The Violet Hours

Time for Map Crafts

I'm so attracted to maps, both for the actual use (navigation) and for their design and craft aesthetic. Obviously I'm not alone in this, as maps have been decoupaged on everything from coasters to lampshades. But these crafts, like this amazing map dress by Elisabeth Lecourt, are taking maps to new destinations...sorry, it had to be said!

This looks crazy hard I know, but I think the artist just covered this cardboard deer head in maps. Love. Found via Babble.

 

This could be a very cool abstract embroidered design, but it's actually the Paris Metro system. By Needle & Compass on Etsy.

 

I love the link between transportation and navigation with this folded paper map boat by d. Sharp Journal.

 

A travel scrapbook made with map pages? Yes. Found via Scrapbook.com.

 

Ok, so I'm ending with the decoupaged map chair found via Pins for Your Home because I just love it.

Time for Keepsakes

I thought I'd just finish out this week of family/photo love with a little post about creative ways to preserve keepsakes. Right now, I have 2 boxes, one for each kid, where I toss all of the little meaningful objects from their short lives...their hospital bracelets, their Welcome to the World cards, their sonogram photos. At some point I'm going to need a new solution. Here are a few thoughts...

I'm so crazy about these lovely shadow boxes. They are just the right amount of delicate, with their soft colors and simple white edging. For the life of me, I can't figure out where they are from (if you know, leave a comment!), but I think they are pretty DIYable. Image via Pinterest.

 

Have you ever seen Darcy Miller's (from Martha Stewart Weddings) scrapbook shadow boxes? They're amazing.

 

I love the idea of this sweet book keepsake box for love letters, gift tags, or photographs. Image via One Sunny Afternoon.

 

And for the most nostalgic (read: sappy), I can't get enough of these clean and modern, enamel lockets. I'd love to wear a few together. (Husband, if you're reading, bookmark this.)

Time to Draw On Your Placemat

If there were a step-by-step guide to teaching patience at the toddler level, I'd buy the DVD, the book, the book-on-tape, and subscribe to the Twitter feed, Facebook updates, and Instagram posts. But, no matter how hard we try, dinners out, and sometimes even dinners in, require a delicate time balance between the pre-food entertaintment, food arrival, waiting for food to cool down, and then the digestion/wait-for-the-check black hole. Potential solution? Placemat entertaintment.

I have this awesome set of paper placemats called Let's Make Some Great Placemat Art. It's imaginiative and open-ended, but still too advanced for my 2.5 year old.



I love this hand-drawn/digital take on placemat messages, but we are still in the letter recognition phase, rather than the letter creation one. Note to self: save for age 5. Or my next dinner party. Via Habitat Kid. 

Alas, sometimes the right solution is the easiest one. Just toss down some brown paper and cups of crayons and let the madness take its course. I'll do anything to avoid the dinnertime Mickey Mouse Clubhouse videos on You Tube. Photo via Country Living.

Time for a Portfolio: James Hopkins

Styling shelves is a real talent, but James Hopkins takes it to a new level. By arranging and cutting into things, Hopkins creates his Vanitas installations from related groupings of everyday objects.

Hopkins says of these pieces in a Wallpaper article: "I see these shelves as tombstones to the current, ephemeral era in design because, while they look quite luxurious and modern now, next year they will already begin to look dated."

  

  

Each grouping is comprised of related objects, either by color or style. For example, in Shelf Life (top image), these are all items that would be found in a teenagers room, and point to the impermanence of objects and their persistence in memory. Other groupings include vintage objects or contemporary, design-forward items that Hopkins surrounds himself with.  

It's like making a painting on your bookcases (with a touch of social commentary). Baffling and amazing.

Time for a Portfolio: David Brownings

I've always been obsessed with the Real Simple paper constructionist, Matthew Sporzynski. David Brownings, an illustrator living in Bristol, has a similar talent with a little twist. Here's a sample of his work...

    

 

These are described on his site as boxes, but I'm not sure if they are usable or just amazingly cool.

Paper shoes...amazing. 

Pop-up books are totally under-appreciated. I love the sense of grandiosity in this illustration.

Time for Renegade Craft Fair Round Up

Even though it was a hundred degrees, with a hundred percent humidity and a threat of tornado, I made it to the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn yesterday. After passing many a silk-screened onesie booth, here were some of my fave finds...

There is something so precious about these little book charms by The Black Spot Books. 

I have always been a fan of The Small Object, so it was fun to see her whimsical products in person. 

 

If it's embroidered these days, I love it, which is why I was so drawn to the sweet products of Coral & Tusk.

Time for Knitted Nature

This is possibly the most random post subject ever, but once I saw the images from Jan Messent's Knitted Gardens (found on Vintage for Kids) I went on a search for more knitted flora and fauna.

It's like a little garden for a dollhouse. So beyond amazing!

I may need to get my mom (she's a knitter) started on this project stat! From Wary Meyers, from the 1978 book, the Needleworker's Constant Companion.

 

These knitted flower sculptures by Tatyana Yanishevsky remind me of the Venus Fly Trap from Little Shop of Horrors. 

My mom needlepointed (not knitted) this flower for the ring pillow at my wedding. She had a pillow made from fake moss and the rings tied on with the ribbon.

Time for Book Invitations

Our dear friends Aaron and Lindsay are getting married in May. They came to us months ago (and by us, I mean my husband and me) with the idea that they wanted to send books as their invitations. We all tossed around a bunch of ideas for a bunch of weeks, and here is the end result...

  

The bride and groom spent weeks collecting books, and refused to pay more than a dollar for any of them (a good thing since they had to send out over 90 of them). My very talented husband designed the printed matter, and I consulted on things like the pocket, the rounded corners, the ribbon, the wax seal, etc. We love the way it turned out, as did they!

Here are a few other book invites that caught my eye...

Jordan of Oh Happy Day designed this lovely invite for the now (sadly) defunct Cookie Nesting Blog. It was for a bookworm party for kids. So cute! (Read her post for her defense of cutting up a book.)

 

 

This is positively the most ambitious book invitation I've ever seen...they actually made the books. They began with the story of the bride and groom, and towards the end of the book, the reader would find the wedding invite and the perforated reply card. So much time and love went into these. I tip my hat to Nikki and Nick. Found on Merriment Design.

Time for a Cozy Fort

After a crazy-long and crazy-busy week, all I want to do is crawl into one of these with a good book and a pillow. And a box of Junior Mints.

Found via The The Bean and The Bear, via A Beautiful Mess

Via Booooooom from their fort contest.

via Anna Inghardt

found via loveology

Check out Oh Hello, Friend for even more cozy, curl-upable nooks. Have a lovely weekend!

Time for Holding onto Childhood

I had a favorite stuffed animal as a child, a dog with a white body and floppy brown ears. My sister and I had the same one, but mine was so worn that the ears were virtually bald. Now it's long gone, and all I have to remember that dog is this one photo that my sister printed a few years ago from the original slide. (That's me on the left when the pup was still new. And really, I have no idea why we were watching TV with the dogs between our legs.)

Kids get so attached to their toys, but it's impossible to try to keep them all for posterity. Here are a few ways to make a lovey last...

    

Have a custom portrait painted of your child's toy. Visit Customtoyportrait.com. 

Fill your child's beloved with beans to make a bookend or a doorstop. Found on Real Simple.

   

Make a sweet picture book with photos of your child's toys. Maybe it can help teach them to read. Spotted on Party Perfect.