Commemorate

Commemorate that jar of jam or glass of water with these plates by illustrator Owen Davey that were a response to all the fuss over the royal wedding. And that also made me laugh. There are more designs and info right here about the project and his process.

If you could design a plate to commemorate something ordinary and everyday, what would it be? I would commemorate getting the mail. Or cutting up waffles.

Sweet Dresses

These organic dresses from Whitten Grey are too sweet. Do the cuts, colors and patterns remind you of paper doll dresses or is it just me? Either way, I'd take the dresses and that cute haircut!

But speaking of paper dolls, I've spotted a few takes on them lately. This feature from Small Magazine:



And this charming illustration from the latest issue of Papier Mache:



Maybe they're coming back...or maybe they never left, and since until recently I was focused on boy things I didn't notice!

A Collection a Day: The Book

You know the wildly popular blog A Collection a Day? If no, I'll fill you in: Lisa Congdon started it last January, and for every day of 2010 there was a new little collection of something: stamps, labels, tags, erasers, vintage flash cards, etc. Sometimes the collections were drawn and imagined; others were real objects.





Well now, it's being published as a book by Uppercase! And it doesn't look like any old ordinary book, either. A real stunner this one.

Pictures of the book at press are on the Uppercase blog today, too. Personally I can't get enough of the whole printing process, and find these behind the scenes peaks fascinating.





A Collection a Day will be available this Spring; pre-order here. And did I mention it comes in a collector's tin? Yes sirey Mr. Bob -- it does!

[Top images from A Collection a Day; bottom two images from Uppercase]

Mousestache and Antlers

Yesterday, I randomly happened upon these charmingly unusual prints by hisss illustration. As the tagline goes, they are all parts "funny creepy cute." The subtitles are pretty great, too.


["He liked the idea of it but it turned out to be a real inconvenience."]

Awesomeness

Loved this interview [and the guest posts] by Jessica Hische on Friends of Type. It doesn't get much better than a handwritten interview asking you to "Design a decal for this 80's looking van." Love it. And this post made me laugh out loud.

Jessica's work is stunning, truly inspiring...







[If you haven't already, check out her portfolio!]

A Trail of Treats

A quirky and fun interpretation of Hansel and Gretel by Andrew + Natsuko:

Monsieur Mangetout

Speaking of eating, have you seen these plates by James Ward? Too much, I tell you!

[via desire to inspire]

Hyperactivitypography

This is for all you type lovers out there -- a witty, fun, cleverly illustrated activity book called Hyperactivitypography From A to Z. It includes activities such as What is Garamond Doing?, Typolympics, Miss Univers and Moustaccents to name a few...













And who wouldn't want to know the answer to the question Which Typeface are you?



What would be even more fun is if there were a forum to see other peoples answers. It's temporarily out of print [be sure to join the facebook page to be posted on when it is available!], but you can preview it here.

And You?

I'm fascinated by the book by Kate Bingaman-Burt called Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today?. One, hand drawn ink illustrations rock. Two, I love a good journal, especially with pictures. And three, I'm nosy, and I like knowing what other people have been up to.



Here's a little blurb from her website about it:

"I've been drawing something that I purchase every day since February 5, 2006. Obsessive Consumption represents a selection of these daily drawings. I draw objects that are rather ordinary: Coke cans, Post-it notes, toilet bowl cleaner-sundry items that a lot of consumers have a shared experience with; items that we interact with, but don't really think about. I love documenting the mundane and, in turn, putting a personal face on something that is mass-produced. I make work about personal consumerism, market economies, guilt, joy, excess, more guilt, gifts, celebration, repetition, and the community of these shared experiences."



And I see she made a stop at my hometown airport...



When we'd fly in from Boston, we'd make a mad dash to the Chick Fil A on Concourse B. Chicken never tasted so good.

I actually haven't bought anything today, but yesterday I bought Silly Bandz for the boys. Sea Creature ones. Isn't it funny how these things catch on at schools? Reminds me of the black rubber bracelets I used to link together a la Ricky Schroeder in Silver Spoons.

How about you?

[Obsessive Consumption available at Amazon or through the author's website, where you can get a signed drawing to accompany the book!]

Cooties

Circle, circle, dot, dot...do you have your cootie shot? I don't know if you spied the cootie catcher that was in this inspiration board, but Tart Workshop has a free download of one here. I love the calligraphy inspired font -- makes it look like it came out of a Jane Austen novel. Now, go catch those cooties!



[Left image from Martha; Right image from Tart Workshop]