Hello, 2012

I'm not back in the studio just yet, but I wanted to pop in and wish you all a Happy New Year! Since we stayed at home over Christmas, we spent the weekend celebrating with family in Atlanta. The kids have been quite the troopers with all the extended celebrations/present opening. I kid, of course. I've yet to meet a child that doesn't like opening presents. Or an adult for that matter. Which, speaking of presents, I had a bit of a love affair with tinsel this holiday season, one that I don't think will be ending anytime soon. It's such a happy thing.

Here's to great things in 2012!

A Little Something Extra

When my parents came to see us last weekend, my mom brought me a little gift from pieces. What she gave me are some pretty coasters by Trina Turk that I can't wait to use [I'm trying to get my Living Room put together, so if I ever get pictures of it up here, I'll be sure to point them out. They are needlepoint, as in NON-breakable. A must around here!]. But also in the bag were these cute matches. It's one of my favorite things when a store gives you a little something extra just because it's fun and makes people happy. And green matches are definitely fun. And make me happy.

International Goodies Swap

After I wrote this post on the DIY printed masking tape, Sophie-Charlotte at French Home Made contacted me about a swap she's been putting together. You can read all about it right here, but essentially, each American participant is paired with a French Participant and you exchange supplies/paper/DIY items from your part of the world. Neat, eh? I thought so. It took me right back to the happy pen pal days of elementary school. Here's what I sent off today:



Can't wait to see what lands in my own mailbox!

In the Stars

You know what company rocks my world? It won't be shocking, but I just have to put it out there because they just sent me the greatest little birthday card:



Can you guess the sender?



Anthropologie. They think of the bestest things. Even their tape makes me happy.



And makes me want to hop the counter and snatch the dispenser away from the ringer-upper. But we shouldn't snatch. Or steal. It's not nice. Even when you are obsessed with masking tape. That's printed. But I did tell the her how lucky she was to get to dispense all that tape. And she was all, yea, whatever.

Itching to know what's in there?



Matching turtle dishes. That I don't have a place for yet. But even if I did, I wouldn't be able to set them out without fearing their certain fatal fall down onto the hardwood floors. It's just the way things roll around here right now. But I loved them, and I've always heard that you should buy what you love even if you don't have a place for it right that second. So I did. And I will.

Alright, I'm out. Happy Friday to you!

Nice to meet you, too.

It's all about the packaging, I tell you. I just received an order from Poppin, and was so happy to see their creative packaging.

Full of doubt and staples.



Short, pushy and a little sharp.



Nerd is the new black.



My favorite part? The air pack that says "See you in the Supply Closet." I'm so there.



So, thank you Poppin. For not only offering sleek office supplies that in themselves bring a smile to my face, but for giving them quirky personalities. I can't wait to try them out!

Double Time

One baby at a time has been plenty for me to handle, so I cannot imagine what parents of twins do, especially that first year! I came across this packaging, though, and thought it was such a clever way of catering to parents of twins. Not only does it look great, but because the drawers slide out, these would stack up so well in a closet.



Below is a brief description from the design firm:

“TOT-a-LOT is a brand dedicated to design clothes for twins. After designing the brand, we devised a packaging that conveys the idea of twins and also thought to be reused in the form of drawers for clothes. Having two babies at the same time takes effort and money. TOT-a-LOT is very responsible with the environment so all materials and inks used in their clothes are eco-friendly, so we designed a simple but impressive packaging focusing on the tone of voice of the brand. Did not need anything else to do it so appealing. The boxes are personalized with the names of babies and parents can begin putting their first clothes each in its corresponding drawer.”

A Matchbox with dividers + clever wording + bold type = well thought out perfection.

[Spotted on the Lovely Package]

To Help the Medicine Go Down

Clever Packaging, no? It's sugar! As in a spoonful of sugar...

Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies as a kid. One rainy Saturday, my sisters and I sat in front of our giant wooden framed TV watching it, and the minute it was over, we'd rewind and watch again. It never got old. Still doesn't.

[via Packaging World]

The Fromagerie

We have an excellent wine + cheese shop up the road, but they need to take a cue from this fromagerie -- their packaging is outstanding. How cute is that goat? I'd shop there just to get the labels. And I'd want to work there just so I could fill in the labels. And package everything up. And sample the cheese.

[Packaging design by Abby Brewster]

P-A-P-E-R-C-U-P-S

I'm digging these abc paper cups by IaM Design. The boys would love them, although I do have visions of myself sifting through the entire pack to find an "h" or an "s"!




And I think it would be funny to have them when my sister comes to visit because she is SO not a morning person and I would love to spell out "H-O-T" with her coffee!

[Spotted on thedieline.com]

Sweets for my Sweets

How fun is Valentine's? I know for some it's not fun at all, but when you have kids it becomes this whole new holiday that isn't about romance so much, but friends and an excuse to eat sweets! We've been busy over here getting ready for school parties...

[Strawberry cupcakes topped with vanilla frosting and sprinkles/Nerds candy; I tried to sneak and top all the cupcakes with sprinkles, but the boys caught me and protested "I don't like those kind!" so we compromised]

[Pretzels dipped in white chocolate with sprinkles -- we just melted white chocolate morsels and dipped the pretzels in. Very fun for the kids to make, especially the sprinkles part, and they are delish. I used the paper dividers from the foil cupcake liners to separate them into different portions]

[Ring Pop Valentine's -- bought the rings 3 for $1 at Target and then taped the little Valentine message on the top. Super easy and what kid doesn't love a ring pop?!]

That's all for now -- hope your weekend is a fun one!

Domesticity

I went to Michael's the other day to look for wallet sized picture frames. While I was there, I happened upon these holiday cookie/treat boxes [pictured above and on sale] by Martha Stewart. I like her craft line. I do. I admit it. So, I had grand visions of whipping up all these different goodies to go in the boxes to give to my kids' teachers. HA! We did make chocolate peanut butter balls...

[the chocolate came later and was a HUGE mess, so the camera wasn't around!]
BUT they did not make it to school yesterday because I ran out of time, and while I always think that I will "just stay up a little later tonight", when 8:30PM rolls around I'm ready to hit the hay. So, we put one box to good use, and took some to our neighbors...

...and the others are stashed away until next year!

Do you have a favorite treat you make this time of year?

The Cherry on Top

I received a precious pair of baby bloomers for Maggie from a friend of my mothers. Not only was the gift itself adorable, but the packaging brought a smile to my face -- on the outside of the bag, the seamstress had sewn the monogram that was used on the bloomers:

Definitely the cherry on top!

Here are some other ideas for spicing up all your packages this holiday season:




[From top to bottom: ormolu Christmas alphabet tags; farouche dandy tags; Petit Papetier envelope labels; PaperEclectiques naughty or nice tags]

I finally got around to wrapping some presents this weekend -- I'm so disappointed in my wrapping paper this year [not the one shown below; that's pretty much the only good roll I have] but considering all that has been going on, it's just going to have to do. I'll just hit the sales after Christmas to stock up for next year! Anyway, I figured if I designed a cute tag, then maybe the recipients wouldn't notice the tacky paper...hope it works!

Call of the Wild

Maybe it's the turkey in my fridge that has me thinking about birds, but these bird calls are beautiful. And the packaging, well you know how I feel about good packaging...I think I'd buy one for the box and diagrams alone!

They even have a Christmas set that includes calls for the turtle dove and partridge:

Blessed Supplies

As if I needed another reason to like office supplies, check out these Supply kits designed by Mike McVicar as a student project. Great packaging with an entertaining twist. Here is his description of the project:

The Patron Saints of design desktop supply kit is a blessed set of essential supplies for graphic designers. This packaging project features four patron saints of different aspects of designs, cutting and measuring, typography, adhesives, and drafting. Each of the four containers features information about the saint along with the appropriate tools like scissors, type specimen book, tape, etc.


I was emptying my Kindergartner's back pack this weekend and all of his papers were literally crammed and crumbled into the bottom. It made me laugh because I have these distinct memories of when I was in Elementary school watching the boys in my class do the same thing and thinking "why are they doing that? Everything is going to get ruined that way." I tried to flatten everything out, but it's still pretty crinkled...


[Supply kit first spotted on thedieline.com]

Bring Some Chocolate, too!

The next time you are headed to a dinner party, consider bringing some of this delicious looking chocolate along. Brix chocolate is specifically formulated to compliment lighter reds and dessert wines. Plus, the packaging is outstanding -- the wood grain box alone makes me drool. And as if you needed another reason, as it says on their website, both the cacao bean and red wine are rich sources of flavanoids, a heart disease fighting antioxidant. You can pick up a variety pack of Milk, Medium + Dark here...

[first spotted on lovelypackage.com]

Jammin'

I just read about this apricot jam that is made from one of the last Blenheim orchards in California's Santa Clara Valley. The taste is supposed to be unbeatable, and the package design is pretty stellar itself. Visit welovejam.com to learn more and to order a jar!

Game Night

I have played Monopoly more times than I could even count. Have you ever noticed how this game brings out the competitive in everyone? My sister and I used to get in major fights during Monopoly, and my dad would always chant "here comes the money train" when he was doing well -- for example, when he was about to collect on Boardwalk with a hotel -- and it would make me so angry! I really like this redesign [although I'm curious where the board is?], and think it retains the classic image of the game, while adding modern flair.


When Ben and I were first married, we used to have couples game nights on a regular basis. In fact, there was one couple who we'd play Monopoly with and the guys would get so competitive that me and the other wife would end up talking while they duked it out for hours [I am not exaggerating -- one time she left her husband at our house because they would not wrap it up!]. All this to say, I think it's time we revived game night -- maybe that will be my goal when we settle in our new digs!

What games do you enjoy playing with a group?

[Images from thedieline.com]

Moss Packaging

You know about my obsession with moss [for those who haven't heard, click here and here], but did you know that Coto --"fine accessories for the creative thinker"-- uses moss in their packaging?! Reindeer moss is their version of packing peanuts. Genius -- I love it.




p.s. they are having a 50% off sale right now -- their cuff links would make fun, unique Valentines...

[Images via thedieline.com]

A New Level of Clean

[Ultrasilencer Special Edition by Pia Wallen from the AIGA archives]

Don't you wish this bad boy was on the market?! It would take vacuuming to a whole new level of fun.


Pia Wallen is the Swedish designer well known for her use of felt in design, [especially her felt slippers] as well as her line of handmade sterling silver jewelry.