fantastic friday.

its friday! i have a busy weekend ahead of me, so tonight i will be relaxing with my red wine and catching up on hbo's weeds series (which is such a good show by the way). how are you spending your friday?

the city of luzern, switzerland came up with a clever way to get people to notice trashcans. what a fun idea! we need some of these in houston.

i can't get over how awesome the new sherwin williams commercials are. they make me wonder: who names all the paint colors? when i was little i used to go with my dad to pick out paint & we would make up new names for all the different shades. i think it would be a fun job, don't you?

tired of getting up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water? problem solved! pin-up magazine & phillips de pury & company invented a new kind of night stand. i love it.

*thank you, swiss-miss.

color your summer.

today i got an email from snapfish notifying me of a fun summer contest: "color your summer." here's how it works: submit a photo according to the color of the week (last week was blue, this week is green) and at the end of the summer, get a free photo book of all the photos you submit! this contest makes me want to walk around all day and capture colorful summer shots - i love it. enter in this 7 week competition and vote for each other... & for me (leahbell48)!

here are some photos i voted for:

my green entry:

...happy summer everyone!

a tally of two cities.

i miss my sister terribly. i wish i was in france with her: indulging in cheese, wine, lavender, shopping, the sea...hmmm.

as i was longing for the parisian life, i clicked on a fabulous parisian blog: paris vs. new york. the blogger is a graphic artist & ever so creatively couples the clichés of nyc & paris together. the ideas behind the colors & layouts are brilliant! you must visit to website to fully enjoy.

la décoration

la décoration

le chanteur

le temple

le journal

le taxi

le café

thank you, swiss miss*.

table top letter press

i'm ready to go out & buy all the supplies needed to create my own letter press. with the help of ready made's 13 step by step instructions, anyone can execute this project. i can't wait to get started!!!

... by the way, if you have a project you're proud of, why not post it on ready made's blog? just become a member & share your creations with others. if you don't already subscribe to the magazine, i suggest you do pronto. i love this magazine for many reasons. it never fails to inspire!

satsuma.

hello, satsuma letterpress!

whitelines paper.

do you remember my apartment wall in japan? the one i covered with ticket stubs, post cards, drawings from students, letters from home, etc... ? well, when i moved back to the states i decided to keep my favorite things from that wall & use them in a memorable way. last weekend i bought a whitelines® paper notebook (a must have) & covered it with my favorite keepsakes from my japanese apartment wall. every time i use this notebook it brings back happy memories of my amazing time in japan. i love it!

book jackets.

check out the wonderful work by leanne shapton.

*thank you, wit + delight.

tourists vs. new yorkers.

this is hilarious! improv everywhere decided to create two different lanes on a 5th avenue sidewalk.

* thank you, a cup of jo.