July 10, 2012

little things link love: vintage suitcases

Vintage Luggage photo by geishaboy500 - click image to view more

It’s officially summer travel season and that means the suitcases come out and all of our belongings get crammed into them. I’ll be honest and say that I have a passion for vintage luggage. Our modern stuff is just too black, too shiny, and too mundane. Give me a pea green leather suitcase any day! Besides, I’m sure the airport luggage guys would enjoy seeing a bit more variety during their day. Don’t you?

With the temperatures rising, get ready to travel in style this summer because vintage luggage is back and everyone is hoping to scoop up another piece for their collection.

Here are some fun links for my fellow vintage luggage lovers:

  • Louis Vuitton just came out with the most incredible, interactive website called The Art of Packing. Part game, part advertisement for their largest of bags, this site is definitely something to check out, if only to kill a few minutes and pack pretty things you don’t own.
  • In the market for some vintage luggage? You’ll definitely want to check out the Vintage Seekers’ Luxury Luggage guide to learn how to spot a rare piece and discover just how much is too much to pay for a vintage Prada.
  • If you already own a lot of vintage luggage but don’t know how to restore it properly, Go Nomad has a great article on Travel Chic: How to Refurbish Vintage Luggage. From how to get rid of funky smells to repainting your case, you’ll find everything you need to know here.
  • If you’re like me and enjoy a good upcycle, you’ll really get a kick out of these re-purposed cat beds by Atomic Attic. Whose cat doesn’t enjoy snuggling in their freshly packed suitcase?
  • My boyfriend was in the Navy and thus possesses insane folding skills (a dry cleaning lady in Scotland actually tried to hire him). If you want that same knowledge, e-How shared some tips on How to Fold Clothes in the Military.

How many pieces of vintage luggage do you own?

Filed Under: Link Love, Read & Play Tagged With: , , , , , 5 Comments
June 12, 2012

little things link love: bicycles

Bike Photo by Bomobob - click image to view more

Now that I live in California, I’m addicted to cycling. My bicycle, which my boyfriend and I built ourselves, is now my car and my means of adventure. It took me a few months to learn how to signal effectively, how not to scream when someone does try to pick me off, and how to learn basic repair and ‘bike culture.’ I’ve gained so much confidence thanks to my two wheels. (Especially confidence when it comes to accidents like your handlebars coming off thanks to your boyfriend not securing them properly the first time.)

With summer officially here, it’s bicycle season everywhere! Are you ready for your tune-up and first ride?

Here are some links for all you bicycle fans:

  • Bike Hacks – If you’re into DIY, you’ll love this site. It has everything from making your own chain cleaner to how to build your own truing stand. There are projects enough to keep you busy all summer!
  • Bamboo Bike Studio – Did you know you can create a bike frame out of bamboo? This San Francisco studio offers mail-order kits so you can construct your own frame. If you want more, they also offer classes so you can get all the help, tools, and inspiration you need to create the bike of your dreams.
  • Bike Planter from Wearable Planter – Want to bring a little friend with you on your errands? Wearable Planter, a maker on Etsy, sells absolutely adorable planters that attach to your bike frame so you can take a teeny tiny plant on your ride.
  • Bike Museum of America – If you’re ever in Ohio, you’ll want to check out this unusual museum. They have hundreds of models for you to drool over and you’ll leave a bicycle history buff.
  • Rails to Trails US – There are countless abandoned railroad tracks that have been turned into amazing biking trails and this website shows you where they are! You can’t help but feel like an adventurer when you’re out on these routes.

Where does your bicycle take you?

Filed Under: Link Love, Read & Play Tagged With: , , , , , 2 Comments
May 9, 2012

little things link love: glow-in-the-dark

Deep Sea Dreamer by Studio MME - click image to view more

How do toy-makers make a product 10 times more appealing to kids?  They make it glow in the dark!

When I was little, I dreamed of putting glow-in-the-dark stars on my bedroom ceiling. However, my mother had an aversion to glue, nails, tape, and anything else that marred the house’s painting surfaces, so my ceiling stayed a boring white. (My brother didn’t get his bust of Napoleon, either, but I think my mother turned down that idea because she feared it would fall off the wall and brain him while he slept.) It’s still my dream to have those stars, but now I want to paint them myself and create an accurate view of the night sky.

The nature of glow-in-the-dark stuff completely intrigues me! While bioluminescence exists in nature, it wasn’t until 1965 that we patented the glow stick. For the first few years, only the armed forces got to have proper dance parties and night-time semaphore meetings. In 1977, glow sticks got picked up by campers, night drivers, and rave-goers.

Here are some links about some of the weird things that glow in the dark:

  • Why Civil War Soldiers Glowed in the Dark – There were myths about the civil war soldiers at the Battle of Shiloh who were visible after nightfall but it took one inquisitive high school student and his microbiologist mother to figure out what made them glow. Be warned: the reason is a tad bit gross.
  • Glow-in-the-Dark Cats – In 2007 scientists began cloning cats and used glow-in-the-dark genes to help determine if the cloning was a success. They’re hoping to use these cats to push AIDs research and stem cell research forward. This is a short news clip from the first cloning experiment and shows the cats glowing a dull red.
  • Glowing Pygmy Shark – National Geographic loves to showcase strange animals and they’ve recently discovered a new shark that glows in the dark to escape detection. Who knew? A bit of reverse logic, but it seems to work for this little guy.
  • Glow-In-The-Dark Experiments – Want to feel a bit like a mad scientist yourself? Hubpages has a whole list of easy experiments that show you how to make your own luminescent writing, drinks, or geysers (yes, a geyser). These are great for kids, Halloween parties, and just any event that demands a bit of after-dark fun.
  • Life’s Little Mysteries – This site completely answers all the little mysteries we encounter! I think I’m a tad addicted now. I have always wondered why manufactured products that glow in the dark are always green.  Surely there could be more colors! If you’ve wondered this yourself, there’s finally an answer at this site.

What glow-in-the-dark toy did you love as a kid?

Filed Under: Link Love, Read & Play Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment
April 19, 2012

Why you need to embrace all of your passions

Everyone knows someone who can slam dunk a basketball, kick a field goal, and serve an ace all with relative ease. It’s the same for the creative arts. Most creatives fall into the category of multi-talented individuals. We can play three or four different instruments and we can knit, crochet, and embroider with skill. A painter enjoys gardening, an actor masters arias, and a dancer can sculpt a mean tea cup.

So why don’t more people embrace their multiple talents? Why don’t we see dancers sculpting tea cups after their performances?

The problem lies in the fact that everyone constantly tells us we can only focus on one thing. We need to find our strength and stick with it. We need to find our niche and dig in. We can be a master of one trade or a jack of none (or however that silly phrase goes).

But is that how you were as a child?

My mother can tell you that I split my days between the important tasks of tooting on the recorder, drawing masterpieces in crayon, building terrariums for caterpillars that never made it into butterflies, and doing impersonations of Tom Brokaw (please don’t ask).

So if we are multi-talented as young children (or at the very least multi-passionate – because believe me, I had no talent at the recorder or at butterflies), why are we afraid to embrace that in our work? Why do colleges dislike people (like me) who pursue more than one degree?

Why are we told we can’t be amazing at two things – only one?

A few months back I had this itch to embroider. It was such a silly desire because the last time I had sewn, I was 12 and my grandma was teaching me how to make day-of-the-week tea towels. Besides, I was an illustrator! I didn’t have time to sew! And if I did have time, there was no point because it wouldn’t bring in money and wouldn’t I be better off bringing in food money?

Well, the itch turned into a nag and finally I caved. I stitched one of my illustrations onto a piece of fabric and posted a picture on my blog, feeling entirely stupid about sharing it. Within hours, my blog lit up! Everyone wanted to know how they could sew their own!

I had inadvertently created a new product line by following a whim. That itch, founded on one of my other passions, now brings in a whole field of new customers to my shop. I’ve added a new medium to my work, going from paper to cloth. Plus, they allow me to take routine breaks from my drawing and entertain my other love. But the best part is that these patterns and kits allow people to interact with my drawings on a much deeper level.

Pretty good for a whim, right?

If I had listened to that fear of wasting time and potentially losing money, I never would have created my embroidery line. (And I wouldn’t have given my grandmother something to share with her quilting circle.)

So if you love more than one thing, embrace it!

If you hear a little voice telling you to coach, to sing, to dance, to paint, to make tea cups, LISTEN! You never know where it could lead you.

Just please, for your family’s sake, leave the recorder to the kids. My brother investigated and there is no such thing as a professional recordist.

Filed Under: creativity, Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , , , , 13 Comments
November 25, 2011

Building Your Creative Bookshelf

Megan Eckman - Studio M.M.E.

We all know that our creative inner artists are children. That explains why we are easily amused, love sweet things, and enjoy walks (or strolls or romps or rolls) outside. But have you supplied that child with books that nurture her creative spirit?

I didn’t embrace my creative bookshelf until last year. I’d already been out of school for a year and was packing up my things to move cross-country. As the filled boxes grew and my remaining books seemed to breed, I took a hard look at my collection and realized, “I’m not an English major anymore!”

Yes, I still had that degree, but that didn’t mean I had to have a library identical to the dean’s. No one was going to come by my apartment and make sure I had all of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work. Heck, I loathed Hawthorne! What was I doing packing up his books to go with me?

I had spent years building up a collection that I thought I should have and never considered what I wanted to have.

That sort of thinking meant I was purchasing every copy of Shakespeare’s plays, dry anthologies that contained one poem I enjoyed, and mythological dictionaries by every leader in that field. There’s no denying that I was proud of my collection. I reveled in the fact that it overwhelmed my bookcase and filled box after box on the floor round it. But I never opened a single one of those books after I bought them!

So, what did I do after this major revelation? I sent half of my collection to the thrift store. Half! And then I bought the books I’d always wanted to buy but though were too childish: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Sabriel by Garth Nix, and all of the fairy tales by the Grimms, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Anderson. I also collected books on Elizabethan clothing, dream theory, and 19th century photography. (There may also be a book on cute animals, but I think everyone needs at least one book on cute animals for those gloomy days.) My new collection would make current English majors cringe, but it perfectly suits my work. I play amid my books and, in return, they continually fuel me with new ideas.

If a book doesn’t make you giddy, make you smile, or make those little artsy wheels start turning, don’t keep it.

There are no book police! Your friends won’t care if you love architecture and don’t have any of Frank Lloyd Wright’s drafting books. You need to build your bookshelf to reflect your inner artist.

I now celebrate big accomplishments with buying new children’s books. The Time Warp Trio box set just arrived last week. Yes, it’s meant for age 7-11 boys and yes, as my engineering-major brother put it, my reading level is higher than a grade-schoolers. But I adore them!

So remember your inner child the next time you go book shopping.

Does she really want The History of Art or would she prefer The Fart Book? And if you feel embarrassed about your purchase, I can assure you that most people will be jealous of your collection.

Filed Under: The Setting Tagged With: , , , , , 7 Comments