sending virtual flowers and b’day cakes

Yesterday we stumbled on this beautiful image of decoupage scanned from the 1948 Modeles de Decoupages, les Albums du Pere Castor. It was part of a series of cheap children’s books published by Flammarian. We thought: wouldn’t that make a swell virtual ‘flower arrangement’ to send someone via email…just to say hi or wish them…

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paint your shelf edges….pink!

Painting the edge of a shelf an unexpected color is such a simple way to put some surprise into a closet…it reminds us of the orange painted door edges and hinges we featured a while back. (We’re thinking that edging the shelf with a beautiful tape would do too.) It’s easy to do, and give a big…

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stacked-book display cases and other great ideas via scott newkirk

One of the best virtual “house tours” we’ve seen of late was designer Scott Newkirk’s Brooklyn, NY apartment featured on Remodelista via An Afternoon With. Newkirk’s place is beautiful, completely unfussy and full of smart, do-able ideas that make great use of limited space. He’s culled many of his treasures at flea markets, transforming them in interesting…

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quilts as memory-keepers

Our friend Linnae recently introduced us to Pat Ludwig, a “self-taught quilter” who blogs all of her projects so you can see the full process of making a quilt start-to-finish. Patwig’s quilts are made exclusively from old fabric scraps, including khaki and denim pants, childhood dresses, curtains, neckties, bedsheets, and even seat cushions. Her two most recent…

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the role of magic in the creative process

We are smitten with this short, illuminating online slideshow in which Marco Leona, chief scientist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, talks about the role of magic in the creation of art. It is so delightful and illuminating, we’ve watched it several times: a rich 4 minutes. “Magic traditionally was about transformation: taking something baser, less refined, less…

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‘i had cancer’ = social networking with a purpose

(Video link here.) I tend to have mixed feelings about the growing number of options for social networking. I’ve definitely noticed my own reliance on social networks making me a little more self-indulgent and a little less personal in my communications with friends. But the power of social networking sites to create communities for people…

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how prayer flags inspired a fabric woven with sound

(Video link here.) After we posted a video of Bjork frolicking in her “bell dress”, we got an email from a reader alerting us to the “sonic fabric” designed by Alyce Santoro. It’s a fabric made from polyester thread and audiocassette tape recorded with intricate collages of sound so that it is, literally, woven with sound. This…

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thanks and wow! (friends w benefits)

When we launched our fund-raising experiment, Friends with Benefits, we were amazed and heartened to get emails from some readers asking if they could pledge more than the $5, $7, or $9 monthly we gave as options on the PayPal menu. That’s possible now. THANK YOU to those who pledged and the many welcome single…

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‘what every girl/person needs’ via miranda july

We’ve loved Miranda July’s work for a long time because her work always directly addressed the INSIDE of our heads, all those crazy voices and opinions and questions that take up so much space, and are really NOT who we are. Suddenly she’s become pretty famous because of the Future, her recent film that is getting…

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