christmas card roundup

one of my favorite things about the holiday season is sending christmas cards. i hate to talk on the phone, like phobia-level hate. so, thank god i like to write or there are people who would have totally given up on me. i love letterpress, hand-embelleshed, lovely calligraphy, the more gorgeous the better. and, of course, the written sentiment has to be just as meaningful. so this can be quite a project.

in recent years, the number of quality cards has definately been on the rise as (among other reasons) it's become easier for small printers to sell online and particularly on etsy. i find the designsponge letterpress guide indespensible in sifting through options and here are a few that i picked out from so many good ones...

favorite "bird" option 1 here from satsuma press



ok, name-of-blog! love birds! round robin press



and deer, especially with this funky watermark design, from vertallee letterpress



and, of the mixed media variety (letterpress and applique fabric), i am seeing variations on these cards from cartesian graphics everywhere. note to self, great new uses for scraps!

just window shopping

oh, it's time for super-fabulous holiday windows again. marc jacobs launched christmas 'round the corner in the bleeker street marc-ralph-marc strip mall on november 1 (yep, crummy, huh?). which i chose to ignore as best i could. and i do write that with a fervent love for marc j aside from this jump-the-season blunder.

to me, the queen of holiday windows is consistently, decidedly, bergdorf's. i can't imagine what their annual budget is, but each vignette trumps the one before for outlandish creativity and the most over-the-top styling imaginable. these pix are from last year's lot and i can't wait to get up to see more incarnations of the spirit of extravagant gifting!

happy sunday

haute chocolate

one of the grooviest places to snack in the west village has to be chocolate bar on hudson and jane. as a fellow vintage rock fan, i have to admire how owner alison nelson twists retro-rock graphics and makes them work, with, of all things, chocolate. just note -LOVE!- the cbgb's/ramones style logo. and her full-on commitment to orange and brown as a color combo. nice.

apparently there's an outpost at bendel's uptown as there are some great pictures of the interior on her site, but really, you couldn't pay me to go to midtown, especially not at this time of year. suffice to say, another good stocking stuffer. i'm just feeling so gifty lately, right?

love that rock 'n roll

how cool are these silkscreened posters from etsy's hatin' on spiders? i particularly love the joan jett, since my 13 year old nephew is currently obsessed with playing "i love rock and roll" on his guitar/interactive video gadget. his jaw drops when i tell him that this is music i used to listen to, like, when it came out (!). more to my personal aesthetic style...




the genius behind hatin' on spiders on etsy, also designs non-rock posters found on the site strawberryluna.com a fantastic gift for a child/aspiring designer.

happy sunday

i'm off with carol to enjoy some fall foilage and the last day of the japanese crysanthemum exhibit at the new york botanic gardens...

new alexander henry fabric

how can you not think "cowboy santa" is less than full-on-cool for the holidays? i write this in general, but really in particular to my sister who was not at all enthusiastic when i threw out this recasing idea for the hideously-covered pillows on her sofa. ok, so by the time i come up with a less season-specific option, it will be may. but i think this is a swell christmas decoration idea. and there's lots of yards of it, so i'd better get cracking. other new alexander henry that came with a recent order:


sarah thinks "baby angel" is wierd but i think cute cute. also, less seasonal but very nice for linens, "estee":


and, after buying enough of this one for curtains, i ended up making laundry bags (the best lookin' laundry bags i've seen) out of "pink petals":


with all my giddy enthusiasm, you may not be suprised to learn i am gearing up for a holiday sample sale. details soon.

more books i want

i had to run my off-kilter sewing machine over to hussein at gizmo on 1st avenue this morning for bad behavior. as i glumly walked home i did pop into william wayne on university -- you know, just to see what's in store. this book is too too lovely and i do not have any pics of the inside (er, no way i am paying ww's asking price of $60 when amazon is selling it for $37). but, suffice to say, it's a dress lover's must have. all the great frocks from real life and editorial life. they were also displaying:

for the fashionable scot (or scotophile) in your life. lots of vivienne westwood and ralph lauren as you would guess, and apparently, lots of linda evangelista.

gorgeous french life

oh, i just received this book which was released stateside last week. lovely, lovely pictures and text about the restoration of a 17th century home and property in st. remy de provence. an easy, early holiday purchase for the francophile on your list.

well hung

ok, so the needlepoint pillow posting was a bit of a snooze. what did i expect? onward.

i am having trouble committing to hanging artwork, mirrors etc in my not-really-new apartment, now 2 years in. i think it has to do with overall commitment issues (oh, take it to your shrink) or maybe just my libra-ness more than being indecisive about aesthetic tastes. this is not new; in my last apartment, my pair of beautiful italian panels just sat on the floor for too long a time to admit. one day i went for a run and returned to see that my pal laura had just hung 'em on up. that's kinda how i roll.

my neighbor kevin and his mother-in-law, carol, have a mutual love and gift of hanging. so much that they considered having a little side company "well hung". i mean, for an in-law like her we would all get married! ok, so trolling around online, i'm getting inspired...

this gorgeous pic above was found on abeautifulliving, featuring stylist liza giles. love her design guild-infused look:





and the following comes from Desire to Inspire:




and the stacked on the floor look can be just fine...

needlepoint chic

walking by jonathan adler on greenwich street i couldn't help but notice his retro-cute needlepoint pillows in the window display. i am a pretty crafty girl and have certainly tried needlepoint and find it so so BORING. i don't know what sets it apart in my mind from knitting, crochet, embroidery. maybe i need to try again, with all my free time. 'cause these pillows are kinda hip. in the way of the even more mainstream, west elm is on the bandwagon and i have to say, their contributions to the world of needlepoint pillows aren't bad either, for a lot less $$.



i have been working on backing a lovely vintage hermes scarf with burgundy velvet pretty much all day. the velvet buckles, the silk just slips along, this one may need to be handstitched. argh. but there is something to be said for one-of-a-kind. thank god.

sunday

after some sewing, i'm off to cheer marathon running friends in town from london. happy sunday.