Channeling my Illy obsession

I've been receiving monthly home deliveries of Illy coffee for over a year now. 2 cans every month. And in this time, I haven't been able to bring myself to dispose of the majority of my leftover cans. I have them lining the top of my cabinets, on my desk in the sunroom, under my kitchen sink... Tired of watching them multiply and simply gather dust, I am making a conscious effort to discover alternative uses for their red and silver loveliness. Here is use #1:

I love to grow fresh herbs. The local rabbits love to eat my herbs. My beloved Illy cans are tallenough that those adorable yet pesky furballs can't reach them. Also, I can easily transport them back and forth to the kitchen.

Get your own cans here

Feelin' good!

I am completely addicted to this video. It touches on my love of Nina, Typography and graphics.

Feeling Good, Nina Simone
Uploaded by mrfnk

Old year, new year

It's been a busy break from blogging and I'm gearing myself up to hop back in. In the meantime, here's what we've been up to:

Celebrating the season

My friends, knowing me so well, bought me some fantastic gifts. The first one below is my most treasured as I raved about Tim a few blogs back.

Cooking

Our Italian New Year included homemade ravioli

Seafood Saturday with oysters and an unbelievably delicious Scallop Gratin

4 days on the slopes, some jackpot shopping trips and the arrival of my new entertainment center have rounded out the time.

Tomorrow I'll dedicate a post to our Winter Wonderland and all it's frosty glory...

Burning the days away...

I have a severe weakness for package design. I could roam aisles for hours just to identify and leer at unique products wrappings. I will often times wll purchase items simply to be able to admire them at my leisure. To get my fix when out of the stores, I frequent the The Dieline.com, an entire site dedicated to the art of packaging. Ahhh...

Yesterday in flipping through the pages, I landed upon the coolest calendar I have ever seen courtesy of Ukranian artist Yurko Gutsulyak. Each day of the year is a match and both sides of the stand feature a striking surface. Day comes to a end, strike and watch it burn. I have a feeling this would be extremely therapeutic for those days you just want to forget...and definitely appeals to the pyro side of me. ;)

Calendar made o' matches

Coolest calendar runner-up (and equally therapeutic):

Bubble Calendar

Web Wares for Wittle Wones

Miss Robyn is about 6 weeks from her due date and as her belly continues to grow and the arrival of Cash/Mason/Parker/Esteban Hyams nears, I can't seem to divert my attention from baby goods.

I first spotted Studio Mela aka dazeychic on We Heart It. Her So Very Happy print graced my computer background, my Gtalk avatar, good ol' Yes, Please! and anywhere else I could put it.

In visiting her site over the past few weeks, I could help but think about fantastic her prints would be hanging in a nursery or child's bedroom.

Visit Studio Mela via these routes:
Etsy
Blog

So excited to see one more little face join this lovely bunch:

Peter Pennoyer's Places

I gaze about architect Peter Pennoyer's works in awe. His crafting and blending of classicism and tradition are stunning to the eye and inspire me to hold tight to my dreams as they may pay off in this way.

Signing off for the weekend...

with We Heart It signs:

UPPERCASE goes Old School for Web Wares

Inspired by the world of graphic design, Uppercase opened it's Calgary gallery bookstore in 2005 and offers a range of graphic design books, illustration, typography and pop culture. They carry greeting cards designed by the resident artist/proprietor as well as beautiful file folders, binders and do-dabs for your home/work office space.

They are currently exhibiting an “Old School” theme celebrates the aesthetics of twentieth century education through an art exhibition and companion book, as well as curated objects. It is inspired by vintage flash cards, old desks, biology class, science fairs, crayons, card catalogs, textbooks, class photos, teachers, yearbooks, lunch boxes, gym class, maps, lockers, report cards, film strips, recess, spelling, chalk… and the list goes on! Here are my wanted web wares:

"T is for Thank You" by designed by Jennifer Muller of Lucky Tangerine studio

"We've Got Your Number"
Numeric designs for a variety of occasions..."1. You’re my 1 and only.", "2. 2 become 1", "3. And baby makes 3."

Orlan Kiely Classic Crocus Design notebook.
(Would go perfectly with this)

Mini colored pencils & a whole bunch of pink erasers

Jumbo Clips. As big as your face!

Check out their site and/or their blog