Graduation

i just placed an order for my niece's graduation announcements. the family couldn't decide on which pictures they liked for the back so i did two versions. i tried to keep it very simple and straight-forward, focusing on the pictures to tell the story. luckily justice decided her theme for graduation was colors. all colors. that tied in extremely well with the photos i took of her while she was in sf visiting. so one of those graffiti shots ended up on the front with 4 others gracing the back. i really like the picture of her with the sunglasses - it's young and fun. and since we were unable to use that for her senior pictures i was happy to be able to include it here. on the front i used the typeface whoopass for her name while the rest (including all on the back) is set in metromix.

catering

here is the website i made for myself. for my catering... uh... business? i don't know that i'd call it a business. i'm not sure what else to call it though. so it's pretty much 2 pages. the landing page has all the details and contact info and a link to the second page, which is the different outfits i can wear. that page is fun because you can click on the color options on the right and the outfit on the left changes to match. fun. also i used the illustration of casey for the outfits page. made her a little heavier and blonde - and there i am ;)

business

i ordered new business cards from moo and they came in today!!!! yay!

there's about 38 different images on the front, with my contact info on the back. i also added the recycling info (the cards are made of 100% recycled post consumer waste, 100% recyclable and biodegradable, FSC & Smartwood certified paper, and manufactured using wind power) because that's very important to me and the city i currently live in.

(note: i just went to moo's website to try and find all the recycle info, to be lazy and not get out one of my cards to find them all. but for some reason i couldn't find all of this information anymore. hmmm... was i just not looking in the right place? or might they have taken this info off their website. because when i was originally designing my cards i took that info word for word from the website. the conspiracy theorist in me wants to think that not all of this info is true and that when they saw my cards come through with all of that info on them, they realized they were falsely advertising it and changed their website. that's probably not what happened but what if?! to the right is the original screen shot i took for reference)

i just had to add share these images. they're beautiful examples of animated .gifs. apparently they don't have to strobe! or have flashing hearts and stars. or look like they just came out of a rave hosted by myspace.  ; )

(blog post where i found them)

casey klein

from the starz series party down. someone at my part-time catering job suggested i watch this show (since it's about a catering company). it's pretty funny! all the characters are so weird and quirky and lovable.

so i've been thinking about doing an independent contractor thing with catering / serving. i like the jobs at people's houses and i've decided i don't really need a middleman to get those jobs for me. and i definitely don't need them to take over half the profits! i decided i'll try to make a website and see what comes from that. on the website i'm planning on having a page that lists the types of outfits i can wear. what better way to show these off than with one of my illustrations. i plan on using this illustration and adjusting it to look a little more like me. and voila - outfit page done.

raspberry lemonade

i had a fun time baking today! we're having a potluck at work on sunday and that's just the excuse i needed to try out a new recipe. i decided i was going to try out a fun summery raspberry lemonade cupcake. i googled for a recipe but none were just what i was looking for so i mix and matched. here's the recipe i ended up with:

Raspberry Puree: 12 oz raspberries  • 1/4 c granulated white sugar  • 1/2 t fresh lemon juice
Cupcakes: 1 (18.25-ounce) white cake mix, plus any add'l ingredients called for on pkg 
• 3 T lemonade drink powder  • 1 t finely grated lemon zest
Frosting: 1/2 lb confectioners (powdered) sugar  • 1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened 
• 2 T frozen lemonade concentrate  • 1/2 t vanilla  • 1/2 t finely grated lemon zest
Directions:
Raspberry Puree: Place raspberries in a large fine meshed strainer suspended over a large bowl and force the juice from the berries by gently pressing the berries with the back of a large spoon. All that should remain in the strainer is the raspberry seeds, compost these. To the strained juice, stir in the lemon juice and sugar (add more if needed). For extra flavor, add a little raspberry liqueur.
For the cake, in a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and lemonade powder. Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions, using any additional ingredients called for (eggs, milk, water, oil, etc…). Stir the lemon zest into the batter. Fill baking cups about 1/3 full, then add a teaspoon(ish) of puree (if there's some leftover at the end it can be used on top of the 
cupcake as a drizzle). Swirl puree into cake mix with a toothpick. Fill the rest of the cup (3/4 full) with cake batter. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until cake is springy to the touch.
For the frosting, beat together the confectioners’ sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in the remaining ingredients until combined.

that seems like a lot, it's not too bad though! i did work on this for a long time today but that's because i had a few hiccups. the first is that i don't have a zester. so i had used a veggie
peeler and knife. another (and the biggie) was as i was finishing my second set of cupcakes i ran out of batter and they were all tiny (see pic). since i'm bringing these to work i wanted them to be sort of impressive so i ended up going back to the store and getting another box of cake mix and making another set. finally i really needed an electric mixer for the frosting. i built up some muscles mixing that by hand!

niece

my niece justice was visiting this week from nebraska. she's going to be a senior in high school (starting today!) so we took some senior photos while she was here. i'm very proud of how some of them turned out. it all comes down to great locations, good photography and a cute model!

"just give me all the bacon and eggs you have...

I was inspired by this trader
joe's "recommendation"

wait wait, i worry what you just heard was 'give me a lot of bacon and eggs.' what i said was 'give me all the bacon and eggs you have.' " ron swanson is the best. parks and rec is a great show - but more than the plot or storyline, the best part is the characters. ron. leslie. tom. april. jerry. all wonderful, amusing characters. 

"What's a not gay way to ask him to go camping with me?"

the doctor

i've been streaming a lot of netflix stuff lately - i'm canceling that portion of my membership soon because the price is more than doubling. boo. anyway i'm trying to get through my queue and doctor who is a tv show i've been halfway interested in for a while and am just now getting around to watching.

i haven't watched any of the older versions, just the one starting in 2005 (i think). i'm currently in season 3, which is the doctor shown here. i actually liked the first (9th) incantation better - the actor wasn't very good looking but he was extremely charming. and i loved the smile that would just take over his whole face!

with this illustration i debated including rose tyler. i really like her (and her actress). but i left her out for one main reason: it's a quarter after 11, i'm tired and have to work tomorrow ;)

chrome

i just learned how to create my own "themes" for google chrome. it's amazing what a lack of options can push a person to figure out!

cowboy structures

some freelance work - this is a website i just worked on. it was good and also really awful to do web work (design & coding). good for the practice and experience and portfolio possibilities. bad for the complicatedness of html/css. bad for how my brain doesn't work that way. bad for how long it takes me to complete a page.

nachoooooooooooooo

jack black's character brother ignacio and his alter-ego nacho the luchador, from nacho libre.

Hug hug, keess keess, hug hug, big keess, leettle hug, keess keess, leettle keess.

"you lie down with the devil...

[long pause as glasses are either put on or taken off] ...you wake up in hell." horatio caine from csi: miami is an amusingly predictable character with some great one-liners. "so an accident... [sunglasses] ...is not an accident at all" YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH

i'm in a glass case of emotion

the members of the channel 4 news team have very nice suits. they deserve to be remembered in vector for that fact. brian fantana, ron burgundy, champ kind and brick tamland from anchorman.

bigger than my body

i love this photo of john mayer. i've had it saved on my computer for a while not knowing what i wanted to do with it. illustrating it was fun. all the detail in his tattoo(s) was intense but it was good practice with the wacom tablet that i got recently.