In the spirit of Halloween I am posting on owls, since they are birds of the night. I discovered this personal stationery by chicprint and am in love with how cute and just a tad spooky these little creatures are.
the little guy kills me.
Anyway, the reason this is part 1 is because I realized I could have a lot of fun posting on owls of all sorts – so part 2 will come shortly. But in the meantime, these stand their ground alone.
Happy October 31st !
* A
Right now, the packaging on these super cute organic soaps we got in at neighborhood has me going.
They are called skinny skinny. How awesome is it, that each little package is uniquely different than all the rest and made from random pages of old books?! They are so interesting that it hurts and makes me want to collect them all.
Also great, is that you can choose to get a box set of 6 soaps packaged in a blank book that opens up to the assortment. Skinny skinny is a sustainable company based in New York. Hence the name.. Skin + NY = skinny (just in case you were wondering).
It has been a very difficult last 2 weeks. I am about to enter into my 3rd week of this computer meltdown situation and nothing seems to be improving. To recap: my Mac is less than a year old and was diagnosed with “minor software issues”. After 3 different tech guys spent 37 hours of work, my computer “took a turn for the worse” and is now just a black screen with a circle line through it communicating “no”. (I found it kind of comical that my laptop is just saying no) I depend on that little machine for SO much in my everyday life. All of my work files, communication, proofing, templates, and even this blog. Joshua has been very sympathetic to my frustrations and a very good share-er of his computer, but the thing that made my week brighter and helped me stay encouraged were these…
He made me a series of 7 flashcards in a little brown envelope as a reminder of some of the positive ways that he sees me. On the backs of each are definitions of why and an area where he sited examples of specific events.
These have been so uplifting to me in such a down-and-out couple weeks, and a daily resource for cheering up. Also on a positive note, since I have been without a computer I have cleaned out my desk, edited my closet, re-arranged the back room at the store, and re-vamped my file cabinets.
If you have emailed me in the last few weeks and I still have not gotten back to you – thanks for understanding and know that I will asap.
computerless,
*A
So Halloween is just just around the corner. I am planning on making my famous and somewhat deadly crock pot of “spider cider” for our annual pumpkin carving get-together. I have been inspired by all of the orange and black that surrounds me in urbanic these days, so I thought I would share some of my favorite card designs….
letterpress cards by hello lucky and jack-o-lanterns katie muth.
screen printed ghost and owl by loose petals, and jack-o-lantern and skeleton tree by L2 design collective.
By the way, wordpress just launched this new “poll” feature. So I want to try it out.
I admit that I have a weakness for for anything with peacock feathers or dandelion wishes on it, so when Whimsy came out with these 2 new double sided wraps for fall, I pretty much flipped.
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Besides being SUPER cute, they are 100% recycled with soy ink. The only tricky part in giving a present looking this good, is making sure the gift lives up to the presentation.
yikes.
We have these greeting cards in at urbanic from the great lakes and they crack me up every time I walk by them.
p.s I love that the mid west is the most threatening.
This morning I am loving this letterpressed “finishing touches” set by russel and hazel. It is so simple, classic, an makes doing any small task a little bit more enjoyable. Also it contains everything I am in the mood to do today.
1. curl up with a good book (bookmarks)
2. plan to host an “its cold outside” party and make soup (placecards)
3. write thank you notes for my birthday presents (notesets)
The set also includes gift enclosures, placecards and my favorite – the page finders!.
What I will actually be doing today is trying to get as much work done on my laptop as I can before I have to do an erase/re-install. (sadface) I had a massive mac meltdown so cross your fingers for me today!
Today I turn 34! I am spending my day with these two and will be back tomorrow with some good finds!
* A
The winners of the parcel post fall giveaway are…
I asked Joshua to randomly pick a number from 1-48 and he chose number 37 ( jill who loves sleeping with the windows open). Then I used a random number generator and it chose number 3 ( Kelly E. who loves the colors of fall).
To all of the rest of you thank you- thank you for your fall favorite contributions! I enjoyed your comments thoroughly, and reading each one as they came in made my days these last 2 weeks
* A
p.s The holiday giveaway is right around the corner!
My birthday is Tuesday and the two J’s and I are supposed to go to an orchard to pick some apples. This is definitely a fall highlight of mine that I am really excited about, so my post this morning is of some of my favorite tree screened prints.
We sell these cards at urbanic from L2 design collective. They are so stunning in real life that they are completely frame-able as a little wall art collection. Speaking of the change of seasons, there are definitely some very good things brewing on the horizon that I am excited to share with you! Until then, Have a great weekend.
* A
It rained the other day and it was so awesome. It never rains here and it was so fun, it felt like a snow day. It smelled damp outside and people were bonding “under the circumstances”. Then it ended and the sun came out and we were back to sunny California weather again. Oh well. Anyway it got me going on rainbows..
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What’s not to love about a good friendly rainbow, right? Or even better, a rainbow color inspired papergood! Above are a few of my favorites that we have at Urbanic. Flower card by Binth, Woodsy flower sketchbook by Rock Scissors Paper, and Lemondrops journal by Grady McFerrin
I am a label lover. My first label maker was life changing. The organization of knowing what is inside of something else is freedom and an alternative to a standard ugly shipping label – luxury! (I know that sounds over the top, but I totally mean it) As far as well designed pre-made labels go, there is a huge shortage in this world, and that is why I was so excited to get this box in at urbanic from ilee papergoods.
They come in these cute tiny square packs of 18. There are so many endless fun things you could do with these little gems. If you have any examples of great projects completed with the help of labels – please send, I would love to post. The girls at Urbanic seem to be as excited about these as I am. The enthusiastic sign they made below is very telling !
Sometimes it is the little details like this that make my day. I just snapped this photo of wedding invitation order that just came in from Pica Press. The fact that is packaged up so wonderfully is part of what makes all of this so special.
have a great weekend.
* A
I am excited at the appearance that wood has been making with desk accessories. There is something so warm yet modern about “the wood look” and since I am stuck on this little obsession we have been getting lots of it in at Urbanic.
Above are the 12 different pages on the Night Owl 2009 desk calendar. Each cute page hosts a different month and is made entirely from sustainably harvested birch, walnut and douglas fir.
I love everything about these wood inspired folders from International Arrivals (especially the burst of unexpected color on the insides).
I know, the laptop is crazy. I actually tried to win it in a random drawing at Project Las Vegas, but alas no avail. So instead I have embedded it to my liking here on parcel post.
Cd labels and hanging file folder by International Arrivals. Wood stapler by DCI. Bamboo laptop by Asus
