Wedding Invitation Video

Remember that Save-the-Date video? Here's the invitation video which tells the story of the proposal.
(Click here to see it in HD.)

Boston Explorers

I love to explore, whether in a foreign land or my own backyard.  I particularly enjoy wandering around cities, so I have been thoroughly enjoying my recent work with a new camp for kids in the Boston area. (Below is a photo of the brochure for Summer 2012.)

Boston Explorers is a day camp for girls and boys ages 9-13 that combines the best of summer camp—creative, spontaneous play and hands-on activities—with the sights and sounds of the city. Campers are on the move visiting historic sites, natural spaces, buildings and waterways. A skilled staff leads the way, but kids take command of the expeditions with their enthusiasm and imagination. Wherever they come from, by the end of the week kids will feel that Boston is their city.

Happy Birthday/Pi Day

A birthday gif for a friend born on Pi Day!

Andiamo!

I worked on a travel scrapbook for a family who (bravely) traveled to Italy in a large group and lived to tell about it. A combined effort, the book includes photos from every family member and daily travel logs documenting the places they visited, the people they met, and the delicious food they ate. (I found myself hungry every time I worked on this project.)

The images below are of the published book of their 2009 trip - hardbound and 130 pages. Inside the cover of the book, in a plastic sleeve, we inserted a DVD of their accumulated videos (which I edited) and photo slideshows. Their 2010 trip should be published this spring.

Animated Advent Calendar

A new animation for every day of Advent
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

yeah!

A Save-the-Date animation for friends:

I painted a basketball.

It's a wedding gift for a high school buddy and his soon-to-be wife, both teachers and coaches at our high school. In place of wedding doves, the birds are cardinals: our mascot. I plan to have the wedding party autograph it.

down on the farm

I designed a logo for Hummock Pond Farm, a Nantucket-based organic farm. Above is a photo from their Facebook page. I hope to get to the farm and see this sign in person sometime soon.

Pirate Party

For my nephew's pirate-themed birthday party, we all chipped in our creative energy.

Handmade

• paper mache pirate ship with plank (built by my brother) and striped and torn sails (my contribution)
• "Pirate's Cove" sign for the front door
• geocaching treasure hunt complete with pirate-themed hiding spots for rebus puzzle pieces that, when put in order, spelled out a birthday message (my sister and her husband organized all the coordinates and clues, including tea-stained, edge-burned treasure maps for each clue)
• Pin the Patch on the Pirate game
• pirate-themed activity placemats with coloring, crossword puzzle, lingo matching game, and jokes (my sister and I pulled together the elements; I put together the tabloid-size layout)

Purchased or Re-purposed

• treasure chest pinata which we filled with gold-wrapped chocolates/candies and a few ring pops
• photo station with costumes/props including hats, eye patches, bandanas, telescopes, empty rum bottle, sword, parrot visor (most of the items we had or purchased for $3 or less), and a handmade hook made from black felt and the dough hook from my mixer covered in aluminum foil
• pirate ship cake with plastic pirates and sails
• write-on pirate that acted as a guest book
• treasure chest "goody bags"
• fishing net with stuffed animal fish and other sea creatures and tissue paper seaweed as decoration
• Pirate's Booty, Swedish Fish, Goldfish crackers, and an assortment of other goodies to feed hungry scallywags and prevent scurvy
• pina coladas for the adult pirates

Happy Easter

I named a trust.

Over dinner, using a Sharpie on the back of an order form, I did some pro bono brainstorming with my husband and came up with a name/acronym ultimately chosen for a new trust. (This was merely for fun. I do not work for the Trust; he does.)

According to their website (which I had nothing to do with):
The Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust (“RACER Trust”) was created to address contamination and position for redevelopment 89 industrial plants and other properties (“Properties”) used by the former General Motors but left behind in its 2009 bankruptcy.

Pretty cool, eh?

a simple website

A simple website for a great program: London Cultural Connections

scrap paper holiday

My brother and I made good use of scrap paper by turning them into holiday decorations. We took inspiration from Elf and filled our parents' living room with paper snowmen, angels, hearts, bells, bows, candy canes, and more.

diaper tree

For my nephew, a diaper "tree" topped with a shampoo angel.

supporting the arts

I designed a logo and poster for the Thomas-Clark Theatre Company (also known as TC Squared).

I heart Mom.

Today is my mom's birthday.
(And, one of my talented brothers provided the music).

summer is almost over...

Enjoy what's left of it.

with a little help from my friends

Today I re-designed a website for a former classmate who has a sweet voice and an even sweeter personality. 

Visit Amy's website to see her updated site and to listen to two tracks from her debut album.

 Fun Facts: 

1) On a cold day two years ago, I took the photos of Amy on her site. 

2) Her album cover was designed by another classmate of ours.

alphabet series

I don't think the current vampire craze has any connection to the popped collar craze, but I do think Dracula, alone, pulls off the latter.

men in uniform | summer jobs

click on the image to view the full version

men in uniform | washington, dc

click on the image to see the full version

tortilla flats

Early Sunday morning, my friend Lauren came over with an art project she completed for a digital screen printing class she's taking.  Tasked with printing on "anything but paper," she creatively chose to print on tortillas with ink consisting of Crisco and food coloring.

I was tasked with documenting them before they perished - they had already hardened and were curling - and giving her some photos to use in her final critique.

closed case

 

For our new couches, I made new pillow cases with some vintage fabric.  I also turned a shirt that was too shrunken to wear, but had a great flower detail, into an accent pillow layered with one of the fabrics for the new case.

And, remember that yellow sweater pillow case I made a while back?  I finally sewed some ribbon ties to keep the bottom closed.

it's curtains for our roman shades

We inherited Roman shades with our apartment which we are starting to take down as they block too much of the upper window when open and add visual clutter (and dust).  We'll probably have to put them back up when we leave, but for now we're brainstorming alternatives.

For my workspace window, which gets a good deal of light, I made a felt circle curtain (the pattern for which I got here).  It blocks enough light to prevent a glare on my monitor without making the room too dark.  It looks pretty, too.

It took a couple of hours to make, but I saved time by cutting two circles at a time by folding the felt in half and by tracing only one circle and then using it as a template.  Instead of tacking it to the window frame, I sewed on small tabs of felt to the top row and made loops for the curtain rod.  This limits the curtain to the width of the window and the number of circles I needed to cut.

English

Today, I made some edits to the home page and small tweaks to other pages of this site, wrote two lengthy e-mails in the style of Charles Dickens (don't ask), and wrote a short, rhymed - and very silly - poem about a Papasan chair that got the boot in our most recent cleaning spree.
I present it for your amusement:

said sayonara to the Papasan
rejoice! woohoo!
that burden is gone

the girl who came to get it arrived in a van
just a girl.  no other, no man
she seemed very upbeat
despite the oppressive heat

now the bike on the stairs
has no longer any cares

the weight, though light, of that round-shaped chair
is gone - for good! - and out of our hair