white elephant

via more ways to waste time, i see that this weekend is the oakland museum's ginormous white elephant sale. looks worth checking out for antiques, mirrors etc.



white elephant baby toy above available from oompa toys - to continue the baby theme ;)

oh baby

a new little girl is among us and, in her honor, i wanted to show off her super stylish crib set:



dwell studio really knows its stuff. now you can get similar dwell goodness for babies at target too.

ventura

i really dig this new (i think) display font, ventura, by Dino dos Santos:



i like how it is old looking and fancy but also legible and clear. you can buy it here. i think i will.

la familia green

last weekend, i visited friends in minneapolis and, on a visit to letterbox, came across the stationary line la familia green. love its quirkiness and irreverence. and they sure do a nice, not icky, cat card. this is important b/c i have some serious cat people in my family.








Images courtesy of La Familia Green

tulipmania

i have never met a tulip that i didn't like. that's just how it goes around here. however, i am not sure i've ever been as bowled over by tulips as i am by these:





they were from the lovely nancy via the french tulip. molto bello.

letterpress for valentine's day!

i haven't been at all (am i really ever?) organized about valentine's day this year but with a few hours to spare yesterday found some great cards from some of my favorite press shops. not sure why monkeys figure so prominently is my faves but, anyhow....

from egg press, the hearts collection which is on sale through 2/14:



from hello lucky, a menagerie of sorts:





from lizard press:



from dutch door press:



and many others at pancake & franks!

super soft

i've been chomping at the bit to show these ultra-soft hand-knitted baby shoes from bloesem:



does anything get any more darling than these? i am honestly not sure.

i found them on bloesem's etsy shop back in december, ordered them (they flew all the way from irene's hands in kuala lumpur!) and gave them to nancy yesterday... so now the cat's out of the bag and it is time to share.

so soft and wonderful, they are ideal gifts for new babies - especially for the small feet of the many winter babies we are having this year. i hope irene will make some more!

belgian beauties

it's been too too long! i've got the usual string of excuses BUT i've been continuing to stuff my idea folders full of images and inspiration and have a few project ideas (many new baby related - yet another new baby arrived 2 days ago! yay baby Harry!) bubbling in the back of my head.

but for the moment, check out these belgian drinking glasses from Henry Dean (that i found on my new blog addiction Remodelista):



speaking of belgian drinking, we tried out The Trappist - a belgian beer bar the other weekend with our Belgian friend Charly and his wife Francis. now that was fun and the beer glasses festive (though not quite as ethereal as these), especially by the end of our 12 glass tasting. next up: the Monks' Kettle!

with belgian beer bars popping up all over the place, the SF bar gods truly must have got the message the Charly was back!

what i've been up to recently

.... has been making my own letterpressed holiday cards. i am happy with how they turned out and extra happy with the sense of peace and fulfillment that the process of creating them gave me.









a ps: so i can't count, apparently, and didn't make enough. so i apologize if you are reading this and happen to be someone who'd expect a card from me and didn't get one - i am SORRY!

bloesem for kids

i am kind of behind on this (it is not the newest of news, but still great news!)...bloesem has introduced a new blog featuring great design for kids. i am looking forward to reading this! super topical for my life right now (4 babies of friends coming in the next few months - woohoo!)

a t-shirt christmas

inspired by the shower onesies (see below), we came up with a new project for our family at the holidays. we have a bunch of traditions already: trooping through the woods to pick out our tree (yup, we totally still do that), going to a church service where they have a candle light service (real candles) plus all the good carols, and making christmas cookies for santa of course.

but why not add another? everyone got up from in front of the tv and laptops and got together over the dining room table to decorate holiday 2007 t-shirts.



it must be my inner art teacher... i can't get enough of watching different people approach and execute a project in their own unique style.

above is the back of the shirt b made. love it!

sights for sore ears

arrgh - work is being done on our house today (hello symphony of drills and saws + unannounced water shut off) and it is driving me nuts. (i am working at home today. of course.) so, i am not feeling very patient/able with uploading images or anything at all techincal today. i also really need to do my postings on the computer with photoshop but sigh that is just not going to happen right now. however, here's some very cool stuff to look at:

*Sara Burgess's (of Central Office of Design) Miniature Cut-Out Books
I saw one of these (the Book of Bugs) on display at the San Francisco Center for the Book this year - they are truly stunning works of art. Be sure to scroll down to the Apple Tree illustrated book. i was reminded of this b/c i went to the Holiday Fair at the SFCB yesterday and saw so much great printwork (Dutch Door Press, Lizard Press, Paperflirt, Aviary Press, Boxer Press and Green Chair Press - just to name a few).

*the relaunch of the magazine Culture & Travel featuring an article called "A Spice Odyssey" with gorgeous (gorgeous!) photos shot by my cousin Kathryn Parker Almanas. she is my cousin, it's true, but i am not just being nice. the lady is super talented. check out the Winter 2007 issue next time you are in a bookstore (her spread starts on page 100).

*and finally, a string of baby onesies we created at the baby shower i gave a few weeks ago. setting a bunch of semi-strangers loose on blank white baby outfits (for a very loved by all parties little baby) with stencils and fabric paint is such a great way for everyone to meet/interact. i loved seeing the different directions everyone took. here's a sampling:

type & tauba auerbach

type and typography fascinate me. together with color, look how tauba auerbach uses it to illustrate a quicksilver flipflop of opinion:

i am really looking forward to exploring type and its power in my letterpress work... speaking of which: printing solo for the first time on the letterpress last night was a thrill. i am so grateful to my kind and helpful fellow printers - betsy and kathleen - and our indefatiguably patient supervisor sabrina.... i had a ton of questions and learned so many tricks to to making more perfect prints.

there's a slippery slope in the possibility for perfection in letterpress and, for my own sanity, i am working hard to concentrate on the potential beauty in (my many printed) imperfections. you can measure so much and expect such exact results that easily, quickly the art and fun of it (for me at least for now) can slide away.

Image courtesy of Tauba Auerbach

redux

finally here's a picture of the baby shower invite i made a few weeks ago for a great friend:

this is by far a better image. phew! that took some work and some lollygagging around on my part. i feel like i've had my head in the sand blog-wise the last few weeks but i've covered some serious ground - sf to nyc and back again and then sf to la and back. all in two weeks. that's far for moi! looking forward to being around for a tiny (literally) bit... (excuse the clunky eraser marks; in the interest of speed, i went with the low budge eraser fix rather than photoshop.)

also, i was really into the flowers behind the card. typically, i've got grand plans for flowers....i can see it all in my head, you know, but then reality and my ineptitude/rushing lets me down. this time, however, i was psyched with the result. here's another pic:



and, in other exciting news, i am on (letter)press this week for another project this. i cut my paper and made plates yesterday and thurs is it. wish me luck.

i think it's ok to brag about my husband on my blog this one time

i am not biased or anything, but i think my husband is a super gifted designer and craftsman. behold the result of his thanksgiving weekend woodshop heroics:


i have all these great ceramics etc from travels that i'd like to display and we have a whole heck of a lot of books to store. the square shelf bookshelf from ikea -that everyone has - was looking like a good option but b persuaded me otherwise and now we have these beauties. at the moment, they have primer + one coat of paint (progress from what's shown) and i am jazzed about putting them to use soon. i've got this feeling they are going to be the warhorses of our bookshelf collection.

ac to the rescue

do you need to buy a gift for a guy? and more specifically, a guy who (however genuinely interested in good design) would not be psyched about a (however so well-intentioned) design-y type gift? perhaps someone who spends a wholesome chunk of his weekend in a certain ahem big blue store whose initials are bb?

if so, look no further than ac's (grace's other half) gift guide for guys on none other than design*sponge today. it is hilarious!

oh and one more thing

how's this for inspiration? thirty thousand years of art - the cave paintings right up to art from right now. my intro art history class all in one gorgeous album with just pictures, no (ok, maybe few) words. it is going on my christmas list right now.

holiday indie shopping - let's get to it

the holidays are upon up with a vengeance. luckily that means lots of indie art and craft fairs, including several super letterpress sales.

up first: the Calendar Show & Sale on November 30th from 6-9
at my haunt the SF Book Center (16th and DeHaro), where my letterpress teacher Megan Adie will have her brand new letterpress calendars for sale. i heard about the amazing number of printruns and colors she used to create these; i can't wait to check them out. speaking of letterpress, i am psyched - i finished my letterpress certification over the weekend and am looking forward to printing my own work now!

next: Carrot & Stick Studio Sale on December 8th from 10-4
at 6050 Lowell Street, Studio 102, in Oakland

the ladies at C&S create such clean, strong graphics and are super to work with. they did a save the date for me and it came out beautifully.



Image courtesy of Carrot & Stick

i am bummed b/c i will actually miss those first two sales b/c of upcoming trips. i am not bummed about the trips but b/c i can't be in 2 places at once - the trips and the fairs. you get it. onward...

Holiday Fair at SFCB on December 16 from 12-5 which I will be able to attend. More calendars and letterpress goods a la the Calendar Sale this Friday.

And last but not least certainly (I should say most) the Bizarre Bazarre on December 15. Nancy of Belle Epoque will be do a craft demonstration and Ali of designalicious will be selling her gorgeous gems and jewelry. if you are looking for a surprise gift for someone, i totally recomennd Ali's jewelry. she sells online here too.

Looks like a great letterpress line up too at the BB: Dutch Door Press, Lizard Press, Green Chair Press and so, so many more.

just fun stuff to look at

yikes - i didn't mean to be away for so long. but between a minor car accident (i am fine), a neighbor's burglarly and the general business of life, i haven't had a chance to blog. but i've been collecting images and ideas as always...

first of all, i saw this fun gift idea in a magazine:



i believe those are stina persson's watercolors decorating a space.nk travel set. i luuuuv stina persson - what a great way to take her with you. and if you want her with you at home, you can buy her prints here.


last week, my co-worker, the artist and designer david rose, was invited to showcase a dress made of recycled paper at the AIGA SF 2007 Gala. his dress is the one on the left in the picture at right... he made it entirely out of the leftover pieces of paper from one of his design projects. you can also check out his glass work (great for gifts) at these upcoming shows. he designs super wrapping paper too so be sure to snap some of that up too.

finally, here's a picture of a garage door in my hood with which i am obsessed. i love the shiny black scrolliness of it all. so striking in a neighborhood of beautiful but largely white/pastel houses.

wishing this worked for me

i just like this planner by Shinzi Katoh so much. the images are stems and branches, but i think they also look like alternative christmas trees. now if only i could actually get myself to use a beautiful planner with any regularity...

it is available at three potato four right here.