Whoa, did paper tastebuds fully hit the nail on the head with this idea for a Valentine’s day gift, or what?
They are talking about DIY Cheese Kits from urban cheesecraft, and they look insanely delicious and mighty do-able.
I want in on this, bad.
Add comment February 3rd, 2010
My friend Sarah once gave me this awesome saddle-stitched book for a birthday or some other called Craphound. Subtitled “A Picture Book for Discussion and Activity,” I had never heard of it before, but loved it–it was chock full of Hands, Hearts and Eyes, that issues main focus. It’s perfect for tracing or scanning images and adding them to whatever art you might be working on. Clicking through the blogs over at ReadyMade I came across a post on the hopefully upcoming second edition of CrapHound issue, #4, Clowns, Devils and Bait. Looks like they are looking to Kickstart this newest edition, so if you love free, fair-use images, donate here to keep Crap Hound alive.
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1 comment February 2nd, 2010
Tonight is my second class of the Basic Graphic Design Class that I am taking at SVA (School of Visual Arts). This class is pretty awesome because it specifically deals with issues I’ve had forever–mainly, how to come up with new, interesting and good ideas to solve graphic design problems. OK, so I haven’t always had specific graphic design problems to solve, but I feel like I easily fall into visual idea ruts, and this class is designed to help you break through those.
I’ve decided that I will post my completed homework assignment up here before class every Monday to help keep me accountable, and to keep me from doing it half-way. No judgments, please–I am no pro with the Abobe Creative Suite–YET!
The assignment: design 3 bank brochure front covers using some of the basic ideas introduced in the first class
I primarily used symbols, unity and primary colors to represent the basic building blocks these loans are.
The second thing that is keeping me so busy is the start of an online course that I registered for:
This course is made for business owners and entrepreneurs to help to get them organized and grow their businesses online. I am super excited about it, and the class group already seems like an amazing, inspiring bunch. The course is run by Jaime Derringer, of Design Milk fame, and Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind, who also together run Bakery. These ladies are impressive, and I hope to learn tons over the next 6 weeks!
2 comments February 1st, 2010
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1 comment January 29th, 2010
Fine, I’ll admit it. I am reading The 4-Hour Workweek. I like the idea of automating income and taking mini-retirements throughout my life, what can I say? Doesn’t sound too sucky at all.
One of main things the book teaches you (well, so far–just started reading it yesterday) is to think big–outlandishly, even–in terms of your goals and the things you want to experience in life. Like how there is less competition for the big stuff, because people assume they can’t do it/have it, and lower their expectations to the same level as everyone else–leaving fewer to battle it out at the high end. Anyhow, it suggests you make a 6 month timeline and include as many far reaching experiential goals you can, then narrow it down to about 4, then actually price out those 4, and then write down the 1st steps to accomplishing each one of those 4, and do it TODAY.
I got to brain-storming and I realized that I have been talking about going to Greece for the past, oh, 10 years and still haven’t managed to do it. I have been LOTS of other places in the world, but have avoided this one for some particular reason. I can’t tell if my expectations are too high for it, or I have some weird anxiety surrounding my heritage background, and my complete lack of speaking the language at all, or SOMETHING. Who knows? All I know is that I want this to happen, and I want it to happen soon. Now I just need to figure out how.
What would you do if you felt you had no restrictions on your life? Where would you go?
3 comments January 28th, 2010
I saw John Murphy at the Brooklyn Flea on the first weekend it was at One Hanson, and ended up in front of his table going through all the art and fawning over the amazing frames for about 20 minutes. I don’t know why, but I didn’t even bother to ask if he actually sold the frames separately at that point–and when I saw on Design*Sponge that he did, I was stoked! They are incredibly awesome, and the pictures on the site don’t even do them any justice compared to the real thing. If I could, I would make a whole wall out of these frames, with or without art in them.
1 comment January 27th, 2010
One Little Bird Studios is Leanda, an English ex-graphic designer who is now living in sunny Greece awaiting a bundle of joy and about to be married. She makes these really cute little prints (I think?) and is in the midst of setting up an Etsy shop to sell them at, and a blog to keep us all updated on the awesomeness. Her Flickr is up and running with about 20 shots of some great typography-based work, and I know I’ll be checking back!
Add comment January 26th, 2010
This cup says it all, made exclusively for and sold in Design Museum Shop in London by Build x Design Museum. The tea towel says it all, too (well, everything I need to say when I am talking to my husband about his turn washing the dishes, at least. Maybe this will make the request more well-received?).
Add comment January 25th, 2010
How Fucking Romantic is a blog done by a loose collection of mostly London-based comic-artists, illustrators and writers where they are posting either an illustration, comic, short story, etc depicting each of the songs off Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs. I like it.
Add comment January 21st, 2010
I really, really want the water poster on the wall in this picture. I think it is the perfect piece of art to hang over your desk for those moments where the brain is running and you want something to look at, but don’t feel like letting yourself get distracted by a bunch of little things on a tack board, or pictures of loved ones, or whatever. This is a serious pro-thinking print.
Of course I just spent the last hour or so scouring for this specific print on the internets, and had to quit before my brain exploded or my hand fell off. Needless to say, couldn’t find it. Apparently the artist who took this desk shot is Jim Bastardo, who has some pretty awesome photos on his site for you to check out, but not this one. Bummer.
Add comment January 20th, 2010
Scrolling through the ever-so-awesome Pinball Publishing blog, Coin-Op, I found these perfect little beer tasting notebooks made by BS Brewing, a Portland, Oregon homebrewing and extreme food collective. As I am prepping for my 2nd Homebrewer’s Tour coming up this weekend, I thought they would come in quite handy and ordered myself a 3 pack.
Get some for yourself, or the beer aficionado in your life. They are pure beer-related design-y goodness (and have YELLOW. I LOVE yellow). Not much is better than that.
33 Beers: Beer Journal Extraordinaire
1 comment January 19th, 2010
As I was doing the morning rounds of the internets, I wasn’t really finding a lot to inspire me today, until I came across this sort of old clip from Conan with the comedian Louis CK. This clip is FUNNY. So, so funny. And reminds us to maybe appreciate the world we’re living in a little bit more. Maybe. Or maybe it just reminds us to laugh? Either way, it wins.
1 comment January 15th, 2010
Well, if you don’t know what you have, rest assured in knowing that this is everything that artist Simon Evans has, right down to the canned food in the cupboard and the ill-fitting denim.
Here is Google Translates’ version of what the linked blog, Caligraffiti, says in Portuguese:
“Every beginning of the year is the same, old papers thrown away, donated clothes forgotten, new year is new life. And as usual, we always make that analysis of what we have, what we have achieved, in short, who we are.
Add comment January 14th, 2010
This is kinda awesome. And I’ll always have a soft spot for the Honda H.
1 comment January 13th, 2010
We have done the un-doable–made homemade Seattle-style chicken teriyaki that is JUST AS GOOD as our beloved Tokyo Garden in the U District, from 3,000 miles away. We got insanely lucky that the recipe the NY Times just happened to include in it’s article about the beloved Teriyaki joints of Seattle is from our go-to, absolute favorite spot. Which is pretty crazy, considering there are approximately 3,000 teriyaki joints in the Metro Seattle area. So happy.
This was a 2 day process, but every hour of waiting was well worth it. Chicken thighs from Fairway, ginger and garlic from the veg stand around the corner, and the ever-present Kikkoman soy sauce from the fridge = pure teriyaki bliss.
With this fail-safe recipe in our hands, we can now put our money where our teriyaki is and move to Mexico and open a teriyaki joint to cater to all those gringos from the PacNW who get tired of tacos down in Sayulita.
2 comments January 12th, 2010
We went to the Brooklyn Flea yesterday to check it out in its new winter digs, the old Williamsburgh Bank Building. And I am so glad we did! That building is INCREDIBLE and practically on par with Grand Central station. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it is truly some beautiful craftsmanship and art. They don’t make buildings like this anymore. So Fancy.
And what’s even MORE exciting is that we actually bought something there! A piece of furniture, even! It’s an old school desk from the 1940’s, made of pine, with a bench seat on the front and desk attached to the back. I was drawn to it because my grandparents always had one of these benches in their home to sit on to take your shoes off, and it was the exact same wood. It’s funny to feel my home aesthetic coming together, however slowly. I’m much more New England-y than I thought!
Nando models the new desk
2 comments January 11th, 2010
Wouldn't You Like to Know ≥
Corin Lianides
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