Movies of Myself

The Wait

Last week I spent a couple of days drawing and re-drawing a small assortment of flowers; coloring, resizing, tweaking and rearranging them endlessly, so that I could upload the final result to a custom fabric printing site called Spoonflower.

I heard about Spoonflower a couple of years ago and since them I've been dying to make a fabric of my very own. I kept putting it off because it seemed like such a massive endeavour (ps. It was.) There's a lot of factors to consider when you create a repeating pattern and it's rather different than the graphics I draw for my cards. Despite the laborious hours cursing and debating the placement of every little pixel, I'm so happy to have my first uploaded design under my belt.

I keep telling myself that the fabric swatches I ordered will probably turn out fair to okay at the best, and not to worry about it because it's just my first attempt but OH MY GOD I am so excited and anxious for the samples to come so I can look at and touch fabric that I designed!

Here's a screenshot of one of the two pattern variations I ordered:

And here's a close-up of the pattern, to keep you in the know:

Yes I know it says "copyright Fish Filet" on it. That's my mostly-private Facebook name. Long story.

My flower fabric. It's like a happy spring picnic. SO EXCITED. 

Well, That's That

I guess it's safe to say that my picture a day quest for this year has trickled to a sad and middling end. This is the last picture I took and almost a week has gone by with no more thought to photos at all:

I don't want to make excuses my I just got so darn busy. I'm working on event design for four different parties right now and on top of that I'm trying to put together all the details for this crazy wedding. Now, I'm not complaining about any of this. I absolutely love it and I relish the opportunities, but once you add the eight hours of work four days a week, there's just not much spare time. That's why I've been neglecting you guys so much,which I am quite sad about, too.

The funny thing is, I know I'd have no problem taking a picture a day for the rest of the year. But many of them would be thoughtless snapshots, pictures that would teach me virtually nothing about photography. I had wanted to use this project to learn more about camera settings and the technical aspects of making a great picture. I wasn't out to prove that I could commit to this task. That was a given. It's just the task took an unexpectedly dull turn. So I had to admit failure. I had to give it up. You know I'm all about the carefully composed still life and it is just not a priority for me to set those up right now. It's taking time away from other more important creative endeavours. 

Such as a very big, very dear, very important project with books. Books acquired for their elegant covers and pretty endpapers. Books which will not be read, as they will be sliced and diced in the most scandalous manner, to be made into something which, hopefully, is also interesting and worth keeping. If you know of a good place to get books like this on the cheap, drop a sister a line won't you?

Cardboard and Scrapbook Paper Holiday Trees

Hey, you guys! Today I'm going to show you how to make a lovely Christmas tree that will brighten your tabletops all through the winter. It's such a simple project that it hardly merits a tutorial, but it can't hurt to walk through the steps together. 

You'll need:

• a cardboard or styrofoam craft cone
• a circle punch (mine is 1.5" in diameter, but feel free to use whatever size you like)
• patterned paper
• hot glue gun

The first step is to punch out your circles. This is probably the most time consuming part of the project since, especially if you want to evenly space out some of the patterns in your circle like I did. My trees have circles from about four different double-sided pattern sheets, but I think they would look quite striking in just two or three patterns, too. I would recommend punching a couple dozen circles to start and then adding more later on. 

You'll start out gluing the circles at the bottom of the tree, slightly overlapping.

You don't have to cover each punchout in glue. I covered them halfway at most. On some of the circles I only applied a couple of small dots of glue. That way, the bottoms of the circles don't lie completely flat on the cone and your tree gets a little bit of dimension.

Once you start placing the circles, you'll get an idea of how many you'll need to cover your tree. You can punch more circles accordingly.

Keep on working up the body of the tree, making sure your circles overlap enough to cover the cardboard or styrofoam.

Once you get to the top you can glue to circles back to back to form a charming little tree topper!

Make yourself a few of these and you'll have a whole little forest of pretty scrapbook trees to display. Hope you have fun with this one. Happy holidays and happy crafting!

Yarn & Sequins Holiday Ornaments

This ornament wall tree is one of my new Christmas projects for this year. It's a little shorter and squatter than I'd intended, but I love it just the same. This is an especially nifty craft to make for a space where you can't have an actual Christmas tree. 

This won't be a full tutorial because so much of the project depended on the tree and wreath bases, which I didn't make. I will urge you to check the dollar bins near the entrance to your local Target stores. That's where I picked up these cute yarn and cardboard ornaments. They're a fabulous deal for $1 each and my biggest regret is that I didn't buy up the entire bin. 

I had oodles of sequins just begging to be put to used and I think they make gorgeous decorations for the ornaments. Ribbons and buttons would be adorable, too. I had a ball making these and, when I delegated a few to my assistant at work, she was equally enthusiastic about them.

My favorite designs were the ones with simple sequins paillettes. 

Although the multi-shaped spangles made great ornaments for the trees. These look great on your tree, assembled into a tree shape on the wall, or placed just about anywhere. I do hope you'll be able to track some down and get creative with them!

Tagged Again

Some of you may remember that I started an ongoing sticky quotes tagging project a couple of years ago. Well, the desire to leave easily removable and inspiring graffiti has struck again lately. This is one of my more recent tags.

I'm excited and looking forward to keep this up. If you guys have any quotes or thoughts that you think would work well for this project, please let me know!

Easter Candy Display

365 - 96
April 6th, 2011

Easter has always meant two things to me: candy and MORE candy. I'm trying not to eat as much of it this year, so I've turned to crafting with it instead. This Peeps and Eggs vase is so fun and simple to put together and it gets a lot of smiles. Try it with jelly beans and a variety of Peeps in different colors for an even more vibrant effect.

365 - 89

New Stash
March 30th, 2011

Oh man, I love the papers I recently picked up at Scrapbook Territory so much I could just sit and look at them all the livelong day.

365 - 82

I Will Love You As
March 23rd, 2011

I needed one piece of art to complete a three-part display for our living room so I decided to make this. It has a hand drawing a violin bow over a big glass goblet, which is sitting on an old-fashioned writing desk. The print showcases one of my recent favorite quotes, which comes from Lemony Snicket's The Beatrice Letters:

I will love you as a drawer loves a secret compartment, and as a secret compartment loves a secret, and as a secret loves to make a person gasp, and as a gasping person loves a glass of brandy to calm their nerves, and as a glass of brandy loves to shatter on the floor, and as the noise of glass shattering loves to make someone else gasp, and as someone else gasping loves a nearby desk to lean against, even if leaning against it presses a lever that loves to open a drawer and reveal a secret compartment. I will love you until all such compartments are discovered and opened, and until all the secrets have gone gasping into the world.

A Baby Shower for Sydney

The baby shower that I attended when I was down in Los Angeles a week ago turned out beautifully! We couldn't have been happier with our afternoon high tea for our dear friend Sue, and we are all so excited to meet her little baby Sydney. 

It was a sweet, intimate and elegant little party. My friend Kerry had more than enough family china and silverware for all the guests at home and I can't emphasize what a difference it made. Lesson in graceful entertaining, learned!

We made sure to include a few baby Koala details from the invitations I had sent and made use of fresh potted flowers for centerpieces again, much like we had at the shower I threw last summer. I can't recommend this enough. They look just as pretty and are much more eco-conscious. Several of the guests were very happy to take them home for their gardens.  

My favorite part of the shower was definitely this tea and dessert station. A different brew could be poured from each teapot so guests could enjoy a nice variety. The table was accented with two absolutely gorgeous diaper cakes made by our friend Susan. She wraps them with hand-made embroidered swaddling blankets that are just too cute.

Did you know that Sprinkles makes special cupcake packages to suit your party theme? I'm a little behind in the fancy cupcake world and this was a surprise and a delight to me. They're sturdy little devils, too. One of the floral paper poufs from the dessert station fell straight onto this platter and none of the cupcakes were any worse for the wear. 

Sue's sisters brought all the food fixings and we all worked like a well-oiled machine to prepare everything the morning of the party. I adore high tea so the menu was absolute heaven to me: gruyere and prosciutto puff pastry bites, rose, orange and Earl Grey tea cookies, the best tea sandwiches (cucumber, deviled ham and pecan and Coronation chicken) and scones with fresh whipped cream. Divine!

Also, I think every shower should have at least five kinds of cheese. It makes a party ever so much better, don't you think?

It was just the perfect way to welcome our much-anticipated new arrival. Everyone was gracious and fun and the afternoon simply flew by.

And I think everyone had a very lovely time :)

365 - 25

Candy flowers
January 25th, 2011

I've been wanting to make this Martha Stewart conversation hearts Valentine floral arrangement for years and I'm really glad I finally made the attempt. I'm not so glad that it turned out only about a fraction as well as Martha's and that it took a whole lotta time and several attempts to even get it to look like this. 

The key is to get two vases that nest together just perfectly and that was almost impossible with my extremely limited vase selection. Full disclosure: I used a commuter mug as my inner vessel for this project. I don't know how she got most of her hearts to face the outside of the vase or how she got them all to stack so perfectly. And the hearts in her arrangement are so clearly imprinted. The regular supermarket hearts available to us mere humans are all chipped and faded and ghetto-ass looking. 

I know Martha and her team are crazy crafting Tasmanian devils, but this project was deceptively tricky. I love the cheeky fun and the sweet colors of conversation hearts so much that I will probably attempt this again next year. Hopefully by then I should have all the right materials to make this just right.

365 - 23

Nickelodeon New Year
January 23rd, 2011

All Nickelodeon craft products were 70% off at Michael's last week so I picked up this Ni Hao Kai Lan paper lantern kit so we could have something to hang up for Chinese New Year (which is rapidly approaching!) Now, I've never seen this Ni Hao Kai Lan show but, while I'm all for positive Asia representation in the media, I've never been much of a fan.

See, Kai-Lan (or Gai Lan as we say it in the Cantonese) is the word for Chinese broccoli, and it is just so weird for this little girl to be called that. The literal translation of the show's title is "How are you, Broccoli?". What the eff?? It would be like if your kids watched Rutabaga the Explorer. Or if the Sesame Street characters were all named after produce. Beet and Endive. Chickpea Monster. Okra the Grouch.

365 - 19

The Wedding Book
January 19th, 2011 

Getting my wedding invitation sample book organized. Several couples I know are getting married this year and it's quite exciting. Designing wedding invitations is an exercise in restraint for me. Most of my designs end up too cutesy, and it can be quite a challenge to simplify and aim for wedding-appropriate elegance instead. It's worth every minute, though. What an incredible honor it is to think back on all the weddings I've contributed to through ink arranged carefully on paper.

Marry You - Bruno Mars

Yarn Christmas Trees - a holiday craft tutorial

My favorite holiday DIY project for this year is these happy yarn Christmas trees. They're fun, lively and simple and they can be made using any sort of extra scraps from your crafting or gift-wrapping stash. This is all that you'll need to make these sweet trees:

• styrofoam or floral oasis cones 
• yarn in the colors of your choice
• ribbon in the colors of your choice
• paper and pencil and scissors
• glue
• small items to use as tree toppers

The best thing about this project is that the styrofoam cones were the only item I really had to buy. I was lucky enough to stumble across these cones at a discount store last month, but you can often find them on sale in the floral supply section of a craft store or even at Wal-Mart or Target. With all the normal expenses of the holidays, you gotta love an el cheapo craft project!

First you'll trace a circle the to fit the bottom of the cones and then glue them on as protective bases. That will prevent the styrofoam or oasis from flaking off so you can enjoy your trees for many a year. I used leftover Xmas scrapbook paper but you can use gift wrap or just plain letter paper.

Apply a ring of glue around the base of the cone and press the yarn to it. Wait a couple of minutes for it to start drying and then begin wrapping the yarn in circles around the circumference of the cone. P.s. your fingers will get gluey. It's cool. You don't need to continue adding glue after that. This is a great opportunity to use up leftover yarn. I had enough to make some matching trees, but a variety of colors looks awesome, too. 

Keep wrapping like a boss while you gossip with a friend or watch some t.v. (or both!) You can be v. v. careful and wrap in perfect lines or you can just wrap around and backtrack to cover any gaps you made, creating a handmade and homespun look that I think is quite nifty. Continue until your cone is covered.

When you get to the very top, apply one more ring of glue to the side and some glue to the top of the cone, pressing the yarn to it. Cut off any extra yarn. Again, wait a minute or so for the glue to dry and the yarn to settle. Yes, your fingers will get gluey again. You'll live. Hopefully you'll be at an absorbing point in your t.v. show and the time will go by quickly.

Then it's time for the fun part - decorate your tree! I glued ribbons around my little guys and I'm delighted with how they turned out. As with the yarn, feel free to use odds and ends of ribbon and string. You can also decorate with little paper punchouts, sequins, beads or charms. Heck, glue some candy to it, if you want. (Sorry, I have candy on the brain. It's all this holiday junk food I've been indulging in!)

For my toppers, I used wooden buttons and acorns I found in the forest, but you can really get creative and go wild with it. Tie a pretty ribbon to match the ones encircling the tree. Fold a paper star, or use a little toy (Lego topper!) 

The trees are the perfect starting point to create a pretty winter tabletop scene. Have fun with it, kids. That's what Christmas should be about :)

Hello Kitty Halloween

I've decided that I'm going to start posting a timeline of my Hello Kitty jack o' lanterns each Halloween.  I work too darn hard on these things not to glorify them! This year I have a cute little witch Kitty on my pumpkin. She's supposed to be holding a broom, but I opted to carve her without. Just witchy Kitty doing her spooky thing under the full moon!

Warning: the pumpkins from Trader Joe's are fairly-priced ($2.99 in my 'hood) and beautifully colored, but they weigh like three times as much as other pumpkins. Despite this setback, Patrick and our friends had a really fun time carving our jack o' lanterns. We ate the fresh-roasted seeds, drank some dranks, kept a mini marathon of scary Netflix Watch Instantly movies on the tv (Paranormal Activity, The Omen and Killer Clowns from Outer Space) and listened to a spiffy Halloween music mix that Patrick was cute enough to have downloaded from the goodness knows where. The mix had the Ghostbusters theme and Elvira on it.

Can you tell I'm excited about Halloween this year? Hope you guys are all having fun with your festive preparations, too!

2009 "Kitty Paparrazi" aka "I Was Finishing Up My 2nd Year of Flickr 365 and Was Obsessed With Photography":

2008: "Tall Kitty" aka "Her Overall Buttons Look Like Nipples and Now You CAN'T Unsee It":

2007: "The OG" aka "Spaghetti Neck"

A Baby Shower

I started planning Kerry and John's baby shower literally one minute after I heard they were expecting. No wait, I started brainstorming party favor possibilities maybe about thirty seconds after the news broke. Needless to say I was ecstatic for my friends and excited about making this shower happen.

I had TONS of help with this party from Patrick, my friends, their friends, and Kerry's mom. In the day and a half after I arrived in L.A. to prepare, the Tran Clan were also overwhelmingly enthusiastic and helpful. My mom, dad, sister and cousin were real lifesavers. Let me show you a few of the details from the party itself:

Susan with her mad Cricut diecutting machine skills made me the just the cutest welcome sign for the front of the house. Seriously, once you see one of these banners at a shower you can't imagine not having one the next time. She even added bird, flower and branch pieces to match my theme.


The decor theme centered around birds and safe places. I bought little birds and eggs, branches and nests and made as many wooden decorations as I could.


My favorite part of it all was definitely the decoupaged wooden birdhouses. I adore craft painting and this was also a great opportunity to use up some of my hoard of decorative papers. These were so fun I think I'll make some to keep for myself. Full disclosure: a significant portion of my ardor for decoupaging comes from the fact that I can watch horrifically cheesy sci-fi TV shows on Netflix while I work.

Okay, can my party favors get a what what? I knew immediately that I wanted to give live plants to the guests. It just seemed in tune with the idea of bringing new life into this world. That's why I wanted the main centerpiece flowers to be a whole plant and not cut flowers, either. It was during this project that my family came through with flying colors. My dad chose the plants from the garden center and my mom spotted the planter cups (ceramic drinking mugs from Ikea!). My sister, cousin Tiffany and Momo helped me replant all 55 flowers and make the garden sticks.This was all done from scratch. As in, I hand cut the dowels for the sticks. And it was all accomplished in the span of about seven hours, with lunch break included. Infreakingcredible! I was absolutely delighted with how they looked on each of the six tables.

Dad and I crafted two sweet paper flower arrangements to place in the family room where most of the inside sitting and chitchatting would be done. Susan had thoughtfully given me two packets of Martha Stewart glassine leaves and the Deeds and I hot glued them, along with some pearls and pink flowers that I'd hand-punched, onto clusters of birch branches. Dad made some amazing bases out of garden and river rocks artfully arranged in glass vases for the branches to stand in. We each had very distinct ideas about how the flowers should be placed and the better part of two hours was spent like this:

Dad: Beckie, do you need help? It looks like you need help.

B: I dont' need no help. How can you see my flowers anyways, when you've got six million strands of hot glue debris flying off your branches.

D: Don't worry about that. At least my flowers look good. You're doing it wrong.

B: You're doing it wrong.

You guys, look at this cake that Kerry's mom made to match my invitation exactly! How cool is that?? She took my card to a local bake shop where they scanned and printed the graphic onto an edible sugar sheet that just melts into the top of the cake. Mrs. E then added chocolate sprinkles to the nest and edible pearls to the flower centers. It looked beautiful. It also opens up endless possibilites for amazing cake tops! I foresee a carrot cake with Gerard Butler emblazoned on it in full sheet glory.

Yes I tried to extend my theme to as many items as possible. Yes I am crazy like that.

Kerry loves Hello Kitty as much as I do and maybe her baby will, too. I was stoked to find this little onesie at H&M for Elle. The HK brainwashing is going to start early with this one :)

Of course, my favorite part of the shower by far was getting to hang out with all of my friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in many months. We had a marveloust time catching up, talking and laughing.

The L.A. summer weather was astonishingly cooperative (it was maybe low 80's all afternoon) and things went quite smoothly. I couldn't have been happier with how things turned out and I couldn't be happier for Kerry and John. Now the wait is on to meet the new baby at the end of the month. What a celebration that will be!

Move Along

Oh man, you guys. It's just straight up nutty how busy the last couple of weeks have been. With Patrick moving into a new apartment, and all the little tasks that accompany that kind of change, I lost track of how quickly my best friends' baby shower was coming up. The party is this Saturday and I've been crafting up a storm for it! Everything is really coming together and I'm so pleased with how my little projects are turning out. Things are crazy right now, crazy busy. And I'm kind of loving it.

Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches

Paper Christmas Wreaths

I have perhaps gone a bit wild with diy holiday decorations. I am cuckoo for Christmas crafts. Paper chains, yarn wreaths, personalized glass bulb ornaments, cards and tags... the list goes on. My latest project, which I had SO much fun with, are these paper circle wreaths, made after I read a tutorial on Craftsylish: 

They're bright, festive and adorable and, hello, they are cheap as hizzell, especially if you already own some circle punches. The tutorial calls for a store bought styrofoam wreath base, but to make this craft even more wallet-friendly, (okay, truth: I was too lazy to go to the craft store) I cut my own flat bases. 

You can use any thick paper, like a cardboard box. Just pick out one large circular item (I used a dinner plate) and trace it on the paper. This will form the diameter of your wreath. Then choose one proportionate smaller circular item (I used a cereal bowl), trace it in the center of the larger circle. That will form the hole in the center of the wreath. Use scissors to cut around your traced circles. I made mine out of an old shirt box which isn't as sturdy, but was really easy to cut through.

Once you've got your base, it's time to punch out your circles. This is the fun part to me. I live for kickass paper and love to pick out patterns that go together.

I hate to just throw out big chunks of the pretty sheets,so I punched little circles from the sections in between the large ones. See,hardly anything wasted:

Then, following the instructions on the original tutorial, I just glued the circles down overlapping each other along the edges of the wreath. I only needed to glue two layers to cover my bases, as opposed to the four called for in the tutorial. Double woot. Things went so well that I cut some more wreath bases in different sizes. I ended up with one green wreath, one red one and two multi-colored lovelies. I also grouped little trios of extra small circles to make little berry bunches: 

And I have been very much enjoying the fruits of my labor at work and at home. Seriously, this is an ideal craft. As the tutorial claims, it is simple, thrifty and fun. Don't worry about putting them on in perfect curves. Gather the kids or the not so crafty friends and slap them on. They'll still look cute, I promise.

Raising the roof for Xmas!!!

Hello Halloween

Hello, babies. Just wanted to wish you a safe and spectacular All Hallows Eve, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos, or whatever it is you might celebrate. 

A couple of years ago, a small piece in the Sanrio Newsletter (yes, I subscribed to the Sanrio newsletter. Shut up.) inspired me to carve my first Hello Kitty jack o' lantern, and now it has become a tradition. I highly recommend relief carving, which my friend taught me to do last year. The results aren't as visible in the nighttime, but I love the overall effect. 

 
It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Pumpkin carving should always be a group activity. That way you can commiserate over mistakes and shoot the breeze to make it go by faster. 

Every year while I'm carving I get so annoyed that I always swear it will be my last pumpkin EVER. But then you start eating the fresh toasted pumpkin seeds and slowly the carved image starts to come together and when all is said and done, you've got Hello Kitty doing her thang on your jack o' lantern, cute as all fucking get out. And it is SO worth it. Hell yes, HK pumpkin 2009.

Hope you guys are having a blast with your costumes, carving, haunted houses and whatnot, too. And do make sure you listen to this while you're having this weekend's fun. That's what I've been doing and it is awesome :)

Ghostbusters theme song

Sweets to the Sweet

I've had my hand in a fair share of pretty parties, and each time I like working on the favors best. Little boxes and bags filled with sweet things are endlessly delightful to me. 

For Jen's bridal shower I filled square kraft paper boxes with some old favorites. Japanese senbei rice crackers, Smarties and White Rabbit candy (if you haven't eaten this in a while, or ever, get some! The edible layer of wrapping and the fabulous label design still make me smile), French cookies and the square boxes of fruit flavored gum were things that we loved from childhood through to high school. There are some other great memories behind some of the picks, too:

• Sugar Daddies - I don't remember where we were headed now, or why. I only remember that a carload of us got stuck in the worst L.A. traffic ever one afternoon and Jen and I fell into an aching, perilous sugar low. I had a Sugar Daddy in my purse and we took turns gnawing desperately at it. I don't know why anyone goes to get their teeth extracted when they could just eat a damn Sugar Daddy.

• Dots - Jen and Ryan love Dots. In my opinion they love them a little too much. They keep telling me about different product prototypes and marketing schemes they've dreamt up, such as the bi-flavored Dot which would be called a "Duot".

• Chocobaby and Little Tree Sugar Pops - We gave these away as favors at Elysa's baby shower and they were a hit. Jen was a guest visiting us, but she worked her butt off to make that party a success.

• Hello Panda - Earlier this year Jen, Ivan and I ran out of the gas on the freeway in a rental car. We alternated between berating ourselves, laughing like crazy and eating these chocolate filled cookies as we waited for AAA to bring us one gallon of emergency fuel.

Oldified

I'm a little obsessed with the Oldifier. I've been looking for something like this for a while. If only the pictures came out processed in their original size. (Also, if only I had decent Photoshop skills, I could just do this myself.)

Took a few pictures from le Grab Bag and ran them through:

God, this picture still makes me crack up. Original here. I've since lost the good quality file! More's the pity.

If Daft Punk toured in 1907. Original here (and apparently this turned out to be one of the best pictures I've ever taken.)

Oldified Meezers out and about! Original here. Awww.

Now Is The Time

Of all the things I worked on for Thing-a-Day 2008, this is my favorite:

It features a quote from Horace's Odes, "Nunc Est Bibendum", which is translated as "Now is the time for drinking". If you leave it at that I think this would make a really fun and glib print to hang in your bar area, and the phrase makes an excellent toast.

However, the original extended version of the quote reads: "Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus" or "Now is the time for drinking, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth." It's a compelling thought; something I want to keep at the forefront of my mind. I spoke with another Thing-a-Day participant about living in wise indulgence; an "eat dessert first" philosophy. It inspired me to make this poster and also a matching print:

"Nec mora, nec requies" is the proper response to "Nunce est bibendum" and it's translated as "Neither delay, nor rest".  I think it's damn cool that there's a proper response. The reason why I love these quotes is because of their bracing and sincere carpe diem perspective; drinking, dancing and enjoying everything you can now. Rousing yourself and others to remember to do what you can with what you have in this moment, whether that is carousing, working or resting.

Versions of this quote are all around us. From the Bible: "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" One of my favorite lines from Braveheart: "Every man dies. Not every man really lives." From Virgil's Minor Poems: "Death twitches my ear 'Live,' he says, 'I am coming'". This thought is always there, always making us just a bit restless while we're preoccupied with the little tasks that make up our days. It is up to us to hear it out, and to do so now.
 

That's The Ticket

Dude, how sweet is this scrapbook that I got at the thrift store? I held it and stared at it for like 10 minutes in the shop, uncertain about its purchase. It's pretty big (11.5" x 14") and, at the time, I had no idea what I'd do with it.

But it was just too neat to pass up. The flying cds. That guy in the black Converse doing the downwards robot. The fake school glamour shots of "Dawn" and "Brian". When I inspected it closely I could even read some of the lyrics on the sheet music printed up top. They read " look out world, uh, you know". SO badass. I'm pretty sure this book was produced in the early 90's but it's definitely rocking some 80's flair, too. And it also has saddle shoes.

What really sealed the deal, though, was that a family had already started using the scrapbook before donating it to the thrift store. There's a torn out newspaper recipe for microwave fudge inside as well as tickets for a whale watching tour and a receipt for a ride up the CN Tower in Toronto on August 27th of 1995. It's pretty funny and sad at the same time.

I'm definitely keeping their pages in there. I'm using the book to display the big pile of ticket stubs I've amassed over the past few years. It's just perfect :)

Oh L'amour - Erasure

The strawberry grows underneath the nettle.

I'll usually jump at any excuse to give out cookies and candy, but my co-workers have been so very heath conscious lately that this year I set out to make valentines that weren't entirely dessert-based.

Inspired by the hearts in bloom on the cards I designed, I decided to give out small plants. A flat of organic strawberries transplanted into these little striped planters were just the thing. I even went all out and replanted them with organic potting soil. We're still at least a couple months out from strawberry season so just a few of the plants have the small, white delicate blossoms already. I made some simple heart plant picks to give them a cheery pop of color.

Hopefully they'll flourish and come summertime we'll be picking little berries that we grew ourselves.

Flower in a Hailstorm

This whole Thing a Day venture had me worried at first. I wasn't sure I'd have a month's worth of different creative projects in me that didn't involve learning a ton of new skills or buying a lot of equipment. But now I see it's gonna be a snap to find interesting tasks; they spring up by themselves all the time.

For Day One I ended up completing a sewing project out of nowhere. A few weeks back I'd scraped up the littlest toe on my right foot. It blistered and has never quite healed because my shoes rub against it every day. At the end of last week I was down to one pair of shoes which didn't make my feet cry after a day at work:

Which was all well and fine because somehow they go with most of my clothes, but they were really starting to look worse for the wear. It's been raining every day and downtrodden velvet flats + flooding = I'll probably get pneumonia. While I was at Target checking out their new Converse One Stars I spotted some elastic band flats that looked exactly like a big Ace bandage. Wrapping my feet with suede-lined ankle brace material sounded too good to pass up. I picked up a chocolate brown pair.

When I got home and actually looked at them, away from the agonizing pain of standing up in real footwear, I realized they were hideous. Not in an overt way, but definitely in a stubby, mousey, orthopedic way. However, they feel like walking on fricking sunshine. I wasn't gonna give up on them. So I set aside my intended project and tried to doll these babies up a little.

Not a night and day improvement, but my immediate thought when I look at them isn't "ew" anymore so I consider this mission accomplished.

You Can't Make It Up

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a fruitful month for me creativity-wise, as I've signed up to participate in Thing-a-Day 2008.

Each day in the month of February I'll be undertaking at least one small creative endeavor. I've completed so many fun projects this month and I thought it would be cool to keep the flow going. 

Some of the things I've got planned for my daily activities: lanterns for Chinese New Year, softies, Valentine's baking & card making, a photo outing in which the Supersampler is employed, applying some suggested edits to my last batch of poetry, a new collection of kid's birthday paper pieces,  cookies, and a music mix that will make your heart sing.

This is going to be so much fun.

Framed

I'm such a sucker for craft kits and I don't understand why. Usually after I get them home I realize that they're either uselessly complicated or the end product isn't what I expected at all. Often, I realize both of these things. Case in point: the Martha Stewart Photo Frame Kit

Reasons why this project sucked:

• You assemble each frame by layering the backing, your picture of choice, the pre-cut mat and the glass and then taping up all four sides with metallic tape. So you can never change the picture inside with having to redo everything.
• Therefore you have to be SUPER extra careful about not leaving fingerprints on the side of the glass which faces the photo. No matter how hard I tried to only pick it up by the edges, it still smudged like crazy. I had to actually put on leather gloves to assemble these frames. Gah.
• The kit provides velvet ribbon to finish the frames off. It's already lined with adhesive and you're supposed to just affix it over the metallic tape. Whatever cheap ass adhesive they used failed to stick to anything except for itself. I spent ages carefully lining it up and smoothing it down with a bone folder. Thirty minutes later it was hanging completely loose, as if I'd just thrown the ribbon casually in the direction of the frames.
• Fine. Time to bust out the hot glue gun. I got everything ready and got down to work, only to find that the ribbon doesn't stick to hot glue either. Fuckers.
• I finally had to attach the ribbon with regular messy craft glue. It was a big gloopy mess and glue got on the velvety ribbon. Eighteen years later the glue finally dried with some bubbly spots.

So I could've saved myself a lot of time and frustration if I'd just, you know, bought some frames. Thank goodness the kit was on clearance at Michael's for five dollars. And now that I look at them, they do lend a very tasteful air of refinement to my photos. Dang, look how classy that picture of Foreign Cinema god bacon is now.

Daft Punk is playing at my house.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present the plush versions of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo:

Or as I like to call them, Soft Punk.

This is one of the projects I was determined to finish last week. I started planning and sewing my Daft Punk softies some time in August, soon after their epic show at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. I'd never made anything like them before, and the initial results were not pretty. I ended up with something reminiscent of a demented Black Knight from Monty Python. A lot more "'Tis but a scratch" than "Technologic". Frustrated, I put the materials aside for a later date.

I finally launched headlong into the project again a few days ago, inspired by the softies books I'd recently read. My little robots still turned out a bit messy and the detailing isn't 100% (I'm trying to figure out the best way to write Daft Punk on the back of their suits) but come on! Daft Punk dolls!

Now all they need is a little light up magic pyramid shaped dollhouse.

Hop Hop Hooray

Hot damn have I been busy lately! Busy with fun things like the invitations for my goddaughter's second birthday. They're having a party at a place full of inflatables (bounce houses, big poofed up slides, etc.) and so I decided to make a pop-up card. I didn't want to get too ambitious, as I'd never tried pop ups before, but I'm pleased with the results. These were a lot of fun to make, and also very, very time consuming. I hope they capture the spirit of the occasion.

Something to Talk About

Talk about procrastination. I bought these letters to decoupage for Elysa a few months back and finally completed the project last week. It took a while to figure out exactly what look to go for in terms of the paper. She loves the color red right now, but her room isn't super red based. Elysa also loves the color pink and the whole princess theme, but I wanted to make something that she'd like for the long term, too. I finally settled on some papers I found at Scrapbook Territory, from the Penelope's Potpourri collection by SEI. I just wish they'd had the whole set at the store. I enjoy how the bright florals pop, but would like to have paired them with some more subtle patterns.

But it was perfect timing to give Elysa the gift of letters because all of a sudden she's started talking up a storm! I noticed a big difference once she started preschool. She learned a lot of new words and phrases there, and I guess the timing was just right, too. But I just love how Elysa expresses herself. She's funny, demonstrative and rather articulate for a three year old. The way that children speak very much reflects the way they think, much more so than it does in adults. Some of my recent favorite examples of Elysa Talk:

She's got a mind-bogglingly strong memory. As we walked past a hallway with some framed diplomas, she pointed to one whose sheet of glass was missing: "Ohhhh. One time I hit that and I broke it and Daddy was SO angry and he yelled a lot and I cried." The funny thing is, I was actually present when that even occurred. "You remember that?" I exclaimed. I had completely forgotten.

She's very expository. Upon presenting me with a pair of Hello Kitty flip-flops she had hand-picked for me in Taiwan: "See, these have Hello Kitty, so I know you'll like them. They're shoes, and you can wear them." The best part is that Judy had thought the sandals were lost. Apparently, Elysa had squirreled them away amongst her own things so she could give them to me herself :)

She uses Kid Logic, which I love. After I set a paper box of Beard Papa's onto the table: "Auntie Beckie, can I have a Papa's?" "How do you even know what that is??," Judy asked her. Elysa points to the graphic of the pipe-smoking fisherman-looking guy and patiently explains, "He's right there. That's Papa." How great is that.

Let me introduce to you a brand new dance.

I've been busy with a lot of craft work lately. Lots of painting, printing, cutting and pasting. Trying to spread a design concept over a whole array of items. Basically, I dream in Illustrator and my desk is a mess.

But you know what that means. Creativity streaming out of my ears, music streaming in. Here's a mini-playlist of tracks that are keeping me going:

War on Sound - Moonbabies - I utterly adore this Swedish duo and their latest album, Moonbabies at the Ballroom. Their sound just makes me happy.

The Devil Never Sleeps - Iron & Wine - So excited about this album! More upbeat, a little more instrumentation, still wonderful. Is Iron & Wine kind of cool?

The Night Starts Here - Stars - Pleasant, indie electro-pop. I especially love when they sing over each other.

The Salmon Dance - The Chemical Brothers feat. Fatlip - What is going on in this bizarre and silly song? I know it's kind of an awful track, but the whole "Did you know?" Pause. "What?" "That I can go to Japan, and back" part completely cracks me up.

Triple X Throwdown

Right behind Thanksgiving and, like, National Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month (that's this month, yo. Better start pushing now.), Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. This only started a couple of years ago, because of a small experience I had.

And I don't like Valentine's Day because of all the cheesy hearts and flowers trappings. Though I do love flowers and also the color red and hey, a day synonymous with cards is basically right up my alley. So for my Valentine's project this year I thought, why not combine all of these things:

Hence, a lollipop delivery system in the form of paper flowers. This idea originally came from a Martha Stewart Kids segment where they cut heart-shaped petals from plain construction paper. To spice things up a little I printed blue petals with an outlandish botanical design and some white petals with the lyrics to a song that I know I enjoying hearing on Valentine's Day: Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back". Because giving someone this:

well, that's what gets you some HotT Valentine's action, chochachos. That's how you make them swoon.

Do Make Say Think

A couple of years ago a clever place called Paragraph opened up in New York. Basically, you could get an access pass to this space and go there when you wanted to write. At the time I thought, "wouldn't it be great if they had the same type of place, only for arts and crafts?"

Well Etsy's finally brought this idea into fruition, also in NYC. Do you guys like Etsy? I simply adore it; the level and sheer amount of creativity there boggles my mind. People envision the most cunning things. I haven't bought anything from there yet, though I'm always three seconds away from picking up a lovely drawing or an awesome tank top. But I'm anxious to see how the Etsy Labs will work out and wish there was something nearby just like it.

I've fallen into an intense period of printing and crafting again and find it ever so fun and fulfilling. It would be great to have a semi-dedicated, albeit shared, workspace and other crafters to bounce ideas off of. It would also be nice to get access to tools I have no intention of buying at this point but would love to try, like a serging machine or a silkscreen setup or letterpress. Hopefully this concept will do well enough to spread. In the meantime, stay tuned for some projects I've been working on.

Killing me softly.

I've started knitting a new scarf with what is turning out to be a real jerk of a yarn. I bought three balls of this stuff because it is SO incredibly soft, and I'm a gosh-darned sucker for anything soft. I didn't take a real close look at it; just long enough to see that it looked like a Babys R Us threw up and someone bothered to weave the vomit into silken skeins.

Turns out this yarn is super thin, narrower even than embroidery thread and that, coupled with the flyaway wisps all over it, makes this novice knitter want to tear her hair out. It's pretty slow going, and not helped by the fact that I usually knit while I'm watching my Monday night shows: No Reservations, Nova Science Now! and 24. Every time I finish a row it looks and feels like a big angry sailor's knot.

But at the same time I'm pretty pleased. Just the three or four inches I've done so far feel so nice against my hand that I know it'll be worth it. The gauge I'm knitting at means it won't be that warm. But damn will it be soft. Mmmmm, soft. Maybe I'll make some matching wristbands.

Leaves of Grass

I'm finding that the same theme keeps popping up in the card designs I've done for the fall and winter: textured organics.

A lot of this is because of a completely kick-ass Japanese punchout kit that Susan and Harvey brought back for me from Taiwan. The punchers I am currently using apparently make people's hands cry. These Japanese ones, on the other hand, are so light and easy that I just want to punch the night away.

It's a lot of extra work to hand apply each individual leaf or petal, but I keep adding them to the cards. The extra dimension is more than worth it. The number, angles and groupings change with each card, making each one truly unique. This, to me, is the heart of handmade.

Tanoshimou ne.

I have only the gods of weather to thank for keeping  Saturday afternoon bright, semi-clear and lovely for Sue's bridal shower.

All of the guests were very gracious and everything turned out quite well, if I do say so myself. I was really excited about this Asian themed party, and it was quite interesting to balance the delicate look with a modern sensibility.

Great food, great friends, great fun and a tremendous sense of happiness for Sue and Brendan. All in all, a beautiful afternoon.

I'll have stationery printed up all with 10 Cane drops on it.

Spent a good part of my day trying to work and draw and design and make, but I'm kind of stymied.

I've been working for a good week on Sue and Brendan's save-the-date cards, but I've been having the worst artist's block. Usually I'll take a day and think things over and suddenly a vision of what I want the design to look like will just pop, and the kids will be alright.

But lately I've been terrible! Everything I've done in the past few weeks has looked foolish and foul. And I want this to be a terribly good design, of course because I do  care about my lovely couple muchly, but also because I'd like to base the cards for their wedding invites off of this design, so, as Dizzee Rascal would say, it's gotta fix up and look sharp.

I've gotten some new graphic and border collections in and maybe that will help. But I think another little bit of time should do it. I think I've just got to climb out of this valley of uncreativeness. I've got deadlines, and I do have ideas, but it's coming out all wrong! I also practiced drawing some mini comics and damn is that hard. I'm just all lackluster and in the wrong state of mind. I need inspiration. Perhaps it's been too long since I've achieved a drunken state.

Of course! That must be it.

Yamahuh?

I wasn't expecting the site for Yamaha to inspire any artistic creativity, but I was surprised to find that they actually have a generous amount of exciting and exquisite paper crafts featured.

Besides the cool and very realistic models you can download and build of their motorcycles, the site also offers paper craft pdfs for many of the major holidays celebrated in Japan and, my favorite, models for endangered animals. There's even a coelacanth!

I can't wait to try to put some of these together, especially the okapi, the South African Hedgehog and the rhino. It would be fun to have a little landscape of them all.

I might even try my hand at one of the bikes. The XJR 1300 isn't that great looking but the description does read "Create this "big naked" machine with your own hands." What the hell?? Yes, I  might have to accomplish this just so I can tell people, "Yep. That bike? Built it myself. I put together that big naked machine with my own bare hands."

Paper Flowers

Paper Flowers
Originally uploaded by sevenworlds16.

I continued to curse the ingeniousnouss of Paper Source this past week as I've been getting ready for Tommy and Judy's baby shower this Sunday.

Making paper flowers from a Paper Source kit has been part of the preparations, and it's taking ages because you have to hand trace the petals from a flimsy-ass pattern on to each sheet of paper, then cut out each petal, wire it and tape them all together. It's really a lot more work than it should be, but I guess the kit has to give you the illusion that you're actually being creative.

I told Sue that in the time it takes me to make one flower Lance Armstrong can complete yet another leg in the Tour de France(go Lance Armstrong!), which is just kind of sad.

Go Elysa, It's Your Birthday

I've been working on Elysa's first birthday party for the past couple of months and I'm happy to report that everything came out just smashingly! The whole monkey/jungle theme really carried through, but not in a cheesy way, like I was afraid of.

Of course, it was awesome because there were so many people involved. Just tons of friends and family all pitching in and doing everything they could to prep and to make the party run smoothly and to clean up.

I had to brainstorm quite a few more decorations than expected because Seth's house is large and quite, er, spacious (read: he has NO furniture or decor). Luckily supplies were plentiful and and I got lucky--I found everything I needed quickly and easily.

So decor was cool, food was awesome (especially the Perfect Egg Rolls and the cake), much-needed seating and tables were arranged, and they had an awesome and enthusiastic turnout. It was great to meet so many friendly new people and spend time with some of my ladies. So much fun was had! And Tommy and Judy seemed to enjoy it, which is all that mattered to me.

Except for Elysa having fun, of course! What a sweetie! How much do we all love this baby? But look at her. You can't help but want to do everything you can for her. Happy Birthday, bebe!

See more pics of the party in my Flickr Photo Album

Cut and Paste

Internet, I'm so excited because my creative cup has runneth over lately, and my newest focus has been design. In the past couple of years I wasn't exactly enthused about making new paper goods, but lately I've experienced a major revival in that arena. I've got tons of ideas and I'm freshening up my old portfolio and adding to it in a big way. (More news and possible visuals, soon.) Most importantly, design is fun and stimulating again. I want to do it.

So it's official. I'm opening up my metaphorical doors and flipping the imagined sign in the window from "closed" to a big, fat "OPEN". Send your poor and your tired to me. Send me your huddled masses of party goers yearning for printed material. This is a true side business now! Wish me luck, and send me your business name ideas, please.

There were actually several ships made entirely of toothpicks.

I heart museums. That's all I really want to say. If I was to be imprisoned in one place forever that I could choose it would probably be the Smithsonian. Of course, with your typical art museum there's always some contention because, frankly, I don't know much about art.

I love looking at art. And there are a few artists that I know I love (Degas, Kandinsky, Gauguin, Rembrandt.) And there are pieces that I have an immediate, gut-wrenching reaction to (Wyeth's "Christina's World", Alma-Tadema's "Spring", Miro's "The Birth of the World" and any photo by Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange.) But really, I'm not exactly an art history scholar.

So I actually prefer a more offbeat museum and I went to two utterly fantastic ones on my trip back East.

Jenny and Ryan and I took in the Andy Warhol museum one Friday evening and it was as fun and chic and tongue-in-cheek as I had hoped. There was a floor of Warhol's collaborative work with Basquiat that was so cool to see in person, and of course the great silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. There was also a floor dedicated to Interview magazine which Warhol founded, with a wall full of hard copies of most of the magazines covers. My favorite exhibit, though, was an installation in a room which had special fans and air currents that kept about 15 pillow-shaped mylar balloons in constant flow and movement. You could just stand in the room and watch and feel the balloons wafting about. You could push them and tip them and observe how that changed the currents. Or you could grab them and bash each other about the head and face with them. Check, check and check. I definitely increased my knowledge and appreciation of Warhol, especially his film work. The museum really showcases his audacious genius.

Then back in Baltimore I had the pleasure of visiting the American Visionary Art Museum with Sophia and Hunter. Let me tell you, this place is a national treasure. There's the strangest and most spectacular art here. As Sophia says, some of the work is very "challenging." We toured their latest rotating exhibit which was about the spiritual properties of water. The pieces ran the gamut from playful paintings of underwater scenes, to a big, pieced together interactive display on Coney Island, to the most mind boggling sequins-bedecked Vodoun banners and objects dedicated to La Sirena, to stuff that was just like "What the fuck?".

Actually, many of the pieces in the musuem have the ability to elicit that reaction. And what makes it all the better are the artist biographies that accompany their work. Those actually are as artistic and interesting at times as the art itself, with tidbits such as "The artist prefers to travel by Greyhound bus when in America" or "the artist was discouraged after most of his work was crushed by an unhinged door in a moving accident." I have to admit that the museum has in its holdings quite a few items from people who were in mental institutions when they produced their art. Highlights of the museum for me: the gigantic ships made entirely of toothpicks, the huge, haunting painting by the guy who inspired Quiz Show, and the beautiful, heartbreaking handquilted pictures by a Holocaust survivor. This was an outstanding museum, with an awesome and quirky gift shop that I could go to every week. 

I am so inspired by my museum visits that I've decided to decorate my new place in a changing series that showcases my projects and photos instead of committing to more permanent decor. I'd also like to display some of my found items and my random pieces that I find so interesting. I'm very excited. I think it will keep the mood upbeat and inviting and constantly in flow, much like shiny silver balloons floating like clouds through a room.

Our Little Monkey

With some much appreciated help from Susan I was able to finish the invitations for Elysa's birthday party. The party isnt' until the end of the month but I wanted to square them away before I left on my East Coast jaunt. I'm very excited about planning her birthday. It will be my first kid's party that I've done and I've got big plans for it. I hope it's a great addition to my "portfolio". Can't wait!

When you care enough to send the very best.

--I'm online trying to figure out train and flight schedules between Baltimore and Pittsburgh when I get an IM from Nicole D.

Nickalicious: Hey, Shake (yes, after Master Shake! I love her.) Valentine's Day is coming up soon.

Sevenworlds: So what? You know I ain't got no love for Le Jour d' Amour. Never did.

Nickalicious: But Becks! I thought you were vowing to be more optimistic from now on. Less cynicistic.

Sevenworlds: Do you know of my love life the past couple of years? I'm lucky not to be typing to you on a prison computer.

Nickalicious: So I guess my question is answered before I could ask it. I wanted you to design a V-day card for me to give to Marco Polo.

Sevenworlds: Like what? Roses are red, violets are blue, now that we've shacked up, I want to do you?

Nickalicious: Yack. I guess that would be fitting but I was thinking of something slightly more Romantic.

Sevenworlds: I can't do anything for you. Do you comprehend the state of my heart? I've recently born witness to several slow disintegrations; in fact, I've had to advise a friend about a man, "Do not let him have power over you. You can't belong to him because he will never belong to you." Really, I've come to the realization that maybe some guys just don't get it! I've complained to Jangers that I am quite sad because a certain someone (whom I cannot stop thinking about much to my annoyance and I am very angry with myself for that--bad Beckie!) has a negative and mistaken impression of me: they think I'm insane and insatiable. Her response: "at least it can only get better from here." That's how things are with me. I'm kind of in "like a drifter, I was born to walk alone" mode. To top things off, I know someone who claims she is sleeping with GARY COLEMAN. Are you sure you want me designing love notes for you? It'll probably just have a big middle finger on it with the words "Suck It".

Nickalicious: I'll take it! I'll send it to one of my exes. And then make me a nice one, too? Thank you!!! And I can just picture you with all of your belongings tied up in a kerchief on a stick, going down the only road you've ever known, hair all blowing in the wind. A single tumbleweed rolling past.

--We agreed that I would make several viciously sarcastic cards (including one that reads, "Now that enough time has passed I realize how much I miss..." then on the inside, "your car.") to placate my disillusionment. I also made a couple of peacemaking ex-boyfriend cards. I forgot how fun card-making could be. Anyone else who wants a custom card, just let me know. For Nicole D.'s beloved Marco Polo, because of their mutual adoration of Sarah McLachlan, I produced a hand drawn version of Nickalicious herself (pictured to the left) on a card that reads "Our love is better than ice cream."

Who knew. I guess I'm still a believer. 

I've Created a Monster.

And monster, thy name is Mom.

Several months after Susan introduced me to the world of knitting my mother has decided that, she too wants to partake of the vagaries of forming practical items from a roll of string. Having been well versed in crochet when she was a youngster and also having grown up in the presence of my grandmother (a superbly capable knitting beast herself) Momo's knitting career has taken off like a bottle rocket.

While she was on a weeks vacation after her cataracts surgery she knitted four scarves. Five, if you count her first practice scarf. This is completely absurd. She can now finish a scarf in a full day. Complete with tassels.

Just like all I want to do is watch CSI and eat this heavenly pecan pie I found at Whole Foods Market, all Momo ever wants to do is knit. The woman is in a stitching frenzy. Our household inventory went from my two pairs of knitting needles and six balls of yarn to seven pairs of needles, several crochet hooks, a pom-pom maker (whose tedious operation I have been charged with) and a terrifying mountain of yarn in a muppet-esque variety of textures and colors. Of course, you'd never know the last bit because since my mom knits a scarf a day the yarn just flies out of the house.

She loves to shop for supplies and talk about different ways to decorate our projects. She's slowly but surely trying to recall all of her crochet skills. We like to experiment with different wool and needle combinations. And we're planning a scarf for every member of our family. Gulp.

I am completely exasperated. And I am so, so happy to have found a hobby we can share.

Decorer Extraordinaire

Ooh, so I was buying some fabu t-shirts off of deathcabforcutie.com and I clicked on the link for the t-shirt designer, Jason Munn (The Small Stakes).

Turns out he has designed tons of posters for cool events and for some of my favorite bands/artists. Besides Death Cab he's got some great Wilco, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, Low and American Music Club posters, amongst others. I am totally obsessed with them and want some for decorating. At $20 a piece they're actually not that bad. These are just lovely pieces of art. He's got a style that's a perfect blend of modern and retro styles. I'm very excited and happy to find this!

Out jumps Jack...

Some of you might remember that I bought a knitting kit a few months back only to bury it in the depths of my closet when it proved too frustrating. That was quite disappointing because I love scarves and I didn't think it would be so hard to bind together a bunch of long wooly strings. But it was.

Flash forward 6 months and an hourlong lesson given by an eighteen year old girl. And check me out. I'm officially a knitter.

So maybe I still have to concentrate demonically to avoid leaving a cavernous hole in my knitting. And maybe a dropped stitch leaves me utterly baffled and ready to give up on the project entirely. But Sir Chunks a Lot the Scarf is increasing in wobbly size by the hour and I am currently living for the moment that I decide that it is long enough to stop (although I don't know how to seal off the knitting so I also live in fear of said moment.)

Laugh all you want. We'll see who's laughing when, one by one, you lucky bastards fall prey to the lumpety "gifts" of my new knitting prowess. And guess what you're all getting for x-mas this year.