wine labels for home vintners (mean hermit edition)

My "spirited" family is full of home brewers and vintners, a hobby many seem to have inherited from my grandpa. Late in life he developed an interest in making his own alcoholic concoctions; if you knew him, you know this was just one of the quirky and amazing things about him from a field of thousands.

This year my aunt and uncle made both wine and beer, and phoned in to ask me to do a little run of wine labels like I did a while back. I riffed off of the "Mean Old Hermit" sign that has hung on the gate of their rural property since time immemorial. This is what I came up with (the names here have been redacted for privacy):

A Google search turned up an old 1920s (copyright free) image of an old bootlegger simultaneously smoking a pipe, brandishing weapons and holding a liquor bottle. Perfect. I wasn't there to see my aunt and uncle open the package, but they tell me there was much laughter.

To make the two-toned sketched image, I used a very fine-lined drawing tool in Illustrator and, with my pen/stylus and drawing tablet in a separate layer, I drew over the highlights. When I was done, I dropped in the black background and added typography (fonts are 1942 Report, Rustic Regular {from Dover}, and Cavalcade).

Once I'd printed them out on label paper using my ink jet (because the local print shop took five days to return my e-mail), I gilded the 2012 using a gold paint pen and sprayed the labels with Mod Podge acrylic spray. I let them dry and air out for a couple of days before cutting them apart and packaging them up.

A note: I've been told by my aunt that labeling is done according to the year of the grapes, so 2012, not 2013, is the correct vintage in this case. The wine aged for a year before being given out as gifts.

I call the wine "house red" on the labels because the grape vines grow on the front of their house. Not accurate by wine industry standards, but not an issue for their friends and family.

I hope if you're a beginning Adobe Illustrator user, you can make sense of the above description of my process (specifically the part where I sketched over the image highlights). If not, and you're interested in learning more, drop me a note and let me know if I can make things clearer. Please remember to respect my copyrighted work (anything on this blog), but feel free to use any methods as a springboard for your own designs.

And if you want wine or beer labels of your own but don't want to learn a new program to design some, I freelance! Just contact me and I can work you up some wine labels of your very own for a really reasonable rate. Better yet, after an initial design fee, I can even send you digital files for five years worth of dated labels to print from.

Thanks for reading! 

all i need in my tool kit

Fig. 1

Maybe your kid is one of those who leaves stuff alone, but ours repeatedly kept tearing the foam guards off of the safety rail on his toddler bed.

Fig. 2

When hot glue continued to fail, I found some patterned duct tape (this one is Scotch brand), et voila! The foam stayed in place until we replaced the toddler bed with a twin-sized bed earlier this week.

Fig. 3

I purchased our jogging stroller used from a kids' consignment sale. All was in working order, but the foam grip on the handle bar was the worse for wear.

Fig. 4

A little patterned duct tape, and it's not only more functional, but also easier to spot in a crowd of strollers.

I'd offer tutorials, but I think you can figure out how to operate a roll of tape. These fixes are pretty quick, look kinda cute, and prove, once again, that duct tape has a million uses. Make that a million-and-two.

Thanks for reading! 

(p.s. Scotch didn't pay me or send me freebies to use their tape or write about it; if that were ever to happen, I believe in full disclosure. My tape came from Target. Which also didn't pay me.)

climbing structure for a climbing climber

I said my last post ended in a cliff-hanger; well, I guess this is more of a climbing wall than a cliff, but I'm going to pretend it counts.

My kid is an enigma. Climbing thrills him. And I mean climbing anything, from stacks of unstable patio chairs to the furniture I pulled out of the shed to donate, to crawling into the hammock or up a set of stairs or on top of the sail / awning on the top of his pirate sandbox. But slides: slides make him nervous most of the time. He'd rather clamber over a pile of something certain to shift than slide down a nice, safe playground slide any longer than 3 or 4 feet.

As a deterrent to climbing stacks of unsafe stuff, we decided to build him a climbing structure, something on the small side (so if the daredevil launches himself off the side, odds are he'll escape without serious injury) with steps of varying sizes and some climbing rocks. Also on our wish list was something we could fold up and store during the winter months. (There are enough tarps in our backyard at that time of year already, thanks.)

I found a similar structure on Pinterest before starting this project (and we used it to guide our design), but I apparently didn't actually pin it, and now I can't find it. If this was originally your idea, please send me a link!

As far as building one  goes, it's pretty straightforward. I will say, though, that we aren't professional builders of children's play equipment, and it's possible that something we've done here isn't up to current safety standards. We plan to be in the yard with him every time he's playing on it, so we're not too worried. Stay tuned for the end of this post, where I'll talk a little about things I have planned or might change later, FYI.

We bought cedar for this project rather than pressure-treated wood, to limit exposure to toxins.

We used: 

• six 8-foot 2x4s (cut to eleven 4-foot lengths and two 2-foot lengths)
• a 3x4-foot scrap of plywood
• a used set of three door hinges
• exterior paint
• a 4-pack of climbing rocks
• exterior screws in 3-inch and 2-inch lengths

As you can see in the photos, we have three vertical supports on each slope. On side 1 (the "ladder" side), we also have three full-length horizontal supports (4-feet long) and two 2-foot ladder supports. We left about a foot of space at the bottom, because the kiddo doesn't need a step there.

On side 2 (the "climbing rock" side), we have only one horizontal support at the top, and the painted plywood provides the rest of the support when attached directly below.

We made sure that the vertical supports on each side line up, so that we were able to attach it at the top with hinges.

Though probably not necessary in the grass, we used the leftover 4-foot 2x4 as a support to keep the structure solidly supported at the desired angle. You can see that support, and a hinge, in this next photo.

We still need to get the sander out to knock down some roughness and edges, and I think a top piece of some sort is going to be necessary for the gap at the top (the kiddo thinks it's funny to stick his leg in there. I do not), so that'll be happening soon. And maybe some stain for the cedar?

I'm also aware of the possibility that the 4.5-inch space between the ladder steps on side 1 might be too narrow, so it might get altered if we notice any issues with it. I'll do a future post with updates soon to let you see the FINAL final product.

We've also got our eye on one of those tire climbers, but we'll have to see if it fits into our plans. It looks really cool though, right?

So: what kind of crazy outdoor projects are you planning or working on? Here in the northwest, we've been spoiled with a ton of sunshine the past couple of weeks, so projects like this climbing structure and the arbor have been possible and necessary. Have you been having an early summer where you are, too?

Thanks for reading!

p.s. to make these photos larger, just click!

Linking up to:

Mop it Up Mondays

stenciled key nook make-over

Time for another Pinterest-inspired project! This one is a quick little project I got moving on thanks to a little boot in the rear from the winter edition of The Pinterest Challenge. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to the Challenge sponsors. If you happen to be here visiting from one of the sponsor blogs, welcome! Pull up a chair!

This time, I was looking for a stenciling idea for my little hallway key nook which used to be a phone nook, back in the day.

I found several neat stencil projects, but this one:



from A Sense of Design, is the one I decided to go with. Simple to replicate with household materials, elegant, and easily adaptable to a small space.

I scoured her blog for the reference image, but came up empty-handed, so I'm not really sure if it's original to A Sense of Design, or if there's a tutorial to go with it, or anything really, so I apologize if the pin is originally from a different source.

Without further adieu, here's a little before and after for y'all.

From non-descript little door-less cupboard . . .




to bright, cute little niche to hold keys, spare change, and cell phones.




A quatrefoil is a pretty easy little design to turn into a stencil. You can probably figure it out just by looking at this photo, but I'll drop a little tutorial on you after the image.




To make the stencils, cut out three identical squares. Leave one whole, and cut the other two in half. Round each of the four halves into an identical semi-circle, then attach to the whole square. Voila! Quatrefoil! Trace onto cardstock, then trace out about a half-inch border around it, and cut along that line. I eyeballed that part, but you could get fancy with rulers or a seam tracer.

Two coats of zero VOC primer. I used Dutch Boy Zero VOC Multiple Purpose Interior Primer/Sealer.




Start laying in the background color. I have been using two Dutch Boy colors (Gilded Shores and Honey Bear) on my living room and hallway walls. The background color in the cupboard is the darker of the two, Gilded Shores. The color is actually mixed in a paint called Acro Pure by Miller paint.




And here's the full base color with some very light stenciled pencil marks over the top.




This is a close-up of the pencil marks, since you really can't see them in that last photo.




And then I hand-painted inside the pencil lines, using a small paintbrush and Honey Bear.




You could do this differently. You could cut a large, multi-quatrefoil stencil and paint directly on the wall with the darker paint on top of the lighter paint (here's an instructional on that method on the Creative Chaos blog). I would recommend using waterproof stencil paper if you're going to try this method (I think she uses a commercial stencil in that tutorial). For me, working with such a small area, the time it would take to cut the stencil was more than doing it the other way.




And here it is, outfitted with the key rack (photo is courtesy my sister), some pieces from my wood type collection, and the copper piggy bank from my babyhood.




The key rack is attached using Command adhesive picture-hanging strips to minimize damage to the walls. But since I had those on hand, as well as all the other materials, this nifty make-over didn't count against our budget.

What do you think?




(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

Linking up to:

Young House Love, Bower Power, The Great Indoors, and Hi Sugarplum, who are all co-sponsoring the winter Pinterest Challenge! (I'm borrowing their graphic:)

pioneers of american industrial design stamps

I'm very fond of this recent stamp release from the USPS, featuring beautiful examples of industrial design.





The works and designers featured in this stamp set proved that form and function could be perfectly married, and the stamp set itself has a nice, clean, modern design.

Other reasons to pick up a few sheets for your holiday cards: they're great for using after the holidays, too; they're "Forever" stamps, so they'll cover the first class cost of mailing a letter indefinitely (stock up!); and they speak to a vintage design aesthetic that's very current, making them a great choice for designers' business mailings.



* I'm not compensated for my reviews of various design products; I just like to call attention to things I think are beautiful.

Photo credit: USPS. Photo is used here for the purpose of review, and links back to the purchase page for this stamp set.


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

Safe as Houses

I love our little house, and our green yard, and the art studio we've been building out back. I love the picket fence we put in the front and the privacy fence we put behind. I love the siding we're hanging over the old ugly ply board, and the new yellow color, and our plans for a red door. I love every little thing I've planted, everything we've built, and our work has transformed this place. Talking about leaving it is heart-breaking.

So I won't entertain those thoughts. For now we're here, safe as houses. And I'm planning on keeping it like that for some time to come.

Instead, I'll show you some cool stuff . . .

These are my next recycled book boards to be turned into ReBound handmade blank books. Some of these covers are over 100 years old, as you can see by the inside stamp on one: "Princeton Theological Seminary -- 1880".







I used to get sad thinking of these old books being taken apart, but it's really very democratic this way. They get scanned, reprinted, and sold to colleges, universities, seminaries, and churches all over the country. And now that I've found a use for some of the covers, I can sleep a little better.

Here are two I just finished. These are going up in the shop post haste. You can see they're not nearly as old as the upcoming batch, but they're still lovely, don't you think?




This first one is a sweet little thing. The binding came still attached at the spine, so I wrapped the case in this lovely vine-and-berries paper and gave a solid stab binding a bit of dressing up with some cross stitches.




And here's the second one. I used the same decorative paper for both of these, but the bindings are very different . . .




This is a coptic binding, something I'm getting better and better at not muffing up. Sometimes the stitches tear the paper, but my hands are becoming more sure of themselves, as you can begin to see. I think coptic bindings are rather elegant, and have the benefit of opening flat. It makes them perfect to use as sketchbooks or guest books.





And here is my last show-and-tell of the day: a skirt I made recently from some vintage fabric I found at the thrift store on half-price day. I think it looks rather 1950s, and I've been sewing enough recently that I was able to make it without using a pattern.




The buttons, which you can almost see here, are more bakelite, caramel colored coat buttons from that auction lot I picked up in Tennessee last spring. I'll edit in a close-up of the buttons later, as they're too lovely to ignore.





That's plenty for tonight. The two finished books I featured will be up on Etsy; but I'm keeping that skirt. ;)