Check out my feature, Holiday Lights Gift Tags by Kristina, on Creature Comforts today! As part of her wonderful 18 Days of Festive Freebies & Holiday Tutorials, these vintage-inspired tags include a free download and some suggestions on my favorite crafty tools. Head on over!

Big thanks to Ez for including me in such a special feature. If you aren’t reading Creature Comforts, add it to your feed pronto!

PS: In the spirit of giving, I encourage you all to visit the Angel Giving Tree or give to a food pantry this season. Don’t know where to start? Click here for more info on the Angels. Everyone needs a little extra help this year. Please give, if at all possible, and change someone’s life.

Kampala was getting me down and to avoid the smog, dust, noise and smell of rotting cow horns, I made an impulsive decision to head to Jinja for the night. We decided to stay at an island called The Hairy Lemon, a place I heard spoken of many times. It is a small island about 60km upstream from Jinja and is famous for being very quiet, a great place to Kayak and having an excellent campsite. Paying heed to my inner princess I decided to sleep in a Banda ( a small, basic, concrete house ) rather than camp in a tent. Despite the positive inroads I have made in my relationship with a tent, I have decided that I will only sleep in a tent if there is no alternative. The Hairy Lemon is well known for its vegetarian food and coupled with the fact that I was longing for some silence, I thought this Lemon, hairy or not, would be just the ticket.

The drive was a little over 2 hours. Imagine this distance on a wide and smooth highway in the Shiny West and it could have taken 45 minutes. Much of the drive was pot holed or involved hurtling over rough speed bumps placed at foot long intervals. I spent most of the drive thankful that I was wearing a bra and singing Grease songs at the top of my lungs. I arrived hungry and excited for my mini break.

A small dug out canoe takes visitors from the bank to the island, a ride that is only minutes long, but makes the arrival seems quite romantic. The kids, like wild dogs let off a leash took off at some speed to run and explore the island. The family we were with, who shall for ever after be known as the Super Campers, unloaded their tents and marched up the hill to set up camp. ( They are ALL Trooper with no Princess in sight, hidden or otherwise.) These are friends who always carry snacks, always have the right gear, always have chairs to fold out and sit on. They put me to shame.

Anyway…. The afternoon passed well, despite the barely edible lunch. The vegetarians amongst us, who had, I presumed, been expected, were served food where the meat had quite obviously been pulled out. Husbands napped, wives read, children frolicked in the rapids, it was all calm, quiet and restorative.

Dinner was quite simply inedible. We dined, instead on chocolate and either coke or wine, ( age appropriate, if nothing else) and worried about where we could brush our teeth with no running water around. The toilets were all long drops (exactly as it sounds, it drops a long way down) and strangely, whereas they hadn’t bothered me in the slightest in Bunyoni, here I was irritated. I had left Kampala for some peace and quiet and I was finding the gag inducing toilets and lack of warm showers very annoying. Still, at least I wasn’t in a tent, I thought, as I prepared for bed to the sound of rain pounding the tin roof.

Sometime during the night I began to feel it. The stinging sensation that comes from being bitten by something very very mean. It was not a mosquito as there was no buzzing accompaniment, and mosquitos tend to drift away and then return to munch on a different place. I was being bitten from the top of my thigh, all the way down. In the morning I discovered a dozen large, swollen welts. I am convinced there was a large, hungry Safari Ant in my bed.

Eager not to appear too much like a Princess in front of the Super Campers, I tried hard to smile and laugh about the toilets and joke about how we could always shower at home, but inside I was fuming and dying to return to my little house. The very same house, that I had called boxy and was so intent to escape just 24 hours before.

As we came home, and how sweet home felt, I made a decision. I will not go anywhere for the weekend unless there are flushing toilets and warm showers. I will indulge my inner princess and no longer push her away in shame. I am what I am and I have the itchy thighs to prove it.

I am a massive fan of creature comforts! I can only imadgine how long this took, shot by shot. WOW! Big respect for these people. It’s so funny, gotta love the lion.

Darsh

Hoje resolvi organizar todas as revistas, catálogos e livros que já adquiri, buscando inspirações e idéias sobre o tema decoração. Pra não ficar mais a dúvida ‘onde mesmo foi que eu vi aquele fauteuil vermelho?‘ ou ‘em qual catálogo tinha aquele sofá que gostei?‘, resolvi postar tudo aqui. Pelo menos assim, posso achar com mais facilidade depois e também deixar aqui pra vocês, um pouco do que acontece no mundo deco europeu.

Então começando a sessão ‘das revistas européias‘, o que já achei de blogs sobre o tema decoração, que não são tão conhecidos:

Nina in Vorm- www.ninainvorm.punt.nl

Nina é uma jovem holandesa de 27 anos, estudante de design de interiores e amante de art & crafts. No blog, ela também posta coisas que ela mesma cria e vende numa lojinha online.

Modish – www.modish.typepad.com

Modish é escrito por Jena Coray e tem como missão dividir com as pessoas, tudo que ela gosta de artesanato e vintage, arte e fotografia, moda e design.

Creature Comforts - www.creaturecomfortsbloh.com

Adoro esse blog, sobre pequenos detalhes que fazem a vida mais gostosa e nos ajudam a ver beleza no inesperado, como descreve a própria autora, Ez.

Todos os 3 blogs são escritos em inglês, mas mesmo pra quem não domina o idioma, vale a pena conferir, pois as imagens também dizem muito

O Modish tem uma sessão de freebies (coisas grátis) que você pode imprimir e recortar, como cartões, envelopes, listas e saquinhos para sementes. Clique aqui na imagem abaixo para fazer o download dos saquinhos para sementes

Uma boa idéia para esses saquinhos, é colocar lavanda ou outras flores secas dentro, para perfumar gavetas e armários!

Gewoon de linkjes volgen, ze zijn allemaal de moeite waard!

http://www.sharesomecandy.com/

http://papercutpanic.com/

http://ofpaperandthings.blogspot.com/

http://www.creaturecomforts.typepad.com/

http://www.designspongeonline.com/

http://papercrave.com/

Can you spot which one is the award?

Last night Landshare won the RTS Innovation Award for User-generated Content. It was one of only six such awards given out (other winners included BBC iPlayer at over 100 times the budget of littl’ ol’ Landshare).

This is the 2nd of these annual awards. Last time out it was even better – Big Art Mob won the Mobile category, an inaugural winner alongside Flash Video (yes, the whole darn technology).

This year Landshare was nominated alongside Sexperience (in the same category), so I liked them 66% odds.

What the judges said: “The judges felt that the award should go to a project that they feel reinvents the viewer/user/programme maker relationship and which is making a fundamental difference to the way key issues of the moment can be addressed. A project whose success demonstrates as one judge put it “how television can make a difference”.”

Straying away from my own oeuvre, another very worthy winner was BBC Children’s marvellous Bugbears – think Monsters Inc meets Creature Comforts, used as a way to help children address&express difficult emotional subjects. It’s the work of Marc Goodchild (who was at our table – the Table of Triumph with its unique double gong status) and my old muckers Joe Elliot and Anthony Lilley of Magic Lantern (among others). I first saw it this time last year at Sheffield DocFest when I was doing a speaking gig on interactive documentary chaired by Paula LeDieu. Japhet (whose second name slips my ravaged mind) from Marc’s team at cBBC demoed it and I was instantly charmed.

Other awards went to the amazing BBC R&D bods who have such a world class heritage in broadcasting/media innovation, pretty much second to none. An honour to be among them.

Update 19.xi.09 BIMAs

Tonight Landshare won the BIMA (British Interactive Media Award) for Community Social Media (as well as being nominated in the Special Achievement Award: Viral Spread category). It follows in the footsteps of MindGym (97) and Embarrassing Bodies (08).

My boyfriend has long mocked the dichotomy between my inside/outside styles of dressing. I walk out the door on any given morning and trip to the subway in a pair of platforms, tights, cardigan belted over a skirt or dress, hair: done, makeup: done, furry coat, scarf, hairpin: in. The instant I get home everything gets flung into a pile (I excel at making piles) and change into my terry Theory sweats and whatever t-shirt is lying around. This is how I stay for the rest of the night (unless we have something to do, in which case the hurricane of hair and makeup brushes starts up again and it’s outfit change –à out). My mother always complains that I am like two different people; dressed like a lady when I’m out and about, or fit to be a Don’t at all other times. I kind of see their point, but loungewear is a right, not a privilege.

So when I saw these down-filled booties on Ikea’s website, I knew I had to have them. They are the perfect addition to my slouchfits. Although the website lied to me and said they weren’t available, I procured them last night (four pairs actually) at Ikea Brooklyn. Getting psyched to give them to my mother (who only wears heels) over Thanksgiving!

The body of the boot feels like a billowy cloud and is fantastically comfortable. Perfect for my drafty brownstone. The bottom of the slipper is comfortable but not perfect; they are filled with feathers in a heavier concentration than in the boot. However I suspect after wearing them a couple of times they will lose their initial stiffness. For $9.99, can you really go wrong?

For a daily dose of inspiration, visit Creature Comforts, a pretty design and style blog created by Ez Pudewa, which is all about ‘celebrating the tiny details that make life so amazing’. Looking for decorating inspiration? See the home decor and accessories categories – I love the gorgeous colour-crush mood boards. Feeling creative? Check out simple makes such as vintage gift tags, or print pretty note cards and giftwrap. Or try the recipes for cupcakes and apple crisp. You’re bound to find something you love…

Find daily inspiration at Creature Comforts

I’m becoming a bit obsessed with packaging…probably my Etsy addiction along with my shop and the anticipation of my first order is to blame. I want everything to be just right. Cute, smart, fresh. A big thanks goes to Lushlee for posting about this new shop Nice Package. I was delighted to learn that this enterprise is the collaboration of two of my favorite bloggers Marichelle Burdman (formerly of Heart Handmade, currently of Wunderlust and Lifeflix) and Ez Pudewa (of Wren & Chikadee and Creature Comforts). I love, love, love their new venture and, of course, the site design rocks (clean, fresh, smart). Both ladies are experienced Etsyians and I really admire their success (along with their friendship, sweet photo!).

If you want a fresh look in packaging this year (gift giving or selling) check out Nice Package. The photo styling alone is worth the click! I’m definitely adding them to my inspiration page.

[images from Nice Package]

from the always excellent Creature Comforts:

For those sensitive to meaningless violence against ants, you might want to look away around 5:20.

Now that it’s nearly fall and turning cold, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate a comfort of life that we might easily pass over: tea.

Now, let me just say that I did not begin life as a tea advocate.  I paid no attention to tea until very recently.  Now that I spend most of my days as a desk jockey, often completing writing projects that involve some measure of my limited mental energy, I find it behooves me to locate whatever legal stimulants I can find to push me on in my work.  I observed certain people close to me drinking large amounts of tea, once decided to give it a try, and found it to my liking (Photo: NYT).

So the road that led me to tea was a pragmatic one.  I concede this.  Yet in becoming a tea drinker, I have come to realize that tea is in fact a most pleasurable good.  It is hot; it is often spiced, or at least flavored; it takes a while to cool down, and thus breeds anticipation; it is not heavy at all on the stomach and is in many forms good for you; and, as mentioned, it gives one a little burst of energy if one so desires.

It is difficult in this world to find a similarly enjoyable and yet similarly pleasant good.  All too often, the things that we like, that we gravitate toward, are in some way bad for us.  We must parse them out, have them very little, and feel (justly) guilty if we over-indulge.  Not so with tea.  Provided one keeps one’s caffeine down, it is the friend that stays by our side, the companion that constantly warms and that never leaves us unhappy.

So often, we chase the big and expensive things in life.  We assume that because they are big and expensive they will yield the most possible happiness, the greatest possible pleasure.  Yet as I make my way through life, I increasingly find that it is not necessarily the big and expensive that bring pleasure, but the small and inexpensive.  For the satisfaction it brings, tea requires little sacrifice.

So it is, I might point out, with spiritual blessings.  In Christ Jesus, God has given us every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), every single spiritual gift and good we could ever want.  We lack for literally nothing.  There is nothing, in a spiritual sense, that we do not have when we know Christ as our Savior.  And yet–how much does all of this cost?  How big and expensive is it?  For us–it is nothing.  Only our life.  For Jesus, of course, it cost everything.

Now, I don’t think these theological thoughts to myself every time I drink tea.  I wish I did.  I don’t.  But I am aware that tea and what others have called the “simple pleasures of life” are in fact what they claim to be.  They are simple, pleasant, and they, in small amounts, combine to fill life full of happiness.  You don’t need big and expensive to find joy.  In fact, those who chase that which is big and expensive often find happiness elusive.

We need the small things.  A good scone.  A hot cup of tea.  Time with the kids on the floor playing beside them.  A conversation with one’s spouse on the porch, watching rain come down.  A long hour or two with excellent literature, the kind that doesn’t make you feel guilty for slowing down and re-reading.  A carefully crafted sermon that simultaneously convicts, teaches, and exhilarates.  A walk with a friend.  Another cup of tea.

And a Savior who has given us that which is simplest and that which is most pleasant: life, eternal life, overflowing with the experience of the unmediated grace of God.

Detail of Duchamp's "L.H.O.O.Q." or "Elle a chaud au cul" ("She has a hot ass").

A couple weeks ago I went on a Bee Gees kick (stop snickering) and this week it’s Barry White, specifically “Love’s Theme.”  I’m on a big cheesy bend right now and when I’m out on my morning scooter ride it is THE perfect song — that “ka-wacka-chaka” and swooping melody is the ultimate tune for flying along on a scooter with the wind in your hair, cutting huge curves across the pavement.  It’s the best music for swooshing and swooshing is the best for thinking.

Today I was thinking (wacka-chaka wacka-chaka!) about how much my identity is tied up in being “an artist.”  Right after I had Nico there was a Period Of Freaking Out because it was just about damn near impossible to paint with any regularity.  Cue full blown identity crisis.  An artist is someone who makes art — so if I’m not making art, what the hell am I?  To add fuel to that psychic fire I went to an art opening and was looking around thinking “Boy, my work would fit right in here, why aren’t I in this show?”  I went up to the curator and said “Hey, great show — why aren’t I in it?” and got this amazingly patronizing pat on the shoulder:  “Isabel, everyone knows you’re taking time off to have a family.”

WTF?!?!  I’m doing what because of what?  How did I miss that press release?  That unfortunate turn of phrase led to three years of kicking into extreme overdrive — every gallery that asked me to show got a “Hell yes!” and I ended up doing between twelve and sixteen exhibitions a year for three straight years, at which point my brains were kind of leaking out of my ears and I realized I’d missed years of my own life (not to mention the lives of my friends and family).  I was the artistic undead, a completely brain dead zombie.

Every weekend was spent in the studio, and there was always another deadline looming over my head like a swinging pendulum axe.  I would lay awake in bed at night with the sensation that a cinder block was sitting on my chest, pressing all the blood out of my heart.  For years any time anybody called to ask how things were (and they had to call because I didn’t see anybody, ever) I found myself always saying “I’m really fried right now.”  It was like my mantra: “I’m-really-fried-right-now-I’m-really-fried-right-now-I’m-really-fried-right-now.”

Fortunately, around the same time several of my favorite gallery owners and my favorite guy all started saying the same thing:  you’d have more impact (and more sanity) if you took those twelve to sixteen paintings and put them all in one big show instead of spreading them out in group shows all year long.  This is the kind of thing other people need to tell me, the kind of thing I am apparently incapable of coming up with on my own.  That completely restructured my life because it cued me in for The Big Revelation: that as much as I need to paint, both for my sense of self and sanity but also because that weird little monkey inside my head keeps throwing ideas against the inside of my skull — as much as I need to do that, I also need to have some kind of life.  When I’m laying on my deathbed at the end of my days I kinda doubt I’ll be saying “Boy I sure am glad I blew off my best friend’s birthday so I could stay home and work on that painting!”  Don’t get me wrong, the painting is muy muy importante, it has to come out, the ideas pile up and they need to be expressed, to be decanted and allowed to breathe, but there has to be time to hug the people you love, and write rants to Congress, and bike to the beach, and cook amazing food, and maybe even catch a movie every once in a while.

But it does make me wonder about the creative process and art making — where the need to make it comes from and why some people feel it.  And when I say “art” I’m thinking of all the creative pursuits — music, writing, dance, visual art, anything that requires you to take something from deep inside and pull it up out into the sun for everyone else to see/hear.  We do these things because we NEED to, because we want to touch someone, or we’re trying to communicate something.

Austin Kleon: "Our Sad Inability To Communicate Mind to Mind"

I’m not even going to touch the whole “what is art” hot potato.  Periodically some magazine or book will ask me “What is lowbrow art” and I can’t even answer that question let alone the larger one. But other great thinkers have debated the topic:

Mostly I think not so much about “What is Art?” but “What is an Artist?”  There was a really interesting article in the New Yorker a while ago about invention vs. creation by artists. If invention is something bound to happen that anyone can do, and art (at least “masterful art”) is special and un-duplicatable by a room full of creatives, I find that both sort of comforting (“Ha!  Try and do THIS you mooks!”) but also, you know, it feels like pressure.   So if an artist is someone who makes art and I don’t make art every minute of every day, then what the hell am I?

I think the answer turns out to be “an artist who struggles with time management issues.”  It’s a big club.

Lately I’ve been taken with websites that give readers instructions on DIY projects or provide free templates and fonts. Creature Comforts and Eat Drink Chic are two of my favorites. Be sure to check ‘em out!

Another day working registers.  Like yesterday, I spent most of the day at Creature Comforts.  Register there wasn’t as awesome as stock, but it still wasn’t bad.  The best part was playing tic-tac-toe with a little girl who only spoke Spanish.  This was another chance to use what I learned this summer, and I did ask her name and how old she was.  Other than that, it was all smiles, points, grunts, and charades, which I think is pretty amazing.  It makes the world seem so much smaller when you realize that people can communicate almost wordlessly.  So many gestures and inarticulate sounds are universal.  We played for probably half an hour while her mom shopped, not really saying anything beyond “Ha!” when we won or “Gah!” when we lost.

After a short break, CDS (the Cast Deployment System) told me to find two of the Cast Members working parade duty and to give them their next assignment.  Wouldn’t ya know, one of them was stuck on the other side of the parade route, so I had to stand there and watch the whole stinkin’ parade while I waited. I’m being sarcastic, of course.  I love the parade!  Every afternoon, I count down the minutes until 3:45, when it will start.  You can hear the music coming from quite a ways away, and you can always tell when the parade is within sight: the crowd gets so still as people stop trying to squeeze through, and just stop to watch.  Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade wasn’t my favorite when I first came to WDW as a guest.  But, like all of Animal Kingdom, I’m starting to appreciate it more all the time.  It’s less formal than the 3:00 parade at Magic Kingdom, and guest participation is much greater.  In fact, it’s almost impossible not to at least clap your hands, and I almost always find myself humming along with the music.  The giant animal puppets are definitely my favorite part, but I also love watching the faces of the guests who get to ride along in the parade.  I’m sure their smiles are genuine when they start off in Africa, but by the time they reach Discovery Island, their cheeks must be hurting because their smiles are so forced that they’re nearly grimaces, and they’re barely waving.  And they always look so self-conscious!  Maybe it’s horrible, but I also find it entertaining.

All this, plus I finished up the afternoon working the Pin Porch, which is a Pin Trading center right outside of Island Mercantile.  So of course there was lots of pin trading to do and guests to interact with.  All in all, not a bad day.   

Tonight I came home to the most delicious smell – one of my roommates put a pot roast in the crock pot with a note that it wouldn’t be ready until midnight, when she gets home, but that there would be plenty left for our lunches tomorrow.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I love my roommates!  It’s like a slumber party every day!

I finally found a shift on the Extra Hours Hotline that I could pick up.  Next Sunday, I’ll work from 8:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. at DAK like normal, but then from 4:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. I’ll go work in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom.  It will be a long day, but I think it will be fun.  And It’ll put me halfway towards my goal of working in each of the parks at least once.  The costume there is pretty crazy, but definitely an improvement on the Discovery Island dress.  I’m probably going to try to go by costuming tomorrow to pick it up.

I’m sitting here, watching Project Runway, smelling pot roast, and I have to say…this is starting to feel like home.  It’s still exciting and new, but I have this overwhelmingly wonderful feeling of routine; a feeling which I’ve missed for the last three and a half weeks.  It’s very, very nice.

I’ve been a fan of SuzyJack for a long time.  I think her designs are retro, yet modern. 

You can download these calling cards from SusyJack* for free now.

Download Pink Version

Download Green Version

PS.  SusyJack has her new calendar available now and boy oh boy, it is a nice piece.

(freeby courtesy of Creature Comforts)

Tutorial Tryouts are trial runs of DIY ideas from the internet and other sources. If you find a tutorial you’d like me to test (or if you’ve tried and documented one yourself!), let me know in the comments. For more, click the “Tutorial Tryout” link at the bottom of the post.

My first exposure to the Creature Comforts blog was the author’s awesome “Chic for Cheap” series. I was happy to see that Ez not only puts together  great outfit ideas, but has several free tutorials, some for gift wrapping!

This particular how-to from her blog reminded me of wrapping gifts after a trip to Laos and Thailand in high school. Almost every purchase of silk scarves or jewelry at the market was given to us in a small, colored plastic bag. Inspired by the translucent pinks, yellows and blues upon returning, I improvised bows by fringing the plastic and gathering them into little puffs.

The Creature Comforts tutorial gives instructions on how to make a much fuller pom-pom out of a plastic shopping bag. It was easier than it looked, especially because precision is not essential! In summary, you cut the bag into two long strips, then loop and cut those strips to make the pom-pom.

I used a Stater Bros. produce bag left at our apartment by babysitting friends. (Yes, friends, I pulled your bag out of the trash.) Since it’s smaller than your standard shopping bag, I imagine it made a smaller pom-pom. I realized since my hand is small it affected the size anyway.

Apologies for the picture quality. It’s one downside of getting excited about a project after sundown…

After a few snips and fluffs, I had my very own pom-pom gift topper!

I like the way the thin plastic of the bag looks – a little more translucent than a regular grocery bag. I think this would look nice even without all the bright printing. I do feel this kind of gift decoration would have to be used for the right person. Someone who would appreciate its previous life in the produce section!

Did you catch the article on MSNBC.msn.com entitled: “Putty in their paws: Why we do what cats want” written by Kim Campbell Thornton??? Those of us with cats among us can really relate!

Check it out — it’s under the Pet health / Creature Comforts section (sorry–can’t seem to figure out how to get an underscore symbol to write the link)

With so much to enjoy right here in Davis Square following are a few ways our residents are saving on gas money and making the most of summer.

Gardening

Having friends and neighbors over for a cookout.

Visiting local museums and famous landmarks.

Picking fruit and veggies at a local farm followed by a picnic.

Lay out a blanket or sleeping bag and take in the night sky.

Organizing and cleaning – seriously the results can be so satisfying!

Reading at home, the library, in the park or at a local cafe.

Arranging a day at the spa.

via Creature Comforts

I slept in this morning, after reading (and vowing to follow the advice of) this post on rising early on Zen Habits of Productivity.  Still some inspiring sentiments, regardless of when you get out of bed.

Drat! AND, it’s sunny out – have a super day!

“Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ “

– Dalai Lama

A new crop of desktop wallpapers are now available on Kindred. These lovelies are the summer ‘09 installment of the Wallpapered Together Series. Some really great artists, I love them all! There’s also some pretty new summer inspired printable notes available. And you know, as always, they are free (thanks Ez and Holly!) When you visit click over to the forum for a whole host of discussion topics. Get inspired for summer!

-Please note that since this posting, the Kindred Site project has ended.

[Screenshot from Kindred]

Today I was feeling a bit blah so I threw on a skirt and a frilly shirt then balanced it out with my fuchsia canvas skips and voila. An instant cheery upper. But just a week earlier I was feeling too frilly and girly and had to figure out how to toughen it up a bit, if you know what I mean. I decided to collage these nerdy feelings into a reflection collection. Black Neon vs. Peach Ice Cream! Do you usually feel like a black neon or a peach ice cream? Or do you go through phases like I do?

BLACK NEON

PEACH ICE CREAM

Shopping includes: shopnastygal, urban.co.uk, monster commerce