1. Redesigning My Blog Background
You guys know how much I love to redesign my blog, right? Sometimes I tweak little things, like slight changes in fonts and margins, that you might not even notice. But this time I’ve made a change that you’ll probably see right away – my new background.
Why pinwheels and boomerangs, you ask? Because they’re fun and I like the way they look. My completely dorky yet completely adorable husband said I chose pinwheels because they require a lot of hot air to make them work. It’s a good thing he’s so cute and useful, right?
I hope you guys like the new look. Let me know what you think!
2. Sophie & Lili
Guess who’s getting an awesome, custom-made Sophie & Lili superhero doll handmade by Jennifer Vallez in honor of his first birthday?
If you guessed Nathaniel, you’re right. Was it the name and super N that gave it away? In case you’re wondering, the star pattern and his name will be on the back of the doll. Pretty cute and cool, right?
Here’s what one of Jennifer’s completed dolls looks like.
Super adorable and handmade in the U.S.A. by an independent artist. How can you go wrong? Order yours from the Sophie and Lili shop today.
Note: Drew said that this present is more for me than Nathaniel. Whatever! This present is so awesome and it is totally going to be Nathaniel’s favorite toy. Sheesh…see what I mean? Homeboy better be glad he can make things like this or he’d never get away that kind of sass!
3. 20 Best Twenty
Do you ever find yourself wanting to find out about some cool new things, but don’t want to slog through scads of pins or Etsy Treasury boards? Note to self: Make more Etsy Treasury boards. Well, I’ve got just the thing for you.
20 Best Twenty features a rotating selection of 20 items, products, and designs from independent sellers in 20 unique categories. I’m not going to link to anything specific on their site right now, because guess what? You’ll be reading this in the future and there will be 20 new things by then. That’s right. Although I’m writing this on July 31st (that’s in the past for you guys), it won’t be published until August 1st (that’s in the future for me) and that’s the day that there will be 20 new items in each of the 20 categories. Do you follow? Okay, never mind. Just visit the site. You’ll see.
20 Best Twenty also features cool guest curators (like one of my favorite bloggers, Design for Mankind‘s Erin Loechner) to help them deliver awesome stuff to us. Maybe they will let me help them out sometime. What do you think 20 Best Twenty? I live for internet scavenger hunting!
4. Kirtsy
Like curated collections? Obviously, I do. Meet the freshly redesigned Kirtsy, founded by Gabrielle Blair, Laura Mayes, and Laurie Smithwick.
I missed Kirtsy the first time around, but I’m not going to let that happen again. Note: I just ordered Kirtsy Takes a Bow: A Celebration of Women’s Favorites Online to see what I missed. Want an example of what Kirtsy is offering now? Check out the For Goodness Cakes slideshow. The photo of the beautiful cake pops below are from Pearls for Paper.
Visit Kirtsy every day to see a new slideshow featuring some of the coolest art, design, products, and other stuff curated by “some of the most interesting people online.” Like, maybe me, Kirtsy? As I said to 20 Best Twenty, internet scavenger hunting is my lifeblood!
So are French fries. And motherhood. And Nutella. And wifehood. And coffee. And blogs. And design. And Apple products. And magazines. And social media. And traveling. And art. And TV. See? I’m well-rounded. Just sayin’.
5. Altitude Design Summit (or Alt Design Summit or Alt Summit or just Alt)
Based on the list of speakers and the schedule from last year’s design blogapalooza, I need to get my butt to Salt Lake City in January. Yep, I said Salt Lake City…in January. Brr!
As Drew said, last year’s lineup at the Altitude Design Summit was like a who’s who list of Melanie’s favorite bloggers. Sometimes the stuff he says is actually true. And when it isn’t, he makes up for it by coming home from the grocery store with stuff like this.
This year’s schedule and speakers haven’t been posted yet, but I’m checking the site often, following Alt Design Summit on Twitter and Facebook, and I signed up for their newsletter. You can say that I’m now officially in the know.
Fun fact: Gabrielle Blair, one of the co-founders of aforementioned Kirtsy, is also one of the co-founders of the Altitude Design Summit. Cool, huh?
Another fun fact: Two of my all-time favorite Project Runway designers were at the 2011 Altitude Design Summit – Seth Aaron and Mondo Guerra!
Okay, I think that’s enough of me for now. If you haven’t had your fill, come chat with me on Twitter or Facebook. Or if you’d rather just share amazing images, come and play with me on Pinterest.