Mad Props: February.

I’m really excited to introduce a new element to Design Crush that’s been in the works for the past month or so: Mad Props!

I’m so inspired by all of you bloggers out there on a daily basis and amazed at some of the incredible finds and ideas you come up with. And I really do pay close attention to all of the detail and time you put into your everyday posts. Mad Props is just a way of saying Thank You! for all of the work behind the pretty pictures and words. It will be a post that happens the last day of every month rounding up different posts that went above and beyond in my eyes, things that I never would have come across on my own, and things that I just fell in love with at first sight throughout the past thirty or so days. There’s no set number of Props given out and, unfortunately, I’m sure I missed some here and there.

Please enjoy the round up and check out the different links if you haven’t already. (Also feel free to use the Mad Props award sticker if you wish!)

A Cup of Jo : The Best Tags

Abbey Goes Design Scouting : Vintage Ice Box

ali loves curtis : valentine boxes

Angry Chicken : Shrinky Dink Valentines

BB-Blog : Indexing a Career

Black*Eiffel : Family Portrait

Creature Comforts : Candy Bar Wrappers

d.Sharp Journal : Love Quotes

design for mankind : The Dailies

doe•c•doe : Vintage Children Book Illustration Tags

Oh Happy Day! : Valentine posters

The Scoop : Some Sweet Prints

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The Big Sickness.

I was M.I.A. yesterday thanks to some mutant strain of cold. It struck me down Monday afternoon initially and didn’t let up until sometime last night. Ugh! It was not pretty to say the least.

In the midst of my four waking hours (unfortunately, I’m not even exaggerating), two things really, truly brightened my day.

1. Design for Mankind’s inspiration e-zine: issue 2
Erin did a bang up job last month with the launch of one of her newest additions to DFM and the second issue that came out yesterday is equally inspiring. (Download it for free right here!) Alright, alright, I’m a little partial since Design Crush is a part of this issue! Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication, Erin. Can’t wait to see what else is up this girl’s sleeve!

2. Mackin Ink’s Karey M. and her sweet words!
Seriously, this lady knows how to build up a girl’s ego. And what did she say, you ask? “her posts are so crazy-diverse and happily inspiring that i gleefully look forward to her finds. i knew i had it bad when i found myself deleting the first, second, and third drafts of a rather talk-me-off-the-ledge comment on her blog. let’s just say it was a three-day weekend. and she took three days off.”

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Happy Weekend.

This weekend’s going to be a good one, I can just feel it.
Happy Weekend everyone!

** Once again, I apologize for not knowing whom to credit this photo to – I’ve been hanging onto it forever. If anyone does know please share because I want to give credit where it’s due!!

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You Are Beautiful.

Ever since Ez at Creature Comforts posted about the You Are Beautiful site last week I haven’t been able to get it out of my head! By using installations, stickers, collaborations and exhibitions You Are Beautiful manages to make a small difference in peoples’ every day lives by creating moments of positive self-realization.

“We’re just attempting to make the world a little better. Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism. You Are Beautiful uses the medium of advertising and commercialization to spread a positive message. Projects like these make a difference in the world by catching us in the midst of daily life and creating moments of positive self realization.”

Who wouldn’t love to come across an image like the one above on your way to or from work? It would at least make the day a little more memorable. You can even upload your own images displaying the phrase or one of their stickers to be posted. Download a PDF to print your own stickers here.

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CD Cover Meme.

This “sleeve”, created as part of Flickr’s CD Cover meme, uses randomly generated data from Wikipedia, quotationspage.com and Flickr to generate your own fantasy album cover. Type, setting: designer’s own.

Alright, alright. Monday’s are difficult enough to get through, but when you have Monday off Tuesday becomes equally, if not more so, unbearable. That’s how I found myself browsing my Google Reader this afternoon and coming across this crazy-fun (and semi-time consuming) idea via CR Blog. That’s right folks, it’s time for Flickr’s CD Cover Meme! Try and control your excitement by using your indoor voice if your at work because this is all kinds of fun.

It’s a simple game:

1. The first article title on this randomly generated Wikipedia page is the name of your band.

2. The last four words of the very last quote from this random page from quotationspage.com is the title of your album.

3. The third picture on this page, Flickr’s list of interesting pictures from the past seven days, is your album cover.

The first image that came up for me on Flickr was nummer. 5 by user peperclipp which you can see in its original format here.

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Monday Goodness: Gamers.

I love President’s Day for the sole reason of having the day off. A fantastic idea if I do say so myself. I’ll be out and about running around like a chicken with my head cut off, enjoying the beautiful weather so this will be my only post. See you all tomorrow!

:: image via fffound

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Happy Weekend.

I love this photo more than words – not only is that cat the spitting image of my Peanut, but I can totally see him pulling a move like this. The boy can open doorknobs for heaven’s sake, surely he could catch some milk in mid-air!

Happy weekend everyone!

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Creature Comfort’s Blog Gallery.

As many of you are already aware from other blogs singing her praises, Ez at Creature Comforts has created an absolutely brilliant visual Blog Gallery. She did a great job with the Design Crush link – I love it! Thanks again to Ez for all her hard work and the great links she’s put together. I can’t wait to find some new reading material.

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