Ahoy! Attack of the Icebergs

Crikey! Did you see this? From what I understand, a mondo iceberg four times the size of Manhattan broke into pieces off the coast of Greenland last year, and now nearly a year later they are seeing it appear off the 'iceberg alley' shores of Newfoundland! 

The top photo is a slice of ice that hit Newfoundland's Goose Cove temporarily blocking the harbor until it broke and melted a bit. 

That largest iceberg piece? They call it 'Petermann's Ice Island' which NASA has been watching and it has yet to hit the shores. Pretty surreal, huh?! I am continually fascinated by the mighty nature and beauty of icebergs! (See previous post) You can see a video clip for the magnitude of Petermann's Ice Island here.

(via @sophistimom twitter - sophistimom)

top photo - Gene Patey // bottom photo - Jeff Schmaltz for NASA

Have a gorgeous weekend!

Here are some brilliant things that made me smile this week.

1 : Perfect idea for a beach tent from Australian shop Hollie and Harrie via Lovely Morning.
2 : Gorgeous photo and message from Bonnie // photo from J. Crew catalog, May 2010
3 : Furoshiki Wrapping Cloth via Frolic

Have a most lovely weekend!

Mother of Beauty : Eva from Sycamore Street Press

Several months ago around Mother's Day I asked a few of my favorite creative online mothers to answer a few questions about motherhood. I am excited to share what Eva from Sycamore Street Press had to say! Her and her husband Kirk are super creative, talented and run the letterpress shop Sycamore Street Press in the beautiful mountainous valley in Heber City. They had a sweet baby girl, Ingrid back in November, recently launched their new letterpress collection, and are teaching letterpress classes with slots now open in September now too! I think Eva is such a cool and lovely person and I really enjoy what she had to share, hope you do as well...

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Kirtsy Relaunch

Yay, have you heard? Kirtsy is relaunching today with a whole new look! I curated a collection of some of my favorite fashion looks that you can see on the new Kirtsy site over here. Happy to see this great site up and going again!

Geronimo Balloons

These stunning and insanely cool Geronimo ballons are on sale over at 100 Layer Cake's Pop Up Shop today! What a splendid statement these would be at a fun event or wedding, or just because!  

Speaking Digitally: 5 Best Apps for Time Management

This past weekend as my husband Mac and I went off to bike in the beautiful canyon, Mac turned the radio on to NPR in search of one of his favorite Saturday radio shows "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me". But instead, we were instantly transfixed by another segment discussing media theorist Marshall McLuhan and how digital media is shaping not only our lives, but also our perception of time. We were so intrigued by this topic that we actually got to our destination and sat while continually listening nodding our heads to the fact that what Douglas Coupland mentioned referring to this topic was spot on, "Hi, I'm your cell phone and I'm messing with your sense of time." 

Have you ever stopped to wonder what happened to the last seven months? It is almost August and I don’t know where the time has gone! Is it the same way for you? Coupled with baby numero duo, (babies can seriously mess up your time reference) I am amazed at how we are in the midst of a serious fast-paced information evolution that is unfolding before our eyes! Exciting, but maybe a little frightening too? What do you think about this digital and social media heavy span that may be distorting our perception and reality of time? What do you think it will unfold for the future?

Ironically along the subject of time, the past several weeks I have been analyzing where my time is fleeing off to! I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite time management apps that I narrowed down to five, being either super functional and/or well-designed. Please share your favorite time management apps and tricks too, I am curious as to what you are using!

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Grady McFerrin

I recently popped over to Grady McFerrin's website and was impressed all over again with the brilliant artwork he has been doing lately. An inspirational artist for sure!

Music Monday : Starsmith

This new song and video from Starsmith called "Lesson One" (The EP will be released on August 22nd) is upbeat with a bit of an chill electronica vibe, I like it. It is filmed in a beautiful location -- off the coast of England, such breathtaking scenery. Also there could be multiple meanings in the message, so I won't give it away, what do you think?

Flederhaus - An entire building of hammocks!

A genius idea that I thought only existed in my wildest imagination but then poof... there it is. I am loving this Flederhaus (translation - 'bat house') building in Vienna, Austria dedicated to hanging hammocks! From what I understand it is a free public space that anyone can come to hang out in the MQ Vorplatz near the Museums Quarter open daily 10:00-19:00 until October. Pretty much hammock paradise. Check out your pretty view of the surrounding buildings too. Would you kick back and take a break there? 

Credits:
The building is designed by Heri & Salli 
Photos by Mischa Erben 
Spotted first at ArchDaily

Summery surprises

Have you been feeling the summer heat in your area? Whew, it was a blazing hot one for us this week! Here are a few things I spotted around the web this week that brought a big huge summer grin to my face.

I hope that you will have a great weekend!

1: Adorable Festive Fruit Labels by Amy Moss @ Eat Drink Chic
2: DIY Zig Zag Picnic Blanket by Kathleen -- get well soon Kathleen!
3: Cute Watermelon Cookies via HHH 
4: Pretty Summery Drinks by Angela

Centre Commercial

The first thought I had when perusing Centre Commercial's new online shop is that many of the items (made in France, Great Britain and Denmark) could easily stand on their own as elegant classic pieces that could spend ages in your closet.

Bicycle Rush Hour

This is fantastic! When you get a moment watch this 'bicycle rush hour' clip in the Netherlands, it is almost surreal. I really wish we lived in a area that used more bikes instead of cars! What are you thoughts on this?

Method's 'Get Clean' Winner!

Do you remember the fun series of spring cleaning tips and tricks I shared with you for the Method 'GET CLEAN' Contest a few months back? ( see posts here.) Today we are announcing the contest winner!

Katherine Brennan of Pensylvania won the sweepstakes which included a kitchen refresh with an organizational and cleaning expert, kitchen accessories as shown below, a year's supply of Method products and a copy of Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook, yay Katherine! I continue to be a big fan of Method products and am preparing for another big sort and clean this summer season.

*This post is sponsored by Method Home and Martha.

Speaking Digitally: Lion + Meeble Mail

Summer often seems to me like a time to shake things up, so here at Black Eiffel I am going to be bringing you some new regular features that I have been working on and am really excited about! My first new feature is called 'Speaking Digitally' where I will highlight and talk about my nerdy obsession with all things related to technology. Are you a tech-nerd too? Do speak up.

I guess you may understand a bit of my technology fascination when I tell you about what happened this morning. Quietly in the dark to not wake our girls, my husband and I huddled around our computer as we installed Lion early this morning. Are we geeks or what? Did you Mac users download it already today? I'm excited explore the new features and I am thrilled that the update is only 30 bones. Roar!

Another cool thing I recently learned about is Meeble Mail, which is an online website that helps you add a little fancy flair to your emails with their pretty designed stationery templates. It inserts directly into your many email clients like gmail, yahoo and more. Simply select and purchase your email stationery for around $4.99, customize it and you are off and you can use the stationery as much as you want. I dig that they have stationery designs from some of my favorite stationery designers like Jack and Lulu, Linda & Harriett as well as fashion designer's patterns.

Although I am partial to receiving an old school pretty letter in the snail mail, this is a perfect option to make your email stand out with style. Learn more about Meeble Mail here and check out all of the other fun stationery templates.

Pino Branding

The work by The Bond Agency and this Pino Branding is quite brilliant.

Music Monday : Toro Y Moi

I am digging the quirky chill vibe of Toro Y Moi lately. I've been playing 'Still Sound' on repeat. Check it out, Happy Music Monday!

Pick up the album Underneath The Pine here.*

(photos from Toro Facebook and Toro blog)

Happy Weekend!

I hope you will all have a wonderful weekend! Go outside, have some fun and enjoy the summer!

(Beautiful photos by Cameron Charles Lewis)

Garden Inspired Fashion

Feeling a little floral and gingham today with these looks from D&G.

(photos from Style by Yannis Vlamos)

Helvetica Love

1: Helveticards 2: 365 Calendar 3: Agenda App (sweet calendar app) 4: Kid's Helvetica Tee 5: Retro Flip Clock

Weekend Snaps + Inspiration is Everywhere

I hope you had a nice weekend, I am working on getting back into the groove. Here are some random snaps from the last few days. I always love coming across unique things that inspire me while traveling. Fluffy clouds, hand painted signs, quirky animal statues, and more. 

For this trip I had to throw out my old trick book of traveling with one child, because traveling with two little ones (especially our spicy little red head) put a whole new swing on things for us, as I'm sure you well-experienced parents with 1+ kids know. A big hat tip to all you traveling families out there, I've got to come up with some new tricks!

Happy Tuesday.

Avery Label Project + Contest

I am thrilled to share a fun project that I have been working on with Avery labels as part of the Martha Stewart Circle. Avery approached me to ask if I would like to create some labels as part of their Put Your Best Brand Forward Contest and being a big user and fan of Avery products, I was in.

The contest is about designing your very own brand of products using Avery labels and sharing your before and after shots for the chance to win $5000 and your project appearing in Martha Stewart Living! For all of you crafters out there, time to get your game on... this is a perfect way to get great exposure for your business, and there are secondary prizes as well. Read all the details for the Best Brand Forward contest here.

For this project with all of the BBQ's we've been going to lately, I wanted to make some homemade sauces like pickled relish, mustard, and ketchup and I've been experimenting with a lot of different recipes adding in my own flavors and adjustments here and there. Here are the baseline recipes of my favorites I've tried so far: pickled relish, homemade mustard and homemade ketchup. Do you have a winning recipe that you've tried? Do share! I have also been reading up in this book on how to can the sauces so you can make big batches and save some for later.

As for the labels, I designed them in Adobe Illustrator and with some mad math and ruler skills aligned them to the actual label sheet, using Avery's new square and circle label sheets (22807 and 22805). You can also create your own custom labels using Avery's templates or software or even download the templates into Word if you don't have the fancy design software, which makes it even easier!

Heading to your next outdoor shindig with your own custom collection of homemade sauces would be extra special don't you think? Or what about for a hostess gift? If your sauces are really great, how about even selling a set of them at your upcoming Farmer's market? It would be such a treat and unexpected surprise at the picnic table to have those store bought bottles replaced with these beautifully labeled sauces.

*This is a sponsored post for Avery in connection with Martha Stewart's Circle. I came up with the concept, design and photographs using their new Avery labels and these opinions are my own.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! I had people guess what airport we landed in with a photo of this awesome installation I shared on twitter and people guessed right, pretty quickly. Do you have an idea? If you do know, do you have tips for the area?

Have a great weekend!

Nine Cakes

Speaking of Tara yesterday, she also shared with me a recent design projects which included the branding of the website Nine Cakes. Aren't those cakes gorgeous!


(Photos by Jen Huang from Nine Cakes)

Brian Ferry

I'm swept away in the gorgeous photos of Brian Ferry today. I was reminded of his breathtaking photos when I spotted them over at Domestic Reflection shared by Elizabeth.

(photos: Brian Ferry)

Ink and Wit

With her talented designer ways Tara has created some more lovely things for Ink + Wit. I am especially drawn to all of the above items like the bird stamps, wooden cards and cute pencil holder! You can find many of them in her shop here and a few more of them are coming soon.
 

Artis Royal Zoo Ads

This is such a brilliant ad concept for the Artis Royal Zoo in Amsterdam designed by Dawn. Anyone can pull off the stickers from their signs and place them throughout the city to promote the zoo. Very cool! This video clip shares how it is done.

(Photos from Dawn / via Fubiz)

Flag Cakes

While looking for a photo on my computer the other day, I came across these in my archives and thought they suited the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. I was cracking up over the top shot of my brother looking pretty unsure about his melting flag cake! My mom made some pretty creative and fun cakes for us kids growing up, thanks Mom. The photo of the 60-year-old is my Grandpa!