Look at this mug. These mugs, I mean. Plural.

I can't quite remember when I first heard about Kin Ship Press, but I must say that I'm all for the series of mugs they've recently produced. I almost wish that I drank coffee, just so I could have an excuse to add a couple to my kitchen cupboard. Also, the lady and gent behind KSP list among their likes & dislikes: napping hard and making a ruckus. I like them more by the minute.

Add a Nip and Sip ceramic mug

Time to Get Things Done ceramic mug

His & Hers...Ax and Spade ceramic mugs

The only thing is that I would waaaaaay rather have the cool ax mug than the less cool spade mug.
Agree? Course you do. Wouldn't it be nice if you could pick? 

Good Night Moon pillowcases

Their pillowcases are also pretty sweet, see above. But I have a confession to make. I don't like new pillowcases. 

I like old pillowcases, like from Mom's linen closet...like the pillowcase that came with our Sesame Street sheets, which I effing hope Mom did not give away because I told her not to, and my bed in the apartment is a twin bed, and I could be using those sheets right now and would if I had them in my possession. Know that, Mother, know that. 

And I like old pillowcases from thrift stores. Not gross, nubby, childhood nosebleeded pillowcases. Cleanish ones that have Transformers or cowboys or Indiana Jones or vintage prints of kitschy embroidery on them. Don't worry, I conduct a thorough examination before purchase and am quite diligent about their washing routine before I lay down my head. 

I do not want a 12 year old boy's skin cells from 1978 all up in my sleep business. 

So, Kin Ship Press.

on etsy

on their blog

and somewhere in Louisville, KY.

fortnight

I was poking around on my usual blogs, as I tend to do in the evenings (when I should be sleeping), and came across this sweet video on Fieldguided. I thought it was really neat to see someone handcrafting a bra. It was sort of a tender, delighted moment. Did I just make things strange between us? I surely hope not. 

MADE IN CANADA from FORTNIGHT LINGERIE on Vimeo.

The video is super-tiny. I don't know how to make it larger! Another awkward admission. Any advice? 

1,000 PINS!!!!

Yup, just hit the 1,000 mark on pinterest. Kind of impressed with myself right now. And what exactly did I pin?

how to make origami koi

 Aren't they neat? This was actually a repin, which I found via Bianca Chi, via Whip Up, via Mabona Origami's flickr. So, that's the whole lineage. Super nerd!

pocket totems

Seriously. I love these sweet pocket totems by Danielle Pedersen of Handy Maiden. She sculpts her animals from polymer clay and then meticulously paints each one. Their vastly different expressions, some serene, some hesitant, some perturbed, are incredibly endearing, and I think Danielle makes wise animal choices, too. I want to live inside her tiny sculpted world and hold hands with her hedgehogs and servals and lynx...and hold trunks with her elephant.
Dream come true. 

hedgehog pocket totem

serval pocket totem

lynx pocket totem

And I think everyone should receive an Extraordinary Mallard medal. 

extraordinary mallard medal

I've been admiring these for a couple months and even though I don't need a pocket totem, I just keep thinking my life could only improve if I had one of these little beasties riding in my pocket. I'm sure you'd agree. 

tiger pocket totem

For more sculpted clay sweet babies, sweet babies, visit Danielle's etsy shop.

heart patch

Finding this felted elbow patch DIY on Honestly...WTF made me supremely happy. I call elbow patches professor patches because of all the excellent professors (past and present) who wear (and have worn) tweed jackets with suede elbow accents. Also, because I am a super nerd. I right, or am I right? No need to answer. I am. About all of it. Just in time for Valentine's Day, people.

You can find Honestly's full tutorial here.

image by Honestly...WTF

from above

Found this little gem via That Kind of Woman.  Utterly charming, right? Be honest. It is. 

iJealous

Look what Kara from Knitting Lemonade made! 

So cool, right? Looking at it makes me absolutely giddy. Absolutely. Giddy. Visit Kara's blog for all the details.

drawing paper

Yesterday, I found this little gem via Anilú Magloire's Paper Love board on pinterest. Mark Crilley, the man behind (or attached to) the hand, is an artist and illustrator. He has tons of how-to draw videos on his youtube channel, which can be found here.  You can pick up either of his graphic novels series, Brody's Ghost or Mikki Falls here. 

lovely linnea

I discovered these calendars at Atticus, which is a local shop for local people. And when I say discovered, I mean that I stumbled upon them in December 2010. You see, the Linnea Design calendar has been around since 1987, and they're based in Seattle, so it's not like I trekked into the heart of darkness to find them. Still, I'm utterly charmed by Johanna Riley's artwork, and I've started a yearly tradition of indulging in a little desktop calendar of delight. 

Here are a few charmers from last year's edition:

And here are several from this year's edition:

I especially love all the colorful pencils. 

The tradition is currently in its second year. You can call it a tradition after two years, right? What a silly question. That's like asking yourself if 10:30 in the morning to too early to eat a bowl of delicious pea soup.
(Of course, the answer is: there's no such thing as too early.)

Lucky for me, you, and everyone else, the calendars are still available online through Linnea. Find them here.

mountaineer

Tectonic from Guy Laramee's Biblios series

OK, my book nerd ears perk up like whoa when I hear tell of jaw-dropping book sculpture. And Guy Laramee has
jaw-dropping book sculpture in spades. I feel like I'm peering in a secret world. Totally epic and immense and moody.
I adore it. And the way lighting is used in these sculptures is just phenomenal, wouldn't you agree?

detail from The Grand Library

book people from the Biblios series

jades from The Great Wall series

historia das americas (2009), from The Great Wall series

Here's what Laramee has to say about his work:

"I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS." 

You should definitely check out Guy Laramee's website here. 
And in the interest of giving credit where credit is due: StumbleUpon led me to Visual News, which led me to
Benjamin Starr, who clued me in to Laramee. Benjamin Starr's Visual News post on Laramee may be found here.

And just for you: Guy Laramee bonus art!

The Wreck of Hope, a 3D rendition of Caspar David Friedrich's painting of the same name.

If you only knew how many of my teenage sighs were expelled poring over books on Friedrich's work;
it was so darkly romantic, just like a Bronte novel. Seek out Wanderer above a Sea of Fog. Le sigh. 

The Sea of Ice (also called The Wreck of Hope), 1823/24, Caspar David Friedrich, or auf Deustch Das Eismeer
You can learn more about Caspar David Friedrich by visiting the Hamburger Kunsthalle here.

All images by Guy Laramee, except the last which is, of course, by Caspar David Friedrich.

ga-ga for gosling

Natural light, yeah, let's. 

OK, normally we sisters aren't getting our jollies over clever text paired with celebrity pictures, but when Catherine sent out a link to Handmade Ryan Gosling on tumblr, I was like: Hold up now. (And I can only assume Monika had the same reaction--she isn't answering my emails. What's up with that, sister?)

For real, right?

Catherine and I have already started using Gosling in our crafting situations. As in "I'm all out of glue sticks.
Where's a Gosling when you need one?" That's a true story, people. It happened to me last night.
And, yes, there's a Gosling for that. So, yes to dragging Ryan Gosling into crafty tongue-in-cheek nerdom. 

That's all I'm saying.

That's it, I'm adding him to my gentlemen pinboard. 

La la love you

Yep, that's a Pixies song, but it's also pretty dang close to La La Laurie of Laurie Cinotto Art and Craft fame. I'm thinking of Laurie because I saw her this weekend at the Artist Craft Fair at King's Books. I was way stoked when I checked Laurie's blog and saw that she was participating. I may have squealed, prompting Mom to ask, from the kitchen, "What are you doing back there?"

Anyway, Mom and I headed over to King's Books and each purchased a wee charm from Laurie--who is, I must say, unfailingly kind and gracious. If you have a moment, check out her craft blog (linked above) or her Etsy site, La La Laurie: Handcrafted Fancy Things. And as an added bonus, here are a few of her most recent lovelies from her Flickr stream.

P.S. Another reason to love Laurie: she's the headmistress of the IBKC. What's the IBKC? Why, The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee, of course! Hey, we're sporting an IBKC badge. Psst, to the right of this post...


P.P.S. And because the Pixies definitely deserve big time props for retaining their awesomeness, here's a little bit o' the Pix!

Photos by Laurie Cinotto

dodecahedrons and their ilk

Pinterest has really been bogarting my time lately. Do people still say bogarting? I have no idea, but the delightfulness of pinterest is the fact that you end up randomly discovering treasures like these beautiful art installations by Kristen Hassenfeld. She says her work has evolved into a three-dimensional daydream. Quite apt, I think.

Charm, mixed media, 2002

Dollar Dreams, mixed media, 2002

Pink Cluster, paper with mixed media, 2003

Untitled, mixed media, 2007
I would have called it Mothership.

Untitled (Witch), mixed media, 2007

Oh. My. Gosh. How crazy cool are they? Kristen uses all sorts of goodies to craft her installation pieces: paper, polystyrene board, acrylic, light fixtures, pipe cleaners...amazing. I love how the gems and crystals seem to erupt and tumble over one another. And so ethereally beautiful when lit. Contented sigh. To view Kristen's more recent work, you can visit her website, here. 

Now, how did I come to find these lovelies when most of this work ? Please let me tell you! I follow Terri Planty on pinterest (you should too), and she pinned Kristen's work from the Sycamore Street Press blog's May 2010 post. And the good people of Sycamore Street led me to the now defunct Bellwether Gallery. 

The dodecahedron of life: it moves us all. 

photos by Nash Baker and the Bellwether Gallery. 

the red & the black

A Moment's Shelter by Steven James Morris 

I'm captivated by these prints from Steven James Morris. The sharp-edged graphics and limited color palette make these images pop like whoa. They're perfect for the season...a little Halloween fairy tale dread, a little stark winter wonderland, and a lot of yes please, I would like to own these. 

Uh-oh, a rhyme slipped in there. Totally unintentional, I assure you. 

Finer Living in a Lower Heaven by Steven James Morris

Pack of Wolves Running Through the Forest by Steven James Morris

Waves on Winter Rolling by Steven James Morris

A Reception of Accident with the Woodland King's Court
by Steven James Morris

Many of these prints are taken from or inspired by a graphic novel Morris is working on. Cool, huh? His illustrations have also graced the covers of several publications by Dark Horse Comics.
Um, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, anyone? I'm looking at you, KB.
You can see more by Steven Morris on his
blog
website
etsy store

Grow House Grow!

I came back from California and promptly got sick. If my calculations are correct, and I like to think they are, it was the airplane ride that did me in. So, after spending three illness-induced zombified days at work, I'm hoping a couple days of eating homemade tomato soup, watching movies based on comic books, and petting warm lap kitties will set me to rights once again. Another part of my prescription for getting over a stupid, stupid cold is to look at plenty of beautiful things. 

Like these patterned paper treasures from Katie Deedy of Grow House Grow!

Chocin in hibiscus

Katie is featured in the November issue of O: The Oprah Magazine, and her paper has been sold through Anthropologie and displayed in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue. I love this wallpaper not just for the swell design sensibility (and the fact that it makes me want to use the word hearken), but also for the intriguing stories behind each of Katie's  designs. She finds the perfect blend of history, science, mystery, adventure, and magic. Read one of her stories here. But watch out: you might fall head over heels for Katie's paper lovelies and end up adorning every flat surface in your home. One can only dream...

Cattle Kate in sterling

Ms. Treat in teaberry

Captain Smith in promenade

Now if you'll excuse me, I just realized that I have two weeks worth of Project Runway to catch up on.