First off, hope everyone reading had a lovely holiday--ours was great.  Yes, I did brave Black Friday & have the physical, emotional & financial scars to prove it!  Aside from working on what I will term "Operation Santa", I have been working in mini-sessions on my a few unfinished projects (My Empty Book Project & 16 Week Panic/Anxiety Project).  I'm still working on the logo and started really getting serious about content for the booklet and android/iPhone app I plan to go along with my finished product.  We did a lot of research on our topics a few weeks back, and the research info I used then is going to be really helpful for the booklet I have planned.  The thing I'm really happy about though... I got my empty book submitted to Lulu!  I could have done it at anytime since turning it in, but I didnt want to turn it in until I had made some modifications.  For one, I failed completely on the spine of the book & I definately wanted to fix that.  Also the leading & kerning were off on my title placement, and I wanted to really get a more polished feel before I had it printed.  Beneathe are screen shots of my modifications, the starting point & what I submitted to Lulu.

 

This is where I started, I was really pleased with it when I was done, but after presenting I did agree there was more work to be done.

 

First things first, I had to fix the leading & kerning.  Several mentioned it, and intuitively I knew something was not right.  So I measured it out and individually spaced each letter (which took some time, but was worth it), until it felt & looked "right".

 

I was still missing anything on the spine, so I made sure to measure it out (by putting the spine over the darker back, it misaligned my text box back there), and shift everything accordingly.

 

This is what I finsihed with.. a much better cover, IMHO.  I added a publisher's mark along with the title on the spine and a drop shadown behind the text on the back cover.  The text cracks me up everytime I read it, which probably makes me the geekiest person in America.  :)  I have a few weeks to get this in, but submitting it to Lulu now makes me feel much better! 

 

Between now & Thursday I will continue to work away at the 16 week project, especially now that I have this project finally squared away.  I really like how it turned out, and I don't regret all the work I put into making it just how I wanted!

 

I wanted to make sure to add my finished flyer here & also my revision:

 

I do, in fact, like the second version better! :)

 

Also, I missed class last week.  :(  So I'm hoping my concept for a phone app will be okay:  I want an app that tells parents (targeted specifically at Moms) when a certain goes on sale, at what price is on sale for & most importantly: where at & for how long.  This, of course, is heavily influenced by the fact that all my time that isn't invested in #1: Nov 6th & the election (which I am obsessed with), #2: school & schoolwork, is invested in #3: CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.  I used to say to myself, I am never going to be one of those parents who gets suckered in by these hard-to-find, trampling-people-to-death-at-Walmart toys.  Toys aren't that important.  Nothing is that important. Ahahahahaha.  What a dreamworld I lived in then, my oldest was only 4 months old the first I ever had to play "Santa", so what did I know about Christmas, really?  There is a whole psychology to toys, and American parents & kids.  Long story short:  I fell into the trap.  Aine's second Christmas there was this Black Friday deal where you got this Leap Pad Learning Toy & 2 bonus reading cartridges for 20.00.... and I don't know what happened.  That perfectly sane person I thought I was.. gone forever.  There I was, at an impossible time of the morning, like millions of other parents across the country, barely having digested my Thanksgiving dinner, waiting in line to GET INSIDE the store, to then wait in like to ACQUIRE the toy, to then wait in line to BUY the toy.  But.. it was a LEARNING toy.  She HAD TO HAVE it.. I couldnt let her fall behind her class, fail out of pre-school, be a Kindergarten reject... a Leap Pad Reader was NECESSARY, so she could be at the same level as all her other peers.  So what?!  Yes, she was only 16 months old!  Don't you know in China or whatever kids at that age are programming computers!  Anyway... she got the Leap Pad Reader, a tradition was born, and now every year... I fall into the same trap.  (By the way, she was reading BEFORE pre-school.  Then again, Daphne, my youngest daughter, was also reading before pre-school and she could never stand the Leap Pad Reader.  So, who knows?)  So, I could see this app being very practical & I would definately, happily pay anywhere from .99-4.99 for an app that would tell me what toy I am looking for is available on sale, at what price (plus which coupons are available) & where at, so I could avoid doing what most parents do... driving here, there & everywhere looking for that ONE item.