Day 33 : The Rich Lamas

An anagram is a type of word play. You take all the letters of a word and rearrange them to produce a new word or phrase. You can only use each letter once.

Here is a common example, William Shakespeare = I am a weakish speller

I came up with a few anagrams of my name, Rachael Smith. They are " I Harm Chalets", "The Rich Lamas",  and "Lace Ham Shirt".


I plan to illustrate one of them later. Perhaps the lace ham shirt.Or maybe I can make a lace ham shirt! Because that would be awesome.

Day 287: Make and anagram of your name and illustrate it in some way.

Falling Behind

So I'm a little sad to say that I have fallen behind on my daily projects. It really takes a lot of effort to drive an hour to work, work for eight hours, drive an hour home, make dinner, go to the gym, and make something everyday! Let alone do anything else. I'm really happy I made it one month and I am going to try my best to make something everyday for a year still. Even if I just make something every other day or every week I think I am doing really well. The thing I have learned most about this project is that it's good to push yourself and its fun to constantly think creatively. I have a whole slew of ideas for some larger scale projects and I feel much more motivated than I did before I started this little journey. Hopefully I'll have a new project up tonight. Until then wish me luck!

Day 32: A Nosh of Ganache

My little brother just graduated college. To celebrate the whole family got together for dinner and I made him a cake. A chocolate raspberry ganache cake! I've never made ganache before, but it's really easy. Just heat up some heavy cream and pour it over some chopped up chocolate and mix. That's it!

Here are some shots of the cake in progress.

Added a layer of raspberry jam

Day 31: Button, Button, who's got the button

I have a pretty large stash of buttons in my craft room. Using only the black and gray ones I made the letter "Q".

Day 30: Sci-fi Short

One more short story...ok maybe two. I couldn't decide which one I liked better.

4,000 light years away is a man with tiny shorts.

I also wrote this one.

The aliens have landed.
They brought cupcakes
and death rays!


Day 67: Write a ten-word science-fiction story.

Day 29: Love Short Story

I'm really getting into the idea of writing 10 word stories. It might turn into a side project. This one is 20, but it's still short and funny. 


Your hair smells like lilies.
Your eyes sparkle like the sea.
Whenever I think about you I have to pee.


Day 21: Write a 20-word love story.

Day 28: Embroidered Toe Shoes

Last year I started an Etsy shop, Lady Bear Crafts, selling embroidered cards, bookmarks, and tea towels. Since finding full time employment I haven't had much time to make things to sell. So I was super excited when I got a email from a friend asking for a custom card. His girlfriend is a ballet dancer and her birthday is coming up.

Day 207: Use paper like it was fabric. You can weave it or sew on it – what else?

Day 27: Murder Mystery

Bobbie's missing.
Think he's dead?
Yes.
Why?
Here's his head.

Day 319: Write a ten-word murder mystery.

Day 26: Dip & Dye

I've had a few plain white tea towels hanging around, so I decided to add a little color to them using the dip dye technique. I made four and despite getting some dye in a few places I didn't want to it went pretty well. I did end up dying my hand blue in the process, but it should come off eventually!

Day 80: Try Dyeing! Work with food or fabric dye.

Day 25: Bookmark

I whipped up this little fabric bookmark just so I could use my sewing machine. I kinda feel like it needs a ribbon coming out the top. Maybe I'll make a few more this weekend and see how it goes.

FYI: My photos the for the next few days may go down in quality. I had to switch to my point and shoot camera while my boyfriend uses the SLR for his own personal little project.

Day 237: Make a unique bookmark.

Day 24: Pixel Power

I played around in Adobe Illustrator today and made this. I never knew you could make a grid and paint in the squares with live paint in CS5. I felt like I was using Microsoft Paint like I use to when I was little and personal computers were new. Wow, that was over 12 years ago. Now I feel old.

Day 357: Make something look digital (jagged edges, pixels).

Day 23: Shamrock

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you all wore your green today and get a chance to enjoy a green beer or two!

Day 346: Make a repeating image by folding paper and cutting out the shape of an object or abstract pattern. Think of classic paper-doll chains and paper snowflakes as the inspiration for this one.

Day 22: Doodle-Do

Day 21: Spring Forward

My boyfriend got me a sewing machine for my birthday a few weeks ago. I finally broke it in today and made a curtain for my front door. It looks so much better than the towel I had hanging up.

 I have horrible lighting by my front door. This is the best shot I could get.

 Day 246: Use a sewing machine or needle and thread to make something.

Day 20: Up, Up, and Away

This idea just happened all on its own, which was nice. I love finding things in the unexpected. When I opened my can of cashews today the seal reminded me of a hot air balloon. I just ran with the idea from there.

Day 19: Twinkle Toes

Best photo shoot ever. I have never laughed so hard. Thanks to my wonderful cat. She is simply the best!

Day 18: Who doesn't love these...

Towel animals! Everyone I know who has been on a cruise talks about these cute, little towel animals in their room. I have never been on a cruise, but I would be giddy like a school girl if I come back from an excursion to find a monkey, cat, or elephant. They are so cute! I've always wanted to make one. So I thought I'd give it a shot. You should make one too!

Towel Elephant

Day 17: Framed

 

 Day 244: Make or buy a frame and use it to showcase something that already exists so people can see it in a new way.

Day 16: Bus Stop

My boyfriend started riding the bus to work recently. It's good for the environment, saves him a tone in gas money and gives him stories to tell. Like the other day he was complaining about how it really sucks sitting next to larger people on the bus. Mainly because there isn't much leg room and the seats are small. If you sit with a larger person you end up all squished and your thighs rub together. 

Day 33: Use pens as your material or inspiration. Draw with them or use them as construction or...

Day 15: Space Invader

Do you remember the video Space Invaders? You'd shoot little alien guys and hope to not get killed in the process. I loved that game, but I was never very good at it.

Space Invaders Video Game

I am however pretty good at making space invaders with Post It notes.

Day 14: It's in the Bag

Today I took on the challenge of making something with dots or circles. I chose to decorate a boring brown paper gift bag with a overlapping circle pattern.

Circle Pattern

Day 13: A Steamy Birthday

Photographing a steamed up mirror is tricky.

Day 108: Create something in the steam on a bathroom mirror or other steamed up surface.

Day 12: Rainbow

Day 362: Make a rainbow from everyday objects.

Day 11: Stapled Porcupine

I went through a lot of staples to make this porcupine. At first I was going to try to make him entirely out of staples, but once I started I quickly realized it wasn't going to work so well.

First Attempt

Day 10: Photoshop

I wasn't able to put in my full effort today. I think I got a touch of food poisoning last night or something and I haven't had much energy. I really didn't want to skip a daily project so I took a little time between naps and played in Photoshop.

I share my birthday with a friend, Susan. We are celebrating this weekend. With only one photo of us together I thought I'd create a second one to share with her. It's pretty creepy, but hilarious. Enjoy!

Day 9: Paper Calendar

I found the Curiosity website early this year. They have a monthly paper toy calendar released at the beginning  of every month. March is an umbrella for National Umbrella Month. I never knew March was National Umbrella Month, did you? February was a groundhog for Groundhog Day and January was a Yeti. They are really fun to assemble and I look forward to making them every month. 

March Calendar 

The Puddle reads 

In a city where rain falls like hella,

there's no choice but to have an umbrella

So get down in a huddle,

stand on top of a puddle,

and let your voice ring out acapella.

March and February Calendar

Day 8: Origami Elephant

I remember trying to make origami rings out of dollar bills in high school. It was always fun. Today I thought I'd try something a little more difficult, an elephant. You can give this a shot using the instructions I found here. Some parts are a little confusing, but if you reference the images it helps.

Day 15: What can you do with just a dollar?

Day 7: Rorschach Test

The Rorschach test is a psychological test in which patients are asked to describe what images they see in a set of inkblots. Their answers are analyzed and used to figure out what their emotional functions and personality characteristics are. You can take a test here or here if you are interested. I wouldn't take the results to seriously. I'm pretty sure both of these were not analyzed by real psychologists, but it's still fun.


I took a shot at making my own Rorschach tests and showed them to a few friends. Instead of the traditional black ink on white paper I went with white ink on brown paper. Only a couple of us really saw much of anything in the inkblots. A few of them are visually interesting though, so I might hang them up in my apartment.

Monster