name.

Last spring, a wonderful friend of mine 1,500 miles away had a baby. This photo-bomb is all about the baby-name letters that I made for awesome baby Landon. Enjoy! (If you're looking for a how-to, leave a message in the comments, and I'll give you a run down...)

hang.

To kick off my jump back into posting (here's where I apologize for being terrible about this for quite awhile now, but I promise, I've been busy!) I promised a "how-to" for the family-name sign I created for my cousin's (Mrs. Jahns!!) wedding shower. The last few months have been full of weddings and babies it seems, and rather than mail gift cards all over the country, it's much more fun (for me, anyways) to make things and pack them into big boxes. I have a few "catch-up" posts to write to get all of that up, and then I can move on to the fun things that my husband and I have been doing around the house that we just moved into. So, without further stalling, here it is. 

Before- I picked up a cabinet door at our local Habitat for Humanity Re-store for about $5. Originally I wanted one that was a little more beat-up, but this one was in great shape, and the perfect canvas for text.

After finding a cabinet door, I measured the inner panel and created a document using Adobe Illustrator to match the size (though I'm sure Word would work fine...) I tweaked a little to get the text and embellishments laid out the way I wanted. Try a few different fonts, they change the style a lot!

Print your sign out, overlapping several pieces of paper if necessary. Make sure you like the way it looks and that the layout works well with the size of the door. Don't attach the paper yet...

When you're ready to get started, remove all of the old hardware and give the door a good scrub. Mine was a little dirty in the crevices, so I used soap and warm water to clean it up.

Attach picture hanging hardware on the back of the door. I used one of these jagged guys in each upper corner. They hammer in easily and they are very easy to get level. They also hold heavy things like cabinet doors well.

Flip your sign over. Trim a sheet of graphite paper to fit underneath your printed text. I taped off the sides first for the teal "frame" around the outside, then the graphite paper, then the text. Make sure that nothing is going to slip while you're working and that the graphite paper is the right side-down!

Carefully trace the outline of the text and anything else that you want to have on the door. I used a colored ball point pen so I could see what I had already traced. When you're finished, very carefully lift the paper off of the door. Make sure all the gaps in the trace are closed.

To paint, you can use brushes and craft paint, or anything that you like. I found Sharpie paint-pens in a ton of colors at Joann's Fabrics, and they were really easy to freehand with. Don't worry about covering all of the graphite or smearing it, after the paint dries you can clean it up with a pink pearl eraser and it won't hurt anything.

Let it dry overnight....

Mark the spots where you want to attach the new hardware. There are all sorts of things you could use for "hangers." Knobs, hooks, double hooks, etc... use your imagination! I left the handle on for a fun look. I liked that it still looked a little like a cabinet door, and I thought that it could maybe be used for a key hook or something... who knows!

bake.

I am so far behind on this.  

That being said, the idea to "redesign the recipe" came from the witty people over at GOOD.  I took a slightly different perspective than most of the other entrants, who seemed to focus on cooking for adults.  Maybe because I already love to cook, when I read the original call for submissions [ here ], my thoughts immediately traveled to a young generation of cooks who knows little of being involved in the kitchen; much less in the preparation of their own meals.  And how to get kiddos to cook? I imagine this way enticing with tasty ingredients (and results!), seducing with silliness, but still challenging with ordering directions and measuring.  

You can see the brilliant submissions from artists / designers / foodies all over the place [ here ], and even vote for your favorite thru April 4th. I am still kicking myself for not making the submission deadline (especially since there were only 22 submissions!), but nevertheless, I had a blast playing and imagining the excitement of a 7 year-old boy reading a monster comic while enjoying his brownies. 

(If you love illustrated recipes as much as I do, have a look at "they draw & cook" a blog full of 'em!!)

tease.

Just a teaser (minus the text)....    This is another fun little monster project that I'm working on for a competition of sorts.  Hopefully it will be up by the end of the week, I have other things I want to do!

imagine.

The first in what may turn into a series of "exercises."   Since we moved into our little apartment, this is the view that greets me every morning.  The random assortment of furniture conglomerated in the backyard can be nothing short of a supernatural "meeting of monsters."  Or maybe it just makes work more fun to imagine so...  

Despite our loving relationship, it's been a long time since I've used Adobe Illustrator to create anything, so don't hate on the skill level. This was more or less a warm-up to get back into the flow of shortcuts, manipulating, and layering that Illustrator supports.  I even attempted to do a few things the hard way, just to make sure that I still knew how.

It's been awhile since I stretched my imagination and this really was a fun thing to play with. These old houses really are full of monsters.....

protect.

: A reto-post.

I knitted (purled, technically) these covers about a year ago. It was my first experience knitting in-the-round, and a happy accident. Since it's snowing very hard today, and I'm contemplating which flavor of tea I'm in the mood for, another knit project seems appropriate.  I have a stash of old projects that I'm finding as I clean off my hard drive, and I think I'll try and spread them out a bit as creativity is moving slowly.  I can't wait for this bout of forced hibernation to come to an end! 

knit.

Just the beginnings of a scarf I'm working on...  One of the first stores I visited when we moved was Joann's fabrics, to get new buttons for a coat (necessary.) Obviously, I couldn't pass this up, It's navy and sky blue, wool, and super-chunky and it was on sale.  I'm knitting it with 10 1/2's. I've never used the super-thick yarn before, but I'm loving it because it makes it go so fast! 

I'm also trying to teach myself to handle ribbing better.  I get all lost in the yarn in front/ yarn in back thing, but it's coming along.  Soon I'll be able to attempt my leg warmers (hah!) and the dorky dog sweater that's going to make Turk into a hipster-dog. Ha ha.

embark.

A short update: 

The last 6 months have flown by!! As 2011 begins, we find ourselves 1,500 miles away from 2010, embarking on a new chapter of life.  About a month ago, we were offered a job in central Pennsylvania (seemingly in answer to our deep desire to adventure outside of Texas for a bit.) Within 5 days, we were packed tight into two vehicles driving across the United States. We left most of our belongings in a storage unit in Texas, and we are now exploring this corner of the world, just us and the dog. 

Since I have traded my wide-open work space for a four-room apartment on the second story of an old victorian home, the size of projects will definitely be decreasing.  I think this is a good opportunity to push my limits and re-discover the vast boundaries of digital media.  I have a few projects in mind, but it may take a while before I feel comfortable enough to share. On the flip side however, the never-ending snow on the east coast this winter is creating an awesome background for cozy knitting projects.  More to come soon...  

forge.

Meet our newest addition; the coal forge. Now technically, I shouldn't be posting this here, but I just couldn't help it.  It's really my husbands toy; I've never forged anything in my life, (though I'm hoping to learn now...) but it's such a neat thing, and it's a part of my family history.  

Since we moved in October, my husband has been talking about the forge.  It was sitting among my grandpa's clutter, that my grandma just adores, might I add, and I'm sure it was just calling out to him "please, please, take me home!" A couple of weeks ago he finally got his wish.  We now have added to the rest of our creative endeavors a Champion Blower & Forge Co. Model # 400 coal forge. It's pretty old... what I'm assuming are the patent dates read "April 15, 1902 and July 30, 1901." I believe it was probably my great-grandfathers, if not my great-great-grandfathers. Neat, right?!  But despite it's age, it still works like a dream.  When he really got it cranking, I got some pretty great pictures of the sparks flying.  So far, he's been experimenting with flattening a railroad spike, to get the feel of things, and hammering on an old piece of i-beam.  If you've got an anvil just lying around, or know someone who does, we'd be happy to take it off their hands! 

sit.

New project: Chairs!

If you remember, a while back, I posted about the two part-er table project.  Step one was the napkin rings, while step two was fixing up the set of 4 chairs that goes with the table.  I'm finally getting around to the second part.

Since there are 4 chairs, all in different stages of being, we'll separate them.  A and B used to be finished, until the puppy decided to teethe all over B's legs. So, A gets a few touch-ups and B gets all kinds of sanding, and a few more touch-ups.  C is half-way there.  Once upon a time, when I was home from school, I decided that I wanted four chairs in my efficiency apartment rather than just two.  So I dragged C down from the attic, and sanded away.  Then I got tired and abandoned it. Now C just looks like a molted green and yellow mess. And D.  D is officially in "before" state. So there's your comparison...

So far, A and B are touched up, re-glued and happy, and after a long afternoon of work, C only needs one or two more coats of fresh paint.  D is re-glued and slightly stripped.  D needs some help. 

Hopefully this will be just a two-update process.  We'll see!