Three Things I'm Loving Right Now

Phew, this has been a long week...anyone else feeling me on that?! Over the coming weekend I'm looking forward to finally unpacking my suitcases from Alt, catching up on neglected housework, and gearing up for the rest of the month (good things to come). But before I dash off and bury myself in loads of laundry and to-do lists, I wanted to share three things that I'm loving right now. Maybe you'll fall in love too!

1. Tuna aka Tunameltsmyheart — Move over Grumpy Cat...the cutest little mug taking over the interwebs (@tunameltsmyheart on instagram) is Tuna. This precious little Chiweenie was born with an aggressive overbite/lower jawline-dysfunction, and never fails to brighten the life of everyone he meets with his unique smile.

True story: I was having a bit of a depressive moment last week and was struggling to shaking it. After crying for about an hour (so ridiculous) I decided that if anything could snap me out of my funk, it was going to be Tuna's grinning face. So I popped onto instagram and within minutes I was feeling world's better. And I swear I'm not a stalker, but Tuna's little face seemed like the perfect subject to draw, so while I was stuck in the airport last weekend I made a little sketch of him sporting his spiffy bow tie (you might have seen it in progress over on my Instagram). I used the Procreate App (for iPad) and a cheap-o stylus from Target (if you are curious).

2. Nutella Rice Krispie Treats — You can thank me later. Just run into your kitchen and make these right now! Oh. My. Goodness. So. Good! Thanks Pioneer Woman for the kickin' recipe! If you'd like, you can substitute Gluten-free Rice Krispies Cereal (like I did) in place of classic Rice Krispie Cereal (who knew that the old standby has gluten in it).

3. Lana Del Rey — I'm late on this bandwagon (as I generally am with these things) but I'm obsessed, and can't get enough of Lana's unique vocals and haunting lyrics. Love! (image source)

Have a gorgeous weekend friends! xo Ez

The Business Cards of Alt Summit 2013

I collected a massive stack of business cards while at Alt Summit this year (yay) and have been looking forward to sharing them with you here this week. Just like last year's roundup, I tried to sort the cards into collections by theme and have included links to each of the cards so that you can discover more from each blogger/business if you'd like. Oh, and you can cick on each image to see the cards enlarged. xo Ez

Black & Metallic: Michelle Edgemont | All Sorts of Pretty | Lovely Indeed | Making it Lovely | Ticket Chocolate | Fresh Tangerine | Visual Supply Co. | Squirrelly Minds | And Then We Saved

Circles & Squares: A Pair of Pears | One Good Thing by Jillee | A Golden Afternoon | Inward Facing Girl | Design Crush | La La Lovely | Shauna Younge | Mailchimp | Somewhere Splendid | Terra Savvy | Confettipop

Cards with a Gift: Damask Love | Vintage Whites Market | Frock Files | Striped Cat Studio | A Fabulous Fete | One Little Minute | The Proper Pinwheel | Sugar & Cloth | See Jane Blog / Franny | Hank & Hunt (below)

Awesomely Unconventional: StudioDIY (paper honeycomb ball) | Oleander + Palm (lavender sachet) | Mailchimp for Bloggers (wildflower seeds) | We Love Citrus (Heart mirror) | The Cuisinerd (hamburger yo-yo) | The Paper Mama (wooden Corgi pin) | Artifact Uprising (wooden card showcasing the company's signature recycled wood) | The House that Lars Built (stamped tickets)

Creative Classic: Kitchen Nomad | The Cuisinerd | Minted | Christine Fife Interiors | Darling Studio | Bunny & Dolly | This Little Street | Damask Love | Serena & Lily | Ellinee | Chris Olson | Design Darling | The Hourglass Files | Peck Life

Letterpress: Moxi | Alexandra Hedin | Wednesday | Plastolux | YuppieLove | Leslie Fandrich | Igloo Letterpress | Hank & Hunt | Cooper House | A Blog About Love | Courtney Callahan Paper | Honey of a Thousand Flowers

Bonus Details: A lot of cards this year featured a tiny pop of color along each edge. This is such a fun way to add a bit of chic style to a design, and I hope this is a trend that keeps picking up steam!

Free Springtime Printables Inspired by Fossil Spring 2013

The Spring 2013 Fossil catalog arrived in my mailbox right before I left on my trip to Alt, but it wasn't until yesterday while straightening up that I finally had a chance to look through its pages. I'm so glad I did! The colors and pieces Fossil has introduced for the coming season are gorgeous. I immediately wanted one of everything!

However since that's not really a possibility (darn you bank account) I decided to use the pages as inspiration for a set of free printable tags and note flats to share with you instead.

Download the printable sets (available in aqua and melon) using the buttons below. I hope you'll enjoy them (I'd love to hear about the clever ways you use them). Thanks for the inspiration Fossil! xo Ez

P.S. Last year I used a different fashion collection as inspiration for another printable set. Check it out here.

Color Inspiration Daily: 01. 29. 13

Rough Hawksbit Geo Art Print by Lou Archell (via)

My Favorite Glittery Nail Polish

If Pinterest is correct, then I think this is how you're supposed to photograph your nails for polish-related posts, right?

Hi friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. As you might know, I was away at Alt Summit this past week, and just returned home last night after an extremely long day of travel. So first let me start this post by admitting that I am only somewhat conscious as I type this. Now that that's out of the way...

I have to now confess that I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to fingernails. I do not consider myself to be a nail art pro by any stretch of the imagination. I've had a professional manicure fewer times than I have fingers on my right hand (or left hand for that matter), and I'm still not really sure what cuticles are...even though I get the sense that they are bad and I'm not supposed to have them. An actual nickname of mine is "man-hands." In any case, I do like to throw on a coat of polish every once just to surprise people...and myself, and tried on a couple new ones before my trip to Alt. I was surprisingly happy with how they turned out, and ended up getting so many compliments and questions about my nails during my trip (so flattering) that I figured the topic would make a good post for my first day back (am I right, or did you leave already? Hopefully you're still here).

So, anyhow...this isn't really a how-to for painting your nails with detailed kitten faces or anything of that sort, but rather a recommendation for a few great polishes that I love. Again...I'm not a pro. For my sparkly nails here, I first applied a coat of silver "Trixie" by Zoya, let it dry completely and then applied a coat of "Set in Stones" by Essie. I finished the whole thing off with "Double Duty Base & Top Coat" by Sally Hansen. Possibly the best thing about this combination is how chip-friendly it is. Even when little flakes eventually come off, you can't really tell because it all just blends in with the super glitteryness of it all. Case in point: these photos were taken this morning...five days after painting them (with the wear and tear of travel and a conference to boot)!

My daughter has also used the "Set in Stones" by Essie on top of black and colorful polishes and the effect is gorgeous. The one caveat that I would actually feel bad about not mentioning, is that it is the pits to take off (I don't put things in bold all that often, but this warrants it). For some reason those tiny specks of glitter hang on for dear life, and you just might need a chisel to release their hold. Obviously that hasn't kept me from using it...in fact it will probably remain a favorite of mine for months to come, but at least I've done my part to keep you fully informed. Do you have a favorite polish that you can't get enough of? I'd love to tuck it away in my to-try file for the next time ol' man-hands needs to dress up. xox Ez

P.S. The other colors shown on the paper above are: Licorice by Essie, Gargantuan Green Grape by OPI, and Sunrise Skies by Piggy Polish (purchased at Ulta).