Designing in FileMaker is a beast unto itself: it’s vector-based, but flat colors only, GUIs have no horizontal component flow (only vertical), limited resize capability and nearly no-hide and appear capability worth considering. I’m really hammering at this design and it will be used on both desktop and iPad versions, most likely. But am still having trouble as to the myriad of versions that I prefer. The search field is very helpful and the little leaf will return the user to the home screen FYI.

With that said any and all constructive feedback puts you in the running, then I’ll raffle it off said way… probably with a FileMaker-based raffle picker!

Click any thumbnail to enlarge

The greatest danger for most of us is not that we aim too high and we miss it, but we aim too low and reach it.

–Michelangelo

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent.They imagine.They heal.
They explore.They create.They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

RIP Steve Jobs

Dearest MacBook Pro,
How I loved you so
You came at a time when
my last laptop just had to go.
S/He was also an Apple
but a Powerbook down low.

You came in your
15 inches of glory
and let me make a wedding video
that had everyone teary.

For four years, you killed every task
I threw your way,
but Aperture brought you to your knees
to my dismay.

You let me poke and prod
upgrading your innards.
but alas an EFI issue has
turned your logicboard backwards.

We worked and toiled through
project after project
but now you’ve slowly died to a
door-stop object.

I’ve tried and tried to bring you back
from this downward spiral.
But the repair shop is my last resort,
your resurrection is beyond my support

I would never write such words
over my chintzy Gateway
S/He’s 64-bit too
But soooo slow on the raceway.

I’m still sad to see you go,
you’re almost like family
But a 17″ MacBook Pro
has replaced you handily.

Thank you for exemplarily being
a beautiful tool of incredible service.
I have been loathe to replace you
unless there was a great purpose.

I hate to see you go
but love to watch you leave
I will cherish all we’ve done,
and continue to believe.

Think Different.

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

~ Aristotle

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

Some great ideas by the Nielsen Group on improving the userbase of your website.

Browsing for some design inspiration on Oh So Beautiful Paper, I came across a post on wedding menus that reminded me of my own wedding menu I happily designed to be a “cootie catcher” or what I remember being an origami fortune teller from grade school.  While I intentionallydidn’t design it with flourish or ornamentation, the design was elegant enough for the DIY feel we had to the whole affair.

The best picture I could find of the actual menu we made is to the right (click to enlarge), but I do have the original Adobe Illustrator file and I thought I would pass it on to all the brides and grooms who are doing it all themselves and want a starting point. Without further adieu, you can download the full Adobe Illustrator file here.

If you’re interested in having me design something similar for your own wedding or other significant event, reach out and get in touch!

I recently had adopted the challenge of my one-year old’s first birthday cake and while I’m normally an organic/hormone-free/free-range health-food nut, this kind of exercise always serves as carte-blanche for getting dirty with food-coloring, pounds and pounds of sugar, and lots of butter.  I write to echo some of my findings from a great wealth of resources and elaborate beyond the space of a comment box on most of the blogs and websites that I found so much information.

Everyone needs a little fondant

It’s amazing what many have managed to mold out of sugar, water, and a little bit of gelatin.  The fondant recipe at TheCookDuke.com produced the most consistent and reliable base white fondant that was perfect to play and mold with.  I’ve pasted it below BUT because of personal preferences I removed the vegetable shortening and replaced it with pure coconut oil.  The key to the coconut oil is that it is solid at room temperature. This gives the fondant the ideal composition of being pliable but firm and not sticky like moist pizza dough.

Three important tips before we move to the actual “how to make fondant” instructions and the fondant recipe:

1. When you make fondant, both the dough and the icing, make sure to make it in room temperature – Too cold or too warm room will hurt the dough
2. When you calculate the quantity of fondant icing required, it’s better to have too much fondant icing rather than too little, as leftover icing can be stored and used at a later date, or used for extra decorations
3. Make sure you make fondant on a clean and smooth working surface. Jewelry on your fingers or wrists or fluffy clothing could hurt the fondant’s surface.

Ingredients required to make the fondant recipe:

• 1 Tbsp of unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup of cold water1 tsp of almond extract
• 1/2 cup of light corn syrup (If a corn syrup is not available, you can substitute it with a sugar syrup made with 1-1/4 cups sugar and 1/3 cup water, boiled together until syrupy)
• 1 Tbsp of glycerin (some recipes say it’s optional, believe me, it’s a must)
• 2 lbs 10X confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tsp of white vegetable shortening coconut oil

Directions how to make the fondant recipe:

1. Sprinkle the gelatin over cold water in a small bowl and let it rest for 2 minutes to soften
2. Place the bowl in a microwave for 30 seconds on High, until the gelatin dissolves
3. Add the Almond extract
4. Add the corn syrup and the glycerin and stir until the mixture is smooth and clear (if the mixture is not turning smooth and clear, microwave it for an additional 15 to 20 seconds on high and stir again)
5. Sift 1 1/2 pounds of the sugar into a large bowl
6. Make a hole in the sugar and pour the liquid mixture to it
7. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes sticky
8. Sift some of the remaining 1/2 pound of sugar onto a smooth work surface and add as much of the remaining sugar as the mixture will takeKnead the fondant, adding a little more sugar if necessary, to form a smooth, pliable mass
9. Rub the vegetable shortening on your thumbs and knead it into the fondant
10. Wrap the fondant in plastic wrap and place it in a tightly sealed container to prevent it from drying out
11. If the icing dries out and harden it can often be revived by popping it into a microwave oven for a few seconds and then kneading it back to life

To color the fondant, plan on using your typical and somewhat unhealthy artificial food coloring that’s available at most supermarkets.  If you do want to go the healthy alternative route, you can find plant-based natural food coloring on Amazon.com.

The cake foundation

Last but not least, you’ll likely need a firm basic cake to lay our fondant masterpiece on, especially if you’re stacking layers.  I used the Basic Yellow Cake recipe from Wilton.com as the foundation for the giraffe “masterpiece” you see above.  Per the comments of several other reviewers of that recipe, my version also came out strangely similar to corn bread but once I added cream cheese frosting and did a version using lighter cake flour, it came out as good as I would hope for on my second cake.  I hope this helps all would-be one-year-old-birthday-cake bakers out there.