easy peasy facelifts

+ I know, I’ve been m.i.a. for a month now. Oops. But, a bad flu, work, and traveling seemed to have taken over April, and now it’s May!

After checking out the Brooklyn Flea yesterday, there were so many fun projects that people seemed to make! I was jealous of all their productivity. I also had to hold myself back from buying random antiques/junk/treasure (though I did let myself buy a $5 gem of a necklace!). As I was longing for two curvy mid-century modern faux leather chairs, reasoning recalled that I still have two chairs sitting in my living room that have been begging to be reupholstered for months now... my couch needs a facelift as well.

So, I was browsing Etsy looking for maybe some new pillows for the couch. Here are a few that I really like:

// love, california // adorable state-themed pillows out of felt

// willa skye home // pretty patterns in tasteful colors

// alison alison // silk screened animals with cute stitching details

Of course, with a sewing maching, some fabric and creativity, you could make any of these on your own!

content-aware fill...pshop magic!

+ I’m not a super tech-y person, though I use computers and design programs daily. But, this sneak peak video of CS5 Photoshop is quite amazing! Seriously, it’s like magic I’ve never seen before. Photo-retouchers, you may have become redundant.

Content-Aware Fill Sneak Peak

There are apparently some nay-sayers that say it’s fake (though I can’t imagine why anyone would spend that much time on a hoax...), but it’s on Adobe’s website as well!

John Nack Adobe Blog

The House of Suh

+ I’ve missed a week or two of posting due to a mini-vacation (which was ahhh-mazing!) and some freelance work. One of which has been working on the visuals for a documentary called “The House of Suh.” It’s a tragic story about a family’s hopes that are never realized, and in fact, completely miss the mark. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but for more information, check out the website here.

Below is the poster for the film.

Check out the world premiere at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, Wed. May 5 and Sun. May 9!

font aid IV

+ I was skimming this month’s My Fonts newsletter when I saw blurb on this cool initiative called “font aid IV.” Basically, it’s a font compose entirely of ampersands {&} designed by over 400 type designers and artists from all over the world—“representing the idea of people coming together to help one another.” And all proceeds of the type go to Doctors Without Borders.

image from My Fonts

This is a really unique and great way to tie in the Haiti effort. To check out or purchase the font, click here (you can also see a list of all the contributors).

shades of gray / grey

+ I’ve been working on a logo for a dear friend of mine who’s an amazing photographer {christine han photography}. She’s starting up her business and luckily, because I know her and her tastes very well,  the logo process was fun and pretty easy! I just finished tweaking some colors and we were down to picking a gray that went with the ochre/gold...click on the image to see it larger.

The differences are really subtle, but the top is more blue-gray, the middle pure gray-black, and the bottom has hints of yellow-green. I love that even a shade like gray can have depth. On the flipside to this clean logo, I’ve been working on a few large, messy paintings which I’m not sure where I’m going with at all...I’ll post some work-in-progress shots soon, so that it will push me to finish them!

miniature fad

+ I was first introduced to Vincent Laforet’s work a few years ago. He’s an amazing photographer with a great, unique eye, often working from a helicopter. For some photographs, he also shoots with a tilt-shift lens that makes everything look miniature, like a toy world. Vincent Laforet

I’ve noticed that I see this everywhere now, in commercials and I think there’s even an option on the iPhone to shoot like that. New trend I suppose! This was a short film I saw posted on Gothamist that uses the tilt-shift technique and portrays “a day in the life of New York City” by VFX artist Sam O’Hare...pretty amazing. Reminds me of the little town intro in Mister Roger’s Neighborhood though that was actually miniatures! (link to short below the stills)

The Sandpit

I wonder why we’re all so fascinated by seeing our world as toys....

stamp crazy

+ A good friend of mine bought me this cool, old wooden stamp set. I’ve been wanting to use them, but hadn’t decided exactly what to do with them. So instead of mulling it over in my head, I just pulled out some paper and started stamping. Why not? I had fun making patterns and experimenting with each of the shapes / numbers / symbols. I filled up a whole page.

 

 

It makes me miss letterpress and all things old. It would make a nice, funky wrapping paper! Or even to stamp your own stationery or postcards.  

a simple card

+ I’m not a big Valentine’s day person at all. But, it does seem a little heartless to do nothing at all for the person you love. So, instead of going out and celebrating the corporate-sponsored holiday, I try to make something by hand. A simple card will do!

While thinking of what to make this year, I saw the card I made last year for G sitting on the shelf...

I decided to do it in a similar vein, kind of like a series. I used the same paper, which is this cool tie-dyed paper that I think I bought at Kate’s Paperie awhile back. You can really use anything though...wrapping paper, wallpaper scraps, newspaper...and then cut out some shapes or designs. I then used glue stick to put it on a heavier card stock. Conveniently, the shapes I cut out work nicely inside.

  

  

Simple, but made with love and craftiness.

+ Dear friend and contributor “S” just shared this with me (and she WILL contribute soon!), and it’s too cool not to share with you! I love sites that are more interactive and you just get to play. This one from Wrangler is just amazing. I have no idea how they got this to work...genius!
Wrangler Blue Bell Spring/Summer 2010

It kind of reminded me of this great Ikea site they had up a few years ago (2005), which also really lets you explore the space.
Dream Kitchens

They also have a newer one from 2008 which is a lot of fun and moves with whatever music you switch it to.
Come Into the Closet

Another amazing one, kind of an interactive music video.
Labuat

And HBO’s Imagine website is a crazy cube space that plays short clips and invites you to “unlock” levels of the site.
HBO Imagine

vellum & string

+ As I passed by some retails store windows this past week, I noticed how paper has made a big comeback. Check out Anthropologie, Kate’s Paperie (in NYC), and Juicy Couture this month to see pretty paper designs. I particularly thought the Juicy pants made out of paper hearts was fun!

Speaking of which, I tend to hoard and keep scraps of paper, fabric, string...you never know when it might come in handy. And what random things can be made! I had these strips of vellum (basically thick tracing paper) lying around from something I trimmed previously, and I thought I would get crafty and make some paper flowers. All you need is some paper/vellum and colorful string which I knotted and wrapped around the petals. You can also go crazy with cutting notches and punching holes as well. This would be super cute attached to a gift or card or even strung together in a garland of sorts. I heart paper!

 

 

paper, no glue

+ I had done this watercolor background for no reason awhile back, just enjoying the vibrant colors of the paint and the imprints of the water as it dried. While flipping through a pile of stuff, I rediscovered it and decided to do something with it, not knowing what. I cut some thin strips of paper, set it on top of the rainbow backdrop, and then messed around. Voila, what appeared was an abstract bird and a whale...! I suppose the colors and shapes of the paper slivers lent itself to some inherent nature theme.

 

fun with tape

+ I was reading over Artkrush and looked into one of their highlighted artists, Aakash Nihalani. I immediately fell in love with his tape work/graffiti and couldn’t help sharing a few images from his site. This definitely inspires me to play with some brightly colored tape for a future project! Simple everyday objects used creatively = genius. I think tape/decals will only become more popular, whether it’s to decorate your walls or gift wrap with flair. It’s all the rage. I’m going to have to keep my eyes peeled in NYC to spot some of his work! {images below from aakashnihalani.com}

 

 

 

life & death...inspired by Irving Penn

+ I was about to toss a wilting bouquet of purple flowers, whose name I do not know. But, I noticed how much more striking/interesting they were as they were dying. The petals seemed to have more contrast in their range of violets and their leaves had more personality. I grabbed my camera a la Irving Penn and took a few shots. Then, the designer in me played...

 

why not

+ A friend and I decided that though we’re both in ‘creative’ fields by day, we wanted to push ourselves even more. Get our hands dirty a little and not just design with a mouse, which is how “project make” came to be. It’s a place where we can post our projects, hopefully at least once a week to share what we made. It’s not about whether it’s amazing or brilliant, but just for the purpose of getting beyond that point and just doing SOMETHING, anything really.

PROJECT MAKE

+ a new weekly venture! more to come...