Happy Weekend

01/ A beautifully designed transparent motorcycle gas tank.
02/ The Candy Wrapper Archive!
03/ A fun street jewelry installation.
04/ Dogs with Napoleon Complexes… dressed as Napoleon.
05/ A line of furniture held together with nothing more than rope!
06/ The Dipr may change your relationship with cookies and milk forever.
07/ Stunning long exposure photographs of fireworks.
08/ And these long exposures of moths in flight.
09/ Musical icons mosaic portraits made from their own CDs!
10/ Design nerd flashcards.

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August

It seems like I blinked and August was in my rearview mirror. For real, it seems like I can barely remember much of it outside of foster dogs and lots of mornings spent on the patio with Pete.

Clockwise from top left:
Celebrated this girl’s 13th birthday – I have a teenager!
Received a most epic bruise breaking up a dog scuffle. (Anyone else see the skull face? Okay.)
Made this White Peach Cardamom Crumble. So good.
Started fostering a chiweenie. Named Hot Dog.
Helped Rusty find a home! (Miss him sooo much.)
Bit the inevitable bullet and adopted Bebe as my own.

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Pictorial Webster’s Pocket Dictionary

I’ve been in love with Webster’s Pictorial Dictionary by John M. Carrera since its debut. Come on, illustrations and knowledge all in one? So my thing. Well, now there’s a smaller version, Pictorial Webster’s Pocket Dictionary. The artistry and quality are beautifully executed in both versions and the tiny one has found its home on my fireplace mantel.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

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Luxe Liquors

It shouldn’t shock you too terribly much to know that I shop for wine and liquor much like I shop for household products – according to how well-designed the packaging is of course!

Clockwise from top left: Lovejoy Vodka, Art in the Age Root/Snap/Rhuby, Reyka Vodka, CORZO Tequila, Master of Malt’s Drink by the Dram, Junior’s Midnight Moon Moonshine, Elements of Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Kings County Whiskey, Bully Boy Distillers

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HP Designer Matchup – Week 3

 

 

Say hello to Week 3 of the HP Designer Matchup, only one week left until the final piece is revealed! Last week you voted on the design of the necklace Sarah of Cursive Design is creating for New York Fashion Week, and the landslide winner was Collar Ornate!

 

 

Over the weekend Sarah worked on mocking up the piece to see if the weight felt right to wear, she also got together the vintage glass pieces and sent them off to be cast. And then there’s the dyed silk pieces which are in testing to make sure the colors are absolutely perfect. Guys, there is a LOT that goes into creating a piece of jewelry!

 

 

Sarah decided that the more functionality this necklace has, the better. (I happen to agree!) So one side will feature leather and the other silk. Here are a few sketches she whipped up using Adobe Photoshop CS6 and the HP TouchSmart. I’m so in love with where this collaboration is headed.

 

 

 

There’s only one reader participation poll left, this week you’re choosing what we’ll name the necklace! The poll will be open until Thursday, August 30, 2012 at midnight CST. Stay tuned next week for the big reveal!!

 

Disclaimer: HP provided both me and Sarah with a TouchSmart PC and Adobe provided Photoshop CS6 for use. All participants will receive a trip to New York Fashion Week. All content and opinions are mine.

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Do a Little DIY

Confession time, I hoard DIY tutorials like a chipmunk. They’re bookmarked or thrown into an unlabeled folder on my desktop all willy nilly. Eventually (this is a process) I move them to another folder deeper on my hard drive that’s categorized. This Type -A-personality-meets-total-disarray is not a good system, but I have the best time going through it all and today I’m going to share a few of my recent favorite projects with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bold Type Beach Towels

Summer’s end is just around the bend, but there’s still the last hurrah of Labor Day to see to. I’m digging these big, bold type beach towels from Piccadilly for Opening Ceremony. Designers Peter Miles and Leigh Johnson found their typographic inspiration in the signs of New York’s food markets, and I got a laugh out of imagining the people laying on the towels for sale as the items advertised!

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