A Dose of the Delightful

Puffin Chalk: Gorgeous Book Covers by Dana Tanamachi

I very much enjoy the days I get to freelance at Regas Studio. The ladies who make up this letterpress studio are supa dupa talented; we've got watercolor painters, skilled illustrators, calligraphers, graphic designers...you name it, everyone who works at Regas brings their own brand of creative to the table. This makes for an incredibly stimulating and generallywarm & fuzzy studio environment. 

I've worked a lot of places, and by now, I'm pretty in tune with the kinds of environments which help me thrive, and the kinds which drag me down & stress me out. Regas is definitely the former. Throughout the day, all kinds of design inspiration is passed around via Skype; one of my favorite things shared lately was this children's book series featuring cover designs by Dana Tanamachi for Puffin.

I mean. Dude. The colors. The lettering. The swirlies & twirlies. So cool that these covers were hand drawn in chalk, and then photographed for reproduction instead of the standard graphic design route. Plus, Pippi was one of my faves. As a little girl, I delighted in the fact that her full name was Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking. Enjoy!

Cool stop-motion videos of Dana's work in progress:

 

Puffin Chalk: The Wizard of Oz from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.

For a more about the collaboration, head over to Tanamachi Studio's blog.

 

DIY Thread-Wrapped Air Plant Hangers

I have to 'fess up: this DIY was totally inspired by my '90s childhood. Like most girls, I was pretty into friendship bracelets and hair wraps. Frankly, I'm still pretty into friendship bracelets, although I draw the line at hair wraps. And overalls. So far. 

I've wanted to add some hanging plants to my bedroom for awhile now, but since I'm working with a pretty small footprint, they needed to be relatively small and unobtrusive. Air plants were the perfect solution - they're compact and don't require tons of care (fingers crossed...). Plus, they can be displayed in hanging glass bulbs, giving the illusion of not taking up space in the room.

I bought my air plants and glass bulbs at Sprout Home, a beautiful plant shop in Williamsburg. Just next to Sprout is Moon River Chattel, which is probably my favorite home store on the face of the earth. I picked up a roll of jute there with the idea of wrapping sections of it in bright embroidery thread. 

Here's how I did it:

I elected to create simple figure 8 (Flemish) knots for both the ceiling and glass hooks. They're prettier than a regular overhand knot, but quite functional. Knots by Grog's tutorial for Flemish knots is super clear - the only difference below is that I doubled up on the jute.

Next, it was time to wrap them. I used some of the way too much embroidery thread I have lying around, plus a little Gorilla glue to secure the ends.

Here are my wrapped jute hangers. I think they look best with a variation of colors, wrap sizes, and lengths.

Some closeups:

Next, I installed three 1.5" brass cup hooks in my ceiling. These puppies are super simple to work with - you just screw them right into the ceiling using a little elbow grease.

I like! I'm happy with the mix of natural fiber & colorful thread, and feel a little more like a human living on planet Earth having some plants within arm's reach.

Side note, the Tillandsia I bought is in bloom! I feel pretty lucky it's blooming before I inevitably kill it, since they only bloom once during their lifespan.

 

From Sad Sack to Rad Backpack: Breathing New Life into My Baggu

It's no secret: Baggus are my jam. I try to keep one of their nylon bags on me at all times so I never, ever need to use a disposable plastic or paper one.

When the drawstring on my favorite Baggu backpack broke, it was a bummer. But it also presented an opportunity to go one step further in avoiding waste. Rather than buying a new one, I turned tragedy into triumph and jazzed up my backpack with some new neon lacing from Purl Soho.

Drawstrings coming out of anything can be the most frustrating thing and used to leave me shaking my fists angrily at the sky. Turns out teeth-gnashing and hair-pulling aren't necessary; a simple safety pin saves the day in any drawstring emergency. The trick is to use the biggest safety pin that will easily fit through the channel (part where the drawstring goes) you're using. 

The poor, deflated little guy. Aw. 

I grabbed several yards of this neon lacing. 

 Start by putting a safety pin through the end of cord or lacing. If you're working with something that frays easily, knotting it's a good idea.

Then, put the head of the safety pin into the channel and begin working it all the way around. The bigger the safety pin, the easier it is to feel it through the fabric and the faster it will come out on the other side.

Keep doing that until the safety pin reaches the other side of the channel. That's really it!

This pink lacing frayed like WHOA, which sort of irritated me at first until I realized it looked like an intentional tassel. I let the ends of the drawstring fray up to the knots I tied. 

I also added a zipper pull to the backpack's outside pocket, just for funsies. I think the neon pink works great for summer; come fall, I may switch it out for a leather drawstring.