1.31.2010

Love is in the air!

Last night, two of my very favourite people got engaged. I wanted to do something special for them to celebrate the beginning of their new family!

Di, Mike and Elliot - cheers to a wonderful and bright future, filled with love, beauty, music and laughter! xoxoxoxox

All elements of this illustration were drawn by me and converted in illustrator into vector artwork)

1.30.2010

Sew, what's new?

Tea towels. Have you ever noticed that they have a habit of walking away? Or being used for very un-teatowel like purposes? That's the drill at my house.

So, at Christmas, I was, like the domestic goddess I am, admiring my Grandma's tea towels. Someone had crocheted (or knitted - what's the dif - I don't know) edges on her tea towels so they hooked around handles and, with a button, secured themselves there.

Although a button requires pre-school dexterity, I thought this was a genius solution to the missing tea towel epidemic at my house. (Although, to be perfectly honest, theGuy is pretty good at leaving them alone.) I made a comment to my lovely Aunt, who said that she was the one who crocheted this marvel of modern(?) technology. I expressed my enthusiasm.

TheGuy and I came home the other day to a package from my Aunt. Inside were four of tea towels she had crocheted just for us! And let me tell you - they haven't left the oven handle since!

So this was a Thank You to my Aunt Ninny. I wish that it had scanned better - it looks so much more awesome in my sketchbook! But what're you going to do!? 

:)

1.28.2010

Comfort Food


Two nights of asian food - two nights of wonton soup. Yes, overkill on the All-You-Can-Eat front, but there's something special about sharing conversations over a good meal.  

Becky, you make my wonton soup smile at me! 

1.26.2010

Oh brother!



Tomorrow is my little brother's 23rd birthday.

TWENTY THIRD! 

The creepy part of that is that I remember changing his diaper! How is my little brother already 23?


So - since tonight was a bit of a brain fart as far as design goes, I figured I'd use my saved inspiration for tomorrow, today, and then it can be up for his entire birthday (hopefully encouraging people to buy him presents!)

Dan's really pretty awesome. He's in a band; he plays guitar. He came over once to kill a house centipede; he's nice. Key elements to ruling, in my book!

Happy Birthday, Dan-Dan the Diving Man.

1.25.2010

Stick it to 'em



Although I'm pretty sure I've now officially ensured myself a place in geekdom forever, I'm also sure that I'll be in good company.

If you know what this is about - then you're a part of the club! If not, well, this reference will have completely no meaning on you, and I'm not sure if I should divulge this secret with you...

Okay, "Mr Pointy" is a reference from the final episode of Season Two - Buffy the Vampire Slayer. NOT that I have every episode memorized; I happened to watch those two episodes tonight, and that's what inspired me today!

Self-appointed nerd. Yep.

All elements drawn by hand, scanned, and converted to vector in Illustrator. Typgoraphy based on the font used in the Buffy logo

Inspiration

Good afternoon!
I found a great website this morning that has probably been discovered a thousand times over, but I thought I'd throw a link up here for anyone who is looking for business card inspiration, or just inspiration in general!

Oh, to get the clients who understand how valuable die-cuts and interesting paper stocks can be... check out the Cardonizer for shots of some really awesome and unique business cards!

1.24.2010

Bird Lady


I'm a bird lady.

I wasn't always a bird lady, but my sweet little budgie, Cosmo, has certainly won my heart. There is something to be said about coming home after a long day at work and being able to speak to a little pal, without feeling like you're crazy.

Really - imagine walking home and talking to your television.
"Hey, sweetie! How was your day? I'm so glad to be home!"

Wouldn't be the same.

So, today's daily design is dedicated to my sweet Cosmo, who happily serenaded me as I made this picture.
All elements of this illustration were created by me.

1.23.2010

Computer Error...

Sometimes I wonder why we are constantly creating faster computers, better tvs, quicker and more convenient everything. Will it ever be enough? Then, on Thursday, I started this design challenge.

I was working on a monster of a file in photoshop, airbrushing artwork that ended up being 16 feet long. Files that big are very hard on your computer. Saving the file, opening the file, altering the file.. all of these things meant I had to stare at the progress bar as it hung up my machine and took it's time performing the task at hand. So, I started this challenge.

Inspired by Marian Bantjes, my favourite typographer, it reads:

"When my computer is this slow I can hear my hair turning grey."

Y'all feelin' me? :)

Love, the spice of life.

TheGuy and I went to Crabby Joe's on Frederick Street last night. It was delicious.

They have crayons and paper on the table, which is always awesome for me, but not always so awesome for theGuy, as I get totally distracted by colouring and less conversational.

I was inspired by the salt and pepper on the table and drew this little cartoon. The lighting was low, and it was hard to get a shot, but it reads:

Pepper: "I'd like a pinch of you, baby."
Salt: "You're so dashing."

Love: The spice of life.

:)


1.21.2010

Decisions, decisions


I left my daily design challenge at work today, but I wanted to do something anyway. Today is one of those days where there is tons running through my head, so I came up with this type exercise tonight (instead of going to bed early - which is really what I should have done, seeing as I can't seem to shut my brain off when bed time hits!). Decisions, decisions. Ah.. how to play this game of life?

1.20.2010

The World Wide Web


Getting back into web land today - I set myself up with an online portfolio. That was today's daily design challenge :) I had help from theGuy making this graphic!

http://shownd.com/Patti

Enjoy!

1.18.2010

Winter Blues


Had a quasi-date-night with theGuy tonight, so I decided to do a little doodle while watching Buffy, and this is what I made.

Are you dealing with the Winter Blues? The summer seems so far away! I can't wait to go outside and feel the lightness of flip flops - instead of being bundled up.

I feel like a child in a snowsuit once I head out for my walk home in hat, scarf, coat, gloves, sweater, cardigan, shirt, two tank tops, two pairs of socks and leg warmers. For real. That's what I wear.

Oh Canada, how I love thee. But maybe we could have a couple extra months of summer this year? Pretty please?

1.17.2010

I pity the Fool


Today was a chill day after a crazy busy week. It made me think about how much I'd love to have more moula kickin' around.. take a vacation somewhere or just treat myself to something SUPER awesome and amazing. Then I thought.. hmm.. money would be so much more rad if it sported Mr. T's mug, don't you think?

I'd totally take my paycheques in quarters!


1.16.2010

Miss Pink


My lovely and adorable friend, who goes by "Miss Pink" in cyberland, celebrated her 30th birthday on Thursday! Wow! So, since theGuy and I were away, and we're all celebrating it tonight, I thought she would be the perfect inspiration for today's challenge!

Happy 30th, Miss Pink! Love you!!!

1.14.2010

Pause


Unfortunately, I have to put the design challenge on pause for a couple of days; theGuy and I have a family function and will be out of town.

I'm already excited to get back to work when we come home! See you soon!

1.13.2010

soar


Today was one of those days. I just wanted to hop in a balloon and float away for a while! It's just too bad I'm afraid of heights!

Drawn by hand and manipulated in photoshop.

1.12.2010

Absence makes the heart grow fonder


My daily design challenge for yesterday; a little drawing to let my brother from another mother know that I  miss him and am thinking of him as he serves his tour in Afghanistan. I never thought I would be a part of a military family, or one with any militant affiliations. But here I am, doing my  best to support theGuy's brother in all his endeavors and having my eyes opened to the reality that is life in Afghanistan for so many innocent civillians.

I don't believe in violence and I don't believe in war - but unfortunately, I'm not the one making the decisions for the world - so I support those brave people who will be proactive to help souls they have never met and may never meet.

Miss you, Greggie. Come home in one piece!

1.11.2010

Boogers.


Has anyone ever noticed how much it sucks to be sick?

I have avoided this Germy character so far this season, but it's all around me. Hovering, attempting to seduce my body into letting it in. I see friends and co-workers coughing and sniffling and look at them with sympathy.. and suspicion. Don't come too near me. No need to infect me, really. I start to break into cold chills at the thought of using the phone at work, typing on a keyboard, touching doorknobs. So I imagine the germs as one fine germ named Germy, a sultry yet lazy germ who understands that it's just not my type.

It's not you, it's me.

Illustration and typography by Yours Truly

1.10.2010

"I'm going to the Jersey Shore, b!tch!"


I am hooked on MTV's reality tv show, Jersey Shore. If you have missed out on seeing this hilarious show that follows guidos and guidettes in their summer in a Shore House on the Jersey Shore, you are missing one the first pop culture smashes of the decade!

If you want to learn a little more about it, check out Conan's Introduction of two of my favourite cast members!!

Oh, hilarity. These are people you have to watch - in the beginning the tanning beds that one member owns in his house to keep "fresh", seems a little overkill - but as you watch this show, you begin to love each one of these tanned, polished and gelled Italians!

Hope you like my artwork for today's daily design challenge, all elements were hand-drawn by myself, scanned in and redrawn in illustrator. I really need a wacom tablet!

Wow!


Went out for sushi with friends last night and was once again stunned by the awesomeness that is sushi. I could think of only one word after that delicious meal, so this is what I made!

1.05.2010

Music to my Ears


I am so totally cheating - I made this before Christmas! tsk tsk!
Okay. So I'm trying something new here; a different blog editor. We'll have to see how it goes.

Either way, I totally cheated today - I've got some other stuff in the works so the daily design challenge for today rests in the scribbles in my notebook at work. But here's a little something I did - and a show you should really go see!

Rich Burnett is a super talented musician. His voice is warm and clear; his music is calming and beautiful. This poster was created for the CD release party he is having with the talented Michael Holt. I'm hoping to do more work for them in the future; normally I wouldn't want there to be quite so much copy, cd artwork and two photos - but, you know how it is - it's all about making the client happy! So this is what I came up with the merge the two different types of music in an organized kind of way.

And have you seen the featured guests? Lots of talent there!
Happy Tuesday! Wish it was Friday... it's going to be a long week!

Hungry, Hungry, I am hungry. Table, table, here I come!



So, there was a lack of a post on Sunday .. I was busy being creative all day, however, I can't share the fruits of my labour with you because it was a risque, top secret project for a friend (I live vicariously through them)! I thought that instead I would pop these menus up here! Simple black and white menus for Marbles Restaurant in Waterloo, I created these for the kiddies to doodle on - with a huge amount of freedom - this was my favourite project, ever.

When I was a kid, I LOVED these kinds of menus (who am I kidding? I still do!). On days of particularly slow service, I just HAD to colour in every. single. component. of the menu. So, using my memories as a guideline, I made these menus so there was as much colouring area as possible!

All content was illustrated by me - the font, however, is a great font called "Hrawolam", downloadable at Dafont.com, my favourite place to go for fonts!

Bon Appetite!

1.04.2010

JUST EAT IT!!!



We have a few little, ahem, pets that have decided to make our home theirs as well.

Mice. Blech. I knew that Mice were something that accompanied old homes, but I always thought that they only lived in dirty places. I have since learned that this is not true!

After an evening of vacuuming every nook and cranny, sealing all of our food in rubbermaid containers and setting a wide variety of traps, the mice thought they would prance around the house, while I hid in terror. Home alone.

I finally came up with (other) logical explanations for the occasional creak in the house (GHOSTS!) and drifted to sleep at one in the morning last night - waking up, ten minutes later, to a horrifying SNAP! Bang! Bang! It sounded like someone had tap shoes on in the studio. Terrified and home alone, I texted theGuy in horror - hiding myself in my tightly tucked covers. Half an hour later, he came home. (MY HERO!)

One of the mousetraps was gone.

We caught a mouse. By the tail. He managed to get across the room, but in the end we (okay.. theGuy... I was still hiding) were able to get him and take him away to release him miles from home.

This morning, I saw another one. These little jerks have gotten too smart. It doesn't matter that we have FIVE MILLION TRAPS - they just do a little dance routine around them. I know it. In tutus. They're cute when they're held hostage, but not as a dark smudge that streaks across the room - leaving one's very imaginative mind to add fangs and bloodshot eyes and foam.

So today's daily design challenge is a drawing I made in illustrator.. my lovely levels of exhaustion leaves me unable to focus on anything other than the RODENTS who are tormenting my poor budgie!

Enjoy! :)

1.02.2010

Flashy!

I dabble in photography.

I dabble in most things artsy, really - doesn't mean that I'm more than an amateur, but it keeps me happy! This year, the Guy was kind enough to hook me up with a flash for my camera! I love it, the diffusers I got are also pure genius, and, if nothing else, the appearance of them will surely mean I can get up to the front of any concerts I'm attending - people will think this amateur is a pro! Works for me!

Today I spent the day unloading camera cards (I'm usually so on the ball with that but not the point and shoot I hijack from the Guy occasionally!), so there wasn't much time for creativity beyond colour correcting and resizing/cropping! However, I do have some photos that are pre-flash I would like to share. This Christmas, we got to spend some time with our wonderful niece, and she is quit the little model! (I think everyone thinks that about their little loved ones!). So here are some of my favourite shots, taken with my Canon Rebel - the ORIGINAL (6.3 MP did at one time seem RIDICULOUS!). Hope you like 'em, too!




All dressed up and ready for Christmas!


Little L found The UncleGuy's nose!


Time for a break - this Christmas business is exhausting! Don't we all know it!


So, signing off for now - hope you enjoy!

Daily Design Challenge Entry One



Well, it isn't much - but on my first day of my design challenge, I thought I'd make a little graffiti art on facebook for my sister who I didn't get to see for New Years. Now, for anyone who isn't familiar with the graffiti concept, it's basically like paint - you have a colour pallete, limited brush sizes and opacity that you can adjust - and that's about all.

So this is my version of a sparkler - very computery, I know, but something fun - got the ball rolling!!


Note to self - invest in a wacom tablet.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope your resolutions are all met!