Final billboard.
Final poster.
I ran a test vote on Facebook with my 777 friends and the red poster won out over the sideways-text white one by a thin margin. We’re using the red poster with the spyglass from one of the others. Good combo. This made the billboard much easier to do!
Theater Bartlesville’s next play is “The Real Inspector Hound”. These are my first drafts. Which would you choose?
A steam train engineer requested tickets for an upcoming birthday party for a local Steam Train No. 940. He wanted a punch card for the kids to use for the party. I love trains!
The artwork for the next three plays at Bartlesville Theater hasn’t even been started but I needed to get the play titles in the brochure and I didn’t want plain, old, boring text, so I whipped these up as fast as I could this morning. Which is your favorite? I love Illustrator more and more each day (the more I actually learn how to use it!). I finally gave in to Adobe Illustrator CC and I am loving it.
Left to right: Joe Sears, Charlie Taraboletti, Marilyn Johnson (along with Amity Hollenbaugh in the background, who really runs everything)
I arranged my first radio spot for Theater Bartlesville with Bartlesville Radio KWON — 1400 AM or 100.3 FM on the dial. I wasn’t nervous until it was OVER. I chose to sit in the back and not say anything but when the interviewer, Charlie Taraboletti, asked for dates, nobody else had them so I had to step up to the microphone. I had a frog in my throat (of course!) but I think it went well and, more importantly, I hope Bartlesville peeps will turn out for the show and buy some tickets! Many are thinking the theater will be sold out this year, so be sure to get your tickets while you can at 918-336-1900. Online ticketing at www.theaterbartlesville.com is not available but will be coming soon.
UPDATE 9/6/13: I’ve been told the radio interview is recorded and available online at Bartlesville Radio! Hallelujah! We can all bask in my frog-in-the-throat moment. Oh, well, at least Marilyn and Joe sound great!
As part of my new duties on the Board of Directors for Theater Bartlesville, I was able to create a new logo and update their business cards. I love the new cards because they look like a ticket. Did I need a custom die from the printer for this? Nope. Non-profit = cheap as possible. I ordered $18 business cards, on sale, from Vistaprint (I sprung for their new, premium glossy cardstock option) and with rush shipping (another $10), my grand total was $28 for the cards. I went to my new FAVORITE local printer who was willing to drill the holes in the edges with a standard punch for me — how nice is that?! If you happen to need printing and you live near Bartlesville, go see Shawn Roberts…fantastic printer, quality and pricing.
I thought you might like to see the progression of this particular billboard. The artistic director, Joe Sears, of Greater Tuna fame (Aunt Pearl? Tony nominee? Ring any bells?), created the yellow background and silhouette with watercolors on vellum and I scanned the artwork in and adjusted everything for print. It’s been 20 years since I designed a billboard. That makes me sound really, really old but the first time I did one, I was only 22. You do the math. I’m not a dinosaur…yet. Billboard design can be tricky but it’s nice to know the technology has improved enough to where an accurate color proof is available on the same vinyl they use to put up on the actual billboard. It was only $35 extra for the proof, and yellow can also be tricky, so I figured it was worth it. If all went well, we’d have an extra 2.5 x 4′ banner for the front window of the theater. The yellow turned out fine so it was a win, win!
In other news, I’ve been elected Marketing Director for the local community theater: Theater Bartlesville. It’s going to be a fun way for me to make more local connections in the printing and publishing industry, as well as the arts. It’s a great board this year so I’ve already met some fantastic, intelligent, kind people. This won’t kill me for a year term, right?!
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Antibes plus dark wax plus an Ethan Allen solid wood armoire found at Goodwill = MERRY CHRISTMAS to me! I am thrilled with the results but I must warn you there were a couple of moments I thought it wouldn’t be salvageable. The dark wax can be tricky but once I learned to use clear wax to remove excess dark wax in spots then it worked out beautifully. Also, distressing isn’t as easy as everybody says so I decided to forego much distressing on this piece as the oak beneath showed through rather than the Graphite layer I painted beneath the two coats of Antibes green, and I did not want that.
So while I was sick (and clearly not in my right mind), I volunteered to cook turkey and make gravy for the Kindergarten classes. It was worth it to see all those pilgrims and Indians enjoying their meal.
The kitchen looks so nice when it’s clean. I quickly sewed a couple of muslin slipcovers to go over our blue chairs since only two of the new kitchen chairs that I ordered had arrived by Thanksgiving! Gotta make do, right…they have unfinished hems but I have a fantastic idea for hemming them. Info and pics to come. Also, I need to share the tape method Cole helped me with to make the custom pattern for them – it helped so much when it came to sewing them from scratch. And if the resident sewing newbie (me) can do it, anybody can!
Our island could fit 6 to 8 places comfortably but since we already had one bench and one stool from another home we lived in, I gave up my idea for new seating completely and just ordered another small stool to flank the bench. I think it looks pretty good for using what we’ve got!
I never thought I’d say this but I love that stupid freezer on the bottom that I resisted for so long. Now if I could just remember to not kick and shove it to close the thing!
While we were grateful for a small Thanksgiving gathering this year with new friends, we did miss being with family. We are kind of travel-ed out so I think for the holidays this year we will be staying put. Never fear, though, we ate like kings. Today (the day AFTER Thanksgiving), we all had pie for breakfast. What more could signify a successful holiday? We are thankful for many things: the gospel of Jesus Christ, jobs, home, family and friends…and technology.
The boys are taking a Shotokan Karate / Mixed Martial Arts class here in Bartlesville. Cole went tonight and made the other teenagers (and instructor) gasp when he did his self defense techniques. I am so proud of him. Nobody wanted to volunteer to “attack” him after his very first demo. It’s a great dojo and it will take quite a bit of adjustment for him to learn their style, etc., but if anyone can do it, I know it’s Cole. I’m hoping it’s like learning a foreign language and the old will come naturally to him – I don’t ever want him to forget the instruction he’s received in Gretna and Taekwondo. Mr. Staack and his crew were the best teachers I have ever met and we miss them terribly! Cole has been so lucky to study under that organization.
This last pic is Benjamin sampling the cake balls that Cole made today. Thanks to Aunt Lili for the great Christmas present last year. They are so fun to eat – the kids just love ’em!
I’m just going to show a bunch of pictures. I think they speak for themselves. Frankly, I should still be too tired to type!
My office (above) may NEVER recover! I think I can get both large printers in there but the inlaid wood table was broken by the movers. :/
Here’s the kitchen island a little more presentable but we’re so not there yet! It’s going to take time, maybe a lifetime, but that’s just fine with me.
One last pic of the boys vegging out in the new family room. Who needs a formal living room anyway? This family room is “the” room and we are all loving it. We heart Bartlesville!!!
Cole made it back. Since he flew alone to Houston and then made it to Corpus Christi, sans camera, we don’t have any pics of the trip. We do, however, have this pic of his handsome face as he left us in a very messy home shortly after moving in. He made it out for his scout trip just in time to leave his father and me carrying Christmas decor into the attic in 102 degree Oklahoma weather. The things we parents do for our kids to have memorable experiences!
We’ve made an offer and it has been accepted – I think all docs have been signed until closing which isn’t until June 30th. I’m going to head to Omaha for a month after the kiddos are out of school while Don works his heart out here in Bartlesville. These next six weeks cannot pass quickly enough! I am so in love with this home — I’ve finally found everything I’ve ever asked for in a home: white trim, ranch, 4 bedrooms, farm sink, gas range, patio, good sized yard, fence, sprinkler system, all brick construction. Sigh. It will help justify the price tag. We hope this is our forever home. We really, really love this town.
Happy Mother’s Day to all! These flowers are from the crochet-a-long on Ravelry, pattern created by Claudia “delights“. Her blog posts many colorful versions – what a great idea!
I have a few extra minutes to write today because the boys went to visit the Skiatook Branch of the church we belong to today without me. I missed the children singing to their mothers! …but, on the flip side, I have a few extra QUIET minutes to write. We have been house hunting for 2 and a half weeks. I have mixed emotions. We’ve run the gamut: downsizing, acreage, old home, new home, in Bartlesville, in Skiatook, etc. We have some important decisions to make — there are pros and cons to each choice and combination of choices. The kids are begging for an acreage but the best one we’ve found has a FANTASTIC acreage but a really, really old ranch house that would need to be entirely redone. We found a fantastic house on an acre but no livestock (I want chickens!). We’ve found a fantastic new home in town with a large yard and also another, downsized fantastic new-ish home in town that would have little resale value (it’s the only newish home in the neighborhood). Lots and lots of decisions to make. I’m grateful to be able to make these decisions: thankful for my kiddos, for my husband’s job and for being blessed with the world’s greatest mother.