How stunning are these paper mobiles and garlands?

I want one for myself and perhaps for above the baby’s crib.

Frazier & Wing

p.s the photo styling is pretty compelling too. I love the little vignettes.

What could be more autumnal than this delicious recipe from Canelle et Vanille?:

Pumpkin and Hazelnut Doughnuts (instructions after the jump)

375 grams flour
55 grams hazelnut flour
10 grams baking powder
8 grams baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
10 grams salt
110 grams pumpkin puree
60 grams whole milk, room temperature
40 grams sour cream, room temperature
100 grams sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
60 grams butter, melted

In a large bowl mix together the flour, hazelnut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk the pumpkin, milk, sour cream, sugar, eggs and melted butter. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and fold until it comes together. Don’t worry if it’s lumpy.

Dust your work surface with a bit of flour and dump the dough on it. Knead lightly until it comes together. Dust the top lightly with flour and roll to 1/2″ thick. Using a doughnut cutter or two round cookie cutters, cut out the doughnuts and place them on a sheet pan with a silicon mat or parchment and dusted with some flour.

To fry the doughnuts, fill a pan up to 2″ of canola oil. Heat the oil until it reaches 375F. Do not over-crowd the pan with doughnuts. Fry about 5 at a time (depending on the size of the pan). They will sink to the bottom but then float to the top. Turn them over and let them cook for an additional 2 minutes or so.

Drain them on paper towels and while hot, coat them with the cinnamon-hazelnut sugar.

I’m in love with Anna’s (of Sub-Studio) post today. These items are perfect nursery decor but also fun for a baby/kid to play with. To me that’s the perfect balance- form and function. Thanks for these swoon worthy picks Anna, I want them all!

1. First up is the Rufus the Polar Bear rocker by Netto. It’s nice to see something other than the standard horse. I love how the polar bear looks like he’s cruising on a sled.
2. I also love these iconic mirrors by Petit Collage – shaped like an apple and an elephant and with some pretty sweet, engraved detailing to boot!
3. When Henry gets older he’s going to need a place to store all of his colored pencils and paints (because you KNOW that Sam is going to impart some of her awesome artistic skills to this child). Paige Russell’s North American Wild Life series of matte white glazed stoneware ‘anything holders’ are perfect for the discerning little boy (and girl)…

I promised baby Henry photos. Here they are. We’re waiting on the ones the hospital photographer took. I just snapped a screen shot (the one with the logos over his face) to show you what he looked like (from the perspective of a nice camera) day 1. The rest are from us.

We’re so in love with him. He was born October 26th after over 30 hours of labor. He was a healthy 7 lbs and 12.5 ozs. That’s the short version. If you want all of the details you can read our birth stories here.

I am so thrilled that I had my little baby at this time in October. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. This year he may be a bit to small to dress up. I mean he weighs less than a pumpkin. Next year I’ll make him a cool costume.

Thanks to Bowie of Print & Pattern blog and Liana of Mixed Plate for posting my free Halloween cards. They’re available here. Oh and Jen of Indie Fixx for including the link to them in her spooooky round-up.

We have so many adorable photos of Henry to sort through this weekend between feedings and naps of course! I will post them Monday.

above photo via Seattletim on Flickr

There’s been a few day lull here on Maquette cause I was busy having a baby! As promised, I have lots of guest posts lined up + posts I made in advance. I’ll also share some photos of our little muffin tomorrow.

Love to you all dear readers! I made this little birth announcement to send to friends and family so I thought I’d share it here today before the little guy wakes up from his nap!

Henry was born on October 26th at 10:28pm after over 26 hours of labor. He was 7 lbs and 12 ozs.

He’s due on Thursday. I just wanted to let you know that Maquette will stay in full swing. I have a slew of posts lined up some from amazing blogger friends. So stay tuned!

We’ve been documenting my pregnancy throughout and decided to make this chart to see how my belly grew. I really started showing around week 16. My belly got giant between week 35 and now.

I don’t always use an official sketchbook. Sometime I just do my drawings on bristol paper or aged newsprint with pen or watercolor and then scan and make them into vignettes, or do them all on one paper and arrange them into illustrations or patterns. Just thought it would be fun to show you some “raw” drawings. That’s what I call them before they morph into final pieces.

I updated the a drawing a day section of my site and put lots of drawings I’ve never shared. Trying to get little tasks like scanning work done before baby arrives. One week to go.

TREATZONE! Very Treatworthy.

The Trick-or-Treatzone show just opened (reception Friday, 10/23) at the Curiosity Shoppe. The work is all Halloween-inspired and includes: a series of limited edition gocco prints  on vintage textbook pages called “My Favorite Monster”, featuring silhouettes of the likes of Wolfman, Nosferatu, Godzilla, Frankenstein (or Frank, as they call him), and his Bride; “Ghosts of Our Past”, a collection of paintings featuring charming and mischievous ghosts on vintage postcards in vintage frames; and “Autumn’s Epigrams”, a collection of somewhat chilling phrases printed on assorted patterned papers. Plus, two large ink and watercolor illustrations installed in the shoppe’s windows: “Giant Monster Takes San Francisco”, and the Ed Emberley-inspired “How To Draw A Pirate Cat in 6 Easy Steps”.

yay Treatzone. I love Halloween (I’m craving peanut M&M’s as we speak)!

Exhibit: October 20 – November 22, 2009
The Curiosity Shoppe, 855 Valencia Street, SF (if you are there please go see so I can live vicariously through you)

Other Treatzone posts:

1. Familiar Dreams
2. Treatzone valentines
3. Sandy & Matthew’s favorite things

It was love at first site when I saw Kate’s (for me, for you) post about Noah Bembribre’s calendar Cats Let Nothing Darken Their Roar. You can now sign up for notification when the new 2010 calendar featuring strange phrases becomes available in two different sizes. The calendar is printed in four colours on matte paper, and comes with its signature black ribbon binding. This year, to celebrate its fifth anniversary, it will be available in a Special Large 50 x 70 cm. size as well as in its Standard A3 format, each in a numbered edition of 500. I signed up for the small version though if I had a bigger space I’d go for the big guy.

My friend Eloise is at it again! Nobody can make paper do what she can!

She recently teamed up with Ruffian to create this incredible paper dress now on display at the Museum of Arts and Design.

Remember her life-size period costume dress inspired by Valezquez on display at Anthropologie a while back?

Or how about her Macy’s window display of about a million paper flowers?

Eloise is too incredible. This latest piece is mind-blowing.

Btw, hope you all had a lovely weekend. I’m entering into my 39th week of pregnancy. EEK. Henry could come any day now or maybe he’ll wait till Halloween? Here’s what I look like, no that’s not a balloon in my shirt. I’m getting so tired of wearing the same clothing all the time, perhaps Eloise could make me a big paper dress?

It’s getting chilly and I’m so in the mood for creamy steamy oatmeal. I love mine with brown sugar (or maple syrup), raisins and lots of cinnamon. Here are a ton of oatmeal recipes that sound just perfect for a cold morning breakfast.

1. Reya’s Oatmeal on flickr
2. Moon Goddess Earth’s Oatmeal on flickr
3. The Bitten Word’s Oatmeal on flickr

I know the book by heart. I loved it so much as a child. Now I read/recite it to my students and we make life size paper sculptures of their inner wildthing. I cry during the trailer. Fri night…finally I’m off to see the Spike Jonze movie (it’s just opening) with friends to celebrate my b’day (Oct. 14th).

My baby Henry is due soon and I have been saying all along that he can come early/whenever he wants so long as I get to see the film. Well here we are. He’s not here yet.

I’d also really like to visit the Morgan Library/ Museum, a beautifully renovated old library in midtown Manhattan (we used to frequent when we lived nearby) that has an exhibit of Maurice Sendak’s original drawings/ manuscript from the book including the ones above.

I hope you see the movie, re-read the book and get in touch with your inner wild thing by making some mischief!

Have a beautiful weekend. XO.

I’m so excited to announce the launch of a wonderful project by the talented folks of sub-studio. Yesterday they launched The Working Proof, an online print gallery and shop with the mission of promoting both art and social responsibility through a series of limited-edition prints. Prints are affordable (always under $100), and each print is paired by the artist with a charity to which we will donate 15% of each sale – creating what we believe to be a product with not just aesthetic, but social value. Each print is signed and numbered in a limited-edition print run that is exclusive to the Working Proof.

Pick up my print “Burden” above for only $45 and a donation will be made to Kids In Need.

I’m so thrilled to be the first artist featured amongst some super talented peers. I can’t wait to see what Yasmine Surovec, Julianna Swaney, Heather Smith Jones, Dan Funderburgh, Gretchen Wagoner, Ben Javens, and Catherine Ryan have cooked up for this fabulous project. Each Tuesday another print will be added to the shop. Stay posted by subscribing to the newsletter.

Read more about the project here and read and interview sub-studio did with me including why I chose the Kids in Need Charity here.

p.s today’s my b’day and I’m having a baby in within the next 2 weeks!

Ok, a quill pen is not really a device. It just seemed like a good post title. I made the quill and typewriter this weekend with india ink, gouache and micron pen to go with the red phone in the same materials. They’re on aged newsprint, so thin, bad quality and yet perfect at the same time.

They’re for my husband. He’s a book editor and he requested something for his office wall. I thought these seemed appropriate. He chose the Mamet quote for the typewriter. I may add the originals to my original art etsy sale soon.

Hope you all had a splendid weekend. We did. The weather in Brooklyn was so crisp and nice. We took a long walk from our neighborhood to the promenade enjoying the river and Brooklyn bridge view. Along the way we fantasized about what it would be like to live in one of the giant Brooklyn Heights brownstones with a yard and balcony. We love our cozy apartment but it’s fun to imagine living like someone else, somewhere else. Hope you have a great start to your week. XO.

I’m making it a tradition to offer free downloadable Halloween cards, see the ones from last year and grab them if you like.

I have always adored Halloween. This year we won’t be dressing up or hitting the town as most likely we’ll be enjoying our brand new baby. He could be anywhere from a week old to a few days old by then. I’m excited to paint a moustache on him.

Go ahead and grab one of these or all to download and print or email to a pal. Have fun!

If I bought every print I wanted and hung it, my walls would be dizzying. We do plan to move in a few months so that the baby can have his own room and so we’ll have more room for ourselves. I love this print, perhaps we need to pick one up for our new place?!! My husband and I were both born and raised in Manhattan. My family moved to the suburbs in my teen years but I still feel like a bred Manhattanite and now we’re so happy living in Brooklyn. It’s wonderful here!

I love that this map has our origin and even a snippit of where we are now. Plus it’s so beautiful and artisinal.

New York City Paper Cut Map by Famille Summerbelle

I love geometric designs. Here’s a little round-up I put together. I’m definitely getting the Lena Corwin cushions and I really want the geo planter to put some succulents in. (*unfortunately Freddy & Ma’s site is not search-able by artist so if you are interested in my geo clutch or plate you’ll have to browse for it. I have lots of other designs listed too):

1. Dress (A Common Thread)
2. Earrings (Kate Spade) + Earrings (Alexis Bittar)
3. Necklace (Brevity)
4. Clutch
5. & Plate (my designs for Freddy & Ma)
6. Planter (Mohawk General Store)
7. Cushion (Lena Corwin)

Happy Tuesday by the way. It’s my hardest day of the week so I hope it goes by quickly!

We had a really lovely weekend. Saturday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and decided it would be fun to do an audio tour. Of course you can select which pieces you want to hear about so we chose some Japanese katanas, plus painters and sculptors: Modigliani, Picasso, Matisse, Boccioni, Balthus etc.

We especially enjoyed the special photography exhibit of Robert Frank’s fiftieth anniversary publication of The Americans, his influential suite of black-and-white photographs made on a cross-country road trip in 1955–56. The Americans became his seminal work, initially published in France in 1958 and later in America. “Although Frank’s depiction of American life was criticized when the book was released in the U.S. in 1959, it soon became recognized as a masterpiece of street photography.” The photographs were noted for their view of high and low parts of American society creating a complex portrait of the post-war period that was viewed as skeptical of contemporary values and evocative of  widespread loneliness.

Here I am looking out of the windows and the lush green park in the rain. 37 weeks pregnant: