PUZZLE HEAVEN

I think I just died and went to puzzle heaven! This beauty you see here is a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle where each piece contains a unique color on the CMYK spectrum. The creator, Clemens Habicht—a true Renaissance man, working as a director, designer and illustrator—insists that because of the changes in color differentiating each piece it is actually much easier and more intuitive to put together than traditional illustrative puzzles. While that statement is yet to be seen, I wouldn't be surprised if it stands true for me, being a complete and total color nerd (I know, what a surprise!). Learn more about the puzzle, not to mention buy your own copy, at the very awesome Colossal Shop here.
p.s. This puzzle is a total analog version of this test, don't you think? 

MY DREAM HOME: A COLORFUL FRONT DOOR

It must be something in the early 2014 air, because this week is proving to be a banner time for debuting new post series here on the obsessive imagist (remember this?)! 

Well, having gotten married over a year ago, I am started to find myself getting the newlywed itch. No, not babies! (Though puppies are tempting!) I am starting to get the urge to nest, to have us settle in a home larger than 750 square feet—mainly one with a real yard and more than two rooms. Mostly, I am looking forward to the day when I can have a front door that leads somewhere beyond a hallway (I do make the best of it!). Which brings me to the newest of my new series: My Dream House. I spend a lot of time on Pinterest browsing for ideas for that time in the future when we do have a house to call our own but until then I will have to catalogue them here.

First post: front doors! I love the idea of a bold, colorful entrance, particularly against a neutral palette of white clapboard, brick or stone on the rest of the building's facade. For your viewing pleasure here is a rainbow of doors to file away for future inspiration. Which one would you choose?

candy apple | orange | clementine | lemon | key lime | emerald | mint 

turquoise | sky blue | robin's egg | cobalt | midnight | orchid

Oh, more of a glass door person you say? Well, how about this baby?! Made from Pantone color chips and installed in this creative house, it would definitely be a conversation starter! Just hope you never have to have it replaced . . . 

Happy weekend! I will see you back here next week. :)

STRING IT UP: GABRIEL DAWE

Holy cow. How incredible are these thread installations by artist Gabriel Dawe?!! I love the misty planes of color created simply by stringing up sewing thread in big open spaces. Wouldn't they look beautiful in a big soho loft or at a museum? I may have to try to pull some strings (haha, get it?) to get them at the Whitney!

See more of Dawe's work here. And if you like these, you might like this stuff too.


(thanks to plenty of colour for the tip)

NSS 2012: RAINBOW CONNECTION

This post is part of an ongoing series of wrap ups from this year's National Stationery Show. Please forgive any discoloration or graininess of the photos (the lighting in the Javits Center stinks!) and check out all the other NSS posts here.




    
    

I was drawn to the Semikolon booth for one simple reason: bright, bold color. I have long eyed the beautiful boxes and post its created by Semikolon (on sale everywhere from Barnes & Noble to Container Store), but there was something about seeing them all together in a perfect colorful array that made me want to buy everything immediately. I settled for the little book of colorful page flags (above), but still have my eye on those tiny orange gift boxes and beautiful pen cases. See more here.








Brand Node was a new-to-me booth that also delivered big on the promise of color. I was, of course, swooning over the shelves and shelves of vibrant leather notebooks but was also super stoked to see the  little metal gift tags they were selling too. Awesome! Not sure why it took someone so long to transform these museum entrance tags into gift toppers but I am so so happy they did! Learn more about Brand Node here.

EDIBLE, COLORFUL, BEAUTIFUL

I am still cranking out this paper (it will never end!), so I will make this post short and sweet. Also because the gorgeous blog 'Griottes' that posted these is written in French! All you need to know is that artistic director Emilie created Pantone palettes out of paper and brilliantly colored food and the results are stunning. Also cool? It seems that you can search Griottes by color! Love it!


If you are up for translating, or just more eye candy, check out even more here.


(hat tip to Design Mom)

TOTALLY TATTLY

Remember how, as a kid, you were obsessed with temporary tattoos? And don't try to tell me that you weren't because every kid loved them. I have always wondered why adults didn't get on the bandwagon. Permanent tattoos are so, well, permanent (ha) and seem like such a big decision. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to slap a cool design on your body for just a week or so?


Well that wasn't possible for the longest time because all temporary tattoos seemed to feature a Disney princess or a Pixar character (and don't get me wrong, I love me some Buzz Lightyear). Well not anymore! Several brilliant creative minds have gotten together to create Tattly: an online store full of cool design-y temporary tattoos. For many of you this is probably old news (the shop opened over the summer), but I finally decided to post about it because the selection of designs has become too overwhelmingly awesome. Just think about having a "Hater's Gonna Hate" tattoo on when you know you are walking into a bad day at work. It would make everything so much better! You seriously cannot look at that design (or this) and not smile.


Check all the cool (reasonably priced!) offerings at the Tattly shop here.

COLOR FOR YOUR MONDAY

Whenever I wake up feeling a bit uninspired, I just hop onto Pinterest and knock myself out of it. As usual, my 'Chroma' pinboard is making my giddy with brilliant rainbow goodness.


See all the links to the beautiful images above here. Check out my other boards here.




(Need an invite to Pinterest? Just send me an email and ask! I will hook you up.)

THE INCEPTION OF INSTAGRAM

How gorgeous are these graphics?  Stunning, right? They were created by Dan Kenneally and Liz Gershman as part of a really great article for 1000Memories (a cool website where you can store and share all your old family photos). The article explores the inspiration behind the ever-present iPhone application Instagram—where you can apply one of a dozen fabulous filters to make your digital shot look like it was taken with cool vintage film—and traces the various types of film and cameras used to get 'the look'.  It makes me want to go out and try them all!


Read and see more here.

WRITING ON THE WALL

You can never have too much stuff on your walls, right? Or, rather, you can never have too much stuff waiting to go on your walls, in my case. I have lots of fabulous posters and prints stuffed in my portfolio and in packing tubes ready to be framed and hung. No matter, I can't help but share some great inexpensive finds when I come across them. Here are some of my recent Etsy picks:

top to bottom:

The Earth without Art is Eh, the ink society, $14.95•

Instant Rainbow, yumalum, $55*

Loving You, the love shop, $17.99

•I can't seem to find my source for this; if you posted this will you let me know in the comments?

*thanks to swissmiss for the tip