Shameless Plug: Gallery Ghost

[Gallery Ghost, published by Birdcage Press in association with the National Gallery of Art. Project by Anna Nilsen, poems by Betsy Franco, illustrations by Richard Sala.]

Yesterday I received a surprise package in the mail--two copies of Gallery Ghost, a book that I spent many hours working on last year! It's so fulfilling to hold a book in your hand that you helped produce! The book is a "spot the difference" children's book, a little like eye spy except with works of art from the National Gallery of Art. It's a great introduction to Art History.

Gallery Ghost was conceived by Anna Nilsen, illustrated by Richard Sala, and includes poems by Betsy Franco. Check it out at Birdcage Press; it'll be available in stores soon!

The L.A. Times Festival of Books: recap

I survived the sweltering heat at the L.A. Times Festival of Books and ended up gulping down lots of water during the day...and at one point (when I was desperate,) one gigantic cup of lemonade in under 5 minutes. But besides the heat, I had a fantastic time! There were so many great vendors there and it seemed like every other booth had a book signing. I first stopped by the Target Children's Stage (since I'm a big kid myself) and listened to two story times. The first was the lovely Katharine Holabird, the author of Angelina Ballerina. She was joined on stage by Angelina Ballerina, which I must say was a pretty cute costume considering how freaked out I usually am by people in costumes. Maybe it was because it was far away on stage.
The second reading was by the very funny Mo Willems, who read three of his books in the most animated story time I have ever seen. I'm not sure what it is about yelling a lot and jumping around that is so funny. But it is. And Mo did a lot of it to the tune of his clever books!
After maneuvering my way through the swarms of strollers, I made it to a panel about food culture which was moderated by Barry Glassner. This panel not only made me really hungry, but it also introduced a lot of issues in food culture that I vaguely knew about but had never really thought about in depth (ie: the slow food movement and "food porn".) The panel included Jennifer 8. Lee, Fred Kaufman, and Raj Patel. After the panel, I got Jennifer 8. Lee to sign my copy of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, and she taped a fortune next to her signature.
It says "Trust him but still keep your eyes open" and then there are happy faces flanking it. Hilarious--especially the happy faces.

I also got to meet Lela Lee, the Original Angry Little Asian Girl! I've been reading Angry Little Girls (formerly Angry Little Asian Girl) since high school, and I proudly wore an ALAG tee to school, the classic white baby tee with Kim flipping the world off.

I was fully planning to buy a book, and then was sad when I went fishing through my wallet only to find a couple of $1 bills and a $5--not enough for a book (why did I need that lemonade??!) But she was so sweet and took a picture with me!

[All images by Mo, with the exception of the picture of me and Lela Lee, which was taken by Lela Lee's friend, and the "A is for Angry" art print by Lela Lee which is from Angry Little Girls. ]

I finished the day by meeting the talented and lovely Paula Yoo, author of Good Enough! I gobbled up the book in a couple of days and was so happy to meet her in person. It also led me to the Book Soup booth, where I snagged an autographed copy of Marjane Satrapi's Embroideries.

*Whew* I'm tired even recapping the day! If you're in my neck of the woods next year, come with me to next year's book festival! This time I'll bring sunscreen.

Print a Camera

[Images from Corbis. Pablo pinhole camera and Peyote pinhole camera designed by Fwis]

Corbis has these awesome {and FREE} printable pinhole cameras made from photos and illustrations from the Corbis archives. You can just download the PDF, print it, and make your own camera from paper! I'm not exactly the most informed photographer (despite my job,) so if you're like me and are thinking "how...does...this...work??!" then check out the FAQs here. I've got my eye on the Pablo, which is coming soon!

[Found via Photojojo]

Jeff Koons

[Images from the New York Times online; photos (c) Librado Romero/The New York Times]

Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog (Yellow)", “Sacred Heart (Red/Gold)”, and “Coloring Book” are now occupying the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in all their shiny lacquered glory in one big spectacle extravaganza. I think they look amazing, and I'm jealous of everyone that gets to see them in person!
Check out the New York Times article about "Jeff Koons on the Roof" here. The exhibit will be up through the summer until October.

**A big thanks to my cousin Brian who saw this first and gave me the tip!

The L.A. Times Festival of Books

[April 2008 desktop calendar from Meomi; Meomi will be at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on April 26th from 2-3 signing books.]

This weekend, I am driving up to L.A. to attend the L.A. Times Festival of Books (my first time ever now that I am officially a Southern California resident,) and I am already giddy over all the hip people I will be surrounded by. Though, my heart is already racing from the thought of how many gazillions of people (and their cars) will be there in order to be around super hip people too. But I'm still excited.
Some parts of the Festival that I am looking forward to:
-Meomi will be at the Kinokuniya Bookstores of America booth signing books
-Uber hip indie publishers will be present, including my personal San Francisco favorite, McSweeney's
-Journalist Jennifer 8. Lee will be on a panel about food culture (I just finished her book and loved it!)
-Children's book author Mo Willems will be doing story time (my all time favorite Mo Willems book is Knuffle Bunny)
-The Comix Strip, an entire exhibit devoted to graphic novels, comic books, and manga, will be having a barrage of comic book luminaries and exhibitors which should keep me happy for a while.

Looks like a geek-filled weekend--I can't wait.

Space Book

[Images from Yanko Design; Space Book by Jin-Hui Kim]

A living pop-up book! I love pop-up books. Now it's possible to live (well, kinda sort of live) in one thanks to designer Jin-Hui Kim. My Space Book would probably have more pink in it. And more teddy bears. I just can't imagine cutting all of that cardboard.
[Found via Yanko Design.]

Creatures and Critters Origami Craft Pad

[Image from Chronicle Books. Creatures & Critters Origami Craft Pad, by Randy Stratton, published by Chronicle Books]

Chronicle Books' new craft book, Creatures and Critters Origami Craft Pad, is hitting shelves on Wednesday. The book has 25 projects you can make with origami paper (and the book comes with the paper too!) I'm a sucker for anything that comes with paper.

I want my copy now!

Paper Wreaths

[All images+paper wreath by Mo. Paper wreath made with paper from...a Paper Source catalog, the 2007 calendar from Good on Paper, red polka-dot vellum, floral origami paper, and paper flowers from Paper Source's flower kit]

I don't remember when I was introduced to Haru's paper wreaths, but I do remember that I was immediately awed by how they utilized recycled paper and were so spectacularly unique and beautiful. What a great way to make something gorgeous out of paper that's just lying around! Under my desk, I have what I call my "craft box" which is code for "the leftovers from old art projects" and which isn't really a box but a big storage crate I got at Target. Last week as I was kicking the craft box while working at my desk, I got really ambitious and decided to make my own wreath. After making a royal mess on my living room table and peeling shards of dried mod podge off my fingers for a week, I finally finished! And I hung it up!

I guess you could say this wreath is an ode to Paper Source. The flowers are from a paper flower kit from Paper Source, the red polka-dot vellum is from Paper Source (leftover from holiday cards I made,) and the meat of the wreath is made up of pages from the wedding invitation catalog from Paper Source. As you can blatantly see, I'm really missing my favorite store since one doesn't exist in San Diego. Yay for paper wreaths, I think I'll make another one soon!

You can see Haru's gorgeous paper wreaths and purchase them at her Etsy store here.

Felt Pillows by Estela Lugo

[Images from Estela Lugo's page on Elsewares]

These are just TOO CUTE. These pillows, made by interior designer Estela Lugo, are new at Elsewares and are just dying to be bought.

Charley Harper ABC's

[All images from Ammo Books]

I love Charley Harper. I always wanted to get An Illustrated Life, but could never justify paying so much for an art book. So I would see it and look at it longingly, all 10 lbs. of it (it's one heavy book!) The same publisher, Ammo Books, is publishing Harper's work in a children's ABC board book. The book will be released on May 15th and looks so colorful and beautiful. Great for the little ones who are just learning their ABC's and being introduced to art, and great for the adults who want a small taste of Charley Harper's work without paying the price of An Illustrated Life. You can preorder Charley Harper ABC's here.

Cupcakes for Baby

[Images from Flickr users: Tri_Poodle; Cupcakes Nouveau; Clever Cupcakes]

My sister's belly is getting bigger, summer is approaching, and before we all know it, our family will have a really adorable new addition. I am planning the baby shower, and while I'm sure there are a lot of other things I could be planning right now, all I can think about is the fact that 1) it's a party, so therefore, 2) we get to eat CAKE. Cake cake cake cake cake. Cake. CAKE! It's gonna be one cupcake-tastic shower.

ReadyMade Goes Digital

[Image from ReadyMade Magazine, April/May 2008 Issue]

As if ReadyMade could get any hipper, the environmentally chic magazine is now putting its magazine on the web in honor of trees everywhere. The first installment is available online FOR FREE so if you've always flipped through ReadyMade and always thought of buying it but never actually did, here's the chance to have an entire issue to yourself. As an added bonus, when you sign up to read the paperless version, clothing company Nau will donate $1 to Climate Trust.  

Read the latest Green Design issue, without the price tag, here.

Dutch Door Press

[All images from Dutch Door Press: Mother's Day card (pink and green); Mother's Day card (pink and pink)]

Dutch Door Press just posted some beautiful Mother's Day cards that I'd like to snatch up for my mommy. While I peruse their website, I just can't help but be jealous of design duo Mara Murphy and Anna Branning. It seems too perfect to be making beautiful things with a good friend in a beautiful Victorian house in San Francisco and get paid for it. Where do I sign up?
Check out all of Dutch Door Press' cool designs here.

Spicing up the ol' 9 to 5

[All images from See Jane Work: Cherry Bombs Eraser; Gummy Bear Eraser/Sharpener; Smencils]

See Jane Work is having a domino deals sale (as in Domino Magazine.) You get 20% off on the entire site when you enter "domino" at the checkout. I think it's about time I add more fun office supplies to my desk, especially those gummy bear erasers/pencil sharpeners. I think I would need one in every color. Go See Jane Work to spice up your office.

Twigs & Honey

[All images from Twigs & Honey]

I've been following Myra Callan's shop on Etsy recently, and I'm totally smitten for her beautiful and eye-catching hair pieces. I generally wear nothing in my hair because I fidget like a five year old and usually can't handle leaving the hat/headband/whatever it is on my head. I think someone would have to pry one of Myra's designs off my head though--I'd probably never want to take it off because they're just too damn pretty. Check out Twigs & Honey here.

Ring Dome

[Ring Dome Milan (top and middle), Ring Dome New York (bottom), Minsuk Cho/Mass Studies]

If I ever had 1,500 hula hoops at my disposal, I would totally be making a hula dome. Last year, Mass Studies Architecture Studio made the installation in NYC for the 25th anniversary of Storefront for Art and Architecture. This year, they are making an even bigger dome in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in time for the Furniture Fair (April16-21) in Milan. Maybe I should have kept my prized pink-striped hula hoop. I think that color scheme would be much more interesting.

Found via Craftzine.