pattern pals #3: tropical

That's right friends, it's time for another themed pattern! This week it's going to be around 30 degrees in Minnesota - AKA TROPICAL. Seriously guys, I've been wearing a VARIETY of coats... instead of just the one that is the warmest. It's a miracle, maybe spring really is coming early this year.

To celebrate, Katie and I are dreaming of travel plans and tropical climates. I have a very specific scenario in mind for this pattern: me sitting by a pool that is scattered with fragrant, massive flowers and plants with a tropical drink in hand. That comes through, right?

You know the deal, here come the freebies: repeating tile / iphone wallpaper / ipad wallpaper

I'm also tossing around the idea of including a dream outfit inspired by each pattern from now on.. what do you guys think? This one obviously had to be a beach-worthy outfit...

bag / swimsuit / tunic / sunglasses / sandals

now someone stop me from online swimsuit shopping....

space bar

photo from the last space party by alli

My awesome buddy/illustration husband Bill has decided to throw another SPACE PARTY. The last one was years ago, and all I can remember about it is that it was filled with stars and cocktails of a curious colors and SO many good costumes (did I mention that I won the costume contest?). The party may not be for another month, but I've already got my mind on what I'm wearing.

Thoughts so far: A little Barbarella cheesiness (THAT HAIR) mixed with Rodarte star hair pins and more stars stars stars......

SOURCES, CLOCKWISE: marchesa luisa casati // barbarella // eric traoré for vogue paris, september 1999 // rodarte photographed by frou frou

flower child

Last night we had a windchill advisory. There's ice that refuses to melt EVERYWHERE, limiting my shoe options to one very tired pair of boots. It's supposed to snow again on Friday... I'm tired of the winter!

A quick job from a favorite client of mine was exactly what I needed last week - she wanted spring florals in bright colors. Can do! Now you, little blog, get to enjoy some much needed vitamin d (if only my low vitamin d levels could be boosted by looking at a picture instead of medication tralala).

Since I'm addicted to the magic of seeing my work put on an iphone case like magic, I'm also making this available as a print and a case on Society6! FREE SHIPPING TILL SUNDAY DUDES, GO FORTH AND PURCHASE!!

ooooh, ahhhh

those who wonder

After a big ol' Sex and the City (and laundry) marathon last night with Alli and her dude I was inspired to draw this most questionable outfit of Carrie's for a little Monday morning warm up.

OPTIONAL (for everyone but Katie) POP QUIZ: What episode is this getup from? hint! Her hair is actually straight in this episode.

heart on sleeve

Look, guys. I know you're probably sitting at your computer, a latte in hand, scanning the blogs and rolling your eyes at post after post of heart filled valentine's day themed product roundups and DIY ideas and who knows what else. 

But I'm kind of a sucker for this stuff, so you'll just have to deal with it, won't you? JUST KIDDING JUST KIDDING, I love you, please don't stop reading my blog. This will be my last love-flavored barfy barf post, okay?

The boy and I are playing it casual today - trivia around the corner with lots of beer and maybe even some fried walleye (that's Minnesota's state fish, doncha know). I'm not quite sure what I'll wear yet, which gives me an excuse to play around with dream "casual date" outfit ideas.

everything under $100 version!

clockwise: boots / shirt / hat / nail polish / rings / skirt / purse

spendy version!

clockwise: purse / shirt / jeans / shoes / necklace

pattern pals #2: vday

I have a new pattern for PATTERN PALS! Katie and I decided it would be too much fun to pass on a v-day themed pattern. Mine is of the French variety, avec les macarons et les... hand drawn type. And you know what patterns means right? FREEEEEBIEEESSSSS:

iphone wallpaper / ipad wallpaper / seamless tile

This time around I'm also going to point you towards my brand new (very tentative, I have to admit I don't know exactly what I'm doing here) Society6 shop! That's right, you can buy an iphone case or a greeting card WITH THIS VERY PATTERN ON IT! Say whaaaa...

 

Check out Katie's pattern - she's givin' ya TWO for the price of ONE!

love-love

Over coffee and cookies at Parka (A+, have to go back for food!) my "art husband" Bill and I came up with the idea of releasing a Perfect Pair font in time for Valentine's Day. Since neither of us have the necessary software to make system fonts, our little baby handset font was born. Perfect Pair The Font is an all caps collection of vector letters; each letter has two versions, one for Bill and one for me!

We made a few extra swatches and faces, so you can go to town on making your perfect valentine's day card!! Seriously, as long as you have a vector editing software like Adobe Illustrator it will be SUPER EASY for you to make a valentine - for instance I just went onto my instagram feed and found a nice picture, came up with a punny line, slapped a few extra bits on there and VOILA. Ch-ch-check it out:

Not a valentine's person? Worry not, we think this font will work for a lot of applications. And hey - it's ONLY A DOLLAR. That's right. We wanted as many people as possible to be able to afford this without making it totally free, so get this font while you can!

gem is my name

all images in this post were found on mineralists

So I was really into rocks when I was little. This, of course, was the natural progression from when I loved dinosaurs when I was even younger - I mean, fossils are rocks, and oh look! There are all these other crazy cool rocks out there! In my memory my entire 4th grade class was obsessed with rocks and we would trade them and stuff, but that might just be me trying to reconcile that I am forever a huge dork.

Anyway, I've taken a liking to these crazy contraptions of nature again - although unfortunately this time around my interests lay more in the aesthetic than the scientific. I need a quick crash course in minerals so I don't feel completely fake about it. Anybody wanna teach me rocks?

In the meantime I've started following mineralists on tumblr. They have the most amazing selection of rock photos from all sorts of sources around the globe, all labeled and linked back to to the source if possible! If you're also into "gems" (gems are the new cats, doncha know) I'd hiiiihgly recommend following these guys.

Here are some of my recent faves. That smokey quartz/black specularite up on the top left is my all time most wanted.

ring bearer

Did you guys catch that excellent Beyoncé concert / game of hand egg last night? Man, what a blast. I seem to be enjoying televised sports more and more these days, although I STILL don't quite understand how football works. Each year someone has to explain it to me.

In order to pump myself over Queen Bey and her glory I put on some of her bests on Spotify and loaded up.... Lord of the Rings online. Yeah okay, I've been playing it a little after my brother and his lady convinced me that I should give it a shot. It's free, okay? Any video game where you can design a character is already something I want to play, and it's free and you can like.. fight BEARS. 

So here's my character Nanfrid (Norse for "brave and fair", doncha know) with a vial of green dye. She loves dying her clothes and fighting bears and spiders. 

Now that I got that nerdery out of the way, I've got some exciting stuff waiting in the wings that I can't WAIT to show you. Just hold your horses, little bloggert!

In the meantime please enjoy these photos of my coat rack during last night's super bowl party and a cat I saw at a cat show last weekend.