Ideas and Inspiration

I saw this Smash Book video on the Paper Source blog a few months ago, and have been meaning to share it here.  It’s the simplest idea for a product, but brilliant marketing!  I totally want one, but my OCD is already giving me anxiety about “smashings” things together willy-nilly with no order to it.

I was inspired by the video to start a scrapbook (essentially, a pretentious Smash Book without the chaos), and Jo-Ann’s just happened to have a big sale over the weekend.  I left the place with a sketchbook, some drawing pens, and a blank scrapbook.

I’ve also been wanting to get into drawing, but have been too afraid since it’s been SO long.  However, an idea for a short comic has been brewing in my head for a couple of months, so I’m going to try to flesh it out.  I’ve been trying to muster up the courage to draw a dog for the last couple of days, but it’s so intimidating.  I can’t even remember what a dog looks like accurately enough to put it down on paper.  Ugh…this might take a while.  Fingers crossed!  At the very worst, I’ll just use the sketchbook to draw out scrapbook layouts.  I think I still remember how to draw squares…

I’m also backlogged on a couple projects (i.e., wine coozie set, mini-scrapbook kits, etc.) that are pretty old, but I’ve been wanting to remake them and take better photos of the process.  I’m afraid to admit the photos I took when I was originally making them are really awful…not that I’ve come a very long way since then.

I also want to improve my photography!  While vacationing in Orlando back in June, I took some photos of things I thought were interesting looking based on color (for the Safari ride) or shape (for the Epcot ball and Imagination building).  While I’m on this train wreck of rant, I might as well share the photos!

Spaceship Earth, Epcot

Kilimanjaro Safari Ride, Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Imagination! Building, Epcot

Maybe I’ll learn how to use Photoshop while I’m at it!

Hopefully, Santa Claus or God or someone with some real power to make things happen is reading this post.

Robot Desk Organizer

I’ve been sick for almost a week and I almost can’t remember what it was like to not sound like a man or be able to hold a conversation without coughing.  Being sick puts quite the damper on one’s social life, as my usual routine is to head to the gym after work a few days a week.  However, I think working out or playing basketball under such conditions would be the most inconsiderate thing I could possibly do.  Also, who wants to guard that gross wheezy girl, or gasp for the same stale gym air as sneezy over there?  No one. The first few days of January inevitably create a surplus of people at the gym trying to keep up their New Year’s resolutions in vain.  At least I have an excuse to do something else productive with my free time… assuming that writing here is productive in some way.

ANYWAY, I saw the how-to for this on Paper Source’s blog, and thought I’d give it a try.  I made this for Kevin’s birthday back in August to go with his relatively new apartment, keeping with the theme of the Robot Appliqué Pillowcases (Part 1 and Part 2 ).  I still need to take a decent photo of the completed set to complete the pseudo-tutorial.  Kevin (who makes up about half of my readers), don’t worry I will get around to finishing that last post up.

I found some great paper at a hole-in-the-wall scrapbook supply store, and used leftover cardstock from some mini-scrapbook kits I made a year ago to give the organizer some sturdiness to it.

The Before

This project wasn’t too complicated, so I’ll just get sraight to the photos.  The green divider is removable, so you’re not confined to any given space.

Viola!

The instructions for the how-to are here.

Close-up

Quick Wedding Scrapbook Page

Whoops, so much for weekly updates.

I’m finally coming out of hiatus after a few weeks of nonstop moving, baking, crafting, gifting, and WORKING.  The fruits of my non-office labor will hopefully be posted to the site soon, but in the mean time, I wanted to give a quick (and long overdue) shout-out to Crystal (former bachelorette) and Dave who got married last month.  Photobooths seem to be the must-have at weddings as of late, and a friend of mine rented his out (and also does AMAZING photography for weddings, special occasions, etc.).  Kenny came up with the great idea of having scrapbooks at the wedding for the guests to glue their photobooth strips in and leave the newlyweds a message.  Sho-Yu managed to squeeze the entire team (and coaches!) into the booth, so here’s what I whipped up:

Cheers to my gorgeous teammate, Crystal, and Dave (the newest member of the Sho-Yu family)!