Artful, eye-catching, and full of heart, renowned screen printer and artist Rob Ryan’s paper-cuts have graced book covers, album covers, and the fashion collections of Paul Smith. His work surprises and delights with page after page of whimsical, inspiring, and imaginative paper-cut illustrations and poems. Ryan has taken his unique vision to craft a book-length valentine that moves the heart and engages the spirit with its charm and artistry. Ripe with evocative imagery and heartfelt text, This Is for You is a magical, romantic, and touching story of thoughts and dreams, loneliness and longing, the personal and the universal.

Described by ApartmentTherapy.com as “a sweet and slightly untraditional love story,” the images and text of every individual page are cut from a single piece of paper and lovingly reproduced in this beautiful volume that is finally seeing wide-spread distribution in the United States.

Rob Ryan’s magical paper-cuts and screen-prints have appeared on a Vogue model and graced book covers such as The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and All Other Night and The World to Come by Dara Horn. His work has been praised in blogs and web posts from Design Sponge to Etsy.com.

If you’d like to learn more about Rob, there is a wonderful interview with him from the Feb 09 issue if Living Etc. up on Rob’s Blog.

Amazingly prolific in a wide variety of forms, Rob has also just recently opened his own shop at 126 Columbia Road London E2 7RG.

We love this work and hope you do as well. So in celebration of Valentine’s Day, Chronicle and Urban Outfitter’s have arranged to give away a beautiful Rob Ryan print (below) just in time for the holiday. Details of the give-away are posted at UrbanOutfitters.com.

Rob Ryan Screenprint “Every Beat Of My Heart”

For more on Rob visit the following links:

Shop blog: http://ryantownshop.blogspot.com/

http://rob-ryan.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5204464

Patti Quill
Marketing & Publicity Manager

Popularity: 3% [?]

This winter we partnered with some of our favorite craft retailers to create an Amy Butler-themed display in their stores. We asked them to feature our red hot new book, Amy Butler’s Little Sitches for Little Ones and at least one other Amy Butler product from our book and stationery collection.

The results? Inspired! Imaginative! Incredible!

The winner of the contest was Sew Unique Threads in Battle Creek, MI. Sue and Sally did a wonderful job at incorporating our Amy Butler line along with a robust display of Amy Butler’s fabric. I don’t know about you but this makes me want to whip out my sewing machine and start stitching!

Check out more Chronicle Craft posts.

Nancy Deane
Senior Marketing Manager

Popularity: 4% [?]

Spicy Beef in Lettuce Cups

This Szechuan-style dish is quite delicious, quick to prepare, and fun to eat. You can use flatter lettuce leaves, such as romaine or oakleaf lettuce, and fold them into small packets for eating. Or enjoy the filling in tortillas or pita bread, along with a handful of shredded lettuce and a dollop or two of spicy salsa. We love it with rice and greens for a weeknight supper.

Serves 4

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry, white wine, or Shaoxing wine
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
1 tablespooon Asian sesame oil
About 20 cup-shaped lettuce leaves, such as Bibb, Boston, or iceberg

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch, sugar, and salt, and stir well to dissolve the cornstarch and combine everything into a smooth little sauce.

Place the ground beef in a medium bowl, and use a spoon to separate it into five or six big clumps. Add about half the soy sauce mixture, and gently mix the seasonings into the ground beef, using your hands or a large spoon. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

To cook, heat a wok or a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Add the vegetable oil; swirl to coat the pan, and then toss in the ginger and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, tossing once, until fragrant but not browned.

Crumble in the seasoned ground beef, and use your spatula or a big slotted spoon to break it up and spread the meat out over the hot pan to help it cook evenly. Let it cook until it changes color on one side, 1 to 2 minutes.

Toss the meat just enough to turn the uncooked side onto the hot pan, and let it cook another minute undisturbed. Then toss well, using your spatula to break up any large chunks. When the meat is cooked, add the red pepper flakes and the green onion, and toss well. Add the sesame oil and remove from the heat, tossing once more to mix everything well.

Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature. Arrange lettuce cups on a serving platter, and fill each one with spoonful or two of the cooked beef. Or provide lettuce cups and the serving plate of beef and invite guests to make up lettuce packets themselves.

Purchase Quick & Easy Chinese.

Click here for more great recipes.

Peter Perez
Senior Marketing Manager

Popularity: 3% [?]

Fans of LucasArts videogames such as Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, the Monkey Island series or the multiple Star Wars installments will want Rogue Leaders a book written by videogame-aphile Rob Smith, Editor in Chief of Playstation: The Official Magazine.

Is writing a book on videogames as fun as playing them? Maybe not, but check out this interview with Rob Smith, who might rank writing it as a close second.

What is this book all about, and why would gamers be interested in a book about LucasArts?
The book charts LucasArts’ history, beginning with its founding as a small group within Lucasfilm before flourishing into one of the most storied and respected companies in the growing videogame industry. That story involves many talented designers, writers, and artists who are still working in the industry today. Such well-known games industry personalities as Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert got their start there. Most gamers—of any age—will have heard of Monkey Island, Dark Forces, Rebel Assault, and more, and the book takes readers behind-the-scenes on how those games came to be, including concept art and game design ideas that ended up on the cutting room floor. Did you know that celebrated game designer Hal Barwood was working on a Star Wars game that starred C3PO?

You’ve covered the videogames industry for more than 15 years—what was something new and surprising that you learned in your research?
Probably the sheer number of concepts, ideas, directions, design mechanics, and visual looks that end up on the cutting room floor during the process that led to the creation of some of these bona fide classic games. Really how so many ground-breaking developments came about from a single person championing an idea, and putting in whatever hours were necessary to make it a reality (Vince Lee creating the engine that powered full motion video with sprites overlaid for Rebel Assault, or Michael Land’s iMuse sound system).

What’s your favorite part of this book?
Tough question given it tells a 26-year history. Probably the stories from the very early days, from Steve Arnold, Hal Barwood, Larry Holland and others of how a unique spirit was formed among the teams, and how truly revolutionary ideas were formulated. (My favorite of those is Chip Morningstar’s Habitat, essentially a massively multiplayer online community running on a Commodore 64’s 300-baud modem, which was probably 20 years ahead of its time.)

What are your Top Five LucasArts games?
Ooh, I didn’t make them, but I lived with them all for so long during the creation of the book, that this is a bit like ranking your favorite kids! But to lay it all out:
1. Dark Forces: Jedi Knight – Pulled together incredible first-person action, a story that made first-person shooter fans actually think, and online multiplayer with lightsabers!
2. Full Throttle – So well acted, such a great story, terrific characters, and cool puzzles.
3. The Secret of Monkey Island – Really, how does Monkey Island come in at number 3? The story of Guybrush and the inventive puzzle solving mechanic in the SCUMM engine blended into one of the all-time classics.
4. X-Wing – Or should I say TIE Fighter since that refined the space battle concept, and let you play as the Empire? Both phenomenally deep, incredibly playable simulations of those great space battles.
5. Grim Fandango – Testament to the quality of the dialogue, the story-driven puzzles, and the unique artistic style was that a game based around the Mexican Day of the Dead could be so incredibly compelling.

If you could dress up as any LucasArts character for Halloween, which would it be?
Guybrush. Because everyone loves pirates. Even nerdy pirates. And I’d have to have an Elaine in tow.

Favorite moment in a LucasArts game?
Just one? The satisfaction of figuring out the monkey+wrench=monkey wrench puzzle in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge! Finally defeating the Cave Fish in Full Throttle. Simply piloting an X-Wing. Starting off Labyrinth as a text adventure, only for it to then come to life as a graphics adventure (right before I was thinking of being disappointed). Pick one.

Who’s tougher, Indy or Ben Throttle?
Sorry Indy, but Ben wins this battle hands-down. Ben has cunning of his own to match Indy’s creative extricating from tricky situations, but pound-for-pound in the toughness stakes, that has to go to Ben.

Buy Rogue Leaders!

Thanks,
April
Publicist

Popularity: 3% [?]

I love seeing objects designed for one use adopted for another. It multiplies the value of the object, and usually sparks a few neurons in my brain. Being resourceful also means being creative. Check out this FedEx box transformed into a storage container for rulers and drawing templates. Function and form meet quite nicely.

This idea reminds me of Superuse — Constructing new architecture by shortcutting material flows — a book about constructing buildings with surplus “stuff.” As World Changing described it, Superuse makes reuse “look original and fun” — kinetic energy for a designer’s brain.

Creative reuse is also applicable in small, everyday ways. Readymade magazine is filled with examples of this — how to turn a broken blender into a lamp, make speakers out of an Altoids tin can, or display photos using binder clips.

Examples of creative reuse are everywhere. IDEO’s Everyday Engineering — How Engineers See explores how objects interact with their environment, sometimes changing in function and form over time.

If you’re more of a crafter than a designer, you can still trigger your brain for creative use. I love these scented tea candles contained in vintage teacups, sold at our holiday craft fair. Besides the vast supplies that can be found at your local flea market, look out for centers for reusable parts, such as SCRAP or the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse here in the Bay Area.

Regardless of the persistent economic downturn, channeling the inventiveness and resourcefulness of our grandparents is not only good for the environment, it can also fuel our creative thinking — and creativity paves the road for progress.

Suzanne LaGasa
Designer

Popularity: 3% [?]