in the year two thousand. in the year two thous-aaaand! /  by jen geigley

(Sorry, Conan fan here.) Anyway. In the year 2000, I graduated with a B.F.A. in graphic design. And this past weekend was spent at my alma mater for a ten year reunion. Yes ... ten. Years!
Our small class of graphic design graduates met up at Iowa State University and it was truly awesome to see those faces again.
I was lucky to have one of the shortest routes to get there, and spent much of my weekend driving from Des Moines to Ames and back again to see everyone. But most of my comrades had traveled great distances for our little reunion.
I walked around a bit to snap a couple of pics of our beautiful campus.
And my old dorm.Friley. (Honestly, I loved it there.)
And of course the place where we pulled our all-nighters, the Design Center.
I'm a nostalgic, sentimental person as it is, but a wave of excitement washed over me when I went back into that building after all this time.
I guess it's just an inspiring space to be in. And it just brought back so many memories.
We went on a little tour to see what had grown and changed since our days at ISU.
We hung out in the auditorium, had snacks and reminisced (or not) about design history classes and long, sleepy lectures from the past.
Feet on the seats, just like old times.We watched Helvetica. (Because we're graphic designers. This is what we do.)
And we hit some old favorite hangouts in campus town.
We also attempted to come up with a plan to sneak into Cold War Kids. A random guy in a metal cover band who was looking for a girl named Maddy asked me 'Are you Maddy!?'
There were grape apes at Lost and Found and photo ops at Copyworks.
And gyros on Welch. (These night photos were taken by Mark Powers Lobo, by the way.)
But best of all was just talking and catching up with my classmates, my friends.
(I'm guessing it was Jess who wrote this for our little group's reunion blog ... I love it.) 'It’s been ten years since we parted ways to discover the unknown territory of unleaded type, splash page introductions, design studios and corporate lingo. We ventured into the world with our first email account and very little more than a small understanding of how to use layers in Photoshop. A lot has changed over the past ten years, but a lot has stayed the same.' (And it's true.)We left ISU without a single web design class (right before the dot com craze) but in our heads was a firm belief in the process. Building a concept ... doing design that meant something and doing it for a reason. The world is such a different place today, but many of the lessons we learned back in the year 2000 will always be relevant and alive in everything we do. It was good to go back. (And to be reminded of that.)

Domestica! /  by jen geigley

Domestica! Isn't that just the best name?

Three-ish years ago, I met this rad girl named Chrissy online. She has impeccable taste and shares her awesome finds on a blog called Gussied Up and also features local family-friendly events on another blog called Small Town Fun. We ran into each other periodically via the Des Moines craft fair scene and became good pals. She's one of those people who I would just love to talk to forever, because her knowledge of crafty things and music and all things interesting is endless.

Chrissy and her friend Leah are starting a new adventure, and opening up shop in bricks-and-mortar form and online. Their shop is called Domestica. And it's very exciting.

In their words ... Domestica's goal is to promote the quality and value of handmade/cottage industry craftsmanship; planting the seed of great design that's kind to the environment, kind to the artist and kind to your pocketbook. Cool stuff for your home, but we're just too girly to completely glaze over personal accessories – we have so many favorites, we have to share. Our focus is super cool home and personal accessories – valuable pieces to help you spruce up your nest and adorn your bod.

They'll be having a soft opening on April 17th, so stop by to check out what they've done with the place. (I personally can't wait to see!) The official Grand Opening is April 24th.

Domestica is located on the SW corner of Walnut and East 4th Streets at 321 East Walnut, in Des Moines' Historic East Village neighborhood.

Jump on over Domestica's blog right now, where they've been so kind to feature my fabric flower tutorial. You can (and should) also follow them on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with all of their exciting opening day news. *Bonus. These girls are awesomely cool and funny, and I assure you, totally worth a follow.

the perks /  by jen geigley

I decided to jump in and read the Free People book club selection this month, because even though Perks is considered by many to be a total emo-product-of-Nirvana-generation-MTV book, I knew I still might like to re-read it now. That I'm 32. (It all seems timely especially because two days ago marked 16 years since Kurt Cobain was found dead. I was about the same age as the characters in this book in the early 90s and I am enjoying this read-through. I really like Charlie.)
Here are some things I've collected while I've been reading.
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“If you listen to the song “Asleep,” and you think about those pretty weather days that make you remember things, and you think about the prettiest eyes you’ve known, and you cry, and the person holds you back, then I think you will see the photograph.”
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“The first present is going to be a mix tape. The first side has Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, which Sam and Patrick love.”

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“And I typed something back to her, standing right there in her bedroom. I just typed, 'I will.'”
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“Patrick actually used to be popular before Sam bought him some good music.”
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“I wanted to laugh. Or maybe get mad. Or maybe shrug at how strange everyone was, especially me.”
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“The family was sitting around, watching the final episode of M*A*S*H., and I'll never forget it even though I was very young. My mom was crying. My sister was crying. My brother was using every ounce of strength he had not to cry. And my dad left during one of the final moments to make a sandwich.”
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“Then, I turned around and walked to my room and closed my door and put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.”
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“I have since bought the record, and I would tell you what it was, but truthfully, it's not the same unless you're driving to your first real party, and you're sitting in the middle seat of a pickup with two nice people when it starts to rain.”
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“I even made her a mix tape and left it at the grave. I hope you do not think that makes me weird.”
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“You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.”
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“I really think that everyone should have watercolors, magnetic poetry, and a harmonica.”
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“It was especially fun to think that people all over the world were having similar conversations in their equivalent of the Big Boy."
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“I did start working for a fanzine called Punk Rocky. It's this xerox magazine about punk rock and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I don't write for it, but I help out.”
“Love Always,
Charlie”

super Kool /  by jen geigley

So it's Easter weekend, but eggs aren't the only thing we're dyeing at our house. (See where I'm going with this?) Ever since I started knitting, I've been dying (haha) to try something.
Dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid. It's messy. It smells awesome. I instantly had flashbacks to summer days playing in the sandbox and running inside for a drink. And it's not even hard to do. (Oh yeah!)
You start with a skein of pure wool. For a first-timer, wool works best for dyeing; other fibers won't take dye well. I used a nice big skein of Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool in natural, which is 100% virgin wool. One skein has 465 yards, so I had plenty to work with (since I wanted to try lots of colors.)
I started by dividing my skein into ten small hanks. I wound them loosely so the dye would still absorb into the areas where I had twisted.
Then I gently washed the yarn in some mild soap in my kitchen sink.
I lined up all of my small glass microwaveable bowls and dumped a package of Kool-Aid into each one – no need to add sugar. I poured a small amount of lukewarm water to each bowl and stirred until the powder was completely dissolved.
This part made me awfully nostalgic, I have to admit. Kool-Aid smells awesome, and my whole kitchen was filled with the fruity scents! Plus it was just rad to see the bright colors.
This would be a good time to grab some rubber gloves. Or your fingertips will be stained. For days. Like mine.
Next, I dunked each little hank/skein into a bowl of Kool-Aid, and added a little bit more water – enough to cover or almost cover the yarn. This part was quite exciting.
I used Lemonade (and pink lemonade, which I forgot to take a picture of.)
Cherry.
Orange.
Black cherry.
Lemon-lime.
Grape.
And strawberry. (The only color I couldn't find was Berry-Blue, and I was totally bummed out about it.)
I put each bowl in the microwave for two minutes to set the dye (with the yarn still in it.) This is where things started to get messy. But I just kept an eye on my counter top and used an non-scratch abrasive cleaner to attack any big stains as soon as I could before moving on.
After all of the bowls had been nuked, I let each one cool for a few minutes. As it sits, the yarn will slowly absorb almost all of the color from the water around it. The water may look white-ish or a little bit cloudy, and some colors seemed to absorb better than others. I tried to get a photo of this but it's kind of hard to see.
After the yarn had cooled and absorbed the Kool-Aid, I gently rinsed it with lukewarm water in the sink. If the yarn is still warm, you need to use warm water to rinse it or you may cause it to felt a bit. I was nervous at first to put the different colors next to each other, but they didn't bleed.
And that's it! I hung each color on a small drying rack to air out and dry, and then I plan to wind them up nicely (and probably join some ends together) to make some multicolored skeins of hand-dyed Kool-Aid yarn.
Of course, we did dye some eggs, too.
The normal, traditional way, with a good old PAAS kit. I'm kind of particular about dyeing eggs. I just like them in plain, solid colors. I don't like to do anything weird to them. (Just ask Bo.) But next year ... we're totally using Kool-Aid to dye the eggs, too.
Oh well. Wishing you a very lovely weekend and Happy Easter!

doing what they do best /  by jen geigley

It's no secret that these two are a dynamic duo. They're exceptionally creative, inspirational, extraordinary bloggers and crafters. Jump right into spring with a burst of creativity with an art journaling class taught by the best, doing what they do best.
Tell Your Story is a six week online art journal class taught by Elsie and Rachel of Red Velvet Art. They've designed this class to help you artistically document your daily life as well as your hopes and dreams through daily prompts and challenges. They'll be sharing book making projects as well as tips and tricks for finding and storing your supplies.
Along with daily prompts you can participate in live chats to get friendly with your classmates and enjoy Q&A time with your teachers. Click here for registration information and more details or e-mail racheldenbow(at)gmail(dot)com.

xoxo,
Rachel and Elsie

cash rules everything around me... /  by jen geigley

Dare 160 is up ... If money were no object. Such a fun dreamy topic to roll around in your brain. I decided that my world would include a Dwell-ish house right on the ocean, lots of international travel, and wearing expensive dresses. And above all, spontaneity would rule. The whole time I was making this, I had Wu Tang's 'Cash Rules Everything Around Me' running through my head. I'm singing it right now; it's still pretty much the coolest beat ever recorded.
I ended up having way too many scraps and photos and things that I wanted to include and there was no way they were going to fit on one page, so I ended up stapling them together. And throwing some washi tape binding over the edge.
Then I just attached my little stapled booklet to the back of the page. Perfect way to keep all of those pretty things in a nice safe place for future drooling. Mostly over the expensive dresses, which are perfect for frolicking around my imaginary cash-free beach-living universe. Dolla dolla bill, ya'll.

a sweater! /  by jen geigley

Hello hello! Over the weekend, I finished knitting my moss green oatmeal pullover. I love this green! A lot.
I think I started knitting this in February, when it was still legitimately cold enough for warm sweaters, but then I ended up ripping it back, starting over and knitting a larger size.
And so, here we are in March, almost April, wearing a nice thick wool pullover. But at least when fall comes I will be ready to bust this baby out of the closet.
I'm kinda bummed now that I didn't just go with the smaller size that I started with, as this sweater is supposed to be smallish and fitted. And mine is kind of too big. But this was such a quick and easy knit that I can totally see myself making another one soon. (And it only uses 3-ish balls of Wool Ease Chunky ... so it's super economical.) Next time I'll knit it in black or gray ... or both ... and one size down. It's such a great everyday sweater and I can see myself wearing this a lot. Super stoked to have it done and off my mile-long to-knit list.