Mission Accomplished

To give you a little bit of history, I have worked at Instructables.com for about two years now. I came on as an intern, and Mike Warren, aka Mikeasaurus was one of the first people I met when I started.

His desk was right next to mine, and we would banter back and forth about how to do things 'the right way' in photoshop, and brainstorm ways to prank other people in the office, but mostly Randy.

For the last 20 months or so, Mike was working remotely from Vancouver, Canada. The entire office missed his antics terribly. When we heard he was coming back we were all pretty elated. I knew there had to be some way to make his return a little bit of a big deal, and decided to make him a Mission Accomplished sign, you know, just like George Dub-ya had on that boat.

Step 1: Designing the Sign.

I really considered my source content. I wanted to make sure I was doing 'merica justice by making this sign.

I found some stock imagery of a flag, and then dragged it into Adobe Illustrator. I used the most American font I had in my fontbook, and turned it yellow with a really sharp emboss effect. Nothing says 'merica more than embossed text.

I have included my .eps file in this step for you to download and print if you like.

Step 2: Print It!

I used white sticker vinyl on a Roland VersaCamm Printer. These printers are great for large format printing like this.

Gabe has an Instructable that goes over the use of this printer.

I used the VersaCamm Software to feed the printer the file from our lab here at Pier 9. When it came out of the printer, I cut out the extra vinyl and put it in the scrap bin for others to use in the future.

'Mericans love big stuff! So it sure is nice to have this super sweet printer that lets us make giant stickers.

Step 3: Hang It!

You're probably going to want Benny Hill Music for this part.



Installing the 10 foot sign was ridiculous. Gabe and I attemped to hang the sign after the Instructables Company Holiday Party.......probably the best time to wield tape and big paper signs right? After drinking a bunch of free beer? We thought so too.

Step 4: Bask in 'Merican Glory.

It really is a treat to have Mike among us at Pier 9 here at Instructables HQ. He has already taken to the workshop like a madman, and made more projects here in one month than I have been able to make since June.

Welcome to the States Mike! Now let's go eat some cheeseburgers and pizza.