things are so crazy around here guys… but i promise the slow posting isn’t here to stay. after a good night’s sleep i feel better, but still playing catch-up. (inbox, yikes). i saw this beautiful blue & white pottery in Inside Out magazine—my favorite read these days—and had to share! it’s by sandra bowkett and has me on the lookout for other simple, modern, blue & white ceramics. know of any others to check out?
i wish i could pick up one of each! these quilts would brighten up my bedroom, and the hand-stitching makes me want to pull out my zakka sewing book. quilts from sally campbell, who has an interview here.
Petit Poulailler is an etsy shop with a huge collection of vintage lithographs, magazine pages, and chromolithographs. I love them all, but those top two are my absolute favorites.
links to individual prints: Farm Girl Fashion / Blanche Fisher Wright children’s illustrations / What Parisian Ladies Wear / Antique Warblers / Ferns / Musk Mallow
Well, go ahead and add “clothing label designer” to my list of dream jobs. Dan Gneiding (Grayhood) has designed a bunch of tags and labels for Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie. I catch myself checking out the tags in those stores all the time—so beautiful—and I’m happy to have found Dan’s blog so that I can read all about one of the designers behind them.
Dan also made this pretty paper Q, which you can purchase here.
{via fancy frills}
Hi Mint readers! It’s Margot back with week 7 of Howdy Do It! This week I’ve got some mixtape love which hopefully you’ll dig.
People always say you’re supposed to take regular breaks when you work. But my “brakes” only happen because I got distracted and, oops, there goes an hour. Or three. Which I then try and post-rationalize so I don’t feel bad about losing so much time when I told myself I would be working. So this week I’m trying to actually build in downtime and see what happens. And to aid in my attempt, I’ve put together a short 38-minute mix to help me stick to the schedule.
I got this idea after reading about the Pomodoro Technique and here’s how it works: 38 minutes of the hour is devoted to complete and total concentration on a task. No email, Facebook, or iChat. Nothing else but working. Once the mix is over then I take the next 10 minutes to do whatever I want and then 10 minutes to reassess my progress and to plan the next task on my to-do list. My thinking is that if I delineate a specific time period that is fairly brief, I will be able to stay on task. And by working in cycles, you still have a sense of accomplishment but won’t be overwhelmed because you still get some of your own time in there to balance it out.
Makes sense? Am I crazy? Who knows, but I’m going to try. Download the mix, or make your own, and tell us what happened! If you like it, send us some song suggestions and we’ll and start putting up more mixes to keep you working.
Download directions:
The download link contains a .zip file (virus free, I promise) which contains a folder of the songs and an import playlist file. First drag the songs to the library and then import the playlist (File>Library>Import playlist). It will make you a nice little list in your iTunes and you should be good to go.
Here’s the track list:
Intro / The xx
Sugarette / Bibio
West End Girls / Pet Shop Boys
The Music Scene / Blockhead
Green Grass of Tunnel / Mum
Anthems for a 17 Year-Old Girl / Broken Social Scene
Maybe So, Maybe No / Mayer Hawthorne
Sunrise / Yeasayer
What Grows? / Lotus Plaza
My My / Menomena
It’s some oldies, some newbies, some upper, some low-down, some smooth, a few high fives, and some sparkles at the end. Enjoy.
Also? Don’t forget you get a lunch break in there somewhere too.
See you cats next week!
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Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track. Margot will be here on Mint each Monday, and Ellie will be over on Pitch Design Union at the same time.
I’m playing catch-up after being sick for a few days, so posting may be slow today and tomorrow. If you missed it, I did a round-up of thank you cards over on OK Great (have you written your Christmas ones yet?), and Margot will be over here this afternoon with an awesome Howdy Do It post. Hint: there’s a present involved!
{image: curiosity shoppe}
Paper Lanterns for Parties, Weddings, and Homes
