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?

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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!