I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• A neat egg dyeing technique at IndieFixx – One of my favorite parts of Easter is dyeing eggs, and I can’t wait to share the tradition with Ellie (when she’s a little older, of course). Until then, I’m happy to try this on my own.
• Creating the perfect iPhone app for your biz at Design Sponge – I’ve been working on a mobile Web project at the office, so I’m in an iPhone-ready mindset. This article has some very helpful information about the process.
• Handmade Spaces: Jennifer Ladd at Modish – Loving these colors!
• Not Martha’s vacation slides of her time in Paris – Chocolate. Chocolate?  CHOCOLATE!
• Yummy pink at Poppytalk – I admit it. I have a love/hate relationship with pink. When I was four, my parents built an addition onto their house. When asked what color my new room should be, I (of course) answered, “PINK!” I spent the next 16 years sleeping within walls the color of bubblegum (and loudly complaining about it for the latter half of those years). I’m still drawn to all things pink, although now I’m a bit pickier about the shade!

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

I’m doing the birthday thing this weekend! As of this afternoon, I can no longer pretend I’m in my mid-twenties… I’m officially on the downward slide to 30.

Tim and I had a date night to celebrate. We finally saw Avatar (I think we’re the last people in the world to see it) and the verdict was… eh. Not bad, but it didn’t live up to the hype for me. Obviously the special effects were fantastic–a tech geek’s wet dream–but I found it difficult to get attached to the story. There was a lot of yawning on my part, although in fairness, I was up way past my bedtime (I know, I know, you envy my level of cool). Personally, I look forward to seeing what other producers do with the same technology, but with a less predictable script.

Not that I’m complaining! I’m pretty sure I would have paid 6 bucks to watch three hours of C-SPAN as long as it got me out of the house. Again–envy me!

Aside from that, we’ve been taking it easy. Yesterday we visited the local farmer’s market, then checked out the Orono thrift shop, where I found some super inexpensive clothes for Ellie. I’ve been working on custom orders, one of which I can’t wait to show off. It’s been a crazy month for my business, but it’s a good crazy!

Now I’m off to finish a slice of the delicious double-chocolate cake my wonderful husband baked for me. I am one lucky birthday girl!

I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• How to make ice lanterns, at Design Sponge – A glittery consolation prize for living in a place where you can’t feel your fingers six months out of twelve.
• Dash and Albert rugs, featured at Maine Maven – Kristen always knows where to go for yummy Maine finds. Ever since we redid our downstairs in hardwood, I’m on the lookout for inexpensive coverings, and these colorful throw rugs will do the trick.
• Little Leg Warmers feature at S. Jane Craft – I’m not usually an impulsive shopper, but I loved LLW’s work the moment I saw it, and knew I had to have this quilt and pillow set for Ellie’s room. Brooke’s designs bring a fresh, modern twist to the traditional quilt.
• Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische, featured at Poppytalk – A new day, a new drop cap–and an excellent way to spruce up your blog. I may need to design and employ some fancy drop caps for my own sites, come to think of it.
• Michael Cogliatry Photography at The Shiny Squirrel – A nice mix of the everyday with a touch of weird–just to my liking. Visit his professional Web site to see more.

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• I’m all about font friday at PoppyTalk – Look at the pretty Christmas fonts! And I adore “Helvetidoodle.”
• What to read next? Ask the Book Seer! – I’d actually been searching for a Web site like this… something simple and elegant that recommends books based on your previous favorites. According to this, I should really read The Lovely Bones. Via Shelterrific
• It’s a controversial site for some Etsians, but I love this “LOLcat” on Regretsy – not to be mean, of course, just because I love LOLcats. You should check out the rest of the seller’s work, too–it’s cute.
• The cheerful cake Christmas ornaments in this series at Cake Wrecks caught my attention – and the little fawn made me go “awwww.”
• Sweet Juniper’s writing and photos make me feel like I’m there – I was oddly touched by this story (photo essay?) about a local market in Detroit. It made me wish I could visit.

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• Eeep! My First Fail is always good for a laugh, but this makes me feel slightly uncomfortable – And they said my doll photos were creepy!
• Heidi Kenney’s cupcake designs are splendid – I also adore these real-life “TV dinner” cupcakes she made. The talent is blinding.
• Speaking of cake… the two pans in this post at Not Martha?  Major want – A big cookie and a winter village. Now if only I could bake worth a darn.
• Caryn’s been posting about her crafty Christmas projects – There are some great ideas here. If I were slightly less lazy I’d probably try them.
• Jesus, Karaoke, and Serial Killers: Funny Venn Diagrams – I LOL’ed! Courtesy of the Huffington Post.

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• Bear Duck Designs has some awesomely tech-geeky stuff in her Etsy shop – If I can’t have an iPhone, at least I can have iPhone magnets! via Indie Fixx
• Christine Berrie’s pop culture illustrations are so colorful and fun – I’m partial to the vintage cameras and the VW Bus. via Poppytalk Handmade
• XKCD’s Academia vs. Business – Sometimes I think this is my life in a cartoon strip.
• The suitcase sofa via shelteriffic – Gotta love design that is both clever and functional.
• Loving this home design at Design Milk – The natural wood tones, the bright, open rooms, clean lines and big windows… *sigh* Where do I find one of these in rural Maine, hmm?

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• An adorable collection of modern alphabet posters at Design*Sponge
  I especially love the first one.
• I have seen this look in my own child’s eyes before
  Intense! MyFirstFail.com is always good for a laugh.
• Happy 40th, Sesame Street! Cake Wrecks celebrates with Sunday Sweets
  If I had any baking talent at all, I’d attempt one of these for Ellie’s first birthday. The poor kid will be lucky if she gets a cupcake that’s not burnt to a crisp.
• The perfect mid-century modern calendar at Jenn Ski
  Want! Want! Want! Jenn’s handmade and vintage finds are superb.
• Environmentally-friendly dollhouses at Cool Mom Picks
  You realize the only reason we had a kid was so I’d have an excuse to buy all the cool stuff I wanted to play with when I was little… right?
• Tech Support Cheat Sheet courtesy XKCD
  As someone who does a fair amount of tech support at her job… this is brilliant.

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

If you’re a designer (and even if you’re not) there are probably certain fonts you absolutely cannot live without. My favorite Web site for new font discoveries these days is MyFont.com–tons of fonts, freeware and otherwise–in a sleek Web interface that is as attractive as the fonts themselves.

Here are some of my favorites:

Sexsmith. It’s playful. It’s fun. If a font could be sexy, this one would be sexy. I use Sexsmith over at Calobee Doodles and it’s one of those I keep coming back to… I have to force myself not to over-use it!

Rosewood Std Fill. This font was designed to be used as a (you guessed it) fill for its fancy cousin, Rosewood Std, but I think it stands quite well on its own.

Didot. One of my regular design practices involves combining a simple serif with a simple sans-serif, and this is my simple serif font of choice.

Little Days. Another of my Calobee Doodles favorites. Whimsical and a little loopy, just like me!

Respect the font, people. What are your favorites?

My husband is such a bookworm… he’ll read basically anything. Me? I tend to pick one or two authors and stick with them… I’m always a little hesitant to stray from my tried-and-true favorites. But I suppose there are benefits to living with the book-obsessed, because I was quite pleased when Tim introduced me to swaptree.com.

What is Swaptree? It’s a Web site designed to turn your old, unwanted media into new stuff. Say you have a book you’re no longer into… put it on Swaptree and you can trade with someone else for a book that you are interested in. All you pay is the cost of shipping, which is usually under $3–you can’t even buy a used book for that price these days. You can also trade video games, CDs and DVDs. For people like me, it’s a good way to try out new authors you’re not sure you’ll like at relatively little expense.  And if you decide you don’t like a book or movie you’ve traded for, you can always put it back on Swaptree to trade it for something else.

The cool part is, once you set up your wish list and your for-trade list, the Swaptree system finds potential trades for you automatically; even if you can’t get something you want right away, the system will continue looking for matches as new members join with new items to trade. When an unexpected trade happens, it’s kinda like Christmas. I just recently received a copy of The Little Giant of Aberdeen in the mail after having it on my wish list for months, so that was a pleasant surprise. As a fun Easter egg, Swaptree also tracks the amount of money you’ve saved and how much you’ve reduced your carbon footprint by trading instead of buying outright… to date, I’ve saved $118 and reduced my carbon footprint by 162 pounds.

The only drawback to Swaptree is I don’t have nearly enough time to read all the books I’ve traded for over the last few months. Too many books… it’s not a terrible predicament to be in.  Just ask my husband.

Our baby girl is almost four months old, and how many times have I written in that fancy baby book we bought? Um… that would be “none,” of course. It’s not that I don’t want to look back and fondly remember all her firsts, it’s just that my shorthand? Not so pretty. I can type 120 words per minute, but don’t ask me to hand-write a paragraph… my hand will cramp up faster than you can say “carpal tunnel.”

This is why Kidmondo.com is my savior. I spend the majority of my day on a computer as it is, so managing Elspeth’s online baby book is as easy as posting new photos and videos to Flickr, or writing a quick blog entry–two things I do on a semi-regular basis anyway.

That’s right. My kid is barely out of the womb and she already has her own blog. But given her parentage, is that really so surprising?

I can also chart her height and weight (kidmondo calculates the percentiles automatically and plots them on a nifty line graph, which I love–I’m such a nerd), keep notes about dental and medical records, tag my posts with specific “firsts,” and invite friends and family to follow along as she grows. I can jot down quick drafts about milestones and other amusing anecdotes to be written about in more detail when I have time–there will be no unsightly scribbles or cross-outs or sleep-deprived misspellings in my baby’s book! There are even options for journaling about pregnancy, if you wanted to start from the very beginning. And all updates and posts are summarized in a tidy timeline format, which satisfies the OCD nitpick in me.

And the best part: at the end of the year, I can purchase a hardcover, professionally-bound book of Ellie’s adventures, complete with several pages of color photos. As someone who’s scrapbooking-stupid, I love that I can still have a tangible product and keepsake to show for my digital efforts.

Something I’d love to see as part of the Kidmondo package is the ability to add a “family tree” page… most traditional baby books include a way to list the members of baby’s extended family in a tree format. The Flickr integration is also a little clunky, but the site’s creator assured me that they’re aware of the problem and working to resolve it. And that’s another point–the Kidmondo staff were helpful and quick to respond when I had questions.

And no, they’re not paying me to write this. I’ve just had such a good experience so far, I thought I’d help spread the word to other parents and parents-to-be.