Catlanta

There's a local artist who's turned his late-night graffiti sessions into citywide scavenger hunts for little bits of his art. Catlanta has an avid set of followers (including yours truly) who will drive like bats out of hell at all hours to snag his magnets stuck to random mailboxes and fences across the city.

I first ran across Catlanta when I saw this cute mural near my house a couple of months ago.

 Then a friend told me Catlanta had started making magnets of this little character _ called kittens _ and was hiding them around the city. AWESOMENESS.

Here's how it goes:  It starts with a tweet and a Facebook post linking to his Flickr account, where Catlanta puts a photo of where he's left his kittens. After that it's a race against the clock. These little suckers have disappeared almost instantly, it seems.

(Read this great ScoutMob piece on him.)

Today? I won. VICTORY IS MINE, CATLANTA! I found this little guy after hauling ass to a restaurant near my office (in rush-hour traffic, no less).

Isn't he so cute? Now the challenge will be not wanting to drop everything and run every time I see he's posted new ones. Hoarding is not a good look, especially when so many people are hunting for these. That would just be unfair.

These are the thoughts I was having when I got a text a few minutes ago alerting me that a new one had been put up less than a mile from my house. I grabbed my Pajama Jeans (yes, I said Pajama Jeans) and dashed out the door. I arrived at the spot less than five minutes after he tweeted and it was gone! But I did run across two girls who were also looking for the kitten and were just as disappointed as I was that it was gone. I justified looking for another one by telling myself I'd give it to a friend or maybe to Hot Pants for his office.

But who am I kidding? This shit's addictive!

Trends in handmade crafts vol. 2

You might remember my famed Trends in Handmade Crafts Vol. 1. The good news is there is a seemingly never ending supply of trends when it comes to the craft world. Be ready to have your mind blown.

Babushkas

This little cuties are freakin' everywhere. Like, for real. I made a treasury on Etsy and was overloaded with matryoshka stuff.

Tadpole Creations

Miss Bluebird Creations

Buttons and Badges

A Little Sweetness

Spectacles

Not the kind you make of yourself, but the kind you wear on your face. Geek is chic, just ask Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard.

Merry Blues Art

Mano Celebrates

Cyanide Stitches

Naomi Cayne

Typewriters

Click clack clickity clack clackity click.

The Craft Pantry

Pretty Messes

Lettershop

Nan Lawson

At the other end of the telescope

I bought myself a Nikon P7000 in anticipation of our trip to Europe. I wanted to get it early so I could play with it and get used to the settings. I've been a Canon user for a long time now, but it shouldn't be too much of an adjustment.

I took the new toy out for a spin today to shoot some of the cool graffiti in the neighborhood. Behold!

I've got those wanderin' blues

Hot Pants and I are planning a trip to Europe in the fall for our second wedding anniversary. I think this map from Shop Dirsta is the perfect tool to help us plan.

Spell it out

I am in love with type. I want to bathe my house in letters and fonts and typeface. This rug from Crate & Barrel's CB2 might do just the trick.

Or perhaps these Scrabble-inspired pillows from Shop Dirtsa on Etsy.

Or how about coming home to the custom designed letter pillows from Hillary Cosgrove on Etsy?

Or you could do what I did and buy a random lot of letterpress blocks from Etsy's vintage vendors and scatter them around the house, spelling random things as inspiration strikes.

And the Oscar for best dressed goes to...

Fashion critics be damned, I thought Cate Blanchett's dress at the Academy Awards was absolutely incredible. Love. Love. Love. Love. Did I mention I loved it?

The dress is Givenchy and is absolutely divine. She got the worst dressed award from Joan Rivers on Fashion Police, but I could not disagree more. This is artsy, unique and fashion forward. It's the right mix of art house and red carpet. It's like a fashion meets robot meets art project. It's fucking fierce. Did I mention I love it?

My second favorite look of the night was Mila Kunis in Elie Saab. That color is perfection on her. She is just stunning.

A few others that were lovely:

Hailee Steinfeld in Marchesa (she designed it herself)

Natalie Portman in Rodarte (who also did the costumes for "Black Swan")

Helen Mirren in Vivienne Westwood