Snow day!

As seen from my window. (No way I am going out in this!)

And the next card has arrived!

I'm just saying, waiting for cards makes the mail much more fun than a stack of bills! This one is from Marisa.

My Holiday card

Continuing with the holiday card swap, here is the card I sent out. I took the "handmade" instruction pretty literally and broke out the scissors and glue. I took a clothing catalog that I got in the mail and cut circles out various warm weather clothes, which I then used to make snowmen! I like the idea of the snowman made of sweaters.



Did you send out any cards this year? Post a link in the comments!

Holiday cards are in!

The first 2 cards from the Brooklyn Bride card swap arrived in my mail box last night. Here they are!

This one is from Chloe of Mochie-Roo:

This one is from Abigail of Plaid Panties and Lollipop Trees:

Looking forward to the other 3 cards to come! My cards have been sent out and I hope to post them here soon.

Hoefler & Frere-Jones fonts

I just read an interesting article about the type foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones. I love reading about people who spend their day deciding that the flourish of the M is too big and just which 13th century material would be the best reference (really! I'm not kidding!). The article talks about a project that the firm did for the Nature Conservancy. Hoefler & Frere-Jones ended up creating a font for them called Oakleaf, which is modified version of their font Requiem.


I tried to find a piece from the Nature Conservancy where they actually used this font, but to no avail. With all those amazing swashes, I'm sure the piece was beautiful!

Gary Rosenthal Menorahs

Gary Rosenthal is an artist who welds metals and glass together to create beautiful Judaica art. I have a friend who spent a summer interning in his studio, which is how I first heard of him. In honor of Chanukah, which begins tonight, here are a few of his interesting menorahs. Check out more here.

Brooklyn Bride Holiday Card Swap

I am participating in this year's holiday card swap, graciously hosted by the Brooklyn Bride blog. I have been given addresses to send cards to places as far away as Lithuania! I am very curious to see what cards come to me. I will be scanning and posting them as they arrive, and of course I will also share the card I am sending as well. Stay tuned!

Mashed Potato Sculptures

In honor of Thanksgiving, I present to you some of the past winning mashed potato sculptures from Potato Days, a full-blown celebration of the humble potato in Barnesville, Minnesota which is held in August. These were made by Monique Daley.

2000, 1st Place - Spaghetti, Meatballs and Beverage

2003, 2nd Place - Pizza and Pop

And amazingly realistic corn, with the texture created using a mesh bag/fabric
2004, 1st Place - Corn on the Cob

Doily clocks

I came across yet another amazing etsy find. This time, it's these elegant laser-carved wood clocks by uncommon. The patterns are intricate doilies. How classy would these look in a living room?

Craft in America

I just finished watching the first of a 5 part series on PBS.org called "Craft in America." The first part is called "Memory" and it tells the tale of furniture makers, basket weavers and blacksmiths who take pride in creating beautiful handmade objects, both functional and as art, that follow the tradition of their craft. I really enjoyed hearing their stories and seeing their beautiful work. As an extra bonus, while I was watching I was doing some crafting of my own, stitching up the hem to one of my skirts.

I hope to watch the rest of the series as well, where other types of crafts are explored as well. You can watch the series here.

Kate Slater

I recently stumbled across Kate Slater's etsy shop, which inspired me to find out more about her. She is a London based illustrator and papercut maker, who does amazing work, mostly for children. I would love to hang some of her work in my home!

New downloadable cards

Umm....I guess it's been a while! I hope to be back posting more regularly. I wanted to let you all know that I have started offering seasonal downloadable cards in my etsy shop. So you can just print out a whole stack and attach them to your gifts without needing to run out to the store and spend extra cash on cards. Let me know what you think!

They Draw and Cook

www.theydrawandcook.com is the perfect combo of art and cooking. Artists illustrate recipes and post them. So you can pick up some new lunch ideas but also feast on some great design.

Curry Cabbage by Nate Padavick

Eggplant Card featured!

My eggplant card is being featured in a tasty mix of veggie-themed paper goods over at Invitation Buzz, a site that is new to me but looks like it would fun to look through! Thanks, Heather and Emily for featuring me!

World Cup Crayons

World Cup mania has been taking over, even reaching the US, where soccer isn't usually so popular. Diem Chau over at tinyhaus.blogspot.com was commissioned to create crayons carved in the likeness of World Cup players for Nike's promotion of the World Cup. Such amazing craftsmanship!



They were displayed in an awesome custom case.

Check out the whole post here.

Cooking with Photoshop

This cute video via diamondsfordessert.blogspot.com. Making real cookies in Photoshop! This would be great in my office...

Ikea advertising in Paris Metro

Ikea is doing some interesting advertising in Paris. They have lined the platforms for Metro stations with couchs and chairs, outfitting the stations to look like long, narrow living rooms, complete with backdrops of bookshelves printed and stickered on the walls. I wish they would try it out in the NYC subways - I'd love a comfy couch to sit on while waiting for the train.



Article here.

New License Plates

Recently, both New York and Ohio unveiled new license plate designs. You tell me - you got the better deal here?

Lego Printer

Really. Little lego men with a marker are the best printer ever.

New Subway map for NYC

If you have ever spent time in New York City, you have surely spent at least a few minutes squinting over the subway map, trying to decide if you actually on the uptown or downtown train and where you could get a free transfer back. The New York Times reports that for the first time in more than a decade, the MTA is freshening up the map's graphics. They are changing colors to improve contrast and adding a shadow to route lines. nytimes.com has a nice graphic comparing the new and old maps:


(click through to the article see a better version, where you can focus on specific boros and change to comapre older versions of the map as well)

It should be interesting to see it in action coming next month.

Letter Playground

Always wanted to show the world that awesome "F" you drew in the margin of your notebook? Letter Playground displays user submitted designs using the letters of the alphabet. Anyone can send in their work. The site says that artwork is copyrighted, so I can't display it for you here, but go check it out! Let us know if you submit anything!

Battery Salt and Pepper Shakers

I saw these salt and pepper shakers from Antrepo Design and I couldn't help but giggle and then shake my head in admiration. Who thinks of things like this?

500 Pencils

Remember those "book of the month" clubs? Every month, subscribers would receive a book in the mail for their reading pleasure. Felissimo has created the artist's dream version, in a project he is calling "500 Pencils." Subscribers receive 25 pencils a month for 20 months, for a whopping total of 500 different colored pencils, with names like "Drizzly Afternoon" (gray) and "Tragedy" (burgundy). For the die-hard collector, they also sell display pieces, where you can dazzle your visitors with an actual rainbow hanging on your wall.

Water bottle design

Kir Devries has some great patterns on their stainless steel reusable water bottles. These types of bottles have become very popular recently, as people step up their efforts to go green and waste less. It is also more cost efficient to refill a water bottle than to buy a brand new one every time you need a drink on the go!

Typographic Tea Towel

Continuing here on the trend of type-nerdiness, I saw these whimsical screen-printed tea towels by Linzie Hunter. My mom has a tea towel hanging from a dowel in the kitchen (next to this poster) and I think Linzie's work would be great to hang as well.

Linzie has an etsy shop and sadly this towel isn't available but she has lots of other fun prints to check out!

Typography bag

I saw the most amazing type-geek bag at Veer today.


So subtle, so great.

Hand decorated sneakers

An interesting way to have your shoes say more that just "my feet aren't wet or cold," is to personalize them yourself. Anna Boccarossa of Signature Shoes has done just that. She illustrates Converse sneakers to create amazing one-of-a-kind footwear.


I'm not sure I could get away with some of these, but I love the idea!

New Product Offering

I am excited to announce that I have just listed my first DIY invitation ensemble in my etsy shop. I would love to hear some feedback, so go take a look and let me know what you think!

Lamps by Seppo Koho

Finnish designer Seppo Koho at Secto Design creates amazing handmade lamps out of birch wood. The spaces between the slats of wooden allow for the light to glow through. This is classic Scandinavian design at its best - clean, simple and beautiful.




(All images from his website: http://www.sectodesign.fi)

Baby shoes

Somehow, all things tiny are extremely cute. Mini sweaters and hats, tiny coats. But hardly anything is cuter than baby shoes. Wandering around etsy, I found cazhoffy's shop and almost melted into a puddle of cuteness. These shoes look just like styles you might buy for yourself. Only tiny.



Even the bottom of the shoes are cute!


Check out the rest of the shop for more. I sure hope I need a baby gift soon!