Sea Creatures are Cool - Part 2

This book, The Octonauts, looks awesome. I first saw it at the aquarium in Vancouver's Stanley Park, but now I found their website. The illustrations are fantastic. Read all about the Octonauts here. I'm taking off for the East Coast tomorrow for some holiday revelry and whatnot. I'll be back again in January. Have a great holiday!

Zebra Bunny

I wanted to post a few more pictures of street art. Above is a zebra bunny - spotted in Santa Monica on Arizona Street, and some R's riding skateboards, also on Arizona. I'm not sure what any of these mean. Below, is a panda sticker, sometimes accompanied by a slug-like unicorn, and the happy cupcake - also a sticker.

Valentine Hearts

I'm skipping ahead a few months to February to feature these Valentine Hearts. I've just recently finished them. The design is foil stamped in hot pink onto light pink printed paper. The paper these are printed on is Crane's letterpress paper, and it is so soft, like fabric. The font that I used is called Balmoral, but I added more flourishes to the letters.

Rosebud Sale

The Rosebud Holiday Sale went really well - thanks to everyone who stopped by. And thanks to Harmony and The Bridal Bar who hosted the event. If you're a bride-to-be in the Los Angeles area, you should definitely check out this place. There are tons of references and ideas for your big day.

My Little Helper

Toby's been helping me tie ribbons for my Holiday Ornaments for the Rosebud Holiday Sale tomorrow. Actually, he prefers hiding his toys in the pile of ribbons. I imagine he'd be better at tying things if he had thumbs.

Sea Creatures are Cool

This is a new book from McSweeney's that my friend Kaz told me about. It's called Animals of the Ocean, in Particular the Giant Squid. A couple of years ago I made up a story about a clam named Fred who gets a job as a gardener at a palace run by a magical underwater sea goat named Ernesto. But I'm sure this book is more interesting. It promises to have squids, too, which is a bonus.

Gert & Uwe Tobias

Recently, I went to the Hammer in Westwood to check out an exhibit by Gert and Uwe Tobias. The exhibit didn't have my favorite pieces of theirs, some of which I've posted above. Gert and Uwe are Romanian twin brothers who do large scale woodcuts in really bright colors. They work folk tales and imagery from their native Transylvania into their art. You can see images of their work here and here.

Rosebud Design Studio Holiday Sale

Rosebud is having a holiday sale at the Bridal Bar in West Hollywood this Saturday, December 9th from 2 - 4pm. The Bridal Bar is located at 624 N. Doheny Drive (just north of Santa Monica Blvd.) in West Hollywood, CA 90069. We're going to have holiday cards, thank you's, stocking stuffers, and even some valentines. You can take a look at the Rosebud website to see what will be available for sale. Stop by if you are in the area, I'm hoping to have some hot chocolate and cookies on hand too!

Never Forget Vancouver

Recently, while in Vancouver, we kept running into this grafitti art dinosaur all over the place. We laughed and laughed when we saw it, especially appreciating the drawing style. I know there are tons of prominent grafitti artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey, but I sort of like these anonymous and kind of random versions. There's a discussion of the never forget dino here. I'd like to make street art a posting theme, so if anyone has any examples of grafitti art, feel free to send them in.

Paper Products at Urbanic in Venice, CA

Today I went to a grand opening and holiday party at Urbanic, a relatively new stationery store in the Abbott Kinney area of Venice. The place is packed with great paper products, if you're in the area, definitely check it out. Click here for their website. There's also an informative post about the shop on LA Apartment Therapy here.

My first post

This is my first attempt at blogging. I thought it would be a fun place to post ideas and inspirations that I come across and use for my designs. I'm also quitting my job on December 20th to run my own company full time, so I figured this would be one way to stay connected with the outside world, while I try and run a company in my pj's. I hope to improve the blog over time, so don't be discouraged by its bare appearance, expect good things to come. Above are some holiday postcards from my line. They're a spin off vintage apothecary labels. You can see some more images of them here.