Fine Finishing Touches.

I'm an organizational freak and love office supplies - especially pretty, fun ones. That's why I love Russell + Hazel. The details of the collection are inspired by vintage architecture, classic Hollywood and contemporary couture.


Audrey Fine Finishing Touches Set ($45)
- Boxed set includes place cards, book marks,
page finders, notes and gift enclosures
- 10 of each style—80 pieces total
- Assorted shapes and sizes


Self-Adhesive Note Set ($40)
- set of Self-adhesive To-Dos in olive
- set of Self-adhesive Memos in tangerine
- set of Self-adhesive Squares
- set of Self-adhesive Minis
- set of Self-adhesive Chicklets


Recipe Binder Set ($110)
- 2 slim binders (in white/charcoal or blue/red)
- Set of 15 section tabs & 1 measuring equivalents
- Recipe Pages, 40 pages
- Recipe cards, 50 cards
- Menu Planning Sheets, 60 pages

Tazo Tea.

I'm a big fan of hot tea. I even went through a short phase of preferring it in the morning over coffee, which is saying a lot. The Tazo brand has long been one of my favorites. And its design presence is what initially turned me on to the tea.

The Tazo Tea site is beautifully designed with elegant type and photography. But it's also got personality with its funky expanding menu, animated details, ethnic music and, my favorite, a Tea Leaf Oracle whose creepy eyes follow the mouse wherever it goes.

Pretty Cleo Chair.

This chair from Anthropologie is fabulous. I love the big, bright yellow print and the pleasingly plump proportions. It would be really cute in my bedroom, but I think I'd want it out in the open to see all of the time. But costing $998 as it currently does, it won't be coming anywhere near any of my rooms unless the Chair Fairy pays me a visit. Oh well, I can enjoy the pictures. Maybe I'll sit on the pictures of it and pretend, you know, like Phoebe did in Friends with the bicycle box. Only I won't make anyone drag me around the living room on it.

Rethink: Contemporary Art.

Rethink of Vancouver, British Columbia is a cutting edge agency.

The agency's phiosophy - creative and otherwise - is pared down to the essentials. Pencil rough storyboard presentations (no PowerPoint). Notes in client meetings are taken on walls covered in chalkboard paint. Any leave-behinds are tucked into blank white folders, DVD covers, or booklets stamped with a small backwards circle R - the Rethink logo. Even business cards are generic - they're plain white with blank spaces for the handwritten name of the staffer and a phone number or email address. The web site itself is a blank white screen with a small glyph saying "web site." Pretty Cool.

This is my favorite project of theirs. Fifty-thousand buttons were displayed, each printed with a single word representing one of a hundred possible responses to contemporary art. The public was free to walk away with as many as they wanted in this installation for the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver.

Someecards.

Someecards may or may not be the greatest thing since ecards. It was created by Brook Lundy and Duncan Mitchell, and designed by Jerry Tamburro. New cards, categories, and features will be frequently added until everyone involved with the site dies (or so they say). I swear I can think of at least one person to send every single one of their cards to. Hope you love it as much as I do.

The Dogme Manifest for Advertising.

I came across this in the Design Annual 46 from Communication Arts magazine. Working in the business some points I wholeheartedly agree with, while others are a little much. Let me know what you think.

1. No headline will begin with "Something is wrong when...", "Exactly at what point does..." or "Has it ever occurred to you that..."

2. Access to all awards show books shall be limited to one hour per month. Maybe

3. No commercial or Internet film will be shot in winter. In Jamaica. On a beach. WIth a little bar with a grass roof. Where they serve those blue drinks with mango slices.

4. No celebrity voiceovers shall be permitted unless at least three people in the country actually recognize who the hell it is.

5. No further use of chimpanzees on the Superbowl shall be allowed.

6. The same goes for chickens.

7. And gratuitous beasts.

8. Art directors will not be permitted to use Photoshop until an actual concept has been determined.

9. All creatives who get off on debasing, senseless or sexis humor and feel compelling to impose it on civilized society shall have all previous memories of Saturday night frat house binges erased from their memory banks.

10. No shots of mothers holding babies.

11. No meaningless taglines that don't add a damn thing to the campaign other than give the client something to put on coffee mugs and t-shirts at the annual sales meeting.

12. Anyont caught sleazing a slash on an awards show entry form because, after all, "If I hadn't suggested switching paragraph 4 with paragraph 2, this would have sucked," will be dropped down the elevator shaft. Naked.

13. Creatives shall be barred from imposing the same idea that won them the Palm d'Or, gold One Show pencil and D&AD Best In Show on every project they come in contact with until the end of eternity.

14. Whining will not be permitted under any circumstances. This includes budget whining. Account executive whining. Client whining. Client's wife whining. Lack of creative freedom whining. What-do-you-mean-I-can't-use-Nadav-Kander whining.

15. No goatees.

16. Audible groans when being asked to do radio is off limits. Radio only sucks because you've made yourself believe it does.

17. When presenting, no words over three syllables shall be used thus allowing the actual work to prove how smart you are.

18. No vacation plans shall be changed at the 11th hour, thereby causing your spouse to question your life priorities in the name of taking one for the team, assuming the team has never taken one for you.

19. Except in dire emergencies which does not include "The client is going on vacation," "I'm sorry I sat on the brief so long" and "I need to meet my roommate at the airport," creatives shall keep the concept of the All Nighter a fond, but distant memory of college days, understanding that there comes a point when editing a brand video at two in the morning begins to feel a lot like walking out a 39th floor window on LSD.

20. During office hours, no billiards, dart games, Nerf basketball or other distractions masquerading as creative stimulators will be permitted. If you want stimulation, get on a plane for Amsterdam.

21. Every creative will be required to go through an entire day once a week without saying the word "viral," unless you've recently been on a float trip down Ebola River.

22. The term "mockumentary" shall be banned at all times.

23. No account executive shall be permitted to actually suggest in client meetings that "we might want to think about street art."

24. No further reference to hijacking shall be allowed unless you're comfortable with the idea of several large gentlemen with wool suits, earpieces and Ray Ban sunglasses removing you from your cubicle while you're playing Texas Hold 'em online.

25. Copywriters shall glue their laptops shut for a period of a month during which they will reaquaint themselves with a pad of paer and a No. 2 pencil. No, not a pen. Not a Pentel. A pencil.

26. All creative department wastebaskets shall be replaced with much bigger ones.

27. No copywriter shall own a thesaurus. There is no fancy word in a thesaurus that is better than the simple one that just pops naturally into your head.

28. Creative teams shall produce on campaign per year for a nonprofit organization of their choice with no interntion of entering said campaign into any awards show anywhere on this or any other planet.

29. The use of music shall be prohibited from all emotional TV spots until such time as the spot itself, sans music, is capable of making at least twelve people cry like a river.

30. For a period of one week, no creative shall use humor in a radio spot.

31. Especially a beer spot.

Shanked from Ernie Shenck's article in the November 2005 Communcation Arts.

DeJarnette.

Katherine DeJarnette Babin is the brain behind DeJarnette. She creates striking pieces with carefully selected materials such as vintage glass beads, lockets and brooches, semi-precious stones, metals and textiles, many of which were found in her native city of New Orleans.

I'm especially in love with this The Highest Number necklace. Inspired from a childhood saying, “I love you the highest number in the universes," this necklace features multi-sized brass digits and a tiny brass heart that delicately hangs separately on the left hand side. It can be mine for $82. :)


This unique chain necklace features a vintage medallion that reads, "Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Image." This pendant is paired with a number two that hangs right above. Katherine had created an entire series out of the Ten Commandments, this is the only one that remains for sale.

Summer at Anthropologie.

One of the few things I miss about Cleveland is living so close to an Anthropologie. It was located in a great little plaza along with a Barnes & Noble and Trader Joe's, as well as some amazing restaurants and specialty stores. I don't visit their site too often because it just isn't the same as the store. There isn't the huge sale area and there isn't the ambience. Sigh. So recently I sucked up my sorrow and checked out the goods and actually found a couple of great things. I'm especially loving the tea towel.

Olive & Page.

I'm new to Olive & Page's letterpress paper goods, but they have some really cute cards and gift tags. Not to mention a pretty homepage!


Here are a few of my favorites from their site.

When it Rains, it Pours.

It's been raining for roughly the past month here in Oklahoma. It's like we have our own mini-hurricane that just keeps circling the state.

Everyone (and I mean everyone) is complaining. "I can't keep up with their lawn." "This is summer in Oklahoma for "chrisake." It's not supposed to rain, it's supposed to be 100 degrees and bone dry." "I've only been to the lake once and it's almost July." "My basement won't stop flooding!"

Okay, I can almost sympathize with that last one, but I for one am enjoying it. It reminds me of growing up in Pennsylvania and summers at my grandparent's house. Of early morning and, cheesily enough, picking blueberries at the edge of their yard. Basically, this weather is suiting me just fine and it can hang around for a little while longer if I have any say in the matter.

Rehabilitated Dishware.

Rehabilitated Dishware by Sarah Cihat is an exercise is sustainability that reincarnates existing products. Used or unwanted ceramics are redesigned and resurfaced then presented as new collections. Interesting designs and modern colors enliven the dish, extending its life cycle past the thrift store or overstock pile. Rehabilitated Dishware is a subtle statement of the importance of recycling and the renewed value of unwanted things.


The process begins by buying dishware from various second-hand stores, such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, or rummaging through reject piles at retail stores. The dishes are then glazed and refired. Most are priced between $34 and $59.

Paper Monkey Press.

Being a graphic designer I really appreciate a well thought out business card. I love seeing something that makes me wish I had created it myself. These are the things that you tend to save and tuck away in an Idea File or inthe back of your mind (or if you're me, both).


That's exactly how i felt when I saw this business card for Laura Suzanne Foote by Paper Monkey Press. It's beautiful and ingenious. Mission accomplished.

Blackboard Paint.

Up until now I've not been a huge fan of blackboard paint used in adult environments (i.e. outside of a kid's room). I don't know, maybe I just associate it way too closely with that nails on a chalkboard sound. But I think Ikea finally did it right by painting all vertical surfaces in a kitchen with the paint. Or maybe it's that really hot stainless steel refrigerator right in the middle. Fine. It's a combination of the two.

The Cupcake Deck.

I am a cupcake connoisseur. I love baking them, I love buying them and I love eating them.


The Cupcake Deck is really cool because you don't have to worry about lugging out an entire cookbook, propping it open, keeping it clean... You get the idea. You can just pull out one of the 25 cards and go to town! No worries, just lovely cupcakes. You can buy your own set for $14.95 here at Amazon.

(On a separate note, I think that this may also be a book and that I already own it. Hmmm....)

Illustrator Crush: A Fanciful Twist.

Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist is simply this: amazing. Her art is completely beautiful and terrifying all at the same time to me. She has such a variety from original art, prints, greeting cards, ceramics all the way to jewelry. Take a look and let me know what you think. You can purchase her work online at her Etsy shop.

Rare Device: Necklaces.

What is Rare Device? (Besides and awesome store in Brooklyn.) If you are an English major or an English teacher, you know that 'Rare Device' is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan. (If you are a true bookworm, you know that Ray Bradbury took a stab at that phrase too.)

Rare Device is, simply, good stuff for you and your home. Rena Tom, the creator, is a former jewelry and graphic designer who loves design. Every object in the store has its own story, and has been chosen because it is either handmade, well-designed, useful, beautiful or all of the above.

I've been semi-obsessed with this Razorblade Necklace ($110) for almost a year now. It comes on a 16" sterling chain and isn't sharp enough to cut, sorry.


This Currant Necklace ($60) is a little bit closer to my price range. It's made from thin, recycled stainless steel and sterling silver.

Magazine Envelopes.

A few days ago I came across someone on Etsy selling homemade envelopes. Seeing them made countless memories of summer camp in Ligonier, PA come rushing back to the forefront of my mind. Not only did I spend two weeks of my summer at Camp Ligonier for three years in a row, but it's also where I met my first legitimate boyfriend, Adam. This was back in the day before email had really arrived, so we wrote letters back and forth after the two weeks were over. Adam's letters to me always arrived in envelopes ripped from the pages of Rolling Stone and Spin. My boyfriend was. So. Cool. Magazines became a new outlet for creativity - instead of reading the articles I immediately flipped through the pages looking for the perfect page that was coincidentally centered so I could fold one rockin' envelope.

Artist Crush: Amy Jean Porter.

Amy Jean Porter is an awesome artist I've come across lately in My Search for Amazing, Life-Altering Art and Design (if i said that out loud, it would echo with immense importance). Her drawings, some of which resemble pencil and crayon mediums, make me think of what Napoleon Dynamite may have done with his career had the Liger made it big.

My favorites are the antelope jackrabbit (jackelope perhaps?) and the jaguar which is strangely Liger-esque. Don't miss the best part - at the bottom right hand corners. The jackelope reads, "There's something savant-like about you" and the jaguar, "Man, you've got good-looking handwriting."

How to know when you've done a good ad.

I love this...

It's not an easy thing to know. A good ad isn't like a ball everyone sees sail over the fence for a homerun. Or a kiss, that when it's over your eyes open on someone else's heat. A good ad is a tricky, slippery, evasice beast that doesn't like to be caught, won't stand still, won't come out when called. A good ad is a greased pig when it comes time to put your hands on one. Masters of disguise, good ads sneak out of you in bars, the shower, dreams, even in advertising meetings, and run away to lost pages in your workbook or torn up sheets in office wastebaskets. There are even good ads that hide inside other ads and remain unrecognized even when shown on television. (Heck, there's likely a good ad hiding inside this one.) Some people think you can only tell a good ad when it appears in an advertising award show. Some people would say theonly good ad is one that "sells product." Whether or not these are helpful identifiers of what makes a good ad good is not the point here. (I would say emphatically they are not.) What we're interested in is how do you know - the moment you've done it - when you've done a good ad. How do you decide to stop writing, talking ot thinking and grab the little bastard before he makes a getaway, pin him down on the floor and call for the creative director? One word. There's one word that, if it fairly describes your ad, tells you you're done. It's not honesty though that's an excellent virtue good ads often contain. It's not funny or provocative or wow or ... The word is art. In my gentle opinion, the word is art. An indefinable monster of a word that means something slightly different to each person is the secret to good advertising. When you've made art, stop. Until you have, don't. I believe it's that simple.

(stolen from Mark Fenske)

Essimar.

Essimar (at Etsy) had some of the most adorable "mini" cards - the Pink Citrus Mini Card set to be exact. Two mini cards (2.5 x 4") and two mini envelopes for $6.50. All silk-screened and printed by hand. Reminds me of summery goodness!



I'm also really into the Tea Chat cards. Get a set of four in peach, lilac, pink and white with matching envelopes for $12.

Blackbird Press.

I love the Etsy Shop, I just say it enough times. I wish I could have an entire day just to look through the site - and since I'm wishing here, I'd also like enough money to purchase every single thing that I want. Thanks.

Today's find is Blackbird Press. Here are the pieces that jumped out at me. The notecards are $10 for four and the stationary is $25 for ten. I love the delicate quality of the small initial in the center of all that space.

Design Crush: Leigh Wells.

I came across illustrator Leigh Wells on design*sponge a few weeks back and was really taken with her. Leigh creates images for advertising, design, publishing and editorial clients out of San Francisco. Some of her clients (out of a rather lengthy list) include Absolut vodka, Atlantic Records, Convers, The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Linda & Harriet.

Linda & Harriett letterpressed notecards and hand-stamped invitations will remind you of your grandmother’s quilt, your mother’s kitchen towels or your favorite children’s book. They are the designs of Liz Coulson Libré and inspired by her mother’s taste for the beautiful, the practical and the whimsical.

I'm especially into these tags. Why aren't more tags available anywhere? I can think of about a million things I could use them for!

Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

I just started the book Special Topics in Calamity Physics but Marisha Pessl two days ago and am so impressed and intrigued by it that I had to share. The book's layout is an elaborate construction modeled after the syllabus of a college literature course—36 chapters are named after everything from Othello to Paradise Lost to The Big Sleep—that culminates with a final exam. It even includes reference "diagrams." I'm only three chapters in, but can't put it down.

Peculiar Pair Press.

Peculiar Pair Press is made up of Amy and Mary Beth - two paper crazed graphic designers (man, can I relate to that!). Their wedding invitations, which are mostly custom with a small selection of retail pieces, were beautiful. But what really impressed me was their site design. I've been getting more and more into web design in the past few weeks - possibly because I'm branching out into that realm myself career-wise. I thought that the use of color and details on Peculiar Pair's site was awesome. Quite a few of their invitations reflect the design showcased. A new line of stationary is anticipated and due to arrive in the near future. Take a look at the site.