I recently came upon this wonderful Australian homewares company called Ponyrider and fell in love immediately with their wall dots and typographic pillows made out of beautiful birch linens. All the products have a rustic simplicity and great graphics. Shown from the top: Sliced Player cushion cover, Players Welcome cushion cover, Bambi Nights Wall Dot and the Bambi Nights cushion cover.
Despite having had a pretty horrific accident this week (big glass water bottle fell & shattered in my hands) I have had to adapt to having only 9 digits available for use for what looks like 3 months. As mentioned in the prior post, I've been busily baking, designing labels and getting packaging together for the Eat My Blog charity bake sale when this all happened. Well, I'm proud to say after 3 days of hell I am figuring out how to do most everything without it and finding clever ways to keep it waterproof. I'm off to bake more of these Rosemary Honey shortbread wafers and call it a night.
Getting very excited to sample sweets and participate in Eat My Blog charity bake sale this coming Saturday here in West Hollywood at Tender Greens. To make this upcoming event even bigger and better than before, the organizers have recruited 70+ bakers/bloggers who will be cranking out over 2,000 baked goods. Expect to see carrot cake cookie sandwiches, bacon chocolate chip cookies, homemade salted caramels, Momofuku’s Crack Pie, and chocolate Guinness cupcakes with bacon cream cheese frosting at the event. I am making Rosemary Shortbread Wafers for my donation to this great event. All proceeds will be donated to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.The Eat My Blog tables will also be lined with special donations from local chefs and restaurants including Evan Kleiman, Chicks with Knives, Debbie Lee, Drago Centro,Starry Kitchen, Bakelab, Cube, Fraiche, Hollywood Corner, Choppe Choppe, Valerie Confections, Plaisir, Scoops Ice Cream, Chef Ludo Lefebvre and Tender Greens. Please come and join us for a day filled with tempting sweets, good company and very good intentions!
I’d like to congratulate the lovely Jessica from the delightful blog Style-Obsessed for winning a $60 gift certificate for CSN stores! Head over to her blog for lots of eye-candy and loads of great finds. A big thank you to all who participated, keep checking in for more fun offers and global design coolness from Design Nomad!
Target continually tempts me with items I never thought I would need. From their online shop, I found this great typographic shower curtain and matching towels. Now if only I didn't have vintage green and yellow tile in my bathroom, these would be a great option. Not available in store, online only.
This just made my day, a great packaging design for hot-dogs. Designed by Subconscious Co. Via: Lovely Package
I won’t pretend that many of us aren’t being hit hard with the economy and job situation out there. Just because we are all watching our money more carefully doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice style. I was helping out someone to find a reasonably priced Eames-style rocker when I discovered this beauty that sells for $176.00, a fraction of the cost of the original. While it might not be the exact design of the 1948 Eames RAR rocker, it certainly has eye-candy appeal and a tempting price point! Only available in white and this beautiful baby blue, get it here.
The good people of CSN stores have generously offered to host a $60 gift certificate giveaway to one of my readers from any of their 200 online stores. From bathroom vanities, to Herman Miller and Eames furniture, to Bodum glassware and coffee accessories, to Dwell baby bedding — well, the choices are simply vast. 
This life-long fascination of mine with dioramas and miniature landscapes is fueled by discovering these organic shaped, modern terrariums by artists Paula Hayes and Lauren of LÃtill. The combination of the hand blown glass vessels and the miniature desert landscapes are nothing short of delightful. I really wish I had enough light inside my house to successfully upkeep one of these. See much, much more at their websites. The first two photos are from Paula Hayes and the last two are by LÃtill.
Just a quick note that I plan to update this blog very soon after I hold funeral services for my dearly departed computer. Should be up and running in a few days with its newer and bigger successor :)
Come summertime, there's no way I use my stove or oven for anything other than making coffee since I have no AC in my kitchen. Everything gets cooked outside on my gas grill. Lately though, I have been missing the taste of real charcoal and was considering getting a small BBQ and then I saw this mini picnic Fyrkat grill from Bodum. Finally a BBQ that speaks good design! They come in an array of stylish colors and at $49.95, a great pop of color for your outdoor cooking area or beach party.
Like many other gardening enthusiasts, this spring I have been busy planting and potting every last square inch of my tiny yard with bounties of herbs, vegetables and flowers. I get extreme pleasure watching things grow, the beauty of flowers and being able to cultivate my own small amount of veggies. To say I have a limited amount of space would be an understatement. A few months back I discovered the hanging string gardens of Fedor, a young Dutch landscape artist and fell in love immediately. There's just a perfect Zen feeling with these clumps of moss and grass that host every kind of plant, flower or vegetable. They are inspired by Kokedma, a Japanese style of hanging gardens that I also knew nothing about. With all this inspiration, I am determined to try my hand at this sometime this summer. These gardens are irrigated in several ways, with a glass built-in reservoir, an artificial root made from moss which transports water to the ball or with a drip system that keeps the netting damp. You can also follow String Gardens on Facebook for frequent updates on projects.
File this under Why Didn’t I Think of This since I find the traditional design of playing cards oh-so-boring and very dated. Appealing both to the typophile and card player, Helveticards ($10) are a tastefully designed modern take on the playing card and are just too beautiful not to own. Too beautiful not to plan a modern poker party around!
I have been fascinated by botanical illustrations since I was a young child and even spent 8 hours of my London vacation one year in the archive library at The V&A Museum poring over countless original botanical watercolor paintings and drawings. When I saw this recent poster for a concert Snoop Dogg held in Richmond, VA, I burst out laughing. Beautifully designed by Tricia Kleinot and originally printed on hemp paper, it is available in a limited run of 50 prints from GigPosters.com for $30.
Wishing everyone a splendid pastel-colored Easter weekend! Miss Fortuna bunny ears headpiece from the very chic Benoit Missolin, Paris.
Being a lover of all things typographic, I was suddenly obsessed last week with obtaining some classic alphabet blocks to play with, specifically to spell out messages around the house. So far, I am loving this plan. I can “decorate” for the holidays or vent a particular thought anywhere I want. I found this great set of embossed blocks from Amazon and look forward to leaving words around the house all year!
Who doesn't need some Umami paste or Inca Dust to charge up one's spice rack? I'm absolutely in love with the whole concept and exotic ingredients of Easy Tasty Magic created by food writer Laura Santtini. The Easy Tasty Magic collection of taste-enhancers stimulates the senses, both with modern and original flavor combos and beautifully clever approaches to packaging. Shown from top: Umami Paste, Alchemical Larder w/16 rubs & spices, a little vial of Inca Stardust (bitter chocolate, burnt orange and chili), White Mischief Rub (smoked China tea, jasmine, orange flowers, Facing Heaven chili & peppercorns). There are also Food Bling Mixed Metals, sprays and salts in the collection as well. All available online at Selfridges.com.
I have yet to start back using a film camera but this army green Holga might just sway me over. Uses square format 120 film and has a variety of extra accessory options. Just loving the whole military look it has! $75 from Lomography.
How I did not know about this addictive and downright amusing site until now? Updated often, selleckwaterfallsandwich is a vast gallery of very well done photo composites of Tom Selleck, waterfalls and sandwiches. A simple equation that never bores!
South Africa’s Kulula airlines recently underwent a rebranding from their in-house creative team. Applying this 101 guide to the body of the airplane is so fresh and playful a design. Being a great lover of typography-driven graphic solutions, this definitely made me look. Now I finally know where the black box is. (Via: PSFK)
I want these! Helvetica cookie cutters by artist Beverly Hsu. She is currently looking into making more cookie cutters to sell, so check her site for updates.
I admit that I am a lightweight when it comes to hard liquor, red wine being my choice of spirits but seeing this Crystal Head Vodka bottle may change my mind. Even if I never drink it, my occasional guest might enjoy tasting vodka from this crystal skull bottle. Produced by Dan Aykroyd, which makes it even stranger.
