5.19.2015

The Adventures of Stanky and Amazing Gracie Book Design



I was able to work on this fun little book a few months back. It is about a little girl who still loves her blankie and uses it as as her superhero cape. The book follows her on her adventures to find out what her superpowers are. The story is super cute!

I designed the Cover and did the page layout for this book. The best part of working on this book was seeing the illustrations come in. I was truly amazed that the illustrations for this book were done by a 15 year old artist.

To find out more about this book and how to purchase a copy go to Pigsfly Publishing's website. To follow the progress of the story you can follow the Facebook page for The Adventures of Stanky and Amazing Gracie.

5.12.2015

Universal's Diagon Alley Adventures

We went to Universal Studios a couple of weekends ago, to see the new Harry Potter section, Diagon Alley. I was so excited to see this new part. I had seen the first section Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure about 5 years ago.

We ended up staying at The Fountains which is one of the Bluegreen Resorts. It was a beautiful resort. The beds were super comfy. We ended up in a 2 bedroom and asked a couple friends if they would like to come stay with us.






These carp were in the lake of the resort. They were huge!


We went to Universal the next morning. We did end up at both sides of the park but I didn't take pictures of Hogsmeade because I had already been there 5 years ago. I wish I would have taken pictures of the Train and during the ride over to Diagon Alley. When we got off the train in looked just like the Knight's Crossing Train Station. Before you get to the entrance of Diagon Alley you see the Knight Bus parked out there.


You can also see the outside of Grimmauld Place. If you look in the window you can see Kreacher peeking out at you.


The entrance to Diagon Alley was just like in the book and the movies. It was hidden behind a brick wall. When you enter the first thing you notice is the dragon on top of Gringotts.


We did ride the Escape from Gringotts ride. This ride was really fun, I liked it better than the Hogwart's Castle ride. While waiting in line you go through the bank and towards the vaults.



Here are a couple more shots of the dragon!


He also breathes fire every so often.


They had a store called The Money Exchange where you can exchange regular money for Gringott's Certificates that you can spend throughout the park. You can also buy little trinkets and a gift set of the coins. While you are waiting in line there is an interactive goblin that will answer questions while you wait. I asked him if he would smile so I could take his picture. This is his smile!


They also added Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. This store had all the candies mentioned in the stories, like Puking Pastilles, Nose Bleed Nougat, Fever Fudge, and Fainting Fancies. There were also a bunch of the jokes and gadgets from the stories. They also had the love potions and the pygmy puffs. They were so cute.




Here are some random shots from the area.



They now sell these interactive wands and have little interactive areas throughout the Harry Potter areas. There is a little plate that tells you the motion that you need to do with the want to get the interactive area to work. This one if you did the spell correctly the umbrella would rain.



They also had Knockturn Alley with Borgin and Burkes down in there. It is really dark down there but neat to check out.



This window of shrunken heads was down in Knockturn Alley. They were all talking to each other. Then I realized this was another one of the interactive things. When you get the spell correct they start singing!


I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was so excited to see everything. I also enjoyed 2 Butterbeers while there, they are delicious.

As we were walking around the rest of the park, the boyfriend noticed they had people dressed up in Transformer costumes. We sat out there and watched them for a bit. They had Bumblebee and Megatron!



We had such a blast! I would love to go back in a smaller group when I know it isn't going to busy and get some better pictures. I took most of these with my iPhone but I would love to take the DSLR with me next time.

5.05.2015

April Adventures

April was a pretty quiet month. 

Here are a couple of my Sun photo's I enjoy taking. The first one was a sun rise on a rainy morning.



There was a woman that was feeding the ducks at my Mom's nursing facility. I enjoyed seeing the little ducklings, they were so cute.



The area that I park at for work has a fence with Jasmine vines all over it. Smelling the Jasmine makes me think of my Mom, she loves that scent.


I took a picture of some doodles I did at work. Sometimes the computers are super slow and I tend to doodle while I am waiting.


I was able to finish one of my LifeBook Lessons; the Tree of Life.


I also started on the next one. I shared this picture on Instagram to show off the textures.


So I thought I would share my story of the significance of 11:11. I had never noticed this number before and it never seemed to have any significance to me. Going on 4 years ago my Mom ended up in a coma from a brain aneurysm that ruptured. When she was still in the coma, I would start seeing the 11:11 pop up all over the place. It seems to fade away and then start popping up again. A few months ago a meme popped up in my Facebook feed and what it said really resonated with me. "11:11 is the calling card for beings that are half angels and half humans." ~George Barnard.


The end of April is the boyfriend's birthday and I took him out to dinner and got him a watch. The weekend after his birthday we went to Universal Studios. I will share those photos in their own post, so look out for that.

I finished the 2nd Outlander Book: Dragonfly in Amber. The start of this book was a bit confusing but pushing through I started understanding what was going on. These books are really interesting and I am starting to become attached to the characters and wanting to know more. I plan to continue reading the rest of the series. Although I took a break from this series to read the last book of another series I have been reading. I am really sad to see this series end because it has been one of my favorites to read the past couple of years. It is the Rachel Morgan Series by Kim Harrison, the last book is called A Witch With No Name. So far it has been nonstop action.

I hope everybody had a wonderful April and look forward to a great May!