Hiya.

I made this embroidery of Tim Gunn from Project Runway, because really, who doesn’t love Tim Gunn?

I don’t usually do this style of embroidery, but I wanted to try out some redwork. This outline portrait took about a fifth of the time it normally takes me to finish an embroidery, and I think it looks a lot more realistic.

-Sarah

“A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth.”
-John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)

Greetings,

I know I’ve gotten bad at this lately and I only manage to update once a month. I guess I have a ways to go before I become one of those people who become millionaires from blogging. Those people exist, right? All those infomercials at 2 A.M. can’t be made up; everyone in them is always wearing formalwear and drinking champagne next to their hot tubs. Surely TV would never lie to me!

Speaking of TV, here’s another TV-related embroidery. It’s of Tracy Morgan and Kenneth the page from 30 Rock, as Raphael’s angels. I totally love this show. Anyway…

There’s also four new backgrounds that I’ve made and added. I’m pretty fond of that floral even though it’s a little traditional.

Don’t forget to help out Haiti if you have the means.

Yours,
Sarah

Hiya.

I’ve added four new Christmas-colored backgrounds.

There’s also a new PDF of some printable gift tags. They’re free to print and use, though this new batch takes a little longer to load than might be expected. And don’t forget I’ve got plenty of free Christmas stationery, as well.

On a totally unrelated note, a while back I decided that I was going to create something arty and amazing using only MS Paint. For those who have never used this magical program, MS Paint is a horrible pixelly drawing tool that comes free on your PC. It’s also been around for a very long time (I remember running it on Windows 3.1) and unlike so much software, Paint never seems to improve with time. I was planning on making some kind of MS Paint masterpiece, but then I decided that life is probably too short for this crap so I’m going to post what I’ve already done and walk away.

(Clockwise from top left: Stephen Colbert, Shirley Manson, Audrey Tautou [in Amelie], Oprah, Salvador Dali, Marcello Mastroianni, Hugh Laurie [as Dr. House], and Rita Hayworth)

I’ve updated the links at the top of the site to include a link to my Spoonflower fabric shop. I get a small commission on the sale of any of my designs, and there’s 13 patterns available to choose from.

Happy Holidays!

-Sarah

For a while now I’ve been working on creating a CD cover and artwork for "Dead Man’s Music," a new album by Horse Operas. And now, finally, the CD is released and ready!

I guess you could call Horse Operas’s music "garage country,"’ but this Arizona-based indie band jumps genres and draws influences from rock, blues, and punk. You can check out the Horse Operas MySpace page for more info. Below you can listen to samples from the CD (my personal favorite is Heart Attack City):

You can buy the CD from CDBaby and iTunes. Also, I know it’s their album and they obviously did all the hard work, but how excited am I that something I drew shows up on iTunes? Thanks for the opportunity, guys!

-Sarah

Hiya!

I’ve added four new backgrounds to the site:

Also, there are two new fonts available to download. One is a 1940s movie throwback, and the other is a creepy looking typeface for Halloween.

Sooo… HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everybody!

-Sarah

Hello there.

It’s been a while since my last update, so I’m adding some extra stuff this time.

Right now California’s unemployment rate is the highest it’s been in 70 years. And so my latest wallpaper features a quote from a Woody Guthrie song written 72 years ago, back when the unemployment numbers were similar.
California is a garden of Eden, A paradise to live in or see; but believe it or not you won’t find it so hot if you ain’t got the do-re-mi.
On a personal note I’ve recently had some good news on the employment front, and my soul-crushing search for work has finally, thankfully, turned up with something. All the best to all those searching for work right now- it’s rough out there but don’t give up.

Also, there’s a lovely new wallpaper featuring birdies. And credit cards. This made more sense in my head than it does on screen but dammit I think I did a kick-ass job drawing those birds. (Is ‘kick-ass’ hyphenated? Does adding proper punctuation to swear words reduce the impact? DAMN IT I am such a nerd).

There are three new backgrounds available:

And now, finally, thanks to the magical wonder of a website called FontCapture, I figured out how to make my own fonts. I’ve been wanting to make fonts for years but I never knew how. So… without further ado, here’s four new typefaces in TrueType format:

All these fonts are free to download and use, even for commercial purposes.
That’s all for today. I’m working on another embroidery so hopefully that will be done soon. Ciao!

-Sarah

Hiya.

I’ve got four new backgrounds up, all in autumn colors:

Also one new wallpaper, this time illustrating some famous superstitions.

I was not a superstitious child. At age seven I intentionally walked under a ladder two times (14 years of bad luck) just to prove to myself that luck was not controlled by forces as arbitrary as construction equipment. Many years later I thought about that day, and figured that if I really did receive 14 years of bad luck then very soon the spell would expire. Somehow, magically, my life would improve in every way without this ‘ladder curse’ weighing me down.
The next day when I came home from school there was an abandoned ladder positioned directly over the only door to my apartment. Seems I’ve got seven more years of bad luck ahead, and I’m destined to live my life under ladders.

-Sarah

Hello there.

I’ve made two new wallpapers, up in a variety of sizes:

"Bad fortune ne’er should daunt me, for I am young and the world is wide"

I designed the above wallpaper to keep myself from getting too down lately. I’ve been spending my time applying fruitlessly for every job I can find. I can think of a few words to describe this economic recession, and most of them are plagiarized from George Carlin.

Proverbs from around the world

There’s also this wallpaper with proverbs. When searching them out for use here, I came across an interesting one from China: Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with an axe. I hope this doesn’t mean that 600 years ago in the Forbidden City some poor soul found this out the hard way.

I’ve added five new backgrounds, this time a very eclectic collection. I’ve got three collage-style backgrounds that I assembled out of junk mail and old magazines, a deco design in teal and orange, and a background listing some 1930s diner lingo.
To be fair I’ve never actually heard anyone use diner lingo in my entire life, but I’d love to hear the workers at McDonalds shout out "Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it" every time somebody wants a burger.

I’ve also uploaded 12 new iPhone wallpapers to Flickr.

You go, Glen Coco!

If you are Marketplace beta tester over at Spoonflower, you can now purchase a few of my designs as fabric. You can take a look at the designs available if you like, and when the Marketplace opens to all users you’ll be able to buy as many yards as you could ever need.

With love,
Sarah

Howdy.
I’ve made five new backgrounds. Take a look:

My computer is now six years old, which is pretty old for a desktop I suppose. It seems like I’ve put it through a lot of torture over the years (heavy usage, four moves, power outages, viruses, etc.) but it still manages to cling to life. I read somewhere on the internet (so it must be true) that the lifespan of the average desktop computer is three to five years, or (amazingly enough!) about the lifespan of a small tree frog.

The next time you buy a computer, buy a pet tree frog on the same day. Feed, care for, and love your tree frog, and when it dies of old age you will know it’s time to replace your hardware. YOU’RE WELCOME.

Love,
Sarah