goofy valentines to download

Remember when valentines were all about silly puns and not licensed characters? I have fond memories of them from grade school. The sillier the better.

My parents always made them. Dad would think of the pun and Mom would do the art. The last couple of Valentine's days, they've revived the tradition with the help of Photoshop. I'm filled with nostalgia whenever we get them, and the kids think they're pretty funny too. Mom, also known as collage & mixed media artist, Rosemary Luckett, has agreed to let me offer 8 valentines for free downloading  here! Just don't go trying to make a million dollars selling them- they are for personal use only, please. They are arranged 4 to a sheet, just print on card stock, and cut them apart with an exacto to make flat cards. Enjoy!

 Happy Valentines Day!

ins and outs 2012

floral new year card by thevysherbarium

Out with the old! I grew up in the Washington DC area and always looked forward to the Washington Post's in & out list on January 1. I don't now how long they've been doing it, but it's been a long time if I can remember it from childhood. Here is the famous Post list and a few others just for fun:

The Washington Post  (ie. OUT: Pippa's bum/IN: Kate's uterus)
Food Network
WTOP radio
Travel Channel
Mercury News

It's gonna be a good year, I think, even though the Washington Post says Etsy is "out" and Art.sy is now "in". Gonna have to check that one out...

ins and outs 2011

Letterpress holiday card by DingbatPress

Happy New Year! I'm happy to report that I've already accomplished one resolution for the year which was to tweak the look and functioning of this blog. Thanks to Shalon of papermepretty, I have a new wider layout, a navigation bar (with a home button- I'm giddy!), a background pattern, and new headers. It's the little things! All I have to do now is complete the overdue baby gifts I've promised to friends and lose 20 lbs...

Now on to that quintessential New Year's Day pursuit: gorging on what's out and what's in lists!
from the Washington Post (the mother of all out & in lists)
from the Chicago Tribune
from the Portland Mercury
from George Mason High School (the kids are alright!)
from the Boston Herald
from Peta
from Shine
from Gatehouse News Service (is the Tea Party really "in" though?)
from Buddy TV
from Second City Style
from ABC News
from Global Post

Take care!

kid-friendly ocean city getaway

"A change is as good as a rest"- Stephen King

I do agree with that saying, but a change and a rest are even better. On the spur of the moment, we decided to decamp to the beach for a quick vacation this past week. After all, we live in Delaware and beaches are only two hours away. We usually bum a room off relatives for our vacations, but it was time we did a real vacation, just our own little fambly.

No, we did not stay in this lovely house. This is my fantasy beach house located on Martha's Vinyard in walking distance to town. It's for sale for $2,395,000. It doesn't say how far from the beach it is in the ad, but that's what those charming bikes with wicker baskets on the front are for.

This is where we stayed in concretey Ocean City, MD. Sure, it's a far cry from my fantasy house, but the price was right and we could get a 2 bedroom condo at the last minute through Coldwell Banker. A lot of these high rises have the option of renting for a "mini week" which means you can rent from Monday through Friday like we did or Friday through Monday for a long weekend. It's a considerable savings if you opt out of the weekend which I find unpleasant traffic-wise and crowded beach-wise anyway. Just a heads up if you do rent through these guys: about $200 in taxes and multiple fees are added on to the rental "price".

When we were DINKs, we would never stay someplace like this. We used to go to remote dive resorts in the Caribbean every year where we'd have our own private hut right on the beach, but now that we have kids, it's a whole new world. The little buggars were absolutely thrilled with the aggressively thematic decor, the fact that we rode an elevator every day to get to the beach, and every other aspect of this vacation. If the kids are happy, then I'm satisfied!

The over-the-top beach decor is actually necessary to remind guests that they are still at the beach when inside the condo. This was the view if you go out on the balcony and crane your neck. Note the uncrowded beach though! It was remarkably uncrowded during the week.

And this was the view at night. Not unlike Vegas, agree? Again, the kids were thrilled with it.

We indulged in some mini golf at a dinosaur-themed course. Each of us got at least one hole-in-one. Absolutely too thrilling once more!

I have nothing good to say about the food options along the strip there in Ocean City. It's "all you can eat" fried stuff everywhere you turn. It's been just completely uninspired fare and poor ambiance in every restaurant we've been to along there. Our favorite place to go is Sneaky Pete's in West Ocean City just over the southern bridge on Ocean Gateway. It's part of the wildly popular Hooper's Crab House and occupies a large gazebo and a couple of boats at the end of a dock. We discovered it a few years back when we tried to go to Hooper's and the wait was going to be excruciatingly long. They sent us out back to this more casual version of Hooper's that never seems to have a wait and is completely charming in a Key West kind of way.

We needed to have that boardwalk experience too. We've been to the Ocean City boardwalk many times, but this time we went to the one in Rehoboth, DE. Oh, it is so much more clean and manageable than the down-on-it's-luck-feeling OC one! You still have your Thrasher's Fries, your soft serve ice cream,

your disgusting cotton candy that looks like a bag of fiberglass insulation,

and your tame kiddie rides (which incidentally are partially powered here by solar panels on the roof). There is even real food available on the streets leading up to the boardwalk. I had an excellent sandwich with fresh local tomatoes on it at Green Man on Wilmington Avenue.

The beach in Rehoboth as seen from the boardwalk.

Now we're home and refreshed and feeling some creativity coming on...

recharging the creative batteries

Um, this is the state of my studio right now.

This might be part of the reason I've had a lapse in creativity. I can't even cut anything out on my cutting table. I haven't put away all the great supplies I bought in the garment district two weeks ago. I have several half-finished projects waiting for missing elements just sitting there taunting me. Instead of completing them, I've been goofing off with my kids, spending too much time online, and entertaining out-of-town family who were in town for Fathers' Day weekend. I've discovered the addictive nature of creating Etsy treasuries after being included in a few. I stayed up waaaaay too late last night making my first one.

Creativity does tend to ebb and flow, so I'm not too terribly worried, but I'll have to kick start it soon if it doesn't come back on it's own. I found a few links with some decent advice. This article from Zen Habits is about not becoming a workaholic, but I think the suggestions also work for boosting creativity. Working all hours is a great way to zap your creativity. I also like this straightforward article from Digital Art. This post in the Mohr Collaborative blog explores how creativity and insight happen most when our minds wander, yet we spend very little of our days allowing that to happen. The Mohr post also links to this fascinating Wall Street Journal article about the anatomy of the brain's breakthrough moments.

The top 10 ideas I've gleaned for boosting creativity:

- clean workspace- instant boost
- unplug from the internet for at least a day
- take a class- a long term thing, but I can vouch for this one
- play/socialize
- make something other than your usual work for a change
- doodle/always have a notebook handy
- rest- the mind remarkably can solve problems better while wandering
- get out and explore- a great way to find new sources of inspiration
- make time for creative pursuits- don't over schedule yourself (hard, I know!)
- block out self-criticism and negative thoughts- you always think better in a good mood

After reading up on creativity, I don't feel like I'm doing so badly at all. I'm already doing the playing and socializing. I've been out and about exploring. Today I'm going to start a major cleaning and organizing effort in the studio. And next week is the biggie: I will be unplugged from the internet from Monday through Friday and doing nothing but relaxing, sketching in my notebook, and playing. Then when I'm done with all that, I'll make time to be in the studio for blocks of time while the kids attend a camp or two. And right this minute, I'm going to sit on the porch and enjoy my new favorite drink!

An "Arnold Palmer" (part iced tea/part lemonade). Aaaaaahhhh.

and the winner is...

I've been anticipating the the results of this year's Washington Post Peeps Diorama contest for weeks. I was reminiscing about past winners a while back. This year I was imagining entries along the lines of Tiger Peep getting his windshield smashed with a golf club made of a toothpick and other such sordid themes. But I was way off the mark. The results are in and the winner and several finalists and runners up did perfect pitch renditions of scenes from children's books and movies. And the winner is...

"Eep" by Michael Chirlin & Veronica Ettle based on the Disney Pixar movie "Up". 

The impressive construction utilizes bed springs to hold up the house and many, many popsicle sticks for the victorian-style shingles shingles.

There's Russel on the porch with his merit badge sash and Mr. Fredericksen in the window with his glasses.

"The Mad Hatter's Peeps Party" by Amy Billingham, Rob Black, & Lauren Emeritz, based on the children's classic "Alice in Wonderland, was a finalist. I love the peep-shaped topiaries in the background.

Admirable use of sculpey clay to make the food and teapots.

What parent doesn't know this book by heart? Based on Margaret Wise Brown's "Goodnight Moon", finalist Mary Lea Harris' "Goodnight Peep" doesn't miss a single detail...

right down to the red mittens drying on the rack...

and the old lady whispering "hush"- while knitting with dress pin needles.

I just read the basis of this one to my kids tonight. "Peepaline", by 17 year-old Grace Timmery (you go girl!) and based on the book "Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans, made the semifinalist list.

This one just goes to show how deep the talent pool is in this competition. "Where the Wild Peeps Are" by Margaret Cooney and Adam Matuszeski looks just like the book. And I won't even bother to say what that book is- we all know, right people?

This year's entries certainly were exceptional and set the bar that much higher for next year. These are just a small sampling. Go to the official Washington Post page and see the rest of the impressive finalists and semifinalists and even some videos. All the images here are courtesy of the Washington Post.

Happy Easter!!!!

the peeps are in!

It's that time of year again. The snow is melted, bulbs are poking up out of the ground, Easter is around the corner...

The peeps are in! We Americans are champions at cheesifying our holidays, so in remembrance of the death and resurrection of our Lord, we celebrate with garishly colored, blobby marshmallow treats!

Appetizing right? That's not the point though. Peeps have many uses.

If you're lucky enough to live in the Washington DC area, you qualify to enter the Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest. It's been going on since 2007 and gets better every year. The rules are simply to use Peeps as characters in a diorama of a famous occurrence or scene. It can be a historic, current or future event, or it can be a nod to pop culture. I hear 30 other papers have contests now, so maybe you can enter one in your town...

 "Night Peeps" by Melissa Harvey

Last year's winner. A take on Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks". Just brilliant!

"Double Peep Strike" by Bradley Gordon, LeElaine Cormer, & Justin Donnely

Finalist  from last year. I sort of thought this one should have won on topicality alone. This flight 1549 image dominated the media.

 "Oh My Peeps, there's an 'H' in There!" by Gwen Jones

Another 2009 finalist. The other major media obsession of 2009: the "Octomom".

"Chinatown's Lucky Dragon Dancers Perform Goodbye Year of the Rat, Hello Year of the Peeples" by Betty Thompson

Another finalist. So realistic, right down to the sauce on the poultry. Can't wait to see what people come up with this year...

 

Retail store display is getting in on the action too. 70's style guru, Cathy of California, created this ingenious window display at the Yolk store on Silverlake Boulevard in LA. Fab use of Peeps!

What the... an actual Peeps store??? Yes indeed, just outside Washington DC in National Harbor, MD.

from cakespy.com

And of course there are culinary uses.

from fancyflours.com

Peepalicious!

i want to see your office chairs!

I confess to having a web analytics service that I check compulsively. It's neat because you can see what phrase people Googled that led them to your blog, what country they are from, what other posts they clicked on in the archive. So I've learned something: people all over the world are recovering their old office chairs using my tutorial! This old post from back in Novemer 2009 gets the most visitors of any other post on my blog. And that brings me to this request: please, please, please send me photos of your finished chairs!!! Just click on "email me" over in the sidebar and send me a jpeg of it. Once I get a couple, I'll post them.

bad habits die hard

Generally, I'm pretty disappointed that Domino magazine is gone and that the publisher decided to give me Glamour Magazine to finish out my subscription. The two magazines are not remotely comparable, but as long as it's here, I read it. I have to give Glamour credit ,though, I actually found this recent article on sleep useful. I find myself in a vicious cycle of never getting enough sleep. What can you do if you're a mom that can't afford a nanny? When else, besides after the kids are in bed, are you ever going to have time for yourself or to make stuff or to work?

Even though I'm busier than ever with the opening of my Etsy shop and freelance work picking up, I decided to follow the recommendations in the article which is to try to get between 7 1/2  and 9 hours each night as well as go to bed and wake up at consistent times every day. I've never been able to do it in the past, but I decided I really need the extra energy, boost in mood, and bonus weight loss.  Really, it's so logical- we all know we feel better with more sleep, but why can't we follow through?

So I managed to get 8 1/2 hours for two days in a row! I had to force myself to not start any absorbing projects after the kids were in bed. The first day I woke up 1/2 hour before the alarm, went downstairs for a cup of coffee and a browse through the J.Crew catalog before the kids woke up and the chaos started. For some reason, it didn't seem so chaotic. For once I didn't yell at the kids to hurry up, and I wasn't late dropping my boy off at preschool. Hmmm.. this is pretty cool. The second day, I felt like running a marathon, but instead I did a boatload of design work for a client, did a bunch of push ups, actually got dressed and put make up on, and made a home-cooked meal for dinner. Rock on! Then day 3 came around and I only got 7 hours. I got hooked on a tv show and blew it on the bed time. Today I'm paying for it! I had chicken parmesan for breakfast, spent the morning web surfing, and spending too much discretionary income on silly stuff. I was supposed to be cranking out more designs for my loyal client who happens to have a deadline, but I went on Regretsy.com and couldn't help myself.

I bought this Regretsy t-shirt from zazzle.com . It's an actual quote from an Etsy seller. Do I need it? Absolutely not! The sale benefits something, I think- oh who cares! Next, I check out some of the Regretsy inside joke reader-designed fabric at Spoonflower. I really should do some work... oh look! They have fabrics with the Regretsy "clone kitty"!

designed by Lynda Williams

These are from a Photoshop contest on Regretsy. So other people besides me get sucked into wasting too much time on Regretsy!

 designed by Kurt Storey

designed by Sarah Robertson

designed by Natalie Backus

 designed by Christine Gunn

Spoonflower is a really neat resource. You can design your own fabric in Illustrator or Photoshop or whatever, send the file to Spoonflower, and have any amount of yardage printed up on your choice of fabric. Or you can buy other people's designs- then that person gets a commission. I'd really like to try it... first I think I'll buy a couple of yards of one of these. I love this last one by Christine Gunn. It  looks like a pretty paisley from a distance, but then a closer look shows it's the "clone kitty" and "garbage elephant"! It is so clever, I think I need to buy a few yards of it in bamboo/cotton just to see how it feels, make a skirt to go with my new t-shirt- some tax deductible R&D... oh crap, it's 1:30, I'm craving McDonald's, and I still have designs to start!

I'd like to do better tonight on the sleeping, but I might have to catch up on work and Project Runway is on...