renegade craft fair sf 2011

2011 was my third year of attending the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco, and this year was exceptional! Lots of loveliness to look at, and it forced me to be very thoughtful about my purchases. Otherwise known as self-control! All in all, I love being inspired by other people's work. Don't you think to yourself - I wish I had been genius enough to think of THAT? That definitely rings true for the wooden alphabet bunting below by Figs and Ginger. I purchased some bunting for my daughter's room, two delicate gold and leather bracelets for myself, and a bicycle birdie screenprint for our home.

Other vendors featured: Thief and Bandit (jersey necklaces), Diament Designs (delicate bracelets), Strawberry Luna (cute and affordable screenprints)

martha stewart spring ipad videos

Erin Jang is so talented! For her art director position at Martha Stewart Living she has been coming up with these short and crafty iPad videos that are very inspiring. Whether it's stop motion origami, disappearing chocolates, or swirly and colorful soap suds, it's neat to see a lighter side to Martha. And the music selection is pretty great too.

n is for ...

Love the daily typography put out by illustrator Jessica Hische. I'd love to purchase this as a print from her shop. And what does N stand for? Neat, Nice, New. Maybe you'll see more of this N later!

like duff, but not

I came across this lovely Etsy shop from watercolor artist DIMDi, and there was an adorable painting of a Wheaten Terrier. Duff is a Wheaten Terrier mix, so it just hit my heart. So sweet and fluffy.

found via simplesong

toting cuteness

I love these silly little tote bags with Bubi Au Yeung's Treeson character on them, they are simply adorable! And let's not even mention the nerdy glasses tote. It is just too cute for words. I'd love to lug that to the library with me! They're just $13.95 each at Crazylabel.

friday photo: horsin' around

Today's photo was taken by my photography professor from college. When I was her student, she showcased these beautiful photographs of horses and I recently rediscovered them in her online portfolio. I love horses, they are elegant and beautiful creatures with a quiet yet fierce kind of spirit. I think I'd like to be a horse for a day, just to see how it'd be to run in the fields carefree.

Check out the series that she has posted, they are breathtakingly beautiful - in the meadow, of their backs, and in their stalls.

photos by mimi plumb

desktop wallpaper love

Right now this fun image is on my desktop, it's so summery and I love it! I took it last weekend while I was holding 13 golden balloons in preparation for a graduation event. Very "Up-like" no? Click to see it larger and save it as your wallpaper if you like.
Here are two other shots that I took that day too.
If you'd like to download some really beautiful (and free) wallpapers, head over to Kindred to pick out a summery and lovely desktop wallpaper designed by some of the coolest artists and photographers out there. My favorite is this one by Blanca Gomez, who also has a super cute Etsy shop filled with sweet and simple prints. And there's another one of a quiet and serene diving board scene by photographer Alicia Bock. Yay for summer!

a little artist: amy ng

These flora studies are done by Amy Ng, an artist from Malaysia who runs a blog called Pikaland. They are lovely both separate or together, I think it's so wonderful that she really got the flow and curve of the flowers. Click the image to see them larger, the small version doesn't do them any justice.

It makes me want to get out my watercolors again and paint something that was inspired by this trio. I just went through some of my old watercolor paintings the other day, and I think my painting aesthetic has changed a lot since then. Maybe I'll dabble in some soon!

friday photo: stephanie williams

I love the light and silhouette shapes in this photo by Stephanie Williams. (the flouncy dress!) Check out her blog, great photography with a vintage feel. This most recent post is my favorite so far. Love it! Happy Friday!

photo by stephanie williams

maker faire 2009

This weekend I went to the Maker Faire for the second year in a row, and I have to say, it was inspiring and interesting as usual. There were so many fun things to see and experience. Always a must around this time of year, and it really challenges you to create something when you see what others have done. We saw a huge metal sculpture of angel wings, a cute dinosaur-themed handmade pinball machine (made by elementary students!), a Mercedes covered entirely in pens and markers, and we had a blast at the hula hooping station. Swing those hips!

That part made me feel like a kid again. And that was a wonderful feeling.

the dailies

I think it's so neat to take a sneak peek at what designers go through in a day -- what their thought processes are like, their work flow, what they find inspiring as they go about their daily routine. Over at Design for Mankind, artists/designers/bloggers are featured in The Dailies, an ongoing feature that is essentially, a "day in the life of _____."

Most recently, they featured Sally Shim of shim+sons -- who is now living in Busan, South Korea with her husband and two sons. The photos from her day were just so quaint and had moments of lovely quiet and I really enjoyed reading the whole post. It's also a neat idea to record what your day is like and what you were doing when. Maybe I'll take a stab at it one of these days.

image from sally shim for design for mankind

a little artist: rosemarie fiore

I have a soft spot for dots. Call me cutesy, but I don't care. And the above pieces of art are anything but cutesy. These are Firework Drawings by artist Rosemarie Fiore. Rosemarie creates these collages by exploding fireworks onto paper in enclosed containers, resulting in rich colors that she then collages by layering circles of paper on top of each other. The drawings exude an abstract other-worldly kind of quality. I think it's so dynamic and vivid, the image on the right is currently my desktop wallpaper. I'd love to own one of her pieces, I'm quite sure I could stare at it for hours. Click to see the image larger.

images from rosemarie fiore's website