Wednesday Wish: Handmade Weddings

I wish that I would win one of the blog contests I entered for this darling book: Handmade Weddings.

Um...yes please.

I heard of this book being released in January and I think I need it for the next 2 years of my life. Pretty please.

I heart.

This series of book illustrations by Jane Mount. I wonder what it would look like if I tried to draw my books...probably not nearly as good and adorable as these. Maybe someday when spare time exists.

Fun book stuff

Are you a reader? I wish I had more time to do so. But I do love anything that has to do with great design and books.

Liquid bookmark by Kouichi Okamoto of Kyouei Design.

A handy invention called the Thumbthing for those readers who like to hold the book open with one hand.

And the best book jacket/bookmark combination EVER by designer Igor "Rogix" Udushlivy! I really do hope someone picks these up because I want one!

Ummm awesome

How delightful are these laptop book cases by twelvesouth as seen on design*sponge today. If I ever get a laptop this is the case I want.

New member to PHX DIY

We are really excited to welcome a new member to PHX DIY! Sea Lemon is a graphic designer in the Valley who enjoys taking rejected paper (or lemons!) and re-purposing them into beautiful handmade books. Check out her work here.

I'm so happy....

I stumbled upon Julia Rothman. Just looking though her stuff has made me so inspired this morning. First of all she is an illustrator, painter, and pattern designer from Brooklyn, New York.

Her work is really wonderful and makes me wish I could draw better. And today I discovered her blog, Book By It's Cover, which is basically where she shares all of the wonderful books she has seen over the years.

And lastly, in 2002 she helped start a design firm where she does the illustration, one partner the design, and another the animation. Sounds like a perfect partnership. Anyway their website is the best I have seen in a long time, so original and fun. The navigation, illustration, and simplicity is genius....and they do great work, you must check it out. Tell me you are not inspired?

DIY Ideas

Some of the newest DIY ideas that appeared on Design*sponge are wonderful and I cannot wait to do them for our new house!

First of all check out this pure genius. Recycling old jars, vases, and tins and redoing to make them look like milk glass. All you need is puffy paint and spray paint. Who doesn't love a project with puffy paint?

Next up a curtain/fabric screen made up of felt circles. I have always wanted to make an adorable curtain but somehow everytime I try they just end of looking like a sheet on a wall. I hope this one turns out better for me!

And lastly do you have a bunch of books lying around that you cannot part with. Check out this great idea for upcycling them into a side table. All of the books create such a great pattern and intersting visual. Happy diy-ing!

Classics redone

I am expecting a new book in the mail. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, a volume of the new classics series by Penguin Books.

The had designer Coralie Bickford-Smith redesign the covers and they are beautiful! They are currently only available in the UK but I read on Design Sponge they are going to be releasing select titles in the US (very exciting). I am dying to get Little Women, Pride & Prejudice, and Alice in Wonderland. You can see the first installment of the series on flickr here.

Fun side project

A co-worker of ours asked me to custom make her a book as a gift for her parents 40th wedding anniversary.


The theme was ruby and she wanted something that her and her sisters could put cards, photos, letters, etc. in.

All handmade, handsewn and with custom graphics.

It turned out beautiful!