husband and wife collaborators

Recently I've gotten more intrigued by collaborative projects. Being a teacher can sometimes feel like such soul-crushing, solitary work (the grading, the lesson planning, the writing) that I forget that with just a little bit of effort, some planning, and the right partner - I don't have to do all of it alone. Yes, it is next to impossible for anyone to help me with the grading, but co-teaching? a conference? a co-written paper? Those are all possibilities to lighten the load and make the work of work a bit more fun. Anyway, I don't think my husband is game for this kind of collaboration, but I'm taking some inspiration from some pretty amazing husband and wife teams. I'm in awe of the beauty that a team of two can create.

One of my favorites: The children's book writing and illustrating team of Alice and Martin Provensen:

They made all of this: 

(and Martin was apparently responsible with creating an early version of "Tony the Tiger"!) 

And oh I cannot love the songwriting team of Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan enough:

They made this: 

(one of the greatest albums ever - I fight you to the death on this! And you need to read how he talks about her.)

And, of course, there is Charles and Ray Eames: 

They made everything you want in your house right now (I have these stamps so that's a start...):

And then there are the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude:

They made the world surreal and beautiful as a very large scale experience:

Christo and Jeanne-Claude images via christrojeanneclaude.net

oh deer

via Martin Isaac

Now that I'm back in town for good, Lorelei and I are committing to making holiday gifts together. This year we made these lovelies and we are already thinking about next year. More to the point - I'm procrastinating by thinking about next year. Not to spoil the surprise of what her creativity and my grunt work will create, but I hope it will involve some sort of image of a deer because that's all I've been researching lately. (Is it too late for a resolution to get a grip on my serious procrastination skills?). Here, for your pleasure, is the end result of me avoiding work - a round-up of deer images! (And, yes, I've already done a round-up of deer pictures - I know this about myself and I embrace it.)

 

Frida Kahlo via Time is Art 

 

via vintage printable

 

 via Daydream Lily

 Bambi via Indianapolis Museum of Art

 

via julia.

by Joanna Salta

11,000 floating lanterns

via Daddygothisgunloaded

A few days ago 11,000 floating lanterns where sent into the sky in Poznań, Poland in celebration of the summer solstice. I think that breaks some sort of record, but it is the beauty of it all that makes the celebration that much more breath-taking...

And wouldn't sending these lanterns into the night make such a great alternative to fireworks this 4th of July? Check out this eHow tutorial on how to make some flying paper lanterns for your very own festivities!

"Grown Up and Done For"

via la douleur exquise

Just in time for all of the graduates out there is this great commencement speech by Harvard scholar Maria Tatar who makes great use of children's literature (especially "Peter Pan") to talk about the experience of growing up and really entering the adult world (it's not very long so read it on The Harvard Crimson website).

random beauty

Do you ever stumble on something that you find just undeniably beautiful but you can't explain why you are so drawn to it?

For example, I came across on this collection of paper frames at some point on ebay (though I have no recollection as to what in the world I must have been searching for when I found these) and think they are just absolutely beautiful. They don't seem to have been photographed for the sake of their worn loveliness or were meant to be considered something other than material for scrapbooking or for a child to make use out of in her play. Whatever the intent - I wish I bought these little decaying frames (or could even find the link to them) - they are just so lovely to me.

words to carry into the weekend

via a beautiful day

motivation to write the written word

 via pretentious and pop

Writing is hard. Whether it's blogging, dissertating, or love-lettering - it's as hard as any art of creating is difficult - it takes real effort and it means the sacrifice of lots of other things that you cherish like time and, in many ways, yourself and your pride. That's why we don't write as many writerly posts as we'd like (though they are my favorite when we do write them) and that's why finishing my dissertation is taking much too long to finish - all of it is hard work, much time, and an expression of vulnerability. So here's some motivation to get more writing done in my life - hopefully one of these will stick...

"I learned to produce whether I wanted to or not. It would be easy to say oh, I have writer’s block, oh, I have to wait for my muse. I don’t. Chain that muse to your desk and get the job done."

— Barbara Kingsolver via I Love Reading and Writing!

 via Sycamore Street Press

❝Reading usually precedes writing and the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.❞ 

— Susan Sontag via the writer's den

via life is wine

"You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair; the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page."

— Stephen King ~ "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" 

via I Love Reading and Writing!

from More About Time: The Myth of Doing it All by Rice Freeman-Zachery

via Sycamore Street Press

"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt."

— Sylvia Plath via BrainyQuote

Make It Do

Pinecone Elves

I love stumbling upon a blog I know will wind up being a favorite. That was definitely the case with Make It Do . I had been searching for Snowman Kits because my kids had received one for Christmas that they were crazy for and I was thinking ahead to next year and gift possibilities for nieces and nephews. Anyhow, I stumbled upon Make It Do's- Make It: A Snowman Kit and was instantly smitten.

The blog has so many great projects, ideas, and recipes carried out in tutorial form with pictures. It is one of those sites that makes you want to try the DIY ideas you uncover and love, but never give a shot. Make It Do just celebrates resourcefulness in general. I have plenty of fashion, design, and "head-in-the-clouds" blogs that I really enjoy visiting , but I needed this kick in the pants to be more creative and productive!

Snowman Kit

Baby car seat cover tutorial

Banana Cream Pie

Childhood Tradition

All images courtesy of Make It Do

Inspiration Boards

Image courtesy of weheartit.com

My first job out of college I worked as the librarian at an interior design firm. There were a hundred things I loved about that job and one of them was watching the designers put together their boards. They would gather fabric swatches, paint chips, photographs, and any textural elements that fit their concept to pull together a presentation/inspiration board for the client.

Some of those boards looked like pieces of art when they finished- after all, they were created to show the clients the beauty of the designer's vision.

I know the idea of the inspiration board goes beyond interior designers and can be found in all aspects of the arts. I still think they are pretty amazing little planks of creativity.....

Image courtesy of weheartit.com

Image courtesy of weheartit.com

Image courtesy of google
Image courtesy of google
Image courtesy of google

Image courtesy of weheartit.com

Image courtesy of weheartit.com

Canon SD1000 Powershot, I will master thee

by julielion

I've always wanted to learn how to take better pictures, but lots of things come in the way - mostly my problem with being a perfectionist. My biggest hang up has always been the fact that I have just a regular point and click camera, but that looks to no longer be a decent excuse as all of these images were taken by the same basic camera and are really fantastic (they were found and collected in this flickr pool).

The answer to all of my other photographing anxiety (I don't have a good eye, I don't know what all the options on my camera mean) is, of course -- practice, practice, practice. So one of my summer goals is to just get out there and take some darn pictures and stop stressing about how bad they might be. All I have to do now is just get off my lazy butt and find my camera...

by Lucee.

by erin MC hammer

by eastlincolnstreet

by Lucee.

by Christer Ådahl

by julielion

Aline Smithson's "In Case of Rain"

I keep going back to Aline Smithson's photo series, "In Case of Rain" (discovered on kris atomic) with its beauty and brightness on this rainy and gloomy day. Hope you fall in love with it too....

"We live in a world of technical distractions. I see my children gathered around their computers as though it's a summer campfire, faces aglow, as they peer into a world of friends and fantasy, participating in a new form of entertainment that further remove them from the childhood that I experienced.

Today's generation has lost touch with the activities that previous generations have enjoyed—reading a good book in a comfortable chair, playing board games on a rainy day, flipping through Life magazines, or sprawling out on the living room rug while listening to records and reading the backs of album covers.

And it's because of this that I have been looking at book shelves and untouched childhood pursuits with a new eye. With great sadness, I realize that these objects will someday be obsolete, at least in their current incarnations. And like a curator of antiques, I see them now as beautiful objects to be admired and preserved, if only on film.

I can only hope for rain, a heavy rain and maybe a power outage."

— Aline Smithson on her photo series, "In Case of Rain"