Last night we all woke up at 3 a.m., not simultaneously more like stacked dominoes–one than the other and than the other and so on. If being woken up at 3 a.m. by a leaky diaper isn’t glamorous enough for you, my Frenchie decided she would throw up in our bedroom hallway, nothing like stepping in dog vomit in the early morn to put a little pep in your day.  It’s a good thing that although I am bleary-eyed and haggard I can still find great joy in discoveries of new- to-me artists like Ms. Frida Clements (I am sure she will appreciate a post on her being prefaced by diaper leakage and dog vomit, who wouldn’t?)

I came across her work the other day and of course was immediately drawn to her lettering, I love a good hand drawn serif (Maybelle did a wonderful one on her site). I was going through her portfolio and was just taken aback by how prolific she is with her lettering work, this Feist poster knocked my socks off!

Frida is best known for her work on music posters, but you really need to check out her Tumblr and view her Punny series, it’ll be sure to turn your frown upside down.

And now my friends I must return to my life as a bumbling (but very happy) mommy…

P.S. If you are looking for some hand drawn serif fonts might I suggest FF Kath, Bookeyed Jack, Mrs. Ant, Bodini Classic Hand (LOVE!) and of course Molly Jacques Icing!

P.P.S. If you come across a good free hand drawn serif let me know and I will add it to the list!

Tomorrow is April 1st and we are moving for the fourth time since we have landed in Seattle last May, nope not kidding, that’s totally normal right?  In my defense two of those moves were not planned. I mean we planned one move and that place turned out to be a nightmare, I was 8 months pregnant and on the day we moved in there was no toilet type of nightmare?  What?  A pregnant woman needs one of those things, often. That wasn’t even the straw that broke this camels back, I got locked in my apartment and so many other things that we ended up moving out 2 days later. We luckily were able to move back into the apartment we moved away from otherwise we might have been homeless. And yes, they were true moves where you pack everything up move it and then unpack, then have to pack up everything and move it again and unpack.  We did it in a span of 48 hours and if we didn’t get a divorce after those shenanigans I think my husband and I are good for the long haul.

So what does that have to do with Task Rabbit? First off, I wish I knew about Task Rabbit prior to all the moving, because we could have used an extra set of hands (and truck).  Task Rabbit is a service where you can post ‘tasks’, errands, DIY projects and the like and get someone to help you with them! It was borne of necessity the founders were going out one night and realized they were out of dog food, they thought wouldn’t it be great to have a service that they could call that could go out and buy said dog food and feed the dogs while they got ready for their night out? Voila!  Task Rabbit was created!  I have used them a a couple times now, I had a Task Rabbit go to Lowes by me some shelves and install them. I posted the price I was willing to pay, the Task Rabbit bid on the project, I read all of his reviews, chose him, scheduled a time and just like that I had shelves in my studio, a project that I had neglected for months and months!  I can’t even get into how many DIY projects I want to finally be able to accomplish, okay, it wouldn’t technically be DIY but ‘do it with the help of Task Rabbit’.  There’s this desk that I have always thought was super clever, clean and might work for my new “office” space which will be housed in our livingroom, I don’t want something that screams ‘office’. They also do Ikea runs and Ikea assembly, which would be near impossible with a 4 month old. I haven’t even cooked dinner in 4 months, washed my hair (joke, kind of..) let alone go to Ikea, pull my merchandise, squish it in the car and assemble something unwieldy like an Expedit. Just thinking about it has me agitated, trust me it’s worth the nominal fee of posting for help on Task Rabbit.  They are also great for those Craigslist finds where you know it’s a winner, you have to scoop it up but you have no way of getting the piece to your abode, now you can!  This is a game changer my friends!  They are in several major cities right now, working in going nationwide. There’s a company in the UK that is hoping to build a similar concept and with the success of these companies I am sure there will be either a Task Rabbit or a company like it coming to a city near you.

So what DIY projects would you be taking on now if you have access to a company like this?

P.S. The font I used was created by the uber talented Jess of Magpie Paper Works it’s called Woolen and she made it to gift for holiday (how cool is that?) She has similar ones you can add to your collection here and here.

I love, love, love seeing fonts I have mentioned ‘out in the wild’.  It’s a little thrill every time.  Heck, I love seeing any font I have admired out in the real world on packaging, places and things.  I love playing a little game of ‘ident-i-font’ with myself, it’s the little things in life…

I spotted Carolyna Black Pro on a darling baby book I picked up.  I love how the designer was able to balance the sans serifs with the flowy lettering of the Carolyna Black font.  This font suite by Emily Lime has so many glyphs and alternates that you can really customize it to make it feel like your own.  I really need to do a tutorial soon on how to access glyphs and alternates in your fonts, it will open up a whole new world of possibility and creativity!

On the baby book front, I had been searching aimlessly for a baby book that wasn’t too garish, too cheap feeling, too expensive and just well simple, Compendium Press came through, but I am curious if any of you have other suggestions?  I think it’s important for me to be able to collect these memories as this time goes by so fast and well my memory is just a wee bit foggy right now!

I feel like I mention this at least once a year, I am a broken record when it comes to this recommendation, but I think it’s such an amazing resource with such a nominal investment that it warrants my yakking on about it.  The resource is for photo enthusiasts, it’s a forum that has grown into a huge online community of both amateur and professional photographers and even offers some of the best classes in the industry, it’s called Clickin’ Moms–cringe.  I know, I know the name is to be desired, it doesn’t translate what high quality is available to you.  I have belonged to the forum for nearly six years so way before I became a mother myself, so no kiddies required!  If you have any interest in photography it’s worth taking a peek.  I am mentioning again today because I saw that they were offering a free 30 day trial, which I think would give you plenty of time to get a feel of what Clickin’ Moms has to offer.  Even if you don’t join the forum, you can still get a ton of generously ladled out info at their blog.  They are also hosting what looks to me to be an awesome conference called Click Away, oh how I want to attend, it looks like good times!  Sue Bryce, one of my fave photographers is going to be there.  I recently took one of their mini classes called ‘breakouts’ (I know, another unfortunate name, sorry friends!) for creating beautiful black & white images.  I love b & w’s but I always find it hard to know what type of light will translate well into a b&w conversion, after taking the class (on line mind you, at 3 a.m.) I feel like I have a little more of a feel for what I need to do to create a more impactful b&w image.

The photo above is from one of their classes Shooting 304 : The Art of Observation, taught by Caroline Jensen. I am freakin’ in love with this image (beautiful tones), yes, I now totally want to take this class too!  I think you will find there are a ton of classes you will want to take, but just join the forum, it’s inexpensive, lurk, there’s tons of info that’s available and people are willing to answer questions or point you in the direction where you can find answers. It’s free for 30 days so that’s even less of an investment, I love this forum so much I just subscribe automatically now, I don’t want to miss a thing.  I hope you check it out and find it somewhat helpful to you in your photography journey!

photo by caroline jensen