On the Side

My all time favorite movie is When Harry Met Sally. If you are familiar with it, you might remember that Sally ordered meals with sauces and dressings "on the side". As Harry told her, "on the side is a big thing with you". Which leads me to this: I think that creative people have projects they do "on the side". Even for someone lucky enough to make a living from their creative talents, it seems like extra projects as gifts or just for personal enjoyment continue to be crafted. Some of the most fun projects can be ones where perfection doesn't matter.Which is great - it can bring you back to the core reasons of why you love creating in the first place.  It is liberating to just make something for fun and without worrying about how it will turn out. Not to mention you might learn a new skill or improve an existing one.

I saw this felt flower wreath on the Purl Bee blog and was instantly smitten. I thought my sister might like it since she is so into plants that she teaches horticulture for a living. Except this was in January and with snow coating her entire state up in Maine, it seemed like a more colorful version would suit her better, something to brighten her office as an antidote to the winter gloom. Five months later and my version turned out like this:

After I had cut out the flowers and was piecing them on, I started thinking a more refined color palette would have been nice. This has red, burgundy, white, two different yellows, three different purples, and a green background. If I was going to make another felt flower wreath, I would probably keep the green background and limit the flowers to shades of yellow and white. This project was a pleasure but it also gave me a chance to learn more about color theory. I started out as a use every color of crayon in the box person, but I think limiting the colors has a more pleasing effect. And Eric is helping me learn about triangulating colors and other important artistic principles.

Another project I'm keen on trying from the Purl Bee blog are these napkins. They would be a jolly good side project to help build my confidence on the sewing machine. I highly recommend checking out the Purl Bee for some inspiring ideas and projects on a variety of crafts.

So how about you - do you have any creative projects you enjoy on the side?

Sneak Preview - Bunting

Hello there! I'm excited about my new felty creation, my own take on the bunting trend. Also known as garland, banners, and even pennants, there are so many ways to string up something irresitibly cheerful.

There are two versions right now; one in cool colors:

And one in colors that remind me of a lemonade stand: 

Once I figure out some better photographs, these will be going up for sale in the Dear Reader shop. I've been really into scalloping details lately, so it was fun to find a way to work that in with some felt.

The Origins of the Modern Family Crest

This post is much overdue, but I believe an explanation is in order for the origins of the Modern Family Crest. Part of the explanation lies in my deep appreciation for all things Harry Potter, with the style firmly lodged in my mind as being very special. Perhaps also having just watched both Monster Camp and Role Models is a factor, but at some point last spring the idea popped in my head that heraldry was quite interesting. I liked the basic aesthetic and the fact that bearers of these symbols shared a sense of  "these are my people and this is what we are all about". I knew the symbols and their placement had specific meanings, but only a serious expert would be able to decipher the intricacies and message behind family crests and shields. It was time for an update, not only for modern interests such as baking and photography instead of swords and archery. But an update that even people who are not experts can quickly piece together and realize "Oh yeah, you are into music and canoeing and dogs - I like that!".

Still with me?

I also happen to like silhouettes. We stamped silhouettes of our dogs on bags for the candy buffet at our wedding (shout out to S&H Confectioners!). We also printed silhouettes on votive covers for the tables. Felt is another favorite; the texture and the richness of the colors makes it irresistible to me. Clearly my love of felt and silhouettes were meant to be united, and they joined forces with the heraldry idea to become the Modern Family Crest.

So the quest began, as all of my plans do, with a list. A massive brainstorming ensued, where I thought of the various things that people like to do and I would like to cut out of felt. Then Eric helped me figure out what would translate into a silhouette design that still looked recognizable. Some ideas didn't work and were discarded after earnest efforts: a typewriter and a computer ended up not working. The animals are the most appealing to me. After a bit of research, we decided two shield shapes and several color options would give the flexibility to really customize each Modern Family Crest. Believe me, there are many more variations in actual heraldry but that can get overwhelming.
                                                                             
So after much drawing on Eric's part, we ended up with our two shield shapes and over 40 symbols. The Butterfield shape is shown here in blue:

And the Cavendish shape is shown here in red:

Because I wanted to offer a variety of options to customize the Modern Family Crest, there are five shield colors available to put on the totes: red, blue, yellow, gray, and green. Are you ready for a list of the 40 symbols to choose from? Here it is:

Acorn - Airplane - Bicycle - Bear - Book - Camera - Campfire - Candy - Canoe - Cat - Cupcake - Dog - Elephant - Fall Leaves - Fork + Spoon - Fox - Gears - Horseshoe - Hot Air Balloon - House - Ice Cream Cone - Lotus Flower - Mountains - Mushroom - Octopus - Owl - Paper + Inkwell + Quill - Pint of Beer - Pipe - Rabbit - Robot - Rocket Ship - Scissors - Skeleton Key - Squirrel - Submarine - Suitcase - Teapot - Trees - Top Hat + Mustache - Victrola Record Player

TV Dinner

So the other morning, I went to put my delicious Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake lunch in the freezer at work. Business as usual, until I noticed that someone else had also deposited a Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake in the freezer already.

Because office kitchens operate under an entirely different set of parameters than home kitchens (and knowing the habits of some of my co-workers), I had no guarantee that the other frozen meal hadn’t been subjected to questionable activities. Perhaps it sat in someone’s car for four hours. Or maybe they have a cat that prowls in their grocery bags and had DONE SOMETHING to that frozen meal.

All possibilities being unacceptable, I wanted to avoid confusion and make sure I ate MY frozen meal and the twin meal matched up with it’s original owner. When you know for a fact that certain people don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom, it’s best to avoid contact with any food items they have touched. The best I could come up with was wrapping my lunch in a plastic bag, and I emailed the predicament to my sister. She found my need to conceal my lunch to be funny, and as usual with my need to impress my little sister, I decided to take it one step further.

So here is the result: a Food Disguise. The blob at top left is mashed potatoes with gravy (and butter). To the right is a brown square. Kidding! It's a brownie, a delicious felt brownie. Then we have peas and carrots plus fried chicken rounding out the classic TV dinner.

If I ever had the chance to make something for Amy Sedaris, this TV dinner Food Disguise would totally be it. In the meantime, I may refine this prototype for the shop and the original is on it's way to my sister, from whom I sincerely hope to earn another laugh.