Book Review :: Exciting World of Pattern Design

It's a tiny but thick book, full of all kinds of pattern variations and applications. It's a nice little resource book for those who want to be inspired and get the resource of the pattern without reading through a bunch of details. It's a good clean cut pictorial reference book that covers modern pattern designers from around the globe. Very useful book to have in your design library! Exciting World of Pattern Design is Published by Zeixs out of Germany but if you take this link to Amazon, you can sign up to be notified when it's available.

beautiful organics...

I must be on some organic kick lately because everything "au natural" is catching my eye. I just bought this rose colored airplant from pigeon toe ceramics and couldn't decided what type of vessel of theirs would compliment it best...I just love them all! I guess it will have to wait till i can decide! follow their spectacular creations on their site and etsy shop.






Then I thought, would it be so perfect to have a frame like this one? Yep, it's made from reclaimed barn wood.... Ivars Design makes 100 year old wood look like a million bucks! Each one is different but each comes with glass, matt board and mounting board (frame backing).

color me :: salmon

1. candy bag  2. PRP poster  3. first snow  4. rose

pistachio press and mummysam collaboration

The lovely and talented Rachael Hetzel of Pistachio Press has teamed up with Illustrator/artist Samantha Cotterill of mummysam to bring you a beautiful whimsical print collaboration of "mustaches and milk trucks"! Illustrated by Sam and hand letterpressed by Rachael on 100% cotton paper. Each print measures 8x10 and each color is hand mixed to perfection by Rachael. this is a limited edition print run so get them while they are hot!!!
sold at both etsy shops:
pistachio press
mummysam

Ray collection by Muu

Super cute and sustainable all in one package at Muu. Loving this new Ray collection. Minimalistic with attention to detail in all the right places.

crafters for the cause...

We all know how devastating it is for the people of Haiti right now. Relief efforts are thankfully up and running in many places including our wonderful handmade community. I'd like to take a moment to mention a few of those artists, designers, and bloggers who are reaching out with donations from their sales and fund raising efforts, and give you some links where you can go and make a difference.


Jhill design is not only offering a 15% site wide discount from January 19-21 (with code 5YEARS at checkout), but ALL proceeds from her new 2010 calendars will be going to Partners in Health to help haiti.




The wonderful blog Craft Hope has launched a special Etsy shop where various creative folk have donated handmade and vintage items for sale to raise money to benefit Doctors Without Borders for Haiti.



yes there is more, Smock is also trying to help Doctors Without Borders by donating 100% of their online order revenue from now until tomorrow.



Another craft showcase in the form of a silent auction is going on over at Indie Fixx. everything up for auction has been donated by some very talented and gracious indie shops. It's already day 5 so get your tush on over there!

see there are many ways we can help, here are also a few more links where you can find more listings of fundraising efforts to join in on. if you have more then by all means leave a comment and link for our readers, every little bit counts!

sfgirlbybay
west coast crafty
thread banger
toronto craft alert
CNN

hello beautiful....

I'm sure you've all seen these on Design*Sponge already but I just had to post because they are done in collaboration with my dear friend Shanna Murray. Shanna and the also amazing, Betsy Dunlap collaborate at their shop hello handmade and have come up with yet another beautiful piece for all those romantics out there. For their second year, those clever gals are offering handwritten valentines customized by you and writen and illustrated by shanna and betsy.

This year they have taken a cue from Jane Austen, and adding their own modern twist! The valentines are elaborately folded in the regency style of Austen's time, then sealed with black and white striped washi tape and a wax seal.

Each valentine features Shanna's illustrated swallows-which have been off - set printed and then watercolored by hand in persimmon and a gorgeously subtle silver - as well as a personalized, customizable note penned with jet-black sumi ink in Betsy's uniquely romantic calligraphy.

Perhaps you have a million lovey-dovey sentiments racing through your mind, but your chicken-scratch handwriting doesn't exactly do them justice? If this is your particular problem, this keepsake is the answer to your valentine prayers! Don't have a true love this February? Order one for yourself, and we'll compose a little love note just for you!

**Best part is that the girls are are happy to be donating 10% of each sale to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.

Get em while they are hot because they will only be offering these for a short time, from January 19th until February 5th All valentines will be shipped out on February 8th to arrive in time for Valentines Day.  you did it again girls!!!

2010 perpetual landscape

I got a lovely surprise parcel in the mail the other day and inside was this lovely 2010 perpetual landscape calendar by my dear friend Angela Ligouri. This calendar is extra great because it is printed in Italian and comes as a sort of DIY kit which includes: 2 gold map tacks, 1 meter hemp thread and 6 wooden clothespins, all protected in a muslin, cotton bag. You will wrap the thread around the map tacks and secure it with a knot. Position the map tacks in the desired place and use the clothespins to hang the 12 months, divided into 6 cards. Every card is printed on both sides, 4 x 6 inches size. . The Calendar is a limited edition of 250 copies offset printed in Rome, designed and hand-made in collaboration with Silvana Amato, under our imprint of Edizioni Almenodue, which can be found on her Carta Inc. website.
Angela is also hosting a little calendar giveaway her blog until January 31st so go check it out, and remember they are extra special because they are a limited print run.

lovely calligraphy

Getting ready for valentine's day? How about sending a poster instead of a card this year? Maybe something like this "love"ly hand drawn poster by Things by Bubbo-Tubbo.

feeling turquoise

1.Turquoise Dansk   2.paint and rocks   3.Keep Calm   4.framed

I'm beginning a new series called "feeling <insert color here>" where each monday i'll share with you some of my most favorite color inspirations from a couple of years of collecting favorites on my flickr.

Besides the fact that turquoise is this years most coveted color, it's actually been my favorite color since i was little. There is just something calming and angelic about this color, don't you think?

lovely birds...

These collages from kupkup give me a happy outlook for spring...if it ever gets here!

feeling folky with roddy and ginger

When January hit, i put aside my more hasty resolutions for some more creative obsessions, one of my biggest is Scandinavian modern folk art! I just adore the simplicity and the mixture of organic and tailored shape making. this year my resolution is to bring you more of this starting with roddy and ginger.

joanna rutter

this is my kind of jewelery...simple and a bit whimsical! made by UK designer, joanna rutter.

"Orange they Beautiful?"

you know i'm a sucker for beautiful paper goods! i adore the type treatments of orange beautiful's recent products. It's a great mixture of art deco and retro type and patterns.

Vote for FB!

Hi friends,
Freshlyblended has been chosen to be a contender in the what designers favorite blog post poll. A fan submitted our "gifts under $30.00 for kids" post back in december and now we are in the running to win! So if you like us, enjoyed that post, and think we could win then by all means VOTE FOR US!!! Thank you to those who nominated us, we keep on rolling because of our readers!

found art type

love this new typeface from Alex Varanese. it's really pretty in a weird way.

Lars Contzen :: cross stiched wallpaper

love the idea of having cross stitched hounds tooth on my walls! wondering if there are a range of colors and patterns with this? designer, lars contzen.

Anne Paso :: wodden postcards

Creative postcard concept by Finnish designer, Anne Paso. These are completely mailable too! Send them flat to your friend and give them the fun of putting it together!

A collection a day

The wonderfully talented, lisa congdon, has a new project under her wings that you can follow first hand through her new blog. A collection a day is dedicated to documenting a year long project where lisa will take a photo each day of a "collection" whether  it be a group of real materials or a drawing/painting of an imagined collection. I'm super excited to see how this progresses!

fryd + design

I just adore these wall decals made by Norwegian designer Jeanette Lunde of Fryd + Design. Luckily her gorgeous blog is in english so I can drool over her eye candy filled posts! to buy is a different story, you have to go to her epla shop which is the Nordic version of etsy. you CAN translate much of the site with google translator but be sure there is a currency exchange somewhere if you go to make a purchase. Beautiful stuff!