creative inspiration

beyond design

| heather parlato


[photo by mattel]

not that i would buy specialty barbies or anything, but these dolls based on the characters of the tv show mad men are far more appealing to me than my 70s revisionist barbies & kens i grew up with. additionally, these dolls are at least in my same industry.

food & wine


[photo: 365daysofkale.com]

i know i’ve been on a crazy kale kick. i just planted 2 varieties in the garden after watching my mom’s kale plants last right through the entire year. then, a friend posted this link to 365daysofkale.com dedicated to kale recipes, so i have an endless supply to try. [thanks @zoetica].

can-free cooking made easy: avoid BPA and save money at the same time. i have been buying dried and sprouted beans from some farmer’s market sellers [and sprouting my own] mostly just to support local food, but greenlagirl.com has a point, BPA is found in many canned foods, and a great way to avoid them is to eat fresh and make your own preserved foods in glass jars.

dale cruse continues his get to know a grape series with bluebell and bobal. he also suggests this super-cute moleskine wine journal as a helpful way to keep notes on what you’re tasting.

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

typography


this display face sans merci by SMeltery reminds me of so many vacations, postcards, cafe signs and posters i’d see along my travels. i think this typeface does a great job of recalling the flavor of many european visual type styles.

want a font created from your handwriting? fontifier will provide you with the tools to create one with simple instructions and costs just $9 per font.

design industry


the earth glass project is turning glass bottles and containers into upcycled jewelry. some of these pieces are quite exquisite, and as a wine lover, i think it would be really cool to have one of these rings [each one is a different size].

box bottle bag is a new book by andrew gibbs inspired as a best-of collection from his blog the dieline where he collects samples of all types packaging design. if you’re into packaging design, or you have a product that needs packaging design, this book & blog are a great survey of packaging material everywhere!

color

the 50 best color sites for designers from print magazine is a great list of everything from color palette software, usafe matches for readability, and help with color theory.

creativity

as creatives, we have to keep a steady stream of tricks and workarounds to keep things feeling fresh so we can prevent burnout. 5 ways to regain your creative joy from freelanceswitch.com outlines some simple practices you can implement so creative flow isn’t such a struggle.

beyond design

| heather parlato

rsvp to view an advance screening of DIRT! [thanks greenlagirl.com].

diy


[photo: gregory han]
how to clean and deodorize with tea from <a href="apartmenttherapy.com

green your dental hygene from re-nest.com. i’m always looking for workarounds, and dental implements are one of the harder things to do yourself.

food

if you’re in california and have lemons [or eating seasonally and want to keep them through to the next season] here’s a great way to put them up: how to make preserved lemons from thekitchn.com.

i’m doing a lot of cookbook cooking this week, so copyright prevents me from sharing those recipies, but i did pull out this old favorite from a few years ago fish with curried cucumber & tomato salad from epicurious.com.

drinks!


[photo: missginsu.com]
make your own citrus bitters from missginsu.com. i make a lot of extracts and infused vodkas, so i think this bitters prep will be a nice addition to my pantry & eventually my cocktails!

i bought blood oranges this week specifically to make this! spicy blood orange jalapeño margaritas from thekitchn.com

dale cruse continues his get to know a grape series this week with blanc du bois.

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

design industry


[underconsideration.com credits photos to notcot.com]

kraken press kit from underconsideration.com. the black ink of the kraken was the inspiration for this black spiced rum. this press kit is stunning! read & view more in the original post.

HOW conference early bird deadline is friday, march 12! i’m making my final decision in the next 24 hours, but it looks like i’m going to add the HOW conference to my creative freelancer conference and have a super ridiculous design week in denver this june!

the power of colour in brand design another look at how much impact color has in a strong brand.

scent as design symposium from howdesign.com. i am fascinated with this new area of study into scent as design and signed up for this one day symposium. curious!

HOW and Print magazine have formed a partnership in design leadership with AIGA. i’m happy to hear that my favorite tenets of the industry are working together in a leadership role for designers everywhere.

make your own graph paper. i like funny tools like this, this site will allow you to generate a pdf sheet of graph paper to whatever specs you like.

typography


[image from jessicahische.com]

jessica hische, and illustrative initial every day is a project by jessica hische where she illustrates a decorative letter every work day. each one is quite extraordinary!

alphabattle! from lettercult.com. post up your best examples of each letter and join in on the fun.

mostardesign is offering 25% off all their fonts at myfonts.com through april 10.

nature


[photo by zota]

the santa monica office of sustainability and environment is holding a sustainable landscape design contest for their demonstration gardens on 3200 airport avenue. interesting!

beyond design

| heather parlato

los angeles


i love ok go, and this amazing video was filmed in echo park!

i have to admit, i’m totally fascinated by this documentary about kayaking the LA river.

diy


[photo: made from scratch]

diy cat table made from scratch from re-nest.com. i love this idea for a cat lounge area, using salvaged materials & giving cats a safe outdoor retreat to visit.

how to make scented linen powders from apartment therapy. i’m a total sucker for old-fashioned touches like this, and custom scented linens sound divine.

food


[photo by: gail albert halaban]

if you’re eating seasonally, don’t pass up this caramelized cumin roasted carrots recipe from epicurious.com. delicious to eat, and scents up the kitchen nicely!

wine

more from the get to know a grape series from drinksareonme.net. this week’s grapes are bastardo, black malvasia, and black muscat. happy varietal drinking!

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

design industry

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9084072&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

2010/01 Michael Bierut from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

eco-friendly business envelopes from green la girl. if you’re thinking of running a stationery package or designing one for a client, be sure to get the latest on eco-friendly envelope options!

top 10 web sites for designers [march 2010] from how magazine.

starting a successful link-building campaign from the marketing mix blog. boost your own search ranking with an intelligently-planned link campaign.


[photo: fortmakers]

fortmakers: blankets & quilts re-imagined from apartment therapy. nana spears and naomi clark use blankets and quilts found at thrift stores and flea markets to make these artfully repurposed blankets. cool!

branding

caribou coffee leaps into the future from underconsideration.com. i think this retooling of caribou coffee’s identity is really nice, and i even disagree with armin, i think the caribou doesn’t look like a jumble in all it’s trying to communicate, and reads as a great rendering.

beyond design

| heather parlato

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3537180&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

The East Side of Los Angeles on a Sunny Day from clark vogeler on Vimeo.

diy


[photo by sarah rae trover]

homemade scented laundry booster from apartment therapy. i have so many essential oils and fresh herbs, this sounds like a really fun project to experiment with.


[photo by romulo yanes]

i’ve been eating lots of kale this winter and wanted to profile some particularly interesting recipes i found:
lacinato kale and ricotta salata salad [pictured above], and kale and white bean soup [with sausage] from epicurous.com.

another deliciously simple recipe i tried [also from epicurious.com] was this fish tagine with tomatoes, capers and cinnamon which boasts a short list of ingredients and simple preparation. i had mine with tilapia.

if you’re looking for eco-friendly seafood, santa monica seafood has moved and expanded to include a dining area and oyster bar. i went to check it out a few months ago and had some oysters and clam chowder, and my friend and i agreed the chowder was the best we’d ever had. thanks to greenlagirl.com i now know they offer a sustainability list so shoppers can make personal choices about what fish to buy. fantastic!

wine


listen to vincent price talk about wine in this 1977 recording, from theendofbeing.com

dale cruse continues his many part series on grape varieties. catch up on aurore, auserrois blanc, baco noir and barbera this week.

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

typography


font aid for haiti from the how design blog. two great things packaged together: love of ampersands and supporting relief for haiti. this set of 400 ampersands will retail for $20 with the proceeds benefiting doctors without borders.


justin perricone has made this beautiful poster listing all the ingredients in hot pockets in beautiful lettering. makes you think about just what’s in those suckers!


hat trick design’s typographic deck of cards & poster from underconsideration.com. these cards use typographic letter forms to create some variation of the referential suit. quite lovely!

design industry


[photo: http://www.helkatdesign.co.uk]
handprinted pillows by helkat design from apartment therapy. get regal! these pillows are really cute.


flaunt, by armin vit and bryony gomez-palacio from the how design blog. “Written and designed by creative power couple Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Flaunt is an exploration of what it takes to make a great portfolio. The book will start shipping on Feb. 22, but the digital version is available now.” looks lovely!


vintage-inspired ceramics by heyday design from apartment therapy. these porcelain recreations of vintage jars and glassware are exquisite!

craft


[photo: psimadethis.com]
how to make adler-inspired pottery from apartment therapy. inspired by the vintage porcelain above and want to put your own spin on it diy-style? i thought this project looked really cute and a great way to reuse containers while creating a decor theme.


[photo: blog.creativekismet.com]
paper bag inspiration booklet from creative kismet via the craft magazine blog. no matter how you decorate it, i think this inspiration “caterpillar” book is such a cool fold for a colorful piece, i wanted to share it.

nature


[photo by peggy archer]
it’s time to get outside and see the wildflowers! thanks <a href="
greenlagirl.com for the info!

beyond design

| heather parlato

diy


[photo: sarah rainwater]

10 surprising, green & thrifty old school hacks from apartment therapy. i love this list of simple home remedies.

food


[photo: emily ho]

citrus salad with lemongrass syrup — a deliciously seasonal fresh treat from the kitchn

citrus tilapia from epicurous.com — we’re enjoying this tasty dish this week!

scanwiches! it’s just what it sounds like: sandwiches face down on the scanner.

wine

recycle wine bottles into swanky cups — so cool! who has a wine bottle glass cutter? from seriousaboutwine.co.za

get to know a grape: arneis from drinksareonme.net. i am really enjoying this series from dale cruse’s blog spotlighting different grape varieties. this is 7th in a series, so here are links to the first 6 as well: aligote, alicante bouschet, aleatico, albarino, agiorgitiko, and aglianico. might be fun to drink along with them as an alphabetical wine study!

this week i pulled a bottle from the reserve cellar to enjoy: kenneth volk‘s heirloom negrette [2004] i picked up on a trip last year through the central coast. it’s a unique and delicious varietal, dark in color. it has a very soft, smooth mouth feel with notes of leather and blackberry, maybe even memories of springtime sunsets on the finish. i might suggest pairing it with a steak or broiled pork chops, but i’m enjoying sipping it so much, i think it’s a good opportunity to try a rare varietal on its own. kenneth volk wines are an exceptional treat, make it a stop on any tasting tour on the central coast. this wine is only available at the winery.