Oh yes, we’re officially in version control for Office 2.0; considering we mention the new office quite often these days such as here, here and here.  I’m a total geek.

Lately, I’ve been telling Rebecca that I want to frame some album art for my side of the office (and maybe hers, not sure if she wants to participate in AWESOME SIDE OF OFFICE or not).  I spoke here about painting some dramatic lyrics on the wall (dramatic meaning BIG and BOLD, not lovey and all sappy) and I certainly still want to do so, but I figured we can throw in some nice white frames in the mix to offer some contrast with some of my favorite albums inside them.

So while working today and sorting through Spotify, I began thinking about which album art I would showcase.  Of course, I thought about some of the best such as Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, The Beatles’ With The Beatles, Nirvana’s Nevermind and The Beatles’ Abbey Road.  But, quite like my lyrics on the wall idea, I knew I wanted albums that actually meant something to me.

Here are a few that are in the running.

Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen – SongMeanings was actually founded on a discussion around a track on this album.  Pretty essential to be in office 2.0.

Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill – Some of my first music-related memories are because of this album.

Michael Jackson – Bad – Much like the Beasties, this album was always in my Walkman.  Plus if the family wanted me to come out of my shell growing up, there was a good chance I would if Michael Jackson was playing.

Funny, I don’t think that has really changed — though maybe it’s more Justin Timberlake these days.

Beck – Odelay – One of the albums that made me want to be a DJ.  I tried doing it in high school for a couple of years, but damn, it was a crazy expensive hobby.

I can’t wait for my future son or daughter is all like, “Daddy, I want DJ equipment!” and I’m all like, “LETS GO MAX OUT THE CREDIT CARD!”.

Weezer – Weezer (or the Blue Album) – I wore the hell out of this album in my discman back in 94-95. I found the album art and insert a few years ago and I remember noticing how beat up it was. It’s one of those albums that I can listen to over and over again (and heck, I did so today).

Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds – This is just one of those albums that continually gets me in a good mood (and wanting to dance (oh yes, I enjoy dancing)).  And because I have a guy crush on good ol’ JT (yeah, I admit it) — though I wish he would ditch the acting gig and put out another album.

Jack Johnson – In Between Dreams – When Rebecca was away at college, we were an hour away and I would often visit on the weekends.  Looking back, my memories of those drives were listening to this album.  This album always seems to bring me back to those days.

Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak – I’ve always been a huge Kanye fan, but this album always stands out to me.  It was a drastic musical departure for Kanye after going through so many different events.  And I loved how he was able to really tell a story in every track on this album.  Much like Weezer’s Blue Album, I can listen to this thing over and over again.

I’m not sure if I’ll go with all of these albums above.  I know there are a quite a few I’m missing (Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy just came to mind), but I guess you’ll just have to wait for the reveal down the road!

So how about you?  Any favorite albums or album art you’d think about framing and rocking out on a wall? 

I mentioned last week how I wanted to make something for this season’s Pinterest Challenge with Sherry at Young House Love, Katie at Bower Power, Ana at Ana White and Erin from House of Earnest. I just wasn’t sure what to make! One of the projects I’ve been wanting to make was this washer monogram, but Michelle from Decor and the Dog tackled it during the last challenge…

(from Decor and the Dog)

So I looked through all of the things I’ve pinned the past few months to come up with something I could tackle in a few hours. I stumbled upon this pencil-eraser-used-as-stamp art from Li’l Magoolie…

(from Li’l Magoolie via Pinterest)

And I had a light bulb moment… why don’t I make a monogram using pencil erasers as stamps? That way it’s entirely different, but bringing together two Pinterest projects! So that’s what I decided to do 🙂

I decided to stick with the color scheme of our house… various grays/greiges/blues.

I picked up a couple of extra bottles of 89 cent craft paint just to make my life easier. I basically bought all of the shades of gray they make and I already had the blue.

The rest of my materials were 100% free! I used some cardstock I already had, pencils that were laying around and a frame I already purchased. To get the monogram, I printed out our last initial, an S, in a very fancy font called… Times New Roman. I printed it in bold to give me thicker lines to follow. I eyeballed the size in print preview and figured it would look decent on a 5×7 piece of paper. I then traced my printed S onto my cardstock by holding it up against my sliding glass door.

I traced it ever so lightly, then also erased what I had just traced. Sounds crazy, but it left me with the most faint line ever so that it wouldn’t be noticeable under the paint but I could still follow it.

Then it was time for paint! I didn’t use stamps like the pinned image did, so I squirted a little of each paint onto a paper plate, then dipped some sponge brushes I already had in each color…

Then I dapped my pencil erasers on the sponge brush, not the paint itself. If I dapped too much I could use a cleaner part of the sponge to remove some. I had a pencil for each color (digging out a 4th one required some office scouring!)

I did some test dabs on a piece of scrap paper before starting. Then I just followed the lines and alternated colors along my S and tada! All done!

It took me about an hour or so, which was honestly longer than expected, but well worth it. I had to decide where to put my new work of art so I decided on the entryway table, which was filled with pumpkins and Halloween candy today.

The candy will be leaving tonight, so I just put my art in a matted frame and leaned my frame over by one of my beloved deer bookends. Ps- I’ve been searching for a white lampshade to replace that gray one for months.

I’m not sure if my monogram will be staying here, since we’re planning on adding a whole gallery wall(s) up and down our staircase. Ideally, I’d like to eventually hang it, especially since the frame I had on hand is meant for hanging 🙂

I strangely love that the mat that came with the frame is a little off-white. Since the chair rail, deer and cardstock are bright white, it mixes it up a bit. Maybe even a fun colored mat will look good until I hang it?

I’m very happy that I chose to do another art piece for this Pinterest challenge. I love making things for our house but I often don’t have the time to dedicate to making things anymore. Spending an hour making this completely made my day and I wish I had more creative time these days. I am also proud of myself for scaling down my always overambitious projects. I originally planned to do this monogram, plus two 8×10 more abstract pieces. Once I started eraser stamping I realized how time consuming it was and that an even larger piece of paper would take even longer! Maybe I’ll make them another day (since they were pretty cool ideas, I must say), but for now I am perfectly happy with my monogram 🙂

It’s not every day that I look for art — especially when I have the patience of a 2 year old.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate it; I just don’t know how to apply it to our various spaces.  But there has been one site that I continually check for new works.  I have no idea how I stumbled upon it, but I’ve been absolutely hooked.

No, I’m not talking about Etsy.  I’m predictable, but not that predictable.

The site I’m loving (and no, I’m not being paid to write this post) introduces two new editions each week, one photo and one work on paper.  And GASP!  It’s incredibly affordable, too.  Each edition is reprinted 200 times for 20 bucks.  Granted it’s a small reprint, the idea is still incredibly inspiring.  And I’ll quote the founder to prove so:

(limited editions x low prices) + the internet = art for everyone

They do offer larger reprints, but at the same general idea.  For instance, they sell 20 16″x20″ reprints for $200 a pop, 500 reprints of 11″x14″ at $50.

The site? 20×200.

When I first ventured on the site, I immediately fell in love with, and then purchased, a great piece.  Mainly because I’m a huge Apple fanboy.  I can admit it.

What you are looking at is a photograph of the Apple 1 by Mark Richards.  Even now while looking at the photograph, I’m doing that geeky laugh/giggle.  So needless to say, it didn’t take much for me to drop $50 for a 11″x14″ reprint.

These works, by Craig Damrauer, have been continually calling my name as they go with a lyric that Rebecca and I are always saying, Hold your own / know your name/ and everything will be fine.  I’m debating if I should just pick them up, place them in a frame and hang them in the office.  Sadly, I’m not quite sure if they’ll fit with the green rug and accessories.

I’m doing that geeky giggle with this print, too.  It’s a photograph of an old and dissambled flip clock by Todd McLellan.  Lately I’ve been inspired by technology that we take for granted every day.  I mean, look at this thing; look at all the parts that made this time-telling device possible.  We go about our day, every day, just taking devices like this for granted.  We don’t think about why they work or how they work.  We just go about our day taking advantage of the service or information they provide.

Album 1, by Paul Madonna, is another edition I have been eye-ing.  In the description, Paul writes,

“Though I’ve been drawing and writing for as long as I can remember, music is the medium that has influenced me the most. I love the thought of an album being a collection that encapsulates a period of ideas, work and life into a tidy package, allowing the artist to work through a creative goal then move on to the next.”

How true is that though?  How often does music inspire and influence us?  For me, far too often.   I honestly don’t know where I would be without music.  There are certain albums that have guided me through tough times, wonderful events, and so forth.  And ten bucks says this is something that we can all relate with.

I think this might just make its way into the office; though I don’t think Rebecca knows this just yet (oh, hey wife!).  The print is In the Ballpark by Tatsuro Kiuchi.  If you’ve ever seen the movie City Slickers, there is a great quote in there.

“Whenever my father and I couldn’t talk about anything else, we could always talk about baseball.”

My father and I have a great relationship.  Sure, growing up we had our differences — but what father-son relationship doesn’t?  Communication wasn’t our strongest trait when I was young; we were both just too much alike to see eye-to-eye.  And when I was 12 or 13 years old and when my father and I couldn’t talk about anything else, we could always talk about baseball computers.  It was our ice breaker.  It was the one thing that was “ours” and nobody else’s. And while today I can talk to my dad about anything and everything, including how I didn’t lose his precious jig-saw, baseball is becoming “our” thing; our time together.

I was going to end this post with the baseball print above, but then I saw this print.  And then I saw Macky eat a stink bug.  His second stink bug, that I know about, in 48 hours.  Macky is just too funny and when I saw this print, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Though Macky is currently at the top of the stairs crying and screaming at the top of his tiny lungs.  I guess he wants to go to bed and that was my queue to wrap this up.  And suddenly, he’s not very funny anymore….