When I came across a Design Espionage post containing these great prints from Lauren Nicole Hom I giggled like a little school girl! Then, the more I read, the more I became afraid…. How did she get inside my head? And why does she know all my little white lies?!!
There is more where this came from, be sure to check out the full collection on her blog…
via Daily Dishonesty.
Poketo Agenda Planner
I faintly remember a time when I loved going to the bookstore during the first week of January and sifting through all the new calendars. I would get entranced by the big splashy graphics of the wall calendars and lose track of time trying to pick out which one I would take home with me. Then I would hit the personal planner section and flip through all the neat crisp pages with their charts and conversions and pockets and holiday listings. This tradition emphasized the sense of new beginnings and fresh starts while simultaneously giving me a decently good excuse to go shopping.
So what happened?
Google Calendar…. iPhone…. Micrsoft Outlook…. Need I say more?
I am syncing so much that I couldn’t miss an appointment if I tried! Our family Google Calendar syncs with my husband’s work laptop, his cell phone and my iPhone. My Outlook work calendar syncs to my iPhone and back to my Google Calendar. My birthday app (yes there’s an app for that) syncs with Facebook to keep track of everyone’s birthdays, which syncs with my Red Stamp app which allows me to send out semi personal digital or paper cards directly from my cell phone. Oh, and I almost forgot: my iCloud to-do list is syncing with both my Google Calendar and my iPhone GPS so that every time I leave the office my phone quacks like a duck and reminds me to bring home my Tupperware and sew a button on my co-workers jacket.
I’m in real deep…
I’m fully digital. As a matter of fact, I’m so far gone that I can barely remember life before digital. I’m not sure I’d know what to do if my calendar didn’t beep, quack, or ring at me. And yet, it seems so wrong…. Sometimes I dream about the days when I used to scribble and sketch in brightly colored agendas, and recently, I’ve seen so many beautiful ones that I started to wonder if I shouldn’t give it another chance. Perhaps at this stage in my life I am too far gone for a physical planner. But when did the large graphic wall calendar ever do me wrong?
So I’ve gathered together some of the most tempting planners, agendas, and calendars of 2013. After all, it may be too late for me, but there’s still hope for you…
Snow & Graham 2013 Desk Calendar
Poketo Perfect Mini Planner III
Linda & Harriett Letterpress Perpetual Calendar on Luxe Paperie
2013 Letterpress Art Desk Calendar & Wood Stump Holder on Luxe Paperie
Graphic Image 2013 Metallic Leather Pocket Datebook
2013 Linnea Design Calendar
Old School Stationers 2013 Spiral Bound Wall Calendar
Poketo Voyage Eco Travel Journal
Poketo Voyage Eco Travel Journal
Uncle Buck, from Pindler and Pindler’s Gentleman’s Retreat Collection.
Yesterday I had the joy of spending a full work day at the San Francisco Design Center doing product research. It was the sort of day that makes being an interior designer worthwhile. For the entire day I set aside emails, appliance schedules and all of the nitty gritty to focus on the creative side of the job…
Now, most of our clients and many of my fellow designers fall into a very specific mold. Let it suffice to say that they are not antler people. So, when I came across the wonderfully whimsical fabric above, I knew that it would be much more appreciated by the Fancy Antler crowd.
The turkey has been roasted, the sweet potatoes mashed, and have finally recovered from Black Friday shopping, sooo, it must be Christmas time!!!!! This year’s first major project: Bring on the Christmas cards!
I used leftover charcoal cardstock and cut each 8.5″ x 11″ sheet into quarters. While trimming by hand is a bit more labor intensive then buying pre-cut cards, it is much cheaper. Each 8.5″ x 11″ sheet yields four cards that fit into a standard A7 envelope.
The front of each card is stamped with a winter tree. I used a metallic white ink pad for contrast on the charcoal background. Tree stamp from Paper Source.
Using a red paint pen I added dots to resemble ornaments on each tree.
For some extra Christmas flair… I bedazzled. I’m not typically the bedazzling sort, however, around the holidays I proudly wield my glitter and rhinestones. Self adhesive rhinestones: Michaels Arts and Crafts
Silver pen to write our well wishes on the back of each card.
You know your husband is a designer when you ask how the Christmas card looks and he says, “It needs something at the bottom to anchor it.” Wouldn’t most husbands either grunt or just smile and nod? Oh well, I married the designer and in this case, I think he was right. These glittery present stickers were $1.00 at the Dollar Tree. I cut off the bow and put them on the bottom so that the tree would look as if it had been planted in a festive pot.
The final product! Simple but festive. Red envelopes: Paper Source.
My card wound up being pretty playful, which is okay with me. However, looking back on the first image of the tree before the ornaments, rhinestones and glitter pot, I think that this stamp could be used again in a whole new way. The stamped image alone is very elegant and peaceful. Perhaps next year it would be fun to use again as a tone on tone sort of thing. Maybe orange-red and embossed on a burgundy background? Also, since it isn’t the typical coniferous Christmas tree, I could use it for spring or fall… oh the endless options!
Just stumbled across Anderson Design Group, an award-winning graphic design firm based in Nashville, TN. I have gotten completely lost in all their beautiful graphics, especially these great vintage style travel posters!
Enjoy-
Fancy Antlers 