Weddy or Not!

Indie Wed has arrived, and what's more is a nice shout out from the folks at Daily Candy, who listed Indie Wed in this week's edition of the weekend guide. See the guide here, and come visit us (and just a few of the fab vendors below), this Saturday from 11am-5pm at Indie Wed. The first 50 visitors to our booth will recieve a swag bag chock full of recycled paper goodness!

Not Your Usual Swap Meet

Just found out about an exciting and truly green event coming up this spring. Swap O-Rama-Rama is a Chicago area meet-up where you can bring in all those abandoned clothes from the back of your closet, swap them for something new and then get creative! If that wasn't enough, you get access to everything from sewing machines to silk screens, and all the supplies and coaching you’ll need to make an amazing garment, some new accessories, a piece of artwork or anything you can dream up.

The next meet-up is scheduled for March 19-21, with a volunteer meeting on February 7th. To find out more visit Swap-O-Rama-Rama's website. Hope to see you there!

Wedding Week

It must be our upcoming Indie Wed event this weekend, because we have got weddings on the brain. Cake, paper goods, dress, and oh the bouquet. Came across this beauty by Joy Thigpen via Once Wed. Truly fresh and sweet, perfect for a spring wedding.


Love the fact that Joy picked these lovelies from her very own garden, she explains; "The big peach flowers are some kind of irises, the berries are unripe blueberries, the magenta things are honeysuckle, and the greenery is fig leaves, azalea, loropetalum, new oak leaves, and crepe myrtle suckers. I ripped up some leftover, peach fabric and tied it around the stems to finish the look."

Images via OnceWed by Joy Thigpen Environments

Sugar Fix

Cake, cake and more cake. Wedding season is upon us paper people and naturally, our brains turn instantly to the wedding cake. Aside from the invitation, paper goods and the dancing (okay, we love weddings) - the cake is hands down, our favorite part of any nuptial occasion, large or small. It could also be due, in part, to the fact that one of our bestselling wedding-ish colors is a metallic aptly named, Sugar Maple. Or, that one of our favorite confection color combos is Magnolia with Golden Oak. Regardless, that brings us to cake.

What is just so intolerably cool is that a cake is tradition. Whether the occasion is extravagant, simple, well attended or intimate - the cake is ubiquitous (unless it's cupcakes, more on that soon).


Eye candy via Martha Stewart Weddings, Cake Girls, Once Wed, and Amy Atlas Events

What Are You Wearing?

An incredible show in Paris - part of the Momentum exhibits that take place in the nave of the Grand Palais. Artist Christian Boltanski has created a massive installation that speaks to the white hot topic of clothing.

Are we really what we wear? How does it define us? How disposable is that image and how disposable is the clothing itself? Tres interesting on so many levels...

Of note: The artist has demanded (and refused to do the installation unless) all clothing was recycled at the end of the show.

Read more about the show and here, lots more pix here and an interview with the artist during the installation, here...

Images via monumenta.com and stylebubble.co.uk

Freshly Squeezed

We'll be the first to admit that we have had type on the brain lately. So it's only natural that these new 'Squeeze' juice glasses caught our eye. The sneaky letter turned fruit design is truly sweet!

Crate and Barrel Squeeze juice glasses ($2.95/per glass) available now.

Haiti

Wanted to share an important message that we received via email from eco evangelist Al Gore and Re-power America. Needless to say this sobering catastrophe pulls at our heartstrings and purse strings.

If you haven't already done so, and are in a position to give, consider visiting one of the donation sites below:

Oxfam Haiti Earthquake Relief Donations

Grassroots International

United Nations Fund



Cooper Black Italic?!

Thanks to the folks at Pentagram for a quiz helping us to 'drink from the fountain of knowledge' by answering four simple (but deep) questions to find out what type we are and then getting a full history lesson on that font connection to your personality. Click here for the short quiz. Note the password is: character.

Inspired by...Retro Records

Great recycled inspiration comes to us today in the way of 45 rpm record jackets. Illustrator Kavel Rafferty's collection of factory record sleeves has so many great images- not only for bold and retro graphics but for type and color as well. Check out the rest of the collection at her blog Record Envelope...

Indie Wed

We've been pretty excited about Indie Wed since it was announced last year - so we're even more excited that it's just a few weeks away! We are busy putting the finishing touches on our display and can't wait to see all of you there. Check out the list of great creative vendors, and grab some tickets today!

Happy Home

As they say, most of any good thing begins at home - so now's the time to check one resolution off your list by calculating your home's carbon impact. Our friends at the Sierra Club have developed a Green Home Online Calculator that only takes a few minutes to complete - and does a lifetime's worth of good. Start the year off on the good foot. Happy calculating!

Image by frangine via flickr

More about fonts

Ever get incredibly frustrated with the way fonts look on your website?? Or don't look. Why can't they look exactly how you'd like- or even be the font you'd like at all? It's complicated- but help is on the way.

Typekit is a new subscription service that enables you to license fonts for use on the web. Service subscriptions which range from $24.99 per year to $249.99 per year- seem relatively easy to use. Moreover, they are stepping up the level of virtual design ten fold- here's what they say about their product:

"Every major browser now supports the ability to link to a font. That means you can write a bit of CSS, include a URL to a font file, and have your page display with the typography you expect. For designers and developers, this is a significant step forward. No longer will you need to trap your content in images or Flash just to express yourself visually. Pages will be more usable, accessible, and indexable. This is a massive upgrade for the web.

But there’s a problem. While it’s technically quite easy to link to fonts, it’s legally more nuanced. Almost all fonts are protected by copyright — even those available for free — and very few of them allow for linking via CSS or redistribution on the web. This is understandable; font files represent countless hours of finely detailed labor. Appropriately, type designers are concerned that they’ll lose control of all that hard work.

That’s where Typekit comes in. We’ve been working with foundries to develop a consistent web-only font linking license. We’ve built a technology platform that lets us host both free and commercial fonts in a way that is incredibly fast, smoothes out differences in how browsers handle type, and offers the level of protection that type designers need without resorting to annoying and ineffective DRM.

As a Typekit user, you’ll have access to our library of high-quality fonts. Just add a line of JavaScript to your markup, tell us what fonts you want to use, and then craft your pages the way you always have. Except now you’ll be able to use real fonts. This really is going to change web design."

Check out the fonts here and plans here- definitely something to consider for New Year website updates...

Between the Folds

Came across this mesmerizing documentary, Between the Folds, on the art, science and mathematics of paper art (don't call it origami!). We were able to catch it recently on PBS, so check your local listings for this must see flick for paper people.

Image via Green Fuse Films

Viva Veer

Had a great time playing around on Veer this past weekend. Didn't know that they offer illustration and photography as well as their amazing selection of type. What a great resource!!!

In addition to purchasing fonts there is an extensive illustration library with limited licensing for non- commercial use. You can use them for brochures, and promos - just not for product to sell. Check out some of the illustrations here, photography here, and of course, fonts- those ever fabulous fonts!

Thanks Veer- to all of your amazingly talented artists and designers for their inspirations!! Be sure to watch the slide show on the front page 2009 Staff Picks- VERY fun!


All images from Veer.com

Back to Work

Welcome back everybody- time to get to work! Hope your New Year blossoms with creativity and an abundance of green inspired ideas!!

Image by Nick Dewar from veer.com

Hello Goodbye

Let's bid a fond farewell to the decade and welcome Twenty Ten with a purr... Cheers!!