Old Eastery images...

from one of my favorite photo blogs (and from a fellow West Texan)... beautiful.

Lovely. And a heart.

Normally I don't get into VD/Valentine's Day, hearty things, or February for that matter... but this is too lovely not to share! I really like this blog I found... A Creative Mint.

Seen at the Tate Museum.

 

 

Above, beautiful work from British printmaker Mark Hearld, seen both on the wonderful St Jude's of Britain and in the shop at the Tate Museum. The prolific artist has also textiles and ceramic designs to call his own, all organic, simple, lovely. More of his work featured here, here and here.

All photos from the Tate site and St Jude's.

Abe and Catullus.

Dear wonderfully talented Abe,

I love to hate you, except you're such a great guy with a wonderful kind exceptional family...that I cannot. This is truly wonderful, and I would expect nothing less from a fellow who I SAW teach himself Latin over a year or two of lunch hours. I'm sure you translated it yourself. I'd show the Internets the final, but you haven't even posted it yet.

I am truly privileged to count you and your sweet family as friends. Now if I could just stop the ENVY. Well, that's my problem.

Check out Officina Abrahae for all your design and illustration and Latin translation needs. If you don't call us that is.

Sigh. Good friend. Latin poetry. [Is this the Italiate version of 'Come live with me and be my love'??] Gorgeous pencil sketch. Lovely.

Update:

Here's the gorgeousness completed. I have it displayed where I can see it everyday! Thanks, Abe.

Lovely opening sequence.

Watched this again via the lovely The Art of the Title Sequence, and it made me wonder... which came first, 2006's Casino Royale's credits or Mad Men? I suppose I could find out, but I kind of like wondering.

Wonderful Geninne.

 Happy Easter from one of my favorite blogs, and its gorgeous author Geninne. I admire her so much, and so does the rest of internet-land. My pastor, slowly working his way through Ephesians, would admire the verse she chose to showcase for her Easter post.
Hope you all had a blessed Easter! Mine, although the most busy one of my entire life, couldn't have been beat. Even the weather cooperated. He is risen indeed!

Ephesians 1:7
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom & understanding.

A fun Christmas ornament idea.

From the newly discovered (by me) Twig and Thistle blog. Love it!

Woulda. Shoulda. Didn't.

I've been stalking this fellow's collages for a year now, and this weekend he is teaching workshops on collage up in Northern Kentucky. I saw the notice back when we had time, and almost signed up. Now I'm glad I didn't because I'd have had to cancel due to home projects, health issues, and lots of work...but that doesn't stop me from wanting to be there. I'm the happy owner of a number of his collages, some shown above, but they are sadly waiting until I actually have walls on which to hang them. We're about to tear out a few so we can add a lot more, so the collages will wait along with other lovelies til it's all complete...who knows when that will be. Hopefully by the end of the summer I can update finished architectural expansions. I'm sure there will be messy destruction photos to share in the next few weeks, but for now enjoy Mr Plowman's beautiful and compact collage work. They are so affordable, check out his blog and buy a few. I did.

I'm not worthy!

Wow, I'm flattered. But I'm tagging her back. The Urban Hen can do anything, including raise chickens, in the city! And she's so adorable...and sweet...and talented. I'm surprised I can even like her. :)

Photo hers.

Holy cow, Summer's here.

How did this happen so soon and without warning? It's steamy hot up here and we've just had the windows open full-time only a few weeks! Right now I can see pollen streaming down from the hackberry in the backyard, and it's only had leaves a week; the dogwood still has flowers, and the roses have had but three blooms. So it really should still be Spring, but it feels like Summer. Now this is not a complaint: I swore not to complain about this Summer's heat, whatever it be, because we froze in this old house all winter. Embrace the heat. Wear tank tops and shorts (ew). Run the fan. Keep the windows open and pop antihistamines. Whatever it takes!

We've had a good (if short?) Spring here. Fairly busy. Opportunities to spend time with friends. Making vacation plans and some possible home renovation plans. Trying to stay creative and make new things. In that light I'd like to share a link from one of my favorite blogs, Pikaland. This particular entry is all about inspiring creativity. I need lots of that! If for nothing else, you could leap from her site to one of the bazillion awesome artist sites/Etsy shops and find so many wonderful creations. I usually spend way more time online than I planned because of her jam-packed with goodness blog featuring artists from all over the world. They have more knowledge available in printed form here.

What a treat to always see something new, fresh, and exciting, so nicely packaged.

Artwork above, top to bottom:
BeHappyNow's Etsy shop
Amy Ng, author/Mayor of Pikaland

Creature Comforts

Am running off for a couple of days... but if I had the sense to do a real post of my own, I would want it to look like this one! What a beautifully designed and interesting site. There's never a dull day for her, and the treasure trove of links! You could spend all day bunny-trailing from this blog. Ez, the author, has spent much time in creating a clean, lovely site with scads of well-organized information, and made it beautiful as well. Enjoy spending way too much time on her site. All these images are from her blog.


and notice above, the sweet Geninne birdie. Everyone loves her!

UPDATE: Here is a great interview with Ez.

A million little projects.

Just because she's caught my eye, here are some fantastic images from amazingly talented illustrator Susy Pilgrim Waters. You can find her here. I was browsing through her agent's site and her work practically leapt off the screen. Her variety of styles and color palette are inspirational. Enjoy...

A million little projects (or dreams of projects), part whatever. I know I've made lists like this before...and haven't completed them. But there are so many little sites that have caught my interest lately, that I just have to leave this semi-permanent reminder of all the things I want to someday do. So here goes.

A Gocco or a Yudu? And how to choose?
Make your own buttons. Or badges, if you like.
Unbelievable teeny handmade books.
Brilliant repurposed sewing. And a tutorial.
Martha Martha Martha.
A must have book.

Fun.

Handlettering awesomeness.

DesignSponge is the font of much interesting artistry, but I especially loved this guest post on Handletterers. Enjoy! I know I did, after a huge reality check. I thought I could do this...til I see folks like Alison Carmichel, Sarah Watts, and the other folks on this site. Wow.

Amazing Awesomeness.

Direct from the delightful Print & Pattern blog. This Fiona Lewis is amazing! Fabric design, what a perfect job that must be.