Hold The Onion Please

Exploring the History of our House

2011-01-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

Last spring we were asked if we would like to participate in the historical house tour in our town by opening our house to the public and providing them with some historical information on our house. As we started researching we found that Grant Wheat inventor of the first rechargeable headlamp for miners was the original owner of our house established 1920. Yesterday at Boarders my husband saw this book In the book it said that Grant Wheat was buried in Maplewood cemetary

We were lucky enough to find the Wheat family plot

In this post I used picnik editor through picasa and I am not sure I am happy with the results, I think that they shrink the image too much, however there is a premium upgrade for $2.08 a month but I don't think that will speed it up much, I found it way slower than photoshop and I wasn't even doing a complicated edit. Let me know if any of you have used it and have any tidbits for me.

****update**** I re-uploaded and tried again the pix look better now

totally nerdy puzzle girl

2011-01-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

So I am totally nerdy about logic puzzles and the like. I go back and forth between cross sums now kakuru and cryptograms but really I can't get enough of either. I find that it wakes the brain up in the morning and is a good brainstorming activity, it is like how some people doodle when letting the mind wonder.

Here is an encrypting cipher machine used in world war II

I am so fascinated by algorithms associated with so many things in nature as well. This is an interesting site where Bruce Schneider explores and documents his findings here.

stella is the cheesiest

2011-01-01T15:55:00.001-08:00

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Why people opt out of facebook?

2011-01-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

things people say can be taken completely out of context as there isn't any body language to read and some people are really sensitive or take things the wrong way, there just aren't enough emoticons

if you put something in your status that can get a rise out of people don't get pissed when they comment

some people share their souls, somethings are meant to be kept to yourself, some use it to be validated but what people are validating can be a lie and feeds the problem without even knowing it

somethings are supposed to be shared with loved ones and close friends where a conversation can be carried on, congrats can be given and making it special for those around you, when posting I always thought is this something I should tell people about in person? For instance I found myself pregnant and decided before I started posting things like i am tired, my back hurts, etc all those things that people can put two and two together, I would notify good friends and family first, to give them a heads up and to make them part of a special time in my life.

some post inappropriate photos, ie. partially naked photos, and underage drinking pictures, why oh why do people do this?

the whole getting unfriended business is a load of crap too, it is like putting an end to a relationship in public without having to give an explanation to the person you are unfriending, it is very passive aggressive and hurtful

using facebook to make remarks that are implied to some but vague to others is negative and not so nice, if you have a problem with someone maybe you should talk to them about it instead of facebooking it

It spins out of control like a rumor mill.

these are some of the things I have experienced and has ruined my experience with facebook, what is so unfortunate is that I couldn't just unfriend those people and block them as I see them frequently or am related to them and I didn't want to not be friends with them in real person, I just didn't want to be a part of the facebook drama that has popped up from time to time.

then there is the whole privacy issues, the stalking, the bullying, the public posting of others private life. Why any parent would ever let any child under the age of 16 join facebook is beyond me. I think parents and teachers need to start teaching the kids discretion and respect while using this social network.

Here are a few links that pretty much sum it up...

10 reason why you should destroy your facebook account

Funny but true video about relationships

Facebook bullying

Artwork the Gift worth Giving and Getting

2010-12-14T11:38:00.000-08:00

Every year our loved ones ask us what we want for xmas and every year I want less and less or things with more meaning then monetary. I think the season is about giving to those who are less fortunate. I think it is ridiculous to give a gift just to give a gift. That's why this year I decided I wanted a painting done by a childhood friend who is a true inspiration. Give art this year!

creativity in all forms

2010-12-13T12:59:00.001-08:00

Every day i try to be creative, this past weekend i moved around the pictures in the living room.

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the quilting has begun!

2010-12-06T07:05:00.001-08:00

Yesterday i washed all the fabric squares to begin my first quilt ever. I am excited to work on this project and am going to consider this my learning quilt, trying out ideas and seeing what does and doesnt work. I have a bunch of small squares cut have checked out the stiches and have found one that will do the trick. Off i go to!

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curtains are complete!

2010-12-04T11:19:00.001-08:00

The entranceway curtain project is complete. I am hoping that these curtains will save us some money and heat by closing off the front door. I still have a bunch of necklaces to post so that should be coming early this week. Have a great weekend!

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putting the last two panels together

2010-12-03T09:15:00.001-08:00

I will definately make these curtains again however it will be a bit easier with different fabric. This crushed silk is a bear but it is forgiving as much as it is a pain, however a bit time consuming. It doesnt help that i am blogging to procrastinate...peace out finishing project; engage!

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curtain panels in the making

2010-11-30T11:41:00.001-08:00

Here is a sneak peak of the almost finished first panel

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Charm/Trinket making project

2010-11-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

I am gearing up to have a little table set up at one of the nearby schools so I have been working on my new concepts for my necklaces. I have sketched up several different styles but have decided to include one single element and that is these charm type pieces that I am going to work into and with chain and ribbons. In order to get a bunch of necklaces ready I need a bunch of these so I have started cranking them out, once you get in the swing of things you really get going. I love all the colors and textures, stay tuned for more updates and soon some finished pieces.

too much water not enough fire

2010-11-23T10:09:00.001-08:00

So long story short I think that we have some spirits hangin out in our house so a friend of mine who works with energy came to town and helped evaluate our house as well has give us some ideas of how to change the energy flow. My kitchen was one area in which we needed to improve upon, the answer, more red by the sink and window. We need to balance the water element with some fire. Lucky for me i was able to find some fabric that incorporated my existing color palette. Here you see the fabric i will use to sew some new curtains. It is amazing what a little fabric with some color can do.

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Here is a teaser of some upcoming necklaces

2010-11-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

Again a long time away

2010-11-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

It has been a few crazy months but I have some great projects going that I will post about. I have a few curtain projects, a logo project, and of course necklaces necklaces necklaces! I should have something for you in the next couple of days.

Food to Keep you Fueled

2010-09-05T05:33:00.000-07:00

So I have been craving this wild rice salad that my mom used to make and I didn't realized how much I took for granted the midwest and their awesome foods! I have bought wild rice twice recently at two different grocery stores and it is amazing because they have 1 kind, no variety and it is soooo expensive. I may have to have someone from back home send me some wild rice because this is ridiculous!
Anyway enough with my ranting! I decided to add a few things to the original recipe and take some out, ok I only took out one ingredient and that is the peas. I did added a purple pepper and some chives.

My husband made a nice dressing but you can use store bought italian if you are so inclined.

Here is the finished product ingredients are

wild rice (chilled)
grape tomatoes cut in half
celery
onions
chives
purple pepper
marinated artichokes
dressing, something of the italian variety.

I made a batch of this and it is great as a side dish or a lunch and lasts in the refrigerator! It also has a great amount of fuel and I used this to work on my new garden.

We are going to have a fall garden including spinach, lettuce (a few kinds), potatoes, garlic and some parsnips. We should get a small harvest from the leafy greens before it frosts and everything else will be in the ground ready for the spring, at which time we will fill the rest of the garden beds with our favorite vegetables.

I need to get the seeds in this week and in order to do that, we need to get more dirt as we are using raised garden beds. I am amazed at how quickly we executed this project as I had only just seen the garden that inspired me to do this:

I saw this garden on a walk last week and fell in love! I can't wait for next year when I can get it all laid out.

Eating Right-How to make Carrot Juice

2010-09-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today I am on my 9th day of my 21 day cleanse and it is going surprisingly well! My doctor said I could have meat 3 days ago but I haven't had a chance to pick up anything fresh and grass-fed. Yes I said grass-fed, I learned about this type of meat 10 years ago while working at a restaurant in denver, co and really noticed that it made for a much better burger (and way more nutritious). While all of this type of beef and free range chickens are widely available in some places, it isn't in others! I love minnesota for the fact that there are so many co-ops in and around the city. Here in mass not so much, so we have done some research and it looks like you can set up delivery from farmers to have different cuts of meat come to us! Still have some more stuff to look into but will probably post some of the more helpful websites I find in this endeavor.

I decided to make fresh carrot juice because I am so sick of carrots and I had a bunch left. Basically what I did is I took the carrots and chopped them in the blender.
then you add hot water to get the good stuff separated from the not so good stuff, leave stand for about 15-20 minutes.
Then strain the chunks of carrot out, at this point you would normally add a few oranges but I had a bunch so I added a bunch.
Pour it into the jars and throw them in the fridge. Shake before using as it does separate a bit.

This is one of my amazing smoothies that I added the juice to. If you can name 6 of the 12 ingredients you will win a $15 itunes certificate, just post your answer in the comments and don't forget your email address. Only 1 winner!

Weekend full of Cleansing and Backyard Nature

2010-08-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am on day 6 of my Standard Process Cleanse and it is going very well! It is so strange but the minute someone says you can't have you want! In the last several days I have had cravings for things I haven't eaten in years! Anyway here is a normal routine 2 times a day that is 19 pills and a shake!
Today I made one of the best shakes yet containing:

flax seed oil
vanilla coconut milk
the supplement
apples
kiwi
banana
spinach
grapes
tart cherry juice

Yesterday was the first day using the flax seed oil and I made a delicious shake with it too:

orange juice
supplement
flax seed oil
organic fresh wild maine blueberry's
strawberry
banana

While enjoying some time out back and watering my garden the birds were in full force enjoying a bath in the sun!

Here is a yellow bird that I think my husband and I saw a month ago and thought it was someones pet but it rolls with the sparrows in the neighborhood.

This was a gift from a friend and I just love the pot and dish it is in.

I can't just exercise I need an activity,

2010-08-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

I can't just exercise I need an activity, so I decided to walk the trail by my house and take pictures! I had no clue how far I was going to walk but I was going to walk! So these are the items that I brought with me:
spring water, sketch pad, pens, ipod, phone, wallet, and some fruit

There were a bunch of these butterfly's hanging out so I was able to grab a couple snap shots of them.
I thought this was a neat tree with the contrast from the sky and the death of the tree.

Eating Yummy things while Cleansing

2010-08-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

I started a liver cleanse yesterday which will continue for 3 weeks! I have a shake I make 2 or 3 times a day and I put a bunch of organic fruit that I have cut and frozen into the blender with some fresh squeezed orange juice, which is actually really good and kind of fools me into thinking I am getting my yogurt! Pretty much no dairy, meat or grains except for brown rice, wild rice and lentils. So basically organic veggies and more organic veggies! I decided that I need to figure out how to make some kick ass meals to make this a challenge more then something to dread!

For lunch today I sauteed some onions and garlic in extra virgin olive oil for a while to let them sweat.

Then I added the mushrooms!

Added salt and pepper and a bit of butter and of course the baby spinach!

I was so excited to eat this that I forgot to take a picture of it on it's plate and now it is all gone! I highly recommend this recipe for a side dish for times when you aren't cleansing!

Mushroom Hunting in the Garden

2010-08-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

As I was watering and weeding this morning I noticed there were a few mushrooms that had sprouted up over night. So I decided to hunt through garden and found that there were several. Fungi has always been intriguing to me. It has all sorts of different textures from slimy to powdery. The arrays of colors that they are is quite amazing as well. Here are a few shots I took of the mushrooms I found today that I thought were interesting...

Outdoor Studio Work is the Best

2010-08-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

As I am often times most creative in the morning I grabbed a few supplies to continue work on Project Bedroom Artwork and brought it outside to enjoy the lovely breeze! However, not too good of an idea working with paper in the wind, but what can I say I love a challenge! Here is what I am working on today. I would love your feedback and comments.

Going Paperless and Digitizing Documents that Take up Space

2010-08-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

I have decided I needed a side project along side my bedroom artwork project, so I decided I will get organized. I will use my new Neat Receipts for Mac by Neat Co. to scan all our documents and make them easy to search through and eventually export to our gmail account so we can view the database from anywhere!

I spent 6 hours yesterday scanning and getting to know how I want to use this software! But once I got on a roll there was no stopping me! I got all our taxes and related items from 2007 to 2009 imputed and organized. The software is easy to use and it appears from online comments that they have made updates to fix issues.

I had no clue anyone else was as interested in this until my post on facebook yesterday which triggered my post today...

mrs. onion: Just got a neat receipt scanner for mac and am loving it! Think I am going to sit on the deck all day and scan our precious documents, gotta love going digital. After everything is in and organized we can upload it to google docs so when we are at work we can still search and view our documents that there is no way we would find even if we were at home!
caller number 1: Is it just for receipts? One of the best purchases I made recently was a business card scanner. I got rid of about 300-400 cards lying around my office in a matter of hours.
mrs. onion: No it recognizes business cards, and anything smaller than 8.5 width or smaller! It is super rad! I made a folder called taxes and I scanned all our forms, w2s and the h&r blocks business card! So u have 3 categories contact, receipt and document, you can choose what field u want and don't want. It is searchable and color coded to the type of category!
caller number 1: Interesting. BTW, do you really get that many paper receipts? Seems like most billing companies are going paperless these days.
mrs. onion: I am using it mostly for our house documents, taxes, car title that sort of thing, stuff that if the house burned down we may need! Most if not all our billing is done paperless and automatically paid out which is super nice! I think we write 4 checks a year and that is to the water company!
caller number 2: I still haven't figured out how this darn thing downloads to Quicken without having to save a file as an intermediate step. If you figure that one out, please let me know. Otherwise I pretty much agree with you.
mrs. onion: it pretty much scans the document and allows you to pull info from it to populate fields that then can be exported out various ways

Various Stages of the Artwork for our Bedroom

2010-08-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a sampling of the pieces of artwork I am working on for our bedroom. As you can see I am using a bunch of different materials and they are in various stages of completion. So far I am happy with the progress as well as how things are turning out. You truly never know how something is going to turn out until it is done!

Project Artwork for Bedroom!

2010-08-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

I have had different ideas of big projects I was going to do regarding artwork for some area of our house. The ideas have melded over the years and I finally think that I can put some of this together for the artwork that will fill our room. I have always been a big fan of positive negative and to completely different things coexisting within the same space. I am taking a bunch from nature but all bringing in the elements of the city. Using different textures to accomplish this will be the fun part!
I got some shims and some half sheet plywood that I am cutting down for frames and bases for some of the work that I am putting together.

When I got the plywood I also perused through the aisle to see what other random things I could find and get inspired by. Here is a collection of the things I will be using.
My curiosity lays into when this will be done! So far it is going rather smoothly and I am hoping to continue this pace!

Backyard Blooms Inspiration

2010-08-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

This vine has finally bloomed and I love it's soft delicate color and the sharpness of the green new buds developing flowers of their own.
This was a gift from a friends mom last year and it has latched on to the earth and grown significantly. This shot will probably be used in one of the art pieces I am doing for our bedroom, since we have some leaf like accents in our lighting and curtains. I love bringing the outside in.
You know summer is coming to an end when the hasta's start to flower, their fragrance is intoxicating yet subtle in the evening breeze.
The new addition to the garden, thank you Lowes we love your clearance outdoor items they are the best!

Curtains have been Created...with only a few hiccups!

2010-08-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon when all my curtain assembling materials were obtained, I moved on to measuring and cutting. Every time I cut fabric I wish that I would have cut it at the store where I could get a straight line, until I realized that my awesome collapsible ikea table would serve the purpose for a straight guide for my scissors.

Then I moved on to pinning the sides and also ironing a crease to hold a nice straight edge for sewing. I did this to both curtains and then spent several trips into the steamy attic to look for the sewing machine. On my third sweep through the attic I decided I was going to go rubbermaid by rubbermaid until I found the damn thing. At one point I threatened to buy another one, until I found it at the bottom of a laundry bin...

I get everything all set up, get the tunes going, have the bobbin in place and start to sew. Well, for about a second, when the bobbin kept effing off (for the lack of a better term) over and over and over. Usually I am able to get it going for a bit but this was getting ridiculous, I could have been done by now...

So I headed over to our lovely walmart and bought this new Project Runway addition sewing machine. Pretty funny huh? I bring it home check out the manual and fire this puppy up. The bobbin system is so much easier to deal with because you can see what is going on and the stitch is unbelievable. I zipped through these curtains in now time flat.

Stella enjoying the sun poking through her new curtains.

Overall this was a successful project! The fabric was a super good price, nice thickness and an easy pattern to work with. It was super easy to have both of the curtains matching without having an excess of leftover fabric.

Today, I am off to get some knobs, a better tie back solution, and some ideas for framing the artwork for the walls.

The Creative Process for Curtains

2010-08-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

The more I work on projects the more I realize it is important to have a creative process to make sure that you aren't missing anything. I have been thinking about the design for our bedroom curtains and it is finally the day that I have put aside to bust these out.

I decided to make some sketches and take some notes to make sure that I was approaching this the right way. I also need to make sure that I have all the necessary supplies. When I got to thinking I realized that I couldn't make a tie back out of the material that the curtains are going to be made from, as it is very thick and wouldn't serve the look I was going for. Instead I am going to get a really thick bright ribbon that I am going to sew to the back, so it's always attached and can't get lost.

My other challenge was will this look funny if it doesn't go to the floor? so I decided to sketch it out and then of course made a phone call to my sister to see if she thought it would look ridiculous or not. She said, "no, it will look just fine."

Off to the fabric store to get some sturdy thread and a big old ribbon. The real question is will I get it all done today or will I have to wait til tomorrow to see the results?

Contract Job just about Done, New Projects getting Started

2010-08-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am back from working my long days in the big city and ready to start some new projects, get the garden into shape and take pictures and notes along the way.

I have been wanting to redo our bedroom for a bit of time now and have finally found exactly what I want to do, but I don't want to put too much money into it and I definitely did not want to paint, right now. I found some great fabric at Ikea as well as a bunch of accessories for the new updated brighter bedroom. Luckily I was able to find a fabric that went with the current paint color spanish moss but also added some lighter soothing colors with an accent of brightness.

We have had the same hardware and curtains since before we were engaged so I thought swapping out the curtains would make a major change and the easiest way to add some color. But I didn't really want to swap out the hardware since it was a huge pain in the ass mounting the current ones. So I decided to go with a more convenient and thrifty plan. I am going to paint the old ones which will change the texture of the glass and the color will be updated to be a brighter, more cohesive color with the fabric I have chosen.

This is half way through my first coat of paint.

This is the finished product which I think will accent the design concept a bit better then the originals. Next plan of attack is finding a good template for some window coverings.

New Additions to the Garden

2010-08-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

A new Lowes opened near our house recently so we went to explore...right now is the time to pick up annuals for you garden because they are great prices and you will still have a while to enjoy them until it frosts. I wanted to link back to Lowes so I went to their website and put in the name of the flower Mandeville and to my surprise they give you all the necessary info for taking care of your plant so go check it out. This is a great database for new gardeners to learn the basics and to have a photo to compare. For me that has been the hardest part is identifying what should be in the garden and what shouldn't be, ie. weeds. As good as a job the previous homeowner did in planting it, I had no clue what to do, so I have been gardening trial and error but think I am getting a grasp for it. Adding my own annuals have helped add color and also a name to search for. With the Lowes gardening website it will be easier to bookmark and catalog the plants that I have so when next spring comes around it will be easier to know what to do.

Of course no garden is complete without butterfly's so I got this bush. I have several other butterfly flowers in the garden that have long lasting bright flowers. Every year I notice more humming birds fluttering around the backyard.

The Weather has been amazing!

2010-08-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

The weather has been really exciting in New England this summer, I feel as if I have transported back to Minnesota. These are pictures of a storm that barely missed us, this was a wall of clouds that was shooting lightening back and forth from cloud to cloud. I was lucky enough to catch a few of the amazing flashes that we viewed that evening!

People and their Trash

2010-06-22T04:40:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, which means that it is trash day, and I get to see how wasteful people are. The neighbor with the biggest amount of trash has all of their black plastic bags lined up one the sidewalk and their son (thirty something has family of his own) backs over one of the bags and it gets stuck in the wheel well and drags the bag on to the street where he proceeds to drive away leaving trash in his wake. I would love to hear what you think about this?

A Little Elbow Grease to Bring it Back to Life

2010-05-31T09:11:00.000-07:00

Before

I have an antique table that has needed some major love, since the cats have used it as a launching pad, I usually have a table clothe on top but since our house is going to be on a historical tour I wanted to show off this piece of furniture. So yesterday I sat down with the necessary supplies and went to work.

after

Spring Motto Less is More

2010-05-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

Almost a year ago I posted pictures of my then newly organized studio, (above) here is my studio with the motto of Less is more! (below)

Having put our house on the market a few weeks ago and all the preparatory work that you do before it is ready to show for the public. Over the weeks leading up I started removing things and just clearing out all clutter, moved furniture to optimize the space, put color where color was needed. Our house is so much easier to live in now thus this is the year of Less is More!

Unfinished Piece

2010-05-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

I really like the chain portion of this necklace, there are 5 different kinds which gives it some interesting depth.

I think I need to add some chunky wire to the ribbon part of the necklace to create a bit of contrast.

Duran Duran and Experimental Necklace Making

2010-05-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

I just finished making this necklace and I am wondering what you all think? It's a new type of design that I am experimenting with, while watching Artist Main: Duran Duran on VH1

Time to get Creative

2010-05-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

I am finishing up my contract job and have my house is immaculate so now I have time to get to work on more necklaces. A new Michaels just opened up and I have been meaning to check it out, it is huge as it was a former circuit city and packed with great craft ideas. I only explored the bead and chain section as I didn't want to empty out the checking account! Here is a snap shot of my work area and yes my mannequin is wearing a bra!

Woah how the time fly's

2010-04-27T07:41:00.001-07:00

I spent the previous six weeks getting the house in tip top shape and ready to sell! Started back up at my contract job and am actually enjoying sitting on my butt all day with a walk at lunch! Hopefully I can get caught up on some much needed rest, the body is a wreck having fallen a couple of months ago and cleaning and moving stuff!

Anyway I am spending the morning relaxing in my super clean well organized house doing nothing for the first time in months. But since I have been extremely intent on organizing and always moving around doing something, I still feel like I should be doing something while relaxing...So I decided to work on getting my inbox cleaned out as it has a ridiculous amount of data in it. Using gmail has been super helpful, being able to batch label and the different filters have allowed me to half the amount of emails I have in my account. If you don't have a gmail account you really should have a gmail account!

Daily Dose of Inspiration...Outdoor Animals and the People that Own Them!

2010-04-04T08:18:00.001-07:00

We are going on our 4th year of living in this house, with neighbors very close! For instance the side of our neighbors garage is part of our fence, so we get to sit and stare at their paint chipping, shingle spewing garage. I have gone over every spring since we have lived here to let them know it is getting worse and starting to rot and within a month my rose bush (that somewhat covers the side of the garage) will be in full bloom and a force to reckon with. They have said every year they were going to take care of it and every year they don't. I am being super stubborn about this but realize that I am the only person to get the job done!

Back to the title of this post, they also have a cat, who is pretty young and they just let him roam around, he doesn't know the law of the land, like their last cat. So this little stinker keeps jumping up on the fence when my cats are having a peaceful time outside in their fenced in area! Also, I have my suspicions that the cat hasn't been fixed, it has been spraying the bushes in the front yard! Yes, most disgusting I was out trimming the foliage and it reeked of cat pee!

So there are a few things wrong with this picture, for instance YOUR FREE ROAMING cat isn't FIXED! There are a lot of random cats in the neighborhood but most of them wear collars and are rather docile and not very street smart and FIXED. But there are a handful of alley cats that don't need to have anymore baby's! My second point is my yard smells like cat piss! Lastly, this backyard is MY kitties playground, not yours!

Furthermore, if you have dogs and live in our neighborhood, you need to walk them!!! We have tiny yards, yeah you over there with the flying shingles you have 4 dogs and in a postage stamp sized yard!

I could carry on for a bit longer but I will spare you the pain!

How do 2 People Have SO MUCH Stuff?

2010-03-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

I have been spending most of my time recently on house inventory! Which consists of tearing it all down just to build it up again! Furniture has been moved up and down, rubbermaids have been packed and brought to the attic, paint has been rolled! The cats have now decided there is a really loud pet in the house and don't take so long to come out from hiding after I turn off the vacuum. Of course there is some fun in this process, I get to decorate and move everything around and buy random things for house appeal!

Next weekend I get a bit of help from my parents, my father and husband will be replacing a few boards and paint the front porch! That means I need to choose the color of paint! My mother and I will be sanding window sills, especially the ones that have had an air condition unit used in it for years and years and then staining!

I hoping that the rain stays away for awhile so I can get the rest of the leaves cleaned up in the yard! We will be having some great growth in the weeks to come! Pictures to come in a week and a half or so...

Don't let the Leprachun steel your Pati'o furniture

2010-03-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!

I always find it interesting all the different traditions around St. Patty's day! This year I ran across some clover decals and put them up on the window but other than that I don't decorate for this particular holiday!

In the past I used to go to the Blue Fox the 4 thursday's (or whatever day St. Patrick's day fell on) before St. Patrick's day and have a guiness and get a guiness glass free! I have never drank a green beer and I have never seen a green river!

Inspiration from hard work

2010-03-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a bunch of this
and a load of spackling and sanding.
The kitchen is coming together, but I am doing the whole over hall, moving cleaning everything in sight!

So I rewarded myself with this

and that, the new table cloth with a sprig of flowers really ties it together!

Interesting Phone Ap's

2010-03-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

There are some really interesting phone aps out there right now. There is this really neat ap for the iphone for any musician out there! It plays the song while the sheet music is scrolling to show you where you are in the score. If only they had had that when I was a kid I would have been able to learn so many more songs. To check out the ap go here.

For other musicians tools go here.

How to...Get out of a winter time funk

2010-03-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Winter has taken a toll on us as usual, but the first signs of spring are starting to peek through! This is the time of year I hear everyone doing a bit of cleaning whether it is the house, body, mind or spirit, sometimes all! Winter has always effected my mood and as the years go by it seems to be getting better but I had to do the work to get here. I feel that if you keep your mind and body in good working order everything just goes as it should. The last few weeks in between winter and spring were a bear for me to cross and it got me thinking about ways to get out of the winter time funk!

Now I know that you hear it all the time but here I go, you need to eat right. Now I am not talking about the South Beach diet or any other name brand diet there is out there. But how you as an individual should eat, you know certain foods make your body feel crappy well those foods can also make you mind not work as well. It is weird because it seems everyone is on a "diet" but it is usually for weight not for their mind or to feel good. However, if you are on the right "diet" and you stick to it you realize you do feel better. Having talked to a nutritionist it is interesting to use the vitamins and herbs they recommend because they really do make you feel better. I recently found out my blood type and was excited to use this new information to read the book Cook Right For Your Type and interestingly I found out why I have the cravings I do and that is because I am supposed to eat those foods. The thing that is interesting is the nutritionist as well as the book have the same common thread stomach acids! Stomach acids are a very important factor in how our body feels and it is weird because when you have the right stomach acids you feel way better then you thought you could. So this week I am going to be trying the diet that is recommend for type A's and that is very little meat and tons of fruits and vegetables, beans but not the beans I have been eating.

Another thing that helps me get out of the funk of procrastinating, is make a list whether it be on paper, your phone, computer, or just in your head, make a list! I will start procrastinating when I have too much going on, for instance spiffing up the house I know that it is going to take a while to do and it isn't going to happen over night but of course I am anxious for it to be done! But if I just make a list and decide how many things to check off a day and stick to it I will eventually be done with it. This also works well with job hunting, do you daily appointed things and then forget about it!

The other thing that Cook Right For Your Type mentioned was that certain exercises are beneficial for each blood type. My blood type likes meditation, yoga, and brisk walking, which makes me happy because I hate running, jogging anything faster than a fast walk I just don't see the point. I have been in sports where you run and I've always hurt even when I was a kid I would get a side ache, but I do understand why people love it, my body just doesn't like it. Exercise is also a nice time to think about nothing other than just doing your exercise. So when you don't want to exercise just remember it will be rewarded with the ability to turn off your thoughts.

The last thing to help you out of a funk is read your horoscope! It's always interesting and also worth a different perspective to view your thoughts from.

Don't forget Halloween

2010-03-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays of ever!!! We love to go over board for the kids however we don't get many tricker treaters I think we maybe got 12 this past year! Below you will find the carvings of my husband!

As you can see in the background there are a bunch of pumpkin guts! Bill makes the best pumpkin salsa ever!

Mannequin in the House!!!

2010-03-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Mannequins are the much needed tool in necklace making, especially when you are working with how things hang, it is hard to gauge thus a neck is needed! Luckily for me I started working at Macy' part time over the holidays, gotta love the discount and the fact that they sell off their old mannequins for cheap! So I snagged one and painted this super awesome nickle color!

I spent most of the fall working on christmas gifts for friends and family!

This is a giraffe ribbon with black, silver and copper chain, that I made for my niece. I have a few other pieces to share in the upcoming posts!

It's been a busy Winter, where does all the time go...

2010-03-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

Winters in the past for me have always been a bit rough, however over the years I have learned how to make winter better then the last! This past winter has been a great journey that I will be sharing with you over the next few weeks!

Where does the time go, I can't believe I have been out of the blogger world since September!

Digable Planets - Where I'm From

2010-03-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Digable Planets - Where I'm From

More Crafty!

2009-09-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

So I am totally addicted to working with chain and ribbon. I love the contrast between the rough and hard to the soft and delicate. Here are a couple more that I have added to my collection. If you are interested in having a custom piece made let me know holdtheonionplease @ gmail.com

Crafty afternoon

2009-09-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Since I decided today like everyday is a good day to bake bread. While the bread is doing it's thing I got all the chain that I had bought on clearance together and constructed a necklace. Using ribbon, fancy paper clips, a button, beads and of course the chain.

Food as Media

2009-09-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

Food as an artistic medium enhances meal time. There are variety of colors, shapes, textures and when foods are colorful they are more appealing. I finally ramped up my cooking skills and have found I really like cooking and making food pretty. Taking pictures of food is a whole other artistic form with in the food experience. Every once in a while I will actually write down a recipe, since most of my cooking is rather random, and I will post it over at WillytheJackass. There are a bunch of great photos of the food we have cooked over the last few months.

Cucumber Vinegar Mix-Wife post

2009-09-15T11:23:00.001-07:00

Here is a recipe and pictures that are posted over at my husbands site, please enjoy!

Cucumber Vinegar Mix-Wife post

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Delaware and Domestic Diva

2009-09-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

While I was in Philly the first week of August I thought, I have never been to Delaware, I am going to go check it out. I visited an old mansion with the most beautiful garden, so picturesque there was a women who had set up an eisel and was painting on a perfect hot summers day! While I was looking at all the great places to visit in Delaware I realized something I had not known, it was settled mostly by the Dutch, the English and Swedes. In fact the first American Swedish Lutheran church resides here, in a run down neighborhood not many swedes in the neighborhood now.

I then headed down to Newcastle which is a really quaint seaport filled with history! Below is the Amstel House which resides on an old brick road surrounded by some of the neatest old houses I have ever seen.

On a domestic diva note, the garden has been baring fruit so there has been a lot of new recipes being had, using all the ingredients that we seem to have an abundant amount of. This weekend we emptied out the hot water heater to prepare for the winter that is soon upon us and have had the luxury of using my friends breadmaker to crank out some fabulous breads! Can't wait to get the house decorated for Halloween, the best holiday ever!

Facebook Flash Games are Addicting

2009-08-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but there are some really addicting games on facebook my favorite ones are by Playfish games especially the Restaurant City, I can hardly tare myself away I suggest you check it out if you have a facebook account because it can make your work day go so much faster!

Philly for a week!

2009-08-26T05:52:00.000-07:00

The first week of August I had the luxury of going to Philly with my husband as he had business there for the week. He worked long hours as I strolled all over Philly. We stayed near Love Park where I spent many hours reading the in the hot hot sun. The restaurants were fabulous and very well priced compared to Boston. I had been to Philly and had the 10 cent tour from my in laws as they grew up there.

The one afternoon that my husband had off we spent walking around, eating and visiting the penitentiary. This place was amazing and also had a local artist who did a cat installation throughout the prison. To wrap up our trip we went to go visit his grandfather who is doing remarkably well for his age and still remembers Latin where he learned as an alter boy in the catholic church.

So Hard to Blog in the Summer

2009-08-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been super, a nice mixture of work and play. We celebrated my husbands birthday for a week full of twists and turns and lots of surprises. Gotta love the fun. His birthday was on a wednesday so we just cruised around to a couple of places and ate a bunch then later we drank a bunch at a few neighborhood bars with friends. Then I surprised him with us going to check out the Harpoon brewery, without him knowing a friend was going to show up the night before, while us 3 were at the brewery a small crowd gathered out in the back yard for some hot dog grillin'.

Do you know how hard it was to get him to go out back? Normally not hard, this particular day, YES!

To fill some of my time and earn back some of the money we spent on the week long birthday extravaganza I decided it would be fun to partake in a focus group, food surveys and testing different hearing devices, I think for pilots. I have enjoyed all aspect of these crazy adventures. I have met some interesting people and made a little cash. All of this filled the end of July.

Busy times around a Holiday!

2009-07-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to spend time at my parents lake house up in northern minnesota, it was sweet I got to take my first propeller plane ride and I didn't freak out. While I was there I spent some time reminiscing in nisswa since there are plenty of things that are still there from my childhood for instance the totem pole in town, the 10 cent horse that I rode as a child is still there and still only costs 10 cents.
We got to see a bunch of friends and family all while relaxing on the lake or around the campfire. There was a bunch of drinking and eating, we went to a meat raffle (explanation: they cover the pool table at a local bar and they display packaged meat and you buy tickets and hopefully get to take a pick of the meats), my husband won a pork tenderloin so we could that up for the whole family and of course his bbq sauce was too spicy for the midwest tongue.

We even did a bit of work, 5 of us helped my father cut down 4 trees that had died over the winter. He was so happy because he would cut down a tree and by the time he was finished making it into firewood we had it packed up on the trailer. I definitely had a lumber jack moment and thought of the tale of Paul Bunyan being back in my homeland of minnesota was amazing.

Before the holiday I was planning and labeling for a yard sale. I got rid of some things but not all of the stuff. So since we have gotten back I have been bagging everything up for the vets to come and pick up on wednesday, donated the books to the library and have put some electronics up on craigs list if you are interested just email me. We have also been doing alot of cooking and eating and relaxing and will be doing more of that the end of this week.

I have been working on more of my art dishes, made one for my mom and one for my sister. I did a vase for my mom that was yellows and greens and it was great she had white and yellow flowers so it matched perfectly. I will be working on more this week, I have some new technique I want to try out.

Checkin in and then checkin out!

2009-06-30T18:41:00.001-07:00

So sorry for the lack of posts I have been without a computer for a week as my computer had to go to the doctor AGAIN! Now I am heading off to 1 of the 10,000 lakes for some R&R and well needed family time. Here are a few pix from my NYC trip a week ago and here are some pix of my garden. Have a happy and safe 4th and here is some patriotic inspiration.

Garden Blooming Inspiration

2009-06-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures about a week ago and it is amazing how quickly the garden changes in that amount of time. These guys are nearly dead now and the petals are laying everywhere. On the other hand, my vegetables are growing like crazy, I have a bunch of flowers on the tomato plants, a lot of the chilles have already started to weasel their way into the world. Yesterday I was able to pick a few radishes and throw those on a greek salad. The stocks on the green beans are getting really strong and I have a feeling that I will have some many of them I will be handing bags out on the street. Taking the time to watch nature really allows us to store up the inspiration and pull it out when we need it.

Daily Dose of Inspiration-East Coast Part 3

2009-06-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Aaron Rutledge has a great tech blog for everything a geek would want to check out.

Whats Next Blog is a great resource for marketing and SEO information.

Jeffery Zeldman is everything web designer and more with a new look too!

Daily Dose of Inspiration-East Coast Style Part 2

2009-06-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

Debonair Mag is a really interesting site that has found a niche with men's fashion and technology and has so far has a nice site and hopefully more content to come.

Bill Mahoney of Willy the Jackass has a great site with food pictures gallour but of course I am biased he is my husband and I have actually eaten most of the food you see there and it is damn good.

Maryann Devine from smArts has a niche blog on marketing the arts that has some great information.

Crafts Part II

2009-06-11T12:45:00.001-07:00

Today I started adding the tissue paper to the background and am realizing that it takes quite a bit more so it isn't so see through.

Here are the first few layers.

here are a considerable amount of layers added here. I like the way how when you overlap multiple colors you get interesting combination's

Daily Dose of Inspiration-East Coast Style

2009-06-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

Among Many a great technology blog.
Bryan Brinkman has some great cartoons and vidoes.
Feedest is a great site to find great feeds, you can add your feeds as well.
Greg Verdino inspiration for marketing, media, technology and trends.
John Gruber over at Daring Fireball

Back with Some Crafts I have been working on!

2009-06-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

These are some bowls that I am working on, here you can see all the random items I have cut out of various publications. I put these on the bowl face to the bowl with a mixture of half glue and half water, inhale if you must.

Here are all my main pictures in place and the next step is the background and sealing that I will have finished and posted of the final product.

Computer needs to go to the doctor so...

2009-06-03T07:21:00.001-07:00

So my computer is totally borked, if my husband can't fix it then it is time to bring to the genius. Lets just hope that I don't lose everything on my harddrive. So today I will post a link to my page on facebook so come and become a fan. Another thing I would like to promote today is Blip an awesome site where you can share and find different music so swing on by and check it out.

Studio Pix

2009-06-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is my new inexpensive shelving unite.
Turntable set up!
My easel and of course the cats shit shack that they use the minute I go to do work, oh they are so nice to me these cats.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-06-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today I used Friend or Follow and it is a handy twitter tool that allows you to see who you are following and who is following you. I thought this would give me an opportunity to feature some of the people that I follow but that don't follow me.
Jeff Dempsey has a great blog on office pranks that are very original and creative so if you are in the mood for some mischief check him out.
Aaron Irizarry has a great blog or vlog that he posts very frequently and has great info and news in design.
Antonio Carusone is an amazing designer with some great buys of his typographical work.
Angela Moore has some great info on SEO info and link building strategies.
Tomorrow I will use Friends or Follow to share some of my followers.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-06-01T07:32:00.001-07:00

House Ind has everything design an a great store for all your designer buddies. Go and get your catalog!

Crumpler Bags has every type of bag you could ever want if you are looking for a new cool laptop bag go and check it out.

Polka Dot Backgrounds-Free

2009-05-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for polka background? Maybe you want to spruce up your My Space page? Well here are a bunch of links for you to take a look at

My Cute Graphics

Brilliant Backgrounds

Skeedio

Polyvore

Ms Premade

Free Code Source

Rad Profile

Hope you enjoy the Polka Dot Backgrounds!

10 Fantastically Green Sites

2009-05-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a few green oriented sites that I think are worth checking out, in no particular order...

Modern Eco Homes has everything you could ever want for the home and the best part is they feature eco deals of the day.

Mod Green Pod is a green home store offering 100% organic cotton.

Eco Geek has the best information on everything green relating to technology there is even a story on an air quality index reading wrist monitor.

Green Upgrader has information on how easy it is to live a green lifestyle.

The Green Office which is exactly as it sounds allows us to have an easy way of accessing eco friendly furniture and supplies for the office.

Groovy Green has the most random cool green stories out there, if you are looking for something new and interesting to read about, this is where it's at.

Home & Planet has some of the neatest recycled home accessories, made out of some really interesting materials.

Wedvert provides solutions for greener weddings and other big events in a very elegant manner and great at keeping the green in your pocket.

Ideal Bite is an easy guide to almost everything green from clothing to transportation and reads easily, always a bonus.

Eco Street is the place to get your eco news and see what is going on in the world of greenery from eating green to green technology.

Garden Inspiration

2009-05-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

Inspiration comes from many different things. Now that it is spring time and there are so many things blooming look outside for you inspiration. A meandering walk to observe the flowers through all of your senses. Taking a big breath of air can definitely spark a bit of creativity.

The images above are from our garden and it is amazing how quickly it changes. We are getting some well needed rain and I am looking forward to seeing how much the vegetables have popped. Watching the things you plant grow is very inspiring and worth the time to take a moment to enjoy.

Cyndi Lauper Sleeve my Face

2009-05-27T19:02:00.001-07:00

Boy Just Wants To Have Fun

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Patriotic Freebie Collection

2009-05-27T07:17:00.001-07:00

Every year at my parents lake home all the boat owners decorate their boats in the 4th of July theme and parade around the lake. It is a blast, the ultimate booze cruise. My husband and I are flying to Brainard, MN (from mpls to brainard we will be in a small propeller plane and I am a bit skeptical) and will get the chance to help my family decorate our pontoon. This has got me thinking about the 4th and thought I would put together some vector images to share.

This is a great patriot example swatch of Color Burned- Stars & Stripes: Patriotic Brushes & Swatches
to download Statue of Liberty Vector free over at bitbox
to download Vecteezy has this great star for download

Here is a fun star set over at Vector Portal How to make a beveled star

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-27T06:58:00.001-07:00

Xavier Encinas has a great blog named Swiss Legacy a blog focused on typography, graphic design and inspirational matters.

This Ain't No Disco is a great inspirational blog for anyone interested in design.

Catalogs in the mail ARE going FSC

2009-05-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

I have talked about all the catalogs I get in my mailbox and how it is amazing how many huge companies are not fsc certifying their catalogs well in 2006 William Sonoma the parent company of Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Bed and Bath, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, west elm and Williams-Sonoma Home, decided that they would be using FSC certified paper for all 7 catalogs. (see full press release here) I just looked through a stash of Victoria Secrets catalogs from probably the last 2 years and what I found was in spring 2008 they had a recycle logo with 10% post consumer recycled paper.Other than that all the rest of the catalogs of Victoria Secret did not have any recycle logo or FSC certification. However, the most recent catalog is FSC certified with mixed sources. What I am wondering is were they just using FSC certified paper and not using a printer that was certified? Either way I am happy to see the FSC logo.

Check out this video on FSC and Pottery Barn Kids.

What is your favorite FSC paper?

2009-05-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Please comment below and let me know what your favorite FSC paper is, if you a need a list of which papers are available just check out the FSC. I will be compiling the results and letting you all know which paper you have chosen to be the favorite.

Thanks

Poll: How Much Time Do You Spend On Twitter Each Day?

2009-05-25T09:21:00.001-07:00

Poll: How Much Time Do You Spend On Twitter Each Day?

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GyPSii: all-in-one social networking for the iPhone

2009-05-25T07:56:00.001-07:00

GyPSii: all-in-one social networking for the iPhone

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Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-25T07:21:00.001-07:00

Graphic Design Blog

Minervity

Twitter's New Search Might Just Change Everything

2009-05-21T08:59:00.001-07:00

Big changes are in the works for Twitter and their realtime search features, says new Twitter VP of Operations Santosh Jayaram, changes that may spell the end of the status quo both for the microblogging platform in particular and the entire concept of organic searching in general.

Jayaram, who previously worked on Google's search quality team, spoke two weeks ago at a TIEcon 2009 preview conference about the changes Twitter is planning to implement to their search features, providing attendees with a compelling look at how the microblogging platform may rise up to challenge even Google in terms of indexing Web 2.0 content.

The most major change Jayaram spoke about concerns how Twitter indexes content. Until now, Twitter's realtime search feature has been limited to Tweets themselves; the content of each Tweet is indexed and searchable through Twitter's search engine. That, Jayaram says, is going to change - at an unspecified point in the near future, Twitter will begin crawling and indexing content linked from Tweets, not just the tweets themselves anymore.

Look out, Google - Twitter's got your number. The change to Twitter's search feature is huge, and it all boils down to analytical data, and the immense value that such information carries with it. Twitter's ability to track realtime trends already puts Google's to shame - and taking that ability off the twitter.com domain means that the microblogging platform is poised to become the internet's premiere Web 2.0 content index. Even the brief delay of a few hours in Google's search engine results represents eons in the hyperspeed context of the modern internet. Twitter can fill in that gap, and Jayaram provided us with some juicy details about how they're going to be doing that.

One of the ways that Twitter is going to increase the relevancy of its search engine is by introducing a Twitter "reputation" ranking system, says Jayaram. Currently, when searching a popular trending topic, or clicking its link on the Twitter sidebar, users are usually overwhelmed with a wealth of "hollow content" like retweets, comments, and so on. Twitter's reputation ranking system will change that by providing users with an authoritative view of trending topics and keywords on Twitter, instead of just flinging users into a chronological timeline.

That change alone will improve Twitter's search by leaps and bounds. I can't wait to find out more about when we can expect to see these changes implemented, and how Twitter plans to show users the data that it collects about off-site content.

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Cemetary Pix

2009-05-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

My Ink Blog is a great resource for everything including some great proofing solutions, which we can all use.

Blue Blots is a great all around resource for all types of design from toys to usb drives along with a bunch of free resources.

FSC Certified Furniture

2009-05-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

You have heard me talk a lot about FSC certification in the printing and paper industries, today I am going to share some great links for FSC certified furniture. It is really nice to see that companies are starting to make FSC certified furniture available and not just you eco friendly stores either. Target and Crate and Barrel are amongst the popular stores to have added assorted accessories and furniture to their lines. Eco-terrific has some amazing designs and are more than just FSC certified they use all organic products such as wool and other environmental things to provide you with an eco-friendly way of designing in the home. Naturally Durable has a great line of outdoor furniture, so if you are interested in helping out the environment there are more ways then just usining cloth bags for grocery shopping.

Daily Dose of Inspiration-Directories

2009-05-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

Looking for other twitter users like you? Check out Directory for Designers

Do you want to work faster? then check out these cheat sheets at Web Design Ledger

How to...use mustard to your advantage?

2009-05-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

If you have a burn apply French's mustard directly to the wound and use band aid to cover up. This helps with the immediate pain from a burn and helps heal quicker. The down side is you will have bright yellow fingers for a while but it is totally worth the mustard tattoo.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

Greg Verdino has a very resourceful blog with everything you need marketing and how to do it.

Logo Pond is a great inspiration when doing a logo.

Crookers the ultimate musical inspiration

2009-05-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

The Crookers are the ultimate duo from Italy spinning the best of records to groove out and do some design. I found this You Tube video called Cooking with Crookers. This was found while looking for inspiration for my husbands new cooking blog that I am trying to come up with a rad identity for. So please go check them out you won't regret it.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

I was just over at Ideas on Ideas and read this post and it is so so true.

Tutorial Blog is just that, you can find anything for mac, design, technology and advertising that you could ever want.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-12T05:53:00.001-07:00

Jacob Cass over at Just Creative Design has some fantastic posts.

Rashell and Leo over at Doodlage are very inspirational.

New Steampunk MMO Launches Golden Ticket Beta Promotion

2009-05-11T08:35:00.001-07:00

New Steampunk MMO Launches Golden Ticket Beta Promotion

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New Look What do you think?

2009-05-11T07:39:00.001-07:00

As you can see I did some updating to the look here at Hold the Onion Please, it now matches my twitter page. I would love to here your feedback. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Steampunk-Game

2009-05-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

Steampunk is a fantasy that is set in neo-victorian times and portrays how life would have progressed we had never moved passed steam. I love the dress especially but have found that the books that I like most are very steampunk. There is some great jewelry on etsy just put in steampunk in the search, alot of clocks and their parts are used to make different art as well.

I find that I am attrached to the gear like aspects as well as airships. I found this game Storm Winds and thought I would share it with you. It is a shooter game that you build up your weapons agains different armies that fly in. The artwork is definately a thumbs up.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

Ads of the World great for checking out new ideas and interesting concept, the blog is very informative and great content.

Brian Hoff over at the design cubicle rocks out some great posts a must for daily reading.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Design Outlaw a great resource for anything from free stuff to how to use twitter and much much more.

Design Moves Me is another great source for inspiration and different resources for designers.

Daily Dose of Inspiration-Tech and Must Read

2009-05-06T18:46:00.001-07:00

Creative Notes - Mac World
Designers Tool Box

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-05-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Randa Clay has many helpful things to share on her blog
Indesign Secrets pretty much speaks for itself

Good Weddings

2009-05-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well it is definitely wedding season 2 down (thus my scarce posts) and 1 to go. This wedding was fabulous, they we the most fantastic hosts I have ever seen out of bride and groom. They did a great job decorating and tying everything together and saved the money on a dj and just had an ipod, gotta love technology. Of course it was super awesome to see everyone, several I hadn't seen in a few years and a couple I hadn't seen in 10-12 years.

Paper-Energy and Emissions-What does it all mean?

2009-04-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

When you think about buying paper something else to think about is whether or not it is being produced using renewable energy. Most paper mills are claiming the use of "renewable energy", but what is that? Well, there are a couple of ways that companies can claim this, one is by purchasing green power directly from a renewable energy power plant and secondly by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) and lastly by generating their own renewable energy on site.

When companies directly purchase the renewable energy it is directly fed by green-power plants and if on the same grid, they can purchase directly from their utility. Most of these suppliers offer either a percentage of electricity usage or more commonly a fixed number of units or blocks of kilowatt-hours.

Renewable Energy Certificates are the most common way paper mills achieve the claim of green power. These certificates provide a subsidy to designated renewable energy sources, such as, solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass power plants and by doing this it will make them more competitive in the energy market and allow them to sell this energy at a more reasonable rate closer to local market rates. This encourages the use of renewable energy versus a less expensive fossil fuel or nuclear based power source that can be used as a long-term method of growing the renewable energy infrastructure.

There are a handful of paper mills that actually produce their own renewable energy on site, in most cases by hydroelectric generators. They use low-impact hydroelectric operations that preserve the flow of the river which allows continued fish migration due to maintaining the oxygen levels. This type of renewable energy is called on-site generation and the best part is it lowers the demand on the power grid.

Most companies are also reducing atmospheric carbon emissions by becoming carbon neutral. To achieve this you can lower carbon emission directly by lowering consumption and by promoting activities that aid the natural process of carbon reduction. Paper mills have been working toward preserving the wilderness near and around their plants to achieve carbon neutrality.

As you can see we as consumers demand a lot from our paper companies and they have risen to the top and continue to work towards a better cleaner future.

Daily Dose of Inspiration-the I've been slackin' edition

2009-04-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

So since I have been slackin' (and I have been because I have needed to get my bookmarks organized) I decided to beef up today's Daily dose of Inspiration.

Street Attack has a very energizing, inspiring blog that taps into various kinds of media and really gets you pumped.

Designers Who Blog ummmm who doesn't love it!

Emigre Fonts, I have always been a fan of Elliott Peter Earls great design examples.

A ridiculous amount of info at Logo Design Love.

Because you it's not always smooth sailing The Graphic Mac.

FSC-Info on Papers I like

2009-04-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

When I first started hearing about FSC certified paper there wasn't much of a choice for paper, it was nearly impossible to find a coated sheet that was FSC but now there is choice. Yesterday it was announced that Domtar have 4 additional paper mills that have received the FSC Certification. See article here. Since this is one of the largest manufacturers of paper in the US it is nice to see them taking the initiative more then 10 years ago and it has recognized them as leaders in sustainable growth. In fact they have earned the support of WWF-Canada and Rainforest Alliance.

This isn't the only paper company that is taking steps environmentally, almost all the other paper companies have been striving to be better in harmony with the earth in some way or another. For instance Mohawk joined the EPA's Climate Leaders program in 2007, they partnered up to develop greenhouse gas emission goals which offer customers a product that is carbon neutral throughout the paper making process. They were among one of the first to make paper from post consumer recycled fiber which has allowed them to provide customers with more choice in recycled papers and have found ways to make the paper brighter and whiter without the use of chlorine (a hazardous byproduct). Among the first paper mills to be FSC certified in 2002 and have operated using windpower since 2003 Mohawk is the leader in environmental friendly paper mills.

For coated papers we need to look at Sappi and Utopia. Both have various FSC certified coated papers which range from 10%-30% post consumer waste. Sappi belongs to American Forests and Paper Association, Confederation of European Paper Industries and Paper Manufacturers Association of South African making sure that are involved in industry associations within each major region they operate in. Utopia has a whole line dedicated to FSC-certified coated papers that have varying degrees of post consumer waste.

Monadnock has created A Field Guide: Eco-Friendly, Efficient and Effective Print that I think everyone who is buying print should have on their desk for reference. This handbook is to help us design eco friendly and has the definitions of anything you can imagine regarding the environment issues around printing. It covers such subjects as the chemicals used in the paper process to the inks and what is the best layout to produce the least amount of waste. This is a must have-download it here.

There are more paper companies not mentioned here that have working towards the same goals of keeping the environment sustainable.

Daily Dose of Inspiration

2009-04-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

These 2 sites are the first sites that I go to when designing something new, either for inspiration or to get some freebies. First Vecteezy, I love vectors and of course Bittbox I love the textures.