dad lifesize cutout

My Dad is finally retiring after 30 years as the Director of Finance for the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, so my Mom, my brother and his wife, and my hubby and I threw him a party with all of his employees to celebrate. I wanted to do something different and special for him, and one of the companies that my hubby  does some computer programming for is called Lifesize Greetings. They make these cool lifesize cutouts of just about whatever you want. I got the idea to create an illustration of my Dad doing what he likes to do best while relaxing, things I picture him doing in his retirement…smoking his cigars, drinking his vodka martinis and flyfishing in some North Carolina stream. I was worried about the large scale of the sign and that blowing up my design to this size (he is 6 feet tall!) might make the end result grainy looking, but it turned out fabulous!!

Here he is standing in my husband’s office. It’s a bit creepy honestly…I feel like my Dad is standing there motionless! I attached some real fishing line to the end of the pole and made a painted cardboard cutout martini to attach to the end of the line. It was a big hit at the party.

Thanks to Bob and Ephraim at Lifesize Greetings for all of their help!

Anyway, I liked it so much, I decided to offer these for sale on my website. They are a really unique idea for special occasions! A standard 6 feet tall cardboard cutout custom illustration of your loved one peforming their favorite activity is $400. If you want your cutout to be made from 10mm coroplex, a sturdy sign material, the cost is $550, and a 1/2 inch thick PVC sign, which is suitable for permanent outdoor display, is $600.

my recycled container deck herb garden

And remember the deck herb garden I mentioned that I wanted to start in a previous post? I was going to use some of the containers I stole from my recycle bin to grow herb seedlings. Well, I ended up using 1/2 gallon paper milk cartons, cutting them to various heights (purely for looks), and spraying the exterior with some of my leftover spray paint to waterproof them and to match my mid century modern deck chair cushions.

I planted rosemary, sage, cilantro and basil…more of the last two since they are my favorite and will be used the most in my kitchen. Mmmmm….fresh, organic cilantro and avocado for guacamole! The seedlings are just now peeking above the soil. I can’t wait! 🙂