Favorites: Personalized Stationary (and GiveAway!)

Being slightly obsessed with paper goods, I love discovering unique and beautiful stationary. Here are a few exceptional sets I’ve stumbled across recently....

Hula Hoop stationary by Silhouette Blue: sweet, simple and fun

Butterfly stationary set by All Things Jenuine, featuring quilling – so cool -

and the font complements the design perfectly

From Red Stamp...

Gorgeous flowers with a gold foil bee: Blossom Deary stationary (above)

and

Understated with beautiful detail: Jockey Notes stationary (below)

A perfect color combination with bright, bold graphics:

Rabbit stationary by ScotiaMade

And now for the GiveAway! I started with a....

1. $ 50 gift certificate from Puro Papel (good toward any personalized stationary set)

And when I mentioned to Red Stamp, ScotiaMade, All Things Jenuine, and Silhouette Blue that their stationary would be on this list, they each contributed something fabulous to the GiveAway as well:

2. Two cards featuring amusing animal conversations (above) and a few flowery gift tags from ScotiaMade ($7 value)

3. A Lamy Tipo Rollerball Pen and Pink Bird Journal (below) from Red Stamp, ($22 value)

4. A colorful quilled thank-you card from All Things Jenuine ($3 value)

5. And a set of 20 Hula Hoop notecards from Silhouette Blue (as mentioned above) - your choice of name and color! ($25 value)

.... for a total GiveAway value of over $100!

Here’s how to enter:  check out any of the five sites just mentioned and find which beautiful/well-designed/unique item inspires you... leave a comment below with the site name, the name of your chosen item, and the link to that item! You may enter more than once, but each comment must link to a different item.

I’ll randomly choose 5 winners on Sunday 3/30 – each person will win one of the items listed above. (U.S. shipping addresses only, please, and the winners will be contacted via email.)  Note:  It may take several hours for your comment to appear as comment moderation has been enabled to prevent spam.

Have fun!

UPDATED 3/31:   The winners are PAB, Ellie, Deborah, Jennifer / The Word Cellar, and Doreen!

Poetry as art

As mentioned on my personal blog, April 17 is the first annual Poem In Your Pocket Day.  The idea is to carry a poem with you on that day and read it aloud whenever you like – with family, friends, colleagues, etc.  Or publish it on your blog.  Or spray paint it on your house.  Or use sidewalk chalk to create some disposable graffiti.  Or use wire like David Zalben:

And out one of my favorite books of all time...  "Mouse's Tale" from Alice in Wonderland:

Which poem will you choose?

Favorites: Recent print advertisements

Diamond rings on a ribbon from Tiffany:

Eye-catching and amusing Florida Grapefruit ad ("It has less than 100 calories per serving.  I burn that off just standing here staring at you.")

Claudia Schiffer modeling a Chanel dress (the pink and blue tints come from the other side of the page I scanned - if anyone knows how to prevent this bleed-through, let me know!):

An homage to Moulin Rouge – watches by Piaget:

I don’t know who designed these glasses, but the ad is simple and beautiful:

Jewelry among eye-poppingly luscious strawberries from Sazingg:

The ad design is nothing special, but referring to themselves as a Chocolatier is a clever move by LeVian:

I like the colors, the fading, and especially the palm tree detail at the bottom of this Cadillac ad:

And from Dr. Martens, this is the worst ad I’ve seen in a while - unoriginal, uninspiring, and totally blah:

Favorites: web sites for children

For months now I’ve been bookmarking sites for children that are truly delightful to visit. The sites below are well-designed, fun, clever, and probably just as interesting to you as to your children!

No mindless arcade-style games. No printable coloring pages with horrid clip-art-style graphics. They have no - or very limited - advertising. These sites display creativity, and can inspire conversation and imaginations!

Sites for the younger set (toddler and preschool):

Look at the amazing animals people have created by painting their hands.

Eye candy with substance... They Might Be Giants’ podcasts for kids: Apartment 4 and High 5.

News segment on a German polar bear cub being raised by zookeepers. My boys are obsessed with this one.

Gorgeous vintage cinematography in “Vinnie Puh,” the Soviet version of Winnie the Pooh. My boys don’t understand a word, but they love watching it!

Two clever – and somewhat addictive – music-related games at Creating Music.

Sites for the older set (elementary age):

Backbreaker is a clever poster depicting two people using their bodies to create the letters of the alphabet. Challenge your kids to do the same!

And – as I am a contributor - I must mention The Blue Dudes, a Smurf Photo Blog. Even though you might have to explain what Smurfs are to the younger generation, they’ll enjoy checking out what Smurfs do all day. (and they can take their own pictures of Smurfs and send them in for publication!)

“Draw” and listen to your own musical masterpiece - you control the tempo, notes, and instrument – it’s almost like finger painting!

An animal alphabet like you’ve never seen at Bembo’s Zoo.

....And for all ages, take a look at the book in the International Children’s Digital Library. You can narrow their database by age appropriateness, type of character, language, length of book, and genre. A wonderful way to learn about cultures all over the world.

More from the Miami Film Festival

Last Monday we continued our Miami Film Festival viewings with “El Bano del Papa / The Pope’s Toilet."  Screened at the Gusman Theatre...

playing the Mighty Wurlitzer organ before the show

....it’s a work of historical fiction based on the Pope’s visit to a remote Uruguayan village in 1988. “El Bano del Papa” is a beautifully shot film from two Uruguayan directors , one of which participated in a question and answer session – along with the two leading actors – after the film.

And then on Saturday we saw “Stranded – I’ve Come From A Plane That Crashed In The Mountains,” a powerful documentary about a 1972 airplane crash in the Andes.

The director came out for a few minutes before the film began and spoke a bit about the production, which was creative and highly effective in conveying the intensity of the story. A few of the Montevideo scenes were shot in the neighborhood where we stay when we visit.

The entire film is such a glimpse into the Uruguayan culture – the accents, gestures, architecture, landscapes. Although you’ll need a box of tissues to get though it, “Stranded” is well worth watching for this reason alone.