The Wedgewood Friends

My friend Stacey gave me these fabulous vintage wood dolls. I fell in love with them instantly and named them. I decided they are all from a town called Wedgewood. Want to meet my new friends?



Eugene and Betty Hammerstone.




Paul Anderson




Dr. Pete Pointer, MD, and Nurse Lily Gray




Olivia Frub and Shanks the lamb

I think these new friends of mine will have some adventures.... stay tuned!

stewed logo

Stewed STL is a new podcast in St. Louis about food. It's the creation of 4 of my favorite foochebags, Andrew Mark Veety (Andrew Mark Veety .com), Kelli Best Oliver (South City Confidential, Food Blog Mafia), Bill Burge (STL Bites) and Mike Sweeney (STL Hops). It's basically these 4 opinionated and interesting people drinking and talking about what's going on in the local and national food scenes. They also have guests... local chef's, food writers, etc.

When they first asked me to design a logo for them, I really wasn't sure what Stewed STL was all about... up until then there had only been some teaser tweets. So in e-mail exchanges I got some more info from them... here are some of my favorite descriptions from them that I used when designing:

"Talkin' truth to food. Hardcore knowledge. Bitch slappin' idiots. Drinking beer. Hanging out with cooks and other food people. Lots of bullshittery. Epic shitstorm."

"For better or worse I kind of think of Stewed as a retarded cross between Charlie Rose and "Sports Shouting" from 30 Rock"

"fun, yet serious. Not "kiddie" but still maybe not taking itself totally serious."

These people are hilarious. But serious about food. When coming up with logo design options, I tried to convey a revolutionary, guerrilla kind of feel, but still keep it fun and new. The clenched fist is iconic... a great way to instantly make people think "revolution." It ended up in 2 of my final designs. Kitchen utensils were an obvious choice, too, though I used a beer mug in one because one of the big components of the show is booze. Here are the 3 options I ended up with for them to choose from:


They picked #2 unanimously. Is that what you would have gone with? I think it suits Stewed the best. Yes, the "grunge" is overplayed in design, but it is appropriate in this case... think graffiti artists... people with talent who have a message to get out there... that's Stewed STL in a nutshell! However they wanted to change out the beer mug to something more food related. I gave them 4 utensils to choose from.



Do you think they made the right choice with the fork? I think so. You use forks for both cooking AND eating... Stewed is not just a cooking show and not just a show about restaurants... they talk about it all. Boom. Fork.



This was a fun project with some very smart and talented friends. I'm glad they chose me to do the design. Enough about me... go listen to Stewed STL!

Previous design posts:
Gubenthal CD
Yellowtree Farm logo
So Much Closer CD

My design portfolio

covering: black betty

Ohhh Black Betty Blam-ba-lam! It's a catchy song. I can't blame all these different people for covering it. My favorite is Tom Jones, believe it or not. It's totally fantastic! But the rest are fun, too. Can't go wrong, it seems, with this classic song. (The wikipedia entry for Black Betty is very interesting... no one quite knows the exact origin or what the song is about.)

Tom Jones


Ministry



Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds



Leadbelly



Ram Jam



spiderbait

free printable mandalas; installment 3

It's been awhile since I've made mandalas for you guys to color (see this post and this post). Well, it's going to be a hot 3-day weekend. Maybe you can use some coloring therapy in the air conditioning? Here are 2 new mandalas for you to print and color (double click the picture to get the large size image). Enjoy! And if you do color them, take a photo and send it to me! I'll hang them on my fridge :)

Knuckles Handerson

This is my brother and I... and my little friend Knuckles Handerson. Knuckles is these 2 eyes attached by a ring. When you put it on your hand... instant adorable puppet! I got him when someone at work was cleaning out her desk and didn't want him anymore. So I rescued him, and now he goes on adventures with me. He even has a twitter account, @Knuckles_H. Knuckles Handerson adds an extra little bit of silliness to my life's adventures. A friend sent me this link... I look forward to making some friends for Knuckles!


Dinner in the front...


Knuckles fancies himself a bit of a lush. Here he samples some Missouri wine.


Zipline tour!


Cranking up water from an old-school well.


Knocking down pins.


Schafly brewery tour.


lost in Illinois.


Stay classy, Missouri!


Knuckles kind of box!


Cotton candy concrete.


Mmmmm... delicious St. Louis Arch. Nom.


Hiding in my purse. Sneaky.


put a cork innit!


Road trip!!


Moar road trip!


Knuckles' favorite band.


heh. bunghole.


Knuckes Hamburger?


Weed eater.


LOL!


Karaoke.


Moose Knuckles.


I swear I didn't do it!


Escape route for Knuckleheads.

mixed tape: see the world

My good friend Julie recently started a travel blog, My Roving I. Julie and her husband Scott are my heroes when it comes to traveling. They have been all over the world and I love seeing their photos and hearing their stories. Combine that love and knowledge for travel and excellent writing skills, and you have one fantastic blog.

Julie recently posted her travel playlist and invited us readers to make suggestions. Ya'll know I love me some themed mixes. Here are some songs I thought would make a good soundtrack for going around the world.

see the world, gomez


off the ground, citizen cope


all my days, alexi murdoch


feel the tide, mumford & sons


the world at large, modest mouse


brothers on a hotel bed, deathcab


snow is gone, josh ritter


whole wide world, wreckless eric


home by saturday, hayden


swim until you can't see land, frightened rabbit


still lost, the features


beautiful world, colin hay


the great unknown, damnwells


What would be on your "Jet-set" playlist?

default albums

I have my earbuds in my head a lot when I am on the computer, both at home and at work. Some days I cannot decide what I am in the mood for... that's when I listen to my "default albums." This is music I never get sick of... songs I have listened to over and over and over again. These are like the worn, faded jeans of my music collection. They always feel good and comfortable.

Beck, Sea Change





High Fidelity Soundtrack





Blind Melon, Blind Melon





Postal Service, Give Up





Niel Diamond, 12 Songs





Garden State Soundtrack





The Shins, Oh, Inverted World





Do you have default albums? What are they?