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james blake

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branding

my first boss (he was my PA) out of school is going out on his own (which he sort of did a few years ago when he opened a branch office out in the country).  he asked me to do his brand identity and it's been a nice break from... vacation, so to speak.  i miss "working"!

after doing one option i did three more just to be sure, but he went with the first one anyhow.  some background: tim has these ideas about having a different kind of practice - one where he takes on different roles like design/build depending on the client or just how things unfold.  i think he really wants to be dynamic and versatile.  and he's a talker!  i actually think he would be a fantastic professor.  so, with that in mind, it made sense to have a logo with two parts that interacted to make the whole.  using a "CA", these logos were made to either mimic each other or form an overall composition together.  in the first option, the forms seemed to take on a more organic architectural shaping in plan form whereas the other three are more like elevations mostly implied by a roof form.  my favorite turned out to be the third, but i'm ok with the first.




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ornaments


























by etta...with a little help
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five times the fun

just put these so-easy tags on - so excited to send this package to these 5 brothers and sisters!
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christmas in the making









1. kitty felt bag
2. kitty fleece scarf
3. panda purse
4. art / gardening apron
5. lettered shirt
6. fleece dog
7. painted robot shirt
8. painted robot shirt (back)
9. gift bags
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silhouettes


i made these silhouettes last night as some last minute christmas gifts to be shipped off to the east coast today. i traced a photo in corel, cut through the prints onto black paper and framed. cheapest, quickest christmas presents ever! it was pretty funny having a pile of little etta heads all over the table.
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ana dress


























made this jumper | dress yesterday for ana's 2nd birthday party today [she likes owls]. it was super simple - i will definitely be making some for etta. the pattern calls for facing the neckline front and back which was a little bit of a pain. i think next time i will just line the whole dress and make it reversible.

i used my buttonhole foot for the first time - i don't know why i have been scared of it for so long.
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crazy colors























i snapped these pics at the farm where we cut our tree. a lot of the stumps were painted this awesome light blue color for some reason and the paint made the growth rings really evident.  i wish i could have taken one home! and then there was this one tree that was practically neon green compared to the deep, dark green of the rest of the trees. i guess these caught my eye in the sea of red + green christmas-y things.
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stubborn works

Oscar and I went to the Crafty Wonderland show extravaganza today.  So much craft talent there.  I kind of whizzed through the place because I had someone in mind but wasn't seeing anything that I thought really suited her.  In my haste, I did see that your friend from Texture was there, but I failed to stop because I don't think Oscar was up for a reunion chat and I wasn't sure she'd remember me anyhow.  I did stop briefly at 3 stands.  One I bought a fun robot coverplate for Oscar's room.  Another I pondered over an adorable penguin family.  It was too cute.  Maybe next Christmas for etta ;).  The other one was this jewelry place that caught my eye immediately with an adorable little house pendant (not found on her site).  I wish I had 100-something dollars to burn in my pocket, but I didn't.  Here's a peek.  But of course she is an ex-architect.
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spinach pine nut tart pie.

oh and i finally made your mom's recipe for this this morning!  yumm
(my 9" tart pan was too small for all the yummies in this recipe, so i had to resort to a pie.  still good!)
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fused glass

it's 11:38pm and we've just gotten back from trevor's office christmas party.  (on my way to bed!)

i met his coworker's wife (for the second time), anne, who recently opened an etsy shop selling fused glass pendants.  it was great to hear about this new adventure for her and thought i'd share.. you know, cause that's what we do here :)

her shop is edie and osie and i think her pieces are nice, simple and modern.  plus she seems like a very sweet person.  maybe trevor will get me one someday (hint, hint).
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stereotypical christmas

alright.  so we got some holly from the folks at the farm where we got our christmas tree and i thought it would be nice to put it on the mantle.  somehow, bit by bit, our fireplace has turned almost exactly into the image in Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever under "holidays" - completely unintentionally.  maybe next year i'll be a little more creative.



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schoolhouse electric

cute new pendant from schoolhouse electric co. and designed by amy ruppel.
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paper wreath


























I made this paper poinsetta wreath [also a green holly one and white holly one] from a paper source kit as  gifts for the great-grandmas. It was pretty easy and fun - even Jay made one!
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portland timbers

normally i like to diss anything sports related so that trevor won't constantly pester me with sports logo, uniform, and stadium designs.  but the portland timbers (going mls next season) have peppered the city with billboards featuring local die-hard fans carrying some sort of (threatening) logging device. i love the concept and the execution with simple props, people and photography.
timbers promotional video

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penguin house

another project by Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects (had to post!!!)
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forms

love the simple forms in this project by Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects found on space invading.





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doll house


i've been looking at doll houses for etta's christmas present and came across some crazy cool ones. i feel as architects jay and i should really design and build a custom doll house for etta - but that is just never going to happen. the two houses pictured below - the villa sibli by sirch and the mod ply house are a bit out of our price range so we decided on this one from plan toys that was a little more budget friendly.... and colorful.  
image via fawn&forest
image via daddytypes















i also came across this pretty amazing mini modern doll house furniture at minimodernistas.





                              images via minimodernistas
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fabricut


i sat on a McGorgeous couch last night at book club. i think it was 8 feet long. apparently, she had the sofa recently reupholstered in a very reasonably priced ($20/yd-ish) tweedy fabric from fabricut (wholesale only). i just browsed a bit through their extensive collection and even though there's a lot of stuff to sift through, with prices like that, it might be worth the effort.
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kitty crayons

image via kittybblove on etsy


























how cute are these! i stumbled across them on etsy today. the creator, kittybabylove, is the featured seller. i was thinking of getting etta some chunky crayons for christmas - might have to get these. and they are made in portland!