Black*Eiffel: 12/1/09

Peace + Joy

Wishing you all Happy Holidays! I want to thank you dear readers for your kind support of this blog, it has been much more delightful because of you. Thank you so very much! You readers and sponsors really are the best. I can't wait to start 2010 -- I love new beginnings and it is going to be fabulous year with great things in store. I am going to take a little break, but will be back to posting in January. I may be doing a little tweeting , so if you want -- you can follow me here. May your season be full of infinite peace and joy.

Warmly,
Rachel

A few other links:
My holiday wish list over at Pretty Mommy
My Winter Style Inspiration under $95 over at Cafe Mom
An interview over at Style for Style

(*above is a little peek of our holiday card we sent out)

Beautiful wreaths

I had high hopes to make a pretty wreath this year, I even bought the yarn supplies and a pom pom maker inspired by this post and photo below from last year. Unfortunately, I encountered some hiccups along the way (who knew making large yarn balls was so tricky and time consuming) and it did not turn out. Maybe I didn't have the right pom-pom maker. Good intentions still somewhat count, right?

Today, after seeing the above photo of the wreath created by Pickles over at Seesaw, I realized that aborting my pom pom idea was a-okay because I love the felted ball wreath even more. Here is to high hopes for next year, or don't you think that felted wreath would look cool all year long?

Have you had any holiday crafting disasters? Do share. Also on my list was to attempt to make pajamas, and stockings -- next year I going to have to start in October.

(image 1 from Pickles, image 2 from this post clipped from Marie Claire Idees)

Typographic Christmas Decor

I love this simple but standout idea of using words for decoration. The top photo is from from the amazing Kate Did and the bottom photo is an Anthropologie display (Rockefeller Center) photographed by Heartfish.

Hermes Winter Campaign

Loving this Hermes Winter Ad Campaign, especially the reindeer. They do such a great job.

(via Busy Being Fabulous)

Words Create Worlds

Stunning and very cool ad campaign for the Prague bookstore, Anagram produced by Kaspan advertising agency.

(spotted & images from Fubiz)

Sketchy Santas

A friend shared with me this website called, Sketchy Santas and I can't stop snickering. Especially when my daughter briefly overlooked me while laughing and said, "those are horrible Santas I really don't like them." Every year my parents had me and my brothers and sister get photos with Santa, and I don't think we ever came across Santas that were this disturbing and freaky, but one year I remember we avoided a Santa for some reason. It is fun site to check out for some great laughs. Would you ever place your kids on some of these Santa's laps?

(images from Sketchy Santa)

Pretty Packaging

This holiday food packaging from an old issue of Living Etc. a few years back styled by Donna Hay and photographed by William Meppem is simple + beautiful. The below photo is paper stitched together around the bottom of a card. Clever.

YouTube drawings

Swiss artist duo Comenius Roethlisberger and Ado Jahic produced this awesome collection of archived YouTube video drawings. Quite the intriguing concept that speaks of our current cultural phenomenon, don't you think? The collection recently showcased at Colette in Paris, and it would be brilliant to see all these drawings together in one place.

Alice Lane Home Giveaway

I am very happy about this giveaway from our lovely sponsor Alice Lane Home. Locals or those planning on coming to Utah this one is for you and boy, is it a good one. This giveaway is for a in-store $125 gift card at Alice Lane Home - one of the best home decor places in the area. Check out their website here and you will see what I mean, they have a beautifully curated selection online, but there is even more to see in their lovely store.

To enter, leave a comment on this post by midnight Tuesday, December 22nd and a winner will be randomly selected and announced. Good luck readers and thank you Alice Lane!

UPDATE: The randomly picked winner is Laura. Congrats!

Klein Dytham architecture

Clearly, I am in an architectural mood today so when I looked at the website - Klein Dytham architecture from this post, I had to share with you more of their awesome stuff. Stunning details...

Sponsor Highlight : Book City Jackets

I am excited to introduce one of our Brooklyn based sponsors Book City Jackets. They have a lovely and artistic collection of book jackets that directly shouts out their motto, which is to "make every book beautiful". I love the idea of putting the below covered books in a guest room. Wouldn't you love to pick those up if you went to someone's home to stay -- kind of like a beautiful surprise mystery? See more of their designs at their website Book City Jackets.

If you would like to become a Black Eiffel sponsor, email blackeiffel@gmail.com for more information.

TBWA/Hakuhodo Offices in Japan

TBWA/ Hakuhodo, a global advertising company in Tokyo, has a really amazing and spacious setting to work in. Wouldn't it be fun to peruse books and gather inspiration while at work on that grassy knoll? Yes, please. Read more about it here.

Architects : Klein Dytham architecture

(seen at archdaily)

crewcuts holiday

Speaking of J.Crew have you seen the j'dorable crewcuts holiday catalog. Very cute and of course, impeccably styled and photographed.

Winter Boots

With all the snow we've been getting and with more on the way, I am further drawn to the duck boot trend. Haven't you been seeing them everywhere -- or is it just me? They seem like they would be quite nice for the snow. I like these, these and these, and unfortunately these special colored Sperrys from J. Crew ones (really like the color) are out of stock in my size. How many of sport duck boots or Sorels in the winter time?

(images from j.crew)

Studio Spotlight : Evelin Kasikov

Do you remember this previous post and the work of Evelin Kasikov? Here is a tiny peek with up-close photos of her detailed craft and studio space. Isn't it cool? It is incredible that such little stitches can be so well-crafted on paper. Thanks for sharing Evelin.

Fredo Viola - Silent Night and more...

Have you heard of the New York City based multi-media artist/singer Fredo Viola? I recently came across his work and he is extremely talented. In the holiday spirit, the above video is a cross continent singing and video collaboration of Silent Night featuring clips of Nils Christian Fossdal in Norway and Fredo in NYC.

If you like hearing one person sing all the parts, you will like this Fredo singing this tune, it is interesting. You can find the song Silent Night here and the soothing Sad Song here.

Happy Monday.

I hope you all had a nice weekend, ours was full of gingerbread house making, watching the snow fall, and staying indoors (as our daughter has still been battling a nasty cold -- we finally think she is almost better - yes!). As for gingerbread houses since it is really cold lately we decided to make Christmas in Bora Bora but unfortunately a storm came (our daughter playing with it) before we got a great shot.

(*photos taken with my phone, next time I will remember my camera --- my parents made the top house-- cool huh?)