I'M FREEEE!!!!!

So, now that I'm out of school, and summer is here, and life is good.

My last few weeks of school consisted of Prom (which was awesome!), Town Hall (my performing arts final, we all dressed as a character and had to spend an hour and a half being that character), scrificing my BFF in a rain dance (oh, the things you do on the last day of school ;p) and playing lots (and lots and lots and lots) of mafia!

Finals week was insane, and I'm not entirely sure what happened. I do know that on Thursday, after finishing our last exam, a bunch of friends and I went to the mall and hung out for a while. It was really fun and somewhat sad, since we won't be going to school together next year.

Oh, yeah, I'm going back next year! After a lot of indecision and weighing options, I decided to stay. I'm praying that I made the right choice... I'll be taking honers Chem and English, so that should be good. Yep.

On Friday my family packed up and went to my second house, where we stayed the weekend. My mom's side of the family came up on Sunday, it was so much fun! The tops of my hands got burned, though :p

Over all it was a great time :)

~Shaak Ti

Kraken Con 2014

(I made a page with all of my cosplays, and it's going to be updated with each of my costumes... check it out!)


Oooh look what I finally got around to! I guess I've been building up to this for the past... 4 posts or so? Well, here I am, finally posting about the big day :p

Who all went: Dad, my mom's parents (Grand and Big-C), my brother (Dante), and my aunt's exchange student (Peter)
Yeah, so I'm calling peeps by what I call them irl bc that's easier.

Sunday morning we started getting ready, so that we could try to be out of the house by 8:15. I made last-second finishes to my costume (oh, the curse of a cosplayer XD) and did my eye makeup as I waited for the glue to dry. Then I helped my brother get his costume on... lots and lots of safety pins! Once my grandparents arrived we all piled into my dad's car and were on our way!

Dad and Big-C sat in the front and listened to a church service. Grand sat in the back with me (she borrowed one of my Doctor Who shirts for the day), and Dante sat in-between us so I could paint Aangs arrows on him. We got to the restaurant where we were picking up Peter, so Dante and I walked in looking like crazy people in half cosplay! I had on super heavy eye makeup and nothing else, and my hair was back and I had a wig cap around my neck, no armor... just a black dress over my red shirt and pants (I looked like some sort of failed punk band :p)

Omg it's my face AAAAAAA

After the looooong drive up, we got to the con center, and I finished putting on my costume. Finally we were there! We turned in our registration and the fun began! When we got our wrist bands the volunteers were so excited about Dante and my costume, and they asked for pictures and, yeah, it was pretty cool! It would be fun to work at something like that, then you could see everyones costumes! Once we got to the main room, (after stopping for quite a few pictures- there was one girl who even did a selfie with us! Yay cosplay selfies! Haha ok moving on...

Unfortunately, I missed the first panel I wanted to go to- "Cosplaying in Character", which probably would have helped a lot for my Performing Arts final. Oh well, since I missed it, I had the oppurtunity for something else totally awesome to happen!

When we got to the main room, I see someone with a cosplay that looks familiar, and then I realized she was Toph (also from ATLA) and it was amazing! She ran over to us and we went all crazy fangirl, and then we were just like "CAN I HUG YOU OMG" and it was the best thing ever :D Quite a few people walking by got pictures of us, and then we all went to the photo studio together to get our pictures taken.

AAAA I"M SO PROUD OF OUR COSTUMES :D

After taking the picture, we parted ways, promising to meet back up again. My group took off to look around the Dealers Room, and I made a bee-line for my favorite artist, Yuumei. I was so excited to meet her! She's had a big impact on me and my art, and she was such a sweet girl in person, as well. She's used her talent and difficult past to really reach out to so many people, and honestly, it's really brave that she does that. She also has brought awareness to the pollution problems in China, and advocates to fix it. Haha when I found out that she was going to be there, I ran around my house like a crazy fangirl screaming all sorts of crazy stuff :p. I planed to spend only $10 to $20 at her table... obviously that didn't happen. I spent at least $40! Oh, well, it was worth it :) seeing her work on my walls makes me really happy.

Then it was time for my first panel, which was on writing villains. It was very helpful, and the director really made us all participate, it was so much fun! Haha we got a little side tracked and started talking about FMA, and then later on he gave me some tips on my villain. He also talked a bit about world building, so that was cool, too. This summer I'm going to post all of my panel notes from this (school) year, so if y'all are writers, you may be interested in this one.

"Re-Imagine" by Yuumei

After the panel was finished, I went out into the dealers room and looked around, bought more stuff from Yuumei, and went upstairs to have lunch with my group. The food was really good (i got a burger), but a bit expensive (con food always is). I realized that eating with armor and collars and 3 lbs of vinyl is HARD. So I took it off and realized that the con center wasn't 150º, but more like 70º. Yeah... it was quite a relief. It was really funny to see all the characters from different fandoms eating together! Before I headed down to my other panel I ran into Toph again and we took a picture:

Azula and Toph have lunch together... because why not

The next panel I went to was on creating a web comic. It was really helpful, because I'm interested in starting one (I'll have more info for y'all later). Here's their site: Captain Quail. They write a Star Trek inspired comic that has birds instead of people. It's pretty funny! During the panel they wrote/drew a comic that was directed by the participants, so that was pretty fun!

When the panel was over, girls dressed as Anna and Elsa (who I had pegged as "MUST GET PIC WITH THEM) came up to me and asked for a picture, so we all posed and someone took our picture for us ^.^

My group was almost ready to leave, but we all decided to walk through the dealers room one more time. I went to a table that was selling posters and figurines, and got into a conversation about anime with one of the people selling posters as I bought a FMA wall scroll. I went by two steampunk booths- I bought a pin that reminded me of Winry (for my pin collection), and a rose hairpin (which I wear almost every day now lol). Of corse I stopped by Yuumi's table one last time and got one of her smaller prints. 

Some Cosplayers I ran into :)

Not the best pic but oh well :p

We ended up talking to a guy dressed as Buzz Lightyear and his daughter was dressed as Neytiri (I think... well, she was the blue chick from "Avatar" (the movie)).They were really fun to talk to! Father/daughter cosplayers, he got her into it. He made his Buzz costume back in 2001 or so, and it's really cool! Each button will actually play a different sound clip, just like Buzz's in the movie! It's also made almost completely out of cardboard- true cosplay dedication! 

The girl was really excited to be at the convention, and it was really fun to talk to someone so young who had already been immersed in con culture for almost their whole life :)

Thor! He's friends with Buzz, and his costume was just as amazing! he was telling us about how he made it... really impressive! haha this is one of my favorite pics (I feel like I perfected my Azula stance/face by then)

I wandered around some more, and ran into Princess Bubblegum and Jack Frost cosplayers. We all fangirled over each others costumes for a good five minutes before we calmed down enough to take pictures. Cosplay selfie! It was the perfect ending to such a fun day :D

Con Review
I had soooo much fun at Kraken Con! The panels were easy to find, the venders room was well organized, and not overly crowded, there wasn't too much of a bleed-through with noise from the video games and anime screening. There was a cafe' on the upper level (though it was a bit over priced :/ ), and instead of badges they had wrist bands, which I really liked, because then I wasn't having to deal with an extra thing around my neck.

For such a cheap convention, I would say that it was extremely well done. My only complaint would be the heat. There was air conditioning in the building, but it wasn't turned on until about three. Hopefully next time they'll turn it on earlier.


PS: I lost my camera charger, so art is still on hold :/ I might be able to find my old camera... idk we'll see what happens. Wish me luck on finals!

Azula and Aang Cosplay Pt. 4 COMPLETE!!

Ok, so last part: the dress and Aang.

I stayed up until 10 the night before the convention modifying the dress, which I cut to look like this:

and added trim with fabric similar to this.

And that's it, really. On the day of the con I did smokey eyeshadow with red in the crease, and did general cosplay makeup... yep. I did most of it in the car lol.

For Aang we got a yard and a half of orange fabric, a yard of yellow fabric, and some red woven material. We basically safety pinned it like a toga. He wore brown pants, black tennis shoes, and a wig cap that I painted the arrow over.

So, yep, that's it! I'll have a post about the convention (and pics) up soon!

Oh! And I found this on tumblr... if you scroll down, the second picture is of my brother and I! http://humanitys-cutest-soldier.tumblr.com/post/81948871086/kraken-con-spring-2014-was-an-absolute-blast

~Shaak Ti

Azula and Aang Cosplays Pt. 1

Alright, here we go on my next big cosplay endeavor! I'm planning on going to Kraken Con on April 6, so I don't have a lot of time to pull this together. Fortunately, I have a two week break, so I should be able to get it done.

I also have to convince my brother to be Aang.

AZULA

Costume plans/notes

Materials (already have):

• Amour
• One yard of vinyl 
• Iron on interfacing
• yellow and orange ribbon or some similar lining
• velcro/clips (I haven't totally figured out how I'm going to keep it all on)
• Mom got me this lovely wig in black for Christmas. It's perfect!
• Black boots (supposedly... I have yet to ask Mom if I can use hers :p)
• Jumper Skirt
• Fabric choice 1,  choice 2 (idk which one I like better... what do y'all think?)
• Plastic boning
• iron-on interfacing
• yellow ribbon 
• Red shirt/pants (LIGHT FABRIC)
• I'm planning on just buying and modifying this, since I don't have time to make it all by scratch
• Gloves
• I honestly have no idea what to do here. Funny, I hate having to deal with gloves in cosplay, but all of my major projects have gloves :p
• Belt
• I'll either make it out of leather or up-cycle an old belt.
• Props
• I'm thinking about making some sort of flame prop... maybe like this

My uncle is going to help with all of the leather work, and I'll keep y'all updated on that. As with any cosplayer, I want to add my own creative spin on the costume. I feel like, if ATLA were real, the fabrics of the Fire Nation royals would be very ornate- that's why I really want to use Jacquard fabric. I've also been inspired by this cosplay to maybe add some design to the armor:

AANG

Ok, in all honesty, I haven't even asked my brother about this. But he loves ATLA, so he may agree to do it. I honestly think his season 3 outfit would be easiest (and I also really want to paint the scar on his back)

Obviously he would need a bald cap, and the pants would just be grey/black sweats. The top would be more difficult, because it would need to be held in place... I want to go with a simple fabric, sticking with Airbender tradition. I have no clue what we're going to do about the boots.

So, yeah, tell me what you think, and any suggestions would be much appreciated! And feel free to ask any questions!

(and i have no idea why the link colors are so inconsistent...)

So I found this "about the blogger" thing on Tumblr, and I figured this would be fun to do while I procrastinate on the FMA review (jk, im working on it, but i don't have a lot of time. Expect it around mid-March.)

 Name ➔ If you know me irl then you know what it is

► Will you answer all questions truthfully ➔ yes
► Are you single ➔ single and free! (actually, i'm pretty sure  I'm in a long-term relationship with homework right now -.-)
► Are you happy ➔ yep!
► Are you Italian ➔ yes
► Are you German ➔ yes
► Are you Asian ➔ nope, though one time my friend called me "mentally Asian"... I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.
► Are you angry? ➔  no
► Are you Irish ➔ no
► Are your parents still married ➔ yes

 FACTS
► Birth Place ➔ The land that was fabled to be the island of the Amazonian women in the far west
► Hair Color ➔ blond
► Eye Color ➔ blue, but sometimes they're green
► Birthday ➔ Feb. 3
► Mood ➔ happy
► Gender ➔ what do you think
► Lefty or Righty ➔ righty
► Summer or winter ➔ Winter! Though I like summer, the cool winter days are my favorite. Also Christmas. I love Christmas
► Morning or afternoon ➔ Um... ooh this is hard. Morning? Maybe? It really depends on the day.

THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE 
► Are you in love ➔ with food!
► Do you believe in love at first sight ➔ not really... I believe in "crush at first sight", but you don't really love people until you know them.
► Who ended your last relationship ➔ I've never dated, but in a platonic relationship: me
► Have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔ possibly
► Are you afraid of commitments ➔ not really. 
► Have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ yes
► Have you ever had a secret admirer ➔ if they're secret, how would I know? 
► Have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ What does that even mean?

CHOICES

► Love or lust ➔ love
► Lemonade or iced tea ➔ iced tea ^.^
► Cats or Dogs ➔ cats (apologies to my dog)
► A few best friends or many regular friends ➔ I am an extrovert. I have many friends that I love to hang with, but a few close friends, as well. I don't think anyone could really have an either/or on this one.
► Television or internet ➔ internet... because then I can watch TV on the internet!
► Pepsi or Coke ➔ Coke (But I prefer rootbeer) 
► Wild night out or romantic night in ➔ Wild night out

► Day or night ➔ both

► IM or Phone ➔ phone

HAVE YOU EVER
► Been caught sneaking out ➔ Nope... well actually the other day I was going to let the dog in/ go walk around my back yard in the morning, and I set our alarm off. 
► Fallen down/up the stairs ➔ More times than I'd like to admit
► Finished an entire jawbreaker ➔ Took me 3 months, but yes, I have
► Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ yeah i suppose
► Prank called a store ➔ nope
► Skipped school ➔ I'm sure I have (aside from being sick)
► Wanted to disappear ➔ A few times

PREFERENCES 
► Smile or eyes ➔ eyes
► Light or dark hair ➔ dark
► Shorter or Taller ➔ taller
► Intelligence or Attraction ➔ intelligence! 
► Hook-up or Relationship ➔ relationship
► Funny and poor OR rich and serious ➔ funny and poor

ABOUT ME
► Last Phone Call ➔ Mom
► Last person you hung out with ➔ my brother
► Last thing you ate ➔ potato chips
► Last thing you drank ➔ tea with a candy  cane in it
► Last site you went to  ➔ blogger (duh)
► Last place you were ➔ school

FAMILY
► Do you and your family get along  ➔ usually
► Would you say you have a “messed up life” ➔ nope
► Have you ever run away from home ➔ I planned to once, but doesn't everyone?
► Have you ever gotten kicked out ➔ nope


So yeah, now you know a bit about me! 

Beautiful Weekend

It's been a beautiful, hot, summerey weekend here, so my Dad and I went down to the wharf. I haven't been there in forever, so it was really fun!

When we got home we fixed up where we used to keep the miniature ponies to put the bunnies in. Now they have some pipes and protection from the wild animals.

Rudy 

Pepper

OH GUYS DUDES MY FAMILY AND I STARTED WATCHING STARGATE-SG1 AND IT IS AMAZINGGGGG. I have found my BroTP and omg I just love them so much *dies*

November and December Art 2013

Wow, I can't believe the year is already over! It's been a good year, especially in art. I feel that I have really improved, and hope to get even better next year!

Well, here's the last art entry of the year!

Many Faces

Lost Tail/Agony

Sif Cosplay

Censored

Royai Painting

"Let it Go"

Pacific Rim: The Entire Plot

Hazel Lavesque

bby Royai

Azula Cosplay

 I cleaned my room! Here's a picture of my cork board

 (My CVI passes, Ahsoka Padawan Braid, and some other random things)

Grand (my Mom's mom) gave me a bracelet for Christmas. It is probably one of the best gifts I've ever received (I wrote this down right after getting it):

I received the most amazing gift today. Here's what happened: one of the last few gifts under the tree. It as a small box, it looked something like jewelry. I looked at the card, it was from Grand. Under the wrapping was a magnet that said "anyone can be cool, being awesome takes practice". Under the magnet was a Macy's jewelry box. Inside was a silver bracelet "hmm cute" I take it out to get a bit of a better look. It seems to say joy on it. 

"Do you like it? It says Ivy on it. There's a story behind it... Larry Strickland, a friend of mine in highschool gave it to me. A few weeks later, he died in a car crash. I figured since I don't really have any use for it any more, I'd pass it on to you."

Of corse I like it! The history behind it makes me like it 10 times more.

I hope you all have a fun (and safe!) New Years Eve, and I'll see you next year!
~Shaak

Sorry I disappeared for so long!

Yeah, I was gone for quite a while... Christmas, family, shopping, getting a kitten... yeah, it's been crazy. I'm also cleaning (purging) my room and there is SO MUCH JUNK! It's insane! Well, at least I'll have a clean room.

Ok, I actually don't have much to say. I just figured I would post, since I've been gone for so long.

I hope y'all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season!

Thanksgiving was wonderful! I went over to help my Uncle make dinner, and I learned quite a bit, it was really fun! Here are some pictures of our huge Thanksgiving feast :)

I made the yellow squashes, Dad made the green ones. They were really good!

Onion rings!

Jenna and Darby want the whipped cream...

Ham! Yay! It was sooooooo good

Turkey! Meh! Lol I don't really like turkey, but I ate some, of corse. 

So much food! This isn't even all of it!

Beautiful sunset from the porch

 After dinner my brother, Gino, the two exchange students and I went to feed the neighbors horse. Yep.


And now that Thanksgiving is over....


IT IS NOW THE CHRISTMAS SEASON YAAAAY!!!!
I leave you with the most amazing Christmas song ever

Merry Christmas!

Fall Days and Family Diners

One of the few trees around here that turns colors.

Ah, fall, what a wonderful time of year... not like I haven't said that already... But I love fall!

This weekend was great! Friday was Dad's birthday, so I attempted to make a cheese cake for him... but that failed. Fortunately we had a regular Safeway cake in the fridge! We had fun with a little celebration for him, and I can't really remember much else :p

Saturday was busy, but fun! Dad and I went to karate in the morning, and then I worked on my Mystique cosplay, and then I went to music lessons, then worked on my costume again... actually, I finished it! 

In our family, we have multiple birthdays in October-- my Dad, brother, and Zia Linda, so we have a birthday dinner for all of them. We went over to Zia Linda's house for dinner. Uncle D.L. had made gnocchi (my favorite!), salad, fried egg plant, and a tone of other food. He is an amazing cook. 

At various intervals throughout the dinner, I was getting ready for a Halloween party that Jaymes was putting on. Seeing my friends again was awesome! I haven't seen lots of them since the end of summer. There were quite a few impressive costumes! Syrena was Fem!11, her brother was Spock, Jaymes was Deadpool, Ollie was... himself...

When I finally got home, it took me past midnight to get all of my makeup off!

Didn't do much Sunday, just hung around the house and then watched Hook. It was a pretty fun weekend :D