I stopped reading blogs ages ago, because I was afraid I would be too easily influenced by them, in retrospect I did myself an incredible disservice, not only did I miss out on community but I also missed out on new discoveries! I know, it’s so hard when there’s limited time and giving a ‘heart’ on Instagram or stalking your ex on Facebook is so much easier (I jest, my FB account is suspended for non-use, true), but you get my drift.

I recently read Erin Boyle’s book Simple Matters, I did not know she had a blog, her book had come up as recommended reading based on past reads. It’s a lovely little book, which is in line with her ‘less is more’ philosophy. I am a minimalist but she has taken it to whole new heights living in 240 square feet with obviously the best husband on earth (because if I lived in a 240 square foot apartment with my husband…), they now live in an under 500 square foot apartment with a toddler and soon to add a newborn. This is truly sticking to your ideals. Erin lives in New York city and I love her philosophy as using her city as an extension of her living space, think picnics in the park, etc. Erin has a good eye and exquisite taste, after I stopped by her blog I wished I knew about it sooner. Since we have already discussed blogs going the way of the dodo, I figured I’d give some mentions to blogs that are still out there and thriving, because it’s possible, anything is possible, right? If you are interested in a crash course in simple living than her book is for you, if you could have written the book on minimalist living then it is not, but your minimalist loving heart will embrace it–it is pared down, organized and well written. My only gripe would be I would have loved more of the gorgeous photographs that are in the book, but there’s the blog to visit to get your eye candy fix!

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Reading my tea leaves

Simple Matters- For anyone looking to de-clutter and organize their life

Erin Boyle Instagram

If you want more reading for a simple life here are a few that I enjoyed:

Plain Simple Useful by Terence Conran

Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson (be prepared to feel incredibly guilty)

Life Changing Magic of Tidying-up by Marie Kondo

Miss Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography editing tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.

We have been working really hard on trying to streamline our focus for our business and what that would look like. We knew we were going to have to place energy on what are target would be and phase out other things that weren’t aligned with that vision. When we compiled our list of what would stay and what would go we realized that we were going to have to let go of our lettering focus here, don’t get us wrong we are still huge lettering + typography fans, but neither of us is currently practicing lettering, we are still utilizing typography in our branding + design work and want that to have more emphasis than the practical how-to of lettering. Basically, we want to give you more posts on taking your lettering to the next level since there is a need for that and leave the how-to of actual lettering to the experts. It’s all about growth, right?

That takes us to our latest collab, which we are so honored to be a part of!  Lettering artist extraordinaire Molly Suber-Thorpe has recently launched an amazing lettering (and free!) resource called Calligrafile. I am sure if you haven’t found it already it will become your new go-to resource for all things lettering. It is has been a massive undertaking for Molly and it is well worth the visit and helping her spread the word!  We have decided to archive our entire catalogue of Lettering Artist interviews, supply posts and any all all lettering posts at Calligrafile! We will also be contributing new posts there on lettering from time to time. To help celebrate we of course would LOVE to get you a set of our Lettering Rx | Paper to Pixel action set. It is hands down the fastest and easiest way to clean your lettering and get it digitized taking it (insert drum roll) from paper to pixel! Below are the details on how to enter, good luck!

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HOW TO ENTER:

1. Follow @calligrafile and @fotorxco on Instagram if you don’t already.

2. Go to @calligrafile’s Instagram and like the giveaway photo.

3. Visit the new Besotted Archive (link in profile) and leave a comment on any post you like. (You can leave as many comments as you want, but you will be entered only once.)

A winner will be randomly selected and announced on Instagram on Monday, November 21, 2016.

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The small print: This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram’s Terms of Use.

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I am super excited to share this free resource with you today!  I recently downloaded photographer Kirk Mastin’s free transitioning to film ebook, which was super helpful, but what really got me excited was the follow-up email-‘Don’t let these 3 things hold you back from shooting film’. The follow-up email has links for beginning camera suggestions and even a link to ebay (hint it’s not a Contax 645)! Also some film choices with links AND a super tip for those that are afraid of exposure and metering in which he gives an exact formula for stellar photos with your film camera–the film, what to set your aperture and shutter speed to and the best lighting conditions, I was so excited about that last tip that I am dying to get through my roll of black and white film so I can test it out!

If you aren’t interested in shooting film right now Kirk just released a new photo app (free!) I have downloaded it and have been using the camera almost exclusively since. We wish him a ton of success and we hope that his series inspires more people to start shooting film.

Let us know if you shoot a roll, we can’t wait to see your results!

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Kirk Mastin’s Transitioning to Film Ebook

Filmborn app

Photo above shot with Kirk’s suggested film

photo by nicholas lau

Miss Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography editing tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.

Ok, this is the bit where it gets a little random up in here with the subject matter, but stick with me, I can’t be the only person that was being driven mentally insane by this chore, right?  Let me start by saying I am a bed making connoisseur, my very first blog post I ever hit ‘publish’ on was about how to make a bed. It had about 30 photos, it was as ridiculous as it sounds and my husband still brings it up to prove his argument about my neurosis. Read More

This came on my radar this week but I thought I had missed the boat to mention it to everyone and was so bummed, but to my delight in investigating this morning I found it is still available! So QUICK,  get it while it lasts!

Hand-lettering artist extraordinaire Ms. Molly Jacques, has bundled some of her most popular (and some of my very favorite) fonts and is offering them for a drastically reduced price–27 fonts for $50?! Just one of those fonts comes in at near that price, this one here which I adore. Molly is not the only one doing bundled fonts many very creative font houses are offering them right now as well. I have linked to some that may be worth taking a peek at!

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27 hand-lettered font bundle (including the font in post graphic!)

If you have been wanting Brandon Grotesque NOW is your chance!

Latinotype their bundle is worth just for the Boho script, but their Garden pro italic is pretty sweet too!

20 good looking sans serif font bundle

Miss Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography editing tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.