We Blink and Shine

I'm incredibly inspired by what's happening on my blogroll today. Do you ever have one of those mornings where you scroll through your feed and are just blown away by what people are posting? It seriously makes me want to run home, throw open all the windows, play some good music, and get down to making something.

Unfortunately, I still have 6.5 hours to clock on my work day at the office, and I probably won't be throwing open the windows any time soon, considering it's February. So. I'll share some of the stuff that has me jazzed this morning, and maybe that will be enough for now.

1. Rebecca from The Clothes Horse has a side project called Dead Paper that brings together a few of my favorite things: collages, old photographs, and poetry. I might be browsing for the rest of the day.

2. I love this branding for Egg Unlimited, featured on designworklife.

3. These picnic tips from Nest Enterprises have me really pining for spring

4. Hannah at Sparrow and Spark continues to direct me toward awesome websites and artists, and the People and their Hats project by Elena Alhimovich is no exception.

5. The blog world is exploding with Valentine-y goodness that I usually resist--but I might have to make an exception for these heart dishes from Alder & Co., featured on Design*Sponge.

6. I have a serious office supply problem, and Oh Happy Day's roundup of goodies from HAY is helping it along far too much. 

I'm feeling full of poetry and wishes today. It's a great thing to feel.

P.S. I know I promised pictures of my workspace. They're coming, I swear.

Off Days, Days Off

Howdy, folks. This week has kind of flown by, and I didn't want to go a whole week without checking in. Monday I landed myself with some kind of mild food poisoning, which was awesome, so Tuesday I stayed at home to rest, and thought "Man, I can do all kinds of art stuff while I'm sipping chicken noodle soup and gatorade on the couch."

Fisherman, graffiti in Sevilla, Spain 2007

Not so. I spent most of the day sleeping off the nausea and watching bad television. I have some posts coming up about design trends gone wrong, an update on the book cover project, and the self-taught vs. classroom-taught designer debate--but for today, I bring you a quick list of what caught my eye during this morning's blog roll.

• Lately, I've found Before and Afters to be a little bit of the same-old same-old, but this sofa made from old doors on Design*Sponge made me wish I had thought of it first. 

• These block printed note cards by by Kate Sutlive of the Etsy shop Love & Reason reminded me that I have a block printing project of my own that I need to complete--and left me envious of their sharp composition.

• And I don't have much to say about these photorealistic portraits by Omar Ortiz, except that they made my eyes fall out of my head. If anyone finds them rolling about on the floor, could you please give them a good spit shine and return them to me? Thanks. 

So that's all for me, at the moment. Tomorrow, I'm heading to North Carolina for a four day weekend to visit a dear friend of mine, so perhaps some photographs will be in order. Hopefully, I'll be able to send in my entry to the Re-Covered books contest before I go.