just an fyi

in case anyone wants to know what makes my heart go pitter-patter, you can just refer to our friend leah's great blog post - a guy's guide to european fashion.

um, yes please - to all of the above.

(sorry, this is shameless. you probably don't want to read about my opinions on this stuff. i won't let it happen again.)

lilypad

so... i finally remembered to order it, and it finally came in the mail today! - and now holleeanne have matching friendship necklaces! - it's official now, holly! - we're friends... we have the necklaces to prove it!

by wendy mink

for the southern belle...

from terrain

you might be a designer if...

the oak room identity by pentagram

i really like this identity that pentagram did for this plaza hotel bar
...quite sophisticated and a really nice color palette

The Oak Room at the Plaza, now 102 years old, began as a men-only bar. Closed during Prohibition, it reopened as a restaurant in 1934. Years of modifications, not to mention decades of tobacco smoke, dimmed but never entirely extinguished its luster. 2008 brought a painstaking renovation led by architect Annabelle Selldorf. Although modern touches abound, the design team made a decision at the outset to channel the restaurant’s great iconic history. This is, after all, where the action in Hitchcock’s 1959 North by Northwest begins, with Cary Grant meeting friends in the Oak Room. Our goal was to create a graphic program that Cary Grant’s character, advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill, would have approved.

LA, want to pick me up a match box next time you are in the area

thoughts on thermography

i have typically thought thermography was somewhat tacky*...because it was fake engraving and if you don't engrave just use flat printing on nice paper..well my thoughts may be changing...after viewing a few nice pieces where thermography was chose intentionally because of its quality and aesthetic, it is growing on me

here is an article about it from felt and wire...

*please excuse my printing snobbishness in this post

cocodot evites

i'm not even sure how i found this website - it showed up in my browser like i had visited it before, although i'm pretty sure i haven't - but nonetheless i stumbled upon it, and i love it!

move over, evite... because cocodot is so much prettier! the design is much better than any online invite service i've seen... you can choose from a ton of different designs, and can customize most of your text content and font.

i haven't tried it out for an actual invite yet, but it seems like you can do just about everything you can do on evite... AND you can import your contacts from gmail!... you can use it to send an e-card as well.

i'm sold. - and now i'm just looking for an event to try it out for...

what type are you?

Pentagram has an amusing site in which your personality traits determine your typeface. I was rational, assertive, progressive and disciplined, which according to their type psychologist means i am new alphabet.

a collection a day

i am so going to look forward to reading this daily, i love collections...

This is a blog documenting a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint.


Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed both with collecting and with arranging, organizing and displaying my collections. This is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined. Some of my collections are so large that I will need to photograph them separately over several days. I will likely not attempt to photograph collections in which the individual pieces are large in size or awkward in shape (i.e. my art collection or vintage enamel dishware collection). The only rule is that I must photograph or draw a whole or part of a collection each day for 365 days and post the result here on this blog.

typeface

ranunculus is back!

so we are officially in the dead of winter - and (at least here in nyc) we still have at least a couple more months of bone-chilling weather ahead of us.

which is sad.

BUT - there's a bright side to it... this is the time of year that we start seeing my favorite flower, ranunculus popping up here and there - and it makes me believe that i can, in fact, make it to spring! it is such a happy little flower, and is usually mixed with other spring flowers which are equally as cheerful...

as evidenced on some of my favorite flower blogs:

studio choo

anticipation (i think this arrangement is my fave!)

saipua

...and more saipua


yay, ranunculus!

elle decor goes to birmingham!

so this isn't necessarily new news - but i just remembered to buy my january/february copy of elle decor today. because they have a story all about birmingham! - kind of like a little city guide, and you can read it here.

i haven't made it all the way through the article, but i am enjoying it so far... and i especially love the little map drawn by lena corwin!

hanger tea

found here via kathy at work

our lady of the most holy trinity chapel

every time i find myself in some beautiful old cathedral (which is not nearly often enough), i usually find myself saying something along the lines of, "they just don't build things like this anymore" - well, i stand corrected. this article in architect magazine has proven me wrong! - a new chapel by Duncan Stroik on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA is a hybrid of several different types of historical architecture. even though it's based on very old styles, i think it's actually so refreshing to see something like this right next to a story about a sleek, modern cupcake shop. i had to do a double-take while skimming through the magazine, and had to read almost the whole article to be convinced that it was a totally new building and not a renovation of an existing older chapel... some would probably argue that it is taking a step back from modern architecture, but i don't think you can really argue with the beauty of the chapel and all the details. and i personally love it.