Twins

I got Jake and my husband, Rich matching shirts (sort of) for Father's Day. Doesn't every father want to wear matching outfits with his son?

They're pretty cute, aren't they?

More fun with chalkboard paint

I've been playing a little more with my chalkboard paints after completing the larger outdoor mural boards. This project was a quick, fun, and satisfying because it was so easy to actually finish! 

To make this vase, I covered one side of the vase with painters tape. I then cut a heart-shaped stencil with an exact-o knife, and painted the area with primer. Then, two coats of pink chalkboard paint. I let it dry, and then removed the tape. I touched up the edges with a little paintbrush. After that, I added my message, and had a little photo shoot with Jake. He helped cut the flowers. He's quite talented, don't you think?

Happy Dad's Day!

I think Jake is lucky to have such a great dad...especially one who will fly on elephants with him!

I lost my father 10 years ago, and miss him like crazy. It makes me so sad that he and Jake won't get to play. He was a great dad, and would have made an excellent grandfather. It's hard for me to talk to Jake about him, because I start to cry...but I've been trying to tell him more about my father lately. I hope the stories I tell can make Jake feel connected to him in some way.

Happy Dad's Day!

Online Mags

Lonny Magazine

For some time, I've been promising my mom a post of some of my favorite on-line magazines that are becoming increasingly popular...and plentiful. At the closing of so many of our favorite printed magazines, these come as a very welcome treat...and they're free! While I do love to hold a printed magazine in my hands, there is no denying that these online magazines are quite revolutionary. I love being able to click on a featured product that I like, and be able to link to the website where it's available for purchase...it takes shopping to a whole new level! And, I imagine that the advertisers themselves must love this feature. It allows them to track views from the publications they're advertising in.

Also, if an online magazine is doing a feature on a designer, or blogger, who, in turn has a blog or website, you are easily able to click on a link provided and find out more about them and their work. They are also unique in that they have the capability to embed video streams into the magazine that traditional printed mags obviously can't do. There is endless exploring to be done, and now that my mother HAS the link to some of my on-line favorites, I imagine she will be spending quite some time on her computer! (Have fun, mom!)

These on-line magazines are not hindered by many of the operating costs of a printed magazine. For instance, an on-line magazine is not limited to a certain page count, they could include any length article, or any number of photographs or illustrations they want. They have limited staff, and no overhead office costs.

A couple weeks a, the New York Times published an interesting article about four of these online mags: Lonny, Rue, Matchbook, and High Gloss. I found the tone of the article somewhat flip...it seemed that the writer didn't give enough credit to the extraordinary women creating these publications. The women who started these magazines are all quite young, and have not had extensive professional experience in a traditional magazine/publishing setting. The editor-in-chief, and co-founder of Lonny, Michelle Adams, was an assistant at Domino when the magazine folded. Her lack of traditional experience didn't stop her from creating this amazing online magazine which now has close to 250,000 readers. I give her a huge amount of credit for creating a wonderful product out of what was probably an upsetting job loss. Good for her!

If you do read the New York Times article, you might also be interested to read what Grace Bonney of the popular blog Design*Sponge had to say about it. She wrote a thought provoking post from the viewpoint of a very successful design blogger.

In summary, I find these magazines to be a treat, and hope that you all enjoy them too, especially if you are not already familiar with some of them. Just click on the covers below and enjoy!

http://www.lonnymag.com/

I'm very sorry...

In the last few weeks, my SWEET little boy, has become a bit of a beast (to put it mildly). I sent two e-mails in the past week to his friends' mothers apologizing for his behavior. Yesterday, it went something like this:

Alison,
Thanks for a fun party...you did an amazing job! So creative and fun. Sorry Jake beat, punched, and stabbed your guests with a fork. We're working on that!
H

And, if the stabbing wasn't enough, the daily accounts of how he's going to "fell" his friends, and "pow them down" are about to put me over the edge. Please tell me this is normal?

I'm thinking of having cards printed with this little beast I created. Then, I could just pass them out as necessary.

Bon Jour!

Several years ago, on a trip to Paris, I snapped a photo of this apartment near the Musée D'Orsay. I loved the elegant drapes in the window, and would love to see what the rest of the apartment looked like. If I lived in Paris, I think this apartment should be mine!

Have a good weekend!

Chalkboard Masterpieces

After a recent trip to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, I was inspired to make these outdoor chalkboard murals for Jake. The museum had a fun outdoor play space with a lot of different water-based activities. We had a lot of fun "painting" with water on these pieces of framed slate:

Once the water dries, the image vanishes...magic! I loved all the kooky frames in all the different shapes. I originally wanted to do something like this to hang on the fairly unattractive fence in our backyard. However, when I got to the wood store, I realized that A.) I would probably never finish this WITH frames because I don't have the proper saw and would spend most of my time trying to figure out how to get that done; and B.) bigger would be better...he would have more room to draw and create his own masterpieces.

I've been wanting to try out some projects with the ever-so-popular chalkboard paint, and thought this would be the perfect project. It's super easy. Once you have the wood cut to size (which you can have done at Home Depot), you just prime, paint, hang up, and you're good to draw!

My husband added a cute note...he's been having fun playing with them too!

2011 Surtex Sneak Peek

OK, this is belated, but here's a sneak peek of some of the art that we bought at the Surtex Show this year...stay tuned until next year when I'll show you what we did with all this lovely art! I stuck post-its all over the holiday images as we decided which format the images will go in. Magnetic box? Acetate box? Large? Small? Laser-cut? Gift bag?

And, remember, by the time you see these images on products at your local book and gift stores next year, many of the images will be very different...for instance, the yellow holiday image on the top left will definitely not stay that color. There will be foil, glitter, uv coating...let the games begin!

Time for a design-a-thon! I guess I better get busy...

One year later...

Last year, I posted a sneak peek of some of the artwork that I purchased at the Surtex Show for the company I work for.

After each show, I like to hang the artwork up in my office, and then we gradually decide what art will go on which products. We never know at this point which piece of art will be a "winner", and which things will fall by the wayside. Everyone in the office likes to come in, and tell me their favorites, and make predictions about which will become the next big seller. Here are a few closer up views of that shot:

The following three pieces were purchased with a customer in mind who had a theme, "Everything is Coming Up Roses". At the time, we didn't have much direction from them, so we took a bit of a gamble:

It turns out the "rose" they had in mind, was actually an orchid. They wanted it big, and pink. So, with this art, by talented artist Lauren Wan:

We focused on this area:

So, that became all this:

It has turned out to be a great collection to our line, and the original customer was very pleased with it.
But, the true winner of that season, was a last minute purchase, that I had to convince a few peeps about. Turns out, customers love this bird art:

We started doing a few products, but got such favorable reviews, that it's turned into all this!

Looking for holiday images is always a challenge, it's hard to come up with something NEW! DIFFERENT! EXCITING! each year, because the holidays are seeped in traditions, and it seems that people don't necessarily want NEW! EXCITING! But, we try!

The following is an example of how we sometimes buy art as inspiration, and change it dramatically. We really liked the idea of this art, but no way would our customers go for the pink background. We also prefer horizontal images. And, no type on the front of the card. So...this...

Became this:

It's printed with gold ink, and the branches are highlighted with silver foil.

We embellish a lot of the designs with foil, gloss highlights, glitter, and debossing. This can really bring a flat piece of art to life. 

Pretty in Paper

At the Stationery Show at the Javits Center last week, they cleverly put up a "Paper Runway" connecting the two sides of the show that were separated due to construction. To highlight the relationship between paper and fashion design, exquisite paper dresses were created by such fashion designers as Lela Rose, Susan Woo, and Donald Deal. Visual merchandising and design students at NYC's LIM College participated in the competition sponsored by Kate's Paperie. The winners will be displayed in the windows of Kate's Paperie during Fashion Week.

I was amazed at the intricate detail in these dresses...if you look closely at the construction of some of these dresses, you will notice that the dresses feature a variety of trends that are popular among paper design right now... notably, butterflies:

Lasercut designs:

Gold accents:

And bold flowers:

It's hard to believe these are all made of paper! I'm curious how long it took to construct these fabulous creations! Which is your favorite? (Mine is the short dress with the butterflies...)

Single Motherhood

(Print by Nan Lawson)

It's been a rough week around here. Rich (my husband) has been in the hospital (for FIVE nights) with pneumonia since last Tuesday. (we finally picked him up yesterday afternoon). Eesh! Where did THAT come from? What seemed like a (just get over it) common cold, turned into a full-fledged "I can't get off the couch or I'll die" pneumonia. So, I've been working, playing with Jake (who was also sick, and has now started snoring he's so stuffy), going back and forth to the hospital, and have managed to drive 500 miles in a week schlepping back and forth.

(Print by Nan Lawson)

This is, of course, after Rich broke his thumb about a month and a half ago, and had to have surgery (ouch). We seem to have kept the emergency room quite busy since we've been married.

(Print by Nan Lawson)

When confronted with doctors, and stressful situations...I tend to ask a lot of questions. I don't think I'm (shall we say "witchy") about it, I just like to know what I'm in for. I also don't like late night emergencies with a 3-year-old. And, of course, I like to feel reassured that we're getting good care, and that everything is going to be all right. Right? Well, not really. My husband doesn't ask a lot of questions, and thinks I'm nuts (I'm not). And rolls his eyes. So, there was tension. Great.

(Print by Nan Lawson)

So, how did the week go? Frankly, I think I was fairly calm with a few tired, freak-out moments (Jake really didn't go to bed until 10 pm for the duration). I coped. I used bribery. I went through the drive-through at McDonalds a few too many times. As fate would have it, McDonalds gives out Batman toys. I taped a new Batman cartoon. It's TERRIBLE. So, I taped a few of the 1960's Batmans. Great tv and graphics (if you ask me!).

And, I confess, I set up a little table with a towel under it so Jake could eat breakfast in front of the tv (I mean babysitter), so I could get ready in the mornings (that comes down to exactly 24 minutes). Jake unfortunately prefers the newer, terrible version. ("Mom! I like the one where they push each other and shoot guns"). 

I also tried to make things fun to get the job done. "Jake, it's backwards night! We're going to take a bath, THEN eat dinner, THEN go see dad in the hospital AND we get to wear our pajamas there!" Great! He thought that was fun, and added his own twist, "I know Mom, we can have breakfast for dinner!"

I made a pan of brownies, and ate half of them.

As if my weak stomach was going to digest that!

And, I shopped.

(Print by Nan Lawson)

I ordered this dress from Anthropologie:

But, it wasn't great on me...but this one from Tommy Hilfiger (at 40% off) is a keeper:

OK, I actually bought a FEW more things, but we don't need to go into all that right now, do we? (I'll just say those Cafe Capris at JCrew are also keepers. In two colors.)

Needless to say, all my projects for a creative, colorful, fun backyard, and lovely guest bedroom have been put on hold until I have time to breathe. Or maybe until after I shower for more than 3 minutes. But, I'm happy to say, that Rich is now home, and is feeling much, much better. And, miraculously, Jake went to bed at 7:15 last night. Maybe he just had to know that Dad was home. Yay! We're all ok!

I'm in love with all these prints by Nan Lawson that I came across on Etsy. Aren't they quirky and fun? She seems to have summed up my week!

P.S. Jake won't be watching the new Batman anymore. It's just the oldies, but goodies for us from now on! Or, at least until the next trip to the emergency room...