FYI


Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Keep calm - Craft-Werk is still around

I am increasingly busy with my college work, so not much time for crafting at the mo :-(. Proposals are waiting to be written up, studio work needs organising, ideas and concepts have to be developed. My creative energy is channelled into photography at the moment. But I couldn't resist a cute little link that I saw on Yasemine's blog Love live survive home today. 
You all know those "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" posters. Don't we all want to have one of those on our walls? Well, now you can print one of those out yourself - and even customize it with your own slogan - for free, of course. Just go to keepcalm-o-matic and they will do the rest for you. You can choose slogan, background colour, font and even the little image at the top. Punch it all in, click generate and you have it downloadable in jpg format. As a craftress, I had to generate this one:

 

Did I mention I am mad about photography?

 
 
Arrrrgh, disclaimer: Upon viewing my post I just realized that the above slogan looks like a call to arms, i.e. let's shoot someone on January 30th... noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! For the photography-uninitiated: "shooting" is photographing and 1/30 is not a date but the shutter speed of 1/30th of a second... *phew* had to make that clear...

Anyway, once I had generated and saved them, I knew that I couldn't just leave them sitting on my hard-drive. They had to be displayed. Out came an old frame from the big stash. Problem: there were three spaces for images in the mount, so I had to come up with another slogan from the Ministry of Propaganda. Besides crafting and photography my other big interest is politics, so I made another slogan. As the generator only has a limited number of symbols, none of them fitted my own slogan. So I simply recreated the poster in MS Word, using Wingdings for the symbol. It took about 20 print outs to get the sizing and font vaguely alright - I have a whole heap of discarded posters on my desk now - maybe I should go out and start papering lampposts with my messages... But I did eventually get it right and now have my slogans on the wall above my desk. 

I love it - I keep glancing up there to enjoy the retro-feeling and the messages that are close to my heart.
So, go on and make some for yourself. Here is the final message from the Ministry of Propaganda:



Best,
   

13 comments:

stephie hicks said...

thanks for the link!!

I'm hosting a giveaway on my blog - come and check it out!!
http://madebystephie.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-first-giveaway.html

Kansas Amy said...

I'm glad that you clarified the 'shoot on' poster. I was confused even for a sec as a photographer! ;) You do sound awfully busy, I hope you are taking some time for yourself!

Sonja @ Craft-Werk said...

Thanks for your comments, Stephie and Amy! Hehe, the "shooting" incident is quite funny... And that coming from a pacifist *haha*

kjsutcliffe said...

I love that idea Sonja - thank you! I am half way through doing my boys' bedroom and a couple of those keep calm posters will be brilliant in there!

Andrew said...

I'm the creator of the Keep Calm-o-matic - thanks for the mention!

If anyone has suggestions for symbols that they'd like to see added to the generator then please do let me know (my contact details are on the website).

If you can send a black and white gif or png with a transparent background and no more than about 150px tall then I can get the image uploaded much faster than if I have to faff about in MS Paint myself!

You can now buy posters and other items with your customised slogan directly through the website, so (to use another shooting metaphore) fire away!

claire said...

This is great! Thanks for the link!

Jessica @ Me and My Bucket said...

SUPER CUTE!! I love that it didn't cost you anything either!! Thanks for linking up for my new party, hope to see you next week!!

Jessica

Anonymous said...

Read Craft-Werk and Carry on.... GENIUS! Hahaha

The Bearded Lady (Laura) said...

I could die!! TOO CUTE!!! Thank you for sharing!!

Sandy said...

Amazing.. but thank you,, I don't need the poster... for the first time in my life,, "I'm Calm"... Amazing!

Sandy

http://thewondersofdoing.blogspot.com/2010/02/home-schooled-tees.html

Amanda Lee said...

How cute! I love the unique take on the retro poster!

Unknown said...

I love your sayings! Thanks for explaining what the last one meant:) Love your photo tips! I just wish I had a great camera that would let me do some of the things you mention!

Its So Very Cheri said...

Thanks for linking to the party and for a good laugh about the SHOOTIN.

Cheri