Getting into the holiday spirit with the new She & Him Holiday Album: A Very She & Him Christmas. It’s been on repeat since Saturday and I’m not complaining. Zoe croons all my favorite holiday tunes while M.Ward brings his retro guitar work and sound. It’s a modern day classic I tell ya!
I am obsessed with my wacom tablet. Being a lefty, it has become my best friend. For non-designer folks, a wacom tablet allows you draw with a digital pen, it’s brilliant. So this weekend when I came across this article, I nearly jumped for joy. Wacom has a pen tool that will digitize ink on paper. What!?! It’s called the Inkling. There’s a little sensor that clips onto the top of whatever piece of paper you’re writing on and it senses and digitizes the strokes made by the Inkling pen. Amazing! I felt like Marty McFly telling Doc about the future reading this article. Being that many of my jobs involve illustration, The Inkling is for sure making it’s way on to my wish list!
image from popsci article
December 2. Yikes!! I have a lot of fun, art related projects to get out the door before the holiday. This weekend, it’s all about me, my pens, my watercolors and some reruns of Top Chef. I just did a big shopping trip at my local art shop to prep. Bring on the Arches! Hope you have a really lovely weekend.
Whenever I am home I find myself looking through old artwork. As an artist, there is something so fun about seeing where you started and where you’re at now. I remember going through high school and early college feeling like I wasn’t drawing in my style because of my courses. Then once we finally got the “basics” down, the assignments changed and I started drawing in the way that was most natural to me. It was the same style I had been doing the seventh grade which I always found comical. It took going to art school to realize what I had known since I was 12. One of my major inspirations is the illustrator Quentin Blake. I remember reading Roald Dahl books when I was younger and studying his illustrations on the outside cover. I especially loved the BFG cover. {Big Friendly Giant anyone?} Quentin Blake’s work is so whimsical and loose yet it captures so much movement and personality in each little illustration. I love the humor he puts into his pieces, his work makes me smile.
All images below are illustrated by Quentin Blake
I mean, come on! How perfect is this birthday card? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t guilty of indulging in a good glass of “boxo” during my college years. Oh memories…
Card Design by Whigby
I popped into one of my favorite stores in Brooklyn, Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store, the other day and found these adorable subway pins. They were up by the register and I scooped up a few. I’ll add these to my collection of “things I love but have no idea what to do with” it’s an ever growing pile. But hey, keeps things creative!
I do a lot of logo work over here, and truth me told- it’s not easy! Logos take a lot of time, research and above all trial and error. I am currently printing new business cards and it got me thinking about how I created my little Swiss Cottage logo. I spent hours drawing and redrawing the logo idea I had in my head and nothing was working for me. I was on a flight to visit my Grandparents in Michigan and I started sketching. I was being really loose, almost sloppy with my sketches but in that I ended up coming up with the logo for the biz. It was felt like the right one and I loved that it was straight from my sketchbook and not super perfect. It’s funny how sometimes it’s all about research and design and other times it just creeps up on you.
If you’re a fellow stationery designer {or a DIY junkie} then you will know that lining envelopes is quite possibly one of the most monotonous tasks we work with on the regular. Finding ways to streamline this process are always on the table. The other day I found this little Scotch gun and decided to give it a whirl for the 500 envelopes we had to line last Friday {yikes!}. Once finished, I put the little guy down next to some junk on my desk. One of them happened to be this vintage Scotch tape tin I picked up from the Brooklyn Flea last Winter. Sort of cool to see them side by side. I prefer the vintage packaging, how cool would it be to have your tape come in this cute little tin? Classic.
…you do it to me every time. Dreaming of pizza, pastas and warm Italian sun this Friday. Here are a few snaps from the trip. Happy weekend!
If you haven’t been reading Jamie’s adorable blog, Send More Mail, then today is the day you start! It’s filled with full bits & pieces about her life, her amazing vintage stamps and beautiful design. It’s so pure and simple, I love every post. In true Send More Mail fashion I got a fabulous letter in the mail from Jamie last week. Every little detail was so sweet and perfect. Such a nice change of pace from the bills and junk mail. My letter to Jamie goes out today, it’s fun having a pen pal again. Just like the old days!
