Adobe Illustrator

I was cleaning out a box and came across my Computer Graphics assignment book.  I will do a few posts by sharing the assignments and what I did with them.  Here is a background on Adobe Illustrator or in a nutshell a photo can be saved on it and then can be manipulated and then turned into something big like a poster or billboard without losing any content or clarity.  Instead of using pixels like regular photos it rasterizes it so it can be made very large.  It was a program I totally had to learn, I enjoyed it and felt very accomplished after I finished the class with an A-.

The first assignment that I will share we had to make a travel poster. 

First thing we had to do was put down on paper some ideas and draw up a rough draft.

Then find some pictures on the Internet with high resolutions.

Here is the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.

Here is one of the Ferry Boats that goes over to Mackinaw Island

Here is the Mackinaw Bridge.

This is the finished product.

It is one of my favorites in regards to the colors and images in it.

We love the state of Michigan.

I will get this framed sometime and probably put it in our family room in the basement.

It has to end sometime

I have had such a restful week off.  Of course I didn't get EVERYTHING done I wanted to do but here are some things that I found out.

I am a darn good Wii bowler.  Beat the pants off everybody with high games of 203 and 202.  There are many bruised egos at my house now!  (You know who you are!)

Sam is an excellent Scrabble player!  He loves to do multiple words at his turn and can rack up the points.  I was duly impressed.

Kevin picked up the game after only playing once with us helping him.  He was taking after his brother and doing multiple words at each turn.  You Go!

Tom is such a good walking partner.  We had a really nice time walking on both Saturday and Sunday.  Got in almost 6 miles total. (A New Years thing)

I have enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner each night. (Another New Years thing.)

I didn't stress so much and laughed more. (New Years thing)

Now to keep it up after I go back to work.

Here is something I have had on my bulletin board and I would like to share it.

I have always liked it because it makes you think.

Now it is 10:00 p.m. 

Time for bed so I can be fresh for tomorrow!(Another New Year thing).

Fun Pictures Around the House

Here are some images that we did while I was off work this week.

I got a card made for someone who celebrates the same birthday as I do.  She is 87 this month.

Sebastian decided to get into the garland that I took down to put away.

Our dear friend Angie T. gave this to us for Christmas.

I had found a new cross for the religious wall.  It has the Lords Prayer on it.

Here is another interesting cross that we just put up.

This is a little holy water font that one of the boys got in school maybe 1st grade?

Here is a view of the wall.  The rosary hanging down was brought from Italy by Angie T. after is had been blessed by the Pope.  It has beautiful blue beads on it. 

This great piece was given to me by my sister Linda.  She got it from the Carruth Studio.

We probably won't EVER look like that?

We got some pictures and stuff up on the walls in Tom's office.  He sure enjoys his space!

Cat Grass

Since moving my cats no longer go outside but recently I found Sebastian chewing on a dried wreath I have.

I decided to grow some cat grass.

I ordered some online from Minnesota Cat Grass and I got it promptly in no more than 6 days.

Along with it they sent some organic catnip.  I think I about lost my hand when I pulled that out of the bag.  It was a hit.  I did get it out today and my oldest cat Smoke turned young again.  He is a chubby cat and 14 years old, after playing with "the catnip duffel bag" he jumped up on a 24 inch kitchen stool and jumped on the island.  It was truly a miracle!  We hadn't seen that kind of action from him in years!

I didn't get the cat grass planted from the Minnesota Cat Grass people but as I was shopping for Christmas I found that there is a Chia Pet Cat Grass.  It comes with a cute sleeping cat bowl and all the necessary equipment to grow the cat grass.  It was $17.95 which I thought was a bit steep since I have plenty of bowls to put the cat grass in.  The cats don't care if the bowl looks like a cat.  Chia Pet does have a nice little video showing this though, you should check it out, also maybe you can find it cheaper than $17.95.

Again while shopping for Christmas I was at Meijer department store and found some cat grass in a plastic container.  All I had to do was put 2 1/2 cups of warm water with it.  It took about 5 days to germinate and then started growing.  It is really nice to have something green growing in the dead of winter.  Once this stuff takes off it is a very fast grower.

1/1/11

1/2/11

1/1/11 from a different angle.

A few more days and it will be time to let them chew on it and have their greens that they need.

I also will use the Minnesota Cat Grass for a second bowl since there are three cats.