Old Try

The area I've lived my whole life in, while technically in Virginia, doesn't consider itself very Southern.  I, however, do.  Being raised by a man from Tennessee and spending my summers at the beach with all my Carolina relatives made all the difference.  I can still remember the first time a childhood friend's parent asked me to "Call me Judy."  I did, my father overheard me, and that was the end of that.  These prints, from Old Try, speak to the barefoot Southern child inside of me.

Thanks to Gloria for the tip!  She will be paid in Cheerwine, as is tradition.

Funnelcloud Prints

I find that the art that has been catching my eye of late is chock-full of patterns and bright colors, ideally lots of both.  So it's no surprise that I went ape over these Funnelcloud Studio prints.  Funnelcloud is Rachel Roellke, who lives just one town over from mine!  What joy!  Scroll down for more happy prints:

One perk of her being a local is her fantastic patchwork Virginia print.  Is it weird that I love the shape of my state?  It seems somehow silly and yet also stately.  She also has DC and Maryland versions, and is taking requests for other states!  As much as I love the colors in the above prints (and lots more), as both a collector of river stones and builder of cairns in the wild, I fell head over heels for these:

Even in grayscale, those patterns just leap out at you.  And the shapes!  Is there a Funnelcloud Fan Club?  If so, sign me up.

Happy List

It's been awhile since I've made a good old-fashioned happy list.  Here we go:

A Very She & Him Christmas Currently cycling through 3 albums on repeat.  This is the selection when I'm feeling Christmassy.  Retro, mellow, festive as heck.

Old Navy Sequined Ballet Flats Okay: confession.  I don't actually own these.  I enforce a pretty strict shopping-for-myself embargo in December.  But the embargo doesn't prevent mad shoe lust.

Vitafusion MultiVites These are so yummy I would eat them all day if the bottle didn't strictly instruct otherwise.  I hate taking pills, but gummy vitamins for adults?  Yes and yes.

"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets So thrilled they made this a music video.  The Muppets album is the 2nd one on the current rotation, and "Man or Muppet" is by far the stand out track.  (Also: how great is the Jason Segel Muppet??)

Warby Parker Langston Frames I admit it, I broke the embargo once.  But these are my first new pair of glasses since 2004 and the previous pair vanished in May.  These are needed.  They're not here yet, but oh-so eagerly anticipated!

Alice Rebecca Potter Winter Stripe Patterns I love the idea of putting a simple pattern in a frame and hanging it on a wall.  Fortunately, Alice Rebecca Potter's clever patterns are available as prints on Society6 for your framing convenience.  Love.

Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony 3rd on the rotation: this CD came with the new Zelda game (nabbed just before the embargo went into effect) and I love it so, so much.  Koji Kondo composed all of the themes for the Zelda games, and I find myself going back to the Wind Waker theme over and over.  I suspect this will end with a complete replay of that game.

Honorable mentions: dogs who keep my feet warm at night, mint fudge brownies, the cat who stares into the fire for hours on end, mad pinning, stalking bottle brush trees on etsy, an impromptu game of MarioParty with my brother.

So that's my list!  It could be much, much longer (a lot makes me happy at this time of year), but I fear any more would give some gifts away.  What sorts of things are making your heart happy these days?

state letterpress prints

Just when I decide to buckle down and start long-form blogging again (I've remained very active on Twitter and Tumblr), both of my digital cameras go kaput.  On the same day.  One of them isn't dead-dead (the battery's dead and the charger is missing in action), but the other one ominously produced a spark the last time I unplugged its upload cord and has refused to take photos since.

Fortunately, there will always be folks producing beautiful things that I can write about sans photos snapped by me.  Like these fantastic state letterpress prints, for example!  Do you live in a state that you like quite a lot?  I do!  Which is why I love the Virginia print (which is made even better by the presence of my alma mater's school colors).  Here are a few other, non-Virginia states (click photo for link):

Also awesome: snow globe prints!

barnacle whale

How great is this print by Ryan Fowler?  I love the color scheme, the whale's expression, and I really love the barnacles.

eat more cheese

I adore these little prints--their appearance and the sentiments.  They're made by funnelcloud on Etsy, who hails not from my home town, but the town my high school was in.  This is very exciting!

I also very much enjoy her blog.

via Jo

you have bewitched me

It was Thanksgiving 2005.  My family was in South Carolina, but I had traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to keep my best girl Laura company while she worked over the holiday.  She insisted on making an entire turkey for the two of us.  I contributed instant mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, the bottom of which was burned when it was left sitting on the stove to cool with a burner on beneath it.  When it was time to eat, we cleared a shelf on a bookcase to use as a serving area, which then collapsed under the weight of the food.  I spent 20 minutes vacuuming up stuffing while Laura wrestled with the stubborn turkey.  There's a photo of me somewhere watching the Macy's Day Parade with a pot on my head.

Night fell.  Exhausted by our foibles in the kitchen, we decided to catch a movie.  We took a bus across town to a cinema Laura had never been to because it was the only one still playing the film we wanted to see.  It was an old one, with velvet-covered seats beaten down by the years.  It had once been a single theatre-style cinema, but someone had long since split it in two.  There were gold sconces on the right wall, but not the left, which looked straight out of the 1980s.  Only half the ceiling fresco was visible.  We saw Pride and Prejudice. It was perfect.

This poster brings all of these things to mind.

via Kate, of course

tom gauld

I love Tom Gauld nearly as much as I love Edward Gorey.  And that is seriously saying something.

Pretty much all prints are sold out, but still so awesome to look at.  Books available from Amazon and Buenaventura Press if you live in the US or Canada.  If you live anywhere else, you can order straight from the source, you lucky dogs.  You can also see his older work here.

spooky woodcuts

I know that Halloween is long over and done with, but there's no time limit on spooky, right?  Especially when it distracts me from having Christmas shoved down my throat weeks before Thanksgiving (and boy howdy, is that ever a rant that's brewing).  These are wood engravings (a particular weakness of mine) by Ram Rischmann for a 1947 French edition of Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe.  Man, I love those creepy trees.

From A Journey Round My Skull, which is a new blog on me, found by Adam.  Adam mostly fills my Google Reader with incomprehensible economics and Web 2.0 jargon, but every once in awhile surprises me with something I can actually understand.  Is it sad that ol' crazy eyes up there gets me excited where modern technology leaves me cold?  You tell me.  Also: more trees!

ps: does anyone know anything about this Rischmann character? All I seem to be turning up is links to these very prints, but surely he did other things.

threadless prints

Some of you might be familiar with Threadless, a fantastic resource for t-shirts. What you might not know is that some of the t-shirt designs (which are user created and voted on) are also made into prints. Threadless is having a great sale on all of these prints, selling all of them for $10. So, if you've got a space on the wall you need to fill, check it out! (Betcha can't guess which one I want...)

heartland

From Strange Maps...LOVE this print! As usual, Strange Maps is wonderfully informative, giving all sorts of information about the term "heartland."

On a different note, our 4 dog household went down to 3 this past weekend, when we lost our resident Methuselah, Curtis. He'd had two knee replacements, plus a third leg was swollen for no discernable reason, and on Friday his legs finally gave out. We had to carry him to the car Saturday, which was not an easy feat. I love Rottweilers, but MAN they are big! Anyway, I never thought I'd say this, but after living with 4 dogs for nearly two months, the house seems so quiet with just 3! We're heading to a local shelter this afternoon, on the look-out for another Methuselah who might need a home.

me too

via onpaperwings

speaking of whales

I really do have a thing for whale shapes right now, don't I? At some point I will post about my whales, I promise (for a start, I carry this wonderful Bungalow 360 bag). I am of Welsh descent, but I don't think that counts as the same thing.
Oh, isn't he a handsome fellow. From the NY Public Library's print collection via swissmiss.

crafty bastards round-up part 1

Last Sunday, the Washington City Paper held their craft fair, humorously called "Crafty Bastards." Now, this was a fun fair. Sadly, my camera was DOA, so no photos from the fair. Still, here's a rundown of my favourite booths:

Final Approach
Their Etsy shop is currently empty, but keep an eye on these folks. I love the charm of old luggage, but these pieces I would use. I'd look at everyone else with their black rolling suitcases and laugh.

goshdarnknit
I was at the Fair with a knitter, so there was much excitement about these pieces by DC artist Rania. For my part, I was enthused over her beautiful Moleskin notebooks.Jaime Zollars
I lingered a nice long while at Jaime's booth almost buying several things. And if I'd have $20 more in my pocket, I'd probably have that fellow up there on my wall right now. Oh, and if you get the e-mails from AT's Maxwell, then you saw Victoria's wonderful list of print sources--Jaime Zollars has works for sale at Thumbtack Press.

Imogene
There were a few themes we saw over and over--the main one was mustaches, but there were whales here and there for me to giggle over. Imogene's jewelry spoke to me.Just look at the whales! You can specify chain lengths on the pendant. She has so much more than whales, too, including a gorgeous line inspired by art nouveau, so check out her shop!

Whew! I haven't even gotten to the places from which I purchased goodies. It might be a while, but stay tuned for more from the Bastards.

lose yourself

I love this idea, by Douglas Wilson from the Keep Calm Gallery via swissmiss. Each map is unique. You can request a location or take a chance and see what you get. Maybe it'll be your hometown, maybe it'll be a place you've only dreamed of. I love the sentiment, and the execution is spot-on.

shorpy, and other memories

If you're a fan of vintage and historical photos, checking out Shorpy, the "100-Year-Old Photo Blog" is a must. Named after a boy who worked in an Alabama coal mine near the turn of the century, Shorpy was started by a man named Dave, although the site runs something like a collective now. The photos posted range from finds from members' attics to pieces from various archives. What they all have in common, however, is that they're available in high definition, perfect for desktop backgrounds.

The above photo originated in the National Photo Company Collection, and is currently serving as the background on my computer here at work. My finding it has made me something of a celebrity; Maytag is one of the companies we represent here. Seeing all of those wringers certainly makes me appreciate my washer and dryer, let me tell you!

It turns out that the company which makes the high quality prints for Shorpy, Plan 59, is located less that 5 miles from me, in Fairfax. In addition to Shorpy prints, they have hundreds of mid-century illustrations and advertisements available, including some gorgeous depictions of interior design.

whales and whales

I love whales. As a child, I aspired to being a marine biologist, which lasted until I finally grasped what biology entails (I couldn't even dissect my fetal pig in high school), so now I content myself with finding whales in design.I love the blocky whale shape that Ben Floeter uses in his works, such as the wooden piece above and the chalkboard below.Also adorable are this print by Lab Partners, the tiny "Willoughby Whale Rubber Stamp" from the Mayberry Sparrow, and Bugalow360's Whale Spin wallet.Anyone up for a swim?