La Vida Loftusdesign | La Vida Loftus

Spooktacular 2011

Vanessa — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:48:03 +0000

Halloween is upon us, my pretties… and I am very excited because this year we’ve decided to get back to hosting our annual shindig. However, I’m easing into this one very gently. We haven’t hosted a party since our 2009 Spooktacular, which I’m pretty sure was our largest and most-elaborate party to date. This one will definitely be a step down from previous years, and apologies in advance go out to former guests who didn’t get an invitation this year. I just don’t think I can handle having 30 people in our house at the same time! :( SORRY

Also, we’ve invited all the kids (there are 7 of them)… which will be a challenge in itself. I’m not even sure how to logistically handle 7 kids, most of them a year old or younger! Really, the party is an excuse to get the adults together, have a few drinks, eat something yummy, and get dressed up in costume (if that’s your thing). Also, babies in costume = adorable. Any advice on activities/entertainment for the kiddies, I’m all ears.

I thought I’d share this year’s invitation design, too. Rarely do I get to illustrate anything these days, so I decided to break out the pen & ink skills on this one. I drew up this cute little owl on paper, photographed it and did all the coloring in Photoshop. Enjoy!

Photoshop Disaster

Vanessa — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:08:31 +0000

Occasionally I check the blog: Photoshop Disasters to see some truly wretched examples of Photoshop gone horribly wrong. It can sometimes be morbidly entertaining especially when it involves extra body parts, missing body parts, grotesque distortions, etc.

Today, a disaster was delivered right to my inbox. Feast your eyes on this lovely beauty from our friends at Pier 1…

In case the problem isn’t glaringly obvious to you: The overall light source of this image is coming from the left, however that lampshade has a carelessly been placed in the image with the exact opposite light source. Also, the chair has only 3 legs. SIGH!

I showed it to Mike and at first he thought it was the fact that the chair has different shaped legs… while that does look odd, unfortunately, that just makes it a cheap chair.

Library Love

Vanessa — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:20:24 +0000

I have long been obsessed with libraries. As a child, I used to pick out as many books as I was allowed to borrow at a time—often filling my little arms to the brim so I could barely see over the stack. As I grew, the library became a great place to escape being home, find a quiet place to do homework or meet up with friends. In college, the library was the only solace from the craziness of dorm living, and during several semesters of literature classes, I spent many, many hours poring over my assigned books.

But more than just a quiet place, my favorite thing about libraries is the thrill of what you might find there, the excitement of the unknown. For a couple of semesters I worked at RIT’s Archives—a fantastic collection of photography, art books and graphic design. When I wasn’t shelving books on the mobile shelves, I was hiding out with the stacks randomly picking up any book that caught my eye. Even in the normal collections, there are so many treasures to unearth, so many discoveries that could inspire!

It’s been a while since I’ve spent any real time at a library, and I think I’m LONG overdue for a visit. Plus, I just watched the fantastic Design Sponge Series “Design by the Book,” Where 5 NYC artists meet with a research librarian at the New York Public Library to get inspiration for their next projects. Watching the 4-part series definitely got me all fired up to get back to the library, reminding me of all the reasons why I love it in the first place!