Matchbox Packaging Treats

Maybe it's my attraction to diminutive things and maybe it's the economy, or what my grandmother referred to as living through the Depression, but matchboxes offer so many possibilities. Sure, they are handy for lighting candles or starting a stubborn pilot. They are also cute little containers just waiting to be upcycled and restarted.

Here are a few examples to inspire your own little matchbox world.



Martha shows how to create a mini advent calendar from 24 matchboxes decorated on both ends. As each numbered box is removed and reinserted backwards, a holiday tree is revealed.

A Tiny Traveling Doll's House is thoughtfully refurbished inside and out at Coloured Buttons.

Top: B is for Baby, a lovely book of gifts to make for new ones, shares this sweet announcement idea in a matchbox via Craft Stylish.

Close Before Striking

Great re-design ideas may come in small matchbook size packages. Here are a few to admire, have and hold.

Make a wish upon a birthday candle or set-up an impromptu candlelight celebration with 5 minute candles from here via here.

Make your own teeny matchbook notepads with the tutorial here from Design Sponge.



Make your own party favors with the mint matchbook tutorial here from The Artful Crafter.

Next up, we'll share some great re-design ideas we've spied on matchboxes.

October Wrap Up

October has flown by at this address. That may be partly due to a wave of illness some call the H1N1. Here the symptoms were pesky, but mild, compared to what we've heard from others. Fortunately, it has passed and maybe the exposure will keep us out of harm's way for the rest of flu season.

This week there has been some scrambling to track down hand-sized pumpkins and organize a holiday craft for 30 kids. After visiting the area grocery stores and coming up short, I was saved by a sympathetic young farmer. She completely understood my dilemma and gathered together a box of Jack-Be-Little pumpkins, stems intact, for me to pick up even though her farm stand (in a wonderful old barn) was closed that day due to inclement weather.

My hands are still speckled with splotches of stubborn black paint and there are spots of black paint on the basement floor that didn't use to be there. But, my young crafters will never know the excitement leading up to their party. They will be transforming the now black pumpkins into spiders, complete with googly eyes and pipe cleaner legs. Maybe a little glitter for extra fun.

Before the month wraps with a weekend of Halloween haunting, I wanted to include a reminder that it also marks the end of Breast Cancer Awareness month. While it's been refreshing to see the NFL players wearing pink this October, I hope they'll continue to show their support through the end of their season. It's not like anyone is going to stop thinking about this scary disease and the women we know whose lives have been affected. We'll continue to post pink.

Packaging - Best in Show

Fall allergy and flu season sent me running out last month to stock up on tissues. I was looking for something a little more attractive than the shoe box size container covered in sad looking floral or wave motifs. A few new designs and graphics stood out on the shelves, including the surprisingly attractive and fresh triangular prism shapes in fruits and cheery colors. I was impressed.

Apparently, judges in the world of packaging design were too. I was tickled to see the slice of summer tissue boxes from Kimberly-Clark, won Best in the Show for this year's international packaging design contest from Pentawards. Click here to see all the winners, including the cool Coke cans of summer featured here.

Style in Your Seat Pocket

Starting a little holiday flying across the ocean has just gotten more stylish. The free amenity bag from Virgin Atlantic has brought an old standby into the realm of cool design. When I was a child and before I had ever flown overseas, my uncle would bring me lovely treasures from his adventures in Asia and Europe. Among the carefully selected souvenirs I was equally enthralled with the fabric or vinyl airline bags he offered still packed tightly with diminutive containers of toiletries nestled among the footies and eye covers.

In Virgin Atlantic's take on this transatlantic tote, the cozy socks and eye shade are helpful when you try to get a head start on your arrival time zone or just want to dress up like a red footed mummy. And the translucent red toothbrush with matching cap looks like a design winner. But it's the plastic zipper pouch with drawings of everyday things that you'll want to reuse throughout your itinerary. Maybe to keep your travel diary, or a little snack safe and dry or keep your cellphone moisture free on the sandy beaches in the south of France or around the streets of London?

As flyer bags go, the VA contents are not that different from what airlines have offered international guests for decades. But in this world of diminishing amenities, it's refreshing to find something useful in such a good-looking and simple reusable design.

Italic Handwriting

The back to school season is as good a time of the year as any to re-evaluate your handwriting. A recent op-ed in the New York Times challenged writers to stop mumbling on the page and drop the loopy cursive letters of the Palmer method or Zaner-Bloser style we were taught at small school desks with chunky pencils.

The new preferred style is Italic, in which letters do not always have to be joined. It's a matter of comfort and personal choice. The success of handwriting is its legibility. Oh, and closing the gaps on the tops of your letters, that's the part we read.

Click here for the NYT piece and a chance to try Italic.

For extra credit, take a free Italic handwriting lesson online here from studioarts.net.

Make Your Own Silhouettes

The art of cutting paper into outlines of shapes and figures is a traditional practice in portraiture. In the 18th century, it was a proper amusement for both men and women to recreate a person's likeness by tracing or freehand, then cutting it out from a thin black paper. Sometimes an entire scene of figures would be trimmed out and mounted on paper with a background drawn to create an interior or landscape around them.

Today you can use your likeness as more than a traditional decoration and as something practical, too. Here are some suggestions from a few of my favorite blogs to fit a silhouette into your home collection.

A personalized bulletin board in the shape of a silhouette would be a striking addition to a front entrance hall or a spot above your desk. Click here for the instructions from Country Living.



Homemade cards are a greatly appreciated gesture and such fun to receive. Embellish them with a silhouette cut from a charming patterned paper for a handsome looking card. Click here for instructions from a new book via Design Sponge.



Portraits of family or friends look terrific in profile and resting on the sofa. This is a clever idea for a decorative pillow that's easy to make. Click here for the instructions from Mrs. Blandings, a blog I recommend visiting, anyway.

Domestic Design: Significant Parts

Victor Hugo's Banister from Maison de Victor Hugo6, Place des Vosges, 4th Arrondissement, Paris


Sir John Soane's House, Pitshanger Manor, Walpole Park, Mattlock Lane, London

A shrine is a place preserved for history. A shrine may be where someone important and worth remembering once lived. A shrine is usually preserved to remember a place in time - a long time ago.

I recently came across a book of beautiful photography of everyday objects. The handsome and utilitarian objects are things like architectural details, teapots, clocks, and writing sets. The objects were selected because they were touched by great men.

These objects were touched by great women, too.


Photos from Dr. Johnson's Doorknob and Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses by Liz Workman, published by Rizzoli, 2007.

Initially Marked

Initially, I was crazy for monograms on objects like pillowcases, men's shirt cuffs and canvas tote bags. Now the sky is the limit as we can have our personal marking on almost anything imaginable. But, how fun and simple to have your initial on your coffee mug. The mugs would also make nice gifts for family and friends.




Lettered mugs: top, from Fishs Eddie, center, from Rosanna, bottom, from Heal's.

Mid-Century Kitchens

Vintage advertisements featuring interiors are so delightful. This stylish, fantasy kitchen featured bright white cabinetry trimmed in saucy red, boldly trellised wallpaper and open cabinetry. You can imagine what the dreamy adjacent rooms could have looked like.



An advertisement from a gas company. Don't miss the backyard view through the low windows.



An advertisement for appliances. The second and third images appear courtesy of See Saw. There are more vintage kitchens ads over there.

Today's Top 3 Favorites

1) For some serious second-hand book shopping, start saving for a trip to Hay-on-Wye, Wales. This magnificent photo is from here.



2) Wouldn't it be fun to find an envelope in tangled script in your mailbox this afternoon? The calligraphy of Anna Beckman is more than an art. See more here.



3) This garden path is so beautiful, it's a destination in itself. The pods of grass invite us to hop from one onto the next over a sea of stones. Path inspirations from here.

I hope you enjoy these, too.

Writing Well, Part II

When you find an old and well-used leather bound book, you know there are pages to explore and a proper education on something to be gained. In my treasure book of social and business etiquette from 1882 there is much discussion of the proper position of the writer. It is "a matter of the greatest importance" and "exercises a powerful influence upon his general health." Further into this subject, the reader is admonished that no one should be satisfied with "a bad handwriting" when it is in his power to improve it.

Any one can procure a copy-book, and can spare an hour, or half an hour, a day for this effort at improvement. Remember that a good hand is not acquired in a week or a month; it takes long and diligent practice to produce this result.

The advantages of writing well are numerous, and will readily suggest themselves. In the first place, it is always a pleasure to prepare a plainly and neatly written letter or paper. The writer is then never afraid or ashamed for his friends to see his writing.

A good hand is also an invaluable aid to a young man seeking employment. A merchant in employing clerks and salesmen will always give the preference to the best penman. A young man applying by letter for a situation can scarcely offer a better reference than the appearance of his letter.

More late 19th century tips to follow soon.

Make Your Own Embroidered Tote

There is no reason not to have a beautiful tote bag to carry your groceries or library books. Here are the instructions to embellish an ordinary looking store bag with a little color and style. Thanks to favorite crafter, Perri Lewis for another fabulous idea to brighten the day.

Click over for more help deciphering the necessary needlework and links for a refresher with your chain stitch(1), French knots (2), fern stitch (3), or lazy daisy (6). I especially like the addition of the various buttons.

Dover Castle Redone

King Henry II spent a fortune in the 1180s creating this castle above the white cliffs of Dover. Now English Heritage has completed a restoration of medieval interiors to help modern visitors envision life in this colorful royal showplace. Click here for more details.

Very Old Packaging

Revisiting: Old containers featuring beautiful and noteworthy designs

The effective branding of these early 20th century household products is evident in the unique logos, graphics and information on their packaging. How fortunate they've been saved and preserved, some with evidence of their original products, others as re-purposed.

Faultless Starch was a breakthrough product from its introduction in the 1890s for its simplicity of use and no need for lengthy boiling. It claimed to give a finished look to embroidery and lace, and was commonly used as baby and bath powder. Between 1895 and the 1920s the Kansas City company produced 36 illustrated booklets and attached them to the boxes. They included familiar stories for children with the added twist of always mentioning the product. In Little Red Riding Hood, for example, grandmother's starched apron is so pretty to the wolf that he stays for tea. The books also included riddles, games, helpful hints and useful facts.

Kingsford Silver Gloss Starch was started in 1848 in Oswego by Thomas Kingsford, a chemist. He developed it from corn and later improved and marketed it for culinary use as well. A tiny cookbook distributed by the company in 1876 boasted, “The experiment which first gave to the world this Laundry Starch made from Indian Corn, and the skill which perfected it, have been productive of still more notable success in furnishing this new article of food, which is adapted alike to the taste of the epicure and the wants of the invalid."

Not much to share on the Louse Killer to keep your poultry safe from lice. But it's a great looking design.

Writing Well

In a very old and shabby looking leather bound book as large as a 19th century family bible, I happened upon several curiosities I have to share with you, dear readers. Of course, I may need a gentle reminder to pen a note rather than send an email to someone special. But it's hard to resist, not to mention avoid, the subject of the article above when it appears in its large calligraphic letters and be-ribboned border followed by two subheads on points I should probably revisit before filling my fountain pen. My continuing education on social etiquette aside, I admit it wasn't just the subject matter that attracted me but the use of more than four type styles in as many lines of headings.

I'll continue to post more delicious excerpts from this wondrous book as I gently turn the pages back in time and manners.

Reclaiming Building Materials

I have a dream that someday I'll have a little dream hut in my garden. My dream hut will be built with reclaimed materials and salvaged supplies. The windows and doors, stylishly mismatched, will bring their own history and character to the eclectic little hideaway.

Beautiful dream house ideas and inspirations may be found in Thrifty Chic by Liz Bauwens and Alexandra Campbell with photography, as seen above and below, by Simon Brown.

Red, White and Blue

Have a safe and relaxing 4th of July holiday weekend.

Click here to make your own star medallions and for more holiday decorating ideas from Martha.

Make Your Own Pearl Necklace

Abby Larson at Style Me Pretty has featured a beautiful and talented bride wearing this fabulous multi-strand pearl necklace. The bride, Stephanie, made it herself with beads and claspy parts she got at Michael's. Click here to get all the info and be inspired to create your own.

Before and After - Garden Bench

How long can pleasing decay pass as a theme in my seating options? I have tried to be comfortable with the whole shabby chic approach to neglected metal garden furniture. But, it's not for everyone. Some friends look uncomfortable sitting back against a rusting, flaking settee in a strapless summer dress on a humid afternoon.

This year my list of warm weather projects was topped with a plan to refurbish the garden furniture and spiff it up a little. I am hesitantly sharing my first attempts to do just this.

Garden Surprises

This week my oak leaf hydrangeas have started to bloom. The showy white flowers are fragrant and huge. As pretty as they are in early summer, the color and beauty continue to be interesting through all four seasons. In late summer and early fall, the blooms will turn a pinkish brown. They look as dreamy as a sepia tone photograph. When the weather turns cold, they lose their leaves and the bark starts to exfoliate in a pleasing texture. In early spring, they begin to leaf out and grow taller with bigger leaves at the top, creating a little canopy of shade.

This week also brought out a hungry baby bunny. The little ball of fur was undeterred in its pursuit of grass to nibble on. Thankfully, it hadn't found the hostas yet!


One recent summer, a roaming band of wild bunnies went wild in the hosta beds. They ate everything they could reach and successfully consumed every single hosta. A gardening friend suggested I sprinkle red pepper flakes to deter the cottontails the next time. The following summer, a sly red fox chased the bunnies away. So far, we haven't seen too many surprise garden visitors.

A Card for Dad

This occasion to recognize Dad calls for a hand made card, or at least a card that looks hand made. These are a few examples of appealing themes that don't feature convertible historic cars, backyard grills, a mug of beer or a trophy for the number 1 Dad.

I have a weakness for cards with doodled or fabric ties, a frequent gift for my Dad. The vintage floral card seemed an unusual find addressed to Dear Father. And although the tea bag card bears a weak pun, it's refreshing token for a Dad who enjoys a spot of tea.

Happy Father's Day!

Make Your Own Jewelry from Miniatures

Doll house miniatures don't have to sit on the tiny mahogany table in the tiny formal parlor waiting for someone to play. It's time to bring the dainty diminutives out in the big world. Sally Cameron Griffiths shares her tips on converting her doll house finds into rings, earrings and necklaces with a little glue, jewelry parts and a pair of pliers. Here are the instructions from the Guardian to create your own recycled and wearable tea set.

Summer Floors for Frugalistas

Summer is a time to lighten up your home and relax your furnishings a bit to reflect your more casual approach to living and entertaining, in- and out-of-doors. Offer your floors a little breather, too. Roll up your wool carpets and area rugs and let your pretty floors be exposed for an airier feel and a fresh look.

If your floors are calling for a little more interest, try a taped design. Less expensive than paint and less permanent, you can add a border design to a virtual rug in vinyl floor tape or painter's masking tape.

For a light and colorful look to decorate your stairs, try your steady hand to paint stripes or a pattern like a stair runner. Marking out your pattern with tape will keep your lines neat and even. Thrifty Chic offers a striped DIY staircase project, top. This Old House Journal offers a bolder diamond design. Interior Transformations by Ann Grafton offers a subtle solid color painted runner. Or take inspiration from Jim Lambie and his spectacular taped floor installations.

Make Your Own Vintage Postcard Wallet

Country Living teaches us how to sew a simple wallet or card case from an old postcard. Vintage postcards with noteworthy photographic images or graphics work nicely, but it might be fun to use the back of a postcard. An old stamp, a curious cancellation, a beautifully penned address and handwritten message may be a more visually interesting choice. Click here for the supply list and instructions. Go green with sewing crafts!

ReStyle Vinyl Tablecloths

Warmer weather brings us inspiring opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. Here are a few ideas to help spruce up garden furniture for entertaining, organize a picnic outing or take-off for a day at the beach. Go green and crafty - recycle an old vinyl tablecloth to create a new summer accessory for your earth-friendly style.

Martha suggests creating outdoor pillows, above, from easy to clean vinyl tablecloths. You can also apply a waterproof sealer to the seams for better weather resistance.

Design Sponge recommends making a double sided picnic blanket with the vinyl for the ground side and flannel on the reverse. Add a ribbon to tie it all up.

Crafty Daisies teaches us how to sew up a great sized beach bag with her choice of vinyl tablecloth fabric.

Enjoy!

Hold That Thought

Book markers can be made of almost anything. Of course, they work best if they are flat and don't really alter the book in any way. They can be as simple as a recycled scrap of paper or as formal as a four-color printed reproduction of a beautiful design. I recently found this vintage style, cross-stitched and embroidered book marker. It made me smile and think of my mother.

The sweet message reads "When this you see, remember me." My mother loves to read and she's a fast reader, too. But for the thousands of books she's read, I have never seen her use a conventional book marker. When the time comes to mark her page, she will use whatever she finds within reach, a corner torn from a newspaper or magazine or an unused paper napkin is her usual choice.

When I saw this book marker, I had a eureka moment and had to buy it for her. Maybe my mother needs a special book marker she can keep nearby and call her own. As for the hand stitched message, the words should not refer to remembering me, the giver. They should refer to the book marker itself. Using the pretty little book marker, thoughtfully handmade for a glorious reader, is in fact what I hope she'll remember.

Recycling Ties

Isn't this fabulous? The typeface, designed by Ed Nacional, a student at Parsons in New York, is called Tiepography. His impressive collection of ties comes from his Dad's hand-me-downs, flea markets, thrift shops and a few special purchases. Going green with great design ideas!

Brain Helper

The world's factual knowledge is now computable and accessible to you. You may not have been staying up nights worrying about comparing historical weather patterns or conjuring graphs to improve your household energy usage, but this is very cool. Different from a search engine, the computational knowledge engine draws from a huge collection of original data sources, not just other web sites. It also performs numerical calculations.

So, go ahead and try the newly launched Wolfram Alpha. Enter the names of two cities to get a comparison of the populations, the distance in miles between them and the time it takes to fly from one to the other. Enter your choice of a food, for the nutrition facts, calories, fat content and more. Did you know a poached egg only has 50 calories? Try something challenging.

The introduction by its creator, mathematician, scientist and software entrepreneur Stephen Wolfram is fun and helpful as a launching point.

Make Your Own Vintage Map Bracelet

Craft Stylish teaches us how to create a vintage map bangle bracelet. Scavenge around for a old road map from your glove compartment or another recyclable paper source. Click here for the supply list and easy instructions. It's fun and green!

Vintage Cards for Mother's Day

Julia Ward Howe, poet, social activist and author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" proposed a Mother's Day in her 1870 proclamation, in reaction to the devastation of the Civil War, encouraging women to come together to oppose war and promote peace. She also believed in the equality of women.

Anna Reeves Jarvis, teacher, local activist, worked for better sanitation for both sides of the opposition during the Civil War. After she died, her daughter Anna Jarvis continued with her mother's work and tried to create a day to honor all mothers, living and dead. In 1907, she gave out white carnations to all the mothers at St Andrew's Church in Grafton, WV. On May 10, 1908, St. Andrews offered a Sunday service honoring mothers. In 1914 Mother's Day was created in the United States.

Happy Mother's Day!

Symbols of Summer from Coke

The Coca-Cola Company is releasing five new limited edition designs on Coke cans this summer. The minimalist graphics feature a striped beach ball, aviator sunglasses, surf boards, a charcoal grill and stars and stripes. Coming soon!

My New Old Sewing Machine

Do you have something in your home you hold onto that takes up precious space and may be infrequently used, but when you need it, you are so grateful that it is exactly where you stashed it, if only you could remember where?

Although I may go several months without using my little old sewing machine, I do need it on occasion. So I pull it out, dust if off, drag it over to the dining room table and in seconds I'm threaded and readying the speed controller underfoot. This system worked smoothly until one fateful Sunday afternoon in early December when I was putting the finishing stitches on a simple linen towel project.

The whirring sound of my almost completed gift uttered a grinding, crunching sound. I shook my head in slight disbelief that my reliable Touch and Sew, circa 1968, stopped without my provocation. I checked the thread was unbroken, peeked into the bobbin case for a jam, manually turned the hand wheel and it still wouldn't budge. Not exactly knowing what to do, I lifted all the irrelevant panels and hinged doors to notice absolutely nothing wrong. I tried turning off the power as if to re-boot and make this bad dream go away, but the jam remained.

Disgusted at my mechanical ignorance, I called the local sewing and craft shop. "Sorry dear, we don't do repairs on antique sewing machines here." I called my local home fabric source. "Sorry dear, we don't deal with that here. We have our own workshops to do all the sewing for us."

I sat back down, steeled myself, selected a fine looking shiny needle from my pin cushion, threaded it and started to create my own tiny row of stitches. I felt like I had traveled back in time to the days before electric sewing machines or to the prairie of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I have looked at new machines, I looked at old machines, I waited patiently for the right solution. This weekend I bought a Singer 522 Stylist for all the wrong reasons. I needed a working machine. I liked the built-in table. THC said he needed something mended. I have a soft spot in my heart for old Singer machines.

It looks great. It seems to run well. But it's a little tricky without a manual. Oh dear, being green is sometimes a steep learning curve.

Groovy Style

Big, bold and beautiful in purple rings good morning 1975 from Westclox.

Groovy girl gift boxes from the late 1960s deserve a revival of some sort.

Transparency's the key for this acrylic chair, maker unknown, made in Brazil, circa 1970.

Pink, orange, and yellow define this room from Family Circle's Do It Yourself Encyclopedia, 1973.

Great 70s product design for the Uncola - crisp, refreshing 7up.

Milton Bradley was up to speed with its paper dolls, circa 1967.

Very mod Op shades from Argentina, mid 1960s.

For more details on these selections, just click on the images. Thanks for following 973's Groovy Week and our celebration of little known, but undeniably groovy designs.

Go Go Be Groovy

With Go Go boots this fabulous looking, it's hard to pick which retro color is my fave.

Why not wear two contrasting patterns like stripes and dots together?


Now for the men, nothing says 1971 like a hand-knit belted sweater.


For the man seeking comfort in his dressed up threads, 1975 remains the heyday of the leisure suit sans wide lapel, cuffed sleeves and bell bottoms.


For more information on the groovy week selections above, simply click on the images.

Groovy Designs

Looking around for some inspiring groovy images brought me to groovy fabrics. I love the now-vintage fabrics of the late 60s and 70s. Textile designers today are introducing some of these bold patterns, imagery and colors in new collections, which are easier to find than the originals. I happened upon the groovy guitar pattern and was immediately drawn to it. It comes from Michael Miller Fabrics, started in 1999 by Michael Steiner and Kathy Miller.

The groovy element continues in these MMF swatches.



For more info on groovy fabrics, just click on the images.

For more inspirations, check back during 973's Groovy Design Week.

Groovy, Baby

I can't help but say "oh, groovy" each time I uncover this puzzle from the depths of my storage room. I am more tolerant of it now than when it was donated to me years ago from an older friend with a child born in the 70s. It was crafted and stamped Child's Play from Asheville, NC. I have a little trouble envisioning it as a toy parents would embrace today for a young child. However, for an older child or adult of any age who is interested in retro fonts and lettering, it's a thoughtful re-gift.

Speaking of groovy fonts, here are a few I recently found at dafont.com:






Do you have a font or object that evokes groovy? Then by all means, please send it along to 973Third@gmail.com or leave a comment here.

We'd love to hear from you, baby!

Easter Greetings from 973

More vintage holiday cards may be found at http://vintageholidaycrafts.com

A Canopy of Glass

Over a decade ago, I once sat in a beautiful courtyard in downtown Washington DC. The grassy courtyard had lots of trees and park furniture and paths leading to the entrances of the museum buildings around it on all four sides. Now the courtyard of the Old Patent Office Building has been made more beautiful still and transformed into a delightful new public space with a few improvements, most notably a glass canopy.

The Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard of the Reynolds Center of the Smithsonian Institution may be more familiarly known as the short-cut between the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The museum complex is housed in a fine 19th century Greek revival structure, a National Historic Landmark, begun in 1836 under architect Robert Mills and completed in 1867 as one of the city's first public buildings.

In its history, the courtyard was also the site of President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural ball in 1865. The glass and steel canopy was designed by Foster + Partners. "Given the importance of the Old Patent Office, the design was wholly driven by a deep respect for the existing building," Sir Norman Foster said. "It was decided that it should not touch the building at any point but instead float above it like a cloud over the courtyard." The curved glass top, supported by 8 unobtrusive columns, fills the space with light and a feeling of weightlessness as you walk through the 2,800 square foot space watching the shapes of the grid work above appear to undulate.

Landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson contributed to the interior of the space, with the selection of large trees and shrubs and the inviting seating, which are really planters carved of marble. She also designed four very shallow pools of water, adding great drama to the courtyard. Her signature water scrims seem to disappear into the stone floor when not in use.

The space is a remarkable example of history and modern architecture in harmony for the increased usability of the space. And the fabulous result is a place worth visiting and lingering.


Top photo courtesy of David Y. Lee and The New York Times
Bottom photo courtesy of Tim Hursley and the Smithsonian Institution

Lunch is available daily in the Courtyard Cafe 11:30 to 4.

Universal Messaging

International images we recognize have moved far beyond the well known signs for the ladies' or men's room. But still there is something charming in the simple design prototype of the single color graphic in a square with rounded corners. No matter how many languages you speak, or can read, these wordless signs are fun. Maybe they are visual puns or just clues, but they entertain us and convey a message for our benefit.


I recently found several sheets of sticky labels leftover from a Moleskine planner journal. The graphic images are so delightful for their unique representations of everyday life. They reminded me of the old familiar signs, but were deservedly more universal in their message. Maybe the world is getting smaller after all.

Brain Spa

Brain anatomy. 16th century diagram of the anatomy of the human brain and the nerves associated with the senses of hearing, taste, sight and smell. The diagram, which is labeled in Latin, is from Magnus Hundt's Antropologium (Leipzig, 1501).

Have you been multitasking so much you feel you are losing your power of concentration? Treat yourself to a brain spa and sit in on a lecture from a great university. You don't need to take notes or prep for any exams, just find a seat, absorb the knowledge and stimulate your brain.

This week two new services, Academic Earth and YouTube EDU, have been launched to make your access to university classes even easier. There are no registration lines, no need to audit, no early classes, and no tuition fees. Try it and rejuvenate your brain!

Image courtesy of Sheila Terry / Science Photo Library

Photo Cube - DIY with Paper

Photo cubes for Mother's Day by Perri Lewis. Photograph by Natalie Naccache/Guardian

Perhaps spring is inspiring you to get crafty. With 6 photos, card stock, scissors, a ruler and glue, you can whip up a little 3-d gift and practice your geometry skills, too! I'm sharing this from Perry Lewis at the Guardian. She tells it best:

Like any handmade present, it can be personalised and it shows you've done more than dropped into Tesco on your way to visit. What's more, it might bring back floods of happy memories of all the wonderfully rubbish stuff you made for her from egg cartons, washing-up liquid bottles and crepe paper as a nipper.

If you're not going to see your mum on Sunday, don't worry. Make a small photo cube and send it, unfolded, with instructions on how to assemble it.

Photo cube

What you need

A piece of thin card
Pencil
Ruler
Craft knife or scissors
Six photos
Spray mount or a glue stick
Double-sided tape
Sticky back plastic (optional)

What to do

1. Draw a cube net on to a piece of thin card, or download one of these ready-made ones (pdf) and print it out.

2. Cut the cube net out: a craft knife and ruler will give you the cleanest cut, but you can use scissors if you don't have one to hand. Score each line carefully.

3. Choose six pictures for your photo cube. As each photo needs to be the same size as the face of your cube net, you need to either a) use photo editing software to make each picture the same size, then print them out, or b) print the photos out first, then cut them to size.

4. Glue one photo to each face of the cube net, on the side without the black lines. I thoroughly recommend that you use spray mount for this rather than a glue stick - you will get a better, more even coverage with no little lumps, so your pictures will have a smooth finish. A can costs about £7, but it lasts for ages and can be used for all sorts of paper craft. Of course, if you don't have any spray mount, use a glue stick or double-sided tape.

5. This step is entirely optional, but if you want make your photo cube a little more study, cover the whole cube net in sticky back plastic.

6. Add strips of double-sided tape to the tabs and assemble the cube. Again, I prefer not to use a glue stick – double-sided tape is far less messy - but use whatever suitable adhesive you have to hand.

Thank you Perry and a very Happy Day to all Mothers in the U.K. and other places celebrating Mother's Day this weekend.

Keep Calm & Consider Alternatives

If the original Keep Calm and Carry On message doesn't suit you, here are but a few alternatives to consider:

For more info on any Keep Calm and Carry On parody featured above, just click on the image. See the previous blog entry for the story of the design sensation and original WWII poster saved from obscurity.

Keep Calm & Carry On

Keep calm and carry on is a great message and a very timely one for us at this exact point in history. It's also a great poster design. The baronial graphic of the crown and the clear Gill font in caps further expresses the simple focus of the message. Well, sure, we can be optimistic with such a thoughtful and charming mantra and a pleasing graphic design to view. I'm feeling better about the world already.

The timelessness of the message and the beautiful simplicity of the graphic elements do not reveal the artist who designed the poster. Now available throughout Great Britain on t-shirts, tote bags, tea towels and door mats, to name just a few, what little is known about it is that it was created as part of a British Ministry of Information propaganda campaign in August of 1939 to alleviate fear of a possible German invasion.

A series of three posters were created under the crown of King George VI, yet only the first two were widely released, appearing on billboards, train stations and shops throughout England. The third design, Keep Calm, was held in reserve, and, thankfully, never needed for its intended use.

Somehow, somewhere, a copy of the unused poster was saved for about 60 years. It resurfaced in a box of old books purchased at auction in 2000 by booksellers Stuart and Mary Manley of Barter Books in Northumberland. They hung the poster in their shop and started to research its origins. Frequent requests to purchase it led them to reproduce the poster and offer it for sale. Some 40,000 copies have been sold through them.

In spite of its wartime origins, the message of resilience is welcome. The archives of British history and design gained a document almost unknown and the rest of us gain the benefits.

Special thanks to Jon Henley for his article Keep Calm and Carry On in the Guardian on March 18, 2009 and Mary Manley's blog entry on March 4, 2009.

Frugalista

frugalista (froog'gal-ees-ta) n. "person who leads a frugal lifestyle, but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying second-hand, growing own produce, etc."

It may not have made the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2008 Word of the Year, but it is a deserving strong finalist. As we face the hard facts of the surround-sound economic crisis crumbling around us – frugalista appears to be a word with staying power. It is a power we’ll need to use as we tighten the belt once again, dust off the sewing machine and serve up dinner of rice and beans for hungry family and friends.

I'm not sure of the protocol regarding new words if they don't yet appear in a dictionary. But it’s such a good word I’m excited to add it to my vocabulary. I would also like to expand its definition. After all, it is such a recent addition to our language certainly the word is still evolving and malleable.

There are plenty of us all over the globe who have learned the art of stretching the wampum, by necessity and practicality. We (hereafter known as frugalistas) know how to make do, quite stylishly, with less. We are not only managing and discovering new ways to do it better, we are also eco-conscious in our choices. From time to time, we might even be a little eco-chic. We reduce, recycle and reuse to the limits of our imaginations.

Special thanks to William Safire for his article On Language - Frugalista in the New York Times Magazine, November 23, 2008 and Natalie McNeal for her blog, The Frugalista Files.

Good looking and sturdy market and tote bags made of earth-friendly materials each sell for under $1.50.

Typewriter Style

The height of modern industrial design and portability were exemplified in this new design of the Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter in 1963. Weighing in at about 13 pounds, this diminutive beauty was a great convenience for students and journalists. With a flick of a switch, the type changed from black to red or no ink for carbon copies.

Design conscious from early on, Olivetti was founded in Italy in 1908. From the 1940s to the 1960s Marcello Nizzoli, (1887-1969) one of Italy's most influential designers, directed product design including the iconic early Letteras. In addition to his role as head product-design consultant, he also worked for Olivetti as an architect, designing housing for employees (1948) and office buildings (1960s).

Click here for a delightful gallery of Olivetti's portable typewriters at the Portable Typewriter Reference Site.

Below are some vintage images of earlier brands of typewriters and their typists/writers and assemblers.

Typing pool, circa 1890

Sales office, circa 1900

Assemblers, circa 1911

These images appear courtesy of The Virtual Typewriter Museum. Please click on over to see all their collections.

Back at 973, the little Olivetti sits out with a piece of paper in the roller at the ready. The grocery list grows; a reminder to return a call is added; and other terrifically important notes are kept in one convenient place in our writing machine.

It's still a great way to communicate!

Handwrite Your Own Font

Despite warnings that neatness counted and penmanship was graded alongside academic subjects in school, the best handwriting from my pen or pencil ended up closer to chicken scratch. Now I've revisited my sloppy curves and uneven squiggles in an attempt to tidy up my handwriting to create a legible font.

YourFonts is a web-based tool that transformed my combo print/italic scribble-scrabble into a TrueType font free of charge. The process is simple and easily accomplished with a printer and scanner nearby. First, download the pdf template. Second, neatly fill in each box, staying clearly inside the designated boundaries. Third, scan the completed template and upload to YourFonts. Fourth, preview and download your new personalized font.

No more excuses for not writing a personal note!

Thank You

Welcome to our clever crafting friends joining us from One Pretty Thing and Rachel's treasure trove of enticing projects at Daily DIY.

From the traditional craft of quilling papers into beautiful letters to the more immediate gratification of making your own handwriting into a font, the limits of lettering, typography, and design continue to intrigue us at this address.

Illuminated Letters

Lettering by hand with serifs and flourishes embellishes your message with beauty, creativity, and thoughtfulness. But you do not have to be an accomplished calligrapher to put together a monogram or a mini missive in a quilled alphabet as illustrated above and below.

The art of quilling or paper filigree is versatile and forgiving for the beginner. For starters, quilling is easy to learn and doesn't require a large investment in tools. Click here for more details on basic quilling instructions.

Shaping letters works best if you curl your paper strips first to condition them. Enlarge your alphabet pattern to the desired size and cut your strips to the approximate length needed for each part of the letter. Shape your strips over the pattern to match the curves of the letters. Glue together the strips as needed to form a single letter. When dry, glue the edges onto your card stock to finish.

For many more great ideas on this paper craft I recommend checking out The New Paper Quilling by Molly Smith Christensen.

Images courtesy of Molly Smith Christensen and Lark Books

Diminutive Designs in Cork

The Annual Champagne Chair Contest by Design Within Reach poses the challenge to create an original miniature chair using only the foil, label, cage and cork from no more than two Champagne bottles. The contest rolls around just before New Year's when you might be planning to enjoy a little bubbly. If you are not big on Champagne, they will also accept the recycled cork and foil set-up from any sparkling wine.
Three top winners were selected from the 2009 entries. The Kub Armchair (top) by Jesse Menayan was named as the Judges’ Pick. The Grape Divine Chair (just above) by Tony Nemyer was selected as the DWR Staff Pick, and Spring 2009 (below) by Gavri Slasky won the Popular Vote.
For more information on the contest and where to view a traveling exhibit of the top 50 winning designs, click over to DWR.

Images courtesy of Design Within Reach