Blog | Page 16 of 17 | Alexandra Adams

July 31, 2015 — No Comments

Spending Summer at The Beach

Yesterday I got to visit The Beach, an installation in the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. Designed by Snarkitecture, a studio known for its monochromatic experiments with the blending of art and architecture, The Beach is an interactive and playful installation filled with nearly a million translucent plastic balls.

When we arrived at the exhibit on this Thursday afternoon, the line stretched to the sign claiming we had 30 minutes to wait, although the attendant at the ticket booth told us it would only be about 20. In actuality, we were probably only in line for about 10-15 minutes before we got to go inside.

The Beach is set up like–you guessed it–a beach, complete with beach chairs and umbrellas, and a snack bar stocked by Union Kitchen. Instead of water, obviously, the ocean is made up of the plastic balls, which gets deeper the further out you go. At the furthest point the balls are around 3-3.5 feet deep!

The installation is completely monochromatic (like much of Snarkitecture's work), with a mirrored wall at the very back, reflecting the sea and creating the illusion of even more expansiveness. You can walk along the pier, which runs through the center of the exhibit, and jump (or dive!) off a circular platform in the deepest end.

I was surprised by how fun it was to play in and how supported I felt while sitting up, as well as by how difficult it was to move around! It was definitely more of a workout than I thought it would be. It's also great for people-watching, as anyone and everyone of all ages was having a blast and taking pictures.

If you're near DC and you get the chance, definitely stop by to check it out! The exhibition runs through September 7.

Published by Alexandra Adams in Art, Exhibitions

July 10, 2015 — No Comments

DIY: Birthday Confetti Shaker Card

I recently discovered that nice greeting cards can cost up to $10 or more while scrambling to find a last minute gift for a friend's bridal shower (the gift I ordered didn't ship on time), something that made me resolve to make more cards and buy less! When you can make cards just as nice, why pay for that crazy upcharge, right? So our third (and my favorite) card this week is this confetti shaker card. It's fairly simple to make and fun to shake around! I can see this working well as a snowglobe in the winter, or a beach ball in the summer, or even with a family photo behind it.

You will need:

Cardstock
Paper CD envelopes (They sometimes come in colors, but unfortunately my store only had white. If you don't want a white card, feel free to paint/color/decorate yours.)
Confetti/Sequins/Glitter
Pens
Scissors/X-acto knife
Glue
Foam brush

First, trim your paper to the size of your CD envelopes, typically around 5".

Take your X-acto knife and carefully slice open the CD envelope to unfold it. You can also just tear it open, but I'm not skilled enough to do that without tearing the whole thing! Once you've unfolded it, trim the edges off so you're left with just the square with the cellophane.

Take another one of your CD envelopes (these usually come in packs of 100 or so, so you should be fine on extras) and lay it over your card, tracing the circle with a pencil or the unclicked edge of a pen, something that won't get ink on your paper, making a slight indentation.

Using this circle as a guide, write or draw your greeting within the circle to make sure it's visible. This is where you could also trim a photo or colored cardstock to fit, or anything else you want to be seen.

Put a small amount of glue on three of the sides and use your brush to spread it between the circle's edge and the edge of the square. Press it gently on the front of your card. Don't press too hard or you'll squish the glue out into the middle of the circle!

Let it dry and be patient! I was a little too eager to see the sequins in the card and ended up getting some of them stuck in the still-wet edges of the circle. I don't mind it, but it'll be more satisfying to see all of your pieces floating around in the card.

After it's dry, if the card and the envelope are different sizes, you can trim the card to make sure it's even.

Using the side left unglued, add in your confetti/sequins/glitter. I found that tissue paper confetti didn't work very well, because the static just made it stick to the cellophane. Sequins and other plastic confetti pieces work best, and glitter can add some nice dimension if you add it in.

Once you've added the pieces to the inside, squeeze in a little more glue along the top edge and seal it closed, again letting it dry. You can add some extra pieces of confetti to the outside edges, or decorate it further. Then have fun shaking the card to see all the confetti move!

Published by Alexandra Adams in DIY

July 9, 2015 — No Comments

DIY: Birthday Scratch Off Card + Free Printable

For our second DIY card this week, we're making personalized scratch off cards. These are perfect for anyone who you might not know what to get as a gift, but still want to give something personal. You'll be surprised how easy it is and how often you'll find a way to use it. The scratch off technique is useful for projects outside of birthday cards as well—you can make coupons or promotional materials for your business, a scratch-off map to mark places you've visited, gender reveal postcards, a lottery game for showers or other parties, and the list goes on!

You will need:

Happy Birthday printable cards (click to download)
Clear packing tape or contact paper
Dish Soap
Acrylic Paint (Any color will work, but use silver if you want it to look like a traditional scratch off)
Mixing container
Paintbrush
Pen
Scissors/X-acto knife

Print and cut out the printables and write your gift in the space.

Cut the tape/contact paper to fit the space for the scratch off. Don't worry if it's not precise, as long as it covers the writing it'll work.

Mix 2 parts acrylic paint to 1 part dish soap in a small container. Don't stir too forcefully or you'll get a ton of little bubbles and it can be hard to pop them all while painting.

Paint the mixture over the writing and let dry. It can take up to 3-4 layers for the writing to be completely covered, so be patient.

And that's it; you have your very own scratch off card!

Feel free to make an extra to try out–it's really fun; you'll want to scratch them all off yourself!

Published by Alexandra Adams in DIY, Printable

July 7, 2015 — No Comments

DIY: Banner Birthday Card

I've always loved making greeting cards for my friends and family (ask my mom—she's been the recipient of quite a few), because I love the personal touch a handmade card can have. But not all of us are impeccable handletterers or incredible illustrators, and sometimes making a card seems unnecessarily difficult. So this week, I'm going to show you three different greeting cards you can make yourself, without the need for any extravagant skills. I've left the cards relatively simple so you can add your own spin on things and give it even more of a personal touch.

Today's card is a dimensional banner birthday card, inspired by the bunting and banners that seem to rule over Pinterest these days.

You will need:

Cardstock
String
Pens and/or Markers
An X-acto knife and ruler (scissors would probably work just as well)
A bone folder (not necessary, but nice to have)
Some kind of adhesive–I used both a glue stick and double sided tape for this card
Colored construction paper

The first thing you'll want to do is trim your cardstock to the size you want your card to be, and use the bone folder to make sure the crease is nice and crisp.

Open the card, and approximately measure two pieces of string to the length it will stretch when the card is opened—be sure to leave enough slack for the banner to hang without being stretched straight across. Your two strings might be slightly different sizes, depending on the word length.

Cut a piece of construction paper the same length as the string and as wide as you want the banners to hang down. Mark with a pencil the width of each pennant, measuring to make sure you have room for all of the letters to fit across, then go back and measure the halfway point between each one. Do the same on the other side.

Using your X-acto and ruler, make diagonal cuts back and forth between the lines to cut triangular shaped pennants from the construction paper.

Repeat the steps for cutting the pennants with a different color, making them slightly larger than the ones you just cut. Cut twice as many triangles as you need for the letters.

Go ahead and just use a gluestick to attach the two sets together and write out Happy Birthday on the pennants (or whatever your greeting might be).

Flip over the lettered pennants, and use a small piece of double sided tape on the back. Try and keep it as close to the top as you can.

Use the other half of your pennants to lay out what the banner will look like, and stretch the string across them. This will be the back of your banner.

Attach the letter pennants to their matching backs, using the double sided tape to trap the string in between the layers of construction paper. Adding a back layer makes the banner more sturdy and ensures the string won't fall.

Tape the strings to the inside of your card.

You can hide the tape holding the strings by adding additional decorative elements. I cut out some petal shapes and used them as balloons for my birthday card, using the same construction paper I used for the banners.

Use your pens to add additional designs, like strings for the balloons.

I left the front of this card blank so the options are endless, whether you want to write the recipient's name really large, hint at the banner within, use some extra construction paper to just put a few balloons in the corner, or anything else you like. Don't forget to add a personal note on the inside!

Published by Alexandra Adams in DIY

July 4, 2015 — No Comments

Red, White, and Blue Done Right

It's the 4th of July, which means red white and blue are taking over every form of clothing and memorabilia you can think of. Unfortunately, most of what's out there isn't necessarily nice to look at. In an effort to combat the immense amount of bad design I've been seeing everywhere, I've put together a small list of well-designed American-themed items that you can use to celebrate our nation's birthday with a little more grace.

The 50 United Plates of America | A project that began on Kickstarter, each state is represented in a gorgeous porcelain dish measuring 12"–14" on its longest side. They also have options for a few other countries, including a complete United States.
Flag Football Game Set | If your family's half as competitive as mine, you know someone'll be breaking out this Crate & Barrel game by the end of the day.
Stars and Stripes Dishtowels | This set of two from Crate & Barrel uses familiar stars and stripes in a fresh, clean way.
Beeswax Star Candles | These DIY candles can be made out of any color and into any shape, which makes them a great project to use for virtually any occasion, not just July 4th.
US Made Ol' Glory 2015 | These Richer Poorer socks perhaps aren't the most understated, but they're well made in the USA, so how could you say no? (These Trespasser socks provide a more subtle red white and blue option.)
Stash Packaging | Okay, so this is student work, but the fresh take on the traditional red white and blue is a nice way to reference old barber shop iconography in this packaging for a razor supply brand.
Studded Star Authentic and Studded Stars Slip-On | These Vans bring the flag to your feet by incorporating the flag's star pattern in an unobtrusive way.

Published by Alexandra Adams in Products, Round Up

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