Karli Kloss for H&M Fall 2011

via Design Scene

Love the color palette. 

As always H&M is winning.

From the Archives: My Book of China

About a year ago I got back from a trip to China.

I miss it! So let's revisit, shall we? 

Here's a book I made with pictures and words from my time there. Crafty, eh?

So...one time I went to Xi'an.

Some places were calm.

Some places were busy!

Some places were EXTREMELY busy.

We went to a school and joined in at recess.

We met lots of people.

Then we climbed a wall. It was great.

Origami

Via the Payment Systems Group on the Behance Network.

Vegetarian Resources!

I love food. I love books. I love books about food. And I love being a vegetarian. So I decided to compile a  nice little list of the books I've read over the past several months that either helped me decide to make the switch to the veggie lifestyle, or that provide lots of info on the topic. All these are books that I really enjoyed reading. However, I would not recommend all of them for everybody. Do your research. Be wise. Read. Be healthy! woohoo! That's all I have to say. Here goes:

1. Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser.
I read this about a year and a half ago. It's pretty nasty. Definitely worth reading.

2. Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer

Ok. Mr. Foer is one of my all-time favorite authors. Usually he writes fiction but this one is not at all fiction. This book is Mr. Foer's personal accounts of how he researched the meat industry (sometimes even sneaking onto factory farms!) and finding out first-hand what goes on in there. He is since a vegan. Pretty interesting stuff. 

3. Skinny Bitch, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnoiun.

Judge me if you want, but I seriously loved this book. I read it in a less than 12-hour period. It's honest, straightforward, and a little offensive. But come onnn, unless you're a total wuss, you can handle it. The authors admit that they are not trying to advocate bitchiness but rather used the title to get attention (and it worked, seeing as this book made it to the New York Times Bestseller List). Anyway, these ladies outline exactly WHY it's in your best interest to give up junk food and do your body a favor by going vegan. Beware, this book uses verrrryyyyy convincing language. In one chapter, they get a little too preachy on political matters for my taste. But whatever, their tips on healthy eating and lifestyle change are worth skimming over the unnecessary drama. Check this out. It's worth the judgmental glances you will undoubtedly receive from your local librarian.

4. Earthings.
Ok. This is persuasive film at it's most persuasive. Seriously. It's called Earthlings because it serves as a reminder that humans are not the only species living here. In fact, we are the most intelligent, so we are the most responsible for the state of the earth. Essentially the filmmakers decided this would be best accomplished by SHOWing people exactly what we as humans are doing to the earth and to animals, instead of just telling us. It is soo effective. You will probably cry. If you don't, either you are very adept at controlling your emotions, or you are a freak of nature! I cried my eyes out, especially during the part about whaling. Just remember, I don't recommend this for everyone. Only people who really care about this kind of thing. Otherwise you will be grossed out and then feel guilty and get mad at me for recommending this. And nobody wants that.

5. Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.
Ok, to be honest, I never actually read this book in its entirety. I just picked certain chapters because I was writing a huge research paper on the topic and I didn't have time to read the whole thing. BUT what I did read was very interesting. Mr. Pollan did a lot of research about how what we eat affects more than just us. Win. I put a hold on it at the library so hopefully I'll get to read the whole thing soon!

6. Food Inc.
Here's another film. This one I WOULD recommend to anyone and everyone. It is a comprehensive look at how America feeds itself. It's very interesting!!! Unless maybe you don't care about food. Then you might say it is boring. But come ON, food is the best. How could you not care about it? It keeps you alive. Watch this. It's on Netflix.

7. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, by Michael Pollan
Just checked this out from the library. Yeahhh! More to come.

Elle Fanning

Two things I love: Dakota Fanning. and Elle Fanning. I absolutely love this recent photoshoot of Elle as featured in Marie Claire Magazine July 2011. Can you believe she's only 13?

I love this shoot. Not only do the images capture Elle's youth and femininity, but they also speak of maturity and grace. Love them. Stuff like this makes me want to shoot fashion.

collar, Louis Vuitton; gloves, Carolina Amato

This is my favorite of the entire shoot.

Dress, Lanvin; belt, Meredith Wendell; bracelet, Emporio Armani; tulle (worn as headpiece), Manny's Millinery Supply Co. On hair: TRESemmé Climate Control Finishing Spray 

dress, Antonio Berardi

dress, Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti; shoes, Nicholas Kirkwood; bangles, Pono by Joan Goodman.

Dress, Stella McCartney; tights, DKNY; bracelet,  House of Flora 

dress, Dior; skirt, D&G; shoes, Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti; bracelet, House of Flora. On lips: MAC Tinted Lipglass in Pink Poodle.

Dress,  Prada; gloves, $25, LaCrasia Gloves 

All photos by Tesh.

Inspiration: Pixar

Monsters, Inc. 

Ratatouille

Wall-E

The credits are some of the best animations!

Holy crap I love pixar!

The Weight of Glory

Recent shoot I did here in Nashville for The Weight of Glory.

They're cool. Lend them an ear here.

Amélie

I love Amélie.

For my next printmaking project, we were asked to create a piece based on a song that means something to us. I decided to bite the bullet and do an instrumental piece by Yann Tiersen. I'm illustrating Compine D'un Autre éte: L'apres-midi, which is the most played song on my itunes library. Here's a clip of my favorite part Amélie with my song of choice in the background. I want to capture the mood of this clip in my print. Should be fun! :)

Geomancy Extra Bold

It's crazy. No matter how much (or how badly) I screw up,

God's love is bigger. He sees past my sins. He sees me as perfect, beautiful, and whole. Only through Jesus' blood. uhhhMAZING.

I'm super overwhelmed by this, today in particular. 

I mean, I screw up a looot. But God's love is bigger.

This is a big statement, guys.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His Love endures forever!"

Psalm 118:29

Today is day 2 of my typeface project. I used Geomancy Extra Bold...

Yes, it's a decorative font. But I keep using it. Hopefully not too much...

The chunky letter forms go well with my bold, quirky, vintagey style.

I also love the fact that the tittle over the lowercase i is off-centered. Funkyy.

This font has treated me well thus far, although I probably shouldn't use it too much, in fear of becoming "that person" who overuses and abuses a random dafont.com find. 

Anyways, today I'm celebrating Geomancy and dwelling in the glorious truth that God's love goes on forever (and ever and ever and ever)

Revisiting Beijing

EF - Live The Language - Beijing from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

I love everything about this video.

1. Helvetica Neue - Ultra Light

Every good and perfect thing comes from above. 

I believe that God allows every thing to happen for a marvelous reason. And I also believe that He desires the best for me. Even when I sin, He has the power, the authority, and the LOVE to take my mess and turn it around and make me beautiful.

That's AMAZING.

Ok.  Here's an idea.

Last night I had the privilege to hear Kit Hinrichs speak.

(If you don't know him, you should. He's an insightful guy and an incredible designer, not to mention the founder of the world-renowned Studio Hinrichs in San Fran.)

"A designer tends to use 10 fonts 90 percent of the time."

What are my ten fonts?

I'm not sure.  I'm still a design baby.

But I came up with an idea of how to identify my 10 go-to's.

Every day for the next 10 days, I'm going to create a simple poster design, using my 10 go-to's, illustrating the truth that God is impressing on my heart at that time. I feel like God has been teaching me so many valuable things lately, I want to document them in a way that involves my love of typography!

This will be fun.

Today is #1.

And I'm using Helvetica Neue - Ultra Light.

And I'm remembering that God makes ALL things work together 

(for MY good!)

Save the Whales...Again

I designed this poster to showcase my final project for my typography class.

I designed the font! It's called Greco Regular, and I'm happy to call myself a type designer :) The serifs are wayy out of wack but it's a work in progress!

Save the whales!

The Nash

window pane, originally uploaded by Jessie Tyree.

I love living here.
But I love going home too.
Can't wait for Christmas break!

Birthdays!

so many HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

3 of my favorite people have birthdays this week.

can you believe it?

laurel turned 15 today!

gracela is turning 20 on friday!

and of course kerol is turning 21 on friday!

SO MANY BIRTHDAYS!

so many wonderful people!

so much celebration!

The Lighthouse