The winner is...

...you! I also deserve an award for the crappy class I sat through today. Found here. Have a great weekend!

Collected...

I'm thinking about miniature chairs today...perhaps because the chair I'm sitting on is making me feel like a total fat ass. Here are a few collections I love. The image above is from Hot Funk. Below are images from Chez Larsson...


and something to see...


Happy Friday, everyone!

Hand made font...

Oh my! I am in love with a site called hand made font. I bookmarked it a while ago after seeing it on swiss miss and finally got around to looking more closely at it. Here are a few of my favorites from their site. They also have an interesting blog.

Round...

We've lived in this apartment for about a year and a half and I've seriously changed the rug in our living room three or four times. What I really want is a rug like this...round, bright, and made of felt. The pathetic thing is that tomorrow I'll change my mind and want a square, white rug made of who knows what. I'm such a lame-O.

*link from oh joy

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Nathan Cordero. I almost freaked out when I saw these pieces. Found wood + text...does it get any better? I couldn't find a website, but did find more info about him here and here and some more of his work here.

Breather...

This week has been a crazy one, so I apologize for my brief absence (and the lack of a Collected post this week). The A.O. household is trying to get on track now that school is back in session. Sometimes grad school, a baby + husband, and work all catch up to me and I have to step back for a moment and take a deep breath. Anyways, I'm breathing again and I'm totally in love with these pieces by Hayley Carmo. Her website is great and if you don't get enough there, you can check out her flickr page. Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

Elsewhere...

Wooo hooooo! Please forgive me for a little shameless self-promotion, but I wrote a post for a feature on etsy called Artistic Endeavors and it went live today. I was thrilled to be invited and am even more thrilled after I saw the other folks who've written posts. You can check out my article here. Thanks for inviting me, Alison!

For the love of Buffalo...

I've been meaning to do this for a very long time. Here is a short list of some of our favorite Buffalo shops, non-profits, artists, and blogs. I'm only posting places we go regularly, blogs I read frequently, or people we know personally. With that said, please forgive me if I've forgotten anyone...
Hero Design Studio
Sunday
room
Talking Leaves
P22
Treehouse
Buffalo Small Press Book Fair
Buffalo ReUse
PUSH Buffalo
Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House
Buffalo + Erie County Library
Buffalo Tours
Western New York Book Arts Collaborative
Albright Knox
Buffalo Arts Studio
Bryan Hopkins
Ryan Legassicke
Morgan Calhoon
Nina Leo
Michael Beitz
David Andree
David Munson
Anne Muntges
Reinhard Reitzenstein
Adele Henderson
Ben Van Dyke
Joan Linder
French Press
Freshly Blended Press
Chris Fritton + Amy Hartman
Ruthie Designs
Fix Buffalo
Freshly Blended
Hero's blog

Also, be sure to check out these articles in Buffalo Rising about two of our favorite local spots Sweet_ness 7 Cafe and Guercios. At some point I'll move these links over to the sidebar. Probably when I'm procrastinating about my thesis. In the meantime...well, I won't.

Hooray...

Scary good...

I've been searching rather patiently for a lamp for our living room. I've found several decent lamps, but I really just want a giant articulated lamp like the one in this photo from Abigail Ahern's sneak peek on design*sponge. Doesn't it look so much nicer than when it's not scaring old people (see photo below)?


The Max floor lamp is nice too, but still totally out of my league. PRH, if you're reading this, maybe you should build a giant articulated lamp for us. I'll go and get the supplies.

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Yulia Brodskaya. These have made the rounds in blogland, but wow! How could I resist posting them here?! They're gorgeous! You can see more of her work here. Happy inauguration tomorrow!

Birthday wishes...

A couple of months ago Cris of tinlark gallery invited me to co-curate an exhibition with several others bloggers. She also invited Joanna of A Cup of Jo, Erin of Design for Mankind, Meighan of My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses, Grace of Design Sponge, Holly of Decor8, and Alyssa of Penguin & Fish. The show looks fantastic and I'm honored to be in such excellent company. Thanks, Cris, and happy birthday, tinlark gallery! Take a look here for more info.

Freezing and freezing...

Oh, to be a sexy mermaid! How's that for an opening sentence?! I blame it on the extraordinarily cold weather we're having today. Don't ask me why (let's just blame it on the weather again), but I've spent a large part of the day researching mermaids. I found the photo above at americathebeautiful and this lovely bottle opener from MaggiesVintageMarket...


I've also been laughing my behind off at this blog (warning: lots of dirty language). Have a warm and sunny weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

UPDATE: Apparently I'm not the only one thinking about mermaids.

Collected...

I recently read an article about Lisa Mahar who owns the beautiful NYC-based toy store Kid O. Her house is totally gorgeous and I loved the collection of miniature water towers on the shelf in this photo (and take a look at that jade plant!). After a quick search I found some great examples on ebay. Take a look...




A new obsession?

3D...

Yesterday was our first day back to school. This will be my final semester (holy crap) and my thesis project is in highgear. I'm also teaching screenprinting this semester and came across these amazing pieces by Christa Donner. We saw her speak once at UMass and I loved her work then...I especially like her cut paper pop-ups above. You can see more of her work here. I'm hoping that my students are inspired by these pieces and decide to make their own three-dimensional screenprints. Go 3D, paper people!

I'd like to know...

Today is Monday, so that means it's time for I'd like to know, a weekly post dedicated to talented artists, designers, etc...all people I'd like to know and who I thought you may like to know of too. Today I'd like to know...Rebecca Rothfus. I saw her work on dear ada and agree with Birdie, her color palette is perfect! Check out more of her work here.

Happy, happy, happy...

Our friend Joetta is making these banners and I just love them. Some of the phrases are so funny and unexpected and I think they'd be a fun addition to a party. Wouldn't a happily ever after banner be a sweet valentine surprise? Take a look at her shop for more phrases. Happy weekend!

Collected...

Please excuse my charm bracelet obsession. When we were home last my mom gave me a really great charm bracelet that has charms from all over the world on it. I love the idea of collecting charms from places you visit, don't you? So, naturally, I've been skulking around etsy looking at charms and found some bracelets that I'm dying for. I especially loved the George bracelet above, and seemed to be most drawn to bracelets with silhouettes or text. Here are some others that I liked...
Grand Canyon...


Elaine...


San Francisco Worlds Fair...


The shop CharmedLiving had the best (and most) charms for sale. Oh, also take a look at this bracelet by artist Connie Verrusio that I saw on Jen Bradford's blog. They're coins that she cut all out by hand! Amazing!

Knit or not...

This print by the cellophanes was part of a beautiful post by Ez of Creature Comforts. I think it would look so perfect in a nursery...or hanging above my desk. I'm also obsessing over these poufs (also part of Ez's post) and am trying to figure out it I could just knit one on my own. What do you think...to knit or not to knit? I guess I'd have to learn how to increase and decrease. Hmmmm.