design=love

taking a breather...

Poor little design=love is on hold until further notice. Excuses, excuses I know, but I just don't have the time to devote to my little blog to make it what I want. So I'm going to have to put things on hold for a bit. Have a wonderful holiday season! See you all soon! xoxo, melissa

Beautiful Bindi Booth

Another illustrator I discovered through a student of mine is Bindi Booth. I fell in love with the Tea Time print and the little cupcake nestled among the cups. Do you also see the owl cup? So cute! Her style has a great mix of sweet shapes, beautiful line work, and fabulous splashes of color. Speaking of color, her soft palettes are such a treat for the eyes. I want to have all her work plastered on my walls so every day I'm surrounded by adorable, calming, and sweetly beautiful images!

i heart forum boys

My favorite snowboard video of all time is Forum's That. Please watch the intro and fall in love...

I do every time. I could seriously watch it every day and be happy. I also really enjoy Forum or Against 'Em. The Forum team is definitely my favorite group of boys in the snowboard industry with a close tie between Stevie Bell and Eddie Wall being my all time favorite [guy] rider. They just bring together awesome riding skills, sweet style, and adorable humor. And even though I was sad some of the team left for DC and it is minus Travis Kennedy, you can check out clips of Forum's new dvd, Forever and download the whole thing from ITunes for only like $7 bucks!. It may not be snowing on the east coast, but go run to Starbucks, pick up a gingerbread latte, and come back to enjoy some talented boys showing off their awesome riding skills... cuz that's what I just did! 

Or if you're being lazy you could watch a clip of Stevie here. I not only love his carefree riding style but also his positive outlook and thoughts about life. Enjoy!

my new fave: james gulliver hancock

In my Introduction to Graphic Design course I had my students research and give a presentation about a designer or illustrator that they found inspiring. I love the assignment because it allows them to browse through a lot of great resources and find what they like, but also because sometimes they bring really awesome stuff to my attention. One of these instances is James Gulliver Hancock. I am in love with his hand done aesthetic, beautiful color palettes, and especially his hand done typography. So so lovely right?

sweet & scary halloween

So my plan for Halloween was to be a fafinette. However, b/c of timing (or lack there of) I couldn't get the costume totally right. I think I pulled off the heart cheeks, striped arm warmers and leggings well, but I wasn't perfect with my hair and dress. But nonetheless I was happy with the overall look and I thoroughly enjoyed piling on layers of pink blush! AJ was a german guy/yodeler. I was totally obsessed with his moustache. I also wanted to share the adorable costumes of my friends Laurie (the penguin) and her sister Leslie (candy girl). Then also also the costume of my friend Joey. He goes all out with his costumes every year, but this year he was especially awesome as the Powell Ripper skateboard graphic.

and this year will be...

Here are my costumes from the past two years. In 2007 I was an army pinup girl. I was in grad school and had zero time to put something together but knew I wanted to dress up so badly. I went with my mom to a bunch of army navy stores to find an outfit. I couldn't find a dress but got that awesome vintage hat and badges from a shop near the Dover, Delaware Air Force Base. I eventually found the dress at H&M and the sweet shoes at some ghetto shoe shop near school. They were black so I just spray painted them red. I was really excited about how it all came together.

The following year, 2008 I wanted to be a pinup girl again. I just loved the look and getting all dolled up in vintage pin up attire. I was going to switch it up a little and be a sailor girl instead. However I wasn't really finding any good outfits and the weather report was chilly. So 2 days before halloween I sketched out my masterpiece cupcake. I went to JoAnn's, got a ton of pink felt, some plastic foam for sprinkles, a styrofoam ball for the cherry, and posterboard and a crinkly silver fabric for the base. I put it together in one night and in my opinion it was thee best costume ever.

So I have a lot to live up to this year. In true Melissa fashion I've had no time to get anything together before today. I have an idea in my head, we'll just have to see how it turns out! What are you planning on being?

Catching Up on Life

I have a little spare time today so I thought I'd catch you up on my life. Yes I've been super busy teaching but I was able to squeeze in a bit of fun. Let's start with the beginning of October when the art department at Shepherd took a trip up to NYC. 

We stayed at SoHotel right in the center of SoHo. I adore the lobby. The combo of exposed brick and that beautiful mustard color were perfect!


We walked around the Chelsea Gallery District and looked at a lot of interesting art. Below is a detail of one of my favorite pieces I saw that day.
 

 We found the Baked by Melissa cupcake stand. I got three of these petite delights. They were pretty tasty, the mint choocalate was my favorite.

We visited the apartment of our new building's architect. He had beautiful typographic wallpaper in the entry way. Again, with that mustard color!
 

I met up with Monica and we went to the Brooklyn Flea. I loved this collection of owls! Wish I could own each one!
 

To celebrate her birthday Monica threw a 1920's themed party. We all dressed up like flappers and went out for dinner and drinks.
 

We all looked so cute. I really think all girls should get this fancied up when they go out on Saturday nights.

Such a great party with such beautiful company! Here was my flapper attire.

I then took the China bus back to Philly just in time to celebrate my brother's 21st birthday.
 



The following weekend I had a few extra days off of school for Fall Break, so AJ and I took a road trip to Charleston, South Carolina. We both had never been there so we thought it would be a great adventure. It definitely was! We checked out Cypress Gardens and boated around a swamp full of alligators. We visited the best local cupcake place ever! Cupcake had some of the tastiest bakery cupcakes I've ever had. We then went to Isle of the Palms and had fish tacos at Poe's Tavern. They were delicious. 
 

The weather was a bit cold and windy but the beaches were still beautiful. We dressed up fancy (yes I wore my flapper outfit again) for a fancy dinner at a delicous Thai restaurant, Basil. Because there were so many historical things to do, we decided to check out a local plantation. It was cool but a bit creepy. AJ wasn't so into the audio tour. We ate true southern food at Hominy Grill including fried chicken, collard greens, and shrimp with grits! Yum. In the three days we were there we really checked out a lot of stuff and had an awesome time together.
 
 

Then finally this past weekend I helped Kristin and the local AIGA chapter, Blue Ridge set up the exhibition that goes along with FLUX, a student design competition. There was a lot of beautiful work to see and we had a great turn out. Here is Kristin and I with some of our awesome students!
 


So, that's my busy October. It was a pretty insane month work wise, but I am glad I was able to squeeze in some fun as well.

I miss you!

Sooo I thought after midterms were over I'd go back to regular postings. But... obviously I was wrong. I hope to be able to get back to my little blog soon, but sadly I'm still too busy with school stuff to give you any love! 

I can't believe it's that time already but it's half way through the semester! I have a crazy amount of grading to do and some other things I have to take care of... so my little blog will be put on hold this week. I'll be back on Monday with more design to love! xo

more music to love...

AJ shared this album with me and I really think it's adorably lovely. The video above is one of the songs, "Relator." The Break Up Album brings together singer/songwriter Pete Yorn and actress/singer Scarlett Johansson. You have to read the story behind the album, here!

happy birthday monica love!

Thank you for being my best girlie for the past decade. Even though for most of our friendship we've lived in different cities, we always find a way to stay in each other's lives. You are such an amazing, talented, beautiful woman and every time we are reunited I fall for our friendship all over again. I admire your strength, adventurous spirit, sweet heart, and unique soul. I am inspired by the way you approach life and am excited to be a part of your story. Thanks for all the hilarious memories, silly inside jokes, and always being there for me. I know we both get super busy with our daily lives but I know there is a reason we never lose touch. I hope your birthday is as amazing as you are beautiful. I can't wait to see you soon. I love you! Happy birthday Monica!! 

and it's not even christmas!

What else could be delivered in a box like that besides beautiful and fabulous snowflake riders! Today I was sent one of the 2009/2010 Roxy boards I designed the graphics for. The box arrived on my front door this morning and I couldn't wait to check it out. 

It's the Roxy Envi BTX banana-traction snowboard. The board is a directional twin design that has a raised nose which makes floating through powder like scooping into melted ice cream. All the materials and processes used are green and sustainable. Like Envi's of the past, the topsheet is bamboo. But this year we stepped it up a little by having a painted blue overlay with dicuts of chrysanthemums. Since it's not yet snowboard season on the east coast, I placed my new baby on the wall to display her like the art she is!

frederick fair fun

This weekend the boy and I went to "The Great Frederick Fair." I guess county fairs are a big thing in Merry-land. It's not just a carnival with rides and good food... there are barns and barns full of farm animals. I fell in love with the adorable bunnies, pigs, and alpacas. There were even newborn pigs that were only a week old. I love piglets and kind of wanted to take one home. But once I was reminded of the beasts they turn into, I decided against it. 

We hillbillied out a bit and for dinner we decided to get a giant turkey leg. I felt as if it was something I had to experience in life. It was somewhat tasty and somewhat gross. I enjoyed it, but am glad I never have to eat one again. We also had butterfly fries (that I coated in Old Bay) and of course a funnel cake. The night was topped off when we peaked through the fence to jam to the end of a Billy Ray Cyrus concert... and yes he played Achy Breaky Heart. 

girly goggles

As you may, or may not know, my design roots are based in the snowboarding industry. I started designing the graphics for Roxy Snowboards right after graduating from the University of Delaware in 2004. Being a snowboarder myself, I was all about making graphics that were inspired by the art of riding a board on snowflakes. I looked at those boards as empty canvases rather than advertisements plastered with logos. 

There is always a debate among female snowboarders as to how girly you can be. Some think that boards with butterflies and pink color palettes are for those powder puff girls on the bunny hill. The edgier graphics with abstract shapes and paint splatters are for the hard core girls hitting the half pipe. I admire companies that cater to all styles and tastes — where the tougher and more experienced riders are fine with a graphic that pleases their girly wants. That is why I adore Torah Bright's Signature Goggles for the 09/10 season. The color palette matches her board graphic and is completed with a super cute [in a tough kind of way of course] flower applique. Sweet enough to satisfy your girly desires while you're ripping up the slopestyle course and winning gold medals on the half-pipe.

cuteness of the week! zooey loves cotton

Just when you think she can't get any cuter! Love this cotton commercial with the lovely Zooey Deschanel. Every outfit throughout the commercial is adorable. I love the dresses, especially the little sailor one at the very end. A nice little added touch is Zooey singing the commercial theme song herself. You can check out more photos of Zooey from the commercial and read about her style and color inspiration over at The Fabric of My Life. 

Oh and do you love every outfit she's wearing too? Well the people over at Fans of Emily and Zooey Deschanel have researched every outfit and let you know its label, here.

BAND I'M LOVING RIGHT NOW: the blow

I heard one of The Blow's songs while listening to pandora and i really loved the simple sweet voice and cute beats. I also thought her lyrics were adorable and clever. Now the only sad thing is that there are really no videos to go along with these songs. So I had to make due with what I found on YouTube. The first song "True Affection" is very sweet. However, the videos I found were super weird... so I settled for just one with the lyrics. So I advise you to just close your eyes listen. The second video for "Hey Boy" was made by a fan and it's actually quite cute!

cake = love!

On my adventure out to Tysons Corner, VA I made sure I stopped by the adorably named, CakeLove. CakeLove is a bakery that started in Washington, DC around 2002. So let me just start out by saying that I'm pretty picky when it comes to my bakery bought cupcakes. A lot of times they are very dry and the icing is just sugar in cream form. (which of course isn't ALWAYS a bad thing ;) Not knowing anything about CakeLove, other than that they have the cutest name ever, I thought I'd give them a shot.

I bought two cupcakes. One was chocolate dipped in chocolate and the other was strawberry iced chocolate. They had other fun flavors like coconut lime and banana with peanut butter. I decided to indulge in the chocolate dipped chocolate goodie first. I was pleasantly surprised. The cake was moist and the icing was a perfect chocolately sweet. Despite the reviews I saw online (and speaking of those reviews, woah do people get crazy about cupcakes) I will definitely visit CakeLove again! Now onto that strawberry iced chocolatey sweetheart!

Vans: Stories of my Sole

When I started grad school in 2006, I thought it would be a great idea to paint custom shoes in my spare time to pay for school expenses. Little did I know that grad school would take over my life and spare time was a concept that made no sense to me. However, I did find time to paint a few. One of the pairs I've had around since the beginning. I painted them to sell on my etsy, but they just never seemed to find a home.

A little while ago I was contacted by my #1 favorite shoe company, Vans (the brand of the shoe I painted on) to appear in their new book, Vans: Off the Wall: Stories of Sole from Vans Originals. I was included in the DIY custom section. I was super excited about having my shoes published in such an important book! 

Recently, it was requested (again by Vans) that my little shoes make a permanent home on the Las Vegas Strip. I hope to update you more on that later. But again, another super amazing opportunity that I'm very much excited about! So today I kissed my little pink and yellow shoes goodbye and sent them on their way to Sin City... to make their momma proud! 

cuteness of the week!

How cute! Momma and babe with matching dos! Gwen and Kingston at fashion week.

Anna Sui for Target

Just when I thought I reached my limit of moola spent at Target this month... they break out the Anna Sui. Anna is the newest designer to partner up with Target and her collection is beyond fun! Anna's muse for this collection was the tv show, Gossip Girl. I've never seen the show but the designs are fabulously adorable. There are sweet details like splatters of gold, delicate lace, and intricate patterns. Most of the pieces have a great vintage feel. One of the dresses looks exactly like one my mom has in her closet from the 70s. 

The only minus is the items are a little pricey (by Target standards at least). I saw a good amount of the collection at my local Target this afternoon, but the line isn't set to be released until September 13th. Here is a taste of the collection [pictured below], check out more here. I couldn't find pics of some of my faves! Check out your Target to see which ones you like the best!