Cool Prints

By Melanie

West Forty-Third Street (Yellow Cabs) by Joseph O. Holmes

I was perusing one of my favorite blogs over the weekend, A Cup of Jo, and blogger Joanna featured a cool new artist marketplace called 20x200 A Jen Beckman Project. I usually buy my art from Etsy or from small online galleries such as Charming Wall (where I bought a few prints from one of my favorite artists, Bailey Saliwanchik). 20x200 features a talented group of artists. I fell in love with the New York photographs by Joseph O. Holmes.

West Nineteenth Street (Yellow Dress) by Joseph O. Holmes

Central Park South by Joseph O. Holmes

source: photos via http://www.20x200.com/art/2010/09/central-park-south.html

Last October I was in NYC and now these photos make me miss it!

I think it's great that there are artist marketplaces like this to buy from. Where do you buy your art?

Fashion Doll

By Melanie

I typically don't watch the reality show The Rachel Zoe Project featuring the celeb stylist Rachel Zoe but I tuned in this past Tuesday night and was pleasantly surprised. Although it contained a lot of unnecessary drama, I was impressed by the Demi Moore Harper's Bazaar shoot. I love the fashions and the set. Very creative!


http://www.justjared.buzznet.com----pegs/


http://www.usahangout.com/

This photo on the beach is so beautiful. I love the browns, tan and blue colors. Amazing concept as well. I hope the Giraffe was happy though!

http://www.stylefrizz.com/

http://www.stylefrizz.com/

The balloon photo is so fun and carefree!

What a cool photo shoot! I love the big props with the tiny Demi. Oh and the fashion is so gorgeous as well!

To read more about the Bazaar shoot, check it out here.

Picturesque Palm Springs and and a very cool hotel

By Melanie

Palm Springs is the perfect weekend vacay for those that live in Southern California. It takes less than two hours to drive to this desert oasis. I went for a weekend with some friends back in May. It was actually for my bachlorette party! We stayed at the ACE Hotel & Swim Club.

Ace is so unique. At first glance it looks like a small lodge maybe even a renovated motel. But once you're inside you realize that it has so much style and presence. Ace is such a hip, cool hotel. I really liked the vibe and the decor is amazing.

Here we are becoming part of the signage!

Beautiful blue skies against the mountain back drop. Gorgeous!

http://www.wallpaper.com/

I love the decor dangling from the ceiling in the lobby.

http://www.treehugger.com/

They even have beach cruisers that the guests can ride into town on. Unfortunatley, we didn't have enough time during this visit to ride them. We spent most of the day by the pool.

He we are lounging pool side.

The pool was filled with a stylish, hipster crowd. Mostly singles, a few young families and people with their dogs. We even saw a bride and groom on their way to get married! The pool had a fun, relaxed atmosphere. They even had a DJ playing.


In addition to their retro decor, the design on all their signage and promo materials is pretty creative.

http://www.linleeloves.blogspot.com/

http://www.highsnobiety.com/

I love the clean and fresh design, fun colors and cool fonts.

http://wwwblog.acehotel.com/

I can't wait to go back! Maybe it will be soon since we're having such "unsummer" like weather here in the OC (it barely reaches past 70 degrees by the beach where I am). I need some sunshine!

The Invitation

By Melanie

I designed my own wedding invitation. Since I've been taking graphic design classes and I love to design I decided it would be best to create my own.

Since we were having a destination wedding on the beach in Riviera Maya, Mexico, I wanted a beach themed wedding.

My colors were light blue, fuchsia and tan. I decided to incorporate a photo from our engagement photo shoot session into the invitation.




I learned so much designing my own wedding invite. Not only from a design perspective (type of design and look, font selection, spacing, paper selection, printing, etc.) but also about all of the details that wedding invites entail specifically word choice and what is included in a wedding invite suite. So many rules. It was quite fun but pretty time consuming. But now I'm a pro and I definitely would love to design more in the future (not my own of course!).

The final product.



I added a raffia bow on the invite to give it an extra beachy feel.

(Please don't mind that I blurred out all the personal details)

Above are the RSVP and travel coordination information cards. For eco-friendly purposes, convenience and fun, I set up a wedding website for the guests to RSVP. I used www.mywedding.com. I customized it a lot and I think it turned out really nice. It was perfect for a destination wedding because it gave the guests a lot of information as well as created a story about us as a couple.

Envelopes.

I never realized how particular an envelope needs to be. For weddings, it's very important to utilize high quality paper and envelopes that have lining. I chose a tan color and I added a pretty shimmer tan bow around the outside of the inside envelope which contained the invitation. For the outside envelope, I added a stamp enclosure of a shell. I think it gave it a really nice touch.

Doesn't that look so cute?

Lastly, I added a wedding stamp of two wedding rings.

An important last detail is to make sure you get the wedding invitations hand stamped at the post office. You don't want all your hard work to be ruined by it arriving dirty and covered in post office markings.

The invitation is the first glimpse into the type of wedding you are having and a representation of you as a couple. I can't stress enough how important presentation is to your wedding. Sure, I am the first to say that you definitely don't need to follow all the rules (we didn't during our ceremony and reception) but make sure it looks beautiful starting with the invite.

ABC

by Heather

I adore these ABC silkscreen prints from Jeanie & Jewell. The mommy and baby duo design a line of stationary, available on their website: The Paper Nut.





As seen on Design Work Life blog.

Hand Drawn Type Collection

by Heather

I love this collection of hand drawn type. Too bad I don't have $300 to spare.


















via You Work For Them

Tim Walker Photography

by Heather

Tim Walker's photography is so enchanting and whimsical.












My boyfriend bought me a Nikon D90 for Christmas, so I've been having fun with it, but there is SO much to learn about photography. Before the gift, I was a point and shoot gal :) Can't wait to learn all the tricks of the trade. Hopefully, you'll see my images improve on this blog.

Send a Little Note

By Melanie

I was in Paper Source stationary store the other day and in awe of their great selection of cards and notes. Dare I say even they are even better than Papyrus? Yes!

What I love about their card selection is that many of the card collections are from individual designers and small design companies.

Two of my favorites:

1. Egg Press


Even though this one is perfect for Valentine's Day, I like to give my fiance love cards all year round.


source: both photos from Eggpress.com


I love letterpress. It's a bit more expensive but so dainty and pretty.


2. Jenny Sweeney Designs:


I love owls and this one is so creative and cute!

Adorable!

source: Jennysweeneydesigns.com

Aren't they all so cute? I think I'm addicted to greeting cards! Sometimes I buy them months in advance and without having a real reason. I just love sending notes to friends and family. It brightens their day! Maybe this is one of the reasons I'm creating my own collection.

Have a great St. Patty's Day!

Model Turned Chef

By Melanie

If you don't know about Daily Candy or have yet to sign up for their emails...you must! This is the best newsletter ever! You can sign up for just your city or nationwide.

Daily Candy is the best guide to your city and offers the inside scoop to just about everything. AND such a treat for your eyes with their super cute illustrations! I can't live without my daily dose!

source: get gingi

As you know, I have been trying (emphasis on trying) to make dinner more often for my fiance, so it was great timing to receive an email from them about a new cook book. They were praising the delicious food creations by model turned chef, Sophie Dahl (her grandfather was the famous children's book author Roald Dahl). She was in the celebrity media years ago for losing a lot of weight...she used to be a plus size model and then got thin. She was a popular model in both categories.

source: 24kredit

Anyway, on to her cook book....Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights.

source: zimbio

I'm can't wait to read this book and try out some new recipes.

source: harper collins

source: the swelle life

Great photography and and I just love the font.

Some of the dishes that caught my eye.

Stir Fry with Tofu.

source: both food photos from daily candy, get in my belly.

Ooh, cake.

I love deserts and this one looks just scrumptious!

Check out the video of her cooking one of her yummy asparagus soups on Daily Candy here.