SEEING RED

I am a busy bee today--doing homework, cleaning the apartment, finishing my Halloween costume--but I just wanted to leave you with a quick little post. I came across Heather Palmer's Etsy store today. It's full of beautifully organic glass bowls in bright colors. All are handmade and completely unique. These pieces are truly show-stoppers and would look great as a centerpiece on a dining or coffee table. My favorite happens to be this small red "nest" which is listed as $60. I think it would make a great gift (hint hint, family) for any occasion, but with December fast approaching it would be perfect for a special Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice/Festivus present.

Check out Heather's shop here and this lovely red number here.

MORE MOONTREE

This summer I took a trip out to the Brooklyn Flea Market and happened to meet the lovely lady behind Moontree Press. Now Martha Stewart has featured Moontree on her blog and the Moontree etsy store seems to be flourishing! Hooray! My recent favorite is the letterpress ornaments on offer for a mere $10. Wouldn't these be a fabulous gift tag for the holidays, where you could write a loving personal message which could then be hung on the tree? Or, since they are printed in fun patterns and in a gorgeous gray, it could be hung up for any holiday!

Check out the ornaments here, the Moontree etsy store here, and the Moontree website here.

UTTERLY ENGAGED

While I have known about the super-awesome wedding website "Utterly Engaged" for a while, I just discovered their beautiful e-magazine. It's awesome! I love the photo styling and the ideas. These bouquets made me positively drool. Whether or not you have a wedding (or even a party) on the horizon, check out the site here and the e-mag here.

GROCERY STORE MUSICAL

I love Improv Everywhere! A hilarious group that organizes fun public events--surprise wedding receptions for people getting married at city hall, no pants rides on the subway, invisible dog walking parties--they always manage to come up with something funny and surprising to make people's day. Their latest endeavor was the grocery store musical: six people, including store clerks, randomly break into song about "squishing fruit together" in a store in Queens. Love it! Turns out they are all professional Broadway actors and the song is hilarious.

Check out more at their fabulous, and informative, website here. (I highly recommend you join their mailing list here).

CANDYGRAM

Brooke, the mastermind behind the fabulous blog inchmark, always has the best ideas! My most recent favorite is this candygram she featured--a tasty and friendly birthday "card". How much would your eyes light up if you got this little beauty in the mail? Just another something to smile about on a Monday . . .

Check out inchmark here and the candygram here.

HAPPY MONDAY

I really need an extra day for this weekend. Do you agree? It seems like there just isn't enough time to get everything done . . . .

So, to help face the day, I am posting one of my favorite "pick me up" YouTube videos. What's better than a bunch of silly boys dancing about to a cute song at the beach? Guaranteed smiles!

p.s. I love their beach toys! That raft is a-mazing!

(Original YouTube posting here.)

RODRIGO CORRAL

Yesterday I read Flavorwire's great interview of graphic book cover designer Rodrigo Corral. I am sure you have seen his stuff on show-stopping covers like Junot Diaz' Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and James Frey's Million Little Pieces. Incredible.

I felt I had to share some of his other great designs, as featured on the fabulous website The Book Cover Archive. Check out Rodrigo's page here and the Archive's super cool blog here.

OH JOY PARTY

As an avid reader of the wonderful Oh Joy! Blog and a big fan of the Oh Joy! paper products, I was very happy to hear that Oh Joy! is teaming up with Chronicle Books to produce an office collection! Love it!

The best part of the story is the adorable launch party complete with, GASP, a photobooth! The resulting shots are awesome and making me want to have a launch party just to have one!

IN PRINT

Despite the fact that my closet overflows with packing tubes and folders of prints I have bought over the years, I am pretty tempted but these three lovelies. Wouldn't they look fabulous in simple black frames all in a row? Yum!

From top to bottom:

This Poster is Half Full/Empty, Because Studio, £18

Meal Without Wine, Keep Calm Gallery, $29.51

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, Keep Calm Gallery, $29.51

The holidays are fast approaching . . . these could be a great gift!

JULENE CUTS

It often seems hard to find a unique, romantic present . . . not anymore! The madebyjulene shop on Etsy features some delightful typographic paper-cuts featuring amorous phrases and reasonable prices. Even better? For a bit more, Julene will customize the paper-cut with a phrase of your choosing! Check out Julene's shop here and her website here (for personalized orders and more information).

BIRD RINGS

There are some truly gorgeous products on offer over at the great online shop "Bird". But my favorites by far are the simple, elegant gold rings in offer. While pretty pricey, I can't help but stare dreamily at that smokey quartz and gold number---beautiful. Check out the jewelry goodness here and some other great stuff here.

P.S. Have a good weekend!

JOSEPH O HOLMES

I have to run all over town today so I thought I would leave you with a quick drool-worthy wishlist item and be on my way. As usual 20x200 has some beautiful work on offer, particularly by Joseph O. Holmes (I twittered about his taxi cab shot which I absolutely LOVE). In this shot, I really like the way this fashionista becomes a beacon in yellow amidst the dark asphalt and how the high rise windows twinkle as the sun sets. Available in 8" x 10", 11" x 14", 16" x 20", and 24" x 30" there is surely a size to fit your budget. Check them out here and check out more prints on offer here.

HOW ABOUT ORANGE DIY

There have been some really great do-it-yourself projects over at the lovely blog How About Orange. I particularly love the idea of using recycled magazines and newspapers (duh, I did it a lot here) to make fun new things. Check out the cool business card holder project here and sweet handmade bow project here.

Now go forth and create!

RIFFERAFF

Along the same line, there are some truly drool-worthy wrapping papers at another Etsy store: rifferaff. Check out the great (and cheap!) papers on sale here.

NAPKIN PLEASE!

I just discovered an incredible Etsy shop featuring beautiful unique designs for lovely, hand-printed, 100% linen textiles: elisabethbentz! Everything in the store is handmade and reasonably priced. Wouldn't they make a great house-warming or holiday gift? Check out the goodness here.

NEITHER SNOW CALLIGRAPHY

There is some truly exquisite hand-drawn and uniquely designed calligraphy over at neither snow. I absolutely love the fact that they offer reasonable prices and even will set you up with vintage stamps to perfectly suit your style. Amazing! How great would it be to have neither snow do all your wedding invites? Drool . . .

Check out the absolute loveliness here.

(Thanks to Oh Joy! for the great heads up. Check her post out here.)

ABSTRACTIONS IN THE CITY

Last week I went up on my rooftop with the BF since the fog + sunset was creating this beautiful atmospheric glow all along the horizon. I ended up snapping about 50 of these cityscape "abstractions". Having just spent 7 months organizing the Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction show at the Whitney, I was very happy to have an opportunity to try out some abstractions of my own!

See my Flickr "Abstractions" set here.