Sock it to me!

Well after a wonderful weekend spent with friends visiting from Arizona, it is now Monday and it is back to the grind. At work I have to adhere to the Stampington & Company design look, and although I love my job and their designs, I miss the total creative freedom that I had in college. In order to still test my imagination and design I want to look into as many design contests as possible. Jessica found this 'design a sock contest' and I am really excited to submit some socks. I am posting the link so if you or anyone else you know has interest in designing you can all submit! I'll also post my sock ideas as I finish them for you to see and give feedback on.

Sock it to me link

So far I only have one design, I call it The Gladiator! haha. Kind of silly, but it could be cute and fun and if you know me, you know that I am obsessed with the movie The Gladiator, so it seems kind of perfect for me :) Let me know what you think and if there is anything in particular you would like to see as a sock!

Happy Monday to you!

It's a miracle...

two posts... in two days! Here is a little something that I made for my computer desktop. It has some lyrics from one of my favorite songs by The Muse with an image of the wedge at the end of Balboa Penninsula. I am showing you the before and after image, because if you look closely, you will be able to see where I used some photoshop to fake a group of birds. Sneaky sneaky!

BEFORE

AFTER

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

I am obviously not a blogger and I am not a photographer...

But with the help of an amazing HTC phone application, Vignette, I have some pretty fun pictures to post and look at.

(Mallory, Jessica, and Glenda)
I am pretty much obsessed with this photo.

Even after a few days of rain,
 the sun makes a bright appearance on our day off of work.

In other news, some of my best friends from AZ are visiting this next weekend and to say that I am excited would be an understatement. I'm having fun out here and have made some good friends, but I am always missing the people that I love in the desert.

Playing Catch-Up

this never seems to get old

I find myself playing catch-up today. I am all caught up on my work at work, but I am slacking on my personal "work." My online portfolio is in dire need of updating and my sock monkey site needs to be up and running fully by January 1st. With Thanksgiving coming and going and no new posts on this blog, I feel like asking myself what the heck have I been doing?!

i guess a little less of this, and more work!

My Thanksgiving was wonderful, probably my favorite yet. My time in Arizona was well spent with family and friends, eating, and gingerbread house making. All of the fun made it even harder to come back to California this time. It's funny, I thought my desire for home would lessen as time went on, but I am finding that it is quite the opposite.

A couple weeks ago Katie got to come out here for a night (she was actually here for a seminar in Anaheim, but I stole her for the night). I loved having her out here, it felt just like our college days with fun conversation and silly behavior. I can't wait for her and Kimmy to visit in February!

This past weekend my mother and grandmother were able to come out and visit me (having visitors is like the greatest thing ever because it brings a sense of home to Cali). They helped me decorate the house with some Christmas decorations (pictures will be posted soon hopefully) and we visited Laguna, downtown Orange, and a bike shop! Christmas came early for me this year, and santa mim and dad with some help from my grandma got me a beach cruiser. I have wanted one since moving out here, and I have already been on a couple bike rides, I forgot how happy a bike ride is.

i don't know what's cuter... my new bike or my grandma?!

Of course other things have been going on here and there and I won't bore you with any more details, but time is going by so fast I can't seem to keep up. This week is all about getting my work done and preparing for Christmas. Can't wait to celebrate!!!

CHALLENGE results 2 and 3

This week has been dedicated to Harry Potter. I have been re-reading the last book and watching movies 1-6 in order to be refreshed and ready for the new movie coming out this weekend. You are probably asking yourself, "does Mykaela know how nerdy she sounds right now?" And the answer is Yes, I absolutely know how ridiculous this makes me seem, and trust me, the guy working at Blockbuster made sure to remind me how silly I am for loving all things Harry Potter.

Anyways, getting back on subject... Since I have been watching a movie a night I have been trying to be somewhat productive by crafting. You remember the challenge I posted a few days ago? Well, I have two new results for you:

mailing label and postage side.

pretty side!

First, I used the papers to wrap a journal that my sister and I send to each other back and forth. I made sure to layer it multiple times (might not be the most fun thing to unwrap) in case it gets tossed around. After making several layers, and using tape to bind them, I ripped out images and placed them on one side and then used a permanent marker to ad some details.

the colors surprisingly look really good

I promise they look much better in person!

For the 2nd result, I decided to get in the Christmas mood (Harry Potter movies always make things feel like Christmas) and make christmas trees. I first wrapped a few pieces of paper around each other to make a cone shape. Then, rip up the papers in squares (I chose to rip instead of cut for a more vintage look) and then begin taping them onto the cone, starting at the bottom of the tree and moving your way up to the top. I actually really like how these look, the mixture of colored paper with the white paper gives it a kind of snowed upon look. I may try to make some and possibly paint on them as well. We shall see!

So if you feel like crafting while watching a movie, these are great exercises because they don't take too much attention, just repetitive steps. And please forgive the poor lighting in these photos, it was a little later at night with not the best lighting!

A Mini Vacation

40th Pier

This weekend was the first weekend that I basically stayed put in Newport, and it was so nice. It's hard to come back to work today when I know that the beach and is waiting for me 150 steps from home. I'll give you a run-down of my weekend, almost the perfect weekend (would be perfect if I had my family and friends here to share it with me!)

Friday: 

• I was an old lady and hopped in bed around 8, read some Harry Potter, and fell asleep by 9. (what has become of me?!)

Saturday:

• Woke up at 8:30 (shocking, I know!) 
• Jessica and I walked to Starbucks (about a 15 minute walk). We then decided to go for a walk around the peninsula a bit and looked at shops and paddle boarders wading through the bay. 
• We then walked to the beach. There must have been a high tide because there were beautiful seashells scattered over the sand. I gathered as many as I could and we brought them home for cleaning. (I have some projects in mind to use these beauties up!)
• After that, we got in my car and drove to Ikea on a misssion to find my mom some stacking tables. Thankfully they were there and the mission was a success!
• While Jessica took a nap, I decided to go for a jog. I made it to the pier and back and on the way home I felt myself smiling like an idiot. I couldn't help it, I think while running along the boardwalk it finally clicked, "oh ya, I live here." 
• Tired and out of breath, I came back home and showered. Then Ashley and Mallory were able to come over to the place for the first time and we all went out to Rudy's and Malarky's for the night.
• To conclude our night we went to a local pizza shop and had the best pizza I have ever had!

Sunday:

• I woke up to find Jess still asleep so I got dressed and walked to Starbucks, for the first time, alone. It was such a lively atmosphere over in the Starbucks shopping area, so it felt great to sit outside there and drink my coffee while reading a chapter or two if Harry Potter. 
• I then walked back home, cleaned the house a bit, then grabbed a blanket and sat out at the beach. I was on the phone with my mom (I somehow get to share really special moments with her oftenly) when I saw a group of dolphins swimming by surfers in the ocean. They were so cool looking and it was as if they were just taking a Sunday stroll.
• Jessica then met me at the beach and we sat, talked, and I read more of my book. Then we decided to build a sandcastle. 
• After spending the day at the beach, we decided to go home, get cleaned up, and conclude our weekend with dinner and coffee (decaf) at Alta (a neighborhood cafe). We got some more walking in, ate a good meal, and walked on home. 
• I got ready for bed, read a bit more, and fell asleep. 

The weekend felt productive and yet like a mini vacation. I can't wait for family and friends to come visit and share in the beach life living with me!

collected seashells

so many surfers to watch

our sandcastle

our ikea trip is making me think that this is what i want
for my room decor. thoughts?

CHALLENGE!

Only about 1/4 of the paper I have hoarded over the past 5 months

Although it seems like things these days are all electronic and computer based, magazines seem to still be thriving. I honestly think (and hope) that books and magazines never get lost in all the new gadgets and technology. There is something so comforting and fun to be able to physically touch and flip through a thick book or lay out a group of magazines on a coffee table as decoration. Having said that, I do think it is sad to see how much paper a company, such as a magazine publisher, goes through in such a short period of time. 


At work, we make what we call, "color books," which is basically the whole magazine printed out in color on paper. These color books are very necessary, because you would be surprised at the edits that tend to get lost on a computer screen compared to being printed out on a piece of paper. The editors look over these color books and make edits that we (graphic designers) then have to fix. Once fixed, we re-print out the pages to be looked over and approved. All of this printing is definitely needed, but watching the printer continuously spit out paper makes me think of the cartoon movie, Ferngully (haha I know how ridiculous that is).


It only took me about 5 months to finally decide that I needed to put all those discarded pieces of paper to use, and so the challenge began! I am to use all of the old edited pages to recycle them into crafts. I am not setting any kind of limits on this challenge, the one and only goal is to just use that paper towards something else! I plan on continuously posting pictures of any crafts that I end up making having to do with this challenge, hopefully some neat things come out of it. 


I challenge you to take a look at anything that you may consider waste (people not included haha) and try to make something out of it.
  

First finished project from the challenge. I have become incredibly obsessed with making lists, so this is my "new"
list book. Thankfully I work on magazines that have beautiful photography, so my recycled papers are pretty appealing!

Detail of book tabs.