How About Orange

I really, really like these

2008-07-25T07:45:00.001-05:00

Our friend Janet Moran offered us a free photography session in exchange for a couple of paintings. We just got the pictures she took of us—and she's a genius! She led us around her neighborhood in Rogers Park and managed to find all kinds of interesting places to snap photos. (Don't you love that sticker?) So if you're in the Chicago area, hurry and book Oijoy Photo for a shoot before all of Janet's time slots fill up.

And if you want to waste more time...

2008-07-24T17:52:00.000-05:00

Upload a photo here and see it in a museum. Silliness! Via Photojojo.

Wordle

2008-07-24T08:04:00.000-05:00

Several people have sent me a link to Wordle, a site that automatically arranges words on a page. You paste in your own text or a web address, then pick the typeface and colors. Kinda fun. Here's my blog, Wordle-ized. Did I really write "naked" in a post sometime? Yikes, apparently so. This blog is so risqué.

How to get wax out

2008-07-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

Maybe everybody knows this already, but I found it to be life-changing. When your candle is burned up and you want to get the wax out of the holder, put it in the freezer for awhile. The wax contracts, loosens up, and you can dump it right out in one big piece. Awesome.

Easy fabric vase covers

2008-07-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

While poking around in my cupboard the other day, I found a shot glass that would make a lovely little bud vase. Except it wasn't very cute, so I put a removable jacket on it. This turned out to be so easy and so much fun that I couldn't stop making these vase covers. Here's how.

1. Cut a piece of fabric large enough to wrap around your glass or vase once, plus about an inch of overlap. Make it as tall as your vase is, plus an extra half inch. (Of course, vary this depending on how much glass you want to show at the top.)

2. Fold over and press a half inch at the top and bottom of the fabric; then sew a seam across it to hold it down.

3. Wrap the fabric around your vase, right side to the inside, and pin it exactly where you'd like your seam to go. Slide the vase out and draw a line along the pins to help you sew where you need to.

4. Sew the tube along the line and press the seam open.

5. Flip the tube right side out and put it on your vase.

I put some cuttings of pothos vines (is that what these are?) here in water. They'll grow for years like this. A fresh flower centerpiece would be nice, too. Or maybe at Christmas I'll sew new holiday covers and put in some holly or branches. So many possibilities.

Things to make

2008-07-21T07:00:00.001-05:00

If you're feeling industrious...

Watermelon keg at the evite blog
Cute slippers by Heather Ross for Home Companion mag
Fabric flowers from Boutique NutMeg
Pebble mat at Curbly
Tiny felt pincushions at CraftStylish
Popup paper dollhouse rooms from Konica Minolta
Fabric-covered cabinet doors by Tres Chic Veronique
Child's kimono wrap by Habitual
Pyramid door stops at All It Took
Customizable vintage jar labels from HP

(Image from evite blog)

Biggest waste of time ever

2008-07-18T11:47:00.000-05:00

Having a productive day? This site should stop you in your tracks.

Papercraft from Canon

2008-07-17T10:03:00.003-05:00

Canon's website has a massive list of printable papercraft projects, including matryoshka dolls, paper airplanes, and basic boxes. Not to mention a whole gallery of printable origami paper, like this. I like this simple pattern here, which could be useful for something more contemporary looking. This oughtta keep the youngsters busy for awhile. (Um, or maybe me.)

Fabric and paint

2008-07-15T00:07:00.004-05:00

I had leftover fabric from a pillow project, so I decided to try out Anna Maria Horner's silhouette idea. Worked like a charm! You stretch fabric over a canvas, paint it with gel medium to sort of seal it and make a smooth surface, transfer or draw on your shape, then use acrylic paint to fill in the outsides. You can see her tutorial here. (This design is based on some Chinese paper cutouts I saw in a book. The purple fabric is this stuff.)

Clarification: I didn't cut out a stencil like the tutorial said, but transferred my design on with graphite paper and then painted around it. And I used Golden brand matte gel medium instead of mod podge.
This was a project for my friend's office. (Some of you know who I'm talking about.) She has a little sofa, a desk, a bookshelf, and some naked walls, so I put together a few decorations. Because nobody should have naked walls. Sewed some pillows, found this print on Imagekind, got a cheap frame from Ikea, and made the purple painting to take up some wall space. This Photoshop collage was my test to see if the things would look okay together.

Greetings from Kuwait

2008-07-14T00:05:00.001-05:00

A reader from Kuwait wrote to show me photos from a dinner party that she and her sister organized. The girls invited friends to come, and they all made paper ornaments based on the tutorial I put here. Look at their work! Amazing! To see more photos, visit their blog here (it's in Arabic, but if you can't read it, you can still look at the pictures.) I was thrilled to hear from far-away How About Orange readers. Does anyone else outside the U.S. want to say hello? Leave a comment and mention what country you're from. It would be fun to share where we all are and exchange greetings. (Access to this site is blocked in China. Hello to you anyway, Han and Ming. Miss you!)

Make a sandbox in your monitor

2008-07-11T12:15:00.002-05:00

Got some time to kill? Go to this site and click the little box at the top of the window. You can read more about the digital sand project right here. Thanks, Rich. You just made my day less productive.

Sewing is a violent act

2008-07-10T00:07:00.001-05:00

That's what the instructor who gave me four free lessons told me, back when I got a sewing machine for Christmas two years ago. She meant because the needle disrupts the woven threads in the cloth. But I think it's because it makes you want to pull your hair out or shoot yourself. This simple little bag took me hours. I had to rip out seams four times (twice because I accidently sewed part of the bag to itself on the other side; once because I forgot to leave a hole to turn it right side out. Once because I just sewed really crooked.) Somehow I always put the pins in facing the wrong direction. I forgot to match up the pattern at the seams, and I forgot to change my bobbin thread color to match the white lining when I did the topstitching. Next time I'm paying someone to make me a bag. Forget this. (Nothing wrong with the tutorial I used, though. Try it out right here. I made the strap about an inch shorter and made the bag 3 inches deeper.)

I tried to redeem the bag by putting an orange binder in it. I think it helps, don't you?

Printable bookplates

2008-07-09T15:21:00.004-05:00

Download and print some bookplates for the little ones, created generously by Emily Martin and available for free at CraftSanity. Click here and scroll down a bit to fetch the PDF.

Seven-nine

2008-07-08T09:26:00.003-05:00

Andy Sargent, fellow orange aficionado from Australia, sent over a link to see his artwork painted on salvaged wood. I like! See more at his site Seven-nine.

Cold-brewed iced coffee

2008-07-07T09:57:00.004-05:00

On my desk today, and more attractive and tasty than the fly in the last post, is a yummy glass of iced coffee made with this recipe. My usual method for making iced coffee is to brew some super strong stuff in the drip coffee maker, dump in some sugar, let it cool, and keep it in the fridge. When I want to drink some, I pour half a glass and fill the rest with milk. But the recipe for this one doesn't involve any appliances whatsoever. My verdict: straining the grounds through a coffee filter takes a long time. But the resulting coffee has a slightly less acidic, smoother taste. It's good. (Oh, and I didn't add more water to the concentrated mixture like the recipe instructs. I just added milk. Creamier! And supports the dairy industry!)

By the way, if you want to know how much coffee you can get away with before it's fatal, see here.

Caution: image may be disturbing to some viewers

2008-07-03T22:08:00.003-05:00

This happened just seconds ago. There I was, innocently making teapots in Illustrator, minding my own business, when a giant fly landed on my monitor right in front of my face. My first thought was to squash it, but I didn't want guts on my monitor. My second thought was how funny this looked, and since my camera was right next to me, I took his picture. Just a little window for you into the life of a designer. I will probably delete this post soon because it is disgusting.

Okay, maybe I won't, since I see it was a big conversation starter. Who knew?

Starched fabric decal experiment

2008-07-03T12:45:00.004-05:00

I've been wanting to stick some fabric on my walls ever since I saw this project using starch. I figured I should start simple and keep it small in case something went haywire, so here's my experimental door decoration.

I started by sketching out my plan. And then I ignored it when I cut out and assembled my pieces, apparently. I used a disappearing fabric marker to sketch out the shapes on fabric, then cut them out. The thinner the fabric you use, the easier this project is. I used varying weights left over from making pillows (that tan stuff there is canvas, but it still worked).

After cutting out pieces, I laid them out to make sure they looked okay together. Then I used one or two pieces of double stick tape to attach them to the door in the same arrangement.

Somewhere in the middle of the cutting, it occurred to me I should be mixing up the starch and letting it cool off so it's not boiling hot when I want to use it. You can use liquid fabric starch that you buy at the store in the laundry aisle. Or if you're too lazy to go to the store, like me, then you can make your own. I used this recipe:

Stir 1/4 cup corn starch into 1/2 cup cold water. Then pour in 4 cups of boiling water and mix it up.

That produces a ridiculously huge bowl of starch for what I was doing, I learned. I poured some into a plastic cup to use on the door. When all was said and done, the level in the cup went down a half inch. Now I have over a quart of starch left. I guess I will be making a lot of gravy sometime soon.

I painted the starch onto the back of the fabric pieces, soaking them thoroughly. After you stick the pieces on the door, smooth more starch onto the fronts of the pieces, squishing out any air bubbles with your fingers. Starch will probably drip onto your floor, so if you've got carpet, protect it with something. When you're done smoothing, wipe off any fugitive drips and let the pieces dry.

When you want to take the design off, just peel off the pieces and wipe off any leftover starch with a damp cloth. Supposedly this will not harm your paint job at all, according to reports from many people online, making this the perfect wall treatment for apartment dwellers.

Woodgrain desktop wallpaper

2008-07-02T10:57:00.004-05:00

Just when you were thinking to yourself, "What the heck are high res woodgrain textures good for," here's the answer. Desktop wallpaper! (Which I consider to be the answer for everything, really.) Download this one here.

Free wood grain textures

2008-07-01T07:21:00.001-05:00

Download high resolution wood grain photos here.

Orange from abroad

2008-06-30T00:06:00.001-05:00

Designers Claire Eglizeaud & Paul Moreau wrote from France to introduce their cool new shop, Bonjour Mon Coussin. They've created a line of graphic pillows (and it looks like they have a penchant for orange.) Have a little fun browsing right here.

And then if you need some more orange to kick off your week, watch this nutty advertisement for a Dutch supermarket giving away soccer mascots (right?). I can't understand a word, but it made me smile.

More orphans have found a good home

2008-06-27T11:03:00.006-05:00

These came in the mail from Barry as part of a swap. They were separated from their families at some point, these poor little Ben Seibel dishes, but we will take good care of them.

Custom MMs

2008-06-26T13:30:00.003-05:00

Did you know you can get personalized M&Ms? They'll print your own message, logo, or even photos on any of 22 shell colors. You can choose your own packaging, too. Fun party favors! Check it out here. Via bb-blog.

How to make swirls in Illustrator

2008-06-24T07:06:00.000-05:00

A handy tutorial from Bittbox for making swirls and curls.

I'm regressing

2008-06-23T07:17:00.000-05:00

My mom sent photos she took of old artwork hanging in her house. I did these in high school.

Here's one from college. And these days I draw like this: I've reverted back to elementary school! So funny!

Thank you, eBay.

2008-06-20T15:20:00.004-05:00

These wanted to come and live in my house. They felt they would be happy here.