You asked for it, you got it. This week’s Love List!
I’m sure most of you have probably seen this download-able Artist’s Survival Kit from the always inspirational Keri Smith, but I wasn’t aware of it until just recently. Thus, its spot on this week’s Love List. It’s five pages of creative fun, fully printable, and yours to do with as you wish. I appreciate this kit because I often find myself in a creative rut that I need to get out of. Having something like this around gets me going again. And if you need even more creative play, maybe try this out? Enjoy!
The switch plates in my house are boring. Snore. Which is why these switch plate designs from A la Mode appeal to me. If I weren’t lazy, I may take on a decoupage project and cover my switch plates up. But I’m a lazy, lazy girl and think I might just order the “You Are Here” one today.
My necklace love lives on with these Simply Stated necklaces by Laurel Denise. Simple, elegant, with written messages that are calming and truthful. Very chic, I think, to wear your words just above your heart.
I love, love, love the promotional posters for Crazy for Cult, a movement that has artists re-interpreting cult films. I especially enjoy the promotional posters they’ve been putting out for the project. Click here and here to see what I’m talking about and help me figure out all the movies represented. Kinda like Where’s Waldo?, but way, way cooler.
This game is being billed as the best online flash game ever. Is it really? I can’t say, but I guarantee that it’s pretty addictive. At first try, the game and it’s purpose makes absolutely no sense. And then you realize that that’s the point of it exactly. Play it if you dare. Don’t let the frustration get to you. After a while, play becomes pretty fun.
It’s v. its. Whose v. who’s. Affect v. effect. If you ever had a hard time remembering when to you those and many more like them, hook yourself up with Grammar Girl and she’ll set you straight. Of the many podcasts I download, hers is one of my favorites. They’re short, sweet, and highly informative. Believe me when I say she’s saved me from embarrassment many, many times. And, hopefully, has made your experience reading this blog more enjoyable.
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM
So I just found out recently (and I mean about an hour ago) that the past few week’s Love Lists have been coming late in the day. I actually have these posts pre-published so that when a certain time and day hit, the lists get published automatically.
Yeah. So that hasn’t been happening at all.
I’m hoping I’ve fixed the error this week. You’d think I’d know how to use a calendar and a clock, but since I exist on Grace-time you just never know.
The HP Lovecraft Historical Society has replicated a series of vintage 1920’s and 30’s style fonts which they’re now releasing to the public. Great additions, I think, to anyone’s font collection. And if you visit the page, also click on the other links on the site. If you’re a vintage paper lover, you’ll find a wealth of resources to play with.
I saw Quiz Show when it came out in the mid-90’s and was fascinated by the story of Charles Van Doren. For years Van Doren refused to speak about his involvement with the scandal. Now, fifty years after the scandal, van Doren finally shares his side of the story in a piece by the New Yorker. It’s a fantastic read, very well-written, sharing the story of a man who made a mistake and a father who supported his son unconditionally.
Remember those old Batman TV show starring Adam West? Remember how campy the show was? That whenever someone got hit, a cartoon-ish “Pow!”, “Bam!”, “Ouch!” would flash across the screen? Well now you can actually re-live those moments with these Ouch Comic Strip Bandadges. These are great for kids of all ages.
I always wanted to be a Girl Scout, but that dream never came true. But now as an adult, I can see my wish fulfilled, especially if I get myself a couple of these Spoof Real World Badges. LOL, these babies are funny. I wonder, however, how many of them I’ll actually be able to “earn”. Definitely the blogging badge. Definitely.
Rhonna did it again! I love, love, love this digi kit she’s released for 2Ps in honor of August’s Back-2-School theme. I love every bit of it: the colors, the pieces, the owls. I’m planning on printing up these elements to create my own embellishments. Thank God for Rhonna and her creativity. I love that girl.
Yay! The Summer Olympics are here and you know what that means? Men’s swimming. Woah. I am an avid follower of the U.S. Men’s Swim Team. Oh my goodness. Have you seen their bodies? Heaven. Each one of them. And if you think I’m over reacting, check out this montage NBC put together of fabulous swimmer abs. Then come back and tell me men’s swimming isn’t something to cheer about. Though I’m cheering for Team U.S.A., I’ll also be cheering for the male swimmers from every country. I’m an equal opportunity appreciator.
SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND
I’m not one to share my political beliefs on this blog, but I do feel I should make a mention that during the 2008 Olympic Games, my thoughts will be with Tibet. I’ve participated in peaceful protests in support of Tibet and their plight for self-determination. To learn more, visit FreeTibet.org.
Happy First Day of August! Woah, we’re getting to the end of the summer season. Where did the time go?
On with the Love List…
Do you tweet? If you do, then you’re probably on Twitter. I’ve got an account, but I find myself using the Facebook status updates more, which you can see at the top of this blog. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m immune to cute birds. And super fantastic illustrator Pasquale D’Silva created a free .png and icon files for Twitter users to use on their blogs. Cute, cute, cute. Now why can’t Facebook come up with a cute icon like that?
Speaking of cute, if you saw the highly rated Wall-E movie by Pixar earlier this summer, you were also treated to the uber cute short film Presto. Presto is so adorable it leaks honey and sugar, it’s that sweet. If you haven’t yet had a chance to see the movie or want to relive Presto again, visit this site and enjoy the sweetness.
I am seriously in love with my Jesus phone. It’s a sick relationship we have. And now that Apple is releasing 3rd party software for it through iTunes, my love for my phone has grown. So when Agile Web Solutions announced that it was releasing their 1Password software for free for the iPhone, I just about keeled over. 1Password is my preferred method of keeping my security information on my Mac. Now that I can sync all that on my iPhone through this free app, I now feel I can rule the world. [via iTunes]
Are you a victim of bad design? Or are you the offender? If you’re on a mission against bad design, stop by Design Police and download their templates. Keep them handy. You never know when you’ve got to police someone’s ass for daring to use Comic Sans.
Our neighbors to the north have a wicked sense of humor. Though the Canadian Film Fest was earlier this year, the posters created to promote the event continue to amuse. Hmmm….maybe it’s time for me to move up north, eh?
I was LOL-ing all over the place when I saw this: Baby’s First Internet. Scroll through the collection of illustrations and nursery rhymes to teach your wee one their first lessons about the world wide web. I LOLed on the Flickr one. But the last is probably my favorite. It’s so true, it’s scary.
TONY AND TINA’S WEDDING
My friends and I are going to see it tomorrow night in the city. It’s a musical event in which you are the guests at Tony and Tina’s wedding. Just dandy. Should I wear one of my 11 bridesmaid dresses? Or should I go as the wedding photographer? Let me know!
WHAT SHOULD GRACE WEAR TO TONY AND TINA’S WEDDING?
Go as a wedding photographer. You’ve got a camera; use it. (53%, 10 Votes)
Go as a bridesmaid! The 12th time’s the charm. (47%, 9 Votes)
I’ve been posting a lot of photos, I realized, and not so much of the art. I need to rectify that this weekend. But until then, the Love List!
Lise Lefebvre’s work is very unique and her website is fun to browse through. Of all her collections, I enjoy her {tradition, traditional} collection best: handles on plates so you can lick them clean, images of utensils on the table cloth so you’ll know exactly where they go, and the ability to create your own dinner napkin. Funky and smart.
A Little Hut has on their website tags in simple and clean designs that you can download for free . I found this particular set, which is perfect for those going back to school. I’m planning on downloading the set and creating tags for my teacher friends. Cool and free are two words I know well.
Speaking of downloadable paper, visit www.printablepaper.net for -what else?- paper templates you can download for free! I know the paper lover in me will incorporate the templates in my scrapbook designs. But any office supply nerd can find many other uses for this site. And guess what? I’m both! Hey, you never know when you’ll need accounting paper, right? Right.
Pretty, pretty, pretty. These silhouette images of children and balloons. I’ve been into silhouettes lately and these are a cool find for me. I think these will work well as imprints on greeting cards via a Gocco impression. What do you think?
I love color and I’ve professed that fact often enough. But how would it be if I lived in this world as a color blind person? Colourlovers has come up with a fantastic read on how exactly color blind people see our world. Take a look at the article and check out the images that accompany it. I wonder, will Google by any other color still smell as sweet?
Freakin’ cupcake lollipops. Freakin’ cute! Crafty Ginger came up with this delicious idea. I’m no cook, but these kinds of things make me itch for a chef’s hat. I want to try this out. I need to try this out. I must try this out. Period. [[Update: Thanks to Jo for clarifying that Bakerella presented these luscious treats on a Martha Stewart Show segment. And now I am officially in love with the Bakerella blog. Thanks Jo!]]
Time for another Heart Tap! And this one is a bit personal. I’m honored to say that I’m one of the contributing artists to Ali Edwards’ newest book, “Sharing Your Story: Recording Life’s Details with Mini Books”. This book is 164 pages of incredibly awesome work by some of my favorite artists (Laura Kurz! and Maggie Holmes! just to name two) and is now available for pre-order to be released in August. So honored to be a party of this. I’m just so happy.
That’s it from me for now. Hugs to all you guys. Big giant hugs from me to you!
And I’m back! Missed you all. And now on with the list.
Horacio Salinas does some pretty awesome work. I enjoy how he takes everyday items and transforms them into something completely new. Good art. Good art is meant to do exactly this.
Okay, my chalkboard fetish is getting out of hand. These chalkboard necklaces from Sherry Truit are cute, cute, cute. Great for leaving small messages. 1 + 1 = <3 is a good one, I think.
These Neiko bags are to die for. I really have a thing for bags constructed with highly polished leather pieces. Very office-woodsy chic. I can see myself sporting these at work. Now if I can only find one that will fit my camera and her lenses….
Did you know that your favorite movie theme songs have lyrics? Yeah, I didn’t either. But apparently they do according to this guy, Andrew Goldenberg. I loved reading the feature the LA Times did on him. I develop mad crushes on geekly, clever guys in glasses. Did I ever share that? LOL. Well I do and I love the cleverness behind his endeavor.
Props to the “Props” collection from Hella Jongerius. Functional items with animal fable twists. I wouldn’t mind a snail-shaped vase. Or a birdie pitcher. Or a dragonfly ladel. Very imaginative.
While everyone will be waiting in line in the theaters to watch The Dark Night, I will be staying comfortably at home watching the season premiere of Psych, a.k.a. Grace’s most favoritest show for the foreseeable future!! I love everything about this show: Shawn, Gus, Shawn + Gus, Gus + Shawn, Li’l Shawn + Gus, and all those 80’s references. I pride myself in spotting the pineapple references in each episode. And I love just how fun the show is. Hands down I will always pick a comedy over a drama. And the funny over the serious. Psych is just it for me.
And just a little of the great stuff that is Psych
SO THAT’S IT FOR ME
After a week’s break from blogging, I’m feeling restless and you know what that means. Wild, wild things will be going on and soon.
I’m not much of a gamer but I do occasionally enjoy playing an online flash game. Poiser, a physics puzzle game, is one that I’ve been playing. I love the look - everything hand drawn and on grid paper. Reminds me of all the doodling I used to do in physics class.
How do you hide an elephant? Great question and the answers offered from this Worth1000.com challenge will leave you highly amused.
The web designer in me is tickled with this icon watch from &Design. I am thoroughly enjoying this 8-bit inspired design. Ca-ute!
I don’t know what it is about these stainless steel concrete rings from Escape Design, but they highly appeal to me. I like the sleek look, but I love the fact that it’s so elemental. I wonder how heavy it is. Maybe I need to order one to see.
Are you a member of the Behance Network? I am. I find constant inspiration on the site, most recently from these sketch designs from Linzie Hunter. Her lettering sketchbooks are fun to browse through as are her other designs. Cool, cool, wicked cool.
BEING LAZY THIS WEEKEND
That’s my sole priority. Nothing but creating and cleaning then creating some more.
These snow globes from Walter Martin are pretty rad. Some disturbing, some surreal, some super sweet - all of them very, very cool.
I’ve never really been a video game player, but I did dabble when I was a kid. My favorites have always been and always will be the classic 64-bit games. Which is why I enjoy these designs by RETROnoob so much. Old school video games in their real life environments. Can you imagine? Reminds me of the Pontiac SpyHunter commercial I blogged about earlier this year.
Did you know you can personalize M & M’s? I never did! I thought this was only available for corporations, but never realized individuals can have it done, too. What a great idea. When would I do this, I wonder? The possibilities are endless.
Saw this magnetic white eraseboard on Flickr. Great idea. I’ve had a fetish recently about blackboards (see here), so maybe now I should start considering eraseboards. Rust-Oleum has a Dry Erase paint you can use to create something like this. A great idea for a kid’s room or an office, I think.
This guy. Is hot. Fell in love with him in Becoming Jane and now I can’t wait to see him in Wanted. The movie looks awesome, but I really am going to go see it especially to watch him. Time which will be well spent, I say.
Hallelujah! God bless Firefox 3. Everyone please move away from Internet Explorer if you haven’t done so yet and install Firefox 3. Aside from its many new and improved upon features, the single line item I am falling all over for is the fact that Firefox 3 (unlike previous versions) now has the ability to to render color profiles true. What does this mean? It means you’ll be able to see your photos in Firefox exactly how you see them in Photoshop, which most browsers have been unable to do (except just recently Safari). You do, however, need to turn this feature on in Firefox 3 because the default installation has this feature turned off. But go over and read this post on dria.org to see how to do this. I did and it was really, really easy. And now I see my photos and everyone else’s exactly how they’re meant to be seen.
OFF TO VEGAS THIS WEEKEND
My friends and I are having a girlfriend weekend getaway to Vegas, baby! I need to take it easy because my ribs still need some TLC, but I’m planning on documenting the entire trip with my trusty Nikon D300 (which I just bought the other day). Seriously, I need to stop treating myself.
Love this Lady de Lacy bracelet. I’m a bracelet-wearing kind of girl and I enjoy the design of this one because it provides the right balance of ‘girly-girly + Wonder Woman-esque’ qualities I’m looking for in all my jewelry. Truly lovely. And I bet it repels bullets, too.
Here’s a gallery that’s quite interesting: the Meaningful Life of Famous Logos. I’m constantly inspired by what I see around me and appreciate that otherwise normal things can being something more. That’s what a logo should be able to do. And seeing these famous ones in their otherwise normal settings gives me pause of the good kind.
I love type design and Wordle fulfills my need to be able to define myself artistically. Type in anything you want - I used words that I felt described me - and the site will generate a graphic representation of those words. I can’t get enough of this stuff. For those of you who are web designers, the image generated from Wordle will make a great splah page, I think.
Imagination, imagination, imagination. This chick’s got tons of it and her imagination has taken her futher than she ever dreamed. I spent some of my time yesterday reading her commencement address delivered to this year’s Harvard graduating class - “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination”. Very inspiring.
Can an ice cream scoop be any sexier? I say no. This ice cream scoop by Cusipro is hot, hot, hot! I’ve always just used a regular dinner spoon to scoop out my ice cream. This sexy scoop may have me changing my ways.
Oh, Anne. Anne with an ‘e’. You are my hero. Always have been, always will be. When I saw this felted Anne Shirley doll, I knew I had to share it on this Love List. Love her freckles and her “carrot” hair. So adorable!
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
I’ve sustained a body injury. Groan. But that’s not going to keep me down. I’m keeping company with my books this weekend. And my laptop. And the television I have in my room. As long as I have those three, I’ll be sane.
There’s something to be said about a group of people sharing with others those things they consider interesting. I love visiting FFFFound. FFFFound allows anyone to share photos they find on the internet, effectively creating an image bookmarking site. It’s amazing the things I’ve seen and I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.
When I started to create the new design for this blog, I searched the internet for resources to help me out. And I found this: The Designer’s Toolbox. It’s an online site offering free print tools and guides on a variety of products - envelopes, paper, html coding. Nicely done. Maybe you’ll find this site useful for your own designs.
We are all sinners, don’t deny it. I certainly can’t. So I’m sure I should find a glass in this collection that should appeal to me. The 7 Deadly Glasses is a collection that offers a glass design to reflect each of the seven deadly sins. So cool.
If you’re looking for unique, then maybe this postcard is for you. Work out your biceps, triceps, and forearms by carving a love message into this Wooden Postcard. The recipient will appreciate the effort, I guarantee it.
Interesting. I follow the school of thought that if you write something down, it will matter. But maybe I should rethink that. These Melting Words give me food for thought.
Now I’m not even in the frame of mind to start dating, but I wouldn’t mind getting one of these USB Mixed Tapes. Such a simple and brilliant way to keep romance going in this cynical, gadget-filled world
IPHONE + EMAIL = BAD, BAD, BAD
I didn’t realize that I had my iPhone configured to receive email in a way that it removes the copy of said email off the server. Great. I have about a week’s backlog of email I didn’t even realize I had. I reset my iPhone last week, and forgot to change my email settings back to how I had them originally. So my email was downloading every 30 mins without me even realizing it. Groan. Two steps forward, one step back. Such is the way of a techy.
CLOSET RE-ORGANIZING
That’s my project this week. I had installed slat French doors to my closet just recently. They add a touch of elegance to my room. And now all I want to do is decorate the begeezus out of it, LOL.
So more photos, more fun, and more projects to share on the weekend. Until then, cheers!
I always enjoy visiting Google’s homepage when holidays or days of interest come around. And the Doodle 4 Google exhibit imagines the Google logo redesigned by kids. Interesting.
Are you a camera nut? I am. And these lens bracelets from re:vision are especially sweet. Too pricey for me, but I can dream.
What color personality are you? If you’re curious, play the Voice of Color game to discover what color personality you are. Me? I’m water beads and pop art.
What is it with me and piles of paper? Little pieces of paper continue to fascinate me. And here’s a nice collection from Three Potato Four. I should start putting together my own piles of paper to send. Would anyone really want a piece of paper that used to be an old receipt? Hmmm…
Yes! Make Magazine (sister mag to Craft Magazine) has come out with their much anticipated Maker’s Notebook. I finished with a degree in Genetics in college, so you can bet that I interned as a lab rat during my last years. And I remember filling out lab research books to list out my experiments and their results. The Maker’s Notebook reminds me of that. This notebook is perfect for designers.
I am in love with Duffy. Downloaded Rockferry from iTunes and I’ve had it playing almost nonstop. She reminds me of a more mellow Amy Winehouse, with an age-old sound but more poppy. The album is great for rainy days, but also for sunny days - it’s that diverse. Golden. Sweet. Lovely.
SOAP OPERAS ARE FASCINATING
I’ve never really watched soap operas. They always seemed kinda silly to me. But since I’ve been home sick these last two days, I’ve done nothing but watch them. Oh, my. I don’t want to be addicted, but I think it’s too late.
So my family and I are celebrating my grandfather’s 95th birthday on Saturday. Woah. And it’s a baby celebration for my friend Lizz on Sunday. And in between I’ll be creating and taking photos and blog designing. Joy.
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