ThePandaDesigns: April 2011

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Photo Restoration

I'm currently working on a photo restoration project for my mother & her brother and sisters. Along the years the pictures got seriously destroyed, and I took on the challenge of trying to fix them up.

Below is a sample of the work:

(the person in the photograph is my Aunt Solange around the late 1960's, early 1970's)

BEFORE

AFTER

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

AdorARTE

Here is another one of my portfolio pieces. This was an ad I made for a Performing Arts conference that was going to take place at my church for the dance, theater, media and band ministries.

I gotta admit, I had quite a bit of fun making it, hehehe

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Joi's Famous Microwaved "Brigadeiro"... YUMMM!!!!

There are only a few things my husband, Joi, is good at in regards to cooking. One is making red meat (in any way... on the grill or cooking it), and the other is brigadeiro. I'm not a big fan of brigadeiro, for some reason I find it way too sweet (I know, go figure...), but his brigadeiro is one that I can never turn down!

So what is a brigadeiro you might ask? It's a typical Brazilian sweet that resembles a chocolate truffle.

Here's the recipe:

2 cans of condensed milk
8 tablespoons of sweetened Chocolate Powder (ex: Nesquik or Nescau)

Preparation:

Mix ingredients in a big glass bowl very well until you see that the ingredients are uniform
Microwave for 4 minutes, and then stir well
Microwave it again, but keep an eye on it because it will begin to rise up, and before it overflows you need to take it out of the microwave, stir, and then put it back in the microwave. You will repeat this process until it stops overflowing by itself. (Approximately 6 minutes)
Once you finish step 3, stir it once again, let it cool for 30 minutes, and then refrigerate for another 30 minutes, and voila! Enjoy! (***You can eat it straight from the bowl or you can roll them up in round spheres and cover with chocolate flavored sprinkles)

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Magical Kiss

Today, for some reason, I started thinking back to the first graphic design class I've ever taken. I started to remember some of the things Professor Madden taught me and my husband (who at that time was just my friend), because the things he taught me are basically the foundation of all my designs (after Jesus, hehehe). The other day I took on the hardest project I've ever had to take on. Originally I thought this would be BY FAR the easiest project EVER, it was the one project I thought would actually be the quickest and easiest: design my very own logo. I think I had a "brain glitch", or as my friends like to call it, a "brain fart" during this moment of my life (the last two weeks), because I would design about 10 different logos, and nothing seemed to be "just right". There were too many elements, yet I loved each element too much to remove one of them.

My husband, who I believe was pretty much fed up with me wasting days in front of the computer with no end in sight, turned to me and said: "Babe, K.I.S.S. Keep that in mind." I thought to myself, "KISS, what the heck is he talking about? Is he talking about the band? Does he want a kiss? What?" So I asked him, "What?!", and then he said the most magical, caring & loving words a woman could ever hope to hear from her husband:

"KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID".

As I glared at him from across the room, trying to sort out in my mind what just happened, and trying to figure out whether he had wished a death sentence upon himself by calling me stupid, or if he was seriously trying to help, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and asked him to elaborate on what he just said. Then he reminded me that was the motto that Professor Madden made us live by while taking his class. Whenever you couldn't get the design right, when you couldn't figure out the color or the font, or anything for that matter, remember K.I.S.S.: Keep it Simple Stupid.

I finished my logo that same night.

Thank you, Joi :)!