Sculpture Artist: Helen Musselwhite

I'm adoring the work of United Kingdom artist Helen Musselwhite. Her hand cut paper sculptures and collages are so whimsical and fun. In her own word's:

"By the use of bold colour, strong graphic line and familiar images I create highly individual and visually appealing pieces of art that make an instant impact. My work has a distinctive hand crafted quality that pays respect to all forms of mid century design, folk and ethnic art, as well as current and future trends."

You can view an online gallery of her work on her website, actually six galleries to be exact.

(Found via Free People Clothing Blog)

Love Anna James

A fitting name for her online portfolio; Love Anna James is the website of London artist Anna James and her work is nothing short of lovely. She converts "twentieth century furniture into unique pieces of contemporary art." The items are fully restored and incredibly creative.

The Virtual Shoe Museum

The Virtual Shoe Museum is just what the title suggests, an online museum of shoes. The project was started back in 2004 by Liza Snook. You can browse collections by a number of categories including designer, color, style, and material. I have to admit, I'm not really a shoe-girl. Regardless of that fact, I couldn't help but find this fascinating!

(Found via Urban Outfitter)

26 Hand Drawn Websites

Hand drawn websites inspired by personal sketches and handwriting have become an ever growing trend in design. While the idea of having a website appear hand drawn is a complete dissonance, I think it's utterly fantastic and promises a near unique appearance. Inspiredology
has complied a lits of 26 Hand Drawn Websites definitely worth a look.

(Found via Inspiredology)

J.AUSTINRyan

I'm loving the work of Marnie Vollenhals, who sells under the name J.AUSTINRyan. Her paintings are so bright and happy. I could fill my whole house with them and be guaranteed to never have a bad day. Check out her website and new blog for more of her work.

Turner Duckworth : Simplistic Genius

David Turner and Bruce Duckworth of Turner Duckworth have already made quite a name for themselves. The two-continental firm is responsible for such branding as Amazon and Coca-Cola. Recently, they did work for Waitrose, the UK branch of supermarkets who notably have a Royal Warrant to supply groceries to the Queen and Queen Mother. I love the simplicity of their packaging. It looks clean and healthy, two things I definitely think are key when buying food.

(Found via Graphic-Exchange)

Retoucher Extrordinare: Christophe Huet

There's been a lot of buzz lately about the overzealous Photoshopping of the celebrities on some newsstand covers (see Gwyneth Paltrow on the current Vogue). On a similar/far more respectable note, check out Christophe Huet's work. He's an incredibly talented retoucher. His website allows you to not only view his portfolio, but see the making-of on several of his images.

(Found via Why Me?)

Inspiration Across the Nation

The Library of Congress is running a new campaign called Inspiration Across the Nation, which encourages you to "inspire others to reach their creative potential." Its concept is simple, send them your poems, essays, films, photographs, or any other creative art form you can transfer to an electronic file. With your submission, include a description of what inspired the work.. Equally as interesting as the campaign itself, are their advertisements. They're simply images of inspirational iconic figures made out of finger prints. Check out Library of Congress' website to view the gallery of submitted work or submit your own.

(Found via Pret a Voyage)

YoungMe-NowMe Project

The YoungMe-NowMe project has been popping up all over the place and I couldn't resist sharing it. The concept is simple: post a picture of you when you were young and a similar picture of you now. I clicked through every page of the gallery and felt both happy and sad. There is something about these photos that forces you to recognize the passing of time, all the while they're so fun.

(Found via A Cup of Jo)

Cartoon Yearbook: John Martz

John Martz has redrawn the entire student body of his mother's 1968 high school yearbook (that's over 1,000 people) as cartoons.

You can see the project on his Flickr page or purchase it on his website, along with his other work.

(Found via Gawker)

Where on Earth is Waldo

Melanie Coles' project "Where on Earth is Waldo" is maybe one of the coolest Web 2.0 spin-offs I've seen yet. Melanie has hidden a giant Waldo somewhere on a rooftop in Vancouver with the hopes of it appearing on Google Earth.

"My addition of a Waldo figure to Google Earth, in a way subverts the whole earth into being part of my game; each rooftop or field then becomes a place where Waldo could be hiding."

Her blog mentions, excitedly, the prospects of others partaking in the game. She hopes others will not only play the game, but hide their own giant Waldo's in other parts of the world to keep the game going.

(Found via One Floor Up)

Living Color Enterprises

I was in awe/envious of the home aquariums pictured on the Living Color Enterprises website. My Uncle has a pretty impressive salt water tank, but these are quite simply amazing.

(Found via Bem Legaus)

Café Royal

Café Royal is an online shop which sells books and zines from various sources and was founded by Craig Atkinson and his wife Joanne Chan-Atkinson.

"What interests us the most is the DIY ethic that makes artists’ zines and books so interesting and valuable. Each one is like wandering into a curiosity shop of the artists’ mind."

The majority of the items they offer focus on drawing and are definitely worth a peek, if not a purchase!

(Found via Swissmiss)

Instructables: Electric Umbrella

The latest show and tell on Instructables teaches you how to make an electric umbrella, an idea I was quite impressed with. I don't have the tools nor the patience to actually make one, but I love the idea regardless. The final product includes a dimmer switch and all, for ambiance of course!

If you haven't checked out Instructables yet, it's worth a peek. Dubbed the "world's largest show and tell," users post instructions to various projects ranging from how to build a "totally awesome airplane" to how to "grow a square watermelon."

BCXSY Design Dou

I recently came across the website for design duo BCXSY and thoroughly enjoyed clicking through their products. They're whimsical, childlike, and downright fun. Just a few of their designs (pictured above) include the Sew-Saw Bookshelf, the Napkin Necktie, and Holiday Planner.

(Found via The Empire Collective)

The Ones We Love

I fist saw the photo project titled 'The Ones We Love' back a few months ago. Where exactly I saw it now escapes me. Then today, it popped up again on Black Eiffel.

"The Ones We Love is a project highlighting young and talented photographers from around the world. Each artist contributed six photographs of the person(s) who is most important to them, taken outdoors in a natural setting. The goal of the website is to portray the people who are loved, cherished, and inspirational to these artists, and also showcase the differences and similarities in the photographs each of them took within the same guidelines."

It doesn't get much more 'feel good' than this. I've looked through almost every photographer's set, read their profile and enjoyed the personal touch of their own handwriting. It got me thinking about who I would choose to photograph if I were to contribute. I'm not sure I could narrow it down, or afford all the film it would take to capture all those I love in my life.

Ok, no more sappy moments for the day. Let's group hug and move on, shall we.

(Found via Black Eiffel)

Muxtape

Muxtape (no that's not a spelling error) is simple.

1) Create an account
2) Create your own MP3 mix
3) Allow it to be listened to by others on any internet browser/listen to other mixes

Not only is this incredibly easy/brilliant, but it's a great way to share what you're listening to and score some new tunes yourself.

(Found via Urban Outfitters)

Easter Egg Contest

Hatch Design is holding its first annual Easter Egg Coloring Contest. Submit your own or judge the submissions of others.

(Found via Swissmiss)

In Honor of the Polaroid

Apparently I'm a little behind on the news, but nonetheless saddened. Polaroid announced last month that it will cease production of instant Polaroid film by next year. This news will certainly give a whole new historical context to the Outcast song 'Hey Ya' and is sure to disappointPolaroid camera enthusiasts like myself.

Perhaps in honor and an attempt to preserve Polaroid film, David Friedman proposed a concept design for the last product Polaroid should make. The Digital Polaroid picture frame.

"You just put your memory card in a slot on the bottom of the frame, and navigate using the touch screen to select whether you want to view your photos in 'Standard' mode...or in 'Classic' mode."

"The bottom portion of the frame features a dry erase surface, so you can write your own title for your slideshow by hand, using a dry erase marker."

For further reminiscing, check out Polanoid.com where they are building the biggest Polaroid picture collection of the planet in honor of the magic of instant photography.

( Digital Polaroid Picture Frame found via Core77)

Carin Goldberg Design

Designer Carin Goldberg is nothing short of amazing. After stumbling on her website/portfolio I've wasted -scratch that- I've enjoyed an hour looking through her work. Among my favorites is the work she did for the book 'Faces: 78 Portraits from Madonna to the Pope.

(Found via swissmiss)