Blog Tour: World's Smallest Post Service + A Giveaway

I'm so excited to be kicking off the official "blog tour" for Lea Redmond's genius World’s Smallest Post Service stationery kit...


The project, a collaboration between Lea and Chronicle Books, is artful, thoughtful and exceedingly clever. It feels like the ultimate reflection of Lea's childhood passion for creating whimsical things combined with her interest in "the ways that artifacts and words can catch our attention and invite us to have life-changing insights". I think ultimately what makes Lea's art so unique and special is her insatiable curiosity and her highly diverse background (among other endeavors, she's worked at Alice Water's The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California, served an AmeriCorps stint on the Oregon coast at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and assisted a scent alchemist.

The kit is little box packed neatly with all the supplies you need to create insanely cute diminutive letters and gift boxes, including a fine-tipped micron writing pen, mini writing sheets + envelopes, seals, mini gift boxes, Kraft wrapper paper, a (brilliant) miniature "newspaper", twine, postage stamps and special delivery stickers.

It's sweet, small perfection.

To celebrate the blog tour, Chronicle books is giving away a kit to one of my readers. Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday, December 11th, and I'll announce a winner next Monday.

*For those of you who can't wait, you can buy the kit here...And be sure to take a peek at day two of the blog tour tomorrow on Refinery 29!

An Aha! Moment and A Minted Giveaway...

This year's holiday cards (yep, there are two of them) via Minted.

When we did our family photo session with the lovely Kelly a couple of weeks ago, my goal was to procure a snap to use for our holiday card. I did not have high hopes.

My consternation had nothing to do with the photographic prowess of Kelly -- she's an immensely talented gal that one. No, it was solely due to the fact that, well...my family sucks at taking family photos. Truly. Oh and when we're in the act of sucking at taking them, I have the tendency to drop the f-bomb. A lot. It's not a good scene.

I won't bore you guys with ruminations over why this particular seemingly innocuous act sends the Taylor crew into such a tizzy, but I will say that I'm dealing with the reality by taking a decidedly more mellow approach about the whole enterprise. Basically I've stopped caring if we end up looking crazy (reasoning that looking crazy in a family photo adds to its charm). I'm just going to go with that and move on, ok?

Family photos complete, now it's time to select one for the card... Enter more consternation. I want to go with the crazy photo with the girlies wearing masks. It feels fun, irreverent, real. The rest of my family (i.e. Bryan and my mother who I've called in for opinions) thinks recipients of our holiday card will actually want to see the girlies faces. Hours of waffling ensue: do I go with the photo that bucks convention, or do I go the more traditional (but less fun) route and opt for the standard family photo? Ah the agony, the indecision.

Then on the way to work this morning, like magic (magic, that is, to a completely obtuse person like myself), I have the aha! moment. Why don't I order some of each... I'll send the "zany" version to folks we see all the time under the assumption that they know what the girlies look like and reserve the more traditional version for relatives and friends afar. A no brainer, yes??

So now it's your turn (and there's something in this for you). Give me your thoughts on the whole holiday card enterprise. Do you agonize over this as much as I do?

In return for sharing your tales, I'll pick two of you to get 50 free personalized holiday cards courtesy of Minted*. Just leave your comment by end of day next Tuesday the 22nd and I'll announce a winner on the 23rd...

Good Luck!

* A note on Minted -- This is the third consecutive year I've used Minted for our holiday cards, and I have to say they manage to make it an altogether amazingly easy process (quite a feat given my holiday card travails). Suffice to say, I'm a fan.

Loving...

This supremely adorable (and über creative -- she's a print designer for Anthropologie as well as a textile-printer and fashion designer; he's an amazing painter) couple. (via the strange attractor)

Quite possibly the most genius execution of a Blurb book ever. (It's Emily's handiwork -- of course ;-)

Georgia Gray's colorful, happy, intensely lovely work...

This beautiful, artful Brooklyn shop...total perfection, no?


This completely covet-worth YSL "hippie" bag...love. (via garance)

These notebooks -- Yet more goodness from Studio Fludd...

The sweet handmade dolls from hijkids + Simpli Jessi Dolls -- especially love the vintage Liberty print fabric they used for all the little dresses...

(p.s. -- hijkids is one of my newest Simple Lovely sponsors, but I've long loved her things. See here and here too...)

image via emilie inc.

The genius + super cute (and totally eco) Sea Bags (+ there's a little Sea Bags giveaway going on over at the Willows Home and Garden...)

Loving...

Etten Eller's swoon worthy pieces...this green one is at the tippy top of my list...

This incredibly sweet "sugar cookie" dress...

Traci's always gorgeous photos...but this one, well this one is especially dreamy, no?

This infinitely chic mother/daughter duo... My girlies and I never look quite this pulled together. Let's just say we thrive on our disheveledness... (photo via Jak and Jil, spotted over on Pretty Mommy too)

Linea Carta's seriously fantastic egret napkins...

Clare Rojas' lovely work for Chronicle Books.

Babette's leather feather necklace...I'd love this to layer this with the Etten Eller beauty above...I'm all about the necklaces these days!

Rifle Paper Company's perfect monogrammed flat cards...


And last but (definitely) not least, sweet, brave, lovely Liam...per his equally sweet, brave and lovely (and immensely talented) mom Lynn:

"Liam is a happy bright, charming five year old. He also happens to have a rare neuromuscular disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2.

We are currently raising money to provide Liam with a fully accessible bathroom at our house this summer.

If you can help by donating funds to Liam's Trust or by passing the word along - via email, your blog, twitter. Every bit - small or large - will make a difference. Thank you."

Learn more here.

6 Things + A Prize

I haven't done a tag in a while, so when Maria asked me to I decided to give it another whirl...

But as I was thinking about what I would share I kept drawing a blank. There isn't a lot about me that I haven't already told you. I'm a bit of an open book. Maybe I should occasionally consider cultivating a little mystery, no? ;-)

Here's what I (finally) came up with... It's not that exciting, but it's six random things nonetheless. (Sorry I couldn't pull off seven Maria.)

1. I’m obsessed with the space program. Anything about NASA is infinitely exciting to me.
   


2. I hate bell peppers…red, green, yellow – just not a fan (much to the dismay of my sweet hubby who loves them more than life itself.)
   


3. My two all-time favorite songs are “Police and Thieves” by the Clash and “This Must be the Place (Naïve Melody)” by the Talking Heads.
   


4. When I was 10 years old I met Pat Benatar in the bathroom at a recording studio in L.A. She told me she liked my outfit (turquoise capri pants and a Hawaiian print shirt tied at the waist -- remember I was 10.) It was the defining moment of my childhood.
   


5. I’m (a smidge) afraid of heights…let’s just say I have no desire to ever skydive, bungee jump, swing from a trapeze or participate in any other height required death defying activity.
   


6. I’m obsessed with notebooks. I have an embarrassing amount of them stashed away and am constantly jotting down little lists. I suppose it's my way of balancing the fact that between my day job and my blog I spend far, far too much time on a computer.

Rather than picking a few other bloggers to do this, I thought it would be more fun to hear from you guys + there's a little prize in it for you...

Just leave a comment with your six random things on this post by next Friday and in honor of #6 on my list, I’ll pick one of you to receive Joy’s gorgeous agate notebook above.

Happy weekend! Hope it's a splendid one.

Loving...

The fact that DwellStudio is donating 100% of their dwellstudio.com sales to Unicef for aid to Haiti today + they're doing a dollar-for-dollar match.

Totally fantastic, no?

For the record, I just bought that grey and yellow pillow pictured above...loving that too.

Jason Phillips' insanely lovely/cool gold log stool... (thanks Lucia)

Jane and Judy's gorgeous vintage jewelry...

This bag from Anthro...

(It's sadly no longer available on their site -- I've had it bookmarked forever, and now, well...it's gone.)

I have dreams about this bag.

Satsuma Press' sweet new valentines, because I'm always a sucker for anything sporting a bike.

It's Calendar Time...

When it comes to holiday gift giving, I’m a major planner (oh who am I kidding, when it comes to pretty much everything, I’m a major planner… Let’s just say I’m not so much a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl, but I digress…)

I start mapping out my holiday gift strategy each year pretty early in November. I sleuth around for things I love and make a big list to keep me on track. I don't necessarily finish all my shopping early (call me crazy, but there’s something festive about making a mad dash on the 23rd for that one last gift), but if I have my game plan set and at least know what I want to get for everyone on my list, I won't end up desperately buying something I don't really love at the last minute.

Groovy, artful calendars are one of my very favorite gifts to give (and get ;-) so I start poking around for favorites early (the best ones always sell out fast.)

Here's what I've got bookmarked. Of course the hard part is trying to resist buying one of each for myself too...

I'm a huge fan of Flora's work, so a calendar filled with it is pretty much perfection...

Incredibly cool "Friends of Book Arts" calendar from Genesee Center for the Arts...

Always love Suann's simple, elegant, incredibly lovely work... and her calendar is no exception.

Tiny calendar by the paper thieves. It's on a shipping tag... so clever!

I'd hang this one from Oddball Press in my kitchen...(in case you're wondering.)

Satsuma Press' lovely, organic calendar (think feathers and botanicals) + the packaging is *almost* as pretty...

I've already expressed my love for this one from SeeSaw Designs, but it's so good I had to include it again...

Completely digging the concept (Odd Birds of LA) and the Hugo Guinness-esque drawings on this one from Krank Press.

Totally gorgeous accordion style calendar from Brooklyn Bookbinder. The covers are all so amazing, I'm not sure I could pick...

Good Mail

Some of the lovely mail I've received of late -- Holiday lookbooks from UO

When Bryan and I first started dating, we were long distance for several months (him in Austin, me in Boulder), regularly sending each other epic, fat love letters. Mail was a huge deal then, as I didn't have a computer so we couldn't send e-mail and we couldn't afford daily long distance phone calls. I literally waited for (stalked) the mail lady every day to see what would arrive from my love.

A few years later we're e-mailing and texting like mad... and all of the sudden mail is a total drag -- all bills and junky catalogs. Don't get me wrong, I like technology (it's how I make my living in fact, so I like it a lot), but deep down I'm a closet Luddite -- we have an ancient TV, regularly use a record player and no, I don't have an iPhone (yikes!) + I like paper... a lot.

But ironically, one of the interesting and happy side effects of having a blog (which is essentially all about using technology to share ideas, inspiration, etc...) is my snail mail has gotten infinitely more exciting. I occasionally get sweet notes and fun treats from blogging friends, nice books and really cool, creative PR materials... I have to say I'm kinda stalking the mailman again.

I'm also constantly inspired by all the gorgeous paper products out there...they just make you want to send mail, no??

Yet more recent mail loveliness... Frankie's Photo Book and Afternoon Tea cookbook, which are both incredibly, incredibly cool.