Bratski

Some nights you just need to break free. Be a brat and a little bit naughty. The pot stirring friend who sets the wheels in motion and watches them turn. And lets it all be funny and smart.

Created by Sapling Press and dearblankpleaseblank.com these funny cards are an excellent random present for someone with a great sense of humor.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/shopsaplingpress

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The new year has got me thinking far beyond the next twelves months and way out into the ether that is the future. It brings me full circle to "no man is an island" (thank you Clueless) and makes me feel like its time to focus on what's next rather than the right now which I've dedicated my time to.

Multicolour hues, on heavy white board and black frame. Pinned high, pride of place, linking together the memories and the hopes and the dreams of a family rather than the fences that have lined a life. Lori Danelle is a mother and a wife. I feel like these paper prints are a present from the heart of good fortune.

iWrite

Christmas, gone by a few days, has also taken with it the steady stream of snail mail paper trail. Back to the days of online banter which makes me mourn for some handwritten kindness... and reminds me, I really need to get my letterhead sorted.

Elvis - one word says it all
Frank Zappa - the American creative allrounder

Pixel Flix - Australian animators and tv people

Atmosfär Produktion - tv kids from Sweden abroadSpike Milligan - UK funnyman and Monty Python's Flying Circus influencer
Star Wars - no explanation needed
JK Rowling - a little too involved in the Harry fantasy

Nom Nom

There is nothing more satisfying than flicking the elastic band close-all, smoothing out the sewn spine, and tucking back the ribbon bookmark, of a brand new Moleskine. I own more than a few and currently have 4 floating around the inside of my handbag, all used for a myriad of different things. The cream colour paper, and rounded corners, a dream to attack with notes, memos, budget workings, boys details combined with pictures ripped from magazines shoved in alternate pages.

Moleskine has jumped on the Pac-Man bandwagon, releasing a five-piece collection including pocket and large hard cover notebooks and a colorful set of 4 large Volant soft cover notebooks in celebrative packaging. Decorated with pixilated imagery including the main-man Pac-Man, fruit imagery and classical video game lines such as "Game Over", "Insert Coin", and "High Score.the books come in four limited colours (yellow, blue, fuchsia and red, and all are embossed with a silver Pac-Man icon.

Buy them now from moleskineasia.com

The video to support the launch reminds me more than a bit of my favourite child time clip - the eggbeater ep of the Teeny Little Super Guy from Sesame Street!

Moleskine Pac-Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBBSOR3tWQ&feature=player_embedded

Teeny Little Super Guy (Eggbeater) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq7PrsITTnc

Take a Seat

If you're smart you'll do it cocktail. If you're more traditional give your guests a personal-touch-heads-up on where and next to whom they will be spending your occasion with. Timeless Paper Shop do the most ridiculously gorgeous place cards and while they are mostly very pretty girly themed, there are some beach side and winter ideas too. And if you're a bride on a budget, they're only $1 a card... (though you may need to put aside some shipping budget).

Tis the season

... to be wedded. It's a wedding frenzy in my world at the moment. My beautiful friends are tying the knot so so soon, another amazing couple got engaged over the weekend, 2 awesome chickas I work with are in engagement bliss, and my little sister is in planning mode for her nuptials in February. I've been tasked with looking after tables at said wedding - which suits me just fine - and on my travels I have stumbled upon stunning ideas that might be a little hit of inspiration for those who are also thinking white.

Wedding invites are such a big deal. The stationary you provide is often the first glimpse at the tone of the day for many guests, and has such a big play on getting excitement mounting for the day. Sending the invitations can be such a pain in the ass especially if you have a lot to fit in one envelope. And to top it off, Australia post does do personalised stamps... IF you are happy to have a foul stock image adjoined to the one you choose for yourself.

Trump them by sending your invites with VerdeStudio's "unUsed" Vintage post stamps. If you live anywhere other than the US you may also need to attach a country stamp, but one up the post and use airmail instead. Its cheaper and the stamps are similar in vintage feel to Verde's. Cute are the country versions, especially if you met, found love, found a diamond, or perhaps are planning a vaca post wedding in a particular country.

Paper Fetish

I love paper and think its an amazing (and under utilised!) medium. I know that when the blog formally known as MoHo was alive and kicking, Mo and I would often paste up awesome paper beautiful inspiration, and you'd probably be familiar with my love of the beautiful work done by Yulia Brodskaya, which for those based in Aussie land, was recently used for the Myer Christmas campaign. I also think that the two videos below are pretty freakin' cool.

For those unfamiliar, Parkour is the crazy "sport" of adapting your physical movement to the surrounding environment to overcome any obstacle. The idea is that you use only your body and the elements around you to get from one place to another. Sure you've seen those crazy cats running, jumping and climbing walls, buildings, railings etc like spider monkeys. The below vid uses this idea but in a series of drawings that have then been filmed and sped up.

You can also actually purchase ABC3D and would recommend it if you're looking for something very cool and very different for a babies gift. It's something they'll hold onto for the rest of their lives.

Yulia Brodskaya

Paper Parkour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6T4psQkiH0&NR=1


ABC 3D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZr0wiG1Hg

Get a start

Holy! Less than a month til Christmas. If you’re like me, you’ll have your heart set with good intentions to plan and shop early, and somehow you’ll vague out a bit and leave it all til the last minute. Problem is, this year, Christmas Day falls on a Friday so most of us will be working for the man all the way up until the Holidays strike.

Kill two birds with one stone this year by giving gorgeous cards to colleagues, ex boyfriends mums and semi-friends from Rifle Paper Co. Beautifully illustrated by Anna Bond, from sunny Florida US, these amazing paper goods work like presents in their own right. Pretty enough to be on display all year round, not just during the holiday season.

All stappled up.

OOOMS thinks, and I definitely concur, that a bland corporate environment can suck you dry of all creative notions and a boost in excitement (whether it be finding the secret stash of client-only chocolate biscuits, or receiving personal calls on your direct line/not your mobile) is always encouraged.

Welcome the 14Carat gold plated staples that might just turn up in unexpected places. For the sake of a little bit of buck-the-rules-feels-good, snap some of these up and punch away. Forget cufflinks, or keeping a mini sewing kit at work to stitch that button back on, the derelict cool of these little unassumed pieces will definitely make you feel like you’re stickin’ it to the man.

Random loving! ha!

So weird but clever and crafty. And seeing as though we're both acquiring, or have, IPhones this is definitely up our new alley. Wouldn't loose one of these pup's in the sea of yellow posties! ($18 / 3 pack).