I saw these yesterday in a store and couldn’t stop thinking about them afterwards. I think maybe my fridge needs these – what fridge doesn’t? From Doiy.
{ 0 comments }
aileen’s space
This makes a lot of sense to me. A great way to hang bags, coats, and store sunglasses, keys, letters, and other things that clutter up surfaces, or are easy to forget. My husband would love these too – no more “Can you see my glasses?” or “I’m looking for my keys” (yes, he gets asked those questions most days). From Materious - I’m looking for somewhere to put them right now.
{ 1 comment }
I love a glimpse into how people work, so when I saw an article called 40 inspiring Workspaces of the Famously Creative, well you know I had to share it. What could be better on a Monday morning than a little creative inspiration. My favorite 4 are featured above – go and look through the other 36 here. Which inspires you?
(via buzzfeed)
{ 0 comments }
A new blog is coming soon – one about Lafayette (the cool, the creative, the culture). It will feature some of the best places, events, people, food, and businesses in our little gem of a city. You can sign up today to be informed of when it launches (hint: it’s soon). We have some great sponsors already, and are looking for more so send me an EMAIL if you are interested, and you’ll get details. LOVE LFT.COM
Don’t worry Creating Clever isn’t going anywhere – in fact it’s about to get more focused, slightly more businessy and I’m planning on it being bigger and better than ever.
{ 0 comments }
These are the new creatingclever scratch pads. Paper Chalkboards, with their own white chalk pencil. So far they have been a hit with everyone who has seen them so I thought that I would share. Mission: Take the humble scratch pad and do something different with it. They were printed by Hulco Printers - it’s great to have a printer to work with who will try something different and allow me to have some fun (and of course, they are blog sponsors). These are NOT available for sale, but you can win a couple today in my USA X – celebration giveaway.
{ 2 comments }
This may be the perfect tea-towel. I think it would make me smile every time I saw it. (yes I’m very English – I have tea towels and love literal humor). It’s available from howkapow.com (thank you guys). I’m also loving the one below from the London Transport Museum (Dear Mum, next time you are in London can I please have….. ). You’ll notice a theme here, beautiful, simple, and of course…… clever.
{ 0 comments }
These were added to my Etsy store today. I (of course) have kept a set for myself. They have made me smile all weekend. And don’t forget use code CREATINGCLEVER to get 15% off anything in the store until the end of November.
{ 0 comments }
I’m a small business, a very small business – most of the time there is just me (I partner with others for projects) – I needed a range of stationery that would be low cost, amazingly adaptable and of course, fun. So with these parameters in mind I set out on a journey as fun as my business cards. The answer was a combination of stickers and very simple cards printed (digitally) with my name and one of the images from my website – They can now be invoices, thank you notes, letterheads, quotes, notes, and a whole range of things I haven’t even thought of yet. Because they were digital I can get them printed in small quantities and replenish them when I need. Gone are the days of having hundreds of letterheads stored in my stockroom. I also made sure the cards fold into the box I used to send out gift cards, promotions and other little things – those little touches are important. When a company gets the small things right, they will probably get the big things right too. I have a button maker so I added some magnets to the range – and will introduce more fun items as I think of them. Stickers aren’t just for kids anymore… they are all grown up now.
I used my sponsor Hulco, for both the stickers and the digital printing – (they have a Sign & Decal shop, a Print shop, and a t-shirt shop so I use them for most things) – and, full disclosure – my husband works there. For those of you who want to see the process, I made a video of what they did:
{ 0 comments }
This packaging by Otília Erdélyi simplifies the egg carton beautifully. I think I would smile every time I took one out – so beautiful I didn’t even include any egg puns (and if you know me that was hard)…. (egg puns welcome in the comments to make me laugh though) – (via design you trust)
{ 1 comment }
I am getting my copy of this today and I’m very excited about it -From Stanford University’s D-School this book is a tool for helping people intentionally manipulate space to ignite creativity. I will update this post when I have read it. It sounds like it’s just my kind of book:
“Appropriate for designers charged with creating new spaces or anyone interested in revamping an existing space, this guide offers novel and non-obvious strategies for changing surroundings specifically to enhance the ways in which teams and individuals communicate, work, play—and innovate. This work is based on years of classes and programs at the d.school including countless prototypes and iterations with d.school students and spaces.”
{ 1 comment }
This would make me smile whenever I used it. I love most of the stuff produced by Fred – it’s simple with a sense of humor (hmm that could probably be a description of me too)
{ 0 comments }
There is sooo much right with this sign. I love the mind of Richard Tipping. I already have his ‘Thank you for Noticing Sign’ Available from The Tate Modern Store
{ 0 comments }
Let me introduce Coink*, our piggy bank. We’ve had one in our house for years – he’s almost like a family member. We say things like “I’ll go and look in Coink” or “I’m feeding Coink” – He’s not cheap at $32.00, but he is beautifully designed and very easy to put your change into. sporting a funnel rather than a little coin slot. If you use him as much as we do, he will save you money.
He sit’s on a shelf and collects our change until we are ready to take it to the local coinstar machine and swap it for amazon or itunes vouchers. You will love him (I do)
{ 1 comment }
I have been asked many times over the last few weeks how I make my personalized books for my Etsy store. I’m always willing to share my ideas and I thought it would be easier to show you then tell you…
(further instructions are at the bottom of the post)
For the chance to win your own book click here.
1. Design the cover. I use InDesign but you could use word. Design or print in reverse.
2. Print it out onto tracing paper.We find that black doesn't print well, but other colors are fine!
3. We then run it through a Xyron Sticker Maker - this coats the underside completely with sticky stuff (see info below)
4. Now it will stick to any material you want to use as your book cover. The printing is protected because it's on the reverse side
5. Roughly trim. You will cut it to size once it is stuck down. (Make sure you have included cut marks in your original print)
6. Peel off the page and stick it down onto your cover stock. Carefully. Smooth it out as you stick it down. You don't want any air bubbles.
7. Now trim it to the finished size. We use a craft knife (or scapel) and a rule. Much better than scissors.
8. Using a binding machine, punch the holes in the cover, back cover and other pages. Don't try to punch everything at once.
9. Line it all up and prepare to bind. Cut the binding wire to the right length. (Follow the instructions on the binding machine)
10. And you are done! Enjoy the book. It took us a while to work out this system. Don't worry if your first book isn't perfect.
I hope this explains the steps well enough. Please ask any questions you have, they will help everyone. You will obviously need: Card for the cover and back cover. Tracing paper. A printer. A Xyron Sticker Maker* 
Don’t forget to enter to win one of your own!
{ 1 comment }
The first promotional piece for this site is done and it’s a match made in heaven (well not quite heaven, but you get the point).
When you need a spark.
(and for those of you who keep asking to peek inside my notebooks, click on the image to see the idea forming)
{ 2 comments }
This is my vanity table where I get ready every morning. The message helps me remember not to say mean things to myself about the way I look. It sets me up for a good day of meeting beautiful people.
Yes, I do stick letters on anything – most of them peel-off well and you can change them (with a bit of help from goo-gone or something similar). I like to be reminded of things for the days I don’t feel that way naturally.
{ 0 comments }
A few months ago a local store was closing and selling off things cheaply. Of course I visited and grabbed a very new looking OPEN sign (the kind they sell at SamsClub. (I have a thing for neon signs).
I brought it home and with the help of a dremel and some black paint I managed to change it’s meaning.
It’s not perfectly done by any means, but it gets the idea across – and more importantly, it makes me smile.
{ 1 comment }
Yesterday on Facebook a couple of people commented on the School of Visual Arts post and said they would need something to write ideas down in the shower… I promised to share what I used (yes, I really do have a notepad and pencil in the shower)…
I have used Aqua Notes since they first arrived on the scene (or in the shower). They are simple, can get soaking wet without it affecting the writing on the paper (you can even write underwater if you must) and are easy to rip off and take with you. They are also recyclable, environmentally friendly, and printed with soy-based ink (and no, they don’t pay me to say any of this) Bath time is now the best thinking time!
{ 2 comments }
I am really enjoying showing you around my home and studio. You’ve seen the idea table and the blackboard table so I thought it was time to introduce you to a wall.
It may be the simplest idea I have ever had, and although we did a whole wall (I wanted to be able to see my whole book at once) , it’s very easy to just do a strip anywhere in the house. My friends favorite places to put this are in the kitchen for notes, and in their children’s bedrooms to hold artwork. You only need some metal thumbtacks (drawing pins for people who come from the same part of the world as I do) and little magnets (available in most office supply stores). They make metal thumbtacks in lots of different colors which just adds to the fun. I used white on the wall because, well, most things in our home are white. (It’s a minimalist thing)
{ 0 comments }
The thing that people ask the most questions about in my studio is The Idea Table, so I thought it was time to share.
It started off as a cheap Ikea table (you know the one), we added some paper cut to fit the top… and The Idea Table was born (or at least created). Luckily my husband works at a printer and he cut and glued the paper there, but if you can get someone to cut it, it’s fairly easy to use white school glue and tissue paper to create the stuck edge. We used strong double sided tape to stick it down. It’s great for kids and adults alike, no one can resist writing on it. With this and our blackboard table we have writing surfaces everywhere. Many fun ideas started at this table…
UPDATE: Thank you to Alan Henry over at Lifehacker.com for blowing my blog up by posting this! – you rock!
UPDATE 2: Thank you to the Real Simple blog for featuring the idea table, and welcome to all of you who have come from there, stay awhile, leave a comment, sign up for the rss feed, have a cup of tea…
{ 27 comments }
