Birthday Weekend

Well it's official, Big Chuck is 30!! We had a great weekend celebrating. Here are few late night photos from Friday's celebration.


Mayer Hawthorne concert at the Roxy. Before the concert we ate a wonderful meal at Zum Roten Elephanten, a french restaurant, and attended a friend's house party in a beautiful old Viennese flat. I really should have taken pictures - sorry!


Big Chuck lines up for a late night snack.


The Christmas lights went up around the city 2 weeks ago. It was nice to walk around and see Vienna all dressed up for Christmas.


The Ring Hotel

Happy Monday :)
bess

Dancing Shoes

Repetto Shoes

So it's Big Chuck's birthday this weekend and tonight we are heading out for a night on the town. There will be dinner, dancing and all manner of celebration. Our first stop is the new-to-us French restaurant, Zum Roten Elephanten, then off to a friend's house party and finally to the Mayer Hawthorne concert.

Better get out my dancing shoes!


Bloch


Bloch


Bloch

The shoe companies, Bloch and Repetto, were know to me at first only as point shoe manufacturers. I'm pretty sure that I had a few pairs of both during my ballet dancing days. They look so scrumptious and comfy that I think my feet would still appreciate they beautifully made shoes.

Have a wonderful Friday and weekend!
bess

Pretty Pears

A wee bit of pear inspiration for you...


Agent Bauer for Residence Magazine


Monika Design


Lil Fish Blog

have a lovely day...
b

Bio-Diversity

I was on the New York Times website and saw the cute little image titled "tree-shirt" so I couldn't help but click on it, and look what I discovered. A lovely visual treat from the NYT's Abstract City Blog by Christoph Niemann.

Lorena Arance

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of finding Lorena Arance's new Etsy shop. I have been following her work on Flickr and am so happy to see that she's now offering her prints online (and for a very reasonable price - includes shipping!). I love finding new and amazing artists from around the world - the internet really makes the world seem smaller. Lorena is a recent photography graduate who lives in Spain. Her photos are so beautiful and full of light, something my eye is definitely drawn to during these cold and dark Fall months.


Lorena Arance's Etsy shop

You can visit her Etsy shop here, and her website here.

enjoy your wednesday :)
b

Irene Suschocki

I love these photographs from Montréal photographer, Irene Suschocki. You can see more in her Etsy shop, or on her blog, eye poetry.


Looking for Love


Paris, le matin


The Red Balloon


City of Love


Mimi on the Beach

Wishing I was 'Mimi on the Beach' today.

Enjoy your Tuesday :)
b

And the winner is....

flickr

a_berson!!! You are the winner. Please get in contact with me (since you didn't seem to leave a way to get in touch - oops!) and I'll be more than happy to send you your 2010 Calendar and we can discuss what you want on your Custom Holiday Printables.


Thanks so much to all of you who participated in my very first Giveaway! And FYI, my blogstress friend Linda is giving away a pair of lovely earrings to celebrate her 100th post over at Struggles of a Creative Mind. Go take a peek!

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!
bess

Giveaway!

Last Friday English Muffin was featured on the Gussy blog, and I meant to put up a link here but totally forgot. The stinky part is that Gussy and I were giving away a free Custom Holiday Gift Tag and Card Set to one luck winner. Sorry I forgot to tell you :(

So.... guess what I'm doing today? A GIVEAWAY!! My first one actually.

Here's the prize, an English Muffin Holiday Package which includes:



• the super fun 2010 Animal Calendar perfect for both young and old



• and your choice of any of my Printable Holiday Gift Tag and Card Sets (Santa, Snowman, Mittens or Reindeer-dogs) a great way to simplify your holiday gift giving.

If you want to enter the draw (and I hope you do!) simply leave a comment at the end of this post, make sure there's a way for me to get in touch with you.

The winner will be chosen on Monday November 16 at 4pm EST

Have a great Friday!
Bess

Photoshop Actions

I'm going to share one of the best things I've found on the interweb as of late. Pioneer Woman's Photoshop Actions. I downloaded them a few weeks ago and have been playing with them in Photoshop ever since. By far my favourites are Boost, Colourize and Seventies - everything looks better in seventies lighting.

Here's an example of just a few of the Actions in action ;)


#1 Normal unedited image of Tyke


#2 Boost


#3 Colourize (better on images where there are more red hues)


#4 Black and White


#5 Seventies

Of course you can also apply them in tandem, like Boost + Black and White will give you a super high contrast b&w image. Check them out, they're so much fun!

Have a great Thursday,
bess

I blame it on November...

Remember this little guy?



Yah... I remember him too.



I'm going to blame this sad situation on November. The sun has been a.w.o.l for weeks and I am not exactly famous for my green thumb.

Sorry for the somewhat depressing post. I'll be cheerier tomorrow - promise!

bess

Little Red Riding Hood

I found these adorable Little Red Riding Hood finger puppets on Etsy the other day. They are from the Toronto based shop, Clara Clips. Aren't they adorable?! They would be perfect for my Kindergarten classes, now I just have to find out if the little Austrian children know about Red Riding Hood.




photos: Clara Clips

Have a great Tuesday!
Bess

die burgermacher (the burger maker)

I've been walking by this cute little indie-feeling restaurant for the better part of a year now, and Saturday night Big Chuck and couple of our friends decided to give it a try. It's called "die burgermacher" which translates to mean "the burger maker". As you've probably now guessed, the main item on the menu is burgers. They also have an assortment of 25 different beers which made Big Chuck and our friends super happy. I myself am not a big beer drinker - unless we're talking about a raspberry Belgian beer, then I drink beer like juice. My taste buds can sometimes be similar to those of a little kid, if you disguise my beer with berries, or my coffee as a Mocha Choco Panna Cotta (which by the way was what we had for dessert that night), then I'm sold. The menu was delicious. I had a Tofu Rucloa Burger (tofu, arugola pesto and veggies) with American-style coleslaw (yum!) and Big Chuck had the Fleisheslust Burger (beef burger with bacon and mushrooms) with a side of purple fries. All the food was organic and the portions generous. I would definitely recommend you pop in for a burger the next time you're in Vienna.










die burgermacher
Burggasse 12, 1070
Vienna, Austria

Happy Monday!
bess

Dedicated to my tree Dr.

I just love this print from artist Bryan Nash Gill. I think it shows so beautifully the space where art, nature and science all meet. I have my very own scientist/artist/nature lover, you may know him as Big Chuck. He is working on his PhD and currently spends a lot of his time analyzing tree rings and compiling that data into information that is important for understanding the effects of carbon in our atmosphere.

I would love to have this 52" x 38.5" Hemlock print in our home one day...


Hemlock 82 Relief Print by Bryan Nash Gill available at Ashes & Milk

Here are some photos of artist Bryan Nash Gill's process.


Photos: Ashes & Milk Blog

Happy Friday, and Saturday and Sunday too!
Bess

Polaroids Are Pretty

I was inspired by all of the Twitter folks posting their submissions for "'Roid Week 2009" - a bi-annual celebration of instant film. Here are few that I picked for my Flickr gallery, Polaroids Are Pretty. Swing by Flickr to check them out, and be my newest contact!


gallery on Flickr

Have a thrilling Thursday ;)
bess

Matomeno Cookie Greeting Card

Cookies and stationary together at last!
I love this cookie greeting card from Japanese online store Matomeno. Now if only I could figure out how to order it! Found via Eat Drink Chic - a great food and design blog.


photo: Matomeno

Have a great Wednesday!
bess

Knittles

I'm not sure what I love more, these beautiful handmade knitted and crocheted items or the adorable kid modeling them! I am in desperate need of a pair of warm mittens and a cuddly scarf as I'm writing this. November is indeed the darkest, gloomiest month of the year and what better way to cheer yourself up than to invest in some woolly goodies.


photos: Knittles

Knittles is 3 designers/crafters, Mavis, Olga and Marcy, based in Calgary, Alberta. Knittles offers stylish handmade knitted & crocheted items for men, women and children. They also produce custom pieces and recently showed their first runway collection in Alberta Fashion Week.
For more information, visit their store here.

Have a cozy Tuesday!
bess

Holiday Printables!

It's beginning to look a lot like.... the holiday season!
This weekend I had a little photo shoot with my Printable Holiday Gift Tags and Cards Sets and they are now available in both my Etsy and Big Cartel shops.
Printable holiday stationary is the perfect solution for this festive season. Once you purchase the PDF file they are yours to use as many times as you like, they are inexpensive and always at your fingertips. It is even possible to have your holiday printables customized, so that Santa's handwriting won't be oddly similar to yours.


Printable Holiday Mittens Gift Tags and Cards Set


Printable Holiday Dog Gift Tags and Cards Set


Printable Custom Holiday Gift Tags and Cards Set

Have a great Monday :)
bess

Museum Fun

Let me just start by apologizing for neglecting my blogging duties yesterday. I hope you weren't too disappointed. Don't worry, nothing's wrong, I just ran out of time. We were out Wednesday night celebrating a friend's birthday and didn't get home till late, and Thursdays are my crazy run around the city teaching Kindergarten days, so unfortunately no blog post. Oh well, I hope today's content makes up for it.

On Monday it was Austria's National Day and we had a day off. To celebrate we decided to venture out to a few of the free museums. Charles (I refuse to continue calling him "Big Chuck" on the blog) took some amazing pictures at the Globe Museum where the lighting was killer, and I took some at the Esperanto Museum. We didn't really know what to expect, but I must say we were pleasantly surprised.







Austrian National Day would not be complete without visiting the military display in Heldenplatz.


photos: Bess Callard, Charles Nock

Have a wonderful weekend!
Bess

Papershop.fi

This past summer I got my first wholesale order from Papershop.fi, an online paper shop based in Finland. I checked out their store this weekend which recently opened and was so excited to see my Animal Alphabet Posters and Letter Prints in the shop. Anna and her sister Tea have done a wonderful job and I encourage you to pop over and take a peek at all the beautiful paper goods they have to offer.


Papershop.fi

And in other news... English Muffin made it onto Etsy's Front Page for the first time earlier this week! Can you spot the 2010 Calendar?



Have a great Wednesday!
bess

Canadian Content

I've rounded up a few new and a few old faves in the world of Canadian design blogging. I'm always interested in what Canadian designers are doing and of course who and what Canadian bloggers are featuring. Below are just a few of the Canadian design blogs out there, I hope you like them - I sure do!


Poppytalk - a definite favourite, the Canadian version of Design*Sponge.


KITKA design toronto - a new find, Juli & John focus on interior design in Toronto


styleNorth - "Elle Décor taste and a flea market budget"


HindsvikVintage - flea market finds and a great source for interior design inspiration


Canadian Design Resource - a library of Canadian design and culture


Lake Jane - home decor and other bits and pieces from the world of design.

If you have any faves of your own I'd love to hear about them :)

Happy Tuesday!
bess