Unrelated but worthy

This is irrelevant to design and I'm not even from New Jersey, but its such a good cause and it breaks my heart to think of the dwindling food supply in our own country. I'm sure the problem with food banks is country-wide. The unemployment rate in NC is over 9% in most counties and is projected to be over 10% by the end of 2009 if things don't pick up.

Please add this link to your blog or pass the word along if you can't make a monetary donation (like me). Here is a snippet from Househubbie's website:

If everyone could just do a little, it would help those in need a lot. To help, people can:

1. Make a monetary contribution: Visit www.njfoodbank.org.
2. Donate food: Drop off a bag of food at your local food pantry.
3. Organize a food drive: We can help explain the logistics of starting a food drive. Just call 908-355-FOOD.
4. Help "Check Out Hunger:" Look for the "Check Out Hunger" coupons at your local supermarket and donate. No donation is too small!

It's Etsy Time!!!

Dun dun dun! It's about that time y'all. I know I sound like the dorkiest cracker in the design blogging world and I care not what you think. You know you love me. Here's a healthy SCOOP of favorites from my list.

These pillows are such a lovely idea, and perhaps I should've saved this image for a post about throws or DIY ideas, but I also believe in giving credit where its due. They ain't cheap, either, but some darling millionaire who reads my blog could show some love some day.




OR you lovely design bloggers could link back to me so I could afford to buy them myself! (It's worth a try, at least).

What kind of genius is THIS?
Handmade flowers never die.

Legwarmers are a trend that I hope never go out of fashion. They're cute anyhow, but when adorning a freckle-faced five year old, they're ridiculously, absurdly adorable. Especially these.



A black velvet choker used to be my trademark when I worked in a coffee shop. Ahh, those were the days! If there is a God and I go to heaven, there will one day be a reunion of all my beautiful co-workers and hilarious regulars in a "Moose" Coffee Shop and I would *rock* this snazzy upgrade in the name of tradition.

That's all for now. Much more to come. Can't you just, like, not wait?!

*mwah*

Frugal Schmugal - LOVE them.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

If you don't know how to sew - please just skip this one. I'm sure you'll think of some cute and quirky alternative to give your house guests something to talk about over their Wheaties and coffee. If the lines are uneven, it'll just make you look good-humored in a creepy way. Like the count from Sesame Street. Oh, and uh, if you're as bad about remembering to dust (and this is one minor injury that my guests could spot without Clark Kent's 0/0 eyesight) as me and mine.

But *major* props to the crazy ladies who did this to a hotel comforter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not many photos are as sad as the ones at a yard sale. Those were people! Alas, if someone regards ancient familial media as fifty cents worth of garbage, make them your treasure! If it happened to the last known photo of myself, I would be quite proud to have my grill in an art collection instead of mashed with receipt paper and egg salad in a Wendy's cup.

If at this yard sale you should spy with your fine eye a useless thing like a tacky cuckoo clock that hasn't worked since 1982, please. Spend the $4. Buy it. Show the German Engineering (on the side of drunk that doesn't make racecars - I hope) some love. Dress it up in your colors. Give the dancing caricatures and smoking men a home in your daughter's doll house.

START COLLECTING

It doesn't have to be annoying as tick-tick-tick, nor as bat-shit-crazy as birdhouses. Think: most of those have been used. = 0

Make a semblance. A pretty configuration. Make it look like a natural mess just like the cogs inside of those clocks. Or the inside of a VCR. It's shabby but it's... *groan* don't finish that sentance, GAWD!

Making something yours can be as thrifty as decoupaging music notes onto a vase. If I had a picture of that, I would soooo post it for you. Maybe some thoughtful guru will post a picture in the comments section.

Happy New Years!

CHEERS!

Etsy Spotlight!

Stephanie Teague from Greensboro, North Carolina is the masterful, steady hand that stitches these beautiful summer dresses. All of these are 15% off, so visit her store and buy them for me. This girl is *going* places. The one at the bottom is my favorite! It's what Cinderella would wear, pre-liberation, were she allowed to sip on appletinis or champagne daquiris at biergartens beneath the stars on summer evenings.

Random Inspirations

All of these are from my computer's photos file, without a niche to include them with the other children. ? They are pretty unique, and pretty damned inspiring, if you ask me. The one above is an installation by Kristen Hassenfield called "Dans La Lune". Below is a photo that was sitting on my computer for longer than most things do, just because it's so intriguing to know that this place exists. It's in Japan and it's a Ghost Town of an amusement park. I wonder if the park sucked or if the rides were dangerous... Or...
By Edward Duarte, I imagine this to be the inside of the Ark, were Noah an enterprising metrosexual carpenter in the 21st century.
VW buses were made to become driving funky artmobiles.
This is what the Stairway to Heaven looks like. I never knew heaven was a treehouse.

I Don't (Wanna) Believe It!

Hi, again! Sorry for having taken so long to update. Strep throat put my holiday cheer & blogging energy (imagine!) asunder, allowing me to do nothing but watch Old School Sesame Street and Baby Einstein videos. Mostly with the baby around. On the sunny side of it, I am learning sign language and french and spanish (well, the basics anyhow). Its much easier to do with patient children's programming and bright blue otters, as opposed to translating "Esteban and I need directions to the library".

During my unwilling, lonely ciesta, I was inspired by Cinderella - yes, really! Did you realize how many canopies belong to the evildoers of this Disney pic? Truly, the wicked stepmother, her cat and her two daughters all had canopies! I couldn't find any screenshots of this, but I did find other kids' rooms inspired by Cinderella. The only thing I resent is that they weren't around when I was a kid.
Hi, again! Sorry for having taken so long to update. Strep throat put my holiday cheer & blogging energy (imagine!) asunder, allowing me to do nothing but watch Old School Sesame Street and Baby Einstein videos. Mostly with the baby around. On the sunny side of it, I am learning sign language and french and spanish (well, the basics anyhow). Its much easier to do with patient children's programming and bright blue otters, as opposed to translating "Esteban and I need directions to the library".

During my unwilling, lonely ciesta, I was inspired by Cinderella - yes, really! Did you realize how many canopies belong to the evildoers of this Disney pic? Truly, the wicked stepmother, her cat and her two daughters all had canopies! I couldn't find any screenshots of this, but I did find other kids' rooms inspired by Cinderella. The only thing I resent is that they weren't around when I was a kid.

Is This Still a Design Blog?

I know, I know! This is really *supposed* to be a design blog, but it's turning into an endearing sort of dump... a netfill? No, not that kind of thing. No Cialis commercials here. I'm ADD and since this is my blog after all, I'll tell you all about the most charming and personal jewelry line I stumbled upon after just posting the last one.



BonBonOiseau is a place I would shop if I were a celebrity and could spend a couple hundred bucks on earrings. Forget Harry Winston. Forget Tiffany's. Everybody and their mama "borrows" their stuff for the Oscars and blah... how can diamonds be so interesting time after time?

Really, though, diamonds' "classic" status can only go so far. Do you have to look classic everyday? Go get a personality, diamond! These pieces are so humble, charming, and intrinsic, though, you just kinda have to adore them. Little things.