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...