The Census of Weddings

Guestbooks. They're super necessary. Also--super hilarious.

Here are our guestbook(s) from the wedding:

This is the 'before'

Here's the after:

So, I guess I didn't have enough strings. 

One of my behind-the-scenes projects for this week is creating a guestbook for my bff/sil Emily. I'm drawing this one [sans-computer] and I can't wait to show you.

But, in the meantime, a quick roundup of guestbooks that don't involve a ribbon-covered book:

here

here

here

here

here

What are your ideas for recording your wedding guests?

Uh, don't you mean Septemberfest?

Phew. Is it really only Wednesday?

I'm working on a couple things behind the scenes this week...But, since I'm such a 'planner,' I thought I'd show you some of my inspiration for something coming up on the horizon: Oktoberfest.

Ben and I are planning on hosting a huge Oktoberfest party this year. So excited.

But - to be honest - I have no idea what goes into an Oktoberfest Party other than beer and sausages. Oh, lederhosen. Lots of that.

Today I started an inspiration board for the party, here it goes:

here

here

Personalized Pint Glasses for favors, here

Lots of this, here

and finally, it wouldn't be a German celebration without...

here

Tutorial Tuesday!: Creating your very own Blogger Design!

You may have noticed that it is August the seventh. You may have also noticed I have yet to update the blog design.

OK, maybe you didn't notice--but I did this [sort of] on purpose! I've been meaning to give a tutorial for how I redesign my blog every month, and I wanted to show you as I was actually designing one...

So here we go! Again, no fancy program needed. It is easier if you have photoshop or illustrator, but you can use MS Paint, PowerPoint, or a billion other programs.

I'll go through this in three parts: [1] The Banner [2] The Background+Buttons [3]The Guts.

Part One: The Banner

Make your file. Size should be 1124 px x 360ish px (height can change, but 1124 px is the max width.)  Quick tip on picking your size: Think 'above the fold' - the space on a newspaper that is above the fold on the front page is most likely to be read, and [most importantly] will draw in your readers. So, if your top banner is too big, they won't see your content--just your banner.

Make sure you set your file in RGB [designer-speak for Red Green Blue--this is the color format most monitors are set up to use. Not to be confused with CMYK used in Printers]

Start coloring. Do whatever you want. Make sure to take screen color/light into consideration. Also think about those who are reading it on their smart phones--little bitty type is beautiful but not practical for web. Also, make sure your colors are going to pop on an illuminated screen. Don't put white lettering over 9pt type.

So...I guess what I'm saying is do whatever you want, as long as it isn't ugly.

So now we have our banner. Awesome! Write down your web-color codes (usually can find them if you double click on your color swatch. Keep that post-it close--you'll need it a little bit later.

Save your banner as a Jpeg or PNG file. Since I do a lot of illustrations and type, I typically go for a PNG file. It's called a 'lossless' file, meaning it keeps a lot of the color/line information when it is compressed. Jpeg works better if you are putting in an actual photograph. Otherwise, go for the PNG.

We're ready to upload it onto the blog.

On Blogger, go to the Layout Tab. Looks like this:

Edit the bar that holds the banner (long thing on the top that says One Thing. One Day. Every D...)

Save that, then preview your blog to make sure it's lookin' good.

Now, on to the background...


Part Two: The Background

Design-wise, this is the part you want to be very careful of. Your background falls behind the area that your readers are...well...reading. You don't want to do anything too distracting, and nothing that will clash too much with your content.

This is why...most of the time...I don't do anything for my background besides a solid white.

This month, I'm sticking with solid white.

But, I do love me some buttons.

If you have Illustrator, it's best to do this with multiple art boards.

Size for these are up to you, but max width is 260 pixels. Again, your content is the most important...so keep that in mind when determining your size.

Want to add more buttons to your blogger? Super easy. Just play around with the Layout tab [add gadget...] until you get something you like.

So, start coloring.

Here's what I made:

Save your file the same way you saved your background, and upload the same way as well.

Right now, this is what we have:

ooo...yellow from last month. oooo.

TO THE GUTS!

Part Three: The Guts.

This is the most annoying part. We start playing around with the guts of blogger.

This is the Template Tab. It's the most annoying of all tabs.

Click on Customize.

Changing the font colors is under Advanced. I know. So stupid. 

This is where writing down those color numbers comes in handy. Play around with these tabs until you have your color combo right. Fortunately, Blogger puts a nasty red dotted line around everything you are changing.

So, play around with it until you like it.

Again, you can do all of this in MS Paint or 90 other easy/free programs. I use Adobe Illustrator because I know how to use it, and I spent a boat load of money on it a couple years ago.

What do you think of this month's design? I call it Princess Minimalist.

Beer Beer Beer

Happy Monday, everyone!

To keep you updated on the ongoing saga of my mystery allergies--today I finally got some answers! I had an allergy test this morning [I was going to show you a picture, but it's too gross for the blog world.] On one arm I was tested for environmental allergens (pollens, molds, etc.) and on the other arm I was tested for food allergies (fruits and nuts.) I had a super severe reaction to birch, grass and all the nuts. So severe, we had to stop the test a little early and gave me a shot to stop the reaction.

So...cool... I'm allergic to nuts, birch and grass, right? Uh, not so fast. If you are allergic to those things, you are highly likely to be allergic to foods like apples, avocados, cherries, tomatoes, kiwi, potatoes, wheat, fennel...and the list goes on. But, there are several items on that list I have not had a reaction to [yet] and he encouraged me to keep eating them until I have a reaction.

Interesting fun fact about allergies: You are most likely to develop food allergies in your 20s than during any other time during your life. I'll just call 25 the year of the nut.

So, I walked out of there with a whole lot of knowledge, a couple epi-pens, and a whole lot of nausea. I was super sick almost all day today and I'm still feeling a little hazy.

Grass was BY FAR my worst reaction, and he encouraged me to relandscape our yard without grass. Obviously, I'll never be able to get fully away from grass, but he told me I deserve an oasis--hear that Ben? So look forward to awesome non-grass landscape ideas in the very near future!

SOOO anyway, back to non-medical emergencies: How was your weekend?

I started on an AWESOME top-secret project that I am so excited to share with you--but not for a couple more weeks. It involves one of my top favorite things in the world: beer!

Today, I gathered some primo inspiration for my project:

This is a rum, but I still like it

here.

By ddla, found here.

here

here

and, you can't forget:

here. It is the champagne of beer...

Now, I just have to decide: to label, or to stencil? I really wish I had enough time for stencil....

Enjoy the HOT HOT weather! I love it, except when I'm trying to sleep. 

Then, I curse the world.

FuN-DoOoO

Ok. Today. Was. So. Awesome.

Why?

Well, every day is awesome during the Olympics.

But it's even MORE awesome when you get to eat FONDUE while watching the OLYMPICS. AHH!

[Also, thank you all for your concerns and emails over my allergy episodes. I have an appointment on Monday to get allergy tested and hopefully I'll figure out why my body is rejecting EVERYTHING lately. But, honestly, I'm so happy right now I think my adrenaline + endorphins will scathe off any anaphylaxis.]

So, we start today with a bit'o-cheese fondue....


And, we finish today with a WHOLE LOT OF CHOCOLATE FONDUE. AHHHHH!


So, for those of you that are getting married/starting registries: There are some really dumb things you can register for. A fondue pot is not one of those dumb things.

There is something so...fun...about dipping carbs, fat, and sometimes fruit into a vat of cheese or wine or chocolate. Seriously.

Thus, FUNDOOOO!

We typically host about 3-4 Fundoo parties per year. But this year, we totally want to break that record and do it a million times. Mark my words. A million.


Here's the best fundoo recipes I have (when we do Fundoo parties, we like to have 3 courses--cheese, meat, chocolate. The best three courses):

Cheese Fundoo

• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 pound shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 pound shredded Gruyere cheese
• 2 tablespoons regular flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 (1 pound) loaf crusty bread
• 
  
• Put the wine in the fundoo pot and wait until this simmers (with our pot, this takes about .4 seconds.) Make sure you grate all the cheese...seriously....It's really important. Add the cheese in little handfuls and stir until it's all melted. Once all the cheese is in, add the flour, salt and nutmeg. Serve with cut-up crusty bread, sausages, apples, anything you can get your hands on. 

Ok, and little secret...if you have an electric fundoo pot, at the end of the night you'll have this delicious crusty little layer of cheese at the bottom of the pot. Put it on toast. It will rock your world. 

White Wine Fundoo (Ok...this one is awesome with raw shrimp or chicken. Use red wine if you want to switch it up and fundoo steak.)

• 1 bottle white wine
• 1 (2 inch) cinnamon stick
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 10 black peppercorns, crushed
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 
  
• Pour wine into a saucepan (not straight into the fundoo...), and drop in a cinnamon stick, coriander, pepper, cloves, sugar, salt, celery salt, and garlic salt. Let sit for 1 hour, then bring to a boil. Filter through a fine sieve or colander lined with cheesecloth, and transfer to the fundoo. Bring it back to a boil and keep it there. 

So, for this one, you take raw little baby pieces of meat or fish, put it onto your little baby fundoo fork and let it sit in the broth until it cooks. Then, take it out, and enjoy its awesomeness. For this type of fundoo, you really want to get nice cuts of meat and fish, don't go cheap and don't go frozen. 

Chocolate Fundoo (This recipe makes A LOT of fundoo. I halved it for 6 people)

• 32 ounces milk chocolate, grated
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder (I have an espresso maker, so I use a shot of espresso instead...)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 
  
• Melt the chocolate in your fundoo pot over medium with the heavy cream. Mix in the shot of espresso or instant coffee and the rest of the ingredients. Continue to heat it up and stir (lots) until it's all smooth. Dip in anything. Seriously. Some favorites? Marshmellows, strawberries (still not allergic?), graham crackers, any fruit, cheese (srrsly), bread... Just do it.

Ahhhh

What a perfect day in a not-so-perfect way.

I started out this morning really rough. I've had a weird relationship with food this week. On Sunday, I was at a bridal shower and ate something that the wonderful host said didn't include nuts, but went into anaphylactic shock. Fast. Then, today, I ate blueberries...BLUEBERRIES...and went into shock during a meeting. So, basically, I'm terrified to eat. Anything. 

I'm getting full-on-scritchy-scratchy allergy tested on Monday morning...but until then, I'm actually pretty terrified to eat.

So, I had a rough morning.

But all was made so much better when I was able to go to a gallery opening for the one and only:

For those of you that do not know Nicole personally, imagine the nicest person you know, the most passionate person you know, and the prettiest person you know...and combine them into one person. 

Nicole is the wife of the equally awesome Todd. They left Portland a few years ago to go pursue their dreams--and they are both totally killing it in their respective fields. 

Nicole is a super talented artist. Please check out her work here. I took a couple pictures with my dinky little iPhone but the website is a better representation of her work and how awesome she is. 

I have trouble pinpointing my favorite part of Nicole's work, but I think my favorite is how she incorporates different mediums and lets them be. Untamed, seemingly unplanned, and awesome. 

On her website [right here] check out her work titled, Blush. It's the first collection that I saw from her, and I think it still stands to be my favorite. It is so raw. It is so difficult. And it really set a standard for how I look at art.

As I continue with this project, and continue training my creative brain, I'm finding that it's more and more important that I keep looking to people like Nicole that are making real, meaningful, passionate art. 

So please, check her out here. 

And Nicole and Todd: it was so awesome to see you. I'll still be hoping that someday you land back in Portland...for good. 

She's back!

Today, my sister came back from her year in Jerusalem! It was so awesome to pick her up and FINALLY see her face to face and not through a Skype screen.

Ben came up with an awesome 'sign' to pick her up from the airport...