Glitter:

OK, I'm just going to admit it. For all the world to read. It's no longer a secret:

Internet friends, I love glitter (Oh, don't act all shocked).

Glitter and the holidays go hand in hand, so if you're like me, you stock up now. I've pieced together a couple of my favorites below. Maybe we can call it, Tracie's Go-To Glitter Guide. I kind of like the sound of that.

1. If you're shy about wearing glitter and/or sequins, I think this Banana Republic sweater is a good way to dip your toe in. 

2. Glitter shell from J. Crew: I have this in black, and plan on getting it in about every other color they offer. I wear it underneath cardigans for a peek of glitter, or on top of button-downs for full force shine. So versatile, for glitter.

3. Platinum dress, from anthro. I seriously wish I had somewhere fancy to go (alright, and a spare $400), just so I could wear this dress.

4. This Free People dress is fun (but maybe on the short, tight side for me. But still, adorable)!

5. I'm loving this beaded skirt, also from anthro.

6. I've seen a lot of sequin skirts this season, but they all seem way too short (and by way too short, I mean basically a belt). I think this version, from Ann Taylor Loft, is just the right length.

7. Sometimes I feel that black sequins/glitter is a little, been there, done that. But this blazer? Why don't I own this glitter blazer from Banana? Why??

8. I can't get myself excited over the sequined Uggs I'm starting to see everywhere. Maybe because they're Uggs, and they're ugly to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I think the kids look adorable in them. But a grown woman needs grown woman shoes. These sequined boots from the always reliable kate spade are awesome, and strike a nice balance between Squeeee! Sequins! and well, grown woman shoes.

9. These kate spades come in other colors, but omigod the navy! Glitter! Sophistication! More glitter! Not black! Can you tell? The navy by far and away is my favorite.

10. Finally, if you're looking for shine, but only a little, this purse from J. Crew is adorbs.

Muppets:

Happy Tuesday, internet! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving--and by that I mean I hope you ate until you had to unbutton your pants (come on, what other day of the year allows that??). At our Thanksgiving this year, I was in charge of making the pies. I don't know what I did to manage my time so successfully, but I was done baking by about 1:00 Wednesday afternoon. So naturally, with all this time on my hands, I did what any red-blooded child of the 70s would do: I took my kids to see the Muppets.

First of all: holy awesome. This movie did not disappoint at all. If you enjoyed the Muppet Show in the late 70s, or any of the 80s Muppet movies, you will no doubt enjoy this. My friend Bob blogged about the movie as well, saying that this movie was a prime example of rebooting a franchise; and I whole-heartedly agree.

There's a million recaps online, and a super awesome Muppet Wiki (which was very helpful in solving the disagreement between myself and the 8 year old: what is the sax player's name? I was pretty insistent it was Floyd, however was proved wrong when a simple search turned up that Floyd is the guitarist [and Animal's handler], and Zoot is actually the name of the sax player). So instead, I leave you with a song that will be stuck in your head for, oh, I'd say the next 2 or 3 days. But well worth it.

Holiday Monday:

New feature here on the ol' bloggity: Holiday Monday; where everything holiday-related will be posted. Since it's still early enough in the season (but never to early to start celebrating!), I thought I'd start off with holiday cards. Of course, it's not too late to have your favorite graphic designer (ahem) design custom cards for you... but in case you're not going that route (really?), I've picked a few of my faves.

Naturally kate spade is at the top of the list (although this list isn't in any particular order, it's never a bad idea to start with the alway adorable ks).

These Peace, Love, Cookies cards are the perfect non-denominational, whimsical way to wish your friends and family a festive holiday season. Running a close second is the Break a Resolution New Year's card, and the Snowglobe gift tags. Adorbs, but then again, I expect nothing less.

Next up is the cute cards over at Tiny Prints. These are great cards, especially if you have a photo you want to add. My favorite is this tri-fold:



Tiny Prints' cards are bright and energetic, and the message across the board is fun.

Also good if you like sending photo cards is my friend (and neighbor!) Sugar and Spice Designs. Since Laura, the owner, is paper crazy (like, ahem, a certain graphic designer), the great thing about her site is that you can pick the paper stock you'd like your cards to be printed on. Besides the fact that she is a small, local business, she is also a photographer; which means that she'll take the fantastic portraits you want to put on your cards (of course, it's OK if you use your own photos--but she's a pretty awesome photographer, so, you know...).



Etsy is a fantastic resource for great cards, but sometimes it's really noisy and there's all kinds of great design shouting at you. Here's some of my Etsy faves:

Good Cheer cards from the Office of Nature

Winter Wonderland from Spring Olive

Map Card by Sara Luke Creative (love this if you've moved recently!)

Tree of Hope by Dancing Pen and Press

Finally, these online retailers all have a great selection of cards to spread holiday cheer:

MoMA

Hello, Lucky

Minted

Pear Tree Greetings

Pinhole Press

What's your favorite place to get your holiday cards? And, besides gift guides, what else do you want to see on Holiday Mondays?

Book club:

Last night was another fun meeting of the Rulebreakers^TM Book Club. The book we were discussing (yes, husbands, we actually discuss the book) was The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.

Overall, book club liked it. The visuals were dreamy--if you couldn't guess from the title, the book is about a magical circus that takes place--wait for it--at night. OK, it's really about a lot more than that (magical challenges, illusionists in love...), but the overall theme was this black and white night circus, and we all agreed that it was a circus that we'd all like to visit. Personally, I felt the plot itself was a little slow-moving, but the descriptions of everything about Les Cirque des Reves--down to the smell--were so so crazy detailed, that it more than made up for it.

Naturally the theme of our evening was the circus--with a dash of black and white--with popcorn, pretzels, black and white cookies, and magic bars (YUM) to eat. Our host Kathy did a great job decorating with the theme of the book, too--black, white and red tablecloths, candles, tickets...

Unfortunately, Erin Morgenstern wasn't available via Twitter (she was nice enough to let us know beforehand that she would be traveling; and she did answer a question before her plane took off [I'd like to think that the flight attendants were all, Miss, you HAVE GOT to turn off your phone, otherwise the plane can't take off! And she was all, HOLD ON! I have an important book club question I have to answer!]).

Since we're trying to be Twitter BFFs with the authors of our books, we have started taking group photos (to tweet back to them). Here we are, in our black and white (and red) glory:

All in all, another super fun book club. Next up is the Steve Jobs autobiography--which happens to coincide with our annual holiday meet, where we get grab bag gifts. I'm hoping somebody gets an iPad (you know, to go with the theme)... but with a $15 spending cap, that might be hard.

Hello:

OK. I know. Lots of shoes here, but I can't help it! I feel like I've been in a shoe drought for far too long--and by drought, I don't mean lack of shoes, I mean lack of shoes that I actually like. This past spring and summer's selection of shoes was really meh; and I was really slow to love anything this fall as well--that is, up until last week. And when these babies showed up in my Facebook feed, it was love at first sight:

Seriously. How cute are these Lucky Brand boots? Like I need another pair of knee-high boots... but the fact that they fold over like this? I'm sold (well, I'll be sold once they go on sale)!

So internet friends, tell me: what shoes/boots are on your radar this fall? 

Breakup:

Dearest Halloween Candy:

I love you--I do! But I just can't do this anymore: Halloween Candy, we have to break up.

Truth be told, I don't even want to be friends with you anymore. Don't get me wrong, you're attractive (you look good enough to EAT!), and let's face it, you have a good personality, too (it's even in your name: Fun Size!). But you have a dark side, Halloween Candy, and I'm not just talking about the dark chocolate.

It's just--well, sometimes, Halloween Candy, you make me feel bad about myself. And you do it VERY subtly. It's never in moderation, Halloween Candy. Never, I'll just do it this one time. No, it's 20 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a stomachache (although, let's be fair, you know I'm putty once you break out the chocolate-peanut butter combination). Then, I just think constantly of all of the spin classes I'll have to take to get you off of me; until I'm in the midst of spin, thinking, I'm exercising, surely I can enjoy just ONE piece of Halloween Candy.

You see where this vicious cycle is leading me, don't you?

I'm sorry Halloween Candy, I really am. I hope you find happiness. I mean, I know you will. You're great! Just not for me. I hope you understand.

Love, Sincerely,
Tracie

Shoesies II:

It's cloudy, rainy, yucky and all around gross outside today. I think lime green shoes (with a hot pink heel) are in order:

Oh look at that! Kate Spade happens to have a pair right here. I know I just bought a fab pair of shoes... but a girl can never have too many, right?

New work:

About a month ago, I posted a little sneak peek of a project I was working on... and now I'm ready to pull the cover off that sucker and do the big reveal:

Over the summer, I was asked by fellow CT-based graphic designer Patti Murphy if I would be interested in designing posters for a group show at a gallery in New London. Um... Hells yeah?

The guidelines the artists were given were loose: the show was in October, the posters had to be 12 x 18", and the theme was positivity. That's it. Photographic, typographic, illustrative... the medium was entirely left up to the artist. 

Holy cow, this project was beyond fun; and I wish I had more time to devote to designing even more posters! It was incredibly therapeutic for me to design with so few limits, using the graphic design method of my choice. 

Opening night, Mattio and I took a ride up to New London, and it was so awesome to see everybody's work (leading up to opening night, it was nausea-inducing. Seriously, my work was hung amongst some pretty big deals in the graphic design/illustration community, and... uh, I was a little nervous). It was so exciting to see my work hanging in a gallery (squeeee!), and incredibly honored that it was hanging in such great company.

Here I am, all famous in a gallery! See that teeny picture on the left? That's me!

If you guys are up that way, I highly suggest you go and check out the Hang in There poster show at the Hygienic in New London (now through 11/12).

Shoesies:

I love Tory Burch (especially the shoes. My God, the shoes!), I love a good sale, and most of all, I love a good sale on Tory Burch shoes. So last Thursday, when facebook notified me that Tory Burch had a special offer just for TB facebook fans, I was sold. And, just my luck, they happened to be having a sale on the shoes I had been coveting ever since my friend Marcy featured them on her blog (proving even further that we might be twins separated at birth--at least fashion-wise--we unknowingly bought the same exact pair of shoes). They were half off, so there was no way I was NOT buying them.

Fast forward to yesterday, when UPS delivered the goods. Have you guys ever gotten a package that was just so... pretty? And fun to open? Because I am a packaging nerd, getting the shoes themselves wasn't enough--can I just say: squeeee! Packaging!

It was like my birthday, all over again. I've ordered my fair share of shoes online, and I've never been so excited to open a package (and not because of what's inside). Fun orange wrapping paper, with an embossed gold sticker, holding a note from Tory herself (OK, not Tory herself, but still. Fun).

Um, yes, Tory... I did find what I was looking for, and I DO love them!

Even the receipt/return shipping ugliness came packaged all nice in this pretty little envelope. The back says, "We love this envelope--it's a great place to keep all those lists, receipts and unframed photos."

I love this envelope, too; but not because of it's usefulness (although, bonus points). Packing receipts are rarely pretty, and return shipping labels are just downright ugly. But all of that yuckiness was contained in a pretty cute sleeve.

Oh, and the shoes?

Bright red penny loafers? Yes, please!

LOVE them.

Candy:

Hey--I'm back! Apologies for the hiatus, internet friends--things here at traciedesigns HQ were busy, busy, busy... and, well, something had to give. But I didn't stray far, and now I'm back, posting with my (somewhat) usual regularity, so never fear.

So, let's get down to it: candy corn. Basically solidified corn syrup, right? But--sweet Jesus--how awesome is it? Well, let me clarify that: how awesome is the orange/yellow/white combination (none of this pumpkin shaped baloney; or worse--the imposter "Autumn selection" consisting of yellow/orange/brown)? I have basically been living off of it the past few days--seriously, it's become a whole separate food group at this point. And just when I thought I couldn't eat any more, the intern came home with a whole jar full (for coming closest to guessing the correct amount in the jar, at a party--go intern!). Naturally that did not stop me, and I ate so much of her candy corn, I felt bad and bought replacement candy corn. Which, I have basically finished. It is a downward spiral, friends; one that I am going down faster and faster. Won't Halloween just hurry up and get here so all this candy corn will disappear (that way I won't have to make it disappear myself, and/or check myself into some sort of candy corn rehab)?

Do you guys like candy corn? I heard not too long ago that it is the number 1 most-hated candy. Like, people like black licorice better. Huh? I can't even comprehend that.

Wedding week:

My brother in law is getting married Friday night, and through all of the preparations going on this week, I found these save the dates I designed for them:



They didn't end up using these (actually, I'm not even sure I presented these, as they never sent out save the dates), but I came across it last night and there's something about it that I really love. Maybe it's the fact that they chose a more traditional wedding invite (which I'll feature later on this week), or maybe it's the fun, block-y font. Either way, I'm putting this in my back pocket and keeping it around for a while...

Thank you, Steve:

Richard Dreyfuss did the voice over for the one they actually aired on TV; but this here? This one's all Jobs.

Happy/sad:

Today is my birthday. As birthdays go, it was a good day: I worked, hung with the kids, had dinner at Shake Shack, and thought my night would end with a cupcake, and a little more work.

Instead, I had a cupcake, and read the news of Steve Job's passing.

I am heartbroken. I didn't know Steve Jobs personally, but my God. He has had such a huge impact on my life, it's hard not to feel the emptiness, now that he is no longer with us. Because of Steve Jobs' vision, I have a career. When Apple forced Jobs out, the company began a slow and steady decline, almost to the point of bankruptcy. Hired back in 1996, Jobs began changing the way the world operates; first by introducing the revolutionary iMac (from which I am writing this on, and from which I work every day), then the iPod, iphone, iPad...

Without his ingenuity, his genius, I wouldn't have a machine to work on. Sure, I could clunk around on a PC, but I guarantee that the field of design would not be the same if not for Steve Jobs and the way he brought Apple back to life. And he took it and ran, introducing the world to a new way of listening to music, a new way of communicating with one another, a new way of computing.

His great mind will be missed. I think my friend BJ put it best when he said that we are lucky to have lived in the Steve Jobs era.

Very lucky indeed.

Sneak peek:

Just a little side project I'm having loads of fun with... I'll have more details soon, but for now, you guys will just have to live with this little taste.

Life:

It's been a busy couple of days here at traciedesigns HQ. I have enough work to keep me going, but the kind of busy I'm talking about is life.

Last year at this time, I was the HBIC of the PTA at the 8 year old's school. It was not an easy job, and looking back, I see exactly how much of my time it took up (A LOT). But I enjoy volunteering at the school, I've met lots of great people and I can't even begin to tell you how rewarding it is (seriously. If you're feeling down, go have lunch with your kid at school. Watch their face light up and I guarantee that you will feel light years better). The 8 year old took great pride in my role as president (getting so frustrated with me if I couldn't answer her questions; "You're the PRESIDENT. Don't you know EVERYTHING??!" I wish).

But this year, I'm not the HBIC. Somebody else is running the show, and I'm OK with that. I enjoy having my time back, doing things with my kids, and not constantly checking my email to approve email blasts and flyers (OK, I still constantly check my email, but not for things like that). I enjoy letting the kids play on the playground after school gets out, and not having to run home to... yep, check email. I enjoy coming downstairs in the morning to a clean kitchen, instead of last night's dishes still in the sink. Most of all, I enjoy the sense of order I am restoring to my life.

So this past week, I've been doing just that. I've got work that I'm doing, but I'm really concentrating on a healthy work-life balance. And so far, it seems to be working.

Winning:

When you work from home--alone, for the most part--sometimes simple things like getting the mail is exciting (don't be all envious of my thrilling life). I don't know why I look forward to it day after day, as it's mostly bills and junk (let's play how many credit card offers will we get today!); but every once in a while, you get a pleasant surprise thrown in.

Like, yesterday, for example.

Yesterday was a pretty standard 5:1 junk to bills ratio (I guess it's good that it's not the other way around), with the exception of one Big Envelope. And that Big Envelope had a GD USA return address on it. Which could only mean one thing:

American Graphic Design Awards came in the mail!

The American Graphic Design Awards is a design competition that "spotlights areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals... It honors outstanding work across all media." This year's awards attracted 8,000 entries, with a select 15% winning.

There seems to be some sort of mistake on one (2 entries are listed--does that mean they're both winners?), so I may have won 5 total--Wheeeeeeeeeeee! And the winners are:

Melt Sandwich Shop website

Objects blog

Stylesson blog

The award with 2 entries listed:

art + interiors website redesign

Mari the Studio website

I'll find out later this week what the mix up was, but in the meantime, let's start pouring the bubbly and celebrating!

Monogram this:

Fun with monograms? Yes, please!



I'd never be able to pull it off (because I have children who ask questions), but I love the idea of a WTF monogram. Hee hee (or, should I say, LOL?)!

Fresh:

The (powerful) message is clear here: from the great stop motion animation, to the completely appropriate use of Coldplay's The Scientist (chillingly redone by Willie Nelson), this might be my new favorite commercial.

Chipotle, I'm yours.

(via Fast Co. Design)

Friday LOL (nostalgia edition):

This one's not so much funny ha-ha, but funny like, awwww, we used to work on that machine!

Shrine of Apple:


Awesome photos and videos of every Apple product, ever.

Remember the Lisa? Maybe you have a little ipod nostalgia--it's all here (and if it's not, the site says it's coming).

Fun to go through and see how very, VERY far we've come!

Type:

It's a good thing these are on the internet--I'm afraid my drool would ruin them if I had the real deal. Ladies and gentlemen, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map TYpography:



Holy cow, the typography on these maps is CRAZY gorgeous. I could look at them all day. As a matter of fact, if you need me, that's where I'll be...

(via kottke.org)