (her favorite) wallet using a Skittles wrapper, zipper and rainbow fabric.

Christmas jewelry I made to be sold on www.beadsandbutter.com

Every year I make my niece her birthday cake.
In 2014 it was a special present! ;)

Dollar Store Bag + Cute Computer Print Out + Glitter Glue = Very Inexpensive Gift Wrapping!!!

What happened with 2015?!?!

Today I was showing my blog to my friend and realized I never posted anything for all of 2015. WOW! I have a lot of pictures to post over the next couple days to play catch up, so keep your eyes open.

Illustrations & Storyboarding Circa 2005

Back around 2005 when I was going to school for my Graphic Design BA (way before I became a "Morales"), I took a class that was an illustration and storyboarding class. The projects were to pick a favorite character from the main animation studios, study and become an expert illustrator of one of their characters, do at least 3 sketches, 1 digital color drawing, and then combine each of the characters into a single storyboard.

I know these are old but I wanted to bring them over here to my Creative Sparks blog in-case the instructor ever decided to take down the website where she hosted them.

Week One Project: Dale from Chip and Dale (DISNEY)

Chip had the small black nose, Dale had the bigger red nose. Chip was always the more practical, businesslike of the two; Dale was the fun loving, goofier one. Beyond those two distinctions, there was not too much difference between the two, and their joint warfare against a number of enemies, usually Donald Duck, made the pair inseparable.
Chip 'n' Dale were rarely malevolent, and their drives originated from two simple motives; finding (or keeping) a place to live and finding (or keeping) food. But once they got started protecting their own well-being, it was always difficult for them not to try to have a little fun with whatever their situation was. Especially with Donald, who always seemed to get the worst of their mischief.
























Week Two Project: Dot Warner (Warner Brothers Production)

Dot Warner, sister of Yakko and Wakko (the Warner Brothers), also goes by "Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Bannana Fanna Bo Besca the third." The Warner siblings are known for their crazy antics and running-a-muck at the Warner Bros. movie lot. Dot is especially known for her "cuteness" and her poetry.

Week Three Project: Squirt (PIXAR Productions)
Squirt is a fun and playful sea turtle who lives in the East Australian Current. He is young and hyper and his father is Crush; they both talk with surfer accents & lingo. Awesome, Dude!

























Week Four Project: Lola (DREAMWORKS Productions)
Lola is a sensuous, gold-digging, dragon fish. She uses her feminine ways to try to get money, status, revenge and Oscar - "the Shark Slayer."


Week Five Project: Princes Leia (ILM/Lucas Films)
This project should focus on any character, alien, or space craft in an episode of StarWars.


Week Six Final Project: Character Storyboard Combining All Above Characters

Her mom and aunty have been my models for years...

... and now I had the honor of working with my newest model! Isn't she just the cutest!?

Caterpillar Close-Up

Had a chance to play with one of my macro lenses today. Needless to say, my model couldn't stay very still for long. :)

Little Wooden Boy Who Lies

I have searched the Internet high and low to see if anyone has come to the conclusion of what the name of our beloved Pinocchio truly means. To my disbelief, I could not seem to find any who have the same answer that I came up with today.

Here are a couple pages I found with some interesting answers: Yahoo! Answers and this page, which says why Gepetto named him Pinocchio, but not what his name actually means. All my searching turned up the same answers: Pine Nut, Pine, Pine Eyes and other body parts, etc.

So here is my explanation, conceptualized this 13th day of August, 2014:

The word “nocchio” means a knot in the wood; which I found by accident when looking up Gnocchi in the on-line Oxford Dictionary.

The Latin word for “pi” means law abiding.

It would make sense to conclude that "Pinocchio" translates to "Law Abiding Knot of Wood." Which is the lesson that the little wooden boy gave to us: Do what is right, abide by laws and morals.

And that, my friends, is no lie! 

:)

Tea Cup Bird Feeders

After making my bird bath (see post below) and then having to re-make my bird bath several times for reasons beyond my control; I decided the birds also needed a feeder.

I found two ceramic "Giant" tea cups from Michael's that was on sale, originally $10.99 and I got them for around $2.00 each. The saucer came glued to the bottom of the tea cups, which for me was an issue since I wanted the tea cups to be on their sides.

The glue melted right off, after running the cup under hot water for about 40 seconds.

Using the 100% waterproof Gorilla Glue, I adhered the cup to the saucer, laying it down with the handle up at the top. This way, I would be able to hang the cups by their handles.

Once dried, I was able to hang them and fill them with bird seed.

I hope the birdies like their birdy-sanctuary!