Just discovered the great blog Pia Jane via Absolutely Beautiful Things and am in love with her altered photograph art. She adds little characters to them and to me, it is like another dimension being represented -- "imaginary" coming to life -- like what happens when Raggedy Anne & Andy are behind closed doors and go adventuring.

I love the idea of drawing right on photos and like the white simple lines she chose. This can obviously make great, frame-up style art, but I think it would be a great technique to use for the front of cards to friends with photos of a trip or of a group outing; I can imagine making great use of this in a photo album or scrapbook; I can see making a gift mini-album for friends or family with a set of photos so altered.

I really do dig the other-worldly feel this imparts -- like a movie with seemingly real interactions with cartoon characters or vice-versa (a la Who Framed Roger Rabbit).

Loving these roller derby dolls made by Sharp Elbows on Etsy. If I had a little girl she would so have these in her arsenal; unfortunately my friends girls are either too young or too old right now! Grow, girls, grow!

This house is going on the Gina & M inspiration board, dream board, wall of hope...whatever you want to call it. Should I win the lottery tomorrow, I'll buy it -- furnishings and all. It's even got a name (okay, I agree, that's a little pretentious...but I'll still take it!).

Emmas Designblogg offers a set of creative takes on party decor; my very favorite is the spice-jars-come-flower-vases...adorable. Or are they tea tins? Either way I love them. I'm keeping the next spice tins I run use up and upcycling 'em. Check out Emma's post at the link for more creative juiciness (the balloon decor is pretty interesting too)...

How About Orange purchased some mini canvases from Dick Blick and created mod and lovely miniature canvas magnets. Tiny works of art for the fridge. I think they're great. Jessica Jones, the artist behind the blog, is a very talented lady. Her portfolio site offers some "goodies" like wallpaper for your computer that I like, too -- my favorite is her orange pods.

Outfits I put together at Polyvore. Click on the pic to be taken to a link with shopping details for each piece, should you want them too! The British flag Steve McQueen bag simply rocks...

Artist Jaqueline Myers-Cho creates whimsical mixed media pieces, like this one titled Traveling Light in her Etsy shop. I would love to create art like this. Her portfolio is full of wonderful stuff, and she's recently written her first book on how to create some projects called Strands.

By way of The Food Section I came across these amazing papers, made in Germany from very thinly sliced fruits and vegetables and sold by Hiromi Paper. I think they're beautiful; they're out of stock on many right now but I would like to buy a few and frame them for art in my kitchen. Aren't they gorgeous?

Singer/songwriter, creative inspirer and all around seemingly kick-@ss lady Christine Kane has a great video of her song (No such thing as) Girls Like That. It's pretty hilarious & true...

I've been following her blog lately and I find it often gives me a little nudge toward optimism & makes me smile. She writes, sings, performs, teaches creativity to the CIA and holds regular retreats for women in the Carolinas. No, seriously. Check her out.

In listening to a Splendid Table podcast I have learned of a Sacramento, California phenomenon from the Squeeze Inn, called the squeezeburger (you can listen to their review here). This is a burger that I am considering planning a vacation around! Evidently they take some very good beef, top it with a big hunk of very good cheddar cheese, and then as the cheese melts on the burger patty it melts down onto the grill, and they let it fry and get crispy and it ends up surrounding the entire patty and sticking out of the bun like a little cheese innertube. Perhaps a picture is worth a million words here.

See what I mean? I'll call my holiday The Great SqueezeBurger Trek of 2008. It will be epic.

As these Wordle clouds show the words most often used bigger and bolder, I thought it might be enlightening to apply it to some speeches.

I used the Wordle application to generate a tag cloud based on Obama's March, 2008 speech A More Perfect Union.

It's interesting when you look at words this way, isn't it?

Here's one from a June, 2008 McCain speech given at the National Small Business Summit in Washington:

Now lets look at two speeches given by the candidates on the same day, for a bit more of a legitimate head-to-head comparison.

John McCain's speech Strategy for Victory in Afghanistan, July 15, 2008:

Barack Obama's speech A New Strategy for a New World, July 15, 2008:

Quite striking differences, aren't there? Thoughts?

I discovered a fun application called Wordle; it takes words you paste in or a URL and will create a tag cloud graphic.

My randomly generated Wordle:

Even though we just bought a great little house, I'm somewhat obsessed with real estate and go looking at stuff just for fun. I'm a geek. But wow did I find a little gem tonight!

It's too far outside of the city (Seattle) for my taste, but if I had the money for a second home I would surely consider this one; I'm pretty sure M would dig it's art deco styling, too. According to the real estate site, it's Bert Smyser architecture and was a model home for the 1941 Tacoma Better Housing Exposition. It features porthole windows, rounded corners, flat roofs and smooth exterior features. <drooling>

I'm so excited to have discovered that finally, my DVR tells me there are new episodes of Stylelicious, Uncommon Threads and Knitty Gritty. Whoo-hoo! I'm watching a recording of a new Stylelicious right now, and its all focused on various screenprinting techniques for T-shirts and other clothing; I'm not sure but I think they might even be sewing up a skirt later in the episode & then printing it up. I never know quite what to expect from the crew of crafty Austin, Texas gals.

The Uncommon Threads shows are new to the air, but were recorded last year or something...hopefully the host Allison Whitlock will be recording some "new" new ones soon...

The Knitty Gritty goodness is called Knitty Gritty Knitsters; I don't know if they've permanently changed the name or not. The format, based on the description looks like it might be a little different, but it also looks like a "special episode" so maybe its just a one-off. If I'm a seriously lucky girl, maybe there will now be TWO shows!

I'm so happy at least some of my favorite DIY Network crafty shows are back with new episodes!

Another even happier thing? The wedding planning is really gaining some momentum now, and I'm thrilled to have tracked down an old friend from college who is now a Jesuit priest and who has agreed to marry M & I! It means a lot to me to have someone I know perform the ceremony. He's such a great guy, too. We might have the reception venue figured out tomorrow, too...wish us luck -- we see over lunch! It's going to be a busy day. TGI almost F!

GINA: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.

Is your name an acronym for something?

More design inspiration, this time from CuldeSac( (via Yatzer); I adore this modern take on a classic grandfather wall clock. I want to find myself an actual antique and paint it white...or perhaps a glossy orange? Hmmm...

M & I have been searching for nightstands, which is tricky because we've got a sort of modern-yet-deco-bungalow thing going on...an ebony framed platform bed mixed with a 20's quarter-sawn oak "gentleman's closet" and 30's quarter-sawn dresser with bakelite handles -- mixed with an Asian-styled Lane chest with a silk print bench (craig's list find)...so...it sounds random but its actually working well thus far...but we obviously must proceed cautiously...

I think I may have stumbled across the perfect inspiration, from Czech designer Hubere Kororo called Drawerment (via the style files).
Aren't these swank? M likes them too. We've already got a trip to the ReStore planned today, so now we'll keep our eyes open for good drawers to re-repurpose...