Brandi Strickland

Collages from Brandi Strickland... there's something so simple and sophisticated about them..

via Design Lovely

Honbachi: Book Planters

image source here

Leave it to the Japanese to think of this: hollowed-out books as planters. Could be a cool DIY project... oh the possibilities! Who's having a literary-concept wedding?

via Boingboing

Horatius

We discovered a new food market in our neighborhood: Horatius. It's really more than a market and bistro; Horatius also hosts private events, wine tastings and cooking classes.

Each display is so thoughtful, a mixture of art, found artifacts with products.... a juxtaposition of old and new, rural and urban... just lovely!


Love the barn door, constructed from reclaimed barn wood and forged iron nails and fittings.

all image source: chewingthecud

chelsea cardinal

image source here

Magical drawings from Chelsea Cardinal, an illustrator based in Brooklyn.

Day trip Highlights

image source: chewing the cud

Some highlights from our day trip over the weekend...

Happy 4th!

image source: chewingthecud

Out shucking... be back next week. Here's to splendid picnics and glorious fireworks!

Sharpie Uncapped

image source here

Sharpie has a new site and they featured a tutorial from ctc yay! Check it out here.

Dagmar Daley

image source: here

If I had a little girl, I would dress her up with these dresses from San Francisco designer Dagmar Daley.

Sophia Blackall: Missed Connections

image source: here

Craigslist's "Missed Connections" illustrated by Sophia Blackall
just lovely...

More on her blog...

via {frolic!}

Every Little Step

source here

Amazing amazing documentary of how broadway musical "A Chorus Line" was born and reveals the gruelling 8-month long auditions for a 2006 revival...

Deborah Williams

photos by Yunhee Kim and Lisa Hubbard

Loving these stills by stylist Deborah Williams... what extraordinary colors!

Lovely Melbourne Ad

source: here

One of the best ad for tourism I've ever seen...

Guest-blogging at Style Me Pretty

image source: blonde tulip photography

Hello lovelies. Head over to Style Me Pretty where I'm guest-blogging today.
Thank you for having me there Abby!

Wooden Animals

Gotta love those Scandinavians...

birds by Kristian Vedel

elephant by Kay Bojesen

ducks by Hans Bølling

Number 17

image source: number 17

A little humor to start off your Monday...
I just can't get enough of these comics from NYC design firm Number 17.

Their branding work for the Mercer Hotel is also rather handsome.

image source here

How cool are these salt and pepper shakers created by Antrepo Design?

via the dieline

ShakeIt!

image source: chewingthecud

I recently discovered ShakeitPhoto, the iphone apps that turns your photos into polaroids. As you can tell, I was a little shakeit-happy.

Proef: a food design studio

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Proef is a creative design studio in Amsterdam where food concepts are developed and executed. I love how they use food to tell a story.

About Founder Marije Vogelzang:
Designers who work with the subject ‘food’ are often called ‘food designers’. According to Vogelzang, food is already perfectly and beautifully designed by nature. She designs from the verb ‘to eat’. She is for example inspired by the origin of food, the preparation, etiquette, history or the culture of food. That is why she doesn’t call herself ‘food designer’but, as the first one in The Netherlands, ‘eating-designer’.

One of their experiements: Elements (pictured above)

"When entering Proef Rotterdam at the opening, guests were asked for their date of birth. According to this information we could track their astrological element; water, fire, earth of air and tied a coloured ribbon around their wrist referring to the element. We served everybody his or her own element-specific food. The opening lasted the day. In the first two hours I noticed that there were only air and earthpeople visiting. I started to get worried that we would run out of white and brown food and have lots of red and green leftovers. Finally the water and fire guests came and balanced things up. Later on I read that apparently water and fire people have the tendency to be late for appointments."

Present & Correct: Everyday Things

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I've posted about these guys before. Present and Correct: from paper bags to everyday industrial clips, they seem to get everything just right.

Stylin' with Harlequin

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some eye candy from Harlequin to start your day...

The Vendor Client Relationship—in Real World Situations

I think the title says it all.

Thanks for the laughs, Peter.

Malick Sidibé:

image source: here

Malick Sidibé is a Malian photographer known for his black-and-white documentation of popular culture in the 1960s. At 78, it's nice to know he's still at the top of his game.

Bracket Business Card

image source here

Loving this smart concept by Singaporean designer Felix Ng for Bracket Publishing.

via FPO

Lovely Gifts and Photos

images by Elizabeth Messina

After a rough day last week, I found these waiting in my inbox and they made me smile. These were some of the details I had designed for Elizabeth Messina's "A Lovely Workshop". Love the way they look against her vintage fabrics. Check out more beautiful images on Elizabeth's blog.

Thank you Elizabeth!

Ahoy, Alphabetilatelists!

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It all started with a "Wouldn't it be fun if ..."

And so Alphabetilately was born. The brainchild of Bill Senkus, in collaboration with Alyson Kuhn, this project features a collection of alphabet stamps where each stands for some aspect of the collecting of stamps or the sending of snail mail. 26 designers in the San Francisco Bay Area were assigned an alphabet each, and asked to design a stamp based on their interpretations of definitions and examples provided to them.

Currently showing at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
image source here

I'm partial to alphabets and stamps, but I'm doubly excited that the exhibition made it to the Smithsonian because my dear pt was one of the 26 designers. His stamp... drumroll here... is the letter E. E is for EFO's.

EFO's? That, in printer languge, would be "Errors, Freaks, and Oddities", i.e. misprints, misperfs and other production blunders. Perforations shouldn't run down the middle of the design; grass shouldn't be blue; 2-cent stamps shouldn't say "5 cents" etc.

Even though this project was conceived more than 10 years ago, I still think the designs are still beautiful and relevant.

Update: for those in the Bay Area, Alyson Kuhn will be giving a talk about the AIGA SF philatelic alphabet project on Sunday afternoon, June 7, at 2 pm at The McCune Collection in Vallejo.

New Goodies in the Shop

images: chewingthecud

We now have more letterpress printed lovelies listed in the shop.

Many of you have inquired about the reusable fabric gift wraps and those will be available in late June. Will keep you posted, promise!