Monday, 30 April 2012
Friday, 27 April 2012
Orange wall by Milo&Ben
Belted wall clock at Remodelista
Cardboard chandelier by Kayte Terry at the Etsy blog
Painted spoons from Little Bit Funky
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
I taped a piece of white cotton canvas to cardboard wrapped in plastic. With a sponge brush, I applied red-orange dye. (Fabric really soaks this stuff up, so this required over half a bottle.) Update: I've learned that using a 1:1 ratio of dye to water works just as well!
Monday, 23 April 2012
If you're looking for pretty patterns to spruce up your blog or Twitter page, check out these watercolor seamless backgrounds from August Empress. Get circles and squares, a chevron pattern, a floral print, and more. Images are for personal use only; contact August Empress if you have any usage questions.
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Turns out it's oddly satisfying to make a bow from a single square of scrap paper. No glue or tape needed; just a scissors to make a couple of cuts. 
These are folded from graph paper I stole from Alex's stash, a piece of origami paper, and a chopped-up Martha Stewart magazine. I trimmed the paper into 6" squares and followed the excellent instructions posted at Let's Create. 
These will be handy at Christmas when we need to mail packages or stack boxes in the car for a road trip, since the bows can be squashed completely flat. Course by then, I won't remember how to make them anymore, or even that I posted this.
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Vinyl is fun—you gotta love edges that don't fray! I'm pondering a couple projects, and in the meantime Googled to see what other people have been up to. If you're into synthetics, check out these tutorials explaining how to make your own vinyl goodies.Drawstring coin purse at Between the Lines (use leather or vinyl)
Bowls made from vinyl records by Skulls and Ponies
Vintage vinyl record dessert stand from Bubby and Bean
Vinyl DIY handbag straps by Emmaline Bags
Braided cuff bracelet at The Craft Patch
Zippered clutch from Until Wednesday Calls
Chuck Taylor vinyl pouch by Gerbera Designs
Patent "leather" vinyl tote at Sew For Home
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Fellow designers, have you investigated the fantastic free fonts at Font Fabric? There are lots of useful typefaces in the giveaway section. Thank you, generous typographers!Monday, 16 April 2012
Todd Oldham has teamed up with Target to produce a collection of art supplies inspired by his 2009 book, Kid Made Modern. The kits and supplies are geared toward children, but I'm eyeing this duct tape! Todd suggests making wallets and messenger bags with it. Check out the Charley Harper paint-by-number sets, too—you can make your own painting on wood for some nifty DIY wall art. 
Also available are crayons shaped like gems, wooden jewelry kits, a comic book set with rubber stamps, and more. All supplies and kits are under $20 and available at Target (in stores and online) starting May 20.
Friday, 13 April 2012
The popular online photo editor Picnik has been purchased by Google and will no longer be available to users without a Google+ account. However, some of the Picnik team members have created PicMonkey, a new, free photo editor.
Upload a photo and easily manipulate it in zillions of ways, from a standard crop and resize, to dozens of customizable effects including Polaroid, Holga, Lomo, film grain, and more. You can even add mascara and lip tint to your subject. The "weight loss" effect is funny, but I decided this plant did not require a diet. Altered photos can be saved as jpgs or pngs. Note that PicMonkey runs on Flash, so it won't work on the iPad.
And a tip for entrepreneurs: it's cool to name your service after a primate these days. I'm thinking of joining the ranks of PicMonkey, Mail Chimp, and Survey Monkey by starting a second blog called "How About Orangutan."
Thursday, 12 April 2012
I work full time as a graphic designer, and usually that means creating logos, brochures, business cards, websites, and other marketing materials for companies. But sometimes ribbon or textile projects come along—always a fun diversion. One example is this custom ribbon for Bella Bark and Meow. The company requested designs that resemble neckties, and after whittling down a pile of options, here's the final result. If your pooch studies at an Ivy League university, leads board meetings or plans to run for office, these are just the thing. Find these preppy dog collars here. 
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Better Homes and Gardens will attempt to diagnose your decorating style with this little quiz. My result was "Country French." No way, man. Maybe it's because I said I wanted to go to Paris. I had fun selecting a shoe (totally those striped flats), but I'd sell every one of those chairs at a garage sale immediately. Good luck!Tuesday, 10 April 2012
The other day I spent some time poking around Japanese Sewing Books, the blog of Yifarn, a mom of two girls in Singapore. Like many of us, she adores Japanese sewing books for their distinctive aesthetic. Along with articles on how to use the books and a glossary of common terms, the website offers lots of links to free sewing patterns. Yup, they're all in Japanese, but it's possible that clever sewists might have enough to go on to make some of the projects. I'm definitely not one of those people, so I'm content just to admire the pictures. The projects above can be found here, here, here, and here. Also useful: quilters can find free patterns in English here.
Monday, 9 April 2012
Morning, all. Hope you had a great Easter/Passover weekend. My parents visited from Minnesota and hit the road a bit ago for the nine-hour drive home. After a lovely weekend of fancy food, site-seeing, and Jersey Boys, it's back to business as usual (but with Rag Doll stuck in my head). To kick off the week, I freshened up my desktop with this orange wallpaper from Fossil. Check out their latest selection of vintage-style desktops here.Friday, 6 April 2012
The graphic designer in me couldn't resist attempting faux Pantone Easter eggs. I dyed these boiled eggs by standing them vertically in small cups of dye. Then I typed up the labels and printed them on ink jet temporary tattoo paper. Remember to print the words backwards! I used Silhouette brand tattoo paper I bought at my local PaperSource, but you can also get similar stuff from DecalPaper.com. I matched the color numbers using my chip book. Knowing they were correct gave me great inner satisfaction.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
I found this hiding in the cupboard, awaiting my morning latte yesterday. It's a gift from Alex and I love it. (I, um, may have sent him a link to this thing last week just in case he needed any suggestions. A girl can't rely on telepathy, you know.) These kitties are available at Abodeon or ModCloth.Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Love Vs. Design has posted printable flat cards with a geometric theme, free for the downloading. Save yourself a trip to the store! Speaking of birthdays, mine was Sunday and this morning I found a belated gift waiting for me in the cupboard. I'll show you tomorrow.Monday, 2 April 2012
Follow along as Sara Adams demonstrates how to fold a little origami rabbit right here. The bunny is designed by Jun Maekawa. I have no idea how a person picks up a sheet of paper and figures out how to fold a three-dimensional rabbit from it. Amazing.
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