Hey everyone! I’m Jante from Promise Academy year 2014. In the beginning of bluestamp, I chose 2 starter projects which were the exploding starkit and a universal tv-b-gone remote. I chose the starkit because I was interested in what it can which is lighting up through any sound effect. I thought it was cool. As well as the tv-b-gone remote which can turn tv’s off in any area. When building the starkit, I had some difficulties in it which was identifying which led side is negative or positive. Also I had a little trouble sautering the pieces to the board. 
The next starter project was not so hard. I had to make sure that the electrolytic capacitors weren’t heating and that the led’s were in the right place. I also had trouble sautering the pieces onto the board because when doing so, it stuck together.Overall the 2 starter projects weren’t so hard.
During the building of my main project I faced challenges but accomplished in facing those challenges. One of the challenges I faced was sewing. I didn’t know how to sew at first. So I was taught and I already learned how to do a back stitch and another technique. The next challenge I faced was downloading the Adafruit Arduino program for my flora board. Also I had to learn how to code it. Im not fully okay with the coding but I learned a few things from it. The hardest part was sewing because I had to sew the conductive thread in a certain way where all of the neopixels connect. I had difficulty with that because I had to start all over. My main project is called LED-ampli tie which lights up through any sound affects. I learned what each of the pieces do and that is very cool to use conductive thread and not wires. Also it was hard making the neopixels light up through sound effects because there wee some kind of shortages and from that I used electrical tape. Overall the tie was a challenge for me but I manage to built it. 3rd Milestone The last touch I done on my tie was making it respond to sound which is an of and on thing. It flickers or dims and may change color. In order for me to do that I had to sew another thread in the middle of the neopixels so that they would all connect to the board and light up. Circuit Diagram: 
2nd Milestone
During the building of my tie, I wanted to make it light up. Thats what I had trouble with overall. Also I had trouble with sewing the thread to the battery because it wasn’t long enough. So I had to make the it longer by tying another piece of thread to the original one. Finally everything was sewed to the battery but I didn’t code. So once I did that, the neopixels didn’t light up yet. So we used a multimeter to make sure the connections are right and there are no shortages. Soon as we did that, some of the led’s started to light up. It was a miracle :P. Anyways there was only one problem though. The microphone didn’t work at all. So we tried to test it and there was nothing wrong with it but it wouldn’t work for some reason. So I will be working on it. But the good thing is that the led’s light up different colors and can turn dim or bright. So that was my accomplishment.
2nd Milestone video
1st Milestone
In the beginning of making my tie, I had learned to sew conductive thread into the neopixels. It was kind of hard to do so because I didn’t really know how to sew at first but one of my good teacher’s taught me to do so. I also didn’t know how to sew it in and had to start all over because the positive and negative side of the led aren’t supposed to connect to eachother. But I accomplished sewing the thread in.
1st Milestone video
B.O.M
The materials I needed were neopixels which are led’s that lights up in any color. I used conductive thread for the neopixels in order for them to connect instead of wires which are unique. I also used an adafruit flora board to sew the thread into so the neopixels can actually connect. I also used a microphone so that the neopixels would respond to the sound effects. I used needles to sew in the thread. I also used electric tape so their wouldn’t be any shortage. 
CODE Adafruit_NeoPixel
STARTER PROJECT #2
For my second starter project I made a TV-B-Gone remote. I mean it is a remote. But anyways for this project I had to start all over because the first time I started it, I soldered the pieces too close and I couldn’t desolder the pieces. So that was the toughest thing I did and messed up on. I decided to start all over. So the first thing I did was place the green LED in and made sure it was on the right side where the positive is on the positive and the negative is on the negative. Next I placed the button the plate and soldered that in. The I placed the other LED’s in the correct order at the top of the remote. Next I placed the transistors in their right spot but it doesn’t matter where they go since it has no polarity. After that I placed in the Electrolytic Capacitor in the right way so it wont heat up when I put the battery in. Then I placed in the resistors and capacitor. Making sure its in the right way so it will work correctly. I’m missing a blue piece called an osculator which will make the whole remote work. But for now I’m 99% finished with the remote. I soldered everything in and not too much soldering or else they stick together. I didn’t have any problems restarting the project because it was simple.
Starter Project #1
During the creation of my Exploding Star Kit I faced obstacles but also learned about the parts of the project and I was amazed from the results. While creating my starter project, I first placed the LED’s on the plate since I thought it would be the easiest thing to do. But it wasn’t because I thought I can place them in any kind of way. It was color coded but not only that, the leads were either positive or negative. So what I used was a mini multimeter in order to figure out which lead is positive (long lead) or negative (short lead). Next I put the transistors which I can put it in any way since it had no polarity. Then I placed the resistors on the plate. It was also another hard thing I faced because the resistors were color coded. But good thing I had the resistor color code in the directions. I soldered them in but double checked before I did so I know I placed them in the right place. After that I also had trouble putting in the capacitors in because I had to be careful in which way they went and it was hard soldering them because it kept coming out. But I eventually got them on. Next I placed the microphone and battery snap on the plate. The next hard part was placing these wires in and I had to make sure the sizes were right in order to fit in. Then finally I placed the electrolyte capacitors in. I soldered everything in making sure they weren’t close together or else it wouldn’t work. I put the battery inside the battery snap and only some of the lights came on which were the yellow and red ones. The green ones light up in a way its just hard to have it light up whenever. Any sound effect I made through the microphone, the lights would light up. I was surprised what I made even though all the lights didn’t light up.
Watch this video: