Happy New Year 2008

I´m back after a wonderful holiday and my jetlag is almost over - so I´m ready for a new year of blogging, sharing and meeting new people and ideas... so let me start by wishing you all a wonderful and prosperous New Year 2008 - I´m looking forward to share it with you all!

See you next year!

I think this is what our Christmas holidays will look like again this year. We leave for Hong Kong & Thailand tomorrow - and will celebrate Christmas on Koh Mak, with friends from home and with my cousin + family, who lives on Iceland rigth now. It´s our 4th Christmas holiday in Thailand - which means that so far Nanna has only seen Thai Santa´s and plastic trees - but who cares when the sun is shining, the sea is warm, the food is served and all you have to do is to kick back and enjoy the holidays. I wish you all a warm and merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year 2008 - see you next year!

Flickr favorites

Here´s some of my recent Flickr Favorites to get the week started. I recommend you check out the Snowflake project full of amazing macro´s of snowflakes - and Linzie Hunter´s Spam one-liners a hand lettering project- based on spam subject lines in her mailbox - and this collection of Naruko-style vintage kokeshi dolls. Happy monday!

Giving birth to a giant baby

I love this photo, where artist Ron Mueck (pushing the head) works with the Brooklyn Museum staff to install the exhibition Ron Mueck on view. See the whole progress in a Flickr set here. This photo really speaks to me since I admire Mueck´s work a lot + the project I´m working on right now feels a bit like giving birth to a giant baby...

Hello world!

Just had to share this little piece from my Site Meter statistics - It´s been a very international day here at Spagat´s blog. I love to see where my readers are from and how they found me - and to me this is the true power and joy of blogging - communicating with people all over the world, and meeting people who share your taste and passions. Welcome!

If you don´t have a stats on your blog already - I recommend you get one - it´s really interesting to keep track of your blog.

La Marelle

The new website from La Marelle, is a treasure trove of great products and clever illustrators, like Lilidoll and miss clara - and don´t miss Miss Clara´s magical website. I´m so busy the next weeks so blogging will be very sporadicly - but La Marelle´s collection of illustrators and cards should keep you entertained for a while. Enjoy!

DIY- advent calender

I love this idea for an Advent calender, from Boligliv nr.11/07 - but I can´t crochet - nor cast on a stitch - but if you can I hope this inspires you - it surely makes me want to learn how to crochet or knit before next december...

Quick Christmas tree

Here´s a quick DIY-project if you have a child or innerchild who loves Barbapapa and Christmas trees - buy a small tree and wrap a Barbapapa string light around it - it takes 2 minutes and spreads a lot of joy! Have a great weekend!

Søren Behncke

I don´t expect to get any Christmas presents this year - it´s a part of the deal when we go away for Christmas. But if someone really really wants to give me something, then this painting by Søren Behncke, is on top of my wishlist. The artist, Søren Behncke has within few years won great appreciation as an original artist taking streetart into new dimensions. He is presented by, Charlotte Fogh Contemporary, a gallery located in the same former chocolate factory as my studio. Right now she has a great show Coupling, presenting HuskMitNavn, Søren Behncke, Jan Danebod, Armsrock (DK/D), Jacob Tækker, Kyle Mock (USA). And from tomorrow she will have an Art advent calender on her website, presenting a new artist everyday - so check it out.!

If you live in Århus, I recommend a visit to her gallery + a visit to The Room Project by Anette Merrild, at Aarhus Kunstbygning, also blogged about here.

Snowflake pattern

Via decor8 ´s Etsy finds, I saw these great snowflakes from Etsy seller Enna. Take a a closer look and you´ll see little figures like birds and rabbits in them. This design was actually cut by hand with little scissors and then turned into a pattern. I also like these snowflakes made with Hama beads by Christine.

Hong Kong research

Speaking of Hong Kong - have you seen these stunning photos by photographer Michael Wolf- from his Architecture of Density project? And if you have any tips on great places to eat, shop and visit in Hong Kong, please let me know.

Pre-Christmas preparations

I know it´s still November, but I cannot resist adding a little Christmas feel to my home and my studio. And since we leave for Hong Kong and Thailand the 15th of December - I think it´s allright with an early start, so this weekend we opened the big box with Christmas decorations - and Nanna was in heaven with all the glitter and gold in the house. The cones are form our summerhouse and the birds are from Lisbeth Dahl.

Minilabo again

I´ve posted about Minilabo before - and it´s time to do it again, since their new products, top picture, looks so great. I really like their graphics and use of colour. The bottom pictures are some of their wallstickers - which we mounted in Nanna´s room some months ago - just never got around to share the result before now. Half was placed by me - the other half by her....

Winter Must Have

The silk scarf and the 2008 pocket calender, with the Poppy-pattern I designed for the Danish Cancer Society, is now for sale in their webshop. Since this was my first fashion design - designed almost a year ago - I´ve been very curious to see how the colours would match what´s actually in the shops now - and I´m very happy and relieved to see that the print fits in perfectly - and I put together some outfits from this season, all from the YouHeShe webshop just to prove it! The book in the picture is by Elsa Beskow, and was one of my favorites as a child - and I´ve just started to read it for my daughter now - is it translated to English?

If you would like to own one of these Must Have scarfes - and can´t work out the webshop in Danish, send me an email or leave a comment and I´ll help you out.

100 % Silk, 68 x 68 cm, 129 kr.- or $ 25 + shipping.

All I want for Christmas...

All I want for Christmas is to be found in Stilleben´s new webshop, launched today. Make sure to stop by.

be you

Sometimes the simple things are the most difficult ones - and after a strange week last week, I just had to make this little reminder to myself. And if you need a reminder too - you can download it here.

Desktop backgrounds

I´ve just updated my website with this desktop background + and this old one because I like the quote on it sooo much.

If winter is slumber

and spring is birth

and summer is life,

then autumn rounds out to be

reflection.

I´ve also uploaded a pdf. file of the article about me - in danish! Have a great weekend.

Astrid Lindgren - my heroine

Another positive thing today is that by beeing a parent - you get to read all of Astrid Lindgren´s wonderful books all over - again and again. Today would have been Astrid Lindgren´s 100th birthday - and it gives the world a good reason to celebrate Pippi and Emil´s creator. The picture in the middle is the first written version of Pippi Longstocking - a present for her daughter´s 10th birthday - can you imagine a more precious gift??

Inspiration board

I have to focus on the good things today - cause I´m still very upset about the election results and couldn´t sleep - so instead I was busy planning how we could migrate to New Zealand. So let me share my November inspiration board in my studio instead. Lots of cones, Etsy goodies and great letterpress samples from The Paperstudio. See more Inspiration boards here at Flickr.

Mr. Farty Pants

This photo made my night - and it´s a perfect comment on how frustrated I feel about the election results here in DK - Four more years with Mr. Farty Pants and his team of hot air - and bad smells.................
Found via FFFFOUND

Election Day

Today is Election Day here in Denmark - and for the first time in history we can actually vote for a female Prime Minister. The final polls are predicting one of the closest general elections in recent memory and I hope we will have a new Prime Minister soon - in high heels. We already have a Queen and not a King you know!

Dots By Rank

Lars Rank is also the designer behind DOTS - a wonderful series of plates and bowls, which I´m trying to find out you where to buy. Seen in the new Bo Bedre and on page 117-118 you can catch a glimpse of his stars and hearts.

Stars by Lars Rank

It´s a little early for Christmas - but you can sign up here or here for the 2nd Annual Holiday Ornament Swap organized by Freshly Blended and Cake & Pie. Sign-ups are only until November 9th - so be quick. I´m not participating this year - since we leave for Asia in the middle of December. But I would love to decorate my home with these porcelain stars by Lars Rank - sold at Stilleben - one of my favorite shops in Copenhagen - which will launch a webshop 20th of November here! I have a soar throat and a cold to cure this weekend - have a good one!

studio scent

This is how my studio smells right now - like delicate Italian Blood Orange soap from Australian Mor-cosmetics - and the packaging is just as delicate as the smell. Blogging is so visual and I sometimes miss more dimensions like sound, taste and smells - and I think I´ll organize a SENSES week soon, where participants should try to convey a smell or taste through visuals... does it sound like fun to you?

Well this monday blogging became 3 dimensional when I finally met Sabine in Copenhagen - We had tea in her studio and she is just as kind and giving as imagined and her studio is just as cozy and inspiring as pictured on her blog - and if meeting the rest of my blog-friends out there will be as delightful and easy - then I can´t wait to meet you all...

pretty dishcloths

Imelda just wrote a funny post here, about how she bought some pretty & retangular things in Sweden this summer, and how she just recently discovered what they were for.... it´s Swedish Dishcloths and they are pretty indeed. I just bought one myself last week - because of the print - top right - design by Lotta Glave . So here are some more dishcloth prints for Imelda and the rest of you - all from Klippan.

Magazine Design Seminar

I´m in Copenhagen untill Tuesday night for some fun, some tea with Sabine, and a Magazine Design Seminar, with these speakers: Deb Bishop from Marta Stewart - Kids and Blueprint!!, Geraldine Hessler from Entertainment Weekly, Matt Willey from Studio 8 in London - blogged about here... Arem Duplessis from The New York Times Magazine, and Carla Frank from The Oprah Magazine - you can see the programme here - I´m so excited! Have a great weekend.

October is over and so is this years Breast Cancer Awareness month - and I just wish to thank everyone who has supported my fundraising, left a comment or featured my breast cancer design on their blog - you know who you are... and the results have been great - I´ve fundraised 900$ so far - it ends November 5th! - and I´ve had between 100-200 unique visitors pr. day in October which is a lot for my modest blog!
I´ve also been invited to make a design proposal for next years pattern, we will see how that goes... I´ll let you know!

I won the Lottery!

Just discovered today that I´m the lucky winner of Sia´s goodiebag. Take a look here at the drawing and at my sweet prize. Thank you so much Sia - and Floris for breaking my bad lottery spell - last time I won something in a lottery I was 7 years old and won a can of canned peaches - I cried the whole afternoon afterward because I was so disappointed and wanted one of the teddybears instead. This goodiebag finally makes up for it :) Sia´s great blog, siagrafica made it to the Top 10 new design blogs to watch organized by laissezfaire recently - which is why she made this goodiebag for one of her readers.

Delicate Mobiles

Seem like delicate DIY mobiles is the next big thing - and there are so many great examples around the web right now, like the top one by Puka, this one from Karin in ceramics, the wooden one from Boohou and the bottom one by Debi Van Zyl. Making a mobile could be a fun weekend project - have a great weekend. Just saw this mobile by Lisa Congdon for their Rare Device Opening - and not to forget these paper mobiles by Frazier&Wing.

A great line of tees

Just saw a post today at Snowflakes + cupcakes about the US Boarding for Breast Cancer Campaign - and just had to show some of the hip products and tees, designed by e.g. Paul Frank, Billabong and Nixon to support the cause - you can see them all here.