Monthly Report Cards: January Results

Continue to take pictures
Ehhh, did pretty well with this, but I didn't focus on photography this month.


Make and upload 2 videos 
Yes! Wasn't sure this would happen, but I actually ended up with 4 videos. Sure 3 of them we lame vlogs, but I did it!

Start a sewing project
I started 2, and I'm close to finishing one, and the other Mom and I are about half way through the sewing. Funny story, before we went to Oslo we started a dress. We cut it out and then basted it together. I tried it on and it was too small, how is that possible? We cut it a size too big for a reason! So a month later we find out that we miss two panels of the dress. Good thing we only basted.


Kick this cold
Yes! But everybody else got it at least once. Eww...

See how Johanna did this month.

I Built a Tardis!....er yeah I did!

 I really want to build a Tardis.
I just think that would be cool. My own tardis...... *day dreams*

Where was I? ....  oh, I really think the whole build a life sized Tardis thing is a project from home, so I keep on putting it in the back of my mind.
But I REALLY wanted to do it, there was only one thing to do: Make my door a Tardis.

 

 First I cut out a strip of paper for the sign at the top. Then I drew the letters.

 Then I traced the letters in black ink.

 Then I coloured it in with black ink.

 Then I painted (with Johanna's help) 10 large pieces of  paper with blue gouache.

Then I painted and cut out the windows, and put it all on the door. (Sorry it doesn't go all the way to the floor, but I was tired of blue hands and sitting on my cold floor. Oh look, the picture is crooked, oops.)

 

 I'm considering making panels for the door, but that's a lot of work, besides, I like her the way she is. Now I can say I have a Tardis, or my door is a Tardis. :P Not bad for an evening's work. (:

Just goes to show there are a lot of things you can do with some paper, & scissors. ;) (oh yeah and paint and a pencil and a ruler and a printer and an imagination.)

-Nicole

Last Norway Vlog

Last vlog from Norway. (:

I really liked the buildings at the Norwegian Culture Museum, but most of all I loved the Stave Church... Amazing! It's not in the video because I was busy taking pictures and being excited.

I was really hyper in the Istanbul airport, it took forever for our bags to come. :P

English Amuses Me

English book: Over the next two days you'll be writing about the life of the octopus.
Me: ....YES!

Maker Faire..... :D

Well, the whole attraction for going to the capital of Norway in January was something called Maker Faire. Maker Faire is a fair where a bunch of people come and show off what they've made. Robots, costumes, 3D printing, drones with cameras, pancake robots, and diving robots were only some of the things that came. The one we went to was a 'Mini Maker Faire', and it was nice because, as Dad said, you have time to go around and see everybody.
Funny story, the guy who started Make magazine, and Maker Faire sat beside Johanna at one of the presentations (she didn't notice though :P).

In short, the Faire was AWESOME, and I enjoyed it very much. So here's the video: (click here for the link)

First Norway Vlog

So here is the first
installment of our trip, most of the lighting is weird, thanks to the
um lights. And it's grainy because I used my iPod's camera for the
majority of
the trip. It being small and attracting less attention than my Fujifilm.
Truth be told I was terrified about filming, stage fright or something.

Vlog fright. :P

Umm so yeah, watch it, don't watch it, here it is. :)


 

We had to ask for directions to get to our hotel.
The two ladies that Mom talked to were awesome, and spoke flawless
English. Apparently English is taught in almost every grade in school,
which would account for the fact that most of the Norwegians we talked
to have 70% awesome English. How cool is that? To be able to speak more
than one language almost fluently. Makes me jealous!

Just Something Real Quick...

I just wanted to drop in for a second to say how much I enjoyed the week we spent in Oslo. It was wonderful to not have to eat a Turkish breakfast (cucumber, cheese and olives usually). And to be where it's cold and snowy :)
I vlogged the whole week so as soon as we buy more external memory for our computer I'll start editing those. :)

So while you wait:

Messing Around

I had a little photo shoot today. You know, the kind where I move my heater, sweep the floor, hang my green screen, put on different clothes, and change my hair four times.
I like doing that.

Anyways, here are some of my favourite snaps from today. All are post-processed of course, just added a back ground, and a filter so some of them. In 'studio' all I used was my reflector, camera and green screen. :)

I really love the filter on this one, and the expression.

Not sure where I was going with this expression....
But I like the creepy trees & the filter makes it awesome.

I just really like this shot.

The picture, straight from camera was quite yellow;

so I picked a yellow background and found a yellow filter.

No filter :)

Green Screen

I got a green screen set for Christmas, and I've been experimenting with it.
The first two are cropped funny because I was too lazy to move things out of the picture.

 With these two pictures I was like, hey! What if I wore the green screen?
I'm pretty impressed with the results :)

 This one I hung my green screen in my window and took the picture. When I imported it into my software it wasn't green enough so I had to paint over it in Paint (which took about forty minutes).

Choco Chomps Robbery (video 1/24)

I made my first video this year! It's not awesome, but it was kinda fun. A shout out to Sam and Johanna for acting, you guys are awesome.
If you're curious you can watch it below:


(Oh yeah, and it was going to be "Coco Chomps" but there was a misspelling :P )
Also if you have any ideas/requests for videos feel free to comment/email me, I'd love that!
-Nicole

More Stuffed Animals!

Last I mentioned it I had one sock monkey, well things have changed since then.

The current DIY stuffed animal count is four sock monkeys and two felt owls.

My collection is expanding.

DUDE - The Dolmabahçe Palace

We went to Istanbul last weekend, we visited the Grand Bazaar, and the Dolmabahçe Palace.
The palace was amazing! So much detail, and gold and crystal, just wow! They have a giant crystal chandelier that weighs 4 tons!
We toured the Palace and the Harem, both were neat, but I liked the Harem tour because there was a guy in our group that looked like Andy Serkis. Sadly they don't allow pictures inside, but here are some snaps of the outside.

 The front

 The side

Hey! We were there!

 

What is that on top of the gate??

Oh, hi random seagull!

The palace is only 150 years old (only!), but the beloved Ataturk lived there for five years, and it was also the residence of six Sultans.

The palace is right on the water (you might be able to click on the picture and in large it)

 

The Hobbit.......

Wow.....So we went to see the 

Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

Christmas eve. I was going to post this earlier, but it's hard to type when you're fangirling.

Firstly:
I liked it way better than the first one.
Secondly:
I had high expectations for the first movie, and was majorly disappointed. The Desolation of Smaug was a pleasant surprise.
Also:
Going in I had doubts about the new elf girl, Tauriel, but she turned out to be the best girl elf in all five movies. (Score!)
Cool
 I liked how in this movie you got to know the other dwarves a little better. The first movie seemed to be ALL about Thorin... 
What was the point of that?
The whole point of the opening Bree scene seemed to be for Peter Jackson to make his carrot cameo.
 And:
I loved how they did Beorn, (awesome crazy eye brows!) I can't wait to see more of him! Smaug was impressive, although I thought his scenes dragged on too long.
 SPOILER
  I hated how Smaug just up and left in the middle of his fight with the dwarves to go attack Lake Town. Dragons aren't known for their self-control; and Smaug is strangely disinterested in killing the dwarves.


In spite of the hiccups, I really enjoyed it. :)

The Videos About The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

We went to see the Hobbit Christmas eve, and I made a lame vlog. BUT the Brotherhood Workshop made better videos and they're funny. Well, hilarious:

Monthly Report Card: January 2014

January 2014!

Continue to take pictures
I won't get better if I don't practice right? 

Make and upload 2 videos 
Practice practice! We'll see if I can actually do this, I'm usually really awful at making videos regularly.

Start a sewing project
I have about three or four lined up and I've been waiting impatiently to start them. :)


Kick this cold
I caught a cold Christmas day, and I'm still trying to shake it.

Read Johanna's Report Card here.