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TOP: "Airbrush Floral Colored Origami Paper II - 5 Colors 80 Sheets - great for crane, flower folding." Beautiful. Along the same lines are: MIDDLE + BOTTOM: Circle Paintings by Kenneth Noland. *[I'm loving the soundtrack on his website -- unexpected and nice.]
I happened on this blog late last night: Mini-Eco by Kate Lilley, also a mother of two little boys. Her approach to crafts and kid friendly projects is fresh and clean and unlike any other I've seen. The design appeals to me on so many levels. A great site to visit for out-of-the-box thinking. And, c'mon, she likes Moomin, too. *[Check out her new book: Eco-Friendly Crafting with Kids. It looks good.]
This New Year's card by Walter Marti reads (on the bottom) “Wishing you a happy 1960.” I love the play on the typographic "bowls" in the numbers 1-9-6-0. Check out this design, among others, in the Herb Lubalin Study Center's Flickr set. Well worth perusing. *[From reading this, my 2.5 yr. old is counting from 1-20, except for the occasional "twenty-teen" -- we're still working out some kinks.]
Sometimes I am surprised where I find design inspiration. These happen to be packages of gum from the supermarket. Although these are not the best example of gum packaging, the color pairings and the minimal presenence of copy on each package is quite extraordinary for a mainstream brand. *[Have a favorite gum? Remember Razzles, Blammo, Fruit Stripe? Visit the Gum Archive here for more.]
"How many can you count -- arms on a starfish, toes on two feet, hours on a clock, flowers in a bunch, raindrops in the sky?" Numbers is a book by John J. Reiss. It was published by Bradbury press, an affiliate of Macmillan!. After I saw this book, I searched for more by the same author. It is wonderful. My son thinks so, too. *[Tell me: what is a favorite counting book from your childhood? I'm curious.]
The National Maritime Museum has over 1000 flags including two large collections of house flags, used to identify shipping lines, or owners of vessels. Here are a few I selected from the collection. *[Take a look at the Jack Spade nautical tote bags -- a great way to utilize these awesome flag designs.]
These packages of Caramel Corn came from that big, awesome, Japanese grocery store in Edgewater, NJ. I couldn't pass these up. The stencil typeface, the happy/cute/goofy faces, and the glossy packaging kills me. So good, right? *[This makes me want my mom's caramel corn. Hear that, Mom? Since we're talking about my mom, she also makes really good sugar cookies. She sends them to all of her kids for every major holiday -- all 8 kids. Top that.]
I bought this Macmillan Dictionary for Children (Copyright 1975) in February at an estate sale near my parents' home in the California Bay Area. About 2.5" thick, its pages are full of animated vintage illustrations. I especially like the section headers for each letter (see bottom image below). *[As a child, did you have a favorite dictionary, encyclopedia, or reference book you read and reread?]
I visited the Marimekko NYC flagship store on Fifth Avenue last week. In the store windows was this Easter inspired textile (approx. 5 feet wide) Designed by Maija Louekari for Marimekko, it is 100% cotton. Full color and giant graphics. How nice. *[How many of you had these sheets when you were a kid? I did. I know my son would love this.]