My Design Blog

Hey friends!

I decided to start a blog where I just blog about my random design stuff. Now this blog will just be about me and JB and the other blog will be all my design and art posts.

That's all.

Here and There

The weather today Here (AZ):



The weather next week when we will be There (UT):




Man. I could get used to this Arizona stuff.

Gift Tags

I made these gift tags today and was way excited about how cute they turned out so I wanted to share. I used a grocery bag from trader joe's with a great winter pattern on it and cut out the tag shapes on my silhouette. Then, I stitched them all together on my sewing machine!

Joy!

Christmas is going to be here soooo soon! I still have a million things to do. Oh well.

I just stumbled across this link to Scrapscription, a scrapbook kit company. They are using my "Joy" artwork as part of their kit.

Etsy Shop

I just opened an etsy shop last week called Cactus and Olive. It doesn't have much in it yet, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of my items was picked to be featured on the the etsy homepage yesterday! I didn't get to see it, but the person who bought it emailed me and let me know. It was these snowflake gift tags:



I am planning on posting more later today!

Pumpkin Dinner

There is a somewhat-tradition in the Pilcher family to have meatloaf dinner in a pumpkin around Halloween time!

JB and I are having a few friends over on Saturday night for dinner and this will be the main coarse. What else is there to do on Halloween if you don't have children? I am attaching some photos from my sophomore year at Utah State when we made it as roommates!




After looking at this photo of the pumpkin in the oven, it has made me wonder if maybe I should draw a really sad face on the pumpkin this year... the smile just doesn't seem to fit!

RECIPE:

8" pumpkin, cleaned out
1 pkg. hear and butter stuffing mix
1.5 lbs ground beef
3 eggs
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2.5 Tbs chopped onion.

Make the stuffing as directed on package. Mix the rest of the ingredients together (except the pumpkin, of course!) Mix that with the stuffing and put it the pumpkin.
Cook for about 3 hours at 350 degrees. Don't forget to put the pumpkin on a cookie sheet!



Decoration for the party? Still haven't quite decided but will probably consist of cut out leaf shapes from my latest submission for the Silhouette.

Where's Waldo?

This weekend JB and I made a quick trip to Blanding for the opening weekend of the deer hunt. We, with our nephew Derek, headed out before dawn.

I have an analogy. Looking for deer is like looking for Waldo in a Where's Waldo. Only you don't know if they actually put Waldo into the picture. You just keep looking and looking and hope they did. Obviously, I get very bored and distracted while doing this. So... I played with my camera! The sun was just coming up behind us and it was sooo beautiful!

I am still alive.

Pictures of our latest adventures:













ALSO! Quickutz used my "baseball design" on their company blog for a tutorial. The funny thing is, last week I did the same thing with a volleyball version of the design, on t-shirts with spraypaint. it turned out pretty cool.

Tucson!

Well, we made it! JB and I are now living in Tucson. So far we really like it!



Sad thing is, as I was "pretending" to hug the cactus, but I ended up really getting stuck by one of the needles. I would.

The photo is from the Tucson Botanical Garden . My dear/sweet mom drove down with us to help move, and before she flew back to SLC we went to the garden. It was cool to go there and learn about the vegetation in this area. I never knew there were so many different kinds of cacti. My favorite was the "Old Man."



After that, we spent a little bit of time shopping at 4th Avenue in downtown Tucson. My favorite shop was Pop Cycle-- Everything in the store was either remade from other products or vintage. For example, she took old Arizona license plates and cut them into strips, making them into pieced together plates that spelled things. Very cleaver! I plan on going back and buying one as soon as I save up enough "allowance." (Sometimes I feel like I'm still a little kid.)

Leaving Cache Valley

One of the last projects that I have been working on here at USU before we move is a day-to-night shot of the valley, from the top of the business building.

Everytime I have opened it to work on it, I can't help thinking, "What are we doing leaving this place?! It is so beautiful!"

This is real life.

It is official. We are moving to Tucson, Arizona.

JB flew down there and interviewed with a company on Monday and they offered him a job!


We are heading down there in two weeks.
Now we just have to figure out where to live...



JB likes to tease me about my initial reaction to us moving:
"THIS IS BIG! THIS IS REAL LIFE!"
Because before this life was fake, or something like that.




(photo via tucson daily photo blog. I found it when I was trying to decide if I wanted to live there, and the images on it were much more appealing then when you google image search "Tucson.")


ps did I mention how long it took me to remember how to spell Tucson?

Quickutz

I have recently started freelance designing for the Quickutz Silhouette. The silhouette is a digital craft cutter-- it cuts shapes out of paper from your computer. And I design those shapes. It's been a blast. Basically, I doodle, then scan it in and trace it out. Who ever thought I would get paid for doodling?

Here are some of my favorite designs that I have done.

Finally!

A reality show I am excited to watch!



The show premiers in 2010.

I wonder how many average americans will tune in to watch drama over typefaces, picas, color pallets, layer masks, layout and logos? I sure can't wait!

roadtrip!

Tomorrow morning JB and I are headed out on a road trip.
Some of our stops include:

Lake Tahoe



Disneyland, the happiest place on earth (or so we shall see). I have NEVER been before, so I talked JB into going on my 22nd birthday. I'm pretty stoked. When I ask JB if he is excited, he says, "Well, I'm excited for you!" haha.

I love this image i found here of a vintage disneyland shirt.



And, our final, most exciting stop is definitely going to be in Bakersfield to see these little stinkers:



Please! 5 o'clock get here faster!!

Up

I LOVE this movie.



We have seen it twice and I am not ashamed to admit that I cried 5 times.

"Dear Google,

What do you do when you get bit by a stray dog?"

Yes, JB was riding his bike past Adam's Park this last week, when a stray dog ran up and bit his calf. I waited to post this until I was sure he didn't get rabies, because he wouldn't go to the doctor (even though google said to). He called animal control and reported the dog, google told us to do that too.



JSYK, he is all better now-- no infection or anything. No need to worry.

USU Backlit Signs

When I was first hired at USU, my boss told me that my first project would be these gigantic backlit signs in our student center. Two years later, after the project got put off over and over, they finally got installed today!

funny...

when your own blog pops up on your "google reader" recommendations!

Nice to meet'cha!

i just saw this video on youtube. it's probably bad that i think it's so funny. but, this guy sat on top of a bridge in china for hours, contemplating suicide and backing up traffic. So, an angry pedestrian climbed up, shook his hand, and pushed him off!



(If you fast forward to about 40 seconds, that's when all the action happens)

Wedding Reception

oh hey! here are the pics from my reception. A family friend, Sarah Jones, took them. I was really happy that she took a ton of detail shots of the decorations, because we probably spent way too much time on them!