Pillsbury Grands! Ole Opry or Country Music (Carla) Hall of Fame?

After I found out I was one of the 100 finalists in the 47th Pillsbury Bake-Off® contest, I got to work. Not practicing making my recipe for the competition, but creating art. I started with a technique I learned in Lilla Rogers online classes. First you do a little research and get warmed up drawing all things related to your topic. First NASHVILLE:

Then Pillsbury. I watched YouTube videos of the contest. 

What would the doughboy do in Nashville? 

Get a new country suit fitted by Manuel? 

Sing at the Ryman? At the contest party, I fed the band these song titles and they had a little fun with them.

My first draft was inspired by Minnie Pearl + Macy's Thanksgiving parade + Nashville.

My friends thought the balloon should be more doughboy-like. Respectful of trademarks and licensed characters, I decided the balloon would be me and my Pretzel Bites with my handlers. That made sense for a team shirt.

On the plane ride home I got another idea I wanted to explore. Top Chef finalist and The CHEW anchor Carla Hall was this year's host of the Bake-Off®. She added so much fun and excitement to the contest. Turns out, she's from Nashville so I began my artwork swap.

My plan was to make a normal thank you note. After hearing Carla and THE CHEW co-hosts discussing special greeting cards and creating a pop-up card on the show I got a BIG idea.

A thousand thanks to TEAM PILLSBURY and CARLA for a Bake-Off® well done!

Marjorie Turns 29. Again!

It had been on my TO-DO list for too long: Send Marjorie a birthday card. Send her some pictures from our Pillsbury Bake-Off® Alumni brunches. 

I did some sketches.

Then I made a dieline with my Silhouette software and the machine cut it out.

OOOPPPS. The lines were very straight and when I popped out the design it was not a solid piece. See below how the eyes are floating and the hair is all wrong on the right side.

Back to the drawing board. I re-did the dielines. Now the lines were curved and all are connected to each other.

And it's all one piece. 

I love the negative space left behind as much as the positive.

I made a couple more. Looks the the drama masks.

Looks just like her, right? 

She has a HUGE smile.

Now I can cross that off my TO-DO list. Happy 29th Marjorie!

Vera Makes a Bold Appearance

I visitied the Vera show at the Goldstein Gallery at the UofM's St. Paul Campus (my design school stompin' grounds). She created over 20,000 pieces in her career. Here are a few--all arfully displayed.

Purple walls made a stunning backdrop.

Incredible florals and color combinations.

Some were based on her travels.

I like how she invented her own icons.

Show runs through June 29, 2014.

Santa Can You Get Me a Silhouette Cameo?

In December, I visited my friend Jen to see her wonderful home. It's filled with wonderful collections--all artfully displayed. I could have taken a hundred more photos. 

You can follow Jen on instagram here or visit her blog here. 

She had a craft room filled with all kinds of neat tools, like the one that does the binding on this book.

I noticed this in her craft room and asked what it was. It's called a Silhouette Cameo diecutter. 

She gave me a quick demo. She pulled one of my drawings from my blog and uploaded it to the Cameo software.

Next she placed cardstock on a semi-sticky cutting mat and loaded it into the cutter.

After adjusting the blade and doing a test cut, it was ready to cut out my design. 

It makes really weird noises when it cuts. When it's done, you gently peel it from the mat. 

This took less than 10 minutes to do. I was super impressed. Santa?