The.Best.Cinnamon.Buns.

Now that Christmas has passed, I find myself still dreaming of the absolutely best cinnamon buns I made on Christmas morning. I ordered them here, from King Arthur Flour. And the paper baking tree added a nice holiday touch.

I even ordered several boxes of mixes and paper trees for my cousins this year to bake on their Christmas mornings. They are so good, I had to virtually share. Get your own here, and use coupon code C9HP2 for 10% through 1/31/09. Great for New Year's Eve morning after pick-me-up!

P.S. I always check for coupon codes on RetailMeNot, one of many great sites offering discounts on most online purchases.

Everyone Loves our Loo

I'm not kidding. We honestly get requests for peeps to have their picture taken in our now famous water closet. As proof, here, our good friend Fred Caserta of Caserta Design snaps a headshot of our pal Lee Moody - Mohawk Paper rep extraordinaire - while I watch on in amusement. Who knew our powder room would get so much love? Get your own wallcovering here, straight from Bunny Maxwell.

"Have a Perfect Holiday"

The Graver's family holiday card this year was expertly shot by our good friend, the very talented Aaron Kotowski.

My concept for this year revolved around the picture-perfect 50's housewife and was shot right in my kitchen.

The inside of our card read "Have a Perfect Holiday" (because we know we that's an impossibility). However, in the 50's, if you didn't look past the ironed apron, red lipstick and perfect cookies, everything appeared flawless.

Look closely we have kids making a disaster, falling down tinsel, spilling molasses, and a thieving husband.

And so it goes ... but it's all part of making merry family memories and I hope your holiday was filled with wonderful ones - despite their imperfections!

Winter Solstice - December 21st

Yesterday was the first day of winter, December 21st. Here are few winter images - a beautiful sunset at Haycock Point in Branford and a stunning winter berry bush at my parents house. Both very inspirational images to me personally. I also love the colors in each image.

Happy winter - may it be healthy and productive, but also reflective and full of beauty.

COOKIE SWAP!

Today was yet another successful annual Studio Cookie Swap @Elements! Assembled here are Snickerdoodles, Greek Honey Walnut Balls, Chewy Chocolate Raisin cookies (a new entry this year - recipe link here), Creme de Menthe Bars, Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter cookies. Piles of yumminess for everyone to give and get! Hope you get lots of goodies this holiday season.

I See London, I See Paris ...

For a few of the kids on my list, I bought these beautifully designed and illustrated "travel books for children" by Miroslav Sasek. The delightful "This is Paris" was the first book M. Sasek wrote and illustrated back in 1958 and now the "This is" series is being reissued through Amazon.com. (And Pssst! Amazon has overnight shipping!)

Giving and Receiving

I purchased a few holiday items from Plow and Hearth this week, and was surprised to get an email from them requesting my choice of where I wanted trees planted. I say surprised because I didn't order any trees.



It seems that last year they started a Campaign to Reforest America, planted over a million trees, and have continued this program with the intention of surpassing that amount this year. I think this program is exceptional, because not only do they donate trees when customers make a purchase, they also donate two trees for every one tree used in catalog production.

As I have pulled into my driveway every night this week and passed by the huge evergreen tree with white twinkle lights in our yard, I am reminded of this program, and it makes me smile. Happy Holidays everyone!

Magic! A New Mouse from Apple

Elements' new friend and fellow designer Danielle showed me this new mouse from Apple - I'm thinking this would be somewhere on our (long) list of cool gadgets we'd love to have here in the office.


The Magic Mouse is the world's first multi-touch mouse, which is manipulated like an iPhone screen. Plus, it's wireless and can be used with Bluetooth technology. It doesn't hurt that its design is sleek and super-cool – and oh-so-Apple-like.

So, if anyone is feeling generous...

365 Days of Elements

A calendar based on the Elements - what a great gift idea!

"A paper-cut design by Lena Corwin and Caitlin Mociun, inspired by imagery of the four elements: fire, earth, air and water. Four-color silk screen print."

Found @ Lena Corwin.

Classic Jack Gets Packaging Facelift

“Secondary packaging provides a modern face for a classic icon.”

{via lovely packaging}

Hull's New Haven: Customer Appreciation Night

T-minus 3 hours! Tonight from 5 - 8 pm, Hull's Art Supply & Framing is hosting their annual Customer Appreciation Night, and the first 100 customers through the door will recieve a free cupcake from The Cupcake Truck.

Downtown New Haven has the best holiday shopping (in fact, they've been nominated for a Golden Local award by NBC Connecticut - vote here) – and Hull's is no exception. So, drop by for a cupcake, check out their beautiful holiday decorations designed by Elements and have a great time. Be sure to say hi to our friend and client Shawn!

A Silver and Cranberry Bash

On Monday night, Elements held our second open studio to celebrate the holidays, Elements' tenth birthday and our wonderful clients, vendors, partners and friends.

With the help of Jane Speroff, interior designer extraordinaire, we transformed our (normally very nice) studio space into a beautiful silver and cranberry winter wonderland (along with lots of help from our trusty intern Kyle and new friend Danielle DeSanti Davis).


Guests nibbled on homemade hors d'ouevres from caponata on crostini to korma chicken skewers to yummy stuffed mushrooms made by Bobbie, and sipped on chardonnay, pinot noir, eggnog and mulled cider. Delicious desserts included a decadent chocolate roll made by Betty Ann, a cranberry glazed cheesecake by Amy and a huge platter of cookies by our lovely bookkeeper Judy.


Classical and jazz guitarist Neal Fitzpatrick provided beautiful ambiance – his CDs are available for purchase at Cutler's in New Haven (we already snagged our copy!)


A huge thank you goes to Eric Langlois of Raw Photo Design. We have admired Eric's work from afar, and got an introduction through our client Jeff and he agreed to cover our event. Eric's photography captured the tone of the event wonderfully, and he really caught the magic of each moment – the sign of a great photographer!

Special thanks to Lee Cruz for graciously loaning the use of his beautifully renovated home since our space is great, but doesn't have an oven – to Giulia for her yummy cookies, Lisa for the pretty poinsettia, Lee and Tracie for their gifts and to Scott for all of his help.

The party was a hit – a great time was had by all and we want to again thank all of our wonderful clients and friends for being wonderful partners. We're fortunate to work with such talented and passionate people. Happy Holidays to all!

My Dream Job - After Designing, of Course

If You Don't Fly with JetBlue...

You should pick up a copy of their creative "Holiday Gift Guide" called The Flyer's Collection, which "sells" spoof products you might need if you fly with other airlines and aren't able to catch a JetBlue flight.

JetBlue distributed about 35,000 of its gift guides via a network of 2,300 Big Apple town car transportation companies, posted the guide on their Facebook page and set up a storefront in NYC.

Examples of some of the products in the catalog are:

• YumBro-a friendly robotic buddy who says nice things like, "You look cute today!" while dispensing the free snacks you would have enjoyed on JetBlue.
• A sweater that doubles as a carry-on suitcase “so you don’t have to pay the extra $25 to [check in additional] bags
• A seat back beeper to warn fellow passengers that you are about to recline into their lap

Their creative approach illustrates to their customers that they truly get the misery of flying with all of the cutbacks airlines are making to improve their bottom line. Very timely and very funny!

Air to Spare

Ever wondered why there are so few chips in your bag, or why certain products seem to have an excess amount of packaging? Good Morning America explains.

Melding Passions: Design + Food! (Our two loves)

One of our favorite blogs, Design*Sponge, features a recipe section. D*S founder Grace had a growing passion for recipes and food, but wasn't sure how to integrate her foodie world with her design world. So, as many of us do, she asked a friend - Kristina - who suggested asking designers for recipes, depicting the food in a manner that complements the site's existing content. And, for volunteering such a great idea, lucky Kristina got herself a gig as Design*Sponge's "In the Kitchen With" editor.

Photo by Ditte Isager Courtesy of Design*Sponge

So, on Fridays, stop by Design*Sponge's recipe section for step-by-step recipes and images that are as yummy as the dishes themselves.

Note: This story goes along nicely with the theme of a meeting Amy and I were in earlier today about the power of collaboration. We love the idea of bringing different passions together into one space - really, it's what Elements is all about.

Illustration by Julia Rothman Courtesy of Design*Sponge

Wonderland

I'm intrigued with this creative project entitled "Wonderland" by: Korean photo artist Yeondoo Jung. He re-created several whimsical works of art made by various children and photographed his fantastical interpretations. I don't agree with each creative styling, but they are all interesting and the idea is stellar. Check out the completed "Wonderland" child drawings turned beautiful photo images here.

It does makes me think. Hummmm ....

{thanks Heather Iafrate for this post tip}