Paper art

I love paper, and I love origami. My grandmother was an origami maker. Well into her 90's she had this incredible memory for intricate folds and patterns and could sit for hours just working on one complicated starburst ball. Grandma died two years ago at the age of 98. I still miss her and have been thinking of her a lot lately. For every Christmas as long as I can remember, we used to always carefully slice the tape off our presents so that Grandma could keep the wrapping paper and use it later for origami. She would cut the sheets into smaller pieces, and preferred them to the store bought sheets of origami paper. Truth be told, I think she often preferred the wrapping paper to the gift that was inside! It was weird opening presents without saving the paper last year. It still felt weird this year too. She had trained us well. I saved some of the prettier sheets from one of the presents this year. I plan to bring some to her grave next week. I can't believe it has been two years. So in memory of Grandma, I wanted to share this artist's beautiful paper work, I especially love the flipbook piece. It is incredible and I know that Grandma would have loved it www.eightemperors.com/

Shop now: journals

Picnics and outdoor parties

It is summer now and we've been enjoying lot of outdoor activities. Eating outside would be stylish with this cool bowl from Morph. I love the form, and can totally see the opening being used as a handle. Great for carting outside!

R2D2 has left the house

Last Halloween my friend asked me to help her make an R2D2 costume for her five year old. What? Dress up? Costume? This was right up my alley and I was happy to dive in. I bought a large trash can in the right shape and planned to cut arm and leg openings in it. But my friend had a good point, it would make a heavy costume for a small kid. So she suggested using their wire and mesh laundry hamper for the shape. I drew out the design on posterboard and wrapped it around the hamper. For the head I spray painted a candy bowl from Target ($1 !!). I glued a shampoo cap for the protruding part of the head and taped the bowl to a bike helmet. The costume was a big hit, and was economical and lightweight to boot!

But then I was left with a trashcan that I couldn't return. I got a suggestion from another friend that I could turn it into an R2D2 laundry hamper, to replace the one sacrificed for the Halloween costume. I loved this idea. But months went by and the thing languished on my stair landing. Finally, FINALLY I got around to working on it and finished it the other week. Hallelujah!! I'm so happy to have this thing done and out of my house!! I hadn't realized how oppressed R2D2 was making me feel. Whooeee!

I liked how the trashcan/hamper turned out. It was a lot harder to draw on the cylindrical trashcan than I anticipated. Working on the posterboard version was easy because it laid flat and I could use my mayline and drafting triangles to quickly put down the lines. For the hamper, I used a downspout gutter scrap I picked up at Urban Ore along with some foam core to make the arms. A plumbing cap was the right size for the protrusion from the head. And for fun, I added casters on the bottom so the thing rolls. :) Here's a look.

Giant see saws

Awesome playground landscape by DS Landscape Architects in Berlin.

Helmets

I love the designs on these helmets by Nutcase. Could I get a hard hat made with this pattern? Would that get me laughed off the jobsite? Comeon! Gotta have fun where you can.

More at http://www.nutcasehelmets.com/Pages/Street.aspx

Edible printing

Came across this fun idea- Ticings is a company that sells edible art to decorate cupcakes and cakes. They are applied like stickers on frosted cupcakes. They have some cool modern designs that are really tasty- my faves are the sushi design and the red bouquet and green leaves. So fun! It would be an easy way to add a splash of design to a celebration.

Or it opens up possibilities for designing your own. Make some personal designs and then get it printed on some edible paper. I think a lot of the grocery stores do this type of printing for their photo cakes.

http://ticings.com/shop/index.php