Wrapping Up...

That blog title really does have more than one meaning! The last few weeks have been full on to say in the least — I've finally finished Uni!! It's been an emotional couple of weeks with putting together my end of year portfolio and everything has come to a grinding halt in that respect. Lucky though that Christmas is nearly upon us and the busy market season is stepping up a gear (or seven it actually feels like...)

Crafternoon Tea
The Christmas edition of Crafternoon Tea was on the 12th of December. It was great to see a hall full to the brim of quality, local crafters like Songbird Designs, Paper Pesto, Skipapple, Ran With Scissors, Books By Rachel, Flossies Fancy, Leila Loves Handmade and PLENTY more. The day itself was a little on the quiet side but a few people did really well so that was great.

Me and my table

Busy shoppers

My lovely table

My Bunny Christmas Puds! More for sale at this weekends markets.

End of School....
This year has been FULL of changes for me. I was made redundant in February, had an emergency trip to the hospital and came back minus an appendix, began my own craft based business and enrolled back at Uni for the second time in 8 years. After some first day jitters, it's all now done and dusted. It's weird — it feels amazing to have completed something that was a huge goal, but at the same time a little sad as I won't be heading into school each day, on a mission to finish that massive goal I set myself back in March. But it is also exciting as a new part of my life is starting, accompanied by a shiny and sparkly new qualification.
My end of year portfolio was very well received and according to my tutors that there were some excellent comments from the industry panel of judges — I had some of my Bam Bam Creative work there which I'm told they thought was great. I came out with a B+ for my portfolio which put me 4th in the class and counts towards 50% of my final grade, I'll be finding out my final grade just after Chritmas so fingers crossed...
I have set up a new blog for me as a Graphic Designer, it's still a work in progress so do take a moment to check it out if you fancy.
Well, that's it from me for today, but I have lots of new and exciting things to post about before the weekend — so stay tuned!

Jess x x x

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I am just hiding under this rock...

Just so you know, I'm going to have a little hide under my rock for a while and bash out some Uni work. Uni at the moment it just getting a little crazy, our last Illustrator project is this week, and we have our summitive next week. I've been doing a little bit of research and will hopefully be all good, but I just need to put my head down, bum up, focus, focus, focus and draw about a million thumbnails (ugghhh). So apologies in advance for being a bit of a snob for the next couple of weeks.

Don't forget that this weekend is also The Devonport Craft Market on the shore-side. If you can, it would be great to have you come along and check it out. For more information, visit The Devonport Craftmarket blog. Come and say hi!

So when I finally have a little breather, I'll be posting....

• Photo's and the low down on June Kraftbomb
• My Illustrator projects; beer label, self promotional CD, packaging summitive (pressure!!)
  
• Devonport Market photo's and the low down
• General happiness from my little corner
  

P.S: Got my marks back for the Photoshop summitive and I got a B for the design and some really fantastic positive feedback!! Hurrah!!

Keep it crafty my lovelies xxx

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Phew, all finished...

It's been a long week! And I am very proud to say that I have finished my assignment EARLY and handed it in earlier today. I really thought that it was going to take much longer, but once I broke it down into little bits it wasn't nearly as bad.

We had to design a character to be made into a Wall Decal, along with the logo and packaging to go with it and it needed to be a suitable style so it could be sold in Iko Iko in Auckland. I decided not to go the super easy route and redesign my own stuff (hehe) and I wanted to do something that wasn't quite my style, just to show a bit of variety with my work (as one does).

On Tuesday we had an awesome talk from the guys from Muk Puddy who had some great pointers about character design and animation in general - it was such an interesting tutorial! I really liked the use of flat colours that they were into and basic shapes. While I was researching, I also came across Toki Doki, which is usually not my thing, but some of his stuff was pretty cool.

So I got pen to paper and after filling up pretty much my entire journal, I came up with this little lady. I think she's so sweet, and it was so much fun to do something different. I wanted to use shaded colours rather than black lines, and simple shapes - and she's definitely something that I will revisit later for my portfolio to refine a wee bit, but for now, boxes checked and I'm happy!

Here's the pic of my client composition...

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Latest Design...

So this is the latest creation of mine for Uni, was a bit more interesting than the last few I have posted! I made it to the MDS blog as the pick of our class who had the strongest design. I was pretty damn chuffed...

AND I have designed the new website for Bam Bam Creative, just working on finding someone to code it for me! It's taken me months so it'll be great to have it all up and running. I bought my domain names a while ago and it's been a work in progress since.

Basically it'll be awesome, and will split into 2 parts with my design on one part, the crafty stuff on another! I can't wait to have everyone see it.

Keep it crafty x x x

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officially, I'm a student - my ID tag says so

So yes, I have almost finished my second week as a fully integrated student, and I have to say, I quite like it. A whole new world of discounts has opened up to me, as I now have a proper student ID card. As someone who has pretty much not had the advantage of the student discount, since I was in High School (at least 10 years) it really is great. All those times that my friends got in places cheap, got the good price at the cinema or on a bus when we were teenagers and I didn't, my how the tables have turned.

Discounts aside, my course is excellent. Really fast paced and we are being taught so many great skills. I can't wait to learn even more (what a geek I can hear you say from here, shush you), being an older student really puts a value on education. Literally. And when you're hit in the pocket you sure know about it.

Life is gooooooood x x x x

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Fisrt day jitters...

So, I'm not all about my new business (although it's starting to take over my little house!) and today is my first day back at Uni. After being made redundant and a rushed trip to the hospital (both, unrelated I might add) it gave me a new found appreciation for loads of things - and education was one of them.
I was one of those people that really stuffed around at College. I was at Art College, so I could do my coursework in my sleep as it never really felt like work. But I did take it for granted and walked away when I was ONE PAPER from finishing. Now I'm older, it was my one major regret, so after the whole 'recession' thing kicked in saw it as a great opportunity to snatch back my education with a new found respect.

So today, is my first day back and I'll be starting a Diploma in Graphic Design. Class doesn't start until 1pm this afternoon, and it's like I'm in a waiting room with a pending awful examination in the wings....

I was having all these horrible flash backs from my first day at Intermediate (middle school), just feeling so, so awkward and hoping until it hurt that people wouldn't hate me. Being a whole lot older, I thought it would be easier - but there is still that lingering feeling of being 12 again...

Fingers crossed I don't make a total dick of myself.

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