Help for whatever ails you

It's Friday, so let's bring your productivity to a screeching halt with Help I Need Help. Along with pharmaceutical remedies in innovative packaging, they also provide hilarious help for your non-physical ailments. Last week I mentioned the site on Twitter, and the kind folks of @HelpRemedies immediately asked whether I suffered from any maladies they hadn't already addressed. I fear confrontation, I truthfully replied. So they created this exercise to fix me. The more you click, the harder you'll laugh. I'm now happy to report that I no longer dread run-ins with animated, shirtless men.

Glass etching with a punched pattern

An easy glass etching project on a cheap vase from IKEA.

On a piece of self-adhesive contact paper, punch holes in columns. Then with a scissors, cut out little lines to connect them.

Pull the backing off the contact paper and stick the design to the vase. (No transfer paper needed for this one, unlike my other ill-fated project.) Then glop on some glass etching cream. I used Armour Etch, available at most craft stores.

Let the vase sit for the time recommended on the bottle, about 5 minutes. Then rinse off the cream and remove the stencil. Your vase will now be fancy.

Fabric sighting at Target

Hey, there's my fabric at Target on a slipper chair! A fun surprise.

Free font: League Script #1

The League of Moveable Type has made League Script #1 available as a free download. I think my early cursive penmanship looked very much like this before it all went to pot.

Quiz: Find your color personality

Real Simple offers this quiz to determine what your color choices say about you. Unfortunately I ended up a "water personality" who is supposed to decorate with blue because I am "steadfast and sympathetic." Crud. Guess I should aim for flighty and insensitive next time.

Bag, apron and tape tutorials

What are you doing this weekend? Cleaning your bathroom? You'd better cancel those plans and try one of these tutorials for making something pretty with fabric.

Apron tutorial by the ladies of Ink & Spindle, featured on The Crafts Dept.
Blossom bag pattern from Amy Butler's Style Stitches book, provided by Sew Mama Sew
Fabric tape tutorial by Simply Modern Mom
Diaper bag instructions at Warehouse Fabrics

DIY heat transfer tote

Still experimenting with my Silhouette digital cutter, I tried out some heat transfer material that came with the machine. The result is this tote. I cut my own design from Adobe Illustrator, which went beautifully.

When it came to ironing the pieces onto the bag, I had a little trouble. Though you can't see it in the photo, some little bits of the black shapes aren't quite stuck down all the way on the tote. Maybe I can go back and fix that somehow, but I'm not optimistic. It was a big struggle to get them to adhere to such coarse canvas, so I'd recommend ironing this stuff onto something smoother. I had a wrestling match with my iron and the tote bag. We had to roll around on the ground in a fist fight with some sweating and cursing, but I won. Mostly.

Nifty orange craft supplies

Awhile back I prepared a little guest post for Whip Up with a collection of delectable office and craft supplies. I see it's up today, so click over there if any of these goodies look like something you can't live without.

I screen printed

My weekend included an afternoon of screen printing with The Needle Shop's Rachel Epperson and friends. Check out my lightning bolt t-shirt, one of Krissy Callahan's designs. Shazam! Krissy is the kind, fun, and very patient screen printing teacher at the shop who helped us create our masterpieces. I highly recommend taking the screen printing class over there; you can make loads of things in just a few hours. Do up totes and scarves and stacks of t-shirts... Presents for everyone you know! Including yourself.

A flower makes everything better

Note to self: when wrapping a gift with a weird shape, it doesn't matter how strange the package looks. Slap a flower on it and people will like it. Paper flower tutorial here.

Who are the Little Twin Stars?

The Little Twin Stars are a pair of angelic characters introduced by Sanrio in the 1970s. Kiki (boy) & Lala (girl) enjoyed popularity throughout the eighties, but unfortunately have since become characters of Sanrio's golden past. While they have popped up every now and then, finding Little Twin Stars merchandise proved to be a lost cause. However, Sanrio has resurrected their dreamy vintage characters as of 2010, and the twins have been featured on tons of new merchandise, including their own fragrance! I have yet to try it, but it's definitely on my wish list!

Because the characters have been out of the spotlight for so long, if you do happen to find merchandise featuring the twins prior to 2010... it can cost you an arm and a leg. Sanrio hasn't stated whether or not the celestial duo are here to stay, or if they are simply making another one of their brief cameo appearances. Either way, everyone here at sassyNpunk is ecstatic to see them return and want our fans to get in on the excitement! We have stocked up on several Little Twin Stars items in our store which can be purchased through our official website, and we are hoping to get even more in soon. These items won't be available long, and if history repeats itself... getting yr hands on these goodies now would be a smart move ( hint hint!)

Bio: Kiki and Lala, the Little Twin Stars, were born on the Star of Compassion. With permission from Mother-Star and Father-Star they set out for a visit to Earth. Lala’s star wand led them on their journey. Ever since they arrived, the Little Twin Stars have been spreading happiness to everyone they meet.

Pantone branded folding chairs

A little graphic designerly eye candy for Friday: Judy alerted me to these Pantone folding chairs designed by Selab Studio for Seletti, just one more item in Pantone's ever-expanding product line. (Available at many retailers, including Heliotrope or Broadway Paper.) I love them dearly! Just one question: where's the orange?

Typewar: a font game

Kill a few minutes before lunch at Typewar by identifying the typeface for any given letter. If you know your fonts, you might get bored quickly since the two choices often look nothing alike and only a few typefaces are represented. Then again, an L in Helvetica Neue and Verdana look mighty similar... As you continue to advance through the levels, more fonts are unlocked.

Patterned desktops and printables from Mae

Mae, an Australian fabric decal company, offers printable wrapping papers and pretty pastel desktop wallpapers with calendars, free for the downloading. Help yourself right here.

DIY decorating with books

If you need a cheap decorating idea that will make you look smarter, check out these tutorials using books as wall art. You probably have a million books sitting around already. If not, hit up your nearest garage sale, rescue some from a dumpster, or take some from the stacks on the floor at my house.

Bookshelf made of books by McJulie-O (scroll down for how-to)
Upside down trick bookshelf by Fungus Amungus
Invisible bookshelf by May December Home that doesn't sacrifice any books, or one that does at Lifehacker
Book wall art at Paper n Stitch

Reverse image search with TinEye

TinEye is a reverse image search engine. Submit a picture, and TinEye will tell you where it's being used on the web. This could be very handy when you've saved an inspiring photo and can't remember where you found it. I tested it by searching for this photo of mine and found it on 24 sites. Interesting!

Now stocking Sourpuss brand goodies

The time has come for us to expand our horizons! From now on, sassyNpunk is not only going to be selling our own line of products, but we are now offering some of our favorite brand's goodies too! sassyNpunk has teamed up with Sourpuss Clothing to bring you the best in unusual and creepy finds. We thought we should add a dash of evil to our shelves, and Sourpuss has just the right amount of debauchery to balance out our pristine image ;)

They're bringing in Zombies, Pin Ups, Guns, knives & a whole lot of style! So be sure to visit our official website to check out all the new horror, along with your favorite sassyNpunk treats! Our ArtFire studio is still your primary source for sassyNpunk products, but we can only list items made by us on ArtFire! So if you want to get your hands on some other great brands along with ours, then you have to head over to www.sassyNpunkBoutique.com & navigate to our products page!

Making fabric iron-ons

My latest test with the Silhouette machine involved fabric. I ironed Heat'n Bond to the back of some thin cotton, held my breath, and ran it through the cutter. There were a couple places, mostly in corners, where the blade didn't quite cut all the way through, but it was easy to touch them up with a scissors. Then I ironed the shape onto a onesie. The machine will only cut through very light-weight fabrics, I think, and you'll likely need to apply some kind of backing or stiffener to them.

I ironed more fabric onto cardstock to make a matching notecard. The card had to be cut with a scissors since the Silhouette felt unhappy about slicing through fabric and cardstock together. That's okay. I don't want to be too demanding.

11/9/2010 Update: Just got this from the folks at Silhouette support: "Attempts to cut thicker materials or certain materials the Silhouette is not designed to cut that are more dense (such as shrink plastic, foam, chipboard) or fibrous in nature (such as fabric) may ruin the blade or result in the blade dulling very quickly." Um, okay. Sorry little blade. I won't cut fabric anymore.

1/31/2011 Update: Silhouette support now states it is possible to cut fabric using their new interfacing options. See here for more information.

How to make recycled paper flowers

I learned to make paper flowers a long time ago with directions from a library book. They don't require any adhesive, and there are just four shapes to cut out.

Use them to decorate gifts or make wreaths. I chopped up a fancy Urban Outfitters catalog for these.

You can make template pieces to trace around and then cut out the shapes with a scissors—what I used to do. But this seemed like a good test for the Silhouette cutter, so I recreated the pattern pieces in Illustrator on my Mac and commanded the machine to cut them for me. It took about fifteen seconds to cut the parts for one flower. Whoa. I shall never return to my primitive, scissors-wielding caveman ways.

If you'd like to download the PDF templates, get the large flower here and the small flower here.

[Cutting from Adobe Illustrator with the Silhouette currently requires a free plug-in called Cutting Master 2 that works with Illustrator 10 - CS5, available for Mac or PC.]

To make the flowers, do the following:

1. Score the back of each petal along the lines shown in pencil, above.

2. Pleat the petals along the scored lines, always folding in the same direction.

3. Fold the triangle portion of the stem in half lengthwise. Do this two more times until it reminds you of a toothpick.

4. Using a chopstick or skewer, roll the "flag" portion of the stem toward the "toothpick." This curl will form the center of the flower.

5. Curl the ends of each petal backward to give them shape.

6. With a skewer or sharp pencil, poke a hole in the center of each flower piece.

7.Thread the pieces onto the stem, from smallest to largest. Finished!

Playing with vinyl decals

One project I wanted to try with the Silhouette cutter was glass etching. I cut this design (Bone Stitch Border C00225_19547) on vinyl, then stuck the inner piece to this white vase to spice it up. Couldn't let that shape go to waste.

My real intention for the vinyl was to apply the leftover outline to a glass vase, paint in the spaces with etching cream, and peel off the vinyl to reveal the cool design on the vase. Cutting the vinyl went just fine, but then I hit a snag. Silhouette offers transfer paper intended to hold all your vinyl pieces in place while you position them. The idea is to stick it to the top side of the vinyl, then pull the backing off the vinyl. Adhere the design to your surface and pull the transfer paper off the front. All the vinyl pieces should remain attached to your surface.

Only they came up with the paper instead of sticking to the glass. My plans were foiled! Experienced transfer paper users, is there something I'm not understanding?

Free, customizable invitation sets for weddings and parties

At Invys.com, you can choose a stationery design and change the colors and fonts online to make it your own. The site is extremely easy to use—I tried it out—and you can download your files to print at home or have them printed for you. They offer a few free designs to try. Get an invitation set with pretty flourishes right here, or check out their Christmas and holiday cards right here.

Quiz: What's your color personality?

Better Homes and Gardens offers this quiz to help you decide what color to paint your walls based on your answers to eight questions. Apparently my color personality is green. Green? Though the description wasn't far off, this is still very disappointing. I bet it's because I chose to read memoirs of famous figures instead of romance novels about passionate encounters.

Orangify your computer

I'm starting off the week with a zesty dose of orange on my desktop. Get this abstract pastel drawing by Jennifer Gardner in computer wallpaper form right here.

Photo Sequence of a World Famous Road - Canada's Icefields Parkway

This is a photo sequence of one of the world's most scenic roads, a heavenly 230km along the continental divide of North America, passing majestic glaciers, brilliant turquoise lakes, and sweeping valleys cutting between the wild jagged peaks of the Canadian Rockies. If I have only one day to bring an friend from overseas to see the best of Canada, this would be my pick.

And it's not only my pick -- National Geographic has it listed among the 50 best drives in the world, as well as the Top 10 ski trips in the world; Lonely Planet ranks it among the world's top 10 cycling trips; UNESCO protects the entire surrounding area as a World Heritage Site. Welcome to Icefields Parkway.



0km from Jasper
Our journey started from the Jasper Townsite. Pictured is the Jasper Information Centre, one of the finest pieces of rustic Canadian architecture and a National Historic Site in itself. Constructed of cobblestones and timber nearly 100 years ago, the relatively small structure originally housed a plethora of park functions, including a fish hatchery in the basement. Most visitors no longer arrive at the rail station across the street, but the old building still serves as the town's most recognizable landmark.



31km from Jasper
The Athabasca Falls is the first of several major waterfalls and canyons along Icefields Parkway. Glacial water originating from the Columbia Icefield carves a narrow canyon through the soft limestone here to continue its way towards the Arctic Ocean.



Dramatic flowing lines were once scribed on these limestone walls by the mighty Athabasca River, which has since carved out a new channel underneath. A well-maintained trail now leads visitors through these passages, ending at the other side of the rocks with a sweeping view of the river valley.



55km from Jasper
A 15 minute drive to the south, the turbulent waters of the spectacular Sunwapta Falls plunges down another chasm and will eventually join the Athabasca River. Just below these waterfalls is the launch point of a Class 3 white water rafting course, a 2-hour journey costing less than CAD$100.



100km from Jasper
At the legal speed limit of 90km/h the entire drive from Jasper to Banff can theoretically be covered in less than four hours. It took us no less than eight -- and it was eight hours of breathtaking scenery and short hikes launching directly from the roadside. Pictured is a view of North America's continental divide from a roadside pullover with no name.



103km from Jasper
The 300-plus-metres-thick Columbia Icefield marks the boundary between Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. Directly accessible from the side of the highway is the Athabasca Glacier, one of the six toes of the icefield and the most visited glacier in North America. If you've come this far to the Canadian Rockies, don't miss the chance to set foot on the ice pack. Please see our Athabasca Glacier page for a quick glimpse of what you may see on a guided hike up the glacier.



160km from Jasper
A 40 minute drive into Banff National Park leads to yet another spectacular valley. The Mistaya River carves a winding path through stratified layers of limestone and creates a narrow slot canyon on its way towards Edmonton, and eventually the Hudson Bay.



175km from Jasper
At about 100km north of Banff the Icefields Parkway starts entering the heart of lake country. The pictured Lower Waterfowl Lake is just one of hundreds of lakes in the region, all endowed with the brilliant turquoise waters that made the Canadian Rockies famous.



182km from Jasper
This well-signposted trail starting from the roadside is one of the most popular short hikes in Canada -- which leads to one of the best viewpoints in Canada. We had to contend with hordes of multi-national tourists on the 20-minute hike, but the view, 300-metres above the brilliant Peyto Lake and its magical surroundings, alone makes visiting the Rockies worthwhile.



Aside from boasting one of the most breathtaking views in the Canadian Rockies, this viewpoint area, known as Bow Summit, is also famous as the highest point along the Icefields Parkway at 2,069m. Time your visit in July to September if possible, as the best and brightest colours are typically brought out by when summer's glacial melting peaks.



192km from Jasper
Yet another brilliant turquoise lake alongside the highway, Bow Lake is the source of the Bow River that flows through Banff and Calgary. This trademark opaqueness of blue and green is caused by what the local guides call "glacial rock flour," a suspension of microscopic clay particles filtering out part of the blue from the visible light spectrum.



232km from Jasper
At the southern end of the Icefields Parkway, the world famous Lake Louise and the classy Fairmont Chateau beckons with its well manicured garden and the unbeatable view of the Victoria Glacier across the lake. In better weather we would have loved a romantic excursion on the emerald-coloured lake in one of these bright red canoes, rentable for about CAD$45 per hour. Hiking up to the Lake Agnes Teahouse is also a popular option in good weather, but on this day we opted for the leisurely Lakeshore Trail.



248km from Jasper
A 16km turn-off from Lake Louise village leads to an unbelievably blue lake, mysteriously opaque and bright and gracefully set beneath a series of majestic peaks. The view of Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks is one of the most-photographed locations in all of Canada, with obvious reasons -- the lake really is as blue as pictured above, and it is well-known locally as the image on older $20 banknotes. Do not expect a serene mountain surrounding when taking your obligatory photo though, as we had to hike past hundreds of tourists to the top of the rockpile for this shot.



260km from Jasper
Although the "Icefields Parkway" designation officially ends at Lake Louise, the highway keeps pointing southeast for another 56km before finally reaching Banff. Visitors have a choice of 2 roads -- the newer, faster throughfare of Highway 1, or the old, winding and more scenic Highway 1A, also known as the Bow Valley Parkway. The Bow Valley Parkway is supposed to be one of the prime wildlife-viewing areas in the Canadian Rockies, but we saw nothing bigger than squirrels along this road. The best wildlife-viewing area on our trip IMHO was Maligne Lake Road in Jasper National Park.



288km from Jasper
Banff, the mother of all Canadian resorts, awaited at the finish of our 8-hour-drive through the magnificent mountain scenery above. This would serve as our homebase for exploring the surrounding area for the next three days.



What better way to celebrate a great alpine drive than warming our hands around a bubbling cheese fondue in Old World tradition? Fairmont Banff Springs hotel's German restaurant, the Waldhaus, featured an excellent Gruyere fondue with generous shavings of black truffles for CAD$56 for a two-person serving. The pungent flavors of truffles was heavenly to my tastebuds, though my wife found it to be somewhat overpowering. This was one of the three best meals on our 15-day trip.