Bicycle Love

Last week, Yasu’s bike got stolen... Finally! It was a terribly crappy bike which had broken down after using it less than 10 times. We didn’t have the receipt anymore and it wasn’t worth it to get fixed. We didn’t really know what to do with it, so we left it unlocked near the front door in our building, months ago. We were surprised how long it took for it to be stolen.

Anyways, ever since the theft I’ve been dreaming about our old and wonderful bikes in Osaka. We miss them terribly, and they’ve inspired this week’s treasury.

Indie Biz Portfolio

Very soon our Indie Business classes are starting, and I'm going to keep my homework and notes in this portfolio:

I'm actually a repeat student and made this portfolio for last year's class, but I still love it and have no problem recycling it this year.

The dividers are made from pretty Japanese cardboard with embroidered letters on felt tabs sewn onto the cardboard. Oh and the letters and the monkey on the front cover are made from felt as well, felt with a sticky back making it easy to attach it to the plastic binder.

I really enjoyed last year's classes and I can't wait to get started on Tuesday!

Momiji

To me "momiji" means the colored maple leaves in Fall, which the Japanese love to celebrate, much like the sakura (cherry blossoms) in Spring. But lately I've been seeing a very different kind of momiji online, and they look like this:

These extremely cute modern kokeshi-type dolls are message dolls. If you turn one upside down you'll find a tiny folded card on which you can write a note to whomever you're going to give the doll to. Or if you don't want to give this doll away (which I can completely understand), you can just write a secret message to yourself.

Problem is there are soooo many cute momiji, it's not possible for me to pick just one, I might just have to start collecting them. Which momiji is your favorite?

I wish this was my outside dinner party...

So we want to have some friends over for dinner, but we don't have enough space... Besides half of them are smokers, so I've been fantasizing about having an outside to our home large enough to host a nice dinner party.

[That Kind of Woman]

Dinner in the woods. It sure looks like this was a fun party, but who's going to clean up? And forests scare me a little, too dark at night and too many insects all day.

[Jordan Ferney]

Okay, then how about dinner on the beach? Well, we don't live near enough to the Golden Gate Bridge to carry our dining table to it, but what a great idea! We may just have to have a picnic there someday. 

[Decemberthirty]

I would really, really, really love to have a simple deck like this. It may be a lot less fancy than that dinner on the beach, but we're not fancy people, so that's perfect!

[You Are My Fave]

This looks like it could be right here in the city as well. I love the table, the mismatched chairs and the bunting, even though we have no Charles to invite.

[Kotori]

Or dinner in the countryside! Beautiful. But hanging those cages in the tree may be tricky.

[Sweet Paul]

Dinner on a deck, sure. How about dinner on a dock? Seems terrific!

[Creative Inspiration]

A nice simple dinner in the garden, lovely. But not so simple if you don't have a garden.

[A Mad Tea Party with Alis]

This garden dinner requires a bit more work to prepare, with the log stools and the branches of lights, but I would love to throw this dinner party.

[Houzz]

Oh yes, this is it! This is my favorite! Not too fancy, not too ordinary, with a fireplace, lots of extra seating, lovely lighting, and if it starts to rain the party does not have to stop. Perfect. I want to have our party here... Maybe someday.

[Anna Linder]

For now, we may just have to go to some random field and build ourselves a tent like this. But this may be too girly for our male friends to be comfortable with.

[Pink Wallpaper]

Or we could just go and live even smaller, like in this trailer, and park it somewhere with more than enough space to have a dinner party or any kind of party, for that matter.

Simply Kelly Designs (including freebie)

1. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Greetings! I am the Kelly behind Simply Kelly Designs. I grew up in Colorado and moved to Florida after college to escape the cold and snow. My blood has definitely thinned and now you will find me in a winter coat in 60 degree temperatures. I have a degree in computer science and worked as a software engineer for 7 years before I became a “work even harder” at home mom. I have a wonderful husband who makes me laugh on a daily basis and two energetic children (2 and 4) that I chase around everyday. Anyone that knows me know that I always have a camera within reach and am always willing to share my love for scrapbooking. You can find out more about me by looking at my personal scrapbook layouts on Flickr.

2. What do you make and how did you get into this?

We got married and my husband ran the Boston Marathon in 2003. Both events were great reasons to start scrapbooking! My husband and I traveled and had many adventures together so I had an abundance of memories to preserve. My scrapbooking went into overdrive after our daughter was born in 2007. I think I scrapbooked every moment of her first year! I had less time to scrapbook after my son was born but I still wanted to keep up. With that in mind, my new year's resolution for 2010 was to learn digital scrapbooking. I took numerous classes at JessicaSprague.com in a short time period. All those classes led me to the Art of Digital Design where I learned the fundamentals of design and the design process. I found that I really enjoyed the creative process and launched Simply Kelly Designs in July of 2010. I design digital scrapbooking kits and related products.

3. Why did you name your shop Simply Kelly Designs?

Carina Gardner was one of the instructors for the Art of Digital Design class. She provided several worksheets to guide the students to create a design name, logo and brand. The questions on the worksheet asked about all aspects of our lives. Two words kept popping up when I analyzed my answers - simple and clean. Those two words describe me, how I live and my design style. I knew that Simply Kelly Designs would be perfect for my design name.

4. Where and when do you like to create?

I am a full time stay at home mom so I create when time allows. This is usually while my kids are at preschool or when they are sleeping. I use Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Illustrator CS5 to create my designs and to scrapbook. These two programs live on my Dell Studio 17 laptop. I also use a Wacom Bamboo pen tablet. The pen tablet gives me more control over my designs and I can't imagine every going back to using a mouse. Most of my work is done at my scrapbooking table in our office/guestroom. I also do work at crops, on my back porch and just about anywhere else thanks to the mobility of my laptop.

5. What inspires you?

The themes for all my digital scrapbook kits are inspired by my life. This is a list of all my kits and why I designed them.

• Hit The Road Running - my husband is an avid runner and my daughter is taking after him
• Just Tri - my husband did a triathlon
• Baby Boy Basics and Baby Girl Basics - a gift for my friend Donna who did not know the gender of her baby before the birth
• Busy Bee - my daughter has been a "busy bee" for the last two years at preschool
• A Whale Of A Day - we have had annual passes to Sea World the last two years
• A Formal Affair - my sister got married
• Talk To Me - my kids say the cutest things!
• Love Birds - for photos of me and my husband

I find creative inspiration from magazines, color schemes, other designers, advertisements and even the art that my kids bring home from school.

6. What’s the best thing you’ve ever made?

My sister Laurie was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. One of my most favorite layouts is this one of Laurie on her wedding day. I love this layout because it simple, classic and really puts the focus on my sister's bridal glow. This layout proves that a layout doesn't have to be fancy to be effective.

Kit: A Formal Affair by Simply Kelly Designs
Template: by Tiffany Tillman
Fonts: Teen and Arial

7. When you create what do you like to listen to?

I usually listen to music while I design. My music selection varies depending on my mood and what I am designing. Some of my favorites include Taylor Swift, Michael Buble, Daughtry, New Kids On The Block (I love my boy bands) and anything 80s.

8. What skill would you love to learn and who would you like to be your teacher?

I would like to learn more about graphic design and using Illustrator. I have taken four online classes from Carina Gardner who is an amazing graphic designer. I would love to just sit in her studio and watch her create.

9. What are you working on now and what are your goals for the future?

I am working on developing my design skills and growing my business. My goal is to make Simply Kelly Designs my full time job after my kids are both in school.

10. What are your five favorite websites?

Etsy: I am truly in awe of all the beautiful creations that I see on Etsy. Looking through the listings provides me with a daily dose of creative eye candy.

Twitter: I love the social interaction on Twitter. The 140 character limit per tweet is wonderful for conveying short and precise information. Information flows more freely and is not as closely coupled as it is on Facebook. Twitter is my social media of choice.

Slickdeals: I love a good deal and Slickdeals is the place to to find them. The members find deals from all over the Internet and post in the forums. Deals are then handpicked to be included on the front page. I mostly look at the front page but do search the forums if I am looking for something in particular. I have probably saved thousands of dollars using this site.

Amazon: I live in a medium sized town that doesn't have very many choices for shopping so I do a lot of my shopping on Amazon. I find the user reviews extremely helpful in making buying decisions.

JessicaSprague: The majority of my digital scrapbooking knowledge was gained from taking classes at JessicaSprague. The instructors and the community there is friendly and willing to share what they know with everyone.

11. Where can we find you online?

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | Digital Design Den Store | Etsy Store

Owl Tree Studio (guest designing through March 2011)

BONUS! BONUS! BONUS!
Kelly is releasing a new digital scrapbooking kit today and you can download this amazing sampler for free! Just click this photo and it'll take you to the right place. Enjoy!

[freebie expires March 4, 2011]

Next week: Anzouya

Ernie out in the world

When I was still teaching in Japan Yasufumi, one of my students, asked me what I'd given my coworker (another foreign teacher) as a going-away present. I told him I made him a giraffe and showed him this picture:

It's the original giraffe (my first creature ever) and his four bizarrely colored friends. Yasufumi loved the giraffes and immediately asked if he could buy Ernie, the green and blue giraffe. He surprised me and for some reason I told him they weren't for sale, yet. But I promised that when they would go on sale he would be the first to know. And when I opened my Etsy shop a couple of months later, Yasufumi was one of my first customers.

Even though he bought Ernie online, I delivered Ernie to him in class and he was very happy with his new felt friend. Ernie now lives in Yasufumi's home office, we he keeps watch over Yasufumi while he works.

Big Japanese heads (and mine)

I've been missing Japan a bit lately, so this week's treasury is Japan-inspired. Here is a collection of kokeshi dolls from Etsy.

My favorite may be the vintage doll in the middle with the blonde hair. In any case, I like kokeshi the most when they have those longs bangs (the helmet hairstyle), it's so superbly Asian looking.

And once upon a time I sported that awesome hairstyle myself:

Kawaii, ne?

stoked on creating

Something came to mind yesterday that I haven't really pondered in a long time. Maybe I never really gave much thought to it: why I feel the need to create. By this I'm talking about drawing, making music, and biggest of all: making this film. Do I do this to be successful? Is it for money? Is it to have a career? Is it to gain recognition from people?

I remembered back to when I was a kid. I loved to make elaborate fantasy buildings out of simple wooden building blocks. I loved to color in coloring books. I loved to make things with construx. I loved to draw with crayons...usually monsters or race cars. No one was paying me to do this. I felt no pressure to do it. I made things because it was fun. I made things because it was a great challenge. It excited me. It made me feel good. I was happy to show these things to other people too. I was stoked on creating.

The last ten years I made a humble living out of drawing. Drawing stuff for companies. This can be great, if I'm working on cool stuff, or on something I care about or believe in. But when creating turns into a high pressure grind, it no longer really feels like creating. It feels like a chore, it feels like work. It's no longer fun.

When the biggest worry is what job will come next, and tailoring my art to meet those requirements...it really no longer feels creative. It really is not fun. Am I stoked on this? No. If the only reason I am creating something is to meet the expectations of someone else, it's just not fun. It's not really even art.

I've gotta keep remembering why I originally loved being creative, because I had fun making things. I want to have fun making stuff. I want to return to the approach to art I had as a kid: just create because I want to. Because it feels good. And because it's fun.

Pictured in the frame grabs above, clockwise: Bleronk on his way back down, Daniel Amar, and Blacky.

Inkscape

Before I started working on my moose pattern, I needed some ideas so I looked around online to see how others have done it. Most of the patterns I saw consisted of hand drawn and scanned shapes, so I was going to do that, until I stumbled upon a pattern where the shapes were drawn by computer. That looked so much more professional and I wanted that for mine as well.

But I didn't know how to draw with my computer. I've always been interested in graphic design, but it is so expensive to learn, especially the software you need to buy for  such classes. I simply can't afford it. So I went on another online search, this time I was searching for free drawing software and free lessons that would teach how to draw simple things on the computer. I discovered Inkscape, an open source scalable vector graphics editor, and this blog with informative tutorials.

I've been working on my moose pattern with Inkscape, it's taking me forever, but I'm liking what it's starting to look like. For example, this is the template for an antler piece to be cut out four times from felt.

It probably doesn't look so impressive but I was ecstatic with this result. In any case, it looks much better than a scanned version of the hand-drawn template. And how about this stitch demonstation I made with Inkscape?

Yeah, I know, it looks kind of like childplay. But I'm pretty happy about it.

You can do a lot more complicated things with Inkscape. There are so many options and funny looking buttons, and I have no idea what they are for! 

But I'm learning and I've already used Inkscape a lot. All the monkey logos on this blog are made with Inkscape (and a lot of patience). But obviously, I still need to learn way more about this awesome software and I know there are so many cool things one can do with the program, but often I can't quite figure out how. Well, practice makes perfect... right?

emerald on the inside

Caught inside. I got worked a few times this session. Offshore, green, and barreling.

The House of Mouse

I've been admiring the House of Mouse for a long time. Anna is a British girl who lives in the Netherlands and spends her time making countless versions of cute mice. Her sister Naomi (who still lives in the UK) joined the mouse-making business recently and together they've been going strong.

Look at the detail in these beautiful mice, I especially like the belly dancer! Besides mice with jobs they've also made movie mice! They have turned characters from the Harry Potter (check out Ron's freckles!) and Star Wars movies into cute mice, and also Edward Scissorhands, the Hulk and Indiana Jones. Go check out their Etsy shop for even more mice!

My favorite mice are the Sinterklaas mouse and Zwarte Piet mouse, because they're are typically Dutch characters and they remind me of home.

I wish this was my studio...

We live in a small apartment now, granted it's twice as big as my old apartment in Japan, but still small enough to not have a seperate bedroom. So our living room doubles as our bedroom and my craft room... well doesn't exist :(. Someday, I'll have a craft room! But for now I can only dream about an amazing studios like posted below.

[Home Designing]

I love this studio (or maybe office is a better name) because it's so organized yet still colorful and playful. The wooden walls are gorgeous and the big calendar behind the computer is something I could really use. And I would add a huge table in the middle of the room, to spread all my sewing projects on.

[Unplggd]

Here I'm just in love with all the supplies. Pots filled with beads stacked so neatly on the shelves, the pens and the colorful ribbons hanging above the desk.

[Home Designing]

This studio has a kind of a Christmassy vibe, but what's wrong with that?! I love Christmas. I also love the high table with built-in shelves and the other storage units. I wonder how comfortable those high chairs are though.

[Terry Tyson]

This may not be such a pretty studio, but I still love it. It looks like a very productive studio where lots of things are created.

[All Sorts]

This studio must be so inspiring to work in. I love the details, the color of the walls and that cute fabric supply. My future studio is going to need at least three tables as well. That's going to be so useful.

[Elsie Flannigan]

What a great idea to paint your walls with black board paint. That way you can keep drawing and writing your ideas on the wall. I also love the way she keeps her threads on a rack.

Kevin Alexander Gray: Obama and Egyptian Liberation

This piece by Kevin Alexander Gray was written before Mubarak stepped down but its still a good read. The question I have is this: Can a black imperial president (Obama) ever be anything other than hypocritical? GI

President Barack Obama needs to stop being two-faced on Egypt.

On one side of his public face he gives the impression of pressing Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to consider his legacy and “leave power in a way that would give his country the best chance for peace and democracy.”

But then he sent presidential envoy Frank Wisner to Cairo, who later publicly urged Mubarak to remain in power, saying, “President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical.”

In the realpolitik world of Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton it made sense to send someone Mubarak knew to deliver their message. Wisner’s Washington-based law firm, Patton Boggs works for the dictator's government.

After being called out on the Egyptian streets for Wisner’s comments the Administration put out that his comments “were his own” as though Wisner were some “disavowed” member of the mythical “IMF” - Impossible Missions Force.

Yet tossing Wisner into the fray is consistent with Clinton’s initial expression of “confidence in the stability of his [Mubarak] regime” and Vice-President Joe Biden saying, “I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

Even so, it leaves Obama (and the rest of world) where we started out – what’s the United States’ response to the unraveling of neo-colonialism?

Obama should consider his own legacy and let the American people know whose side he’s on: the dictator’s, or those who clamor courageously for democracy.

The most often used word coming from the Obama Administration is “transition” which suggests they are biding their time. Which boils down to what Egyptians protesters clearly see, feel and hear. That U.S. officials “speak about their own interest, not ours.” Another said: “Tell America that we get to choose our president . . . not them.” Yet another opined: “We believe America is against us.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has blasted Obama’s stance by saying: “To ask a dictator to implement democratic measures after thirty years in power is an oxymoron. It will not end until he leaves.”

Read More @ Counterpunch

end of the day

Dylan Amar paddling out. I think that's Blacky dropping into that wave. There were some pretty big ones this day. This session my aluminum housing hit my head hard while getting worked in a closeout, left a nice lump and little gash. It made me realize how easy it'd be to get knocked out with this big heavy housing. I went and reluctantly bought a helmet after this session.

Disqussion over

After installing Disqus eleven days ago, I really enjoyed it. Especially the way it let me react directly under others' comments, the little gray monkey it let me use as a default picture for those commenters without their own picture, and having a "recent comments" in my sidebar.

Unfortunately, all this was too good to be true. I spent this whole morning fighting with the program, trying to get it to load and when it finally did load it was only temporarily and partially. I couldn't comment, I couldn't see other people's comments and I wasn't finding any quick fix forum with solutions.

Add to that, Disqus's inability to immigrate the comments into my Blogger, making me afraid that if I ever wanted to change to another program I would lose my beloved comments. I thought it would be better just to stop using it altogether, right now, when the damage would still be limited.

I uninstalled Disqus and was once again able to leave comments! Yay. Maybe they don't look as fancy as they did with Disqus, but at least they're there! And I was happy to find all the comments left when Disqus was still up were hiding in my Blogger SPAM comment folder! I've unspammed them all and all is good again in comment-land.

Fancy Designs

1. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Ashley. I'm 21 years old and live in Louisiana. I've been with my boyfriend, Will, for six years. He encourages me to follow my dreams and do my best, even when that means starting a business from scratch with no plans and no idea what I'm doing. We have four dogs; Martini the Miniature Pinscher and Marie the Catahoula Cur, along with two of her babies Magic and Skunk. We also have a horse named Peppy and Will owns bucking bulls also.

You can usually find me in my kitchen cooking and baking, at my computer designing or curled up with a good book. We spend a lot of our free time at rodeos. Will is a bull rider and he is also a stock contractor when he's not working as a Correctional Officer. I'm a huge crafter. I love to make things, I love anything that is DIY and I am a huge vintage nut. I could spend hours doing nothing but thrifting!

2. What do you make and how did you get into this?

I specialize in paper goods; invitations, stationery, business cards, etc. I also work on photo edits, Photoshop tutorials, brochures, banners, product hang tags, shirts, tote bags and magnets. I have previously made designs for bands and various designers to use in their own work.

I've always been a huge art fan. I was always painting or drawing and when I was 11 I was introduced to the digital aspect of design. It was my first design program, Paint Shop Pro. After playing with that for a while I branched off into Animation Shop, which held my interest for many years. I always thought I would end up searching out a career in Animation but I started to get away from it in the years to come. When I was 15 I got my first taste of Photoshop and I was hooked. Since then, it's one of the only programs I will touch. I currently use Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Illustrator CS5.

3. Why did you name your shop Fancy Designs?

I honestly wish that I had a cool story behind this but when it comes to naming things, it's definitely not my strong point. It basically came down to ______ Designs. I knew I would keep it simple and pop Designs after something but picking the main name was hard. I had a list of names and none of them seemed right. Most of my screen names were Fancybelle. (Fancy plus belle as in southern belle.) Fancy is one of my favorite songs and I love something about the word fancy, so I can basically thank my strong love for Reba McEntire's music when it comes to nailing down the name Fancy Designs.

4. Where and when do you like to create?

Last year when I made the decision to run my own business we decided to turn our guest bedroom into an office space/guest bedroom. One corner is basically all mine (and one day hopefully we will have an entire room to make MINE.) My work days are usually 8am-4pm but I don't have a track schedule. I've had work days that lasted 6am-3am. I'm apparently a terrible boss!

5. What or who inspires you?

I'm inspired by everything. Nature, books, movies, clothing. There is inspiration all around us. Some days I will see someone who has a really funky fashion and all of a sudden I will have an idea running in my head to design something that I feel embraces her fashion. I could sit and look at colors for hours. I love piecing together colors that I would never dare put together and being pleasantly surprised at how well they work together. I am constantly doodling away in my idea book. I feel like my dreams are even a source of inspiration. I can't begin to count how many times I have bounded out of bed and into my office to sketch a design I was thinking about in my dreams.

6. What’s the best thing you’ve ever made?

I don't think I've made it yet. I'm not trying to sound modest, I just believe that my best is yet to come!

I do, however, have a favorite which is my Vintage Floral Stationery. I love everything about this design and it's definitely one of my most popular stationery designs.

7. When you create what do you like to drink, snack on, listen to, or watch?

I'm usually drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper, Coke Zero or a nice cup of hot tea when I'm designing, it just depends on the time of the day. Apples, bananas, yogurt, hummus and rice crackers, and baby carrots are some of my favorite snacks! I would definitely advice all who love hummus to avoid contact with your keyboard at all costs. It's definitely not fun to try to scrape hummus out of a keyboard! Luckily I don't have a tv in my office, so when I work I'm not watching something that can potentially distract me.

I have a specific playlist that I listen to when I'm working. It changes a lot but the constants are usually Matisyahu, Passafire, Jack Johnson, Alexi Murdoch, Ray LaMontagne, Givers, Florence + The Machine, The Fray, Mason Jennings, Gary Jules, Mishka and The Shins.

8. What skill would you love to learn and who would you like to be your teacher?

I'd love to learn how to knit (though I will fully admit I think I lack the patience to actually learn how.) I'm not sure of any very patient knitting teachers, but if there is one out there who thinks she/he is ready for a lost cause, I'd love for them to take me on!

9. What are you working on now and what are your goals for the future?

Right now my main focus is new products and advertising. I spent last year putting my profits back into my business and this year I am spending more time on that but I'm also looking to branch out. I hope to have two new shops open and running this year. My main goal for this year was to stay focused and advertise.

My future goals include what I'm doing now but I would really love to one day own a boutique. I want to be able to sell the things I love made by wonderful and talented designers as well as my own designers to people from my very own store front!

10. What are your five favorite websites? And why?

Young House Love: DIY, house crashing, decorating!

I Heart Organizing: I love all the organization tips!

Facebook: It's Facebook, maybe it's not so much I like it as I'm obsessed with it.

Freckled Nest: I adore this website. I feel like it's all the things I love rolled into one neat and adorable package.

Zazzle: If it wasn't for this website or the designers I met through this website, I wouldn't be where I am today.

11. Where can we find you online?

Website | Shop | Facebook | Etsy | Blog | Twitter

Next week: Simply Kelly Designs