1. not exorbitant or extravagent by city standards, however in a rural setting (like upstate new york) it is in fact, quite fancy.
2. a wonderful blog dedicated to art, design and other things that are indeed upstate fancy.
READIN' NOW
I decided at the end of last year that it was time to give the blog a facelift. I sketched out a few ideas, made a few revisions and came up with the design that you see here now. But of course this would have never been possible without my amazing fiancé Matt. His web skills always amaze me, and help make my flat designs a reality. So I hope you love the new design as much as I do, and I hope you find it easier to navigate and interact with.
I randomly came across these cute little cord winders today. I love the colors they come in, and of course the way they remind me of adorable pendant banners. What a cute way to keep your cords organized. I would love to have a fe of these behind my computer so I wasn’t always unplugging my external drives when I meant to unplug my camera.
This morning I had a new photo taken for my passport. It was a bittersweet moment for me, because I know I will have an amazing time on the upcoming cruise, but I have to say goodbye to my old passport. This time around I think I am going to get a little sleeve for my new travel document and thought I would share a few of my favorites from around the web.
Clockwise from top left: Tiffany Blue Case, Jenn Maruska Design, tinymeat, jack and bee designs, Vintage 2 Leather, Jenni20
One of my favorite things about driving alone, is listening to NPR. When I was younger, the idea of listening to talk radio was poison to my ears, but now I can’t live without it. I’m always learning something new and nerdy on Science Fridays, and finding great new books that I would have never discovered on my own.
Well now I can listen to 800 NPR stations, as well as thousands of other internet stations with my new desktop NPR radio. You can search by stations, or specific programs or just find something random and hope for the best. I’m so happy to be able to listen to WNYC from here in Maine without having to keep an extra browser window open all the time.
As a kid I loved giving presents to my entire family, I even have a vivid memory of my grandmother teaching me how to fold the corners of wrapping paper in so a gift looked pretty. For my preschool graduation (in May) I sang Frosty the Snowman as a duet with my good friend John Vasselotti and even had some dance moves to go along with it (the video is coming!) I’ve had the radio tuned into the christmas station since thanksgiving, have 5 stations of christmas music on pandora and 3.2 days of christmas music in itunes. So yes Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.
As the holiday shopping season winds down I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has let me become part of their holiday, and even the years to come. It really does mean a lot to me there are people all across the world that will be putting a peppersprouts ornament on their christmas tree, or sitting a warm cup of cocoa on a coaster I designed. It’s such a surreal experience that these little ideas that I have in my head have been able to become a reality and a physical “thing” to hold onto and cherish. I wish everyone a safe and magical holiday season!
A few weeks ago a received and email from some good folks at etsy.com (i’m sure you have heard of it) asking if I would be interested in creating a promotional piece for the upcoming holiday craft fair circuit. The turn around time was short, really short, but this was such a great project I had to say , yes yes yes! Etsy had the idea to create a woodland themed keychain, so I worked up a couple sketches and sent them on over. Once they were approved they were sent through the wires to be etched and cut.
They then arrived ready to be assembled. We removed each one from it’s little resting place, peeled the protective paper off each one by hand, attached the triangle jump rings (which were handmade by fellow etsy seller Unkamen Supplies) and the keychain rings and clamped them shut! 600 of these bear and moose keyrings then went in the box and flew down to our old stomping grounds on Brooklyn. If you happen to be at the One of a Kind show this weekend in NYC, or any othe big holiday shows, keep your eye out for the etsy booth for other etsy artists handmade promo items! And be sure to stop by our etsy shop this holiday season for great gift items, ornaments, stocking stuffers and more!
These Marshall headphones aren’t out yet. But judging by their packaging alone I would say they are going to be amazing! You can signup on their site to get a two day head-start on ordering a pair for the holidays before the rest of the world gets their hands on them.
If you didnt’t get to watch the season finale of Madmen last night, don’t worry I won’t spoil it for you. But i did think this would be the perfect time to show you these amazing pieces I scored at an antique show earlier this year. It was one of those finds that you just couldn’t pass up, and since they were sold separately I had to haggle for a deal so I could take them both home.
They were actually folded in quarters for quite some time so I had them dry mounted on some acid free foam core so they would remain flat and wrinkle free. I just love the illustrations and thinking about the time that went into creating this work by hand instead of a CAD program. They are a great start to my madmen inspired workspace that is slowly coming along.
I actually had no idea this little contest was taking place because I would have put together a design myself. But i am pretty happy with the sea of winners that Chiquita has picked out. While I love their traditional sticker that I have grown up with I can’t wait to see some new designs in the very near future. Imagine how cool it would be to buy a banana with your art on it! You can check out all the winners over on their site.
This morning I found myself out of space. Not physical space actually, but virtual space on my imac. As an artist I always find visual representations easier to follow and understand than numbers. So, thank goodness for Grand Perspective! This handy program scans your hard drive, or really any folder you want, and then gives you a handy visual representation of what is taking up space where. If you click on any of the colored boxes it will let you view the actual files in your finder and you can choose to trash them, keep them, or back them up. It’s such an easy way to free up some much needed space. As much as I like Grey’s Anatomy, today they will now live on on a backup drive instead of taking up precious harddrive space.
