Rice Cake Bouquet

 

What a better way to make someone's day than with a rice cake bouquet? Ok, so it's kind of an inside joke, but we thought this was a great (and healthy) way to say farewell to our friend and co-worker who is moving on to a new adventure.

I had a vision in my head when we first started to make sunflowers out of the rice cakes. At first I was going to 'paste' them together with peanut butter, but then decided to use toothpicks instead. I thought it would be less messy. Turns out, making a rice cake flower is still quite messy, so if you attempt your own, watch for sticky fingers and trails of powdered cheese!

Simply attach the small cakes with a toothpick and then insert one large bbq wooden skewer as the stake. We used a stack of the large rice cakes as the base inside the pot. Some of the chocolate rice cakes were crumbled as the 'dirt' in the pot. Lastly, we filled some space (because we ran out of toothpicks to make more flowers!) with the green bags of snack packs to add color and act as the 'greenery' of the bouquet!

Simple and healthy and adorable! And we thought it was pretty unique, too!

(PS. We'll sure miss you, B!)

Hand Lettering

It's seems crazy that I posted on this subject 4 years ago but I find myself in the middle of researching for a project and running across some CRAZY TALENTED hand lettering artists. Hand lettering is hot! I love it. LOVE IT.

When I was attending BSC's commercial art program, now appropriately re-named the Graphic Design & Communications program, we had classes in hand lettering. I remember thinking, "Why are we wasting our time on this stuff? Just let me get on the computer. I've got Photoshop work to do!" Now, wasn't that a silly attitude? If I had only known...

After spending weeks and weeks on calligraphy, hand lettering posters, using markers, etc. at BSC I find myself wanting to go back to that time so I could appreciate what I was doing. Don't get me wrong. I really did love it while we were doing it...I was just anxious to learn more. Hand lettering always came naturally to me. Probably because I spent hours as a kid doodling type, making posters, and practicing with my little Lettering Book!

Some hand lettering from back in the day. Way back. (wonder why I never added highlights on the A?)

I now wish it came even more naturally to me. It is not only a lost art, but very marketable. Check out the work of these ((ULTRA)) talented folks.



Matthew Tapia

Dana Tanamachi (she does this all in chalk...un. $*$%^# believable)

And of course the brilliantly typetastic Jessica Hische ( I kinda hate her.)

Dreaming of a New Backyard

Last year we bought a house thinking 'more room; lots of potential'. We've already done some basic changes to the interior...soooo much more to do. When summer comes around, though, I like to focus on the outdoor space. I have so many ideas in my head...sometimes too many. When you have a huge blank palette sometimes it's hard to turn it off.

With all these 'plans' I have in my head I forget that my hubby probably can't visualize the things like I can. That's when I turn to the computer. That's when my vision is morphed into an exact image of what I want. That's when I hand it to him and say "Let's get to work." HA! I'm sure he really appreciates all my ideas...it means more work for him! But, really we have made a pretty good team making things come together.

When we bought the house, the vines had taken over the full length of the fence. While I loved the greenery (and beautiful red color in the fall) they simply became too heavy for the rotting fence underneath. So, step one began with lots and lots of cleaning and clearing away vines. This portion of the yard was also covered in fern growth and weeds so we tried to kill them off as best we could and rototilled a few times to clear the area. We also made a garden area in the process.

Good-bye old fence (I'll find another use for you I'm sure!)

Hello new fence!

This is a photo of my aunt's yard. I fell in love with her landscaping!! That is exactly what I want! So, I combined this with some of the other ideas I had.

This is my first idea ((virtual impression)) using pea-rock as the base

This is my second idea ((virtual impression)) using red mulch as the base

So, now this is where you come in my blogger friends. Which one do you like better? This will also be a high traffic area as the play set is also in this section of the yard. Hubby says mulch. I say pea-rock. Practicality? Looks? Maintenance? WHICH?!?!?