peacock pavillions shop = memorable gifts

i was thinking about weddings today. we’ve been invited to two later this year and the first thought that sprang to mind was “oh! weddings are fun” followed quickly by “oh! need to find a cool gift.” these are special friends that are tying the knot, so i don’t mean cool, like an ice cream maker or monogrammed towels, i mean special. memorable. of an heirloom quality, and with a great story behind it. i believe these impossibly gorgeous vintage wool moroccan quilts, offered by maryam montague, the chic blogger, photojournalist and proprietress of the soon-to-be-open peacock pavillions boutique hotel, fit the bill. these special bed linens, originally crafted as bridal quilts in days gone by, are loomed and embellished by hand with hundreds of teeny tiny sequins, and are certain to provide instant glamour for the honeymoon suite (as well as permanent wonder and admiration by your newly wedded friends and all who come to call).

the shop at peacock pavillions includes many other globally stylish things:

since these pieces are coming from the far away, exotic place known as morocco, gift buyers may want to plan ahead to ensure their arrival before the big event. no wedding gift to buy? no matter. wouldn’t investing in any of these treasures for yourself would be quite the sound investment?

to purchase and get more information, see maryam and contact her on her beautiful blog, and while you are out and about be sure to check out the brand new peacock pavillions website, right here. the hotel will be open later this year - hurrah!

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naughty betty cards: let’s chat!

i nearly spit my drink out when i opened my birthday card from a dear friend recently. actually i may have and i am still a little embarrassed about it, but i couldn’t help it. it was a laugh-out-loud funny, harsh and absolutely inimitable naughty betty card, from the dark and stormy minds of chicago designers christine montaquila and courtney weinberg. christine and courtney clearly have a bright sense of humor and a keen sense of style. their cards are sharp and truthful but are tempered with just a skinch of sentimentality. this formidable combination has enough visual jet fuel to teleport you to a playful place, stand by patiently idling its engines while you play around there for a bit and get you back to planet earth satisfied and smiling. let’s have a chat with c + c and find out more!

q: where do you live, and where do you create your collection?
a: we live in the northern suburbs of chicago. we’re minivan driving, latte drinking suburban moms. can’t even try to hide it. we either create our cards in our home offices, borders, or crouched in a broom closet so our toddlers don’t find us.

q: how did you two come together to create naughty betty?
a: we worked together as a writer/art director team at ogilvy & mather in chicago. we did many, many campaigns for women’s brands that we loved but never made it out the door. so we started to craft a voice and look we loved that was brutally honest, and talked to women the way women talk to women.

q: can you tell us a bit about your creative process? how do these cards get out of your head and onto the paper?
a: it really is a very organic process. a lot of our inspiration comes from our lives. our hectic, crazy, extremely average lives. we tend to write down funny stuff along the way and see how it feels as a card and if it captures a sentiment just right. then we revise, revise, revise.

q: your collection is so memorable thanks in part to its bold and clean graphic style. do either of you have a design background?
a: the design is courtney’s gig, but since i’m the writer i will speak for her. she’s got a design background and a fabulous eye for cool, modern things. she obsesses over every color! she’s really a design whore. (ed. note: this is the quote of the week.)

q: the laugh-out-loud, descriptive imagery in your cards really hits the nail on the head and takes me (and i suspect everyone else!) to a specific place and time. have you drawn on your own experiences while creating them?
a: oh yes. all of it. i suspect my husband secretly watches porn, and i have been that drunk girl peeing in an alley. when courtney was ten she french kissed her pillow with braces on. anything you read, we’ve lived.

q: what inspires you to make the line?
a: we love the idea of connecting with women and creating this dialogue about modern life. we certainly live differently then our mother’s did, working, raising children etc., so part of it is a social commentary on it all. after working in advertising for 15 years, we also love the honesty we’re able to have. you simply couldn’t be this blunt in an ad, but the truth is, people love the truth. they respond to it. and we love being culturally relevant too. greeting cards have a shelf life, so we can talk about things in the world that work now, but may not in two years. plus, life is just a hoot. senators having gay sex in bathrooms, people eating cockroaches on tv… this is good stuff!

q: exactly who is naughty betty? any relation to ugly betty?
a: naughty betty is the name we came up with on the phone when we realized all the other names we liked were trademarked. it was a bit before ugly betty got so big. we loved the idea of it being a woman’s name, and the naughty gives us permission to offend people with our harsh language. “We’re not Politically Correct Betty” is what I like to say!

you can purchase naughty betty cards at multiple choices and paper boy here in chicago, as well as paper doll in portland, heartfelt in san francisco and nancy nancy in brooklyn. if you are a retailer contact calypso cards for distribution info, and for more general hilarity and to contact christine and courtney, see their website.

thank you ladies!

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asg letterpress art - new pieces

amy rowan’s asg letterpress series is continuing along, chock full of humorous, affordable and colorful artwork. check out the most recent pieces that have been made available to us:

the decision by ann moffett

john vogl’s a family portrait

mr. rx by nako okubo

purchase these signed and numbered, limited edition pieces at the art school girl website.

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snapshot sunday

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happy 4th, and snapshot friday

pssst. i really want to believe that all my wailing and moaning from yesterday’s post helped to turn the power back on, but i think it was just practical hard work by the electric company. thank you electric company! we came back up last night and that tension that made my shoulders go up to my ears is receding. i wish you all a happy holiday and a lovely weekend. thank you for coming around! xo

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personal power outage (in the mind)

warning: highly unusual, genuine, intense, negative diatribe ahead.

there was a huge storm in michigan last night which knocked out the electricity, so i am back at home with the dogs now. i came home at midnight because i was worried that the dogs would freak out from the storms, which continued to pound the area as i drove home. they also need refrigerated medicines on a daily basis and i can’t skip what they need just so i can be by the beach on the 4th of july. it’s funny and ironic, bitterly ironic, because i was just saying that those breezy states of mind that come with the summer season never last in me. i don’t have a calm mind i don’t stop thinking and it is so easy for negativity to creep into my brain and cuddle with it like a baby blanket. it gets comfy up there. and i had been working up at the cottage for the last 2 days doing chores, very unfun chores that made me sweaty! i had finally finished them all and only had one left, to go pick my husband (who works like a dog and for whom i wanted to make things simple and easy upon arrival so he could enjoy his holiday weekend) up at the train station on thursday night, when all this mishigas went down. it takes an extremely long time for me to make lemonade when life give me lemons, especially when they are giving me the finger. do you know what i mean? oh maybe you don’t. i don’t know. gahhhhhh. i’m disgusted and mad. defeated. and it totally does NOT help that we had plans to simply drive back up today, and then found out that the power won’t be back on until saturday night, allegedly.

i wanted to get out of the city to avoid the dogs becoming anxious with all the firecrackers going off in the alley behind our house. kaiser has had seizures because of them and since he just recently had one i wanted to be up in the country and away from the noise. i just wanted to have a little bit of time that was pressure-free. a small extended period when no one needs anything and i’m not worrying about making plan a or b work or being hypercritical of myself if things don’t get done on my task list or worrying about how to organize my day or how i will get to all the obligations or whatever else might happen and how to deal with other stupid little things that life throws your way. i am so tired of the sinking feeling that everything is a complete giant effort and that no task comes naturally or easily.

now that i have a tremendous headache i’ve decided that i am on holiday from writing until monday, starting now. maybe i will put silent photographs up. i always enjoy my snapshot sundays, maybe i will do snapshot friday and saturday this week too. or not. photography is the only thing right now that focuses my mind, that slows my mind. and i had actually taken some decent shots while i was there too. maybe i will actually be back up there sooner than i think and the power will be back on and i will take even more photographs. maybe maybe maybe.

i hope i haven’t given you a headache now too from all this toxic blather. i always sucked at keeping a journal but now that i am becoming old and slow perhaps i am finally learning how. with an audience comprised of people from around the globe knowing all about it. oh great. serenity now, serenity now.

sorry, and thanks for letting me vent. i am going to hit the refresh button on myself, and we will return to the regularly scheduled program on monday.

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gorgeous helen, gorgeous candlelight

(ed. note: please bear with me and this goofy internet connection in michigan through the holiday and this weekend — when i’m inspired i can’t get online, and then i can’t write the way i normally do because i have trouble uploading photos. it is rather irritating and the posts are coming haphazardly, but at least it’s pretty up here. :))

i just found out that we are going to host a bbq for 70 people from my husband’s work sometime this summer, and i want these supercool gorgeous helen paper shades by the german design collective dekoop for the party really badly. they are simple little pieces of vellum paper that have little printed designs on them. take a wine glass, drop a tealight into it, put the shade on and poof! instant shadowy ambiance.

other excellent applications: setting the mood for the nerve-wracking i’m-cooking-for-my-boyfriend-or-girlfriend-for-the-very-first-time dates, as well as making small spaces a ittle more festive. and if i were a shop owner i’d find a dark corner in my store and light these babies up everyday. it’s probably pretty hard to imagine how lovely they are if they come flat packed and under cellophane.

available in sets of 3 at charles and marie and pedlars.

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dear ingo lamp by ron gilad

look at this kooky dear ingo lamp by ron gilad for moooi. a seeming tribute to equally imaginative german lighting designer ingo maurer, the versatile piece features 16 separate metal task lamps which can be aimed in myriad different directions.

this fixture really reminds me of that one villain in spiderman 2, and why the heck can’t i remember that guy’s name now? was it alfred molina? doc oc? hmmmmph.

anyway, it’s available at unica home — price on request.

via uncrate

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natasha newton paintings and illustration

i like the clean lines in these pretty little ink drawings and acrylic paintings from uk artist natasha newton. there is a lot of depth, texture and good positive energy swirling around here now that i’m looking at them.

see more in natasha’s etsy shop and website, and say hello on her blog too.

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vintage doll portraits by gigi on flickr

i want to invite you guys to have a look at the ongoing series of vintage doll and figurine portraits i’m currently working on. i photograph the dolls in their “natural habitat” at thrift and antique shops and do not pose them. sometimes the results are more surprising than i think they’ll be.

i am having a really good time with this collection, and perhaps i should mention that this post is sort of a hint about my big creative endeavor? more details to come, soon…

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laura ferrara graphite drawings: miniview

too much noise isn’t good for the soul. sometimes i try to go to my zen place when i am driving by myself, because it’s practically the only time i am by myself. it doesn’t always work, and i certainly can’t go to that deep place of contemplation in my car when the guy behind me is honking and pushing me along. no, those moments, which we should incorporate into our daily routines, are better actualized in other scenarios, like looking at these pensive illustrations from laura ferrara, aka etsy seller emersonbookcase. laura’s graphite sketches, with their soft lines and dreamy, fluid energy, are simultaneously delicate and strong. the non-linear subject matter and unusual combinations of real world objects in her triple series collection contrast so nicely against the washy graph sheets, and there’s just enough amounts of light and shadow on the paper to encourage you to slow it down, stare it down, and allow your mind to come up to the surface for a while. i needed to know more about the author of these visual chronicles, so…

q: where do you live and where do you create your drawings? i am picturing, well, ralph waldo emerson’s study?
a: i live in lovely silver spring, maryland, a suburb of dc. my drawing/painting space is in my bedroom and takes up the whole west wall. it is not nearly as contemplative as emerson’s study or thoreau’s cabin for that matter, but i do spend some of the best moments of my day there.

q: what inspires you to draw and paint?
a: i am inspired by the odd overheard phrase of a conversation i am not a part of, the way an old man walks in the heat, or the glimpse, out of the corner of my eye, while putting away the groceries, of a moth desperately trying to become a part of the porch light. the little things, you know, the exquisite moments when i feel completely awake and notice everything, taking nothing for granted.

q: where did the idea of the triple series come from?
a: the idea of the triple series came one day while sitting at work. i was thinking about the world and its place in the universe. how really impossible it seems that we exist at all, given the hostile conditions off the planet. if you think about it, i mean really think, we are so vulnerable and fragile floating around in space. we really need each other, not just other humans, but the whole unbelievable variety evolution has so generously given us. the trees, the insects, the animals. we all need to be here in order to continue to thrive. so i wanted to illustrate the amazing diversity of living things and our mutual dependence, in a very simple way. the composition of three images seemed the most direct.

see laura’s full collection and contact her at her etsy shop.

thank you laura!

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illustrations by koyori

there is a talented and mysterious person in japan named koyori, who makes beautiful illustrations. i love the beautiful delicate style and strokes and the perspective in the scenes. and i can’t say much else due to the language barrier.

see more goodness and mystery right here.

via mint-unz

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