Three of Birds - Emily Doliner's blog

Art Institute Design Work

2012-02-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

This is a poster I made when I was working for Art Institute one day a week. The school struggled with motivating students to register early for classes, and I contributed by making fun, memorable posters and flyers to put up around the school.

A close-up of the snowflake, made of icons that are used by Art Institutes nation-wide to represent their different programs:

I also developed a name and logo for the school's summer workshop series (above), as well as posters and flyers (below). And the QR code links to this website, which I also made. I was so proud of those "add to Google Calendar" options, but I don't think a single student used them. *sigh*

Very Good Wine labels and decision cards

2012-01-11T21:35:00.000-08:00

I designed a logo, wine labels, point of purchase display, and "decision cards" for a company called Very Good Wine. The labels are made up of several interchangeable stickers that make the labeling process easier. With this system, each bottle is unique because the stickers are never placed exactly the same way twice.

The decision cards are exactly that. They help the buyer find a wine that will suit their needs in a fun, convenient and stress-free way.

Modern Art Book for Birdcage press

2012-01-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

These spreads are from a book that accompanies an educational card game about Modern Art, designed during my time with Birdcage Press.

The game is currently for sale online and in various art museums nationwide.

Books, get yer books here

2012-01-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Before I put some of my recently read books into a box for storage, I thought I'd see if any locals want to borrow them. I'm not a very good book reviewer, but I will say I enjoyed every book on the list.

One Day by David Nicholls - I enjoyed reading this book, but hated the ending. It's a love story that takes place over a period of like 30 years.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher - A memoir by Carrie Fisher.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - A teen book that I couldn't put down. The first book in the series.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - The second book in the Hunger Games series.

Bossypants by Tina Fey - A hilarious book about Tina Fey's rise to success. Probably more relatable for women, but I think guys would enjoy it, too.

Left Bank Signage and Packaging

2011-12-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

New work for a French restaurant called Left Bank. It's heavily inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec, as you can see. I wish I could claim all those nifty illustrations, but they are actually glyphs from this awesome typeface.

Packaging for Left Bank leftovers:

Special event signage:

I love designing packaging so much. If I can snag a job doing that I will die happy.

Risk i/0 Logo and Website Redesign

2011-11-10T23:38:00.000-08:00

I redesigned a logo and website for a company called Risk i/0. Here's the logo:

The company's existing website is actually really good, so that made my job a little difficult. For the most part I modified the aesthetics of the site and left the content alone. Go here to see the website design. You can click the images to scroll through the individual pages. It's not a functioning website, but with a little imagination it can be!

Goo Removal Tip

2011-11-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that olive oil removes the goo from labels and stickers. I used to think Goo Gone was this one-of-a-kind mystery potion made from unicorn blood, but it turns out any kind of oil will do the trick.

Apparently there's a ton of other stuff that also removes goo. Who knew?

VMware Promotional pieces

2011-10-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some things I designed for VMware (for a class).

It's a small promotional book and an accompanying pocket folder.

front and back of the brochure

a couple spreads from the brochure

the outside of the folder

the inside of the folder

Decision Education Foundation

2011-09-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

The Decision Education Foundation (DEF) is a nonprofit organization that develops classes and tools to help high school students make better decisions. I worked with a team to design some posters for DEF that would be hung in schools. High school students are a difficult audience to reach, particularly when it comes to things like "making decisions" and "acting responsibly." Our biggest challenge was finding a way to connect with the students without them rejecting the information.

We created a monster-themed series of 6 posters. Each poster illustrates an important point that DEF makes about decision making. Here are the two that I made:

Each poster referenced an element from another poster, hence the television in the second one and the tentacles in the first one.

Media Awareness Network ad campaign

2011-09-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Media Awareness Network is a Canadian organization that educates kids and parents about the media and its effects. I designed an ad campaign that would direct readers to the MNET website and increase public awareness of gender stereotyping issues in the media.

For teen girls:

(the left page is an actual page
from Seventeen Magazine and
is not relevant to this project)

For parents of teen girls:

(the left page is an actual page

from Parents Magazine and

is not relevant to this project)

James Siena

2011-09-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

It seems I'm doing lots of copycat art this quarter. Here's a painting I did for a contemporary art class, inspired by James Siena. I figured I'd share even though my painting skills and color palette leave something to be desired. The quarter is over so I will probably be unloading lots more work here over the next week.

If I could do it all again I'd probably use colors like this:

Marian Bantjes inspired poster

2011-09-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

Marian Bantjes is one of my favorite designers. If you haven't heard of her, you should Google her. You will discover an amazing body of work that's exciting even if you're not a designer (at least I think so). For one of my classes I had to research a well-known designer, write a paper on them, and create a piece that was inspired by them. So of course I chose Marian because her work makes me swoon.

Here is an example of Marian's work:

From what I gather, Marian tends to create modular pieces that can fit together in different ways to make patterns or text. She also uses illustrated type for many of her pieces. I wanted to experiment with both of those elements, so I decided to design a typographic system. I made a group of blocks that flow together when placed side by side:

Those blocks fit together to form all the letters of the alphabet. Then they can be overlapped and rotated so that no letter ever looks the same. I like the idea of the letters being most readable from a distance, and as you get closer they become harder to read but more interesting. I made a poster to show what the letters look like in a sentence:

And here is a close-up version of the letters:

The printed poster looks pretty nifty, if I do say so myself. It's been a while since I've felt truly proud of something I made in a class. Thanks for the inspiration, Marian!

Margaret Kilgallen

2011-09-07T21:45:00.001-07:00

Margaret Kilgallen making freight train art

Photo credit: pbs.org

For one of my classes I've been researching an artist named Margaret Kilgallen. She was a San Francisco based street artist in the 90s and focused a lot on women, specifically strong, smart women who were relatively unknown but did great things.

Margaret finished her masters at Stanford, gave birth to her daughter, and died of breast cancer all in the same month (June of 2001). And all the while she was creating a steady flow of new work. I find this both tragic and extremely inspiring.

Here are some examples of her work. She was an amazing lady.

Photos from Kilgallen's installation To Friend and Foe
Photo credit: Deitch.com

The Garlic Festival: A Summary

2011-08-15T23:07:00.001-07:00

Well, Mark did a pretty good job of documenting our trip to Canada. I will just add this: IT. WAS. AWESOME.

I did sprain my ankle, however, which made it slightly less awesome. Lucky for me I was staying with a nurse and two doctors!

This is what my foot bones look like:

Guess how much that x-ray cost me? 35 DOLLARS. Without insurance. Um. What's wrong with universal health care again? If Canada weren't so cold and hockey-loving, I would be driving north in a moving van right now.

More recently, we went with Michelle, Paul, Martin and Melanie to the Garlic Festival. Here is a brief summary of the outing:
And here's some garlic ice cream. It was exactly as weird as it sounds.

Photo mashup

2011-07-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

I tried to do a photo/photo/quote mashup thing just for fun, but am now realizing that the end result seems a little stalker-y. Sorry Amy! I'm not stalking you, I promise!

The portrait is one I took, the background image is by Amy.

Ten Thousand Villages campaign

2011-06-30T01:45:00.000-07:00

For a class, I made some campaign pieces for Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit fair trade organization.

There are two major benefits of buying through fair trade organizations: the obvious one being that you will help someone get a fair price for their goods, the other being the novelty of buying something handmade. When you buy a handmade product, you feel a more intimate connection with the seller. You can imagine an individual tediously assembling your new purchase. You might even give them an imaginary name and a face. That's what I wanted to focus on for this campaign, and that's why every piece of the campaign has a handmade element to it.

Below: Die cut posters, intended to be displayed side-by-side.

The large letters are die cut. Definitely flawed, but conveniently, the message lends itself to mistakes. When the posters are side-by-side, the entire message reads, "Hand made - by hands more skilled than these. Fair trade - for those hands have mouths to feed."

Informational brochure, outside:

Informational brochure, inside:

Business cards and letterhead:

Backpacking in the Ventana Wilderness

2011-06-20T09:52:00.001-07:00

Not-so-recently, Mark and I took a weekend backpacking trip in a big wilderness area called the Ventana Wilderness, just south of Big Sur. It was right after Mark bought a boatload of new supplies, and we felt obligated to justify his purchases by using everything at once. I've always been amazed by how expensive it is to properly enjoy nature.

It was only our second backpacking trip together, our first being when we hiked Half Dome and did a lot of mooching off my sister and brother-and-law. So it was not an intense trip. We hiked an average of less than 5 miles a day over three days.

We started at the Arroyo Seco Campground (but didn't camp there), hiked to another campground, camped overnight, hiked some more, turned around, hiked back to the same campground, camped overnight, hiked back to the car, and went home. There was a lot of down time. It was nice.

We want to do a fair amount of backpacking/camping this summer and we're looking for partners in crime. Let us know if you want to go sometime!

Nijiya Market Label Design

2011-06-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

Nijiya is a medium sized Japanese grocery chain that brands some of their own products. I redesigned labels for their tsuyu (noodle dipping sauce). I proposed using patterns and bold colors to make the Nijiya brand more distinguishable on the shelves.

One of the old labels:

Some rather unattractive process sketches:

Proposed new labels for every day use:

The labels are printed on Kraft paper which, from what I gather, is at least partially made from recycled materials, 100% biodegradable (within a few weeks) and recyclable.

Proposed labels for something called the
"Artist Series" (teacher's request):

As you can tell, I couldn't resist putting my new
pattern-making skills to use for this project :)

I've never designed in a language other than English before. It was challenging but fun!

Little Titan Logo and Packaging

2011-06-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

Logo and packaging design for a nonexistent shampoo + conditioner company centered around reusable bottles that you can refill in the store.

2-in-1 box and reusable bottles.

Partially opened box, bottles inside

Back of box

Flat bottle label

I'm not sure if my blog is an appropriate venue for this

2011-06-15T16:36:00.003-07:00

But I thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted to share. It's a comment thread I happened upon while looking at a public facebook event called "Post Rapture Looting" (it was old).

Flee Magazine

2011-06-03T00:18:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of experimenting this quarter. It means a lot of the stuff I've done has come out kinda weird, but I'm hoping all this learning from my mistakes will benefit me in the long run.

Flee Magazine is a travel magazine for people who like to travel cheaply, lightly, and for extended visits. The magazine aims to help travelers feel less like tourists and more like residents of every city they visit. Each issue would feature secluded outdoor destinations alongside lesser known urban spots.

Since the magazine targets the young adventurous type, I wanted the design to be pretty adventurous too, and a little grungy (grunge is not normally my shtick).

The magazine folds like an accordion because it would have a map on the back, but it still reads in spreads like a normal magazine. It's huge. It's 17 inches tall and 5.5 inches wide when folded up. That was my biggest mistake. It just doesn't make sense to have a travel magazine that huge because people can't bring it with them.

I designed three spreads and a cover for one issue. Here's what the front looks like:

A digital version of the three inside spreads:

And what it looks like printed and folded:

As usual, click the images to view them larger.

And, for the purposes of this project, articles were modified from various sources:

Travel Without Baggage by Kevin Kelly of The Technium Blog

Hidden Treasures of San Francisco by Joie de Vivre Hotels

Into the Blue by Ryan Masters of Carmel Magazine

I feel bad for my friends who have to listen to my constant ramblings about graphic design. I'm sorry friends and thanks for putting up with me! I'm hoping I'll have more variety in my life once this quarter is up! Then I can talk about a wider range of boring things :)

Seamless vector patterns

2011-06-02T19:55:00.001-07:00

First attempts at seamless vector patterns. Fun! This is the kind of random thing that would be nice to learn in classes.

(click images to view larger)

Produce Infographic

2011-05-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

A while ago someone (I think it was the lovely Rachel McAuley) linked to an interesting article with a handy table showing where you should store different types of produce. Ever since I saw it I've been wanting to make an Infographic out of it, and I finally got around to making it.

I made this because I think it's a useful tool and I'm hoping other people will agree. I'll probably be printing it out and putting it somewhere in our kitchen. If you'd like a hi-res version for printing, let me know and I'll send it your way.

All of this information comes from SparkPeople.com and I do not in any way guarantee its accuracy :)

Some featured artists

2011-04-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

Every day I come across at least one new artist that blows my mind. It's both inspiring and discouraging. It motivates me to work harder and try new things and challenge myself, but it also makes me sad that my competition is so awesome.

Here are a few artists who have filled me with these bittersweet emotions. Maybe they'll make you want to cry, too. YOU'RE WELCOME.

Jeff Rogers - Graphic designer, sweet sweet typography

Lim Heng Swee - Illustrator, owner of the ilovedoodle Etsy shop and website.

Valeria Rey Soto - Ink and watercolor artist, Etsy shop owner

Jessica Hische - I want to marry everything she makes. She is a designer, typographer and runs a cool blog called dailydropcap for which she illustrated a new drop cap every day for over a year.

Cabo San Lucas

2011-04-11T12:17:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago Mark and I visited Cabo San Lucas for three days. It was sooooo relaxing! We didn't do a whole lot, I think that's what made it so great. We ate (too much), swam, walked on the beach and read books in the sun. And we went snorkeling and explored the town one of the days we were there, too. I think sometimes the best vacations happen when you don't plan much and just do whatever you feel like doing.

Environmental Design

2011-03-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

If you're like me, you might think that "environmental design" is the same as "green design," but you'd be wrong! Environmental Design is more about designing a space in a way that enhances the visitor's experience. I am not a fan of environmental design because it requires me to think about my designs in a very different way than I'm used to thinking about them. But I had to do it for one of my classes and I chose to create an environmental design for my school. It's basically a wall mural + message board combo. An easy and convenient way to share job opportunities, stuff you're selling, or anything else. Each department in the school gets a section.

My instructor sent it to my academic director who sent it to the guy in charge of student affairs, and they were all excited about the idea. And that is exciting for me! I think they might be trying to figure out if their budget will allow for a project like this.

Vacation collage

2011-03-18T23:19:00.001-07:00

Last quarter I made a collage of a bunch of photos I took from our Europe vacation. I was very excited to have found a use for the rainbow gradient in Photoshop. I might be the first person to ever use it. I don't even know why it's one of the default options. I don't know any designers who ever think, "I wish there was a way for me to use ALL OF THE COLORS AT ONCE." And yet, here we are.

To anyone who still reads my blog: sorry that my blog posts always come in multiples!

I should be doing work

2011-03-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

But instead I'm going to post an instructional guide to making sweet tea! I realize sweet tea doesn't need instructions since the steps are basically: 1) Make regular tea and 2) Add 8 billion cups of sugar, but here it is nonetheless.

(click the image to view large)

Download a printable version

Dinner Invitation

2011-02-21T01:24:00.000-08:00

I went to a photography workshop on Saturday and got a chance to photograph a few pieces that work way better printed than they do on the web. This is one of them. A dinner invitation I made a couple quarters ago. It's for a murder mystery dinner. Guests are assigned to a character when they get the invitation.

Goudy dog

2011-02-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

I dunno, I made this today when I was supposed to be working on homework. He's made out of letters in the Goudy family. I'm not much of a type geek (maybe a little), but Goudy is one of my favorites. The italics are so pretty!

Why indeed

2011-01-26T13:54:00.001-08:00

I'm not really in a place to judge, but listening to a smoker try to justify their actions makes me want to rip my hair out.

Made this lil' fella today, didn't end up using it for anything but it's kinda fun.

Photoshop Competition

2011-01-21T00:53:00.000-08:00

Submitted for a surfing-themed photoshop competition at school. I wanted to spend more time on it, but it just didn't happen.

Naranja

2011-01-21T00:25:00.001-08:00

Just for fun.

Oakland Zoo poster

2011-01-15T12:59:00.001-08:00

Little Red Cap Book Cover

2011-01-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

This is a book cover I made for the Brothers Grimm version of Little Red Riding Hood.

Interactive educational brochure

2011-01-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

I like designing educational stuff because I get to read about interesting topics while I do it! That's why I chose to design this educational brochure about our solar system. I imagine it being sold in a gift shop of a museum, like the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum.

Since the brochure is about planets, it seemed fitting for it to be round like a planet. It also seemed fitting for it to be very different, and more interactive than your average brochure, since it's intended to be read by kids who need a little extra motivation to learn.

The brochure consists of six circles of varying sizes. They are attached by eyelets that allow each circle to rotate. When it's closed up, all you can see are snippets of planets and space. The content is hidden, like so:

When it's closed the back looks like this:

Then you can rotate each circle (eyelets alternate between the left and right sides so it zig-zags) to reveal some text and images.

When the whole thing is spread out the front looks like this:

And the back looks like this:

Crème Brand Book

2011-01-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

A while ago I designed a logo and wrote/designed a brand book for a made up company called Crème. It's an ice cream truck that travels around to different tech companies in the bay area.

Here's the logo:

Here's the book, with a few pages omitted for the viewer's sake:

I also designed an iphone app for it. I have absolutely no experience with app design, so it was a bit of a struggle.

Since an ice cream truck with an organized schedule is no good if people aren't aware that it exists, I also designed a cute informative sign that could be put up at each stop.

I'm hoping to post a few more things over the next few days, stuff I did last quarter and never got around to writing about.

Some process work

2010-11-21T02:07:00.000-08:00

Tara inspired me to focus on domestic violence for a recent project. The assignment was to convey a message by juxtaposing two very different elements, using only imagery.

Here is the final piece:

Pretty much everyone has told me that they don't really get the rubber duck, so if I ever have time, I'll get rid of him and use something more appropriate.

I thought maybe it could be cool to show the photos I used for reference? We took reference photos in class, and I worked from a few different ones and pieced them together. Here are the photos I used:

I used a photograph I took of wood for texture, and another grungy one I found online for the gloves:

So that was pretty much my process. I drew it in Photoshop using many, many layers.

Some creative public art

2010-11-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

I love seeing art in public places! I like how it has the potential to improve a stranger's day.

Helmut Smits

High Tension Flags

Paddling Pool Fountain

Katie Sokoler

Journals

2010-11-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

When I was little - maybe 7 or 8, my sister told me a journal is a special secret place where it's okay to use bad words. So I have a journal from that time filled with various incorrect uses of the word "shit." I think that was the only cuss word I knew. But things have changed. Now I know two!

Writing in blogs online changes that whole "no one knows I'm saying this but me and my ashamed future self" aspect of journals. Maybe I should start a real journal. The first page would be a giant letter F.

Here's a dog in a suitcase.

My Instructors

2010-10-28T19:17:00.001-07:00

I do this creepy thing at the beginning of a quarter where I google all my teachers to see what kind of work they do. It helps me decide whether I should value their opinion a little or a lot.

I have had instructors who are really talented artists, but not great teachers; some instructors who are great teachers and just-okay artists; some instructors who are talented at both; and some instructors who should probably not be teaching. Anything.

Here's some stuff by the instructors whose work I was super-impressed with:

Masako Miki, Fine Art (I think):
She was my very first design teacher, back when I was working full time and taking night classes at a community college. I think she is one of the reasons I decided to take a big risk and pursue design as a career. She does lots of collage work and it tends to be kinda trippy and surreal.

Jen Betton, Illustrator:
She works mostly in watercolor, and her paintings are very calm with a hint of mystery.

Suhita, professional graphic designer, draws for fun:
She doesn't use her last name on her blog so I won't use it here. She has a sketch journal where she draws very brief moments in time. I like how fleeting all her drawings are.

Book covers

2010-10-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

I did these last quarter and never got around to posting them. It's a set of three book covers for a villains series of books. The books were The Brothers Karamazov, Diamonds are Forever, and Heart of Darkness. I hand drew the graphics and then tweaked some stuff in Photoshop.

Here's what the flat designs look like:

Here's what they look like as books!

Rome a.k.a. the Pizza Oven

2010-09-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

Going from Sweden to Rome was kind of like jumping from a hot tub into a swimming pool really fast. Only backwards? I did not think through this simile.

Stockholm summers are very mild and pleasant, similar to where we live in California. Rome summers are the equivalent of being trapped in an oven for several months, or in our case, a few days. Luckily, that oven contains the two foods I am willing to sweat for: pizza and pasta. Seriously, if eating were the only thing we had done while we were in Italy, I would have come home raving about the trip. But now I can rave even more because it turns out Italy also has churches. Lots. and lots. of churches.

We arrived in Rome with high aspirations and immediately commenced the site seeing.

We saw the Pantheon.

I saw my first real Roman Catholic church.

After site number 2, morale was already pretty low due to the 800000000 degree weather, so I believe the rest of day 1 was spent either eating or watching TV in our air conditioned hotel room. Pathetic? Yes. Regrets? None.

This is not our hotel room:

Early the next morning we set out for the Vatican Museums. We had bought tickets online, so we got to "skip the queue." This is what halfway through skipping the queue looks like.

Here are some ceiling pictures.

Things I learned after visiting Rome and doing some soul searching:
- I love fancy ceilings.
- I could mostly not give a damn about statues.
- Spaghetti Carbonara is the best thing that exists in the world.

Lately I've been trying to pick out the best photos from Cinque Terre, my favorite part of the whole trip! Hopefully I will have those up soonish. Not that anyone but me is on the edge of their seats about this :)

Advise and Consent Posters

2010-09-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

I'm an egghead. I'm not only an egghead, I'm a premeditated egghead. I set out to become an egghead and at this moment I'm in full flower of eggheadedness, and I hope to spread the spores of egghead everywhere I go.

- Robert A. Leffingwell, Advise and Consent

One of my recent assignments was to redesign an old Saul Bass poster with current actors in place of the original ones. We were supposed to use Saul Bass for inspiration, but put a modern twist on it. Since I tend to hate modern movie posters, I may have ignored that last part. Also I thought the modern actors thing was kinda lame. I'd rather have a nice poster redesign of the real deal. I chose the 1962 movie Advise and Consent.

Anyway, I was really unhappy with the poster I turned in for the assignment. I don't think my instructor was thrilled about it either. Here is what I turned in:

But I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I started playing around with it some more. I simplified it and added some texture, and made the text bigger and blockier. I think I like this one a little better, though there is still room for improvement.

Sometimes I worry that adding texture is one of those things that designers do to cover up a sucky design. But I do like the look of it. What do you think about adding texture to photos/posters/etc?

The movie is good, by the way! If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching.

The Productivity Thief

2010-09-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to get on board with Google Chrome, but then I discovered Chrome Experiments and I haven't looked back!

I am especially addicted to a drawing one called Harmony. Anything anyone makes with it is going to be nifty.

Falling Asleep to Mice in Fancy Clothes

2010-08-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Type collage, all hand-made type. The printed size is 16"x16".

1) Needle and thread on bristol paper
2) Spilled water photographed with the threshold adjusted in photoshop.
3) String and raffia ribbon
4) pencil and eraser
5) hand and marker
6) my clothes :)

Sometimes I wonder if I should keep posting this stuff or if it's getting annoying. Should I start updating my online portfolio and keep this blog for more personal stuff? What do you think?

Stockholm, fourth and last!

2010-08-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

The first Friday of our trip was the Midsommar festival in Sweden, and we spent it with Martin's family and family friends. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip because I got a little behind the scenes peak into what it's like to be a Swede, instead of all the mainstream things I see as a tourist. It was like walking a mile in Martin's shoes, if his shoes happened to be going to a really fun party.

There was lots of alcohol!

Unfortunately, Sweden has REALLY strict drinking and driving laws compared to the US. I think their limit is .02. Basically that means you can have one drink and drive home four hours later and still test as drunk! And, I'm told, you even have to be careful the next day! Crazy! So Penney and Martin served as designated drivers and were not allowed a single drop of alcohol all day. So sad but we love them for it!

This is what they missed. It's akvavit!

The Swedes also sing A LOT of drinking songs! The one I remember sounds similar to "hell and gore" in English, but they're actually singing about something different.

Oh, those they people and their mysterious ways.

The itinerary for the day went something like this:

drink
eat
play
drink
play
eat
plink

Traditionally, the girls are supposed to pick wildflowers and make wreathes while the boys build the midsummer pole.

In reality, the girls picked wildflowers and made wreathes.

The boys played frisbee...

while the neighbors built the midsummer pole.

What a bunch of slackers.

Once the midsummer pole was up and ready, we all got to dance around it and look ridiculous! It was like those games you play at the skating rink, minus the skates and disco lights and awkward middle school romances. It might sound like I'm making fun of it but I actually LOVE Circle Dancing. If you went to my skating rink birthday party last year then you know I ain't lyin'.

No pictures of people actually dancing because I was way too busy pretending to be a frog, but perhaps you can use your imagination:

Or, if your imagination sucks, watch this video of strangers:

We also played a game called Brännboll that's sort of similar to baseball. I was a little worried since this hitting a ball with a stick thing is not my forté. But that's the genius behind Brännboll: it is almost impossible to fail! You can't strike out, you can have multiple people on the same base, and you can run to the next base whenever you feel like it! It's like this game was invented by the kids who got picked last for sports.

Here's what it looks like:

I think that covers most of what we did. A really great trip and I'm glad I got to spend some time with the locals. Thanks to Martin and Melanie for being great hosts and letting us intrude on your family bonding time!

Peas in a Pod

2010-08-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Mark suggested I draw peas in a pod using the wrong kind of pod, so I did. It would make a cute card maybe?

I was informed in one of my classes that using a pun is almost always a bad idea. Ehhhhhh, oh well!

Bacon and Tapioca and Why We Need Them

2010-08-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

So remember how I made a new years resolution to cook all the recipes in my recipe calendar each month? Well, I forgot about that resolution for a few months, but last week I remembered and I am ready to get back on track. Last week I made corn chowder ( from June) and cherry pie (from May!?).

The corn chowder was soooooo delicious! If I cooked it and it turned out great, we know the recipe is foolproof. I'm pretty sure anything+bacon=amazing.

Okay, so it looks like vomit, but it tastes great!

The cherry pie is a different story. I might have decided I didn't feel like going out to buy tapioca, the one thing missing, and also, who owns a coffee grinder other than my mom? So I decided to bake the pie sans tapioca, not realizing that the tapioca is the thickener, a very important pie ingredient. The pie had so much liquid in it! It was crazy. Here's what it looked like after I took a slice out of it:

It looks like a blood pie! Gross.

I had put a lot of time and effort into this pie, and I really wanted it to work, so I started searching the web for solutions. Apparently the consensus is, if your pie is soggy, you throw it out. But that's crazy, right? So then, you guys, I did something really weird. I filled that missing triangle with rice, hoping maybe the rice would absorb the liquid? Isn't that why they put rice in salt?

Then I left it like that for HOURS. And I came back. I took all the rice out, annnnd voila!

The pie is still pretty gross because the crust is soggy from liquid. In fact, I wasn't able to find the bottom crust. I'm thinking maybe it disintegrated. Anyway, my point? Put rice in your soggy pie to make it slightly less gross! Also bacon.

Stockholm, Part 3

2010-08-07T13:37:00.001-07:00

The fourth day we were in Stockholm, we took a ferry to Finnhamn, an island in the Stockholm archipelago. It was a full day of hiking and exploring the outdoors, a nice change from our two days of exploring the city.

That red paint color is called Falu red and it's really common for Swedish cottages. It was originally made from residue in the copper mine at Falun, and it's also really good for preserving wood. Martin's mom taught me that!

We saw a lot of this at Finnhamn:

And did a lot of this:

We got to see the sunset on the boat trip back,

and returned to Stockholm right before dark.

Don't worry, I am only going to do one more of these about Sweden! And then I have to move on to Italy ;) Sorry, don't feel obligated to read all this junk, I just want to write down all the stuff we did before I forget!

Polish Posters

2010-08-05T17:28:00.001-07:00

If ever you are looking for a poster that is insanely awesome, you should check out polishposter.com. Their website is horrific, but they have a huge selection of awesome Polish movie/theater posters. Did I say the word awesome yet?

Stockholm, Part 2

2010-08-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we went to City Hall and the Wine and Spirits museum.

City Hall was really cool. There was a tower with an extremely long and narrow staircase that we climbed.

But the view from the top made it worth it!

The wine and spirits museum was kinda cool. My favorite part was this contraption that told you which ingredients were in which drinks, and then you could push a button to release a puff of air to smell each ingredient. Was that sentence really confusing? Yes.

That evening we went to Martin's parents' house in Täby. One of Martin's sister's guests played the accordion and the fiddle, so he gave an impromptu concert at the party!

To be continued (again)!

Sweden, Part 1

2010-08-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Now that I FINALLY finished uploading the 18000000000000 pictures we took in Sweden, I can talk about our trip!

We got to Sweden on a Monday night. That night all we had time to do was take the train from the airport to downtown Stockholm, walk to our hotel, check in, and eat dinner.

Tuesday had been almost entirely planned for us by Amy, Brian, Tommy and Penney. The best kind of vacation is one where you just show up, I think.

Mark and I were still adjusting to the whole 20 hours of daylight thing and suffering from jetlag, so we woke up around 6am. That gave us a few hours to explore Stockholm on our own before we met up with the group.

There was lots of neat graffiti there! Way better than the graffiti I normally see, which just makes stuff look shitty.

Mark and me in front of a random building. This is how I looked most of the trip, which is why we have way too many pictures.

Next we went to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is a really cool viking ship that sank in 1628, was recovered in 1961(?) and put on display in like 1990. It is huge and breathtaking. My photos don't do it justice.

Vasa Ship. I couldn't even zoom out far enough to get the entire ship in my picture! That's how big it was.

Now, here's where I get a little foggy. After Vasa I think we went to the National Museum. It's an art museum with a big section of modern art and design (my favorite) and a bunch of old art too. It was really neat!

Busts on scaffolding, I don't think this exhibit was finished yet.

Nifty Sofa

We also did some exploring and hot dog eating, and eventually some dinner eating at a surprisingly good Italian restaurant.

My first of many shots of Stockholm from across the water

To be continued!

Backlog

2010-07-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here's some stuff I did from last quarter!

A business card for myself, front:

Back:

(please ignore my crappy x-acto-knife-hole-punching job)

A menu for an Italian restaurant:

A menu for a burger joint:

A flower show poster:

Annnnd a David Carson-style poster:

This whole mimicking another artist thing is the type of project I can never seem to get psyched about, even when it's someone awesome.

Fashion Book Project: Amy

2010-07-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry for the sudden flooding of posts, but I never wrote about the photos I took of my oldest friend Amy. I've known her since we were...6? I think that's right. Anyway, Amy has been digging yoga lately so we got some yoga poses! And etcetera.

Sketchbook

2010-07-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

Oh right, I'm supposed to be sketching things.

I'm trying to get better at doing really quick sketches. Hence, this:

Fashion Book Project

2010-07-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

I finished the fashion book project! I only used the first five people who responded to me because I didn't have time to include the rest. But I really really want to finish this project and include everyone else because they were so nice to help me out and everyone gave me such good answers!

Everyone got one two-page spread, except Tara, who got four pages because she gave birth to three children.

Front:

Intro spread:

Melanie:

Surabhi:

Tara (this is actually a three page spread,
the second picture is the front and back of a foldout page):

Kjersti:

Emily S:

Back:

myfonts.com logo

2010-07-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

I just realized that the m and y in the myfonts.com logo make a hand and my brain exploded.

That's all. Eventually I'm going to write about our trip to Europe, maybe.

Fashion Book Project: Kelly

2010-06-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

My sister Kelly was fun to photograph because I didn't feel so weird asking her to do crazy stuff (family can't say no, it's a rule), and I knew she'd be up for pretty much anything!

Fashion Book project: Emily

2010-06-02T00:54:00.000-07:00

I took photos of Emily S. a while ago, but it has taken me a long time to get around to posting them! I was really excited to photograph Emily because 1) She's great and 2) She has the happiest dog in the world. THE WORLD. His name is Gus and he looks like he's smiling all the time.

Here are some pictures.

LIFE CHANGING DECISION

2010-06-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, I need some help making a VERY important decision concerning throw pillows. Recently my mom gave me some pillow covers that she doesn't want anymore. Mark thinks they clash with our sofa, but I really really want them to not clash. Because I like peacocks. What do you think? The top picture is the old pillow, the bottom picture is the new one. Which one do you like better?
I'm going to lose this argument, aren't I?

Gift Guide?

2010-05-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

I got tons of cool stuff for my birthday! You should go buy your significant other this stuff. DO IT. Well, maybe not the graphic design stuff. But the other stuff.

And if you're looking at this in an RSS feed, I'm sorry. I don't know how to remove text wrapping on images. Maybe someone out there can enlighten me.

1) Na ï ve: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design
A really pretty book that is almost all images.

2) Logo Design Love by David Airey
An interesting and informative book on logo design, if you're into that sort of thing.

3) God Help the Girl
I've talked about this before. It's the soundtrack to a musical written by Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch. I think the musical will be shot in 2011? At least that's what Wikipedia tells me.
4) Phosphorescent Blues by Brazos
Actually wasn't quite as good as I was expecting, but still good.
5) The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
I've been wanting this book for a long time and I'm really excited to read it!

Fashion Book project: Surabhi

2010-05-17T17:18:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Surabhi's "photo shoot." Thanks for being so patient Surabhi!

Fashion Book project: Tara

2010-05-16T22:46:00.000-07:00

Mooooore photos! Taking pictures of Tara and her kids was pretty entertaining. They were so creative! And there is always an element of uncertainty when kids are involved.

Here are the ones I have so far. I may or may not post some others later, depending on how burnt out on photo editing I am at the end of all this. I'll most likely never want to look at photoshop again.

That's a Little Mermaid tiara, and it was 100% her idea.

Fashion Book project: Melanie

2010-05-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

More photos for the book project. My photography skills could use some serious work. Luckily I'm photographing people look who good no matter who takes the picture. Thanks for your help Melanie!

Shopping bag

2010-05-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

I designed a shopping bag for a made-up clothing store for one of my classes. The store is called Pajamas for Dinner, and it is a store that sells clothes that are comfortable enough to wear to bed, but cute enough to wear to dinner. If you happened to invent this store, I would be your best friend for life. Actually, after I created this Amy P. introduced me to a website called PajamaJeans. Pretty similar concept, but it lacks the variety of the store I've envisioned.

Anyway, some things to note: pretty much every aspect of the project is an experiment. I wanted to create my own dieline. I wanted to experiment with using the handles as a graphic element (they are supposed to look like drawstrings to pants on one side and a skirt on the other, and they are also adjustable which is kinda cool). It's also my first attempt at a logo design. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, but I think I was so focused on doing crazy stuff that I created a totally impractical bag. I would not want to try to dig anything out of a trapezoidal bag. O vell.

Front of bag (the pattern portion is supposed to look like legs, while the negative space is the outline of the lady's head. Pretty sure that was a failure)

Back of the bag. Supposed to look like a skirt with a drawstring. Is that clear at all? Seriously, tell me because I have no idea.

Close-up of the tag

Close-up of the logo.

Bottom of the bag

Inside of the bag

Side of the bag

Fashion Book project

2010-05-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

I just started working on a book project for one of my classes. The goal is to talk to a lot of women who I really admire and get their thoughts on fashion. Each spread will consist of a photo or photos of someone and an interview with them. The answers I'm getting are so interesting and I am so lucky to have such smart insightful friends! I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not much of a fashionista. I would like to be, but a good day for me is a day when my socks match.

Anywho, I had my first photoshoot yesterday. Kjersti was so patient and really made my job easy. Thanks, Kjersti!

In an ideal world I would have a studio with awesome equipment, nice backdrops and good lighting. Instead I have a camera on a tripod, a sheet taped to the wall and a bunch of desk lamps. It's similar to what I imagine a low budget porn studio might look like. But this is what I have to work with, which means I am relying heavily on Photoshop to make these pictures look decent (and all my beautiful friends of course!)

Letter-number Gestalt

2010-05-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

Just realized I never posted this. It's the final version of my letter-number gestalt, after I realized that it was supposed to in black and white.

Sunnyvale Farmer's Market poster

2010-05-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Turning this in today.

The slogan is kinda lame and I came up with it so I can't even blame it on anyone.

Reservoir Dogs Soundtrack

2010-05-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

I listened to the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack today for the first time in a few years. It's still wonderful.

Conan, Birthdays, and more!

2010-05-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

The weather has been nice lately and Mark and I have been doing some fun stuff.

We saw Conan live

Celebrated Ben's birthday at Muir Beach

Went to The Mountain Winery for a Rivers of Chocolate Festival

Hung out with Mark's siblings who were both in town visiting, along with his sister's husband and friend.
And celebrated Paul's birthday with swimming and burgers. We even rode our bikes there so we could enjoy the nice weather for longer.
(I don't have pictures of the last two things)

All this fun stuff has been great, but it has left me feeling a little stressed about getting all my work done for school. I think it was worth it! Check back in a few days and we'll see if I still say that.

Mango Salad and Pork Chops

2010-04-11T23:39:00.000-07:00

I made the Mango and Roasted Cashew Salad recipe from my recipe calendar tonight! I don't think I liked it enough to make it again. I will say this for the recipe: it did not kill me.

The pork chops smothered in butter almost made up for the mango fail. Recipe here. Southern Living might be the best thing that's ever happened to me. Also, how awesome is broiling?

Making food look appetizing in photographs is clearly not my forte.

I made a thing

2010-04-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook

2010-04-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

Watercolors

2010-04-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

I practiced with watercolors today. Clearly I still need more practice.

A pretty song

2010-03-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

No Viniste by Carla Morrisson

Book Borrowing

2010-03-30T15:42:00.001-07:00

Mark and I keep our books in a big heavy box in our office. Some of them we've had since we were kids, some of them we've never even read. Today I took inventory of all the books we have and put them in a spreadsheet so we can think about what we want to read before we spread a ton of books out all over the floor (exactly what happened to me today).

I thought it might be cool to share the list with other people who live nearby and want to borrow one of our books. Then I thought it would be even cooler to make a wiki-type thing that all my friends could use. Alas, I don't know how. For now, here's a spreadsheet I made that can be edited and viewed by anyone.

No pressure to use it, but feel free to add books you own if you want. Even if you don't live nearby but I visit you occasionally you can add 'em.

Oh god, I just spent all afternoon cataloging our books. I think I need to go back to school.

A Very Boring Update

2010-03-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Remember when I made that new year's resolution to do all the recipes in each month of my recipe calendar? Well, in case you are wondering, I am totally on top of that resolution. I didn't have the foresight to take pictures of the March recipes after I made them, but I will tell you this: The Asian lettuce wraps are delicious and Mark-approved. The roasted pineapple is not really any better than regular pineapple, and a lot more work.

Speaking of food, today I ordered four bottles of Carolina Treet BBQ sauce. I can't get it in California and, oh, I have missed it.

Posters posters posters

2010-03-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

Bluegrass Posters for Typography class. Each poster was supposed to have a different visual hierarchy based on a set of criteria, and recognizable shapes weren't allowed.

Sketchbook

2010-03-12T01:28:00.001-08:00

Sketches for the Z6 thing, and a deformed lady.

Letter-Number Gestalt

2010-03-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

Same assignment as before, but in black and white. I made a few different alternatives. The letter and number are still Z and 6.

Nikki S Lee

2010-03-04T16:30:00.001-08:00

I'm reading about Nikki S. Lee for one of my classes. She is an artist who, in one of her works, immersed herself in various cultures by changing her appearance and mannerisms. Then once she had become part of the group, she got people to take photos of her in her new environment. I think it's a really interesting project, and she is amazingly good at blending in to her surroundings!

The Ohio Project

The Tourist Project

The Hispanic Project

The Hip Hop Project

Her real ethnicity is Korean-American. To see more pictures of her crazy chameleon ways, you can check out her facebook page.

New blog url

2010-03-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

H'okay, this is my last post as emilydoliner.blogspot.com. I'm about to change it to threeofbirds.blogspot.com. Thanks for answering my questions!

Apparently, comments don't transfer when you do this? How sad!

Blog name!

2010-03-04T01:15:00.000-08:00

Guess what! I finally came up with a real blog name. And I even made a little drawing for my header.

The Three of Birds was part of a set of playing cards created by the Master of the Playing Cards. The playing cards are supposedly the earliest known copperplate engravings, but most importantly, it makes a neat blog name.

Now, I am considering changing the url to threeofbirds.blogspot.com, but that means people will have to update their RSS feeds once again. Will that make you hate me? Will you even bother? Does anyone read this thing?

Letterheady

2010-03-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Amy P. introduced me to leaderheady.com and I think I am in love. A few favorites:

Mouvement Dada

Roy Lichtenstein

Pixel Flix

Letter-number Combo

2010-02-26T20:21:00.000-08:00

I made this thingy for typography class. We were supposed to combine a letter and a number into a gestalt. Initially I chose the number 9 and the letter Z, but then I decided it looked better upside down, so 6 and Z it is! Inspired by the penrose triangle.

P.S. It took me like 8 tries to finally get this post right.

Matt Hires

2010-02-25T17:20:00.001-08:00

I heard this song on the show Cougar Town (which everyone should watch because it is great and Courtney Cox is swell) and I liked it so much that I immediately googled the lyrics. It is a little cheesy I admit, but I don't mind!

Successful Food

2010-02-23T22:05:00.000-08:00

I cooked both of the February recipes from my recipe calendar the other day.

The grapefruit bitters were pretty bitter, which is a part of their name, so I guess I made them right! I did double the amount of sugar water to make slightly-less-bitter bitters. I mixed them with some champagne and it was pretty tasty once I got used to the bitterness. This explanation is starting to make my bitters sound pretty terrible. Hmmmm. At any rate, here's what they look like all bottled up.

I also made quiche! I thought it was delicious, Mark though it was "ehhhhhhh." That is his response to 98% of things in the world, so I'm not too torn up about it. Here's a picture!

I totally undercooked the crust, but at this point my standards are pretty low so I'm still calling it a success.

And tonight I made some gnocchi! Okay, so I reheated some frozen gnocchi from Trader Joe's, but I totally added spinach, pine nuts and cheese to it. Master chef? I think so!

I like starch.

Hamlet Posters

2010-02-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

Some posters I made in my electronic layout class for a made-up Hamlet performance.

Romance Of The Uncommon Camel

2010-02-15T01:35:00.001-08:00

I have been thinking a little about my blog name. "Emily's blog" is not really cutting it, and I've been trying to come up with something original and appropriate to use as a replacement name. I am apparently really terrible at this. I even googled "blog name generator" to see if someone with the same problem had made a website. I didn't find a good blog name generator, but I did find a band name generator. Here are the options for my new blog name, if it were a band:

Mortician Split
Unreal Back
Supreme Of The Barbed
Swine Of Disfigured
Screaming Furnace
Cave Of Runaway

I'm leaning toward Swine of Disfigured since that sums up my blog pretty well, but I'm also open to other suggestions. Maybe some that don't give my 3 readers nightmares?

Decorative Alphabet

2010-02-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry for posting so much stuff in a row. I kind of have a backlog of work I've done this quarter. For my typography class, we had to make a decorative alphabet and put it into a phrase . This is mine. Every letter started as a triangle or triangles.

Illuminated Letter

2010-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is an illuminated letter M for the song Fake Palindromes by Andrew Bird. An illuminated letter is a decorative letter that starts the beginning of a section of text, and illustrates the meaning of the text. It's probably a bad sign that I have to explain it, but my letter is an upside down princess and the face of a monster (the monster's nose is the torso and puffy sleeves of the princess, his eyes are the creases in her dress, his beard is her hair).

Here are the song lyrics:

my dewy-eyed disney bride, what has tried
swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
monsters?
whiskey-plied voices cried fratricide!
jesus don't you know that you could've died
(you should've died)
with the monsters that talk, monsters that walk the earth

and she's got red lipstick and a bright pair of shoes
and she's got knee high socks, what to cover a bruise
she's got an old death kit she's been meaning to use
she's got blood in her eyes, in her eyes for you
she's got blood in her eyes for you

certain fads, stripes and plaids, singles ads
they run you hot and cold like a rheostat, i mean a thermostat
so you bite on a towel
hope it won't hurt too bad

my dewy-eyed disney bride, what has tried
swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
what monsters that talk, monsters that walk the earth

and she says I like long walks and sci-fi movies
if you're six foot tall and east coast bred
some lonely night we can get together
and I'm gonna tie your wrists with leather
and drill a tiny hole into your head

Happy Early Valentine's Day!

2010-02-12T00:50:00.000-08:00

Super simple concept for a Valentine's card from my electronic layout class.

Sketchbook

2010-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

Learning by imitation. Her stuff is so good!

Favorite new (to me) songs of the last year (ish)

2010-02-09T22:07:00.000-08:00

A while ago Brian made a list of his top songs from 2009, and I was inspired to do the same. I just now got around to making it, so I'm calling mine Favorite New (to me) Songs of the Last Year (ish). Not very catchy, but it is descriptive. So without further ado, click here to listen to the playlist. Or, if you're simply too lazy to click that link, I've made a list of the songs below:

1. Black Crows by honeyhoney
2. Firecracker by Voxtrot
3. Jimmy Dean and Steve McQueen by Julian Velard
4. Hitten by Those Dancing Days
5. God Help the Girl by God Help the Girl
6. Day Glo by The Brazos
7. Just You and Me by Zee Avi (thanks to Kjersti for introducing me to her!)
8. Viens Me Le Dire by JP Nataf
9. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side by The Magnetic Fields
10. Honey by The Hush Sound
11. Babies by Pulp
12. Heads Will Roll by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
13. Steven by Voxtrot
14. End in Flames by Strand of Oaks
15. Swingset Chain by Loquat
16. Burning by The Whitest Boy Alive
17. The High Road by Broken Bells
18. Let Me Drive by Winter Gloves
19. Ready for the Floor by Hot Chip
20. Let Me Be by Xavier Rudd
21. The Juxebox Rag by Gavin Glass and the Holy Shakers
22. Little Toy Gun by honeyhoney
23. prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano
24. Bang! Bang! by The Knux (and thanks to Melanie for introducing me to this song!)

I think this list pretty accurately reflects my taste in music. Mostly folksy indie, with some other random stuff mixed in.

Scarin' the neighbors

2010-01-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

Today I made a heart out of a bunch of flowers that had fallen off a bush. I photographed it and then left it on the sidewalk near my apartment. I think it creeped out the neighbors.

Photography blog

2010-01-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hey der. A while ago I started a photography blog with the goal of posting a photograph a day. I didn't tell anyone about it because I had a feeling once I got busy with school it would fall by the wayside, and I was right. Now that I'm taking a photography class, I'm hoping I will be able to keep up with it.

I still post all the pictures on flickr, but I have always preferred viewing photographs on a white background with minimal distractions, which is why I made the blog. Anywho, no pressure to look at it, just thought I'd tell people that it exists.

Calendar!

2010-01-14T00:10:00.001-08:00

OH HI. Remember that calendar project I mentioned a while back? Well, I did in fact finish it, but ~~have been too lazy~~ haven't gotten around to uploading the thing as a pdf, which is my eventual goal. One of my new year's resolutions is to cook all the recipes in the calendar, two for each month, except the corned beef and cabbage recipe, because that is not appealing at all and I have no idea why I included it.

This goal probably seems pretty lame for anyone who has seen Julie and Julia, but (1) I am not insane and (2) I'm a terrible cook. Thus, two recipes per month will have to suffice.

I thought maybe other people would be interested in doing this with me? If you are, I'm attaching the calendar pages as jpgs! Get excited!

A few notes:
1) Yes, I'm aware that there are no days or weeks in this calendar. I haven't quite gotten around to making that half.
2) A few of you gave me really spectacular recommendations for recipes, which I promptly ignored because I had already finished that month and didn't feel like redoing it. BUT I'm hoping to switch those recipes into the calendar in the final-final pdf version, which you may even see by the end of this year!
3) In case you're interested, all of this was made in good ol' Photoshop, and I drew the fruits and vegetables with my trusty Wacom tablet, using photos as references, but hand drawing instead of tracing, for reasons that now elude me. Didn't think that sentence was ever gonna end, didja?

Shoes!

2010-01-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

I wore a pair of brown Tsubo shoes for Melanie and Martin's wedding. They are the only comfortable pumps I have ever owned. I've been wanting to write a post about them in case anyone else is in need of some comfy decent looking shoes. Here's a picture of me at the wedding in the shoes:

Notice that I'm not cringing or looking like I want to die in this picture. I think I will file that $100 under Money Well Spent.

Three of Birds - Emily Doliner's blog

Art Institute Design Work

Very Good Wine labels and decision cards

Modern Art Book for Birdcage press

Books, get yer books here

Left Bank Signage and Packaging

Risk i/0 Logo and Website Redesign

Goo Removal Tip

VMware Promotional pieces

Decision Education Foundation

Media Awareness Network ad campaign

James Siena

Marian Bantjes inspired poster

Margaret Kilgallen

The Garlic Festival: A Summary

Photo mashup

Ten Thousand Villages campaign

Backpacking in the Ventana Wilderness

Nijiya Market Label Design

Little Titan Logo and Packaging

I'm not sure if my blog is an appropriate venue for this

Flee Magazine

Seamless vector patterns

Produce Infographic

Some featured artists

Cabo San Lucas

Environmental Design

Vacation collage

I should be doing work

Dinner Invitation

Goudy dog

Why indeed

Photoshop Competition

Naranja

Oakland Zoo poster

Little Red Cap Book Cover

Interactive educational brochure

Crème Brand Book

Some process work

Some creative public art

Journals

My Instructors

Book covers

Rome a.k.a. the Pizza Oven

Advise and Consent Posters

The Productivity Thief

Falling Asleep to Mice in Fancy Clothes

Stockholm, fourth and last!

Peas in a Pod

Bacon and Tapioca and Why We Need Them

Stockholm, Part 3

Polish Posters

Stockholm, Part 2

Sweden, Part 1

Backlog

Fashion Book Project: Amy

Sketchbook

Fashion Book Project

myfonts.com logo

Fashion Book Project: Kelly

Fashion Book project: Emily

LIFE CHANGING DECISION

Gift Guide?

Fashion Book project: Surabhi

Fashion Book project: Tara

Fashion Book project: Melanie

Shopping bag

Menu

Fashion Book project

Letter-number Gestalt

Sunnyvale Farmer's Market poster

Reservoir Dogs Soundtrack

Conan, Birthdays, and more!

Mango Salad and Pork Chops

I made a thing

Sketchbook

Watercolors

A pretty song

Book Borrowing

A Very Boring Update