skills

beautiful typeface created by design student olga balina from russia. http://olgabalina.co.uk

packaging love

i totally geek out when it comes to beautiful packaging. i've been known to buy $10 bottles of evian and have never drank the water. i've brought beautifully designed cereal boxes on a 15 hour flight home as a souvenir for myself. i've done some extreme things in the name of packaging love so as you can imagine trips across the border will find me at the the usual stops: the whole foods, the local co-op and other beautiful grocery stores like the metropolitan market in seattle. what's more about these grocery stores in the states is that they sell alcohol as well and i will tell you flat out, i have bought many many many bottles of wine without having any idea what it would taste like. so this amazingly packaged beer from portland brewery full sail, was such a knock out, super detailed down to the super cute and witty bottle cap messages underneath. i loved the robins egg blue label and the typography is so sweet. so great. super bonus, the beer was super tasty as well.

heading to point roberts to pick up some books across the border next week and i can't wait to see what that little ghetto marketplace has in store.

i heart ed kwong

"its kind of like an out of body experience" is how i describe what it feels like to see ed's work. different parts of my imagination that are usually blanketed over, are awakened and brought to life. ed is amazing and on top of that a super gentle and down to earth guy. sublimely talented. he is in vietnam right now, so im hoping he's gonna have some more beauties like these in his sketchbook. check him out, you will be a better person for it. www.edkwong.com

insanely gorgeous!

monday mornings need some serious kick starting for me but my favourite blogs usually do the trick... this monday was no exception (even though with daylight savings, i technically had an extra hour.) via the super fantastic, www.swiss-miss.com these are some insanely detailed paper cut outs of maps of new york city by karen o'leary. im getting dizzy just thinking about keeping track of all the white spaces and all the cut out spaces. so crazy! awe-inspiring... just what i needed...

eames chairs

i absolutely adore the design of the eames shell chairs and find myself asking do i buy the knockoff that looks exactly the same? or do 1 go and pay around $250 and up for the original versions? is it about aesthetics or authenticity? i've always been caught in the middle as i totally appreciate originality and workmanship, but my wallet has other beliefs.

after seeing this movie. i've made my decision, i will save up and get the genuine goods. 

this video is amazing all that hard work and labour, how much thought and planning that went into the design, how meticulous the measurements and details are, i could go on but ultimately without a doubt the eames chairs are worth every penny - - when i'll actually see one in my living room.... it might be a while. 

(thanks to w. for first showing me the film)

xlmammals heart boardgames

there has been a re-birth. a renaissance, if you will in the name of milton bradley. 

we have been transforming the weekend warriors to pictionary parties and last night topped it off. usually we play with 4 people, but last night xlmammals hosted a super rocking board party with almost 10 people during the course of the night and the competition was intense, such great energy and people were having a great time, there was some dance party action, lots of board game night appropriate snacks and bevvies. i think xlmammals should put on a tourney, now that the fall months are approaching this will give us something to do for sure!

thanks so much for coming out everyone! we will do this again soon as there was no sure fire winner in my opinion, although the come back was definitely immaculate...

board game night = epic, and to be continued...

p.s. next time, i will take pictures! i'm new at this blog thing, but now i know, camera in bag, always!

we are xlmammals... nice to meet you!

welcome to xlmammals and welcome to our blog. we are designers, photographers, musicians, artists, crafters, sewers, writers, philosophers, painters, dinner-makers, dish-washers, plant-growers and life-lovers. this is our collection of random doodlings, things that make us stop, things that make us busy, things that make us laugh, things that make us think and things that we love. thank you for being a part of this. we love you. we really do.