Cool Things

craving: Tissue Calendar for 2013

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via russel and hazel

I love physical, paper calendars. Every year I buy the same 6" pocket planner and every year I don't know what I'd do with out it. (It has month and day views so I can see everything at a glance and then the details.) When I stumbled across this on One Kings Lane, I immediately thought it was great. Maybe because it's I'm one of those people that writes things on my to do list just to cross them off (take shower anyone?) but I can't help but imagine how awesome it would be to rip off the previous day and begin anew.

Happy (almost valentine's day) weekend

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so magical. found here photography by Friedrich Seidenstücker

Can you believe Valentine's Day is Tuesday? Neither J. nor I could really wait until Tuesday (we get super excited about giving gifts to each other) so we already had a mini celebration and swapped gifts. (Tickets to see the Civil Wars 3 days after we move to Denver? Heck yea! My husband rocks. Hah. Literally.) That said though, I go all out for Valentine's day so Tuesday is still going to be full of love and glitter. And maybe balloons in the shower.

Still trying to get in the spirit? Maybe these will help.

Amazing cookies for everyone in your life. (Meat cookies anyone?!)

Or make cookies and just add a little love (Anytime I make something for J. he tells me he can "taste the love." This way I could tell him there was exactly 1/4 a cup of love.)
My Dad and I always played Scrabble when I was growing up, (he's a walking dictionary though so I only won if I happened to hit a triple word score or something awesome like that) so of course these made me think of him.

Oh yum.

For my husband, the whittler, a box of wooden chocolates.

My friend Kristin posted about these shirts and J is now officially obsessed.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Good Design: Watch Sculptures

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Dominic Wilson watch sculptures (The detail is called adventures of a  young vegetarian. It's of a girl saving a pig from a butcher.)

normally my "Good Designs" focus around typography and graphic design, but sometimes I find something that blurs the line and I have to share it.

J. is a huge watch lover- whenever he asks me to "come look at this" 9 times out of 10 it's a watch he'd like to have.  And whenever we go shopping and I can't find him, I know just to beeline it to the watch section where I will find him- mesmerized by the intricate beauty of rows and rows of watches. To be honest, he acts similarly with cars, airplanes, and most everything the History Channel plays about the World Wars. It's pretty endearing.

Main point, I've now seen a lot of watches. (And WW2 documentaries.) But I never expected to see one like this. The attention to detail in the sculptures, the roundness of the glass dome, the movement (yes, I know I'm geeking out here) it's all just so well designed and designed so beautifully. Not to mention the social messages he portrays. Example: There is a man "so engrossed in his iPhone that he doesn't even notice a monkey balancing on the head of a weightlifting boy on the arm of an elderly roller skater."

This is what the artist, Dominic Wilson, said about them:

I have a new big project to show. I’ve put tiny figures onto watch hands in order to create mini animated scenes. I had the idea last year during my Speed creating project, but decided it was too good to rush. 8 month later I showed a prototype to Dezeen and they commissioned me to make a collection. The watches use customised model figures and I also made objects, like a miniature looted LCD tv. The glass domes were specially made to fit by Wearside Glass Sculptures in my home town of Sunderland at the National Glass Centre.

This is one of those pieces I'd love to own and have out for everyone to enjoy. Wouldn't you love to sit down in someone's living room to see the street sweeper watch lying on the table? I would. And then I would proceed to geek out in front of them about it the entire time I was there, because, well you know. That's how I roll.

From the Studio: DIY Watercolor Valentine's

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Every year I make my own Valentine's. Something about the glue and the glitter and the paint transports me back to the days of elementary school where every one makes a "Valentine Box" and gives EVERY single person in their class a card. (I know some people may think that it's annoying to have to give everyone a card, but I remember seeing how happy and surprised some kids were to get cards and it always made me smile.) And to be honest, unlike a lot of people, I love Valentine's Day. Not the whole "I have to buy you chocolates and a cheap card or else I don't love you" mentality sometimes adopted, but the idea that for one whole day you get to go overboard in showing how much you care about someone. Or someone's. My family is really big on Valentine's Day. Like wake up to a Valentine's Day celebration complete with presents before school kind of big. What can I say, we're saps when it comes to love. Anyhow, back to the point. Given that I make Valentine's every year, I thought I would show you all a creative (and really simple) way to make some for yourself. (I taught this trick to my Alt classes as a test run and it went really well so hopefully it does for you too!)

Step One: Get all of your stuff together. You'll need paper (I wanted an A2 sized card so my paper is 8.5"x5.5" but you can use whatever size you have) a watercolor brush, watercolor paint, a bone folder (or credit card. No reason to buy something you don't absolutely need) masking fluid and an old small paintbrush that you don't care if it gets ruined because it will. If you'd like to feel fancy, feel free to place some glittery hearts around- you know, for the mood.

Step Two: Using your bone folder, fold your paper in half and crease the edges. I did a vertical fold, but horizontal would work well too.

Step Three: Using the brush you're going to ruin, paint a design on your paper using masking fluid. It doesn't need to be super thick, but you'll want to make sure the fluid makes a complete solid layer wherever you place it. I did X's and O's because my parents used to play tic tac toe over the phone when they were dating long distance and I always associate that with love and therefore Valentine's Day.

Step Four: After it has FULLY dried-test with the back of your hand never the front because it will leave oil behind and water and oil don't mix- combine a dime sized amount of watercolor paint with clean water and use that to paint over the entire design.

Step Five: Once the paint is completely dry, take a regular white eraser (or any eraser, I just like that you don't have to worry about color transferring with a white one) gently erase away the masking fluid. It should start acting a lot like rubber cement does when you rub that away. After the entire card is erased clean of masking fluid, dust off any left over residue.

Step Six: Step back and take a moment to admire your handiwork.

See? Super easy. And if you'd like, add some glitter, write a message inside and mail it off to a deserving loved one. I'd suggest in a pretty red or pink envelope because that makes it even more awesome to receive.

All photos copyright of courtney khail stationery and design. Feel free to re-post, but please give credit and be sure to link back to this post.