French Embroidery Rings

I used up a few more tidbits from this booklet of French embroidery patterns. Instead of brooches, this time I created a handful of over- sized rings. Aren't they festive? I think so.

Embroidery Brooches

Remember this old French embroidery book I shared with you a while back? I finally did something with it and created a handful of brooches embellished with snippets from its pages. Some are square and some round--you can take a closer look at 'em right here.

Alphabet De La Brodeuse

An old volume of embroidery patterns, Alphabet de la Brodeuse, published by the DMC library of France has come into my possession. The tiny book is chock-full of elegant lettering, monograms, and ornamental patterns. I'm sure that snippets from these pages will start appearing here 'n there in my collage pieces very soon. Enjoy!

Random Patterns

Popping in late this afternoon to share some random patterns off my iPhone. These were all taken with Instagram--a super fun photo sharing application. If you've got an iPhone I'd love you to join up and be my Instagram friend! You can find me under the user name of 'sushipot' (what else?!). Oh...and the little round thingy's below are envelope seals made from old ephemera and are new in the shop this week.

Paper Animals

I'm fascinated by these splayed animal figures I came across yesterday while clipping collage imagery. The bizarre silhouetted animal patterns are from a 1914 volume of amateur handicrafts for children. Thought you might enjoy them too.

My Box Of Books

My outing to our local library book sale this weekend was a big success. I spent a couple hours browsing and called it quits when I knew I couldn't carry any more back to the car.

I scored a good sized pile for Lizzie (mostly vintage!) including an Ed Emberley book (below) which I'll share in more detail on another day.

The one big purchase of the day at $5.00 was this 1915 publication titled Marvels of our Bodily Dwelling by Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M.D. The entire purchase was under $20.00 and I was given a Shiner Bock box to carry away all my loot.

Several books were chosen entirely for their flyleaf pattern.

As expected, I spent a lot of time in the crafty book section. The majority of my box was filled with books 'n booklets on a variety of arts n' handicrafts.

Check out this macrame couple! Someday I need a pair these hanging on my wall. Maybe Patrick would take up this crafty cause with me--I could totally see us knotting these up together (yeah right!).

Anyhow, now I have lots of new patterns to peruse and ideas to simmer.

Hope your weekend was beautiful too.

I Love Essimar

More specifically, I'm loving Essimar's recent project of decoratively wrapped packages using Japanese masking tape (aka washi tape). The resulting patterned packages are small works of art in themselves. Esther Ramirez is the talented artist behind these designs. Her blog is definitely worth perusing as she works magic with all of her paper projects. You can also visit Esther's Etsy shop to purchase her original jewelry, art and stationery goods. I sure hope Santa leaves some Japanese masking tape in my stocking this year 'cuz I've been inspired!

Bargello Patterns

These Bargello patterns struck my fancy this week as I was browsing through vintage embroidery books purchased at a local used bookstore. The colors are perfect for this autumnal time of year.

I Love Studio Fludd

Just want to say that I love Studio Fludd's new collection of wooden pins and magnets. The nuances of composition using geometric patterns, combined with subtle coloring, transpose these simple shapes into true art objects. Studio Fludd is a creative collective of five young Italian designers. You can learn more about them on their blog, Flickr and of course purchase these beauties via their Etsy shop.

Spirograph Patterns

Did you ever draw patterns with a Spirograph as a child? I picked up a copy of Kenner's 1967 Spirograph instruction booklet at an antique shop in Alma, Kansas a few months back. The designs are mesmerizing to look at and as I remember it kind of puts you in a trance to draw them too. You can view a collection of the various sets manufactured over the years right here and don't miss this photo of an obsessive Spirograph-ist.