Mint

+ beautiful photos (above) by Connie Lyu

+ I think these are so fun… DIY “alchemy bookends”

+ Red Ruby Rose silk scarves are designed by Rowena Dugdale, based on her own photographs, collages and artwork. From Rowena: “I work with vintage Japanese stencils handed down from my Victorian great great grandmother, scrapbook details from my mother, as well as contemporary blooms contrasted with urban textures.” My pick would be the perfect accessory for a fancy dress: the teal fan scarf.

We’re moving tomorrow! Among the highlights: My very own office space, where I can have a photo shoot area set up all the time, and can photograph all these new invitations and artsy books I’ve been neglecting to show you lately! So excited. Have a great weekend!

Lauren makes beautiful jewelry out of unexpected materials like plastics and paper clips.

Available for purchase online at Pour Porter and Bona Drag.

via the audacity of color

Love the pattern on this vintage container! Available to purchase from Bellalulu.

We have lots of ideas for our first New Home Project. To name a few: build a fence for our dog, tear out the concrete which covers 95% of the back “yard,” overhaul the kitchen, paint lots of wood paneling, replace the front door, paint the exterior trim, re-tile the bathroom floor, rip out some carpet, plant grass… get the picture? Really, it’s a great house and we’re just a little overly enthusiastic about all the things we could do to our house if money were no object.

One thing I swear I didn’t mean to tackle right away (it wasn’t even on the top 10 list!) was the dining room, which is painted three different shades of white. Three! And then all of a sudden, I found myself in line at Home Depot with a sample can of grey paint. And then the next day, with a new sample. And then the next day… well, who knew paint could be so tricky!

Some favorite grey rooms: 1/2/3/4

This week’s recipe looks like a tasty way to get in all your veggies! Trudy promises it’s easy to prepare, but I’ll warn you there are a lot of steps… it doesn’t look like the throw-it-all-together kind of cooking I’m usually into.

Veggie Num Num is full of delicious-looking, colorful, vegetarian recipes, and I’m printing out a few as I type! Others that piqued my interest: Indian spiced pita pizza, hoisin tofu and almonds, and tempeh and sweet corn soup. Num num indeed.

Thanks to Seleta for hosting me on Friday with my DIY Halloween Cupcake Topper project! You can read the step-by-step on Simply Seleta, and can download the file right here.

I’m honored to announce that I’ll be speaking on November 10th in Charlotte, North Carolina! The Charlotte chapter of the professional association for graphic design (AIGA) is hosting me at the aLoft Charlotte Uptown at Epicenter at 6:30pm, and I’ll be talking about (you guessed it!) blogging. Specifically, I’ll be explaining why it’s a good idea to blog, how it can help you achieve your goals, and how you can create a successful blog and then promote your work. At the end, we’ll have a Q&A session, so any other blogging related questions can be answered then.

You can purchase tickets on the Charlotte AIGA website. Hope to see you there!

Infographic by Chad Hagen