jim thomson | freelance design | portland, or

I love the holidays. I love the food, the music, movies and of course, exchanging presents. I have realized that once I stopped watching cartoons, ok, stopped watching religiously, I am not bombarded with consumerism and 'must have' items; that I don't really need very much material shtuff in my life as I used to. This makes it difficult for people in my life to do the gift exchange. Actually, they did do a great job this year, but it isn't easy for them. Ok, I guess I did need that copy of Wall-E, soft shell jacket and modern bird feeder.

We all know that the best gifts are ones you take the time and put in thought into. I have made Kahlua and infused vodkas for presents in the past. This year my girlfriend Jen and I made Limoncello for gifts. It might seem like I am trying to induce alcoholism with my family and friends. Not so. Nearly everyone gets baked goods and candy for the holidays. But how many people come to the rescue and provide liquid cheer to wash down said treats?

Follow this recipe to make a great batch of Limoncello. Here are a few recommendations:

• If you use a sun tea jar, put cellophane between the opening and the lid.


• I found it was easier to zest the lemons to avoid the whit pith. The left over peel shreds are delicious afterwords as well. We mixed ours in a batch of macaroons.


• You can use raw sugar or splenda.


• It calls for cheap vodka. But you never want to cook with alcohol or wine that you wouldn't drink on its own.

We also designed the label to add an even more personal touch.

Labels: Holidays, infused vodka, Kahlua, label design, Limoncello, package design, Wall-E

This artic blast in the Portland Metro area has me thinking about my last trip to San Francisco's MoMA last September. There was a great collection of early photography used for art and science including a vast snowflake collection by Wilson A. Bentley. There is so much beauty when snow and ice blanket the landscapes we are used to. It is amazing how much beauty is in the up andclose as well as the big picture.

There is also an award winning children's book about his work, Snowflake Bently.

Palace of Fine Arts

For your next trip, I highly recommend diving into google maps. We use My Maps to plan our itinerary and the map geotagging feature on Picasa to share with family, friends and you when we get back. My Maps isn't very print friendly. You can use this converter if you need to print it out (Google my-maps print converter).

Labels: MoMA, Photography, Snow

I used to love going to the Portland Children's Museum at the Jacob Kamm mansion in Southwest Portland as a kid. Ok, strike that, I still love to go, especially now that it is in the old OMSI building. They have a full clay and glazing studio. They even have a pottery's wheel if you ask.

Above are two love birds that I hand shaped and fired. When placed next to each other, they nuzzle one an other. I also made my own Moai (Easter Island head). I decided to just paint it rather then glaze it to give it a more realistic look.

Labels: Clay Design, Portland Children's Museum

I once said I would never work in a cubical, own a cell phone or write a blog. Welp, this marks my personal d-day. Stay tuned for new projects, what I'm up to and fun stuff.