Love Coupon Matchbooks: A DIY/printable project

This has ended up being one of my favorite projects inspired by Valentine's Day. I only wish I'd been able to get to it earlier. Either way, this printable, coupon-filled matchbook I created is a super fun gift for a loved one and an easy DIY. It's also not Valentine's Day specific, so it works well for other occasions like an anniversary or birthday. Get it in my etsy store. You get 6 matchbooks in 3 different colors with 2 different titles and a page of 18 coupons that you can mix and match to your heart's content.

See a couple more photos after the jump.

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Jared Milam

I've got a design crush on you, Jared Milam. For producing such beautiful things as the Lovejoy Vodka and 12 Bridges bottles—celebrated all over the design world—to the letterhead kit for ID. Fantastic.

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Thank You!

To all of these wonderful blogs that have featured my Valentine's designs, thank you:

1. Calico & Co
2. Miss Kriss
3. Paper Crave
4. Paige One Events
5. FPO

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Magic Lanterns

Kind of fascinated by these hand-made magic lanterns by ghosthaus. They're fitted with 35mm sildes that date back as late as the 1800s.:

"The flickering candlelight gives the photos a ghostlike shimmer that are not adequately represented in the photographs."

They start at around $85.

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GreeTEAngs Earthlings*

So right after I finished all the goodies for DIY chocolate packaging, I realized that candy is not everyone's cup of tea. In fact, someone might prefer to give the gift of an actual cup of tea. To that end I created some printable DIY teabag cozies that you can get in my etsy shop. They're so dang cute and easy to make. You just cut them out and slip in a teabag and you're done. Someone will surely love you for your calorie consciousness. :)

*I know. A cringe-worthy title. It's like I have no control of myself sometimes and am driven by an unseen force to create ridiculous post titles.

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Missed Connections

The concept of missed connections has always intrigued me. I could spend hours digging around on Craigslist's missed connection, reading these small haikus of hope. Well Sophie Blackall, an NYC-based artist does just that. Then she illustrates them on her blog, Missed Connections, and sells them in her shop.:

"Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections websites. Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down."

--first spotted here.

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February Desktop

1024x768

Score! I finally got one out on the first of the month. Yay me.

To download, click on the correct size image to navigate to the full screen version of the image, then simply right click (for PC users) or Control click (for Mac users) on the image and select "Set as Desktop Background." Easy! See all the desktop sizes after the jump.

1280x1024

1600x1200

1920x1200

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MacBook, literally

One, please. Get it from 12South. Husband, you cannot have one. Because you are a PC:

"We plan to introduce 12 unique, must-have Mac accessories each year that will be as innovative as the Mac itself. Bold, new accessories that are designed to protect Macs, personalize Macs, improve Mac performance and enhance the Mac experience. Focused on design and function, each new product we develop will be for Mac only. Period. If a PC user wants to use our products, they’ll have to buy a Mac.

We are here to please the true Mac fan because the best computers in the world deserve the best accessories in the world. That’s what we intend to do.

We’re as dedicated to the Mac as you. Join, follow and support us on our journey to becoming the best Mac accessory company on the planet, and your go-to source for gear made exclusively for Apple computers."

I am intrigued.

--spotted on DesignSponge

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DIY Friday/ Valentine's printables

I can't think of a better way to end this week than to unveil two recent additions to my etsy shop that would be perfect for a weekend Valentine's Day project. They're printables, so after you purchase them they get conveniently dropped into your inbox for you to print out as many times as you like. I just love, love, love the DIY Valentines chocolate bar packaging. Go to Target and look at the packaging of chocolate bars. Unless it's Choxie, chances are it's a total snorefest, design-wise. Not anymore. This is a great way to customize a classic. The collection of 8 different Valentine's cards are inspired by the small, flat cards I used to stuff in decorated shoe boxes in elementary school. Okay, these are a little more adult. They're slightly larger so that they fit nicely into an A2 envelope.

I never do anything for Valentine's day, so I'm really excited about giving these cards and chocolate gifts this year! I'll probably add some more stuff, but I'll update you when I do!

Click on "read more" to see more photos.

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Three Ladies

In the midst of doing lots of invitation design and branding projects, I've been trying to find some time to do some creating just for the pleasure of it. I love collage, so that is my automatic go-to for a quick hit of creative satisfaction. These three ladies are the result of my recent return to collage. These are digital collages. They're loosely (very loosely) based on the three Fates of mythology. I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. Once I find a satisfactory method of reproducing these (I'm picky about printing), I'm thinking of offering them for sale in my shop, framed or unframed.

Do you guys like these or are they too creepy? Don't worry, I've got thick skin!

You can see more photos of the framed prints after the jump.

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Guido Daniele

What do all of these animals have in common (besides the fact that their larger photo sizes were obnoxiously obstructed by a very hideous watermark)? They are all beautifully handpainted by artist Guido Daniele onto other people's hands. Magnificent. Go see for yourself!

-via It's Nice That

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Geologie Promo piece

Oddly enough, I excelled at the subject freshman year of college. This letterpress promo kit from newly re-branded design firm Geologie excels at being beautiful and textural in a subtle, nerdy way that really floats my boat.

See more images at FPO here.

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Bed-ridden and germy

I had big plans for the weekend. Earlier in the week, I started to get sick but pushed through it. Or so I thought. Friday I absolutely slammed with some godawful bug and still have not gotten over it. It has been years since I've been this sick; it completely foiled all my weekend plans and set me back on work projects. I suppose that's what I get for taking on for charges a 2-year-old and 4-year-old as a means to do something different and get out of the house. They were sick the second day I was there. I thought I could beat them, but I forgot how germ-ridden and snotty that age is. It is almost impossible to escape without getting sick. Total bummer. I don't have much today, so I decided to show you two things that make me feel slightly better: the chartreuse Maryanne bag by Kate Spade that I raved about and subsequently got for Christmas from my awesome husband (pictured here on our fabulous bed), and this outdoor space from Pottery Barn which I so covet and which makes me excited to catch an episode of HGTV's The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie.

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Fernando Volken Togni

Cool work from Brazilian illustrator Fernando Volken Togni.

-via Print & Pattern

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Another Reason I Need an iPhone

Nope, I don't have one yet. I'm kind of resisting because AT&T sucks so bad. But man, apps like this that would enable me to be a one-man-band really, really tempt me.

-via Gizmag

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