1. Catcher in the Rye book cover poster from AllPosters, $30 (But you can choose from over 600 other book cover posters here.)

2. TOMS Borges Cordones , $79

3. LOMO Diana F+ CMYK camera kit from Fred Flare, $99

4. Greetings from the Ocean’s Sweaty Face: 100 McSweeney’s Postcards from Amazon, $14

5. The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov from Amazon, $23 (Nabokov’s notecards for a novel he never completed. You can punch them out of the book and organize them yourself!)

6. Fleet Foxes from Amazon, $13 (Maria requests it on vinyl, because she wants to get Tricia’s portable record player and play Fleet Foxes on it.)

7. Osborn Design Sneakers, $60-130

8. Buckyballs, $30

9. Cardboard Moose bust from Perpetual Kid, $48 (large)

10. Collocation NO. 14 (NATURE) Print (left and right panels) from 20×200, $20+ (photos by Mickey Smith)

(1) Get a free sample of a swatchbook (a paper sample book from a paper company). The crazier the swatchbook, the more creative you need to be with your photos. I got my swatchbook free from Mohawk papers (paper -> order samples).

(2) Order your pictures. I use winkflash. Pictures are only 12 cents a piece, and usually there is a coupon code on the front page for 6 cent photos. That’s a lot of photos!

(4) Gather other supplies. Besides pictures you might want to use scraps like programs, tickets, labels of favorite foods, the weirdest thing you drew in Pictionary that night, etc. You’ll also want to see what scrap-ish supplies you have, ie: pens, markers, stickers, tape or glue (I do use scrapbooking glue), colored or printed paper, scissors, rulers, etc.

(3) GET CREATIVE!!! Since my sample book had tabs, I split my photos into piles that could work in each tab (so, some pre-planning is beneficial). Your final product will be a bit bulky & flimsy, but pretty much the coolest, cheapest scrapbook ever. I like the cascading pages the best (see a sample of my scrapbook below using my new favorite magazine-making source, Issuu).

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As you might remember, I love Thomas Allen, the super-unique, crafty, and creative photographer whose work seems to be everywhere nowadays from art galleries to magazine racks (from Oprah to Men’s Health, as a matter of fact). I loved him even more after he was very kind to a very new Stickers & Donuts, and let me show some wonderful images that hadn’t been used in his Oprah magazine spreads. (Still one of the most fantastically exciting things to happen to me on S&D!)

The above image, though in the style of Thomas Allen (and featuring his name…), is actually by David Copeland of Ogilvy New York used to promote Allen’s show at Ogilvy New York (World Wide Plaza, 7th Floor).

The two images above are from Harper’s magazine (there’s even more in there, the March 2009 issue). (Goddd! Isn’t that arrow so cool?!)

The image above is from Men’s Health, for an article about the release of an update Joy of Sex. Thomas Allen used images from the old book and the new book (ooh, color!) to create the photo above.

Check out Thomas Allen’s blog for more updates on his work, higher quality copies of the above images, or just go buy his photography book, Thomas Allen: Uncovered.

I’m on a pattern kick and have been for a while now. So while wandering around D.C. during my trip a couple weeks back, I couldn’t help but notice all of the cool patterns around the city. Here are just a few of the many that caught my eye:

1. Ceiling of the rotunda in the National Archives
2. Brass grate in the National Archives (in the hallway across from the rotunda)
3. Wrought iron gate on building near National Mall
   
4. Malachite sample in Natural History Museum
5. Pattern on painting (sorry: can’t tell which one!) in the National Gallery
6. Wine bottles in Berliner Bar: I thought these looked kind of like cross-stitching or pixel art
7. Granite sample in Natural History Museum

I’m not sure yet how these will influence my work, but at the very least I’d like them to influence my fashion sense. Maria’s post on Ugly/Pretty got me thinking that most of these could make for some pretty cool tights or maybe a skirt…

Highlights of this week include a dynamite interview with Dyna Moe (yay Mad Men!) and an exclusive Stickers & Donuts contest (click here to go directly to the entry form!)

Usually I don’t re-post directly from SwissMiss, since that means pretty much the whole interweb has seen it already, but my favorite-favorite thing from the blogs this week is the Poladroid. Download it, and turn your photos into greeny-yellow, polaroid-edged photos. The program is super-fun, and, believe it or not, I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting for something exactly like it!

Remember when I went to the New York’s World’s Fair Grounds? Well, I knew those pictures would be perfect in Polaroid. Don’t you think?

I’ll be back in full-force soon! In the meantime…

The photos in the “Dreams of Flying” series by Jan von Holleben are creative & fun. (They remind me of Yeondoo Jung’s work.)

The kids all look like they are doing super-cool things (like flying in outerspace) but they’re actually laying on the floor with common household items!

Go to the web-site to see all of the photos (there’s a lot more, and they’re fun to flip through).

This article from the New York Times really caught my eye, and I couldn’t resist sharing it with you, so just one more post to end the week and begin the weekend!

For those subway riders who get off before the last stop — almost everyone — the end is just a sign on the train. What’s there, anyway? It turns out there is often mystery, lonesomeness and beauty (NY Times).

This interactive “Going to the End of the Line” project includes photos, video, and audio from the “end of the line” (places most of us never see… unless we happen to live there) on NYC subways.

Note from Maria: This is another post (with an interview!) from Tricia, who recently (yesterday!) did her ultra-successful first S&D post about pencil cases. I *love* question five!

FACT! I am obsessed with critters, which is probably one of the reasons why I absolutely adore L. Bates Jaffe’s photography!

Her animal mask photos remind me of my favorite scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s when Holly and Fred steal animal masks from the five and dime store. The above photo is from her “animal masks” collection.

I love how she plays on proportions in her “one pill makes you smaller” and “animal crackers” collections. The naked woman is literally on the brink of being consumed by a mysterious black hole!

…and her other non-critter photographs are utterly beautiful as well. The top is a sample of her “decades” project, which features a series of 18 epoch (which sounds like EPIC..har har…) inspired photos. The bottom is a portrait of a little weeee.

And now for a special Stickers and Donuts sprinkley treat: a little Mad Libish interview with L. Bates Jaffe. (JUMP TO IT!) (more…)

Some of my favorites from last week! (Links in the list below; right click to open in new window.)

• A book of a guy comparing his silhouettes to famous silhouettes (via SwissMiss).
• A hysterical inscription on The Book Inscriptions Project blog from a book entitled “Doktor Bey’s Suicide Guidebook.”
• I really just want to put my feet into these rugs from the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich (via Cool Hunter).
• I love, love, love Chris Benz’s colorful clothing lines, and his web-site is pretty cool, too! (via Oh Joy!)
• A pretty awesome chair, good for seat crunchers, via Smashing Magazine. (I’m not sure that you can buy this; it has made its way around the blogs, but I think it was originally part of a show.)
• An awesome flea market guide from Design*Sponge, listing all of the flea markets in a variety of my very favorite states (Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachussetts)!
• Cool photographs of naked Olympians! (via Crap We Like)
• Another cool Smashing Magazine find — a retro phone that you talk into instead of your cell phone.
• I love this ASL (American Sign Language) pattern (and the tank top, which isn’t availible for sale, unfortunately!) in a book which includes designs from Julia Rothman (from Julia’s book design blog, Book By Its Cover).

I’ll be gone for a long(ish) weekend in lovely Cape Cod, Mass, but I will get a few little things up for you to read early next week. Next week will also be the debut of a guest blogger — I’ve gotten a sneak peak at her post, and I’m pretty excited!

Have a great weekend everyone!