Marcus: lover of spaghetti.

A sneek peek at my 2009 calendar... in production and available soon.

I received a wonderful little email pointing me towards one of the sweetest little animations I've seen on YouTube. Not only have I watched it a million times, I've also just put it on pause to take longer looks at the wonderful little worlds.

I've subsequently lost myself in their website, in a good way of course... Zoe de las Cases, a celebration of childhood. So pretty, witty and well designed.

My heart stopped when I saw this... shovels by Cal Lane.

{via ID Textile, a blog I do not visit often enough... the ladies have some fantastic posts... go there, right now!}

Now... if I can only get myself to Retournac, France and visit the Musée des manufactures de dentelles (Lace Manufacture's Museum) I would be happy. If you are so lucky, the exhibition is up until November 30th. The work explores the "idea of lace" in current design.

Sigh...

I really like this project by Nathan Wierink of Ontwerpduo called what it is, it isn't. Referencing Lewis Carrolls' Alice in Wonderland, the furniture piece is a little bit of function nonsense.

Doesn't hurt that the photography is right up my alley :)
{via Bloesem}

My new desk... in flux. Still trying to settle into the our workspace... we're doing, and have already done, a lot of painting, a little demolition and construction. Lots more to do before our opening party, not to mention just everyday work.

Current day dream = building my own tiny house.

Ladies and Gentlemen.... this is Jasper.

I love all the potted plants at R's place and here are some images from above from the past weekend. That was sunday... things have changed a little bit, meaning there is one less plant.

First some background: there is a certain squirrel that likes to take a bite out of everything; he's a taster of sorts, a succulent and cacti gourmet, and there are little bite-size holes in a lot of the plants. I am not sure how he gets past some of the spines, but it's pretty amazing that nothing deters him from chewing everything spikey. This squirrel drives R crazy. I get a little chuckle out of him now and then, mostly because I'm actually impressed by his eating habits.

That said, he has now crossed a line. His appetite has grown considerably and he has eaten an entire beloved plant; one that I had been eyeing at the California Cactus Center for months, and one which they have finally and successfully propograted and put on sale.

And so, to say the least, it is no more. I would have taken better photos of it had I known it had only days left.

Yesterday I bought the Summer 2008 issue of Gastronomica, The Journal of Food and Culture.
I was so taken by the photograph on the cover, the one with the lemons and old spritzer bottle... the colors are so saturated and the arrangement so simple. I could stare at it all day.
When I went to the website, I was equally taken with some of the photography for past issues... take a look here.

I have been meaning to upload some new card designs for what seems like forever... and so ta da!

Said and done. With at least one card, that is... new on Etsy.

More to come soon.

This is Erik... today he was photographed by me.
But quite recently he was photographed by Jen for small magazine.
Which he likes to point out whenever he gets a chance... I think he's quite smitten with her :)

I can't blame him.

Our workspace is still very much in flux and things like desk arrangements, material storage, and general space planning have yet to be worked out. In the meantime {since there is no time to waste}, we've all started to bring in our respective bits and pieces. Not fully moved in yet by any means, we're already working in the space as best we can.

And while it probably won't stay this way, I already started to take over this salvaged shelving unit with a small portion of my huge paper/twine/stationery reserve. I have to edit myself because I know how quickly I could fill every inch of this storage piece with my own stuff, and now being in a shared space again, I have to be mindful of my studio mates' stuff too :)

"S" for selfish?

In the end the space will be fantastic.
Images to come as it evolves.

My colorful souvenirs from my hardware store excursion. Painted metal house numbers.
I really have no use for them, at least now now... but I couldn't resist.

I had to do some hardware shopping for the renovation of the 1920's house that I am working on. Authentic period hardware can be hard to find, so usually my first stop for something like this is Liz's Antique Hardware.

Of course as soon as I walk in, I almost immediately forget what I am supposed to be looking for and I get lost in all the wonderful bits and pieces that completely cover every single inch of the shop.

I'm like a kid in a candy shop... I practically salivate at the sight of every kind of salvaged slide bolt, door handle, hinge or lighting fixture. Unfortunately, I did not find what I was looking for, but like a hardware tourist I couldn't resist buying some souvenirs.... will post those pics tomorrow.