FOLLOW UP: TOMMY PEREZ'S INSTAGRAM








Whoa! Yesterday, after posting about the inspiring series A to Zöe created by adorable dad Tommy Perez, I fell down a Googling black hole and go lost in the magic and colorful wonder of Perez's instagram account. Seriously, this guy is incredible! Turns out Perez not only has major typography skills, but also is a master at logo design, paper cutting and illustration. If I had taken a different fork in the road and had decided to become a graphic designer instead of an art historian, I would want to become this guy's best friend, stat. As is, I kind of want to anyway!Check out Perez's instagram account and personal website here for a look into his beautiful, vivid work.

DIANA BELTRAN HERRERA: BIRDS OF A (PAPER) FEATHER

paper sculpture, bright colors, birds, stamps, art

paper sculpture, bright colors, birds, stamps, art

paper sculpture, bright colors, birds, stamps, art

paper sculpture, bright colors, birds, stamps, art

paper sculpture, bright colors, birds, stamps, art

paper sculpture, bright colors, birds, stamps, art

paper sculpture, bright colors, birds, stamps, art
How gorgeous are these sculptures by Colombian artist Diana Beltran Herrera?!! I have regularly been accused by my friends of being 'obsessive' (a descriptor I have eponymously embraced!) with a crazy dedication to all things paper. But Beltran Herrera takes this to a whole new level. She uses countless tiny, intricately cut pieces of paper to craft impressively lifelike and expressive sculptures of flora and fauna. She is a particular master of birds, pursuing a series of sculptures on British birds, hummingbirds, birds of paradise and more. And how cool are those 3D stamp scenes? I want to own one sooooo bad . . . . Check out more of her truly breathtaking work on her (beautiful!) website here.Thanks to Miss Moss for the tip
p.s. Beltran Herrera's work totally reminds me of this!

EITHER OR WISH LIST: I CAN'T DECIDE!


Hi friends! How was your weekend? I spent it with my parents doing some serious clean up/home improvement projects at my grandmother's house and I have to say, I am wiped! 

So, since I will almost certainly be total couch potato while I let my aching muscles heal today, I thought it only fitting to shin two variations which I am having major trouble deciding between. Care to help me choose? Here are the either/or pairings in my online shopping cart right now . . . which should I pick?


from top to bottom . . . . 












So hard to choose! I may just have to buy them all . . . kidding!



*Do any of you married ladies have trouble finding a watch that works with your wedding and engagement ring? Either I find the watch too casual in comparison to my ring's setting or the watch-ring combo just looks overwhelmingly shiny. I look the way watches look, though, and miss wearing one so I am hoping one of these works out!


IN LOVE, TRULY BESOTTED

Favorites Package by Besotted Brand Happy Everything Stamp by Besotted Brand Gilded Notes by Besotted Brand Wax Seal Stamp by Besotted Brand          Tags and Twine Set from Besotted Brand
Holiday Set by Besotted Brand



























Have you heard of the shop Besotted Brand? I first read about it a month or so ago and now I am seeing references to their gorgeous products everywhere (must be the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon!)!

I am swooning over every pretty package and goodie in their shop and I bet you will too. Check it all out here.


FROM THE ARCHIVES: YULIA BRODSKAYA UPDATE



For the next three weeks I am off on an adventure—the best adventure possible! I am getting hitched, an amazing event and process that has inspired my ongoing series of posts called The Wedding Files. While I am on my honeymoon I will be featuring some of my favorite posts from past years (including this bright, type-loving one from back in September 2009) to tide you over until I return. Hope you enjoy them!








There is some really beautiful new work in Yulia Brodskaya's portfolio. I simply cannot get enough of these bold bright paper curls. Check out the gorgeousness here.


HAVE A COOL WEEKEND

SHADES, VENICE BEACH

What are you up to this weekend? I am headed to my parents' beach house in Connecticut to have my bachelorette party!! Though there have been jokes about strippers dancing off our deep water diving board, I am actually looking forward to a fun, relaxing weekend hanging out with my bridesmaids. Here's to sunshine, cocktails, gossip, good food and even better company! Hope you have something equally fun planned . . .

In case you don't (or even if you do!) here are a couple of links to keep you busy until I return on Monday:

Speaking of beaches, can you tell where these are? I couldn't but now I have a bunch of new wishlist travel plans!

You thought my Olympics obsession was over, but now that the Games are done my withdrawal has set in and I am compelled to have you check out this beautiful post at the NYTimes.

This looks sleek, practical and cool; no wonder it's got a gazillion backers on Kickstarter!

This cheat sheet is a godsend for Mac nerds like me.

Stupidly missed the early bird special buying these sweet set, but it's so reasonably priced I may still have to snag it.

This shop must be "stamping out" (wink wink) the competition with their awesome designs. Everything in it is now, officially, wishlisted.

Too expensive for my DIY bride blood, but this app is a great idea and has some surprisingly lovely graphic design behind it.

This, however, is much more my style. I used this tutorial for my invites (only I did it in bright red!) and have to say it worked quite well. Simple, cheap, and effective. Next time I will have to try gold!

This brilliant event (pun fully intended) is next week in New York. Who's with me?


Have a great weekend all!


(photo by artist Ian Baguskas, sold on 20x200)


LETTERHEAD LOVE

LETTERHEADY

My amazing friend, Kat, turned me onto the super cool blog Letterheady a couple of months ago and I have been meaning to post about it since. Letterheady is basically a tumblr-style blog dedicated to the beauty of personal and corporate stationery over the years. For paper-minded and graphic design-focused nerds like myself, it is pure visual heaven.

Let's take a look at just a sampling of some awesome examples, listed by their writers/owners, shall we?

Above: Andy Warhol, from an unknown date



LETTERHEADY   LETTERHEADY

Left: Groucho Marx, 1943
Right: Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, c. 1943




LETTERHEADY

Above: Ray Charles, 1990 (tied for my favorite, with FLW's below)




LETTERHEADY   LETTERHEADY

Left: Ben Chapman, actor who played Gillman in 1954 film The Creatures of the Black Lagoon, 1981
Right: Muppets, Inc., later to be known as Jim Henson Productions, 1963




LETTERHEADY

Above: Frank Lloyd Wright, 1946 (totally awesome, right?)




LETTERHEADY   LETTERHEADY

Left: Woody Harrelson, 1988
Right: Daily Planet, fictional stationery used during Superman: The Movie, 1978




LETTERHEADY

Above: Charles Schultz, 1958




Cool, right? See many many more examples at Letterheady here.


PORTRAIT IN A SHADOW

KUMI YAMASHITA
KUMI YAMASHITA
KUMI YAMASHITA

Sometimes the simplest creation is the most impressive. 'Shadow artist' Kumi Yamashita has created this stunning installation for American Express headquarters. Each piece of paper has been selectively  manipulated so that it's shadow represents a silhouette portrait of an AmEx employee. Fabulous, right?

See more of Yamashita's work here.


(thanks to Plenty of Colour for the tip)


ORLA KIELY: COLLABORATIONS GALORE!

ORLA KIELY UNIQLOORLA KIELY UNIQLO
ORLA KIELY UNIQLOORLA KIELY UNIQLO


How was your weekend, all? I extended mine a bit to cover all the craziness that is wedding planning at this point—choosing table linens and florists and deserts, etc. But it was productive!


Anyway, over the weekend my dear friend Courtney alerted me to some big news: my favorite lady Orla Kiely is doing a collaboration with Uniqlo and the clothing line comes out today! Check it out here; there are some cute pieces!




ORLA KIELY WRAPPING PAPERORLA KIELY WRAPPING PAPER
ORLA KIELY WRAPPING PAPERORLA KIELY WRAPPING PAPER


And this weekend I also hit up my favorite paper store—PaperSource—only to discover that they too have started to carry Orla Kiely goodies, namely four different designs of wrapping paper. My favorite is definitely the large petal print (top left); what's yours?


Get an eyeful of all of Orla Kiely's products here.



BIANCA CHANG

BIANCA CHANG
BIANCA CHANG
BIANCA CHANG
BIANCA CHANG
BIANCA CHANG

Australian paper artist
Bianca Chang, who was just exhibited in the amazing A4 paper festival, makes this typographic sculptures through countless layers of cut paper. How incredible are these?!

You must, like me, be curious about how Bianca makes these, right? Well she has kindly filmed a stop motion video of her process. Watch it below and she more of her work on her website here and her blog here.






(Thanks to Daily Smudge for the heads up.)