LITTLE PERKS

My Etsy site gets a nice little lift when my stuff is shown on Etsy's front page. This time in the gift section, and two items listed FIRST! 

No sales, but it still adds a little cheer to my day.

TALENT

You guys should check out what my friend Kristina is up to. Talent oozing from ever finger.

101 & COUNTING

100-year-old celebrates her birthday by smoking 170,000th cigarette

Last night my Etsy site hit 100 sales and now it's up to 101. It's a red letter day! In celebration I stayed up late on the internet researching things to go with my 100 moment and it would be a mistake not to start with the above Winnie Langley.

Fittingly if Winnie's lungs haven't given out on her yet, she is now officially 101 (my current sales data) as this article I found was old. And she must be as sharp as a tack if she can remember the number of cigarettes she has smoked in her lifetime. I can't even remember where I park my car at work. What does Winnie attribute her longevity to? I quote, "Mrs Langley insists she's never suffered because of the habit as she "has never inhaled". . . That sounds strangely familiar.

Second we'll talk about how it is the 100 year anniversary of how Ernest Shackleton's expedition claims to have found the Magnetic South Pole, but the location recorded for it may be incorrect. So, what we are to learn from this Wikipedia entry of things that happened in 1909, is that even declarations are historically important, because apparently this dude didn't in fact find the South Pole, but some random spot next to it. So, in the spirit of historical declarations, I claim that I have found the Magnetic Mountain West Pole on my run this morning. You heard it here first. I put it in my back pocket. Did you get that Wikipedia?

Third is AFI's top 100 movies, selected by AFI's blue-ribbon panel. I really think that AFI should rename their blue-ribbon panel because now I can't get the image of large pigs at the state fair out of my mind. Anyway, I digress; the 100th movie is Yankee Doddle Dandy. I've seen and it was very entertained by it. Moving on.

Fourth, I would love to write what the 100th song is on Billboards Top 100 today, but apparently you have to be a subscriber to see the lowest numbers on the chart. Who cares about number 1! The rudest thing I can say about Billboard and keep this thing PG is that your all a bunch of Blue-Ribbon Panelists!

Fifth, on the S&P 100 Apple is trading at 95.93 and Microsoft is trading at 16.65. I wish I had stock in Apple. Well, I wish I had stock in Microsoft as well and had cashed out when it was high. Apparently Bill Gates' wife wants an iPhone SO bad, but she is forbidden from owning one. I have an iPhone. Na na na na neener, I have something you can't buy with all your copious amounts of money. . . Somehow I don't feel better.

Anyway, that's it. I was toying with the idea of making this a list of 100 Facts About 100, but truthfully a list of 5 is long enough.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

Sometimes, when things seem to be going awry, it's nice to look at something pretty. These letterpress items from Studio on fire are pretty luscious. Jen and I were drooling over them today at work.

CORALINE

It's been kind of a while since I've posted. I guess nothing profound has hit me. Good inspiration has happened however. I went with a group of girlfriends to the movie Coraline. I love stop animation and this was wonderful. You should really go see it. And don't take your kids. I think it's a little scary for them.

Here are a few photos. I love to see behind the scenes to get a sense of all the work that goes into an animated film.

THE ANTI-DIAMOND

I saw this ring on the front page of Etsy a couple days ago and fell in love. I call it the Anti-diamond ring. It's completely rocker cool and really a classic. Filled with silver instead of a gem, genius. So if your looking for something edgy and none traditional, but will still last a long time...I think this is your baby. You can find it here.


This is cool as well.


This is my favorite though.

VALENTINES

Remember passing out Valentines to your classmates in elementary school? It was always so exciting to get that sheet of perforated cards and figure out who to give them to. Should you sign your name or become a secret admirer?

I loved those memories and wanted to create my own for my Etsy shop. Print as many as you need and share the love.

HMM

I just read that Domino Magazine is going to be no longer. That's a serious source of inspiration and fun design out the window. What a bummer.

CARS

So, I've been looking at cars all weekend because mine is quickly descending into the depths of despair. I bought one on Saturday, and will pick it up on Monday so they can detail it. However I discovered a little snag. They told me it was all-wheel-drive, but I discovered it's really front wheel drive. I'm fine with that, except I was dickering over the price of an all-wheel. I may tell them I don't want it, as I haven't completed the papers. It's the principle you know!

Anyway, in celebration of a new car, here is a very cool Audi commercial. I love Audi's but not as much as I love this Audi commercial. (I didn't get an Audi : ) 

JORGÉ

So my friend Jen is doing some really funny blog posts lately. 365 days of Jorgé, her little rubber pig. You seriously need to read her posts.

Here we are with Jorgé at Big City Soup on Thursday. He loved our afternoon of inspiration. He even saw Russell Simmons and knew him. I however did not. I saw his shoes and wouldn't have known him if I looked up anyway. I live in a sad sheltered pathetic world.

CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATION

I went out this Thursday with my coworkers on an inspiration shopping trip. It's always a good time. Julie and I ended up in a children's store looking at the most amazing pop-up book. I mean, this thing had the most amazing engineering causing huge trees to pop out of fairly small book.

I love children's books. It's such a wonderful place to showcase an artists crazy skills. This guy, Jelle Gijsberts from the Netherlands, has such a great use of light with happy images. I simply want to wander through the images he creates.

FELT FLOWER

I love this felt flower so much. I just love how full and flowery it is. Not flat like my previous felt flower. I really want to teach myself how to make it so I can use it in a project. It's gone now but you can find it at the Balsam Etsy shop.

ETSY FRONT PAGE

Hey! I was on the front page of Etsy and didn't know. Some kind person e-mailed me. That's fun!

LOOKY HERE

Here are two fun designs done by customers. I love seeing how other people transform their Chandelier in a Box.

HAPPY . . . BASICALLY

"Yes, basically I'm a happy person." I love that line in When Harry Met Sally and it fits me perfectly. I really am happy. But...

Now this "but" doesn't cancel out my initial statement, but (there it is again) on Monday I was feeling a little of the after Christmas blues. On that same Monday, I went to a very good friends wedding, an old boyfriend as a matter of fact, and I sat there watching him and his new bride beam with happiness and listened to all of the positive comments that were made about both and I remembered . . . David really is happy. He throws caution to the wind and cheerfully finds pleasure in almost everything. I also remembered how David told me on a few occasions. "You have a good life Patti, you have to choose to be happy."

Now, I reiterate, I consider myself a happy person. I realize I have a wonderful life, job, house etc. but I think it's taken me a while to get here. I used to be the person that said, "I'll be happier when {blank} happens." And when {blank} happened I'd move onto the next "thing" that I believed would make me really happy. And I’m a bit of a complainer. I think it keeps me free of ulcers. AND, I like to downplay things so that if they turn out better than I expected, it’s that much more exciting! For example, “I just know that noise is a robber waiting to kill me in the bathroom. Oh, it’s just my drunk neighbor banging on the wrong door. I’m alive! Hallelujah!” But seriously, I think what David said is true, you have to choose to be happy.

I can see I've unconsciously followed his advice in the following way. My last two jobs were miserable and I helped along that misery by having a bad attitude in one job and not quitting the other horrible job soon enough. I was also hating graphic design and really missed working in a scientific field. It took some time, but finally I was fed up with the mental misery and decided to stop lamenting science and really embrace graphic design. I was going to make it work and it was going to start working by finding a new job. But I was picky, it took a year to find something that I thought was a good fit and as soon as I found my new job I made another resolution, "I'm going to love this job if it kills me."

I'm not dead yet. I do love my job and graphic design. It's amazingly creative and I work with really wonderful people. I'm happy, and I made that choice to be. So when I think back on David’s advice all I can say is, he’s right. (He would LOVE to hear me say that to him.)

But it could be better. While wallowing in my after Christmas blues I thought not just about what David said, but all of the other people who have been talking about living a more positive life, namely my friends Kristina and Oprah. Haha. And I think now is the time to really get serious about being happy and attracting all that is good into my life. So I got the book Being Happy by Andrew Matthews to carry around as a personal reminder and . . .

I’m starting a new blog, Up Not Down, A Happy Direction. This blog is a place to share stories, inspire and motivate people who have made the choice to have a happier life.

So go over to the new blog and email me your stories so we can share your inspiration and I’ll find funny things that remind us why life is so great. Remember, if you’re too busy being happy you won’t see that there is anything wrong with that.

TYPOGRAPHIC PAPER

I just found these beautiful paper sculptures done by Yulia Brodskaya. It's really just an awesome representation of paper quilling. Most quilling I've seen looks pretty dated, but seeing this makes me want to run out and give it a whirl.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I had to post this image from Design Sponge. I simply love it and one day will do it when I get my wrapping act together.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

TPLO BUMMER

I've taken my dog running a lot this summer, getting him an me in shape. Unfortunately, he started getting a little gimpy and finally blew out his ACL and has been hobbling around on 3 legs the last couple weeks. He's only 7 1/2 and I really want his remaining years to be good, so he went in for TPLO surgery this morning.

It's pretty invasive and involves the sawing of bones so I shed a few tears when I dropped him off because you never know what could happen during surgery. But they said he looks good although he may have an ulcer. I'm not even going to think about what that means. And I've decided not to think about the money either. Just like Scarlet, "I'll think about that tomorrow." 

I LOVE PAPER

Paper is awesome. It's so versatile and extremely cool. For example paper flowers are WAY more cool than silk flowers. So if you think you're hip, and you have silk flowers in your house, you might not be. I'm just sayin'.

Now I feel bad for saying that. . . I once told a roommate that if your jeans rubbed together when you walked you knew you were gaining too much weight. That was a mistake. I have never seen anyone agonize more about the fact that her jeans rubbed together. The fact is, everyone's jeans rub together when they walk and no matter how many times I tried to recant my jean rubbing statement, she would never let it go. She had other issues as well though...

So don't throw out your flowers. If you have silk flowers you can probably pull it off because of your extreme hipness!

Speaking of large hips, these paper wreaths done by Haru are to die for. She has a real skill in putting them together. I love how she has made the bottom a little thicker than the top on some of them. Nice touch.




I might have to try and make some of these.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

I've been so busy this year, that I decided to buy a fake tree. Hmmm. The thought of getting a real tree and chopping off the bottom and remembering to water it, was almost overwhelming so, a fake pre-lit tree it was.

I'm not sure if it was easier though. That thing is heavy, and I got the floor model so we had to stuff the whole thing in my car. In the process breaking a wire. So I had to hard wire some lights together. I'm thinking it could be a potential fire hazard. But I'm willing to risk it for the lights. I haven't even bothered to decorate it yet, but I'm enjoying the glow from the many little lights.

So, in remembrance of my real little trees in Christmases past, here is a couple photos of one of them.