more love letters

Every week at work I have a blog day (I know, I seriously love my job) where I have to research and write various blogs on different things. Today I wrote a blog about writing love letters to strangers, and I had to share it here too.

"The world needs more love letters"

The story started when Hannah Brencher moved to New York after college and felt incredibly isolated. After struggling with depression and loneliness she decided to reach out - to anyone.

And so her letter writing journey began. She wrote little love notes to strangers saying things like 'have a bright day!' and 'you're brilliant, even if you think nobody else thinks so' and left them in public places like the subway, cafes and park benches.

The idea is now 10,000 people strong and is slowly but surely brightening the world :)

Has anybody ever done this? Think it's such a great idea.

p.s for those wondering, I am now working for this company as a content writer (writing for their various directories) and I have never been happier in a job :)

besotted

 With Christmas slowly creeping up on me, I've been thinking about packaging/stationary etc. and in my researching frenzy discovered Besotted Brand, where I became rather *ahem* besotted....

I love the simplicity and the vintage styling, perfect for any occasion. I may even have to start writing letters again just to use the stamps, papers and envelopes!

Are there any great stationary brands you guys would recommend?

not another bill...

Every time I hear the words "You've got post" I do a little groan. Great, another bill, another appointment I need to make at the doctors/dentist/opticians, another piece of junk mail I don't care about. So when I came across the concept of 'Not another Bill' (found via Jackie Magpie) I couldn't help but smile.

Ned Corbett-Winder (a graphic design graduate) came up with a gift-finding service which delivers a little surprise package a month to subscribers. These gifts come from creatives from all walks of life and range from incredible silk scarves, pocket sundials, folded maps in marbled envelopes and even pieces from a collaboration with Tatty Devine jewellery.

A fantastic idea executed with exceptional style- who wouldn't love this? 

folded maps

pocket sundial

tatty devine collaboration

silk scarves

illustrated love

Recently stumbled upon this fantastic Swedish illustrator, Hannah Muller. Giving fashion a new perspective, check out more of her work here.

Have you made any discoveries lately?

Stag Sixteen

I always find it exciting when designers from all arena's join together, especially when it's for one amazing cause. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it always promises amazing results, and this November the project Stag Sixteen have brought talent together to raise money for the homeless charity Centrepoint. To read a more in depth piece on what they intend to do, take a look here.

The general idea behind the project is getting 16 designers from the fashion, jewellery and interior world to put their own spin on an iconic stag head. Making each one unique and, (as expected), awesomely stylish, these stag heads will go up for auction on the 16th of November where all proceeds will go to the Centrepoint charity.

Here are just a few, click here to see the full collection!

Charlotte Olympia's stag

Lulu Guiness' stag

Manolo Blahnik's stag

Rob Ryan's stag

I'm loving this idea- my favourite is Rob Ryan's stag! Which one would you bid on?

say it with a stamp

Have been a little absent from Limbo recently- life has gotten in the way a little! And I'm afraid this week doesn't look much better with work and two gigs to go to.... will be back on top form soon, promise ;)

In the meantime, how cool are these personalised postage stamp pictures?

Mix it up...

These days music has become such fluid form of media- easily shared, streamed and captured, which is great...... I do worry however that with this acceleration of digital music that the art of the mix tape / mix CD will be lost. One of the first things me and my other half did when we started dating was make each other mix CD's, complete with handwritten track lists and long-winded explanations about why we picked each song.

It turns out I'm not the only one who misses this form of communication. When reading an issue of 'Oh Comely' magazine (AKA my favourite magazine in the world ever), I came across a piece about Atherton Lin, a duo of illustrators who are determined to bring the art of the mix CD back by illustrating blank CD's, primed and ready to be turned into labours of love.

Here are my favourite CD's.....

And my current mix CD of choice would go something like this...

01 Shadows of the City- Marcus Foster (favourite song right now)

02 All of Me- Angus & Julia Stone (stunning slow number)

03 Pa Pa Power- Dead Man's Bones (very funky little tune)

04 Night Terror- Laura Marling (one of my favourite songs ever)

05 Alive- Pearl Jam (just an awesome song!)

What's on your mix CD?

Viva la Fabric!

Came across yet another case of making the ordinary extraordinary the other day, check these guys out...

Viva Fabric

Give them an object, any object, and watch as they cover it in fabulous fabric for a truly original look. I especially like the retro phones, teapots and stools. Check out their site here.

Pretty cool, right?

Ingibjorg Hanna

Whilst flicking through the latest issue of Toni & Guy magazine, (my sister works for T&G and got me a copy to peruse), I stumbled across a piece about designer Ingibjorg Hanna and instantly swooned over her unique way of thinking.

What does she do I hear you ask? Well, to put it simply, she makes the ordinary things in life that little bit more  extraordinary. 

I mean, who needs boring coat hangers and coat racks when you can have ravens and antlers instead? Great for those extra special items you want to display in style.

Check out her site here.

(all images via google images)

Norwegian Wood

One of my all time favourite books is being turned into a movie, and I am incredibly excited...

The book is called 'Norwegian Wood' (yup, the Beatles song) and is by my favourite writer, Haruki Murakami. It takes the lead character back to the 60's Japan to his most significant relationship and re-lives it in all its glory. A love story set within surreal, dream like prose, *sigh* I love it. 

The film will be interesting....I'm excited to see how they will transfer Murakami's writing style to the big screen, but also worried it won't do the book justice. 

Either way, I'm going to have to see it and report back :)

Here's the trailer:

Also while we're on the subject- I stumbled across some amazing illustration by Emmeline Pidgen and whilst perusing her lovely blog, I noticed she has drawn a design for the Norwegian Wood film, take a look....

She's recently had the designs printed as postcards and they are simply stunning- will have to get my hands on one :)

Any good films you guys are excited to see?

Seventy Tree

I don't know about you, but I love discovering new illustrators. I am so envious of their talent- I would LOVE to be able to draw.

Alas, I can't so I am merely an enthusiastic spectator :)

This week I came across 'Seventy Tree', (via Here Comes the Sun), cute and quirky doodles by Kerry Layton- a very talented Devon based illustrator.

 Check out the site here, and her blog here.

These prints are my favourites....

 (may have to treat myself to an early birthday present....)

Have you guys discovered any new talent lately?

365 Knitting Clock

Have discovered yet another brilliant artist/designer to share with you all. Her name is Siren Elise Wilhelmsen and the item in question is her 365 knitting clock.

The designer sees time as a concept that unites us all- and this creation is a physical manifestation of this.

The 365 knitting clock measures time through knitting, and after a whole year has passed you have a completed 2 metre scarf.

How brilliant is that?

I love this concept and it seems especially poignant as we head towards the end of 2010.

Bring on 2011 and let it be filled with knitting clocks....

....I've always hated numbers anyway.

Cable Knit Deers

Another very cool artist doing very cool things with everyday materials, this time it's Rachel Denny and wool.

What's she doing with wool? She's turning it into PETA friendly deer heads, that's what.

How cool is that? Discovered this gem through the lovely Claire at Shy Shoe Gazer
(always discover great stuff here!)

What do you guys think? I suddenly want my house adorned with woolen critters :)

Butterfly and Bush...

Feeling in need of some pretty imagery today, off sick from work! So I thought I'd share an artist I came across in one of the Sunday supplements this week called Tracy Bush.

Tracy is a British artist that works with paper to create butterfly and flower pieces as well as artists books. I particularly like here butterflies, here's what her website has to say....

 "For many years Tracey made scrapbooks, collections of ephemera that could not be thrown away. The use of scraps is a way of recycling both materials and images in a process of reconstruction. These books have now emerged as Lepidoptera; butterflies and moths, ancient symbols of transformation. Each moth or butterfly is hand-cut from layers of recycled papers and then sewn together using a bookbinders pamphlet stitch. They are then pinned out in entomological boxes made by the suppliers of the Natural History Museum London and the Paris Museum. "

Beautiful, no?

Package in the Post....

Don't you just love getting packages in the post? Today I got one and it totally made my day. I recieved my print by illustrator Kate Wilson, (remember I mentioned her here) and I'm so happy with it. I got it after the lovley Clare from Shy Shoegazer suggested a website for me to get myself a print (it was the Hannah Zakari site!), so a big thank you to Clare!

Here it is....



Also- you may be wondering- how did she do that fancy image? Well today I stumbled across a great blog called 'Gem Fatale's Style Blog' and she had some blogging tips, one of which was about Picnik, a great place to play with images. So look out for some more fancy images coming your way! All in all a very artsy day :)

Just Noey....

Stumbled across a great Illustrator/designer recently called Parul Arora (Co. called 'Just Noey') and I had to share some of her work with you! Love her illustrations, photography and how she puts them onto ceramics to make cool coasters, plates and mugs! Want to fill my imaginary flat with it all! Take a peek....

This is one of her Polaroid shots...

Some Illustrations....

Some cool postcard plates!

My favourites- Polaroid coasters! (Have just written a post about these for Cellardoor actually....will post link when it gets put up!)

And finally some alphabet plates! (K is for Kebab apparently, not Kat. Sadface)

Check out the Just Noey Etsy shop here, and the blog here...

Scrapbooking

Had a brilliant weekend with my friends in Hitchin this weekend, went to see my girl Zoe and her pretty new flat! During our visit Zoe showed us her new scrapbook and I was totally blown away, it looks so amazing and is a great way for her to document her travels. Creative things like that are great way to spend free time- as soon as I get some of that I wanna start my own! Here are some cool inspirations....






Any of you scrapbook?