1. Spar-ke-lee, 2. Cotton Candy (I want the monster bag!), 3. Palm Trees

Take a bike ride, eat a Sno cone, watch fireworks, sing the national anthem, and enjoy this gorgeous summer day!

Here’s my ideal outfit for summer 2008:

I’m keeping it simple for now. Clockwise, from top-left: Pagoda umbrella, dress by Miu Miu, Oxford shoes (Urban Outfitters), and bag by Marc Jacobs.

Olivo Barbieri is an Italian photographer, best known for his work with tilt-shift photography. These are photographs of real landscapes, not models. amazing.

Knack Studios is a South Carolina based outfit that offers a variety of re-surfaced and re-designed home decor. Their flickr page and blog are both worth a gander, lots of good things going on in both places.

You all remember the lovely stuff from L’Affiche Moderne, I’m sure, from the other day’s post… well, from now til the 30th they have a 25% off EVERYTHING sale, so if you were at all intrigued by any of the art, now is an ideal time to order

Christiaan Postma has married function and design, til death do they part, in this calendar wallpaper. His clock is another feat of intellect and imagination, composed of 150 individual clockworks and laid out in such a way that all the tiny ticking hands spell out the hour on the hour. Brilliant.

Artist Jenn Ski has some retro-modern artwork for sale (etsy store is here). She also has a pretty rad blog that includes some equally rad etsy finds such as retro kitchen cannisters.

I also discovered Tupp-a-lamps and ted lights via her blog (check it out here). Great artists have great taste, let it be known.

Another found item from Singapore. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them yet, but I assume it will be magnificent.

Mélanie kindly sent along some information about the new French e-shop L’Affiche Moderne. They’ve recently opened up the English version of their website, thereby opening my heart to the lovely selection of limited edition art prints they have to offer.

Some of my favorite pieces are by Mathilde Aubier (visit her website here) and you can see these below.

Other artists include, but are certainly not limited to Franck Juery, Marc Loyon, and Julien Pacaud.

Thomas Wold is an experienced designer, having reincarnated from (and back into) painter, sculptor, fabricator, and decorator. In my opinion, that’s the best way to go about settling into a career. After all, I just graduated from university with no trade and no job. I know all about “work” in the “real” world.

Jokes and jibes aside, one look through Wold’s online portfolio (check it out here) will tell you everything you need to know about him - namely that his design style is fun, clever, and distinctive.

Another trinket picked up in VivoCity shopping center in Singapore Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last month. Brilliant note-passing strategy.

Shi Yuan (shiyuan.co.uk) has introduced a wallpaper that bursts into bloom when it comes into contact with heat — in the case of the images above, the blooms appear when the radiator is on and disappear when it’s off.

I picked this book up at page one, a bookstore/publishing company not unlike Taschen (except maybe better) in Singapore’s VivoCity last month. You can see a couple more pages on my flickr account here.

This girl is cranking out the art like there’s no tomorrow and my God, that is so inspiring. I am humbled in the presence of workhorse designers and artists. Master, teach me.

a print a day - flickr and blogspot

Still haven’t ended my love affair with wall stickers, but I have found a new victim. I’m this close to making a collage of what our babies will look like and sending it to the headquarters of Vinyluse.

(I’m kidding… no more restraining orders, please.)