I love the idea of a wedding poster, especially ones that look like show posters.
These are by Ello There:
Aren’t they fantastic?
And I love this record in a sleeve wedding invitation design:
Lots of great designs in their shop, and fun images on their blog (though they haven’t posted in awhile), including these great wedding maps.
All images: Ello There.
I always feature handmade goodies on Wednesday, but today I’m doing something a little different. Instead of picking a selection of favorites from several Etsy shops, I’m sharing my favorites from just one shop.
Kristin Rasmussen of Mette makes the sweetest modern dresses for little girls (sizes 1 to 6).
Have a look:
First row: Chelsea dress and Lark II dress
Second row: Rosa dress and Rosetta dress
Third row: Olla dress and Chelsea II dress
Fourth row: Lila dress and Tippa dress
Neither the Lila or the Tippa dress from the last row are currently in her shop (though they might be available in the future). The Tippa dress is one of my all time favorite Etsy items. I love it.
Visit the Mette shop and also Kristin’s blog.
All images by Mette.
Eva Joly, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, was featured on Print and Pattern last week, and I was charmed by her visualizations in which she uses miniatures to feature her “everyday clutter” designs. (Note the tea towel hanging from the oven, the wallpaper behind the tv and the fabric being ironed.)
Aren’t these fun?
Examples of her printed designs:
See also her gorgeous illustrations:
Such a treat to peruse her website/portfolio.
All images: Eva Joly.
Charles and Ray Eames designed their House of Cards in 1952 to celebrate “familiar and nostalgic objects from the animal, mineral and vegetable kingdoms.” We decided to make our own version, with some help from Todd Oldham’s Kid Made Modern, my favorite kids craft book (see previous crafts from the book here and here).
Supplies:
The version in Kid Made Modern is to build a Fort of Cards out of 18″ square pieces of cardboard. I decided to scale the project down to 6″ square cards (though I love a good fort!).
What you need to know is below – it’s very simple:
1. Cut out cardboard squares, all the same size. You can use old boxes, but for a couple of bucks, I bought one of those big pieces of cardboard you use for school presentations. I used a rotary cutter and a cutting mat to make the cutting easy.
2. Measure and make a mark in the middle of each side of your square; at the mark, draw a line about an inch long in toward the middle of the square. Use scissors to make notches along these lines on all four sides of the square.
You can do this for one square and then use it as a template for all the others, rather than measuring every square.
3. Decorate your squares with whatever supplies sound fun and look pretty. We used paint, stickers, glitter, markers and an old Snow & Graham desk calendar (I knew I’d find a use for it!).
(Incidentally, you can do steps 2 and 3 in reverse order, if you want to decorate first, then cut notches later).
4. Build to your heart’s content.
If you want to interpret Eames’ House of Cards a little more closely, you could take photos of everyday objects around your house and yard, and mount them on cardboard. Or you could cut photos from magazines and decoupage them onto cardboard.
If I were going to make these again, I think I would cut the cards to resemble the Eames’ design, including the 6 notches, which offer more interesting building possibilities.
Crickhollow Books asked me if I’d like to review Mary-Lane Kamberg’s “The I Love to Write Book: Ideas and Tips for Young Writers” for kids ages 8 to 14. I said yes, because I was interested to see what it might offer my 9 year old, who could use a little help in the writing department. The right topic can really ignite her imagination, but we often struggle to find the spark that sets her creativity loose, which makes homework a bit of a challenge week after week.
So I read it, and I also asked her to read it.
What I especially like about the book is this: it’s filled with so many different ideas and activities and exercises to get those creative juices flowing. It’s really a terrific resource that way, and as I read the book, I could easily imagine that my 9 or 10 year old self would have devoured this book. And because it’s filled with so many different exercises, you can come back to it again and again to practice different kinds of writing (the book also has several chapters on poetry).
Here’s a quick look at the inside pages:
Elena liked these “Try This!” tips, which she thought were fun. (Which is good, because I am probably going to make her start practicing with them).
One of the sections that made me jump out of my seat and shout “Yes!” (ok, not literally) is the section called “Grand Openings” which points out that if you want to grab your readers’ attention, don’t start the story at the beginning – start it in the middle. We could all stand to be reminded of this (as well as many of the other tips in the book).
Here’s my one suggestion for the author and publisher, should they ever do a revised/updated edition: the design of the book leaves a lot to be desired. Illustrations could break up the text to help the reader digest all of the information the book has to offer. And the font choices could be better too – there are too many of them, and they clash with one another. But hey, that’s pretty minor, right?
I’m looking forward to having this book in our library over the next few years. I think it’s going to be really helpful.
Sweet greeting card designs by Lov Li Design, based in Birmingham, UK.
Spotted via the Print & Pattern book. All images by Lov Li Design.
Do you call it bunting or a garland? Either way, it’s adorable, isn’t it? The first picture below is quite possibly the cutest picture I’ve ever seen on Etsy.
Garden party garland ($18) by supercursi
Big dots and bunting teapot ($67) by nina invorm
Linen tote summer garland ($47) by pilli pilli
Rainbow bunting baby quilt ($32) by just pretty
Pink, purple and white garland ($10) by MyModern
Little banner printable baby announcement ($15) by Inkling Paper
Personalized birth date bunting ($30) by a.e. wilder
Rainbow paper party bunting ($15) by paperklip design
Spectrum cake garland made with British stamps ($75) by d sharp
Vintage carnival fabric garland with 6 flowers ($27) by Pretty Swell
If you ask me, the rainbow bunting baby quilt by just pretty is a steal at $32. A perfect baby gift.
Happy 38th Birthday to my sweetheart.
And,
Image credits (top to bottom):
Roadside Photographs
Leo Reynolds, Leo Reynolds
Daily Poetics
French Toast Friday
Two things you might like to know:
1). The Amazing Race is my favorite tv show
2). My birthday is in 3 weeks
That is all.
Amazing Race birthday party by Chica and Jo.
Love it.
I am…delighted to tell you that this is a non-elimination blog post.
I’m not going to lie to you. I’m pretty good at Memory. And just because you’re 6 years old doesn’t mean I’m going to let you win.
If you’re looking to add to your game collection, or want a birthday gift idea, here are some of my favorite versions, starting with this cool one by Binth:
(As an aside, Binth makes an incredibly beautiful baby book – I highly recommend it as a baby gift).
eeBoo, which makes some of the sweetest toys, games, and kids’ paper goods out there, has several versions to choose from – all of them adorable.
And this “Twins” matching game by a Dutch designer and a Dutch professor is not as easy as you might think – not all identical twins actually look identical. We own this – it’s fun to play and a very clever version of the traditional matching game.
Happy weekend! See you back here next week?
