WINTER WONDERLAND

{ Latvian version here }

We've had the most amazing winterscapes here for the last couple of days. Everything is covered in white snow and frost. That's mother nature's white-on-white styling that I love so much in design and interiors! Sadly I don't have the camera with me today nor am I able to take time off in the middle of the day to catch the amazing views so I offer to you these amazing winterscapes by pro photographers on the Behance network!

{ Mikko Lagerstedt }

{ Akos Major }

{ Vladimir Zivkovic }

Isn't all this absolutely amazing? We've come to the point where we should be getting sick of the winter but it seems that I'm starting to enjoy it for real! 

Enjoy yours as well!

Cheers,

O.

DAILY LIKES 24.02.11

Hello there! Hope you had a good day today. Mine was a bit hectic and stressful so I'm glad it's almost over and I'm looking forward to enjoying a lovely evening with my family at their place. I hope they'll have something nice cooked because I haven't eaten today. And those triple chocolate toblerone muffins look SO good...

{ Food }

Katie Quinn Davies

{ Illustration }

Charlatans by Darling Clementine

{ Calligraphy }

Oscar & Emma via Oh So Beautiful Paper

{ Interiors }

Femina Magazine via Decor8

{ Paper }

42pressed via Oh So Beautiful Paper 

{ Fashion }

The Sartorialist

Have a lovely evening!

Cheers,

O.

THE FIRST EDITION OF DAILY LIKES

1. Oh, wow! It's been ages since I last posted anything, but trust me, it's because everything's been so busy and crazy round here lately. I'm replacing yet another colleague and trying to find any extra energy to do something creative at the same time. I feel more grateful than ever for the inspiration that's bubbling in the world wide web like a pleasantly dizzying, happiness-inducing glass of the very best champagne at the very best of events.

2. Today we celebrated something called Men's day at work, which is a modernized version of a Soviet tradition, which is the main reason why it's not really popular here. However, one of my colleagues was so keen on making the day unforgettable for the men in our office that I spent the last week doing lightning-speed designs for a set of playing cards. I hope some time later in my career I might be able to create a set that would be more "me" and one that I'd actually enjoy designing! Oh well, maybe someday...

3. I've picked up playing guitar once again and realized that, even though my cherry red Epiphone SG is a devilishly handsome guitar, I'd really love to have a classic guitar because it suits the kind of music I like to play so much better... This is going on to the wish list!

4. I haven't read anything but blogs for an eternity! Therefore I make a not-so-strict promise to myself to pick up those beautiful, amazing, wonderful books that I got from Amazon a couple of months ago, and finally read them! Typography, graphic design, photography... such amazing books! I'll let you know how I'm doing.

5. I've been doing lots of calligraphy lately. Loving it and starting to develop a style!

6. I'm committing to start a new column called "Daily likes". One illustration that I like, one typography/calligraphy piece that I like, one interior that I like, one paper design item that I like and one fashion piece that I like. I might drop in food, photography and other stuff from time to time. Let's see how it goes, shall we? :)

SO. Here we go!

Disclaimer: All images are linked to their sources/authors and are the property of their respective owners!

{ Daily likes }

{ Illustration }

Ilustrista

{ Typography }

Loulou And Tummie

{ Interiors }

Bolaget

{ Paper }

A Fine Press

{ Fashion }

Emerson Made

Have fun!

Cheers,

O.

FREE VINTAGE GRAPHICS FOR YOUR PROJECTS

Hi there! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend and I hope it's been full to the brim with inspiration, love and happiness! I just wanted to drop by and share with you an amazing site where you can download fantastic vintage graphics - for free! What a great find!

Cheers!

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD DESIGN

First of all, I GOT A MILK FROTHER, just like this one and I love it! I never even knew that the airy, silky soft milky froth isn't reserved for coffee shops and people who can afford the ultra-expensive super-huge espresso machines, but hey, now I have the most delicious hot chocolates the whole time!

Secondly, let's get back to the point! Think of it like this - when you're looking for a good source of information, a respectable, up-to-date and trustworthy source, what are the criteria that you judge the possible sources by? Well I might be a tiny little bit too superficial but I believe this is the case when looks count and they count bigtime! Don't get me wrong, one shouldn't judge the book by its cover cause, you know, even the dullest book design cannot eliminate all the good information in the book. However, first impressions do count and when I'm browsing online for, let's say, a printing house, I would most certainly chose the one that has the best website (with the precondition that I have no other idea on the quality of their work).

I do wonder why printing houses usually have such lifeless, boring, plain stupid websites. They're rarely clever, well built, functional or beautiful in any way. Let me show you an example so that you understand what I'm talking about.

What the.. what were they thinking of?? Let's use CMYK colours and crumpled paper, that way they'll know that we're a printing house! And look at all those pretty fonts, lots of them, and pops of RED, isn't that great? Let me tell you, I'd never never never and once again - never would make any deal with people who have SUCH a bad taste. No thanks, I'll pass.

Here's a better example. It's still very colourful but a lot more balanced, paired with whitespace, and guess what! Upon further inspection, I found out that it's a LOT more functional! I love the way the company has made use of newest technologies, posting how-to videos, offering client zone services, images of examples, quick ordering etc. etc..

And then there're companies like Moo, which are good in just about every aspect and - yes, you know it - they have quite a nice website!

This company looks fun (except for the quite creepy huuuge smiles), I'd give them a shot!

All in all I'm quite sure, even though I haven't really done much research on this theme, other than that carried out by Life Itself, that the quality of a company is directly proportional to the quality of its graphic and web design items.  That's the way things work, luckily for us. So here's to good design - cheers!

TEXTURED DIGITAL ILLUSTRATIONS

It's a nasty day in the city of Riga. Rain keeps drizzling all day long on dark grey melting ice. The receding snow is revealing patches of wet, slippery ground covered in dirt and trash. It's not a pretty sight but it is nevertheless a  premonition of the Spring to come.

The day is dull as ever at work too. I feel as if a giant vacuum has sucked out all the energy, all the excitement and drive out of me. But it's a sign of Spring as well. I always feel morally almost dead before Spring. I remember myself coming home from school many years ago, dragging my school bag along - it seemed as if it weighed tons - I just couldn't pick it up. It felt light as a feather just a couple months before. However it's actual weight hadn't changed at all, I just had no strength in me by the approach of Spring... So here I am, excelling at procrastination and staring blankly at a fixed point on the wall in front of me. But I don't feel like an Olympian at all.

Here's a thing to lift my spirits - a couple of brilliant illustrations that suit my tastes quite perfectly as I am a big fan of the usage of textures and shadows in digital illustrations in order to achieve a handmade/papercut effect. 

MUSINGS OF AN OFFENDED SPIRIT AND INCREDIBLY PRETTY CALLIGRAPHIC PIECES

So I was sitting in my bunker, not knowing the weather, whether it's night or day or anything else about the outside world that I love so much... And in comes my colleague, someone I'm not too excited to see, and introduces me to a complete stranger, by way of pointing gesture as if I were a piece of equipment or furniture, as "the girl who folds the paper dummies". The stranger says, "she does what?" and the colleague responds: "folds paper dummies, like these!" and off they go. And I'm left there, thinking, how much is a person defined by the job they do? While the two where discussing my profession, I ever-more eagerly clicked away at the designs I was creating at the moment and suppressed the wish to shout out loud "It's not me, it's not my job! I was forced to do this but I'm a creative person! I design things, draw things, create things, I'm not a paper dummy maker!" So I get angry and sad and walk about with my nose down to the ground, especially lowered by the fact that I didn't have a lunch break today, not that I couldn't have one but I was so moody and apathetic that I couldn't collect my drooping physique enough to leave my seat.

So, as I was saying, I began musing on the subject of whether or not is one defined by the job one does. I've always been kind of paranoid that the job I'm doing will somehow swallow me and force me into becoming someone I don't want to be. As if working as a waitress to cover my bills would actually turn me into the kind of waitress who never achieves anything more than being the head-waitress. To be a creative equals doing everything creatively, it seems. I consciously express a kind of a character in everything I do and I acknowledge that. I can't really distinguish myself from the roles I play. Call me superficial but I think that my outlook is a huge part of the person I am. I like to think of myself in terms of playing the character well. Then again, I can't say I invented the character, rather it's the character that developed from the combination of myself the way I am and myself the way I want to be. It sounds so complicated when you try to put it down... Anyway, all I was trying to say is that I am truly disappointed when someone downgrades me by forgetting my true calling in favour of my current occupation, I am offended, actually. I do not not care! Because trust me, if I didn't have bills to pay I'd quit any day. But the threat of financial instability is a risk that I can't afford to take. Trust me, though, the day will come when I will pack my things and start my own little print shop and BE a creative person from every direction you could look at. I promise you that.

Trust me, there's better stuff ahead, so clickity-click below

WINTER CLOTHING IS BEAUTIFUL

Quite recently to my great surprise I realized that I am actually a winter-loving-kind-of-person! Of course I moan about the cold and the ice and the rest like everybody else does but turns out most of the things I love have always been winter-related. Cosy stuff like huge mugs of hot beverages, cookies, comfort food, layers of heavy fabrics, boots, hats, coats, fur, it's all wintry stuff. So here comes the question - whatever am I going to do in summer? I hate sweat, I dislike single-layer clothing, I don't drink anything that's really cold, I don't enjoy baking in the sun.. Well I guess I am most of all a spring-kind-of-person. But here are the most inspirational and wanted fashion items picked from Pinterest!

Check them out:

monday's inspirational interiors

Today is a day of changes. Upon arrival at work I learned that my department has been closed down and I'm transferred back to pre-press. Basically I've been downgraded and my job now consists of folding little paper brochures and books. It's quite cool for the first week or so. I spent a month doing that and I couldn't wait for the replacement. It would be fine for a technical worker who's satisfied with his/her job as long as he/she gets paid. But I'm not that kind of a person therefore I'm on the lookout. I'm not staying for another month on this. 

On a brighter note, the weather for the last couple of days has been unbelievably brilliant. The skies are blue and the sun shining brightly whole day long. It would be a nice sight to see, however, I don't have any windows in the bunker I'm sitting in right now. Nevertheless the days are visibly getting longer and it won't be complete darkness when I leave the bunker at 6 P. M. Oh I'm so sorry, I'm complaining again... 

Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about beautiful, inspirational interiors.

MY CAR FRIENDS

Oh I'm so happy it's Thursday already! This week has been quite an inspirational for me. Even though nothing's changed externally, I feel very energized inside. The thing is, I feel as if I'm discovering more and more of what I want to do and achieve and learn. I'm beginning to grasp the outlook of my life the way I want it to look and feel, an overall atmosphere and feeling. That's a truly enjoyable sensation! Have you had any revelations recently?

Did I tell you about the sad happenings of my dear dear partner-car? It all began a couple of weeks ago, when V. and I began to count the money we spent on petrol. Since Freddie eats around 14L/100km during winter, we spend heaps of money to keep that petrol-burning station running. We calculated that if we bought a newer diesel, filling it up AND paying a loan would be even cheaper than buying petrol. So we found an intriguing looking SAAB 9-3 '00 2.2 TiD in the ads and went to see it on a chilly Saturday. The minute I got in it, I could feel that this is it - this car is for us. It reminded me of the wonderful SAAB 9-3 2.0lpt convertible that had been our partner during our road trip around the Peak District last year. Soon we had scrambled the money for the car (thanks to some very very generous people!) and took the little diesel to the MOT and - lo and behold - it scored ONE point for its broken rear-window wiper. You see, here in Latvia, absolutely everyone having a 10 year old car has to go through MOT at least two times, just because. Even if the car's in perfect condition, it'll get a mandatory point for oil leaking and rust regardless if it's true or not. But our little brave diesel had arrived from Italy 2 months ago and since then nothing had been done to it, it had just stood around and there you go - not a single problem with it! So we bought it. And it's an amazing car. The comfort level is beyond amazing. The engine is very dynamic and powerful despite its mere 115bhp and I finally have a turbine! BUT. What to do with our OTHER friend - Freddie? You know, our lovely trusty 9000! So we decide to lend it to a friend. Soon we receive a call for help. Our trusty partner has failed for the very first time. We rush to help as soon as we can and find Freddie stalled on a steep road uphill. I manage to start the car but the noise coming from its engine is just horrible. We tow it to a local service and a couple of days later get the verdict - the engine is ruined beyond repair. I still can't believe it, 2 years without a single complain and now it's just.. dead. I can't stop thinking about its heart breaking, I'm soo sentimental, I know. Surely we won't leave it that way and this weekend we'll be towing the car to our service and they'll see what they can do. In the worst case we're going to look for a new engine. This car is too much of a loyal friend to be left alone. And it's unbelievable, the paths of destiny! We had no idea Freddie had an engine problem but just out of the blue we decided to buy another car. If we hadn't bought the diesel, we would be left with no car and a huge bill for repairs. Now we have all the time in the world to get Freddie back on road while the diesel, Humphrey, as we like to call it, does the daily runner duty.

Let me introduce you to Mr. Humphrey!

{photo by me}

Can't wait for the summer - Humphrey's got a nice set of 16" Viking Aero alloys!

So there you go, this is the story about me and my cars this far. I really am quite a petrol (diesel?) head! 

FAMILY PORTRAIT

Meet Mr. Smith and Miss Elisabeth!

MY BELOVED TEA

PAPERCRAFT AS ART

Over time I've grown to realize that it's not all procrastination about me and my grand plans. Now I finally realize that it's more of a ripening than hesitating.. and I've come to understanding that one mustn't underestimate the role of time. I've been plotting, planning and scheming to an absolute absurdity and it's become a subject of good fun-making in the eyes of my relatives. Nevertheless I do begin to feel a sort of development of my plans, even if they're anything but tangible. So it's good news, everyone, we're approaching steadily, gradually and irreversibly to our goals even when it feels like nothing's happening! 

To continue on more or less the same subject let me introduce you to a wonderful, delicate yet intricate craft - papercraft as art!

PATCHWORKING

Hello there! Hope you had a great start to an inspiring week! I began my week with a slight feeling of change in the air. During the weekend I visited my parents and talked to my dad about patchworking, which is an amazing new concept for people like me, who hate 9-to-6 jobs and whose creativity is slaughtered by routine. Patchworking means taking things you love to do and combining them to earn your living and enjoy doing that. Let me explain it to you with an example. Let's say, you enjoy photography and are quite skilled with your camera. You can earn money by taking photos at local events, selling your photos to stock photo sites, selling them as photo prints.. This constitutes a part of your income, you have to decide for yourself how big that part can be and how much time you should spend doing that. For example, you can earn 20% of your desired income by working as a photographer. You might also like web design. You could offer your services as a freelance web designer and earn some 30% more. Add writing for a local newspaper to that and you have 80%. Add some more until you get your 100% of desired income and working time. This way you can have a lot of diversity in your working life and enjoy what you do a lot more than if you were forced to sit in a stuffy office for most of your life. Think about it - you trade your life for your salary. Is it absolutely necessary to make such sacrifices or maybe you can enjoy what you do and earn by doing what you love? I prefer to believe that it's possible to do what you love and love what you do. For me the answer is patchworking and I hope to change my work life a lot this year by gradually setting myself free from the 9-to-6. I hope it looks like a year of change to you as well. Let's make it happen :)

{image: Allard Schager}

THRIFTY FINDS

It's been years since we started going to a town more than 100 km away to a one-of-a-kind thrift store. It's always been a great adventure for us - the drive, the shopping, the lunch, the return home, filled with joyous chatter and sharing of the great finds. It's something of a little not-so-guilty pleasure that I share with my mom and now with my boyfriend as well. There's nothing better than a road trip. Here's a couple of my finds!

note: both pendants in the top-left image aren't thrifted. 

LAZY FRIDAY

Today is a really peaceful day. I'm sitting on the couch, doing calligraphy. My hand has gone off this and all the lines turn out crooked but it's a lovely hobby nevertheless. I also got a message that I'd been waiting for, so I'm really happy about possible change in the near future. We also browsed through the ads for a diesel SAAB because petrol has become sooo expensive lately.

All the snow is melting away and the temperatures stay mild. Skies are grey and everything is just so peaceful. I keep adding things to my list of to-do and to-try stuff but there's not much I can cross out..lazy me!

Let me show you some of the finest equestrian portraits by the famous French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. He's mostly known for his aerial photography but I'm a long-time admirer of his equestrian photography, shot against a canvas backdrop. He captures the relationship of the animal and its owner in the most expressive ways possible. And the lightning! You must take a look!

And the person in the last photo is someone I admire as well. It's Mario Luraschi, an amazing stuntman, who trains his horses with so much love. He's such an amazing professional, I'm truly stunned by his work. He can train a horse to run straight into a wall without ever doubting his master's will. Of course he's never made any horse run into a wall - the wall is actually made of paper but since the horse can't see through it, to his understanding it's a solid wall and he'll get killed if he runs straight into it. It's the ultimate gesture of trust as the horse knows that his master would never hurt him. It's so amazing! He's a true equestrian genius!

Cheers!