Greetings!

I know I’ve been slacking a bit this month in updating, but I think this entry is going to more than make up for it! A few days ago the nice people over at All Modern contacted me about possibly holding a giveaway on my website. So of course I said yes because everyone loves free stuff, especially when it’s shiny and new and fabulous.

So let me introduce you to the ‘In the Mix’ Small Bowl Set, designed by notNeutral. It’s a set of four porcelain bowls with various black and white patterns on them. They’re modern, they’re practical (dishwasher and microwave safe) and they can brighten up any table setting. But best of all, if you are lucky enough to win them, then even leftovers and mushy cereal will taste like VICTORY. Or so I’m guessing.

They could be yours free if you just leave a comment on this post with your first name and email and maybe a little comment about why you’d like to win. This contest is open only to residents of the US and Canada. The winner will be chosen randomly on July 13th, 2009, and I’ll send you an email if you win!

Even if you are not lucky enough to win these lovely bowls, you should check out All Modern’s website, which is filled with a great selection of modern furniture, home accessories and lighting from top brands like Kartell, Alessi, Knoll, Herman Miller, Blu Dot and more.

Good luck!
-Sarah

Hiya.

I’ve added six new backgrounds, and here they are:

Also I’ve got four new iPhone wallpapers up.

My internet is touch-and-go lately, or rather touch-and-not-go. If I touch the wireless router, my internet stops working. Earlier today I accidentally nudged it and I got a blue screen of death error. Lousy breakable technology. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE SUMMER OF GEORGE.

-Sarah

It’s June, so I figure the best way to kick off the month is with a bad pun and some copyright infringement. This is not my proudest moment, but here goes:

You have been Ranger Rick Rolled.

Okay, enough. Now seriously, support wildlife.

-Sarah

Hiya. I’ve made 12 new iPhone wallpapers, including the one below with some cowboy wisdom.

Also, I know I said a month ago that I’d probably never join Twitter, but now I’ve gone and done it anyway. I’ll probably be posting a lot of links to other design-y blogs and other interesting artsy stuff, so if you’re intrigued, feel free to follow me.
I still don’t fully understand the appeal of Twitter, but I’m hoping I’ll learn by doing. Plus now I get to fulfill my tenth grade dream of following that hunky dreamboat Orlando Bloom!!!*

*Or at least someone pretending to be Orlando Bloom. That counts, right?

-Sarah

Howdy.
I’ve drawn five more backgrounds for your viewing pleasure. These things look completely fabulous as backgrounds on Twitter. Just saying is all…

My first website host, Geocities, announced last month that they are closing down.
I made my first Geocites website in 1998, back when the internet was still new and it was unusual (and slightly unsavory) for middle schoolers to have webpages. My first website was characterized by cluttered galleries of stolen Sanrio images and an inordinate number of exclamation marks and emoticons. Geocites had a reputation for amateurism, and I was certainly no exception. But as my personal website grew (at one time I held ten different Geocities addresses), I started to teach myself HTML and web design. When I learned to use graphic design software in high school, I decided it was finally time to graduate from Geocites and onto bigger, better things.

Geocites was occasionally excruciating to work with. Their PageBuilder software was full of glitches (see below), there was very little bandwidth available, and the support staff bordered on misanthropic. Back then there were no blogs and no easy ways for average people to post their content to the web. If you wanted a basic website, you had to be willing to put in some blood, sweat, and tears.

I’m sad to see Geocities disappear because I still have a soft spot for them. I owe them a lot. But I can’t say I’m surprised that they’re going under. There are better, easier to use alternatives now. I guess the last question remaining is where will all the amateurs go? Someone has to host Sanrio image galleries dripping with exclamation marks and slathered with emoticons.

I guess we still have MySpace.

Yours,
Sarah

It’s been over a month since I’ve added any new backgrounds, so here’s a new batch.

As always, the newest designs can always be found at the bottom of the backgrounds page. I’m really liking the collage one, but good luck finding your icons! There’s also a design with some Sacramento landmarks. Sacramento needs more love. In my fourth grade textbook the city was spelled wrong on the state map. Thanks, Rand McNally.

-Sarah

Another embroidery!

It’s called "Emperor Commodus Finds Something Better to do with his Thumbs." It’s supposed to look reasonably like Joaquin Phoenix in the movie Gladiator, but much like the real Joaquin Phoenix, this embroidery turned out to be difficult to work with. In the movie, Emperor Commodus gets to decide whether a gladiator lives or dies by pointing his thumbs up or down, so I figure he should use his thumbs for good instead of evil and just hitchhike to San Francisco.
He’d fit in in San Francisco. He’s already kind of has flowers in his hair, and historically the city has been tolerant of crazy, self-proclaimed emperors.

Sorry for the kind of lame picture of it- it’s 10 inches across (my largest embroidery yet) and it won’t fit on my scanner.

So there you have it.

-Sarah

Hiya

I’ve made another embroidery, this time of Mr. Bean on a can of beans.

I think S&W brand beans are sold only on the West Coast, but that isn’t to say that the brand doesn’t somehow manage to get around the world.
I haven’t seen Mr. Bean on TV lately, except on Telemundo. This works out well enough, because very little is lost in the translation to Spanish.

-Sarah

If you’ve been following the news lately, then you’ve likely heard about the swine flu.

Stay safe out there, kids.
-Sarah

Hiya.

I’ve been thinking about offering vector files for a while now, but this is my first one. I’ve added it to prove to myself that I am capable of making shiny graphics, Web 2.0 style. You can download an .EPS file of the image below to use for whatever you want, and it can be enlarged or changed around in any way you like. You will need graphic design software to use it.

Ciao for now.
-Sarah