Works in Progress March 28, 2010

I know it seems like I’ve fallen off the face the earth, but really I’ve just fallen very deeply into a project vortex.  There’s lots to be done before WonderCon next weekend, and by far the  largest undertaking (literally) is a seven-foot-tall version of Mitch the Monster for Neon Monster’s booth.  Since I’ve never built anything of this scale before, I’ve had a few setbacks, mostly material-related.  The structural engineering of an 18″ stuffed animal is VERY different from that of a larger-than-human-sized display.

A. took this photo a few days ago when I was tracing out the pattern pieces on our living room floor.  It’s the only room in the house large enough to accommodate a single one of these pieces.  There are four of each of these pieces making up the monster’s body.  He’s still not quite done (I’m having eye issues), so I’m going to get back to it now.  I’ll be back to posting useful things in a week or so…on my brand new almost-finished web site!  Get psyched!

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DIY Do: Tree Ring Wedding Wheel Invitation Templates March 15, 2010

Wow, it must be wedding-planning season, because I’m starting to get a ton of e-mails again about our tree ring invitations.  Neither A. nor I really have the time (or inclination, if I’m going to be honest) to create so many similar sets of invites for clients so I spent most of today preparing these invites as downloadable templates for Photoshop and Illustrator.  They’re ready to go straight to the printer once you’ve entered in your own text, but they’re also fully editable so you can customize them as much or as little as you want.

The templates are up in the Burning House Etsy shop already, and I’ll be adding them to the regular Burning House shop in the next few days.  If you or someone you know has been coveting a set of these for their wedding, now you can create a unique set using your own text, fonts, colors and/or printers.  You could even DIY the whole thing from start to finish if you like.  Enjoy!

Thing-A-Day: Oscar Night! March 6, 2010

I’ve always wanted to have an Oscar Party.  The visuals are so dazzling on Oscar night–from the incredible gowns to the elaborate dance numbers–that it makes for the perfect party theme.  So this year I’m taking the leap and actually doing it.  I’m REALLY excited!

My time is very limited these days, so I’m focusing just on games and food.  To start with, I’ve created twelve bingo cards for red carpet time, because we all know that’s when the show really begins.  If you want to use these on Oscar night, click this link to download the pdf.  I’ve designed them to be reusable year after year, so if you have an annual Oscar bash, you could laminate these and use them with dry-erase markers.  You could even play several rounds this way.

Before the awards, guests can fill out an Oscar scorecard to guess who/what will win in each category.  I found a good one over at Rotten Tomatoes.  At the end of the night, the best guesser wins!  For the awards themselves, I’ve downloaded Jessica Jones’ Oscar Bingo cards from her blog How About Orange.  I’m using cheesy $1 DVDs as prizes.

To keep everyone’s bellies happy during five hours in front of the TV, I’ve put together a no-cook Oscar food and drink menu based on all ten nominated films:

• Avatar: “Unobtanium” (Blue Tropicale cocktail)
• The Blind Side: Superbowl veggie dip (decorated to look like a football)
• District 9: Popcorn “Prawns”
• An Education: Apples for the teacher (kinda lame, but it gets fruit in there)
• The Hurt Locker: Stealth Bomber cocktail
• Inglourious Basterds: Nazi pigs in a blanket
• Precious: Harlem cocktails
• A Serious Man: Bar Mitzvah bagel chips with cream cheese and lox
• Up: Kevin’s bird food (assorted chocolates)
• Up in the Air: Airline Snack Pack (cheese, crackers, raisins and nuts)

I tried to keep the menu as simple and varied as possible, so I can get everything ready in under an hour, and no one would feel sick if they wanted to sample everything.  If you’re low on ideas for your own Oscar party, feel free to use any of these.

Enjoy the Awards, everyone!

Plush 101 Class! February 4, 2010

Do you live in the Bay Area?  Would you like to learn how to design and make your own plush toys?  You’re in luck, because I’m teaching an Intro to Plush class on Monday night at Workshop SF!  Just in time for Valentine’s Day, learn how to make a unique gift for your sweetie.  Hey, it’s how the Uglydolls got started….

Update: this class just got moved to the week of the 2/15.  More details when I have them….

Thing-A-Day 2: Gift Wrap January 18, 2010

I’ve got two good friends with birthdays coming up, and I want to give them each something special.  Unlike my husband, I’m no good at making personalized cards, so I decided to personalize the wrapping instead.  Therefore, today’s instruction is:

Create very personal gift wrap for a loved one using materials you already have lying around the house. If you don’t have a future gift on hand, wrap an empty container you can use later.  Here’s one I made for my friend Christine.  She’s an artist who works a lot with neon colors and giant fields of graphite.  During the day she has an admin job.

Here’s your inspiration:

A round-up of gifts from design*sponge (this shredded pompom was the inspiration for my grass below)

and this round up from Creature Comforts.

And here is your tutorial: How to Create Garden Gift Wrap, like this one I made for my friend Elissa, who has the most wonderful backyard garden ever.

1. Get a piece of paper that is at least 1.5 times bigger than what you are wrapping.  This will be your sky or your lawn, depending on how you see it.  Fold it in half across the shorter dimension. (I used a piece of 9″x 12″ construction paper)
2. Open the paper back up and place your object inside, sliding it up to the halfway fold (I used a decoy gift for this tutorial so Elissa won’t know what I got her).  Fold the side edges around your gift.
3. With the edges folded in, place double-stick tape or glue on the bottom half of the paper.
4. Fold the entire paper in half again to seal it up into a sort of envelope.
5. Cut three or four strips of a thinner paper like crepe paper or tissue paper that are more than twice the width and height of the exposed portion of your gift.  Layer them on top of one another, about an inch apart.  Fold them in half lengthwise.  (I used the wrinkled green tissue paper that the gift arrived in)
6. Wrap the entire length around the bottom of the gift and glue or tape the end in place.
7. Remove this sleeve you just made and cut long snips all the way around it.  Each snip should go about one third of the way down the sleeve.  Snipping really fast will create more haphazard grass-like shapes.  Now snip again, snipping two thirds of the way down.  This will create layers.
8. Slide your gift back into the sleeve, making sure it is resting inside the folded portion, so it will not fall out through the bottom.  Secure the grass sleeve to the top half of the gift with more tape or glue.  Fluff out the grass with your fingers and add any embellishments you choose.  I used an artificial flower, some rub-on letters and a piece of cotton twine.Enjoy!

Thing-A-Day: No Frills Meat Indentity Branding October 12, 2009

This weekend I re-organized my studio.  I never realized how much my half-finished projects were stressing me out until I finally tackled my bin of cut but un-sewn plush pieces.  I thought that perhaps I could turn them into kits, like the ones I have for making mini hams, but it wasn’t worth the time to make detailed instruction booklets. Could I somehow turn them into simple, no-frills kits?

Yup.

Inspired by the recession, the Helvetica movie, and the joy of removing physical and mental clutter, my thing-a-day was some quick and dirty identity packaging.  The design takes a (huge) page from the no frills supermarket packaging I used to see growing up.  Sure, the kerning could be better but what you you want?  It’s no frills.