Cards now in a store

Hi lovelies, how was your thanksgiving weekend? I hope everyone had a wonderful time with the family as well as shopping. I'm afraid I can't make this a long post today. So I thought I'll leave you with this refreshing image. It certainly perked me up for the Monday!

I also want to give a little shoutout to the Singaporean readers: my notecards and Christmas cards from my online shop can now also be found in a lovely shop, Cat Socrates, in Brash Basah Complex. So if you want to save on the shipping or find pay pal and conversion rates a chore, this will be perfect for you!

Cat Socrates

#03-39b Brash Basah Complex

Daily 12 - 8pm

[image: from here]

Inspiring Tags

I’m inspired by tags today, the usually boring kind, that is. You know, beige paper with a punched hole.

I think these luggage tags are actually pretty cool. Perhaps it's the typography :p

Look what some of these folks have turned the otherwise blah tags into:
Business cards


And letterpressed too! Laugh if you want but that impression actually makes my heart beats faster!

Pretty gift tags

Calendars

You know what I love about the cyberworld? It’s when I see these awesome works by others. They get me creative juice going and stimulates my mind. Just like right now. I feel like rushing to start my own little project!

[images: Antrepo, Daily Poetics, Sesame Letterpress, erinzam]

P/S It's a holiday on Friday over here so I'm going to catch up on my long to-do list. Thanks for spending the week with me. See you next week, ya?

The wings of time

We’re in the end of November. The weather has turned cooler (yes, even over here). The year is fast slipping us by. I can’t remember when it was that I first started feeling like I wanted to grab hold of time and slow it down. So that I can enjoy for longer those moments with loved ones whom I miss, so that I can lick that chocolate brownie ice-cream a while longer, so that I can always be a little girl, so that I can put off for a longer time having to buy age-defying face cream… Of course, my fingers never truly grasp time at all.

Perhaps it does make sense mathematically too that we feel like time passes by a lot faster when we are older than when we were kids. When you’re 7, the one year you lead if 1/7. When you’re 50, that one year is 1/50.

But the truth is, we can’t change it. And since we can’t, the only thing then is to embrace it and make each day count. Cliched as it may sound, I find I have to remind myself of that every now and then. I want to make sure the things I spend my precious time on are those things that matter to me. Not things that I do to pass the days by.

And I just want to let you who’s reading this know that you matter because I devote part of my time everyday posting here. It’s nice knowing that you may be half way round the globe but our love for design gathered us here. It delights me when I hear from you because then I feel we kindred spirits are actually interacting. So, “hi, you over there! How’s it going?”

[image 1 clockwise: boopsie.daisy Flickr, alice b. gardens Flickr, taste the rainbow Flickr. image 2 clockwise: Samantha Lamb Flickr, We heart it, We heart it]

One more please - hum

A girl can’t have enough bags (actually that applies for shoes and clothes as well). Especially after you’ve seen these cute ones from a Japanese online shop, hum.

I love the little animal/insect details on these bags. Just look at that little bee (2nd last image)! I know I’ve whetted your appetite but I’m afraid they don’t ship internationally (as with many Japanese online shops). Oh well, they’re still eye candy and inspirational, ya?

P/S Anyone else suffering from Gossip Girl withdrawal symptoms this week? Anyone?

[images: from source]

Cute and Witty - Scott C.

I love illustrations resemblent of children's books. It helps when they're witty as well. Like these by Scott Campbell on "how to kill an idea":

Lots of his other works on his Flickr.

How cute is this? The sushis meet the tempuras.

[images: Scott C. Flickr]

[Fashion Friday # 3] - Back to Basics: Rag & Bone

Ta-dah!! It's time for Fashion Friday (yes, I’ve decided to make this a weekly column)! We had 2 previous such posts here and here. I hope you’re for the idea. I thought it’ll be fun as Friday marks the end of the regular working week and we want to welcome the weekend with something fun and light-hearted. Ok I’ll confess, shopping on weekends is totally my cup of tea!

With dressing up, I enjoy walking down the fun and funky route sometimes, playing with accessories and dressing to look different. But at other times, I really suspect that I’m a simple, clean, classic look kinda girl. I feel most at ease and comfortable when clad this way. The trick perhaps is to do this and yet still achieve a chic and elegant exterior. Not blah or blending totally into the crowd.

Rag & Bone’s Spring 2010RTW appeals to me in this way. They kept their colour palette natural and muted. We see simple or drapey pieces worn under jackets of all lengths (army green parka, field coat…). The uncomplicated jackets which added a touch to the look were evidence of the designers’ English military school heritage.

I was also drawn to some of the more androgynous looks. The slouchy pants paired with the structured jackets looked oh so effortlessly chic.


Okey dokey, I'm signing off for the weekend. It's going to be a busy one for me. I hope I can still get some chill out time though. And I hope that you do too! See you on Monday!



[images: Style.com]

Anthropologie Love

You know, I sometimes poke my nose around the Anthropologie website (okay, it’s more likely often times). I love the design of their website and needless to say the products are gorgeous! I browsed around today and saw way too many items that made my heart skipped. Here’s but a morsel:

I know I would be giving my iPhone the greatest happiness if it were to dock on this.

Maybe it’s a little too much to be splurging on napkins but these are different! They have woodblock prints on them!

Who would have thought I can be so crazy about an egg crate?

Guess what’s this? It’s a switchplate, my dear!

I tweeted about this Chateau lamp before but I just have to post it here again. Obviously, our love affair is a long one.

These beds! These beds! *Major swooning* They are all to die for but the first one REALLY captured my heart. And you know what? They all have lovely names (in order)—Forest Canopy, Dawning Lark, Calligraphy.

Sigh, when will Anthropologie REALLY ship internationally?

[images: from source]

What kind of Christmas do you like?

Nibbling the pen cap and staring into the air with my notebook in front of me, I thought of this question. It then became the inspiration behind the 2 Christmas card designs I came up with for my little shop-- Christmas in the City and Christmas in the Country. Here’s a sneak peek at one of it. The cards are printed on heavyweight textured paper. I also had fun writing the short “stories” that always accompany my item descriptions! Check out the shop for more.

I recall saying in a post almost one year ago that I dream of having my own little business. It's taken me a year and it's just an online shop but I'm proud to say I've taken a little step in that direction! Yay!

Barcodes Revolutionised

You know that barcodes sit on almost every product but you don’t ever bother with them. Why should you? They’re just blah. They all look the same. Not these barcodes! With design elements integrated, they certainly made me sit up! What a creative way to utilise something that inevitably goes on your product packaging!

Designed by Japanese firm, Design Barcode. They’ll selling their designs and you can have it customised too.

[via Popsop. Images: from here]

The Swing of Life

Is it me or there just aren't as many swings in the playgrounds these days? Being rendered too dangerous? If that's the case, I think it's a real shame. I mean, what's a playground without swings? When I was a kid, only playgrounds with swings deserved my precious play time. As far I remember, I've always loved them! Even when I hadn't learnt how to swing myself, I'll pester my parents to push me from the back. And the only words you'll hear from me were "higher! Higher! or "harder! Harder!" (yes, I do sound like an irritating kid!). As a result, we would have to strike a deal at the beginning-- 5 minutes only but non-stop pushing offered.

Imagine my glee when I learnt to swing myself! No need to beg and settle for 5 minutes deal! Once at the playground, I sprinted straight for the swing. I loved the exhilaration that rushed through me in the split seconds when the swing dived downwards with gravity. I loved how the wind caressed my face in those instances. I would close my eyes to savour the moment. When I did that, I felt I existed totally in that moment. On the other hand, at those points when the swing stood that its highest point, it gave me an elevated view of everything and more importantly, a sense of freedom. And I relished it.

As I grew older, I sat less on the swings. Less time for play, I got heavier... But once in a blue moon, when I spot a swing that looks like it can take a little more weight and there are no kids waiting eagerly in line, I get on it. And I found that my love affair with swings never ended. Sure, I was a little afraid of swinging higher. I felt ungrounded, insecure but with a few more swings, the little girl in me resurfaced.

That's so true of so many aspects of life, isn't it? We lose sight of who we really are, we lose our love for the unplanned and adventurous. We certainly weren't like that when we were kids. We hated structure, we dreaded following the rules. I really want to live a life that's true to myself and I think I can work on it by remembering how I was like as a kid.

What about you? What do you think? Do you share my love for swings?

[images: We heart it, Merde., Emily Blakely, We heart it, anastasiyamaleeva's Flickr, sayinbayan]