Hello My Names is Plant

Craftster user tiph_thompson had the great idea of pairing simple red plastic cups with Hello My Name Is stickers....

Quilted Polaroids

While browsing Craftster, I found these quilted Polaroids - how great are they? Kudos to Craftster user, The Moose! And quilted by hand, no less...

Ruffles have Ridges

There's a new pattern over at Burda Style: a ruffled clutch. Ruffles are creeping around the blogosphere. I'm also feeling this ruffle pillow tutorial from MerMag.

Painted Patterned Floors

Check out these painted floors on Cookie's web site. The instructions are simple and sound more like suggestions than an actual tutorial:

"For this project, Sunny painted the whole floor green, marked out the pattern with tape, and painted the white squares. Then aged the floor with her Original Aging Glaze to give it a worn-in look.

Both floors are covered with an acrylic polyurethane that will not yellow."

Sunny' Paint store has a series of fancy stencils to try....

Desktop Wallpapers

New Desktop Wallpapers from Kindred artists, thanks to How About Orange for the post.

Get a Grip on the Cord Situation

We have printer, power and ipod cords dangling all over the place -- sometimes laying on the floor, dangerously close to the wheels of our rolling office chair. So I'm so happy that these gadgets exist and that Shelteriffic brought them to my attention. They're named after what they prevent, CableDrop, and they're available at Bluelounge for a mere $10.

In the Details

I suwannee posted pictures of her bar cabinet that she lined with wrapping paper. Drawer/shelf liners can be pricier and come with less pattern options, so I'm going to take her advice and use gift wrap and loads of double sided tape instead.

Cross Stitch Zeitgeist

Evie-S posted a collage of the the cross stitch design meme that appearing on more than textiles. I better get on those cross stitch text pillows before West Elm or UO does.

Creeping Fig

Just bought a creeping fig to experiment with. A lot of the 1920s houses around the neighborhood use this vine. But how to make it grow up a wall and not as a ground cover?

Pendant Lamp Round Up

We've started researching pendant lamps for our dining room. Check the above graffiti one, available on etsy. If only I weren't po.

Here are some more affordable picks:

The Eden, $50, CB2



From Ikea, $70



Cerebro, In Mod, $113


Mibo, $80, Design Public

A Friendly Reminder

and

From here.

Nice

Found at FFFFOUND.

Sublime Stitiching: New Patterns

Sublime Stitching was asked by uber-group The Decemberists to create embroidery patterns of Carson Ellis' designs. Love that bike.

I must not have visited Jenny Hart's site in awhile but there a handful of fun, new designs:



This one will come in handy for text pillows...

Low-Sew Project

I'm liking the category of "low-sew" lately as my attention span always seems to fall short of finishing elaborate projects. This argyle fleece blanket is a fast and easy project. I'm not so much a fan of this yellow and cream business however...The project is from Dorm Decor and CraftStylish posted it online and is hosting a book giveaway if you leave a comment here by 6/23.

Luggage with Legs

This is a fantastic idea. Heather at Lark & Lola turned a vintage suitcase found in Paris into a table. See the post for the tutorial. She credits Poetic Home for the inspiration for the project. (See their post for other suitcase transformations, including more suitcases tables.)

Oh, Martha

Damn you and your good ideas! Cupcake liners as gift bows.

Fontastic Cross Stitch Text Generators

As it turns out, there are a bunch of Cross Stitch Text Generators, some of which have fancy fonts. I used Monaco above but StitchPoint has a couple of font options.

New to cross stitching? Primrose Designs has a photo-heavy tut here.
Now stop surfing the inter-tubes and go make a text pillow.

Be Nice or Leave pillow

Jackpot! I just found a cross stitch text generator on subversive cross stitch. Remember that Johnathan Adler pillow?Now, I start whipping out my own text pillows. First up, "Be Nice Or Leave"

Eco Fabric Sale

Sale alert: These fab 60% cotton 40% bamboo fabrics are on sale over at Shiisa Quilts. Hurry!

While you're there, check out their batting made from recycled plastic bottles.

For All Your Floor Scratches

Introducing the band-aid rug. Why not? You don't want your floor getting infected.

The French Are Laughing at You

Because it exists. Try "M" and "H."

Cross-stitching Activism

I just found out about Radical Cross Stitch and thought I'd share....

The talented craftsters take photos like this from a protest in Copenhagen:

And render them with thread:

The medium is the message. (Anyone have any good tutorials on creating stitching template based on a photo?) Sayoonara "Home Sweet Home" samplers.

For the Love of Paper

Jenipher Chandley, Caribbean Affair

If you find yourself in the Tampa area -- Twenty-five artists are showing their original wallpaper designs at Tampa's "Paper" Off and on the Wall" exhibit, May 29-July 24. Alas, it's free and decidedly hip for Florida...

Janeen Salzgeber, New Federalist-Saffron

Julian Corvin, Blue Floral

Pouf of Your Own

Make a puff of your own with this free pattern from Pickles. (Thanks for the tip Craft magazine...)

The Psychology of DIY

I'm in love with this book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, recently reviewed in the New York Times book review. And I think it helps explain the passion for DIY projects, for the love of ReadyMade magazine, for the Buy Handmade movement and on and on.

Basically, this Crawford guy is rehashing good old Marx here...capitalism breeds alienation by separating individuals from the totality. (As in, a global economy in which a Chinese worker sews together an Amish quilt with no direct connection with its final user, or understanding of its cultural meaning.)

An excerpt:
"Crawford argues that the ideologists of the knowledge economy have posited a false dichotomy between knowing and doing. The fact of the matter is that most forms of real knowledge, including self-knowledge, come from the effort to struggle with and master the brute reality of material objects — loosening a bolt without stripping its threads, or backing a semi rig into a loading dock. All these activities, if done well, require knowledge both about the world as it is and about yourself, and your own limitations. They can’t be learned simply by following rules, as a computer does; they require intuitive knowledge that comes from long experience and repeated encounters with difficulty and failure.

Economic ties, like those between a borrower and a lender, were once underpinned by face-to-face contact and moral community; today’s mortgage broker, by contrast, is a depersonalized cog in a financial machine that actively discourages prudence and judgment."

Fridays.

Poster by Public School, a Austin design studio with some fresh ideas. Link via the infamous swissmiss.

Off to work

This used to be my view on my commute to work.

Now it's this:

Economic indicator?

Woah. The New York Times is hiring? Is one of those economic indicator thingies that means the recession might be lifting ever so slightly?

Sticking with Shade

Design blogs are bursting with "backyard escapes" scenes and ideas. Isn't the above a good idea? Mere sticks and fabric? It's v. hot this Miami June so I'm all about ways to generate shade...

Image from Canadian House and Home, courtesy of Poppytalk.

Skinny Love

Leisure update: We went to a Bon Iver concert in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday night. Elvis Perkins -- with their upright bass, horns and harmonica -- opened. We saw Bon Iver about a year ago in Vancouver at a small basement joint as word of their talent had not spread quite yet. This venue permitted us to have a bird's eye view of the stage from the back. We were able to catch the actions of all the band members (just not their faces) and it stirred up some jealousy about how fun it must be to be in a band.

It was an all ages show and the young-ins were in full attendance. Made me think about how I learned about new music at 16. MTV. And now that MTV plays only cringe-worthy reality shows, where do teenagers learn about new bands? Perhaps I'm drawing a line where there shouldn't be one. Perhaps they listen and read the same things I do to hear about new bands.

For the record, my sources:
Minnesota Public Radio's Musicheads Podcast

KEXP's John in the Morning Radio Show (streamed on the internet station from 9-12pm EST)

Stereogum

Tic, tic

Lots of deadlines this week...having work is good...being stressed is not...

photo by thicktheo

Stools Out for Summer

Can someone tell me how or why-o-why these garden stools are popping up everywhere? I feel like Domino must have planted this seed before it died.

I'm a little suspicious of the widespread love and use of the garden stool...

When the Recession Ends

Have you heard about these drawer/shelf liners from The Container Store? I'd like the Herbal Cucumber scent but who can spend $10-15 on pleasant smelling drawers right now?