Cakes That Look Good Enough to Wear: The Threadcakes Contest Winners

above: Grand prize winning cakes based on the t-shirt designs shown below them

About six weeks ago, I wrote about the amazing Threadcakes contest in which people designed 3D and 2D actual baked cakes based upon some of Threadless T-shirt designs and shared some of the impressive entries with you.

The contest has now ended and the winners have been announced! Below are the winners from both the 3D and 2D categories. Images of the winning cakes are followed by the t-shirts on which they are based. The Grand prize winners are shown first followed by second, third, fourth and fifth place winners.

The 3D category winners:

Grand Prize: Noah Express cake by Jennifer Flynn:

Noah Express t-shirt by Matheus Lopes & Michael Bisparulz aka mathiolesparulz:

Second Place: Bird Migration cake by Angel Adkins:

Bird Migration T-shirt by Alex Solis:

Third Place: The Red cake by Lauren Babis:

The Red T-shirt by Dina Prasetyawan:

Fourth Place: You Are The Best cake by Leslie Evans:

You Are The Best T-shirt by Emily Glaubinger:

Fifth Place: Flowing Inspiration cake by Erin Okuno:

Flowing Inspiration T-shirt by Enkel Dika:



The 2D Category winners:

Grand Prize: Imposter in the Bird Hotel by Alex Waite

Imposter In the Bird Hotel T-shirt by Michelle Li:

First place: Byebi cake by Lien Sanchez:

Byebi cake T-shirt by Tan Wei Hau:

Third Place: Bird Migration cake by Chelsea Mason:

Bird Migration T-shirt by Alex Solis:

Honorable Mention for Most Accurate Reproduction: Baron VonFunburger's Haunted Castle Cavalcade cake by Theresa Rountree:

Baron VonFunburger's Haunted Castle Cavalcade T-shirt by Mitch Ansara:


See all of the impressive mouth-watering 3D and 2D entries here.
And you can purchase any of the above shown T-shirts, plus hundreds more here at Threadless.

The Woman Behind The MadMen Art, Icons, Wallpaper & Illustrations

above: Dyna Moe's August wallpaper honoring MadMen

Seems that AMC's MadMen just keeps growing in popularity- especially with the "MadMen Yourself" promotion, which is why, just before their third Season Premiere, I wanted to rerun this post introducing you to the artist behind the images.


above: The MadMen season 3 cast: Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), Roger Sterling (John Slattery)- Photo by Frank Ockenfels 3

The post below originally ran on October 14th, 2008 and is being run again with an addendum as well as some new images:




AMC's Mad Men is the hot tv show du jour. With multiple Emmy nominations (two wins, including one for Best Drama) and a rapidly growing cult following, it's been the subject of many a water cooler conversation.




Above: Dyna Moe

Graphic designer/illustrator Dyna Moe (hopefully a psuedonym) has done an honor to this show by capturing it in her many whimsical retro styled illustrations that can be downloaded as wallpaper for your computer from flickr or available for purchase here.




So, how did she get into this? She's clearly a talented illustrator and graphic designer and was asked to create a Christmas card for Rich Sommers, who plays character Harry Crane on the show, to give to his office mates. Seems that a passion was born because that was just the beginning.


Above: the Christmas Card she created for Rich Sommers (Harry Crane)

She then began drawing a commemorative image as desktop wallpaper from each episode (sometimes more than one) and has created downloadable icons, iPhone wallpapers, placemats and more. Customizable prints of her most popular illustrations are for sale through zazzle.com.

On flickr, she describes herself as follows:

"I'm a freelance illustrator and designer in New York City, who also does comedy on occasion. Sometimes at the same time.

The bulk of my work is for the alt comedy scene -- flyers, posters, logos, etc. I have been the unofficial official house designer for the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NY since 1999. I also have done a ton of CDs and 7" designs for local indie pop/punk labels."

Well, she's certainly busy. And funny. I enjoyed reading her commentary on both her blog and flickr as much as I enjoyed her illustrations.


Her blog, "I let My Fists Do The Talkin'" can be viewed here.
Below is a series of downloadable icons, the perfect 'must have' for any Mad Men lover.




She's been so prolific that I can hardly share all her work with you, for that you'll have to visit her set of Mad Men illustrations on flickr or her website.

Here are just a few of her renderings from seasons 1 and 2 of Mad Men:











Buy her prints here.
See her entire portfolio here.



Above: Get your iphone wallpapers here

A generous soul, she writes "Feel free to download and use any of them as wallpapers or write in your blog or website about them. I give everyone blanket permission to do so... you don't even need to ask. Just stop with the incredulous eye-rolls about my name. "

I like her already and don't even know her.

Update: Months later, everyone on social networks and the web are "Mad-Mening" themselves, a fun AMC sponsored Avatar generator. So, who's the artist behind it? You guessed it, Dyna Moe!



The software allows you to customize an icon, a cell phone wallpaper and computer wallpaper, here's mine in all three sizes:


Oh, and then I had to add a laptop and my dog, with the help of photoshop:


Go Mad Men yourself here.

Absolut Opposes "Labeling" Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Minorities With Their Vodka No Label

Absolut Vodka is introducing limited edition naked bottles that do not feature the Absolut label or logo to mark the launch of its latest campaign In An ABSOLUT World There Are No Labels, an initiative which challenges prejudice against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) minorities.

Absolut wants to challenge labels and prejudice to make the world more diverse, vibrant and respectful. You will only find a discreet and easily removed sticker with the campaign manifesto on the bottle. This will encourage you to discard your labels and look beyond the obvious...




the press release:

ABSOLUT VODKA is introducing, In An ABSOLUT World, There Are No Labels, an initiative where ABSOLUT wants to challenge labels and prejudice to make the world more diverse, vibrant and respectful, and introduces a naked bottle – with no label, but with a lot of attitude. The limited edition bottle is available in selected markets starting in June 2009. At the same time ABSOLUT is launching absolut.com/nolabel where consumers from around the world are invited to discard their labels and prejudice about sexual minorities.

”For the first time we dare to face the world completely naked. We launch a bottle with no label and no logo, to manifest the idea, that no matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that really matters. We do it in support of the people who spend their entire lives, stamped with label by other people, says Kristina Hagbard, Global PR Manager at The Absolut Company.

The limited edition bottle is launched at Global Travel Retail and on selected markets in June, with a global launch following in September. It is without the ABSOLUT VODKA label or logo, which makes the iconic bottle as stylish as ever before. A discrete and easily removed sticker with the campaign manifesto encourages consumers to discard their labels and look beyond the obvious, and directs them to absolut.com/nolabel, where people from around the world (and with any sexual preference) are welcome to learn more about labels and prejudice.


above: The limited-edition bottle has no label or logo. A discreet and easily removable sticker with a campaign manifesto encourages consumers to discard their prejudices and labels and look beyond the obvious.

”This limited edition is extremely stylish with its clean and naked design. The bottle visually manifests our belief in diversity and our standpoint when it comes to sexual minorities. We encourage people to think twice about their prejudice, because in an ABSOLUT world, there are no labels” Kristina Hagbard finishes.

The global launch will follow in September.

ABSOLUT VODKA was one of the first consumer brands to embrace the gay community, and its ads have appeared in gay media since 1981.

The Absolut No Label blog

So, where can you get it?

It was available at select stores in sweden and starting Monday, July 13th it will be available at Selfridges . I do not know where in the US you can find it, but I'd check premium liquor stores and ebay.