Hot Off the Presses!

Check out some of my newest wares! I designed a poster series for Chautauqua Institution...a nearby vacation/resort/community/cultural center on the lake. The prints feature iconic landmarks from the Institution including the Amphitheater, the Athenaeum Hotel, the Miller Bell Tower, the Bestor Plaza fountain, the Hall of Philosophy, and the lake itself. Each 12x18 inch design is available in yellow, gray, green, or blue.



I think they are simple, but clean....in the best of ways! Hopefully their modern design will provide a fresh and appealing art option for the vacationers this summer. The Chautauqua Bookstore is stocking the prints and they are hot off the presses! It's an honor to have a real live brick-and-mortar store stocking my goods...hopefully they'll sell like hotcakes!



I've got the posters for sale in my Etsy store as well, so check them out if you are interested!

Vegetable Garden

Our garden is finally in and ready to produce! We planted a variety of vegetables and herbs a couple weeks ago, but now the fences are up and the plants are starting to grow. We're starting out simple with just one raised bed (12'x4') and we've got tomatoes, peppers, carrots, broccoli, beans, basil, cilantro, rosemary, and thyme. We maintained a garden for a few years in Chicago and it's rewarding now to know the plants we're working with by just looking at their leaves and to have a better sense of how to grow them.


When it comes to outdoor living, TK doesn't do anything half-hearted so the plants are now protected from deer and other pesky animals with a heavy fence that was built with love, plastic fencing, and two-by-fours.



There's not much that warms my heart more than seeing my boys working together on something and enjoying the outdoors. Here's hoping our garden is bountiful this season and that it will provide for many meals enjoying each other's company!

Johnson Made

One reason my blogging has been sparse (I know, that's a generous adjective) has been due to a job I got about two years ago. I started a new position at my organization as its Web Content Manager, and basically it means that I'm responsible for the text, timeliness, and content of their website. As a librarian, this has been a great match for me since I love organizing information. As a girl who grew up wanting to be an artist and as someone who's been into textile arts, the job has also exposed me to the art of web and graphic design.

My director/co-worker/friend Ben has been instrumental in mentoring me in my new-found interest and I can't thank him enough for his patience, willingness, and interest in showing me the ropes. He's an amazingly talented artist who is always curious about new techniques, knows solid design (but also when to "break the rules," and works his butt off.

Since starting my job and practicing this new "craft," I've also been doing freelance work on the side to bring home some extra bacon...Mama's got mouths to feed. I've also pursued my side-work to continuously learn more; "practice makes better" is what my mom always says, and I agree. I plan to share some of my work and the new things I'm learning here on the old blog too if you don't mind!

If you're interested in my work or need a website built, check out my portfolio and information here at Johnson Made...I'd love to hear from you!

Just My Type

Knowing of my growing appreciation for all things font, my friend Alli told me about a new book that she thought I might like...and like I did! I ordered a copy post-haste.

It's titled Just My Type: A Book About Fonts and it was written by Simon Garfield, a British journalist. If you loved Eats, Shoots & Leaves or were a fan of the documentary Helvetica, you're in for a treat.

Here's a review from Amazon:

Simon Garfield’s Just My Type presents an entertaining history of fonts, from font "pirating" dating back nearly as far as Gutenberg to the creation of Comic Sans and Ikea’s font-change controversy. With a variety of recent, news-making examples and font samples throughout, Just My Type explains how and why certain fonts can elicit emotions or gut-instinct reactions. Garfield’s humor and historical anecdotes add to his deep understanding of how something as simple as font choice can speak volumes about our cultural climate--and why it’s so easy to agonize over what font to use on a party invitation. Whether you’re already a font aficionado or can’t tell the difference between Times New Roman and Arial, this entertaining history will give you a greater appreciation of the typefaces that surround you every day.

DROOL...order your copy today!

Urban Farmer

Our church started a vegetable garden a few years ago, and it's raised hundreds of dollars for our Warming Center and other community efforts. It's also allowed many of us to get our hands dirty and learn a thing or two about growing food, city-slickers that we are.

I signed my city-mouse up to be on the garden team. I figure no one's too young to contribute once they're able and it would get us out in the sunshine!

So far, he's been a good farmer who loves to water the plants, eat the veggies, and play in the dirt. Sawyer's a huge fan of tomatoes, so he seems to find these mini ones particularly wonderful. Beans are a close second.

An interesting development in this year's garden has been the flourishing of seeds that we never planted, but that have risen out of soil that was from the church's compost bin. Peppers and gourds spring up all over the place that weren't planted. I mean, what the heck is this thing, a mellon? A cantaloupe? Whatever it is, it's massive and it's growing in our temperate garden unbeknownst to us.

I long for the day we have our own garden where we can sow and reap to our hearts content, but until then, this city plot will have to do!

Type.Face.Lift

I'm a huge fan of Scrabble. My mother-in-law and I discovered "Bananagrams" together and now have an standing tournament that will go on into infamy. Like I've said in the past, I'm a puzzle girl.

I'm also a font girl. I can't say it's to a level of snobbery or ridiculousness, but I've got my preferences and appreciations. When my friend Aune sent this info my way, two worlds collided! Puzzles and typography combined into one glorious amusement.

Check out the A1 Scrabble set, designed by Andrew Clifford Carpener. LOVE! I hope it will actually be available post-haste. It's when things like this come out that you just kick yourself for not having come up with the idea first.

Crib, Modified

Thank you all for your congratulations and encouragement. We're loving our sweet baby up and are having a blast being parents...he's a dream come true!

My genius carpenter husband made our baby boy a crib for his nursery which is quickly being decorated. We salvaged the sides and bottom from a crib we found on sale at Ikea for $50 and TK put together the sides to match the black-brown dresser/changing table we found at Ikea as well.

Now onto some wall art...

Jewish Coffee Cake

The holiday season brings with it an abundance of opportunities to bake and prepare delectable desserts for those you love (or work with)! My friend Celina and I had another baking extravaganza last night for a work party today. By popular demand I made the Pumpkin-Spiced Bundt Cake (recipe here), but Celina made these gems.

A family tradition, we altered the Camarillo's Jewish Coffee Cake and baked it in the form of mini-bundts. What could be cuter, I ask you!? We got carried away and doubled up the batch, so we had mama version of the minis. It seems there are many variations on Jewish Coffee Cake - all of which look delightful - but this one had chocolate chips and walnuts. In one's quest to make homemade baked goods that aren't dry and boring, this cake is a sure thing!


Camarillo Jewish Coffee Cake
Ingredients
2 sticks margarine
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 pint sour cream
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup diced walnuts

Directions
1. With electric mixer, combine margarine and eggs. In seperate bowl, combine sugar, vanilla, and sour cream. Cream box mixtures together.
2. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. After cooling, sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional).

Urban Farming

Excuse my absence friends... sometimes you just have writer's block and are generally uninspired, right?

Moving on. As part of our church's "Just Food" ministry, an urban vegetable garden has been installed in our back yard. Some friends, TK, and I have spent several weeks installing and caring for this living beast. Over a weekend, we leveled the ground, built raised beds, filled in soil, and planted a wide variety of veggies. The past weeks have been filled with rain, sun, and plant care. It's been amazing to see the garden come to life in such a short span of time.

We've planted herbs, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, beans, kale, broccoli, and more.

It's been about a month since we started planting and look at all the growth! While I haven't enjoyed the rainy weather we've experienced over the last few weeks, our plants are drinking it right up. It's amazing to watch as the sun does it's wonder on the earth. I'm particularly intrigued by broccoli. When you're used to getting food in a plastic bag from the grocery store, there's something magical about cultivating it with your own two hands and watching it become something from nothing.

Herbs, Glorious Herbs

Last summer when I grew some basil on my back porch, it astounded me. I loved being able to head out my back door and pick some fresh leaves whenever a recipe called for them. We made some killer pesto, a few memorable pasta dishes, and saved some cashola. One can buy herbs in the grocery store for around $2 to $4 for a bunch, or the same amount of hard earned dough can be spent on an entire plant. Not a tough call.

As Spring has finally graced us with its presence, I've opted to go beyond my love of basil and adopt some more herbs. My new babies include thyme, mint, chives, rosemary, parsley, cilantro, and basil.

Keep growing strong, my dears. I'm looking forward to a carefree summer of snatching you up whenever I wish. If anyone has some to-die-for summer recipes involving those mentioned above, I'm all ears, so speak up! I just want to cook, sew, and enjoy my deck all summer. Why oh why do I have a desk job?

Bring It On

Hello. My name is Sarah and I'm in love with my vacuum cleaner. We have a lot of hardwood floors in our house. I love them... I really do, but my trusty old broom and dustpan weren't cutting it for me anymore. In general, household cleaning fads and gimmicks don't take hold of me too easily and I like to stick with the basics. Pine-Sol, a bucket and a mop, Ajax, and vinegar have always done the trick. I don't care how good of a sweeper you are, unless you have mysterious powers, you just can't completely clean a messy floor with a broom.

Enter the Shark Stick Vac. Possibly the best $20 I've ever spent, and I'm not even kidding. This lightweight baby sucks it all up, no problem. I'd love to hear from someone who doesn't love this vacuum, because I don't think that they could possibly exist. It may look and sound cheap, but it is quality with a capital Q.

Bring on the dirt, sand, and pet hair, Springtime... the Johnson house is armed and waiting.

Laundry = FUN

If only I had this ol' gal's enthusiasm when doing laundry...

Carhartts for the (Stylish) Tradesman

I could probably devote an entire series of posts to the love and admiration TK and his best friend Andrew have for their Carhartts. Both of them are hard working tradesmen types who depend on the warmth and durability of their favorite pants. These clowns will find any excuse to stand outside in the cold so that they can experience how well their insulated "bibs" work at keeping them at an optimal temperature.

My guess is that most men who wear Carhartts (or other durable work-wear) are satisfied with the cut and fit of Carhartt's offerings - Traditional, Relaxed, and Loose Fit. Not my man. He's a little more of the Bootcut sort. Comfort, durability, and style should not be underestimated when remodeling kitchens and bathrooms.

Enter my sewing machine and some $6.99/yard duct fabric. A goal of mine this year is to tackle any and all sewing opportunities that come my way so that I can hone my skills and broaden my repertoire. Here are the new and improved Bootcut Fit Carhartts ready for anything contracting can throw at them.