Fashion Design inspired By Zendaya

Disney Plus Zombies 3 Art featuring Addison Wells (played by Meg Donnelly)

 I am very excited for Zombies 3 because I watched the other two movies in the series and really like them. My favorite character is Addison Wells (played by Meg Donnelly) and I decided to draw her with her new alien style look! Here it is! 

I review the original Zombies junior novelization here. 

Book Review: Pages & Co (Book 2): The Lost Fairy Tales by Anna James

Summary: Tilly Pages, an eleven-year-old girl whose family has the power to travel inside stories, goes to Paris with her best friend Oscar (who can also travel inside stories) to visit his father and grandparents. 

While Tilly and Oscar are there, they book wander into a book of fairy tales and meet the characters. However, there are strange changes in events. This includes stories like holes of darkness sucking characters inside and characters stories leaking into one another, and even new characters stepping in!

Oscar and Tilly want to get to the bottom of the causes of the chaos within the book. 

What is causing these unusual changes? Find out by reading Pages & Co.: Tilly and the Lost Fairytales

Star Rating 1-5: 4.5/5

Why?: I really liked this book because it was a really fun and interesting page turner about the magic of books!

Scary Scale 1-10: 2

Why?: This book is a bit scary because two evil people try to steal Tilly's blood even if it kills Tilly. They think she has magic abilities they want. 

The book is also a little bit scary because in the version of Little Red Riding Hood Tilly and Oscar travel inside Little Red gets eaten by the wolf but Tilly and Oscar change what happens.

This is book 2 of 5. To read my review of  book 1, The Bookwanderers, check it out here. 

Papercutting your way to a beautiful wedding card (reflections and the step by step process)

My first papercutting. I did completely on my own

A few weeks ago, I took a papercutting class and I really enjoyed it. We made a holiday themed papercutting sign using a template the teacher designed. I got really inspired to make my own design but I had a really hard time coming up with my own ideas. Then about a week later my teacher got engaged and I was finally inspired on what to make. 

1) I emailed my teacher to tell congratulations and ask her a few questions to personalize the design. Will she have a long or short wedding dress? Who is taller, her or her groom? Would she have a long or short wedding veil? What is her favorite color? 

2) I drew both of them using the app Paint 3D and the information I had from my teacher. 

3) I drew the design I wanted to cut out on the app and then I printed it. Then using an Exacto knife I cut it out very carefully (this knife is very sharp so use caution and use a cutting board underneath).

4) I painted a large piece of cardstock with my teacher's favorite color -teal- and gold because I think they look good together. 

5) I used glitter paint make it sparkle. 

6) I glued my papercutting to the painted cardstock after the paint dried. 

7) I wrote in glue my teachers name and the name of the person she is getting married to then covered it in glitter to write their names. After it dried, I gave it to her the next time I saw her.

My visit to Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Museum: Reinvention and Restlessness: Fashion in the Nineties

Images above by Ruben Toledo as seen at the FIT Fashion Museum, March/2022

I went to the Fashion Institute of New York (FIT) fashion museum and saw three exhibits. 

One was called From Head To Toe that was all about putting the spotlight on accessories like bags and hats instead of focusing on dresses and shirts. 

Another exhibit I saw was called Reinvention and Restlessness: Fashion in the Nineties. As you could most likely guess this exhibit had outfits that were created in the 1990's. 

The third exhibit I saw was titled Asian Americans in New York Fashion: Design, Labor, Innovation, this exhibit had outfits made by Asian creators.

I saw lots of unique and interesting pieces of clothing accessories and even a notebook sketch of a collection. There were even pieces of clothing from television shows I have never watched. 

Here of some of the many pieces I saw at the museum. 

Book Review: Pages & Co.: The Bookwanderers - by Anna James

Summary: Tilly Pages is an eleven-year-old girl who has lived with her grandparents at their bookshop in London called Pages & Co ever since her mother's disappearance when she was a baby. Tilly and her grandparents love to read lots of books but Tilly's favorites are Anne of the Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly meets a girl in the shop whose name is Anne and says she is not from around here and has the exact description of Anne from Anne of the Green Gables. Is it Anne from her favorite book? To find out read Pages & Co.: The Bookwanderers!

Scary Scale 1-10: 2/10

Why?: One reason this book may be scary is because it has sad parts. One of the sad parts is that they talk about  Anne of Green Gables being an orphan. There are many other sad parts but they are small spoilers so I made a document to see it in case you don't want to know yet. Pages And Co Scary Details - Google Docs

Star Rating 1-5: 4.5/5

Why?: I really liked this book because it was super interesting and had lots of cliffhangers and questions. You would have to read the whole book to find out the answers. It even got me interested in books I have never read before like Anne of Green Gables. Additionally, Pages & Co. had references to a book I liked and read before, Alice in Wonderland!

Book Review: Friday Night Stage Lights By Rachele Alpine

Summary:  After Brooklyn's mom married a man named Stephen, she and her mom move to Texas. Texas is miles and miles away from her hometown and friends. Brooklyn's new stepfather has a son in high school named Tanner. Tanner is on his high school football team, and in Texas football means everything to everyone. Everyone that is except Brooklyn. She has her own love, and that love is ballet. Back in her old hometown, Brooklyn had lots of friends who felt the same way about ballet but in Texas almost no one seems to have the same passion for it. The one place where Brooklyn feels at home is her new ballet studio. When her middle schools football team begins going to her studio to do conditioning that can only mean bad news or is it? To learn more Read Friday Night Stage Lights!

Scary Scale 0-10: 0/10

Why?: This book is not scary because no one is a villain and no one is violent. 

Star Rating 1-5: 4.5/5

Why?: I really like this book because it is a fun and interesting story about friendship and ballet.  I also like this book because in it there are some really funny characters like a boy in Brooklyn's grade named Randy. Randy is supposed to be super rude and always either calling out or mumbling unappreciated comments. I think it is funny because I have met similarly rude kids and I can relate to the frustration of the nonsense.

Book Review: More Than A Princess By E.D. Baker

 

Summary: Princess Aislin is the daughter of a fairy king and a pedrasi queen of Eliasind. For hundreds of years humans and mythic creatures have been separated by a barrier created by Aislin's family. Aislin has been taught to fear humankind, and when humans seen trying to get through the barrier it can only mean trouble. Aislin's father goes to see more but when a deer warns Aishlin and her fairy friend Poppy that the humans have arrived and are starting trouble, they know they have to do something about it! To be continued.....

Scary Scale 1-10: 3/10

Why?: This book is a little bit scary because in it the human king who comes is killing animals and being cruel to Aislin and her people.

Star Rating 1-5: 4/5

Why?: I like this book because its a fun story about a princess who is brave and strong with lots of friends including a sassy and cute living doll. The main thing I dislike about this book is that the humans are making fun of how Aislin looks and that is very mean.

Book Review: Never After: The Stolen Slippers (The Chronicles of Never After, Book 2) by Melissa de la Cruz

 

Summary: Filomena is back in Never After with her friends Jack Stalker, Gretel, Alistair and they have a new quest: finding "Cinderella's" glass slippers. Really, they belong to Horace, one of Cinderella's so called evil stepsisters, who was truly kind to Cinderella and so was her twin sister, Beatrice. 

The sisters and their mother gave Cinderella everything, but Cinderella wanted more. After Beatrice and Horace's mother died, Cinderella ran away to her godmother, the Queen of Hearts and stole the last things the girls had left of their mother: beautiful glass slippers. 

Gretel happens to be cousins with Horace and Beatrice and tries her best to remember the way, but it has been such a long time since she's visited them, they get lost and hungry. When a strangely tall boy offers the group some candy apples nothing sounds like a yummier or better idea to eat it to everyone but Jack. So, they dig in and the boy says that they can stay the night. Will they come with him and stay the night? To find out and finish this story, read Never After: The Stolen Slippers!

Star Rating: 4/5 stars

Why? I liked this book because it is mostly less violent then the first and I appreciate that. I also like this book because it is interesting and fun the way the author connects many well know stories in ways that I wouldn't have expected like Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. The book also really surprises me how many times the ogre queen Olga is revealed as a character she is really not.

Scary Scale: 5/10

Why?: This book is scary because many side characters are killed and one of the characters kills her self but SPOILER ALERT-- she comes back to life - it will make more sense when you find out who and how by reading the book.

Gretel

Book Review: Disney Encanto: The Deluxe Junior Novelization by Angela Cervantes

Summary: Mirabel Madrigal is a 15-year-old girl who lives with her entire family in an enchanted house in rural Colombia. Ever since her grandmother Alma was gifted with a miracle when she lost everything (even her husband Pedro), everyone in Mirabel's family at the age of 5 gets a magical gift their own room to match, everyone that is except Mirabel!

Even though Mirabel didn't get a gift or special room, she helps out her family as much as she can. At her cousin Antonio's gift ceremony, she is very happy for him but cannot help feeling left out when he does get a gift. Mirabel sees the house breaking and the magic dying but when tells everyone they come out to see but the magic is fine and the so is the house. 

Mirabel has to find out why the magic was withering and how to save it. To find out more read Disney Encanto: The Junior Deluxe Novelization!

Star rating: 4/5

Why?: I like this book because I really enjoyed the movie. There are  bonus parts in the book like when (spoiler alert!) Mirabel's cousins gets married that did not (yet) happen in the movie. 

I also enjoyed the book because in the movie Encanto some of the songs in it were so fast that I did not quite understand what was going on but in the book, you can read the words and do not need it to rhyme or be as long so I can now understand the songs clearer.

Scary Scale: 1/10

Why?: This book was not really scary because Mirabel's grandpa Pedro did die but it is just words, so it was just a bit sad as opposed to an intense visual. 

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To see my review of the movie, you can click here.

Book Review: Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz (author of the Descendants novel series)

 

Summary:  Filomena Jefferson-Cho is a middle schooler living in Nothern California with her protective and loving adoptive parents. At school Filomena is constantly being bullied by a group of popular kids she calls the Alfredos because that's all they eat 🍝. Filomena does not have many friends, so she spends most of her time reading her favorite books from the Never After Series.

One day she's at the bookstore looking for the newest book from her favorite series, the Never After books.  She finds out that surprisingly the author disappeared many years ago.  The publishers haven't found the next book.

She notices she's being followed.  The boy is Jack Stalker, the hero of the Never After series.  He tells her that everything she's been reading about in the series is real, it's actually happened.  At first Filomena thinks he's joking, but he is not.  He convinces her that she needs to come to Never After with him!  Once in Never After, her adventure begins as she meets ogres throwing lightning bolts.  Read the book to find out how her adventure ends!

Star Rating: 3.7/5

Why?: I like this book because it is very exciting and hard to put it down. The book was a little bit scarier than I expected. However, the author, Melissa de la Cruz, made me have big questions about Filomena and the other characters that I wanted to read about more to find answers. 

Filomena is very relatable and that is part of what I really like about her. 

Overall, I am excited to read the next book to when it comes out this February

Scary Scale: 5/10

Why?: This book is scary because many background characters die and, in all prologues, something sad or scary happens.

My digital original drawing of Filomena in her school uniform

I would love to see more of my fans so make sure to follow and be an awesome super cool fan and follower😀.