branding

[image: fastcodesign.com]
lovely packaging for specialty items from michelle obama’s vegetable garden, designed by cronan give home grown handmade items a classy look.

typography

[image: iron accents]
if you’ve been looking for more ways to bring the signage you see on the street into your home, re-nest.com has a great profile on a company that can bring them to you: hanging wall letters from iron accents. cute!

packaging

[image: thedielinewine.com]
here’s my favorite for wine packaging this week from thedielinewine.com, the tentacle designed by john schall.

design industry

check out part 2 of my creative co-working adventures on the creative freelancer blog!

a really informative piece from rochelle fainstein of sterling brands on how wine packaging can become more sustainable in both materials and manufacturing: message in the bottle: repackaging wine, from thedielinewine.com

beyond design

you’ve probably noticed i write about food and diy projects, and i put up a fair amount of preservation projects. an interesting piece on this growing movement is home canners wield pickles against food giants, from utne reader. my interest is first to buy fresh food with as little interference in the farmer’s profit margin as possible, and second to replace commodified convenience foods with my own preservations from scratch. i find the assertion by rachel lauden that preservation projects are “…making too many women slaves to their stovepots and canning jars…” completely absurd and sexist. it’s a lifestyle choice and an activity that is hugely rewarding. i love my stovepots and canning jars!

speaking of food, i got myself 2 bunches of dandelion greens from the market this week and went looking some delicious things you can do with them at epicurious.com. i typically stay away from salads with added sugar or bacon [though there are some good ones out there], so here are my picks: dandelion greens with hot olive oil dressing which is a way to wilt the greens without cooking them, greek country salad which you can do with any combination of the listed greens in the recipe, and the standout for me, wilted greens with garlic and anchovies. i love anchovies, this is just what i’m looking for!