Lolly, Silver Peacock

06-19-2008 | 05:26 PM EST | 0 Comments

I know that the picture on the left doesn't really do this necklace justice, but trust me when I say it's pretty cool. The designer had a booth at the Renegade Craft Fair, and I really liked her stuff. Just like her website says, it really is "pretty, modern, and classic." I really liked the shape of Lolly, but I had a hard time deciding which color I liked best. I ended up showing the Silver Peacock option, but there's also Blue Sapphires, Green Tourmaline, and Light Blue Apatite. I have a thing for green, so I almost went with that one, but I thought that the Silver Peacock color scheme was a little fancier...which we all need now and then.

The necklace is designed by Freshie & Zero, which according to her website is the designer's nickname and her dog, Zero. Anyone who loves their dog enough to name their company after them is good enough for me :-) Lolly is about .75" wide and 1.5" tall, and it's "hand sculpted and hammered flat" with two rows of beads at the bottom. Since these are handmade, each one will be one-of-a-kind.

Ella Elephant

06-17-2008 | 02:57 PM EST | 0 Comments

This past weekend here in Brooklyn was a pretty exciting one—I'm always happy when I run across the occasional craft booth here in the city, but this weekend featured the Renegade Craft Fair. Now, some of you may have heard of the Renegade Craft Fair (there are a few of them throughout the country), but if you have haven't, it's a yearly event that's a great place to run across those hard-to-find hand crafted pieces. There's everything from t-shirts to jewelry to pillows to magnets to stuffed animals...pretty much anything you can think of. Needless to say, I found some cool stuff for apostrophe and you'll be hearing about it for awhile.

The first thing I saw at the fair was a collection of very cute stuffed animals designed by Rabbitsmoon. Although I like them all, Ella Elephant is probably my favorite. I love the simplicity of the design (no eyes or other markings) and the artist did a great job creating the perfect silhouette. While the elephant itself isn't a good choice if you're looking for something to play with (she's filled with fiberfill and has a necklace that's not good for little kids), she'd be perfect as a room decoration, a door stopper, or anything else that can be done sitting down.

Cupcake Surprise Wallpaper

06-16-2008 | 09:53 AM EST | 0 Comments

I had a little extra free time over the weekend, so I decided to make another desktop background for my deviantART page. I've developed a love of cupcakes in recent years, so I decided to get out my favorite cookbook and try to make an illustrated version of one. I'm not sure where the ant came from in Cupcake Surprise, but he seems excited about the cupcake, too, so I think that we ought to let him stick around.

If you want to visit my deviantART page, I'd love to see you there. The design is at a resolution of 1440 x 900, but if you'd like a different size, just contact me and I'd be happy to email it to you.

Birds and Trees Return Address Labels

06-12-2008 | 01:27 PM EST | 0 Comments

When I was getting my Father's Day card ready to mail out, I started riffling through my paper drawer for a return address label. I eventually decided to go with a free PETA one I got in the mail, but I wish that I had something that was more....me. I could design one myself, but then I'd have to figure out what size and type of label to use and design it according to their template, and trust me—that's not as easy as it sounds. I made my husband some address labels a few years ago as a stocking stuffer, and let's just say that it was a little frustrating.

I ran across a fun stationary store awhile ago and I thought that I'd check them out to see if there was anything of interest. There was—I found these very cute bird and tree return address labels. Designed by Decatur, Georgia-based Avie Designs, it turns out that there are a few designs to choose from. While the standard package is 64 labels, you can order up to 128 and if you just can't pick a favorite, you can even combine different designs so that you can get exactly what you'd like. And since I know that a lot of you are interested in being eco-friendly, their website says, "We understand that there is already plenty of paper in the world. So we strive to use as much recycled and post consumer paper as possible including our shipping supplies." Sounds like a good choice all around :-)

The fall

06-05-2008 | 10:37 AM EST | 0 Comments

I made a couple of fun discoveries the other day—first, I ran across an amazing artist on deviantART, and second, I found a really cool product that she's making from some of her art. The artist is Anne-Julie Aubry, and she's an expert at creating wonderfully sad, magical, and other-worldly paintings. And the product I'm excited about are some really cool laptop skins.

The skins are made by a company called Skinizi, and Anne-Julie currently has three designs with them: "The fall" (pictured above), "Mon jardin secret" (which features a girl in a red dress surrounded by giant flowers), and "Counting ant" (which has a girl in a yellow dress counting ants). The skins are available in a bunch of different laptop sizes (six for Macs and four for PCs), and they're made out of 3M ControlTac premium grade vinyl. They have an adhesive on the back, but Skinizi says that they're easily removed and won't leave any residue behind. And to top it off, the skins serve a purpose other than looking cool—they also protect your laptop from scratches.

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