So I went on living my life

First of all, yesterday, was a hair-travesty. I spent too long trying to arrange it, it all went wrong and finally I gave up and went out in public anyway.

Okay, to class that day: Package design.
I'm excited about this class and I have designed a line of packaging for sewing kits.

We had to have our four boxed items and four label items printed, cut out and folded before class. Our teacher, however gave us the first hour of class to finish up an building we had to do. Mine was all done and arranged and pictures taken (of course) so I decided to help a classmate of mine, Brad.
He's doing a package design for tools and hardware and his box idea is pretty neat. The top is the shape of the tool used to install the hardware inside, so if it's nails, then the top looks like a hammer. But the top is cut and slit so it stands up and looks like a hammer head banging down on the box.
He wasn't finished cutting and folding, so I helped him to assemble everything.

Next, the whole class (and our teacher) critiqued each others work and we got to keep our critique sheets. My critiques weren't too bad. I do agree with some of the comments about type and font and the background being changed, plus I already had a list of things I wanted to tweak.

Now, today, my friend Marci and I drove over to a paper store on Peak St. called Paper Arts. She had been there before and it was a really cool store. It reminded me of the paper store I went to in Japan. Lots of large sheets of all kinds of paper from all over the world are kept in drawers, hanging on racks or slid into slots. So many textures and colors. We walked around touching everything and were kept company by Pearly, the head of consumer affairs. I decided on purchasing an Italian handmade cold-pressed half sheet to make my illuminated page for my Art History Project, which I'm going to draw in pen and ink. Yes, I'll have a picture of that when I'm done, too.

After the store, we drove around since I was not familiar with this neighborhood, because after all when one rides along with Vicki, one does not just simply go to the destination and come back. No! We explore! And Marci of course was up for it. Here are some pictures of what we found and also here is a picture of what I have designed so far and soon I will have another picture to show the updates.
Enjoy!

my boxes that hold tools like
scissors, seam ripper...

labels: these are repair kits. I'm using a cassette tape case.
I'm the only one in class putting the label inside rather
than outside on the product.

what Stormtrooper Fred does while I'm at school if he doesn't go with

meet Pearly, who greeted us when we arrived at Paper Arts

inside Paper Arts

some random art we found on Gaston

a really cool tree in a church yard on Skillman!

some antique beaded flowers we saw at a shop called Random.

Choose a photo, any photo....

Field trip!

My classmate, Scott, and I drove over to the nearby town of Coppell where Gemmi Industries is located. This company is responsible for designing, creating and producing most of those huge inflatable yard decorations, costumes and LED lights.
We got to see the designers work areas, mock-up room, photography and sound rooms and the showroom where all the new year's stuff is on display. We also were able to talk to a few designers in in mock-up and production. Some of them graduated from my school!

I felt really excited to be in a work environment where I felt like I belonged! This place would be a dream job for me. It is a place where innovation is encouraged and creative expression is broadly apparent. The place seems pretty laid back as well even though they work pretty fast-paced. I think I could handle it.

I like that we were able to take this trip because this gives me more of an idea of what to expect in this field I'm learning.

The Human Resources director was on our tour also, helping us ask and answer questions. She passed out her business card to all of us and encouraged us to join LinkedIn. I had already set up an account a while back, but never really did anything with it. Now I have some updates, but I want to put a new profile picture up....which one of these should I choose?

Leave your comment on the Facebook post or email me: vic.w@mail.com

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I dreamed of Danny Trejo...

In Photoshop class, that is, I made this impressionist type thing of Machete himself!
I pretty much bombed my exam, but my teacher said that the projects I was turning in count more than the exam and I'm doing well on those. It's because I get to use my notes on  my projects!! Otherwise, I can't remember how to do shit in Photoshop.
The exam basically consisted of me staring at my screen for 20 minutes just shaking my head and saying under my breath "I have no fucking idea what he's talking about here." - then turning in blank digital copies.
Have I mentioned how much I HATE PHOTOSHOP!!!

Now on to more pleasant news: a few weeks ago my friend, Corina, who still lives in Amarillo called me up and told me about a scrapbook retreat at a woman's house in Ft. Worth who we both know. Well, since work has been slow and I wasn't scheduled on Saturday, I said, "Hell yeah!"
Off to Ft. Worth I went, about a 45 minute drive...unless you get lost, like I did.
I finally found my way to the house after going the wrong way twice.
I really needed a break from being in my apartment and thinking about school (read Photoshop class) and I was glad to see some women I haven't seen in a while. I realized I do miss my friend Corina, so hopefully over spring break I can drive up to Amarillo and stay a few days.

For now I got to concentrate on my Package Design Class and my next Art History project. So stay tuned to see how those are turning out!

Oh, before I forget, for my Package Design class, I did chose to go with the sewing supplies. I'm packaging starter kits in pizza slice shaped boxes with a cool denim art piece and I'm labeling some repair kits by upcycling a cassette tape case! I will post pictures when I get my mock ups done.

Also, for those of you unaware, I have a small trouble maker in my apartment I call Stormtrooper Fred. I have taken pictures of him wreaking havoc wherever he goes on my Pinterest page, so check it out!

Guess I need to step it up

It's mid term week at school...yes, already!
So far I've taken one written exam which was in Art History. I know for sure I missed 3 questions, but I feel pretty confident about the rest. The test was divided into several parts. One we had to identify the piece, name the time period, the artist (if known), the medium used and type of art it is and where it is from.   For example,
This krater is "Achilles and Ajax playing dice" by Exekias, ceramic in the Archaic Period found in Vulci, Italy.

That was easy, I remembered all those things. Another part was labeling an ancient map. Also easy, I love maps. We had vocabulary, which I missed one because all her definitions did not match mine so I'm going through thinking, "It sounds like it's this, so I'm putting this." Another part was naming different parts of a basilica and parts of a column and what order it was, like Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Tuscan. Those were pretty easy. We also had to put art pieces in order by the period they emerged. I think I got two mixed up.
I took longer than a lot of students. When the first guy got up and turned in his paper, I was only about 2/3 done and thought "How did he get done so fast? He must have skipped parts or left parts off."
When I got done, there were about 5 of us left and an hour to go.
I do like Art History, but there is just SO much information to cram into 11 weeks! And I have to register for classes for next quarter already so I want to be sure to take Art History II with this teacher so I won't forget anything and I already know what to expect from her.

In my Graphic Symbolism class and Package Design classes, I have the same teacher and he takes all the grades he's given us from our Process Notebooks, combines them and that's our Midterm grade. I have B in both classes. It's my fault though for not putting every single detailed thing in the notebook. This guy is very particular. But he said he will regrade the whole process book at the end so I have time to make it up for any parts I left out. I feel better about that because it was just a few things that I now  know what to put.

Now comes Photoshop. That starts today at 6pm (Friday the 14th). I've already talked to my teacher about my feelings about the exam and the fact that we can't use our notes and how I feel about Photoshop. He said don't stress over it because he's going to go one step at a time and if anyone missed anything they can go back and do it again. But my friend Nick will be next to me, so I can probably just ask him.
Also, when I was in the student lounge on break between classes, I was talking to some other students about Photoshop and I'm so glad to find out I'm not the only one that feels the way I do!! My new friend, Brad (a strapingly young bearded guy) said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. You just do a little,  cuss, go cry in the corner for five minutes then come back."
 Finally! Someone else understands me!

I'm gonna diiiiiiiiieeeee

As you probably know, Photoshop and I are not friends. I may need to start drinking before this class, too. Not because of the teacher. My teacher is great, one of my favorites. It's just Photoshop. I can't handle it.
During a lesson today, I got lost and yelled out "What the Fuck?!"
I'm pretty sure I offended a few people, but oh well.
My friend, Nick sits right next to me so he was able to put out that fire before it went any further.
I managed to complete the in class assignment, but it really sucked compared to everyone else's.
Now, we need to do a similar thing on our own and I have NO IDEA what I'm going to make. My creativity is being blocked by technological devices. Once I do figure out what I'm going to make, then I have to figure out HOW to make it using the Photoshop skills we should already know and learned today.
I'm screwed. Especially next week when we have a mid-term project to do in class. If I can't use my notes, I may as well just skip class. I'll get the same grade for just sitting there staring at the screen for an hour.

I hate Photoshop!

I actually made this in Photoshop class. This is as far as I got.More stuff I managed to make in this alien class is on mypage called "Stuff I made (Check me out)"

I hate you, period.

I'm probably the only woman in the world who is looking forward to menopause because I'll finally be warm. And I won't have to deal with this scenario anymore:

I wake up, feeling like hammered shit, there's a bloody pool of goo in my underwear, I've got a headache, backache, neck ache, an everything ache and I'm out of pads and pills.
So I manage to get myself to a store where I stumble to the aisles to grab my personal things, find my way to the register to pay. I throw my things on the counter and the clerk has the nerve to say, "Hi! How are you?"
I really have to control myself to not start screaming "Seriously???!!! You're asking me how the fuck I'm doing when I'm buying pads and pills, wearing a stained sweatshirt and over-sized pants and I look like death slightly warmed over????!!! How the fuck do you THINK I'm doing???!!!"

So, I'd like to throw up a huge proverbial middle finger at this entire week!