AMAZON

Sorry for the Non-Post here. I got a bit angry at the computer tonight and needed to take a break.

Well not really mad at THE computer, but more mad at Amazon. I am getting tired of them moving their prices up and down. Yes. Sometimes I have benefited for this, but most of the time I do not.

Todays example. I have been watching a present for someone on there. Price is $X usually. So during lunch I took a look at it and it was 1/3 lower. WOO HOO. I shall order tonight I tell myself (because I don't like to order stuff at work). When I get home I go to order it. The price is back to $X. Seriously? What changed? 3 hours. I just feel cheated by this business practice. So I went looking at found it at a different location and shall order it.

I know I will probably shop there in the future, but I am just getting tired of it. I can live with a day to day switch (still though...) but a couple hours is ridiculous.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I will be MIA for a couple days doing all the traveling, family stuff, etc that comes with this time of the year. I shall be filling myself to the brim with some delecious turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, and so on. Hope everyone has safe travels.

On a side note, does anyone else find it odd that when we are kids we draw turkeys with colorful tail feathers etc? Has anyone seen a turkey? They are dark brown... quite ugly too.

Are you looking for that ornament that has a little extra style? A little tired of Santa holding a Coke, snowmen doing various things, or the Grinch stealing christmas in a miniature scale? Well Look no more. Dress up your tree with some acrylic game controller ornaments . Available in 6 colors in a set of 7 for $25.

I can only think of to things to improve it. I would offer a few more options. Possibly an all wiimote set (they would look like icicles hanging on the tree...) or maybe some single serving options  since the NES controller is amazing.

Second, although the acrylic looks good, and had a direct connection to all of the plastics the real controllers are made out of... I want to see it in wood. Maybe out of a nice plywood or bamboo. This would give it kind of a more elegant look and instead of having brightly colored plastic on the tree you could have nice, warm, wood tones. I would be more driven to purchase it in wood and think it would look phenomenal on the tree.

I can't say I have been a fan of the Keep Calm and Carry on posters, but that doesn't mean you can't get some other great things from the Keep Calm Gallery. They have a huge amount of great posters. But that's not all. They also have tea towels, mugs, and Christmas Cards.

I saw these cards a few week ago, and they were just too perfect. My love for wood block printing and that handmade look just takes over. Plus, these cards would be somewhat non-denominational. Yes, they do feature an evergreen, and it doesn't matter how many times we tells our clients this, that doesn't mean Christmas. So you can get that wintery vibe along with the simple message of "HI".  Pick some of them up today, get em early, and get them sent out before the holiday rush.

It's that time of year again. The Holidays? No, well yes, but that's not that point. Time for the Apartment Therapy Holiday Giveaways !

They have tons of great stuff to giveaway from each of their sites: AT, The Kitchen, Ohdeedoh, Unplgd, and Re-nest. Each giveaway starts on a specific day and is only up for a set amount of time. So get over there each day to check what is going on and enter to win.

When you are working on a project are you constantly looking for a few things to make your life easier and your designing faster? It could be anything from web safe areas in cross platform browsers in a PSD file, the actual elements to create different web mockups (all in PSD if you would like), document templates, or information on binding styles. If you are, and I am one of them, Designers Toolbox is for you.

I have known about this site for awhile and finally decided to let you in on my little secret. As I was browsing their site, looking for a few things to show as images, I got extremely mad at myself. A little while ago I was designing a CD cover for a friend. They are one of those things, that if I measure an actual one, somehow, the size still is not right. So I wanted a template. I looked ALL over, finally found one, had to change a bunch of crap, etc. I should have just went to my trusty Designers Toolbox. Because they have one, along with other common DVD booklet styles etc. So mad.

So the lesson learned here, is if you have a great resource, like this one, go to it first and use it. It'll save you a lot of time, effort, and frustration.

Each year the New Oxford American Dictionary makes a big announcement as the year comes to close, the new WOTY (Word of the Year). So, our 2009 WOTY is

unfriend

"unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook."


I find it pretty amazing that social network is so ingrained as a part of our lives now that not only can a term created in Facebook be added to the dictionary, but it can be their word of the year. Here is a bit they had to say on why they made their choice:

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”

So here's to you 2009 WOTY, good job at making your way to the top. Hopefully now we don't do something to make you mad and you unfriend us.

[via OUP Blog]

I came across this great keyboard from Chris Delorenzo today. Love the illustrations and then concept of using some updated images to teaching the ABC's (we can only learn A is for Apple so many times). Here is a bit of information from their website:

We used to learn our alphabets by reading those classroom banners that associated each letter with an animal or object. These days as kids become increasingly computer dependent at an early age I thought it was about time to adapt an old method to a new medium. 

From cultural icons to greek mythology, this keyboard sticker set will advance the alphabetical knowledge of any child, or adult.

So I do have a few problems with this though. I studied a lot of information on child development and reading for my senior thesis, and if this is intended to help kids and not just be fun stickers for your adult keyboard it seems like you would need the letters there as some reinforcement. This wouldn't be as bad with "F is for Fox" since kids know what foxes look like. But when you start running into "B is for Bowie" a kid is not going to know Bowie and may forget that that IS Bowie, and then not able to find the B key.

Also, I know I said I really like these illustrations, but they felt really familiar to me. After staring at it for a few minutes, I realized why. They are in the same style and color palette as the "Things I like" Poster from Richard Perez. Then as I looked closer I noticed V is for Vampire, and that IS Richard's drawing from his poster. I didn't see on the website that they collaborated on this, but I'll send them a message and see what's up.


I got a hold of Chris and some of his inspiration did come from Richard's work. His idea was to take different influences from designers to have it a bit of a multi generational compilation with the ladybug referencing Charlie Harper etc.

Anyone know what Q is? I can't figure that one out.

[via AT]

These Logos by Alan Peters recently caught my eye. It could be that they are really great logos, have cool little creatures in them, or maybe it's the ham. Most likely it's all three. Go check out the rest of his portfolio. Really top notch logo and illustration work.

Hey everyone, my new print "My Little Getaway" is now up for sale in my etsy store. Go check our the other photos over there and read a bit about what was in my mind when I made this print.

I really hope you like it, and maybe think about purchasing one, jazz up your walls with some art, or jazz up someone else's, the holiday season will be here in no time.

$12 over at etsy or print society

This has been around the block a few times, but I recently pulled up the link for a friend of mine.

What would you say to Adobe if you could tell them what you didn't like about their software?

Well you can, you can go to Dear Adobe and type in your gripe. As people view random ones, they can give agree and disagree with the problems you have. The best part is Adobe does actually look at this, and sometimes fixes the problems.

I know I have entered a few, and could probably spend all day putting new ones in.

I have been meaning to get this posted for awhile, but I have been way too lazy.

This great print of a Yeti might look a little familiar to you. It was sent to me from Gregory who made the great alphabet print from before. We'd been chatting back and forth about print making and a set of 3 of these showed up in my mail. One as a xylene transfer (like the alphabet poster) and 2 block prints. This was his first try at cutting lino and I think it came out really good.

Now I just gotta figure out where to put it. It looks good right there on my desk, but it wouldn't survive there for long.

Check out his etsy store as well, looks like he has been working on his lino more and has some cards up as well.

Thanks Gregory!

New way to Comment!

Hey everyone. A bit of slack-daiquiri today. Burnt out in general from upgrading my computer and my actual desk (pics of the new one I made at some point) and being mad at the cable company. There will be a real post tomorrow.

But, I did change a few things in the code on the blog. There is now a link to add comments at the end of each post.  Previously there was only the link next to the little text bubble at the top of each post. It looked sleek, but thought maybe a lot of people didn't see it, and maybe didn't know they could comment. So, let me know you're out there every once in awhile. It also says who wrote the post, this is there so that if I ever expand the blog to be collaborative, you know who said what. Little upgrades here and there.

Ok, so I don't know how this wasn't on my radar. Especially since I was just looking at lomo camera recently.

Behold, the Diana Mini! It uses 35mm film and can shoot in square of rectangle format. It shoots in a half frame format, so if you have a roll for 24, you get 48, roll of 36, you get 72. It also has the 2 prong flash adapter that Diana's use. ( link to the lomo, but it seems to not be working)

So now for the negative. It does not come with a flash (those are $60 extra). The camera itself costs $60, which is just as much as a full sized version. Plus, here's the real downer, it is not that good. Great review on Four Corners Dark and it made me really not want to pick one one. If I got one for free or super cheap, as eye candy, yes, but paying $60 for something that doesn't work right, no.

I got a pleasant e-mail update today in my inbox. The "Cats Let Nothing Darken Their Roar" 2010 Calendar is now available from Noa Bembibre.

I currently haver the 2009 version hanging to my right, and I am a big fan of it. Each month is features an unusual phrase with the month "hidden" in it. By hidden I mean highlighted in color, but the phrase contains it. So right now I have "I know Ovens Make Barbers" up.

The new one looks just as good, and since it is their 5th anniversary of the calendar there is a special edition size. I put a comparison shot up there, and the normal one is a good size, so the bigger one would be awesome.

Sadly, I have a real problem actually using calendars. The problem being I don't use them. I don't write things down in a planner or anything. My hand suffices for that. So a calendar for me has to be a piece of art as well. Which this one qualifies for sure. I have had the pentagram 365 calendar as well. Back to the point, I am sad I don't really use them. I barely use iCal. Although it would be really cool if you could skin it to look like this. I don't know if I can justify purchasing it again because of my usage problem. I am severly tempted to get one still though, because it is just beautiful in person.

Go get yours today. Spice up your desk/wall/office/cubicle/prison cell/car/ cardboard box. Or spice someone else's up and get it as a gift.

This is the print that I worked on over the weekend. It's my first block I have carved and the second time printing it (the first time didn't go so hot). But, this printing it went a lot better.

I ended up with a nice edition of 10 and soon I'll have some of them up in my store. They are printed on a white Rives BFK (320gsm if I remember correctly) and I did the torn, deckled edge on them.

I just need to figure out the title for them and sign and number them and they're be ready to go. I plan on printing this again later on some card and such.

Anyone interested in one? I can set it aside for you.

So I was reading a photography magazine today and thought about this image that I saw awhile back. So here is the question for you:

There is an image hidden within this image (watermark included), can you figure out what it is?

I'll post the answer below in white so that it doesn't spoil it. As well as the link that will explain it a bit more. If anyone can get it right, they might get a special prize.

Also, I worked on a print this weekend, photos coming soon.

Answer: The NYC skyline. It is hidden in the histogram for the image, open it in photoshop and see.

[via ironic sans ]