Leap Day William!

Happy Leap Day, all.

As noted in my description, this is a '355 day (365 day if the Mayans are wrong) challenge.' I did not take into consideration Leap Year or Leap Day.

So, I could get out of today's post on a technicality. But, I won't. I'll save that day off for a day when I am good and ready!

Today, I got to thinking--where will I be next Leap Year?

Four years is a very long time. I mean, in four years, I'll be 28! That's almost 30!

So, where could I be? Will I have a kid(s)? Will I be living in Portland? Has everyone in the universe figured out that I'm always 'right' yet?

So today, I wanted to reflect on what has happened since the last Leap Day in 2008.


[Also--totally random thought: Ever think it's weird that Leap Day always comes on a presidential election year? Almost like they planned it that way...] 


So here's my list of major life changes in the past four years:

That's a lot of major life changes. This is also leaving out a lot of the 'little' stuff, and probably some big things that I forgot about or don't care to post to the world.

So, question is, where will I [you] be next Leap Year? When you look back on the past four years, does it make you happy?

Happy Leap Day, ya'll. See you tomorrow.

Sneak Peak at March Madness.

It's that time of the year again, the best month of the entire year: MARCH.

You may say, "Why is March the best month of the year?"

Well, let me tell you:

In the past 5 years, I have won over
$500 with my bracketing skills.

1.  March Madness. I have an uncanny ability to know nothing about college basketball but average an 85% or higher on my bracket, every year. Want to know my secret? Pick the teams you like/have vaguely heard of to win the first round, have Gonzaga choke in the second round, then pick solely based on mascots. Works every time. (I apologize Gonzaga fans, I love them too, but you have to admit--it's as certain as death and taxes.)

Puppy Stampede!

2.  End of Winter. It's getting noticeably lighter in the morning/evenings. I can already feel my seasonal affective disorder waning...

3. My birthday. March 10 is possibly one of the best birthdays to have. Why? Because it is also Chuck Norris' birthday. [Upon some research, I also discovered it is Osama Bin Laden's birthday--Chuck Norris definitely balances this out.]

4.  Ben's birthday. If you couldn't be born on March 10, March 26 is an OK day too.

5.  St. Patrick's Day. I love my Guinness every day, but on St. Patrick's Day I can drink more than two and blame it on the Irish.











I could list a billion ways that March is a superior month to the other eleven, but  I think you get the jist.

It's also time to start redesigning the blog for Thursday. I came up with a great concept this month, and it's still definitely a work in progress, but I thought I'd share a baby screen-shot of what I'm working with:

Super excited to finish this up and show you on March 1.
I even illustrated the light bulb! yahoo!

Brushing up on my skills (get it? oh, lame jokes.)

I am no good at the technical aspects of being a designer. Why? I have no patience. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

There is this lovely blog, Pugly Pixel, that has wonderful tutorials that I do not have the patience to follow.

But today, I'm going to put on my big girl pants and do it.

So, I present to you, The Photoshop Tinsel Brush.

If you want to know how to do this, she gives a better tutorial than I ever will, but here's how you make the brush:

Create a document that is 200px by 10px. Fill the background with black.
Edit>Define Brush Preset (I named it Fake Christmas.)

Open up the brushes palate (Window>brushes) and select the brush you just made (Fake Christmas.)
Set the diameter to whatever you want and the spacing to 125 percent.
Click on Shape Dynamics. Your settings should be:
Size Jitter: 50%
Minimum Diameter: 50%
Angle Jitter: 100% (control off)
Roundness Jitter: 50%
Minimum Roundness: 100%

Click Scattering. Your settings should be:
Scatter (both Axes): 50%
Count: 3-5 (eyeball it)
Count Jitter: 100%

Now, you should probably save it. And start playing.

Here was my first attempt:

Pretty great, right?

All I did to make this, was type something, then create a work path (right click on the text layer to select this option.) Then, I created a layer on top of that where I selected my brush, then right clicked on the work path and selected stroke path. That created the brush around the text. Then, I wanted it to be glittery so I placed a layer of that glitter I made the other week on top, then right clicked on that layer to create a clipping mask. And...YOU'RE PRETTY!

I like this. The tutorial was short, but still pretty difficult. This was solely due to my lack of patience and natural aversion to using Photoshop for a purpose other than editing photos (I'm a lame purist punk.) But, I did it. AND, I liked it. AND I just might try another tutorial tomorrow.

These technical exercises are really boosting my ego. Right now I feel like my capabilities are somewhere between a first grader that successfully colored a dinosaur inside the lines, and a third grader that got to use oil pastels for the first time (and boy, did they make a mess.) Last week, I was at play-dough spaghetti, so I'm doing pretty well. 

Totes making tons of tinsel cards right now.... 

Micke, you're so fine!

If you were with me yesterday, you saw the beginning of my first Ikea hack. I started with a Micke, an amazing storage cabinet that is my very own craft room. But, the thing was super boring. Thus, the makeover. Check out yesterday's post to see how I started it.

I woke up early this morning to clean up the paint on the Micke. Really made a big difference, and cleaned up the whole look.

Then, I enlisted Ben to help me hang the drawer pulls. Since the piece didn't have any holes before, we got to break out the power tools! [and the level] Yahoo!

I'm really pleased with the end product. If you don't remember what it looked like before, here it is:

World, please meet the new and improved Micke!

Front view

Side view.

The other side

Close-up of the awesome brass fixtures I found. 

I'm glad I decided to paint the front, it really tied the piece together. 

The best part about this whole thing? It only cost about $12 for everything. Plus, the cabinet was about $70 brand new. Totally affordable. Totally practical. Totally awesome.

Had to add this...
Inside the front cabinet.

Oh, Micke.

Living in about 750 sqft doesn't leave much storage room for all the accessories that come with a project like this. I needed a piece that could be multi-purpose, can be easily moved, and can be wiped down with a lysol wipe. Hello, Ikea!

I got this beautiful little thing:

Micke Storage Unit from Ikea, $70.

Ben and I call it 'My Mickey.' This was by far the best $70 I've ever spent at Ikea. It's sturdy. It's on wheels. It fits a ton of crap. It has an opening in the top for chords (for my printer + Cameo.) And most importantly, I can literally hose it down if I want to.

But one thing it is, is sooo boring. So super boring. So minimalist-ly boring. Not my style.

So, I set out on a project to remedy this. It needed some stripes. It needed some drawer pulls. It needed some serious panache.

I love the texture of chalkboard paint, but I don't like that most of the pre-mixed stuff is super dark. Thank goodness I found this little recipe:

One cup of paint, 2tbs unsanded tile grout = chalkboard paint.
Thanks, Martha, I guess. 

Want to know the best thing about this recipe? The samples they give you at Home Depot are exactly 8oz (one cup.) Yahoo!

I am in love with Behr Graceful Gray (see the cheeseboard I made for my mom.) And it's a perfect neutral for this piece.

So I put some tape up for stripes. Mixed some paint. And got to painting.

Taped it. 

Painted it. 

Ripped the tape off. 

Ripped more tape off.

When I was waiting for the paint to dry I took a trip to Home Depot and grabbed some drawer pulls. Found some awesome brass ones:

When I placed the drawer pulls up with some masking tape, I felt the front was missing something, so I added some extra paint.

I have some cleaning up to do, and need secure the drawer pulls more than just with masking tape. I'll post the finish product tomorrow....

Branding.

As I've said before, I'm working on some business cards. I've also been working on an 'official' logo for the blog. I'm not done, but here's my preliminary sketch:

Eventually I work towards an entire branding suite, but it's a start.

What's your real problem?

I took a great training on Environmental Conflict Resolution. The class was put on by The U.S. Institute of Environmental Conflict Resolution, a federal agency purposed with helping resolve environmental conflicts.

The first thing we went over, was understanding conflict as an opportunity. Although it's hard to think of a 'fight' that way, it can be so true. A conflict is an opportunity to examine what hasn't worked in the past. It forces you to be uncomfortable, and should you accept it, find a resolution.

The most interesting thing we talked about, was understanding the real reason behind a conflict.  While someone may be upset about a person constantly being late, they may really be upset about a lack of respect. Getting to the root of what a problem really is, is the most effective way to solve it. The difficult thing is to ask the right questions to understand the real conflict.

Busted...again.

My flight got in very late last night, which will be my total excuse for not posting last night. (My lack of posting had absolutely nothing to do with obsessively reading Hunger Games the entire flight, finishing the book, then quickly downloading Catching Fire and reading that until 2am)

So, I established some Ground Rules (something I learned a lot about at my training this week) that cover a day with no post. For days when I did not post, I have to post twice for the missed day in addition to the next day's post. I don't want to call this a punishment [due to the negative connotations] but it is.

So, post one for today:

I've got a sick mom, so I wanted to make her some yummy soup.

I saw some great mini leeks at the store, so I made her a Leek-Potato-Chicken-Ginger-Soup. Hopefully she doesn't read this yet because I'm bringing it over soon...

Here's what I used

-Chicken breast (the kind with the bones on)
-half pound of leeks
-3ish carrots
-a potato or two
-garlic
-s&p
-dried basil, oregano, thyme
-garlic

I started out with some oil in a pt, and threw in a spoonful of crushed garlic (I get it at Trader Joes, super cheap super-er easy.)

After that started smelling good, I added in some chopped up leeks and carrots. Added some salt and pepper and gave this about 5 minutes to cook.

I added in the chicken some grated ginger and a couple shakes of basil, oregano, and thyme. Then, covered it with water.

Covered the pot and let it sit forever on low [an hour.]

After an hour, I took out the chicken and shredded it with a couple forks, then added it back to the soup.
It's delicious and I'm excited to bring it to my mom.

Stay tuned for two more posts today...

Traveling.

I'm out-of-town on business this week for a great class on facilitating Environmental Conflict Resolution. It's super interesting, and takes a whole lot of brain power and creative-innovative thinking. Thus, my brain is straight up worn out. And, I definitely filled my creative quota for the day. How many ways can you say, "That will never work" in a constructive way? (Hint: That's one option, but here is my concern...) Yay for constructive communication!

I did have an amazing freaking dinner at Pizzeria Bianco. You should soooo be jealous.

So, instead of a project, Ill share some inspiration for lettering. Sorry if it seems I'm a little obsessed with lettering, because I am.

Source: ffffound.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: asmithillustration.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: bonexpose.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: joncontino.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Certainty.

"I love that after a day when nothing is certain, and when I say 'nothing' I mean nothing,You can come home and absolutely know that of you add egg yolks to chocolate, sugar, and milk--it will get thick." -Julie/Julia.

I've referred to this project several times as my very own 'Julie/Julia.' actually, I think my exact words were, "I'm going to Julie/Julia the shit out of this." Eloquent, right?

But I am. Or, at least I'm trying to.

[Side Note: If you haven't read the book/watched the movie, do it. It's definitely worth your time. Also--Meryl Streep is a creepily good Julia]

This quote wasn't exactly word-for-word in the book, but it is from the movie version. This comes at such a pivotal moment in the story when Julie feels things slipping away.

I find myself chanting this on days that I am frustrated with the things that are beyond my control. There are things that are certain. Put a pan on heat, and crack an egg on it, the egg will cook. Heating butter, will melt it. Simple science? Simple therapy.

For month's I wanted to immortalize this quote in my kitchen. Since I have committed myself to attempting a SUCCESSFUL lettering project, this is a perfect opportunity.

I needed to spend a considerable amount of time sketching this, so here are my initial sketches.

My handwriting is too cutesy. I promise my end product won't look like Curlz. 

Grids? Hmm...

Check back, I ended up with a great concept (not shown here, yet.)

In a totally unrelated note: I know I am the last person on Earth to say this, but HUNGER GAMES? WOWMG! I just got off a 2.5 hr flight to Pheonix, and I got through 200 pages of the first book. I'm totally obsessed. 

Lettering, Attempt 1

Today, I decided to put in my first attempt at fancy lettering.

I decided to start with an existing script font for this first go-around, and use glyphs and shapes to embellish them. Maybe next time I'll illustrate...oh god.

So here's what I came up with:

Not life changing, but a decent 'quick + dirty' job. 

I'm excited/terrified to do an illustrated version. I can do lettering pretty well with a pen and paper, it's when that pen and paper turns into the Pen Tool and an Art Board that I get terrified.

I'm headed out on business for the next couple days, so stay tuned for "One thing--ON THE ROAD" tomorrow thru Thursday.

Happy Monday!

Biz cards!

So...I have been trying to beef up my networking for this blog. Today, I designed and bought materials for a new set of business cards!

I'm really excited to share the finished product, but here's a sneak peak...

Inspiration

So, tonight I gathered ideas for future projects. Here are some of my favorites:

I've seen these several times, but I want to really do these with different shaped light bulbs.
Source: blog.freepeople.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I want to knit something, and not screw it up. Maybe I'll start with crochet?
Source: google.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I really want t get into 'lettering' more, and start doing some of my own illustrated posters.
Source: bonexpose.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I've got a bachelorette party to plan...
Source: fuckyeahweddingideas.tumblr.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Thanks, Pinterest!

I'm a Baking Machine

My name is Lauren and I'm totally addicted to baking stuff. 

One year ago, I was terrified of my oven. I have gladly gotten over that fear, and I have now successfully baked about 13 things. Thus, I am a baking machine. This week alone, I have baked FOUR things. This is huge. Someday, I'll maybe even bake bread. You know, the kind of bread you have to add yeast and science to? (ooo...this makes me shutter in fear just thinking about it)

I had some frozen blueberries that I needed to use up (because they were taking up an inordinate amount of space in my freezer.) Found an awesome recipe on Skinnytaste.com (another new favorite site, thanks Pinterest.) This is one of those great recipes that replaces butter with apple sauce. YUM.

Another awesome thing? Similar to the pumpkin muffins from yesterday, these weigh in at just 147 calories per muffin.  

I forgot to take a ton of pictures of this, but it's OK because Skinnytaste.com does an awesome job of taking way better pictures than I do. So please check our their pictures if you need a visual [right here]:

Make sure you use UNSWEETENED natural applesauce.
I almost got tricked in the grocery store. Mainly because this
is the first time I've purchased applesauce and I didn't realize there was
more than one flavor....oops.

They taste sooo good. 

Here's the recipe, again from Skinnytaste.com, adapted for my process:

A cup of unsweetened applesauce (careful, they'll try to trick you)

2 cups of whole wheat flour (I like Bob's Red Mill because it's not too grainy)

.5 cup o sugar (I used a big old squirt of agave, worked pretty well)

1 tsp baking soda

.5 tsp salt

1.5 cup of blueberries (i used frozen and just zapped them a little bit so they were only semi-frozen)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs butter (amazing how little butter I needed for this recipe, but how moist they turned out)

Oven to 325°. Mix dry ingredients in a big bowl. Put all the wet ingredients (minus blueberries) in your mixer and turn your mixer to lowish-mediumish. Slowly add the dry to the wet. Don't turn on your mixer too fast unless you want a flour cloud in your kitchen (pro tip: this is not fun to clean up, and will make your husband/roommate/cat laugh at you. Your dog won't laugh at you, because they love you too much, and would probably do the same thing if they were baking, right Bella?)

When it's mixed, and not a second later, turn off your mixer. Fold in the blueberries, but do it gently so you don't turn the batter purple-gray.

Put the batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for about 25ish minutes. Just check them and take them out when you stick something pointy into them and it comes out clean.