As it is Graduation season I whipped up some Class of 2012 Miniland scale Graduates
Although I’m not in school any more, this is a sort of graduation year for me. My business Model Building Secrets is 5 years old this year. I’ve always heard that if a business can last 5 years than it has a good chance of lasting in the long run. And starting my business in 2007 — right before the economic crash — while not necessarily the best time to start a business, was the right choice for me.
Its been a long, bumpy road these past five years with its ups and downs. This year has also seen me becoming much busier than in previous years. Its a good / bad thing to be more successful. Good because my business is growing, bad because I have been working over a year straight with very little downtime and I don’t see it stopping any time soon. I’m very grateful for all the amazing things I’ve gotten to do and all the fun things I’ll be doing the rest of this year.
And of course, if you would like your very own LEGO Graduate, you can find them for purchase on my Etsy shop.
If you are near Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend check out BrickMagic!
I am unfortunately not going this year, but there are lots of my friends that will be there. And the Brick Engraver himself, Tommy Armstrong, will have an assortment of my products on hand to sell.
LEGO Certified Professional Dan Parker will be there creating a 5 foot Death Star and everyone can help.
See a huge hall of custom LEGO creations by top builders from around the country!
Play with over 20,000 loose LEGO bricks in our FREE BUILD ROOM (sponsored by Lay-N-Go)!
Meet professional minifigure customizer JARED K. BURKS, who will hold FREE minifig workshops!
Attend workshops on building tips and techniques!
Meet the team from SHATTERPOINT ENTERTAINMENT, as they demonstrate the making of animated LEGO films (which will run continuously in our Theater Room all weekend)!
Watch a robotics competition by First® LEGO® League teams, and try hands-on demonstrations of MINDSTORMS robots!
Shop for hard-to-find LEGO parts and sets, and purchase our special LIMITED EDITION SPACEFIGHTER EVENT KIT, available only at BrickMagic!
Be the first to see the TOP SECRET NEW SETS that LEGO will debut exclusively at BrickMagic 2012!
Meet JOE MENO, editor of BrickJournal magazine, and author of the new books YOU CAN BUILD IT and THE CULT OF LEGO, which debut at BrickMagic 2012!
Enter the SPACESHIP BUILDING CONTEST and win prizes!
Plus lots more!
Public ticketed event: MAY 19-20, 2012
Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM * Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM
Private exhibitor-only convention: MAY 17-18, 2012
3415 Wake Forest Road
Raleigh, NC 27609
Presented by TwoMorrows Inc. and BrickJournal Magazine
TICKET PRE-SALES ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE PURCHASE TICKETS AT THE DOOR STARTING AT 10AM, MAY 19 & 20!
Single-Day TICKETS:
Adults (age 17-up): $12 ($11 in advance)
Kids (age 4-16) and Seniors: $8 ($7 in advance)
Age 3 and under: FREE
For all of my friends that are going, have fun! If you can make it, you should too!
Starting now, since its already past midnight in the East Coast, you can get a special Hulk Minifig with any $50 purchase (in the US) on LEGO.com. According to BrickSet this offer is also available in the UK for a £50 purchase. I don’t know if this offer is available in other countries, so you might have to check out your country to see if it is available.
The offer starts May 16th thru the 31st or until supplies last. It will be available both online and at particpating LEGO Brand Retail Stores.
Although I like the larger Hulk that is available in the Helicarrier Breakout set I am rather fond of this Lou Ferrigno esque version as I actually remember the old TV show , and yes, I know I’m showing my age.
I’ve seen a lot of Angry Birds based models and that is to be expected considering the popularity of the game. But this caught my eye for the deceptively simple model of a Galaxy Note with Angry Birds on the screen.
I say deceptively simple because it is more complex than simple in design. I love the mosaic of the model and the fact that its clear what it is even without the title with so few bricks.
Hi all! I’m back after a very long absence! I’m sorry I’ve been so lax with writing, but right after I got back from my trip from Florida I had a huge model (two 2 ft long models) and very little time to do it (6 days). So I didn’t do anything including sleep the last week. There will be a future post on it, just not quite yet.
Now that the model is finished and delivered in Vegas (long story) and I’ve had a little bit of sleep I can finally get back to my version of normal.
Even though I have lots of great stories and future posts from my Florida trip, including what I was doing down there, I still haven’t uploaded the several thousand — and I mean that literally — photos I took from the trip. I will tell you that I hit all the important LEGO sights.
So as you can tell none of this has anything to do with my post title. While here is what STUDS is all about.
Fellow LUGOLA member Brandon Griffith has cooked up a very cool idea — STUDS trading cards.
I can’t seem to upload the video, but if you click on the picture it will take you directly to the Kickstarter site and you can watch it there — which I highly recommend.
Here’s the description:
The adult Lego building community is a vital, diverse and interesting world. An alliance of creative individuals, each with their own unique building style, artistic focus and distinct personality. You’ve all seen incredible Lego models in the news and on the Internet – now learn the names and faces of the people responsible for creating the work. STUDS is a trading card set that profiles the men and women who use Lego to build incredible, original sculptures and brings you an close-up view of this fascinating world. Each card has the image of an amazing Lego creation on the front of the card and info about the work and the artist on the back.
Yes, its my birthday today! I actually created this quick table scrap a few days ago. I thought about using one of the official LEGO cake elements, but then I thought, who actually has a cake like that? Normally you get a sheet cake. Once I decided that I wanted to make that kind of cake it was surprisingly simple to add some custom stickers to create the trim and inside of the cake. The addition of Friends utensils and the birthday cake torso made it perfect!
Although I do have to work on my birthday, I don’t mind. Being in Orlando Florida and getting to build a model at a fun convention is a great birthday gift. And after my commission work I’ll be checking out several of the great theme parks so I am going to have a pretty darned cool birthday!
If you are in the Orange County area this weekend, there will be a Ninjago building event at the South Coast Plaza LEGO Store in Costa Mesa, CA.
The LEGO® Store
South Coast Plaza
Costa Mesa, CA, USA
3333 Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 668-9017
Store Hours:
Monday – Friday: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am – 6:30 pm
LEGO Store One Year Anniversary Celebration!
Celebrate the one year anniversary of the LEGO Store at South Coast Plaza and help build a large scale Ninja out of LEGO bricks! Plus, show your creativity by helping build a giant, free-form LEGO display! You’ll receive a free LEGO Certificate of Achievement for helping, while supplies last!
April 21 – 22
Carousel Court
Saturday, April 21: 10 am – 6 pm
Sunday, April 22: 11 am – 6 pm
During the event, visit the LEGO Store during the event for special offers that weekend only!
LUGOLA, the LA LEGO group will be helping out with the build. I would be up there too, but I can’t make it this weekend.
As you can probably guess, I’ve been pretty busy recently. Which is why I haven’t been posting much lately. And that’s also why I won’t be at the building event. One of my commissions is taking me to Florida this Sunday.
I still don’t know if I will be able to post about this commission, I have to get permission from my clients, but as I will be heading down to the Sunshine State I plan on visiting both LEGOLAND Florida and the LEGO Imagination Center Store at Downtown Disney.
I have some pretty interesting commissions right now and I should be able to share some of them with you a little later so stay tuned.
And once again the search begins! Series 7 of the Collectible Minifigures has started appearing in stores. Although the LEGO Store Catalog claims they will be available in May, they are already showing up in Toys R Us, Fred Meyer, and other retailers around the US.
I know there are confirmed reports in Portland, Oregon and Bakersfield, CA. But of course, at Toys R Us they are over priced and if one is patient, they will show up at the LEGO stores very soon.
I certainly am excited about practically the entire line! And I am seriously tempted to get a whole box of this one.
Sadly I don’t have any of Series 7 yet, but I assure you I will.
Why oh why LEGO do you keep producing such awesome stuff! My wallet groans a little every time another cool set comes out — but that’s not to say I won’t stop buying.
After I built my Mini Modulars building set I naturally wanted to have it on display. So I cleared off a few of my older models on top of my LEGO supply drawers and set it up there. I decided to leave my 2006 LEGO Batman San Diego Comic Con exclusive (which has apparently gotten very expensive!) up there since there was room. What I didn’t notice until just a few days ago was how perfect the placment was!
I'm Mariann Asanuma, a former LEGO Master Model Designer and now a Freelance LEGO Artist and Author. Thanks for checking out my blog dedicated to all things LEGO. ;)
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in a custom LEGO model.
