Earth Day 2011

I know Earth Day isn't until April 22, but that's just one month away! I wanted to give you the chance to prepare by buying this t-shirt I designed for I'm Organic.

Not only are they Organic and Made-in-the-US of A, but they will only be around until Earth Day! Limited edition!





You can grab the shirt here, and do it quick! Because when it's gone, it's gone!

(P.S. Keep you eyes on I'm Organic. They're under new ownership and they want to improve the art and design of their products! I've already done another 6 designs that will be arriving soon, with more to come!)

Jason Pollan for West Elm

West Elm has a HUGE array of amazing things this season - including surface designed bath, tabletop and decor pieces by Jason Pollan.

Jason has a really awesome naive and human style and I love the simplicity of his drawings. My old drawing teachers would have swooned over his gestural style. I remember trying to draw with a piece of charcoal attached to the end of a huge stick.

THAT's how I feel about his drawings. They look easy and hard to draw at the same time.



Jason runs a blog called everypersoninnewyork.blogspot.com where he's drawing... yes, you guessed it... Every person in New York that he can possibly catch. There are some great loose drawings of the colorful characters of the city.

I love the small details about where and when they show up. I hope he manages to reach his goal!

We went over to West Elm on a chilly Saturday and ran into these amazing bath accessories by Jason Pollan.



Right now they're lying about on our huge white table, collecting random things, rings, change, pencils. I'm apparently not going to use them in the bathroom (we have a shared bathroom with the rest of the 6th floor here at PB), so I think I'll just admire them as "Stuff Holders".



The tumbler is already my pencil cup of choice.



We also grabbed this amazing mustard pillow with a HUGE faceted burst on it. I know the dogs would like to use this as well, but for now I'll keep it far far out of their reach.

Cute Bikes = all the rage @ Paper Source

I went to Paper Source on Saturday after picking up Chris's new and improved* Macbook Pro from the Apple Store in Uptown. It's funny that right now, we seem to be swept up in the bicycle-themed trend of the moment!
Paper Source is stacked to the brim with bicycle themed EVERYTHING including some really adorable calendars, some great stationery, rubber stamps and even scrapbooking paper. I wonder if our sweet sweet love of bikes has finally caught on?

I ended up picking up a few things while I was there including some amazing recycled leather calendars (one for creative things, and another for work things) that are also in the cutest of the Paper Source colors.

It was awesome - while we were there I ran into a past student of mine and had a great chat! Small Small world!
I'll have to refrain from getting bicycle themed everything - unless I want to look like a nut!

*One of our cats tap-danced all over Chris's laptop and did a flying kick that slid it right off the kitchen counter! Some curses and tears later, Chris finally brought it in to be fixed; it's been a painful week for him without his computer.

BullfinchBarbury Amazing Enameled Bracelets

Last night I spent a half hour perusing Etsy for some feel-good presents for myself. I've been working hard at the studio with the PB team for the last couple weeks (Crazy amounts of projects have been rolling in!) and was looking for a little qualit-time with the credit card.

I stumbled across these amazing enameled bangles from BullfinchBarbury on Etsy a couple months ago and have had them on my favorites list for forever. I thought I'd share these beauties with you.

Each group is super unique and has a huge range of textures and colors. I love the grey set, it looks to be the perfect amount of distressed and natural, with that amazing enamel sheen.

Each set runs between $45 - $100+, and is well worth the amazing craftsmanship! I am waiting for pay-day so I can pick up some of these!! Love them!

Amazing Candy - United Noodle

I've been holding on to these amazing treats for a week or two, and FINALLY took some pictures of these amazingly illustrated packages! I love marshmallow anything, so for me to hold out and not eat these until I posted them!



So here you have it! They are so cute, and incredibly tasty!



United Noodle, the cute world/Asian grocery that is here in Minneapolis (Hidden in the depths of Midtown) has a huge aisle or two filled to the brim with amazingly cute packaging! Besides that, they also have a ton of really tasty imported teas!



Here are some more marshmallows.



I can't wait to go back and get some more! Stomach Ache, here I come!

Mast Brothers Chocolate

These guys might be some of the most revered chocolate people in NYC. Next time we go, we'll have see if we can find them.





Bottom photo courtesy The Selby, who has a ton of other great photos of the Mast Brothers' place, if you follow the link.

Win a Limited Edition Teacup!

A post or two ago featured the work of Amy Sol. Checking back, I saw that she's having a giveaway drawing for a pretty limited edition teacup she created the art for. Just follow the link to leave a comment on her blog about your favorite hot drink!




I had to check out more of the limited edition teacups available too. This one by Kozyndan caught my eye. Too bad it's sold out.

Heat Sensitive Wallpaper

Shi Yuan has applied heat-reactive materials to interior design. Calendars and wallpaper mostly, and since we're on a wallpaper kick, this is a pretty neat concept.

Without heat:


With the heat from the radiator:


The blossoms have three states–closed, partially open and open–depending on how warm the surface of the paper is.

Gorgeous Vintage Wallpaper : Sears 1908

I've been on a HUGE vintage art kick over the last year or so and have been amassing quite a few really awesome vintage catalogs and stashes. This particular beauty is a Sears Roebuck Co. Chicago 1908 Wall Paper Catalog.
Inside there are almost 100 gorgeous snipits of vintage wallpaper patterns, each still very bright and vibrant. Here are some pictures of some of my favorites.











I love the cabbage roses and romantic trees! It is so cool to see this stuff in person.
Vintage stuff looks like it was made with care, and the colors are amazing!

Tie Tea Cup

The Tie Tea Cup is a sleek solution to protect your tea from that little paper at the end of the tea bag string.



Ironically, I dropped a tea tag into my tea last night. Last straw before posting about this sophisticated invention.

KIOSK store

If you're scraping for ideas of things to buy as holiday presents, why not try the KIOSK store? It's hard to say what you'll find there, except that it'll be an odd assortment from all over the world.


Here's a cute Persimmon Ink Stamp from Japan.



And a lock from Finland.

Holiday Gifts: Plush Toys

To add to the holiday list-making, here are a few stuffed animals with extra special, one-of-a-kind charm. Jennifer Murphy's website is also a great place to see a menagerie of old-fashioned animals.

A.
White Christmas Reindeer
$50.00
by FantasticToys

B.
Handmade Cardinal
$15.00
by bubbletime

C.
Millie the Hot Pink Mouse
$37.00
by violetpi

D.
Penguins
N/A
by Jennifer Murphy

E.
Miniature Ooak Teddy
$24.50
by knittingdreams

F.
Handmade Wool Felted Polar Bear
$43.00
by BinneBear

Vintage Goodies from Columbus OHIO

One of the days that Chris and I were in Columbus was our Shopping Day.
We happened upon a really cute little vintage shop that was absolutely encrusted with old-timey Christmas Decorations.

Besides that, we found a couple jems amongst the piles and piles of things from the days of olde.

Doll Chandelier Anyone?


Me Burried amongst a million vintage toys


Look what I found amongst all the vintage toys & books


This is what Chris found



A Fantastically Wonderful Mushroom Serving Bowl - mushrooms to die for!


Ryan and Jenny amongst a million vintage coats


Ryan's new hat


Ryan and Urkel


I really wish we would have taken some more photos of all the other sweet things in the shop. I always get nervous when taking pictures in stores. I remember my retail days when we used to bust people taking photos all the time! At least we got a couple gems!
I can't get enough of the nostalgic stuff in places like these!!

Holiday Gifts : Delicious Sweets

There's nothing better than a little bit of sugar to brighten the grey days of winter.
Here are an assortment of delicious made-to-order sweets from sellers on Etsy!
All of these look so amazing (and affordable!)

I am especially looking forward to ordering and tasting the pistachio nougat from Calabasas Candy Co!


Apple Cider Caramel
$7.00
by Calabasas Candy Co

Pistachio Nougat
$7.50
by Calabasas Candy Co

Lavendar Marshmallows
$7.50
by Calabasas Candy Co

Chocolate Creme Sandwich Cookies Covered in Caramel & Milk Chocolate
$12.00
by nikid

Peanut Butter Fudge
$11.00
by JewelofHelion

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cubes
$4.00
by Fahrenheitgoods

Holiday Gifts : Time

These clocks by Igenoki, Dan Johnson Designs & Decoy Lab are amazing.
I especially love the baby bunny design - the illustrations by Decoy Lab are fantastic, and are such amazing backdrops for these fantastic clocks!

Check out the links below for more great clocks & decor by these awesome designers!

A.
Animal Clock Uma (Horse)
$80.00
by Igenoki

B.
Cheesecake Clock
$29.00
by DanJohnsonDesigns

C.
Mini Wall Hanging Tea Pot Clock
$18.00
by Decoylab

D.
Modern Baby Clock - Owl
$58.00
by Decoylab

E.
Counting Bunny Clock
$30.00
by Decoylab

F.
Wood Panel Cuckoo Clock - Lime
$34.00
by Decoylab

Holiday Gifts : Leading into 2011

I can't believe it's almost December.
There are only a few weeks left of the Fall semester and it's already snowed a fair amount. I've been thinking a lot about new years resolutions, even.
So far, I've only narrowed down to:

1. eating more chocolate
and
2. drinking more tea

Here are some beautiful calendars for you to look at - straight from some awesome designers/artists over on Etsy.

2011 Summer Surf 5 x 7 Calendar
$15.00
by elgarboart

2011 A Year of Love 5 x 7 Calendar
$ 12.50
by bomobob

2011 Manila Hardbound People Planner
$18.00
by Notebooksetc

Gold and Curry 2011 Weekly Planner
$32.00
by RockpileBindery

2011 Invincible Summer Animal Calendar
$12.00
by Spinstersummer

2011 Wall Calendar
$35.00
by Behappynow

Holiday Gifts : Mugs

I'm going to be posting quite a few fun things here on the PB blog for cute gifts for the holidays. I've been on a vintage kick over the last couple months and it's carried forward into my gift giving.

Here are some great vintage mug choices for the coffee or tea drinker in your life!
I've hand picked these from the bountiful pages of Etsy! Everything on this page is an authentic 100% vintage set (except for the upcycled one which has new mustaches on vintage mugs!). I love the shapes, handles, and graphics on these babies!


A.
Vintage Floral Stackable Mugs
$18.00
by SwankyLady

B.
Multicolored Mustache Stacking Mugs
$39.50
by Vinyl Soul

C.
Floral Montage Vintage Royal Crown Pedestal Mugs
$15.00
by Recycled Charm

D.
Mod Flower Mug
$5.50
by Scmcdonald1s

E.
Set of 4 Ironstone Pink Flower Coffee Mugs
$19.99
by 2peasinaModPod

F.
Mod Optical Art Mugs - Pair of 2
$12.00
by SewPeace420

G:
Pretty Lady Mug
$7.50
by TheBestThings

H.
Set of 2 Vintage Rainbow Mugs
$13.00
by KayaPapaya

I.
Vintage Ceramic Mug Set
$18.00
by Jherrmann

J.
Set of Vintage Animal Bone China Tea Cups (5)
$30.00
by CrabvilleinAutumn

Kim Burke

You can buy collectible tiny food from your local Japanese import store. Those are pretty amazing, and I confess I am guilty of buying quite a few little sets, but they're nothing on the handmade creations of Kim Burke.


The textures she pulls off at such a tiny scale are incredible.


Each piece has it's own sheen.


Her cat is pretty impressed, too. Or maybe upset, since it's too small and inedible to eat.
Look at her Flickr for a ton (a gram?) more cool work. She sells things on Etsy, too!