Foods: Oat 'n Maple Scones

This past Sunday I made the most wonderful "On The Go" breakfast item. I'm not a huge cereal eater so I'm always on the look out for something I can grab before work. Smitten Kitchen had this recipe for scones that I just had to try. And man, did they turn out awesome.

On the original post, she said that the scones were stale the next day. I guess I didn't notice. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and threw it in my bag. When I got to work I heated it up in the microwave in the plastic wrap for about 30 seconds. Then I topped it with some grape jelly. Usually around 10:30 or so I would be hungry and ready for lunch. But I've been having one of these for breakfast and I'm full until lunchtime at noon. Paired with a Seattle's Best Iced Vanilla Latte and it's a breakfast of champs.

Next time, and by next time I mean this weekend, I think I'm going to try these or maybe these. We shall see.

Since I didn't do a Tuesday Tunes, I think I'm going to through it in here and call it a Thursday Tune. This past summer I discovered Ellie Goulding during my kick of British music/singers/bands/etc. She is fantastic. Tuesday I think, I came across a cover she did of Elton John's "Your Song." Fell in love with it.

Alright, off to tackle some design and hopefully go to bed at a decent hour. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.

A Little Bit of Disney's Tangled

The artwork for the end credits of Tangled? Well, it is now out on DVD and being the huge Disney/animation nerd I am, I went out and bought it. And the artwork at the end is fantastic.

I just love the ink and watercolor look. It's a nice compliment to the bright full colors of the movie. 

Also found out The Lion King will be coming out of the Disney Vault this fall. SO STOKE. It's one of my absolutely favorites. 

Now...I must got attempt to be productive in the last few hours of the day. I have things and stuff to accomplish. It's only Tuesday and I've been a-slackin'. 

"Challenge the Status Quo"

I came across this site called The Daily Love. It is full of inspiration things and stuff. I found this post entitled Be The One To CHALLENGE The Status Quo! Here's How! and wanted to share it. 

"Faith in your dreams plus persistent action in their direction moves mountains, seas and even the toughest, most impossible boundaries. Give to yourself a daily encouraging nudge to press on today.

We live in a vastly huge and infinite Uni-verse where quite literally anything is possible. The “status-quo” has believed some pretty funny things during humanity’s short time on this planet. We’ve believed that: the Earth is flat, it’s impossible to break the sound barrier (and if you do, your face will rip off), that the Earth was the center of the Uni-verse (it’s not even the center of our solar system or Galaxy), that it’s impossible for anything made out of steel to float and that smoking cigarettes was actually good for you. Not that long ago it was ILLEGAL for African Americans and women to vote in the United States!

Now, hearing all these things in today’s world should sound ridiculous, because they are truly ridiculous. Now, imagine yourself 50 years from now looking back on today. Take the point of view of 50 years from now and look back. What things did you believe simply because “the status quo” was to think that way. What things did you think might be impossible for you that you now regret not doing? What did you really WISH you had done 50 years ago that it is now impossible for you to do?

What did you KNOW in your heart was true, but were too afraid to admit and pursue? What love did you miss out on? What crazy things did you believe back then that you would NEVER believe now?

Think about this for a moment…

Now… come back to present time. It’s no longer 2061, it’s 2011. What can you change about your life today with that perspective of 50 years from now? What crazy thing do you want to start believing in and what dream, goal or aspiration do you want to pursue?

What’s really important to you now vs. 10 minutes ago before you read this blog? What would you do differently looking back on your life 50 years from now?

Also, what would you BELIEVE in? Is there something you want to create, invent or do that seems silly or strange compared to today’s standards? If so, what did the world look like 50 years from now and does that really matter anymore?

Take the bird’s eye view on life. Know that not everything we believe to be true is actually true, just like the world being flat. Leave room for miracles, for another solution and most importantly, don’t stop following your heart or pursuing your dreams. Life is far too short. Don’t hold back love. Don’t hold back your dreams.

Step into your greatness, your vision and your Highest Potential. The momentary discomfort is worth the long term reward.

I love you!

Mastin"

In My Mailbox Today...

I got something pretty exciting!

I got my necklace from The Giving Keys. It was gorgeous out today so I had to take it out for some photos. And of course, photos usually mean some design work as well. I'm excited to see what moment presents itself where this necklace will find it's new owner. 

Last week, I think, I posted that I was doing an "assignment" to help me get back into prime design mode. My cover was due Friday. And next up are the first 4 pages due in a couple of weeks. Today I just had the ideas a-flowin'. 

While working on this, I've started to listen to Doomtree again and I found this song by Sims that I really like. Particularly these lyrics:  

"What do you love, what drives you? What height above are you climbing to? What is your passion? And who else but you is going to make that happen?" TC AG by Sims

Words to live by...

A Saturday Night with Aaron Lewis

Last night I went to the Aaron Lewis and Scott Stapp show with my friend Josh. The only stuff I've heard was the stuff from Staind and Creed. So I really didn't know what to expect. It was an acoustic show and I really enjoy acoustic stuff. It was pretty decent. Aaron Lewis's stuff was a bit more country but he has a pretty good voice for it.

The only pictures I have are of Aaron. I didn't have my camera with me when Scott sang.

At one point I went from one side of the room to the other. I was the idiot running around with her camera.

He did a really great cover of Collide.

His encore was awesome. He came back out, sat at the very edge of the stage without a mic, and sang a thank you song for his fans, friends, and family. 

Aaron was really entertaining to watch. He has a fantastic stage presence and really interacted with the audience. And there were definitely a few crazy audience members who liked to yell...Plus one that did some crazy waving of the arms. It made for an interesting evening, that's for sure.

Note: These pictures are not to be taken and claimed as your own or re-distributed in any way without my permission. Thank you. 

A Look Into Pixar

Yesterday I listening to this incredibly inspiring podcast from The Pixar Podcast. It a fan-based podcast for Pixar. The particular interview I heard was with animators Austin Madison and Chris Chua. Chris worked on Wall-E, Up, the upcoming films Brave and Cars 2. Austin worked on Wall-E, Toy Story 3, Up, Ratatouille, and the new short for Brave. Talk about living an animators dream!

One of my favorite parts of the interview was when they talked about their education at Cal Arts. I had images of my college years flash before my eyes the whole time. Sitting in the labs for hours and hours surrounded by nothing but computers and fellow designers. They mentioned that some of your greatest teachers are your peers. And how true is that? As much as I loved and learned from my professors, I learned so much from the kids in my classes. We really had to rely on each other to learn new techniques, get critiques and feedback, and just for moral support. I really love the community in the design world. It's definitely a profession where everybody has each other's backs and are very supportive.

Austin Madison- CalArts/Pixar Internship Interview

Chris Chua- Animation from CalArts, junior year

I think as designers we always sit in front of our work and think or hope for perfection. Chris talked about his sophomore year while taking a class and feeling down on himself. We look at our work with such critical eyes and wanting to push ourselves to make something better and better. But he received some advice from a professor about how the people we strive to be like, our role models, it took them years to get there. So if we just keep pushing ourselves and striving to reach that level of greatness we will get there. Never stop pushing yourself and your work. It can always be better. Design is always a learning process and the work is never going to be absolutely perfect. There is always somebody out there who's better.

"Don't be under the impression that this should just be a cinch. If it's coming real easy to you, you're probably not doing it right." Chris Chua

These two guys were somebody I would love to sit down and have a conversation with. They are very humble and appreciative of their success in the field. And you can hear the passion in their voices when they are talking about what they do. 

They have a monkey running around. A monkey...

Monsters Inc. is one of my absolute favorites.

What an amazing place.

. How do you know that a person is a great animator?

"They're probably either acting their scene out in front of a mirror or they've got headsets on and their eyebrows are deeply furrowed. Whatever mouth shape their characters are making, they're slowly making that mouth shape. So basically you can tell who is a good animator by who looks the most deranged and completely lost in thought." Austin Madison

How true is that? Very. 

Pixar's next movie? Cars 2. 

Want to listen to the interview? Click here. Austin Madison has a blog you check out here and Chris does as well that you can find here.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well I've started in on my changes.

The biggest change is the name. This blog is now going to be called "Inspire Me." My original intention was for this to be the home of my artsy-crafty world. But as the days have gone on, I realized my most popular posts were the "Inspire Me" posts. It has been more for sharing what inspires me on a daily basis than anything else. When I do artsy-craft stuff I have a designer's eye and when I create designs or take photos I have somewhat of an artistic approach. They are kind of directly connected to each other. So I've decided to make this the central hub between both worlds- Handmade on Sunday and KM Design & Photo.

My URL isn't going to change from www.handmadeonsunday.blogspot.com until after the first of the month. I have been sponsoring Love, Elycia this month and don't want to mess with that. Once April hits the URL name will change so please make sure to change any bookmarks or buttons you have linked to this site. I will post that again once the change happens.

This is still a work in progress. There are still a few things I want to add and a few things that need tweaking. But I thought this was a good start and should hopefully be finished by Monday.

I think this name change will be a good one as it is more reflective of who I am and what this blog as evolved to be. I hope you find this change as pleasing as I do.

Inspire Me: Soundworks Collection

My brain has this thirst for knowledge in how things work. I really like to learn about the behind the scenes things for movies and TV. I found this podcast channel a couple weeks ago from Soundworks Collection. The ones I've been listening to are hour long discussions with the sound crews from various movies and video games.

The Sound Of:

"Toy Story 3"

I love this movie. The Toy Story trilogy is a classic. In college I learned how to animate characters to the voices. It is a huge process. I have an appreciation for what the animators go through. 

"Tron Legacy"

I haven't seen this movie yet. I didn't really want to until I listened to the podcast. Hearing all the sound effects without the visual was kind of crazy. It really made me want to see it. The sound designers get so creative in how they create the sounds. When the light bikes transform (or do whatever it is they do) they produced that sound from flipping through a deck of cards. Now that's some initiative thinking. That's one of the things I really enjoy about being a creative is problem solving.

"Alice in Wonderland"

Another movie that I love. Plus, the fact that it's made on a sound stage with green screen is so cool. Tim Burton is amazing. 

"Halo: Reach"

I'm not a gamer by any means (unless Tetris and the occasional Guitar Hero or Rock Band count) but in college one of my favorite things to do was watch a bunch of my guy friends play things like Halo and C.O.D. And it was always on a surround sound which was amazing. The sounds were always incredible and for me, besides the graphics, they really made the game.

Studio Tours

Disney Studio Tour

Universal Studios Tour

I'm hoping I kicked whatever has been making me feel like crap the last day in a half. Oh well, what can you do...

The new blog stuff is coming along and my goal is to have this thing redesigned by the weekend. 

:)

Tuesday Tunes: "My Oh My" It's Almost Baseball Season

Baseball season is pretty much here. Finally. First game for my Minnesota Twins is April 1st against the Toronto Blue Jays.

MN Twins vs. KC Royals '08

We won. Of course.

While listening to a KEXP: Music that Matters podcast at work today I came across a song called "My Oh My" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. It is dedicated to the late Dave Niehaus who was a sportscaster for the Seattle Mariners. He passed away last November. I don't think you have to be a Seattle Mariners fan to appreciate this song.

"Sunflower seeds back when me and my crew sun burnt arms. Big League Chew, yeah, we were like The Sand Lot after dinner."

Those lines just completely remind me of summers back in junior high school. I lived in an incredibly small town where we had just enough for a softball team. It was wake up, play ball, go home for lunch, play ball, go home for supper, and play ball until the sunset. We had "Town and Country" softball where all the little rinky dink towns in the area had teams and we played each other all summer, every summer. It was highly competitive. On the bus rides we would sit and figure out our batting orders and where we would be placing people in the field. 

This was my sandlot.

How I miss those days.

My favorite movie...Ever.

Now I'm off to sit on my butt, drink my OJ, watch a movie, and try to get over whatever is making me feel like crap. 

:)

P.S. I hear elsewhere in Minnesota there is a snowy thunderstorm. Jealous of that. I want a thunderstorm even if it comes with snow. 

A Designer's Weekend

This weekend has been a productive one in the world of graphic design. I've pretty much been working on design every day. It feels so good to be back into it. Marlon and I have been working with each other on a few projects. It reminds me of our Product/ID class where I'm surprised we didn't drive our professor up a wall with all of our chatter. We are a couple of people who I would love to watch on the outside to see how we interact with each other.

I've started my renovations for the blog. As the week goes on my goal is to start implementing them. There are going to be many changes made. A sneak peek:

A cryptic peek? Perhaps ;)

The other project I've been hacking away at is an "assignment" from Marlon. We decided to get me back into design he would give me deadlines. I think that is the biggest problem I was having with say the Flower Girl project. I never felt like I had to have it completed so I just shrugged it off. This however, I have deadlines for and I think I've only missed one deadline ever (due to printer issues). I want to keep that record going. 

SCENE: MPLS logo

I am working on a magazine for the MPLS area covering the music, art, and fashion scene. The intention of the name and skyline is for it to stretch to other larger cities around the country. This way, for people traveling around who are into the local stuff of a city have a publication they can turn to. My cover is due Friday. 

The two projects have really made me push PhotoShop aside and bring me back into Illustrator and InDesign. Hooray for Style Sheets and the Pen Tool.

In doing this project it has rekindled my love for Dessa. She is part of the MPLS group Doomtree. Check them out if you haven't heard them yet.

"Dixon's Girl" 

One of my favorite songs off the album A Badly Broken Code.

:)

After Some Thinking..

Last night I had a great chat with Marlon. It got me thinking about this blog and where it fits into my life. My original intention was for it to be the home for my crafty handmade stuff. But as time past and blog posts were made it kind of has turned into a hub between that crafty handmade made stuff and my design/photography side.

So...After a days worth of thinking, note taking, sketching, and what have you, I have decided I am going to be making some changes. It was a productive day in the ideation process.

But...

I don't think that I will spill the beans quite yet. Just please note, that over the next week, there will be changes. Don't be scared if things start looking funny and mismatched. There's a reason for it!

Life is starting to make a little more sense as the different parts of my creative world come together. Now I just hope some other things start to fall into place as well. Fingers crossed.

:)

P.S. After listening to some epic podcasts from Stuff You Should Know at How Stuff Works about fossils and mummies, I want to become a paleontologist or an archeologist. I love history. It's fascinating.

source

P.P.S I also listening to one by Soundworks Collection about the sound engineering in Tron Legacy. I never really had much intention of wanting to watch the movie, I'm not really a sci-fi kind of gal. However, after listening (I couldn't watch the panel at work) I've changed my mind. I want to see it now. There was a sound they used for the lightcycles I believe that was using a deck of cards. How freakin' creative and amazing is that?

source

After listening to the podcast, sound engineering sounds like fun. A lot of work, yes, but fun. There is some wicked sound editing done in Tron Legacy and it was really interesting to hear about it. That and hearing all of the layers of sound individually and then put together as one scene. It was even more intriguing not being able to see any of it. Kind of makes me appreciate the fact we are able to have sound in our movies and tv shows, years ago there was no such thing. Oh silent films...

I feel like I have too many interests for this lifetime...Graphic design, photography, art, computer animations, crocheting, baking, cooking, sewing, crafting, history, traveling, science, psychology, humanitarian things, writing, etc...I don't know what to do with it all! 

P.P.P.S. For ways to help Japan:

1. Blogger's Day of Silence & ShelterBox fundraising

2. Scout Books: 100% of profits to go Mercy Corps (I'm going to purchase some!)

3. And Zachary Levi tweeted this last night: "If you're still looking for a way to help Japan, text REDCROSS to 90999. One text = $10. Every dollar counts. Let's make a difference." A quick and easy way to help. 

Abandoned Six Flags: New Orleans

This is probably one of my favorite videos ever. Incredibly creepy, yet awesome at the same time.

I think it would have been crazy to be in there shooting video and photographs. The place reminds me so much of Zombieland (which is a fave.) It definitely has the makings for a good horror movie. Too bad they tore it down...

:) 

For Japan -- With Love

I was reading in my local newspaper a story about a girl from Velva, ND who had been missing since Monday. She was a NDSU graduate who was overseas in Kamimachi, Japan teaching English. Her family hadn't heard from her since about 45 minutes after the earthquake. She was finally able to reach her family on Tuesday morning. She is alive and well. The town she is living in is about 30 miles north of Sendia and they were lucky enough not to be hit by the tsunami. But the town is with electricity and water, but she says food and gas are becoming hard to find. She is hoping to start her return to the States Friday if her and the other American teachers can find away out of northern Japan and down to Tokyo. For the whole story, click here.

Ever Ours & Utterly Engaged are hosting a day of silence for Japan. If you have a blog, to help raise awareness of the situation overseas, don't post on Friday, March 18th. 

1. On Friday, March 18th, don't post at all on your blog.

2. Please re-post on your blog about what is happening on Friday, March 18th and what you will be doing.

3. Repost this link http://www.forjapanwithlove.com on Facebook, Twitter, wherever to help get the world out. 

They have also have a fundraising page for ShelterBox. If you would like to donate, go to For Japan With Love.  

"ShelterBox was one of THE first organizations asked by Japan to help and were on hand on the Saturday after the quake. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items."

This banner via here.

For more information about donating or the Blogger's Day of Silence, please click here.

:)

Inspire Me: Cielito Querido Café

Found this via DesignWorkLife and it's epic. Great typography and use of colors. For all you designing coffee lovers, wouldn't this be an amazing coffee shop to go to? I think so.

I love these coffee cups.

What an inspiring place.

Some great use of color and patterns.

This is found at We Heart and was reposted by DesignWorkLife. 

:)

Tuesday Tunes: SXSW

This week's playlist is a playlist I got off of iTunes for free. It is some of the artists playing at SXSW this year. I wish I was there.

If you don't know what South by Southwest is it is "a private company dedicated to building and delivering conference and festival events for entertainment and related media industry professionals." Grabbed that from their Facebook page. Each year they have this huge festival/conference and this year's is going on right now. Check out their website for tons more information. One day I will make it to it.

Some songs that weren't on Groove Shark, or at least I couldn't find them, are: 

"So Low" Talib Kweli

"Marrymake It With Me" The Republic Tigers

"When Darkness Falls" Strong Arm Steady"

"A picture of something you wish you were better at."

The piano.

My Ma taught me when I was younger but I didn't continue. I could play the keys on my right hand pretty well but always had a difficult tim reading the bass clef. I kind of miss playing. I bet my hand-eye coordination would be better. 

I wish I could have kept up learning the guitar. I was attempting to teach myself with the help from somebody way back in my freshman year of college. But that fizzled pretty quickly...Oh well. 

And somewhere in here, I goofed and when from number 14 to 16 and miss a subject somewhere. So if you noticed I missed 15 I'll have to go back and fix that. I think I need to learn how to count again...

:)

Foods: Cake Batter Pancakes

I saw this recipe and had to try it (of course). It was for Cake Batter Pancakes found on How Sweet It Is. Why not combine baking with breakfast?!

When I made mine I didn't have any assorted rainbow sprinkles. So for a topping I made my own colored sugar crystals with my ever awesome neon food coloring. 

I think next time though I may add a tad bit more cake mix than it calls for and cut down the flour. And maybe add a pinch more vanilla. 

They were pretty delish. Try it out.

:)