Hello Class of 2011

This week was filled with graduations everywhere. Congrats to you all! Yesterday, I attended my cousin's graduation in Davis.

Before her graduation, she had asked me to decorate her graduation cap :) I had so many options. Do I use rhinestones? Paint? Should glitter be involved? How about just the ears and bow?

I stuck with something simple: her face with a cute bow.

I drew out a template.

Made her face using some shiny scrapbooking paper.

Made her bow out of red fleece.

I didn't have red thread, but I figured if I sewed well enough, you shouldn't notice.

Nothing goes to waste. The scraps that were left over from cutting out the bow pieces were used to stuff the bow.

Used the embroidery method to sew the indentation in the bow.

Aw, it's cute already.

I didn't want to cut a hole in her head, but the tassel had to go somewhere.

lol, she looks funny. I just drew her eyes in with a pen and sharpie, and colored her nose with a gold gel pen and nail polish.

Time to sew the bow on her head.

I wanted to be done here, but she's kind of naked without her whiskers.

Took me awhile to think of a solution, but I managed to find some black yarn around my house. I wrapped the yarn around some pipe cleaners to make her whiskers.

And, done.

Hello Kitty in action. Can you spot it?

Hello Grad

LOVE YOU, JACKIE!

French Horn Cake

I know I've been lagging on my 30 day challenge... or what has now turned into a 30-drawings-to-do-whenever-I-have-time challenge. haha. I've been busy working on side projects which have piled up this week, because it is the last week of school for most people.

Aside from plushtography stuff, I've been working on graduation gifts.

My brother asked me to make a cake for his friend who wanted to surprise the graduating seniors. It just had to be the most complicated instrument.

So much tubing. 

I tried to make it as accurate as I could, but the tubes ended up being a little thin. sigh.

Congrats to the graduates everywhere!

Jen Going On 30

Cat "ordered" a cake from me for her cousin's birthday (this past Saturday, 5/21). After much discussion, from time capsules to Jacob's abs, we settled on something simple and meaningful.

I was inspired by one of i am baker's cakes.

[click picture to view her blog post]

Originally, I had planned to put an hourglass in the middle of the cake, because one idea Cat had was to make an hourglass cake. However, I didn't plan my red food coloring usage properly, so I ran out after making two layers. So I just kept it simple by making a colorless layer to make the cake taller, and cut each layer in half to create more layers. It made the inside more colorful too.

My crazy work station.

I was told to make the 30th large.

Cat sent me a bunch of quotes and inside jokes to decorate the cake with.

I should have written smaller

so things wouldn't look so crowded.

Jen likes grey

but pink is starting to grow on her.

 The following pictures are from Cat.

The birthday girl, Jen :)

mmm, cake.

Did I mention it was six layers?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN!

Day 01: Yourself

I know I said I would have this done sometime last week, but I ended up with other projects to work on (will post those later).


I have tried drawing a self portrait before in class, but that did not turn out very well, so I was kinda hesitant to start this one. I was going to draw this without using an eraser, and then give a spiel about how you shouldn't erase what's natural.... but I couldn't shake my perfectionist habits. (I did keep the erasing down to a minimum though) It's still not perfect, but I think I captured my likeness, and I believe that's important when drawing a portrait.

For this challenge, I picked a candid photo. I wanted something that showed my personality, and I think this photo captured my calm (or boring) nature. It was taken by a friend while we were at Stinson Beach last summer. hmm, I wonder what I was thinking about.

Next challenge: favorite animal

Challenge Accepted

I rarely ever take part in these things, but I could use this as an excuse to draw. I've been in a creativity lull, so hopefully this could help relight the fire. lol.

I probably won't do it everyday, as the challenge suggests, but I will do at least one each week. This way I can spend more time on each, instead of rushing through each challenge every 24 hours. I just hope I don't get too lazy and give up.

Update on my projects:


Plushtography: waiting on the dang tags! Please subscribe in the meantime: www.plushtography.com


Mini projects:


Secret Santa present: Finished, and exchanged 
Chris: Drawing on his external harddrive (postponed)
Cat's present: Finished, and delivered...but forgot to take a picture
Cousin's birthday: Tiramisu and drawing
Nikki's birthday 4/20: Giant's cupcakes and NSYNC related cake. With Alane as my sous chef.

Sean's birthday 5/12: Snickerdoodles, and drawing (I will get on that... soon)
Liz: Cat plushies
Dad's birthday 5/29: Raiders ipod/phone cozy
Graduation gifts: Finish drawing I started last year. Baked goods.
My aunt: drawing of our cat


First of the 30 day challenge to come later on this week.


Yeno what would be kinda cool? If there was a craft bachelorette. Date would be determined by creativity. hahahaha, just a thought ;)

Baby DIVA, Jillian Elizcen, is Nine!

Last week Cat asked me to make a cake for her niece, Jill, who is turning 9 today. For inspiration, Jill lent me 18 of her favorite erasers out of the 128 that she owns. The 18 included: 2 hamsters, a pig, a panda, a donut, 2 cakes, cookies, mochi, teacups, dolphins, crabs, and angel fish. So much randomness... I picked the animals.

I piped the animals all around the cake. Excuse the poor lighting.

Mochi inspired top.

Jill loved it.

It was all red velvet, even the mocha looking center, which was just lacking the red food coloring (I ran out).

Her party was at a paint-your-own-ceramics place called "Color Me Mine." It was a lot of fun! I thought it was funny that out of the ten people who painted, only 4 were actually kids. We couldn't take them home yet, because they still have to glaze them, so I have to wait until Cat delivers mine to me.

Jill's biggest surprise of the day... A PUPPY!

Meet the giant hamster dog, Nala Cupcake Ramirez.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JILL!