These happy spring papercraft characters look like a fun project to do with the kiddies. (Well, I have no kiddies, so I don't know how old you have to be to make these. I think an advanced 18-month-old could probably pull it off.) Templates and instructions are available for $4 from Mibo right here.
To get yourself in the mood for St. Patty's Day next week, grab some shamrock wallpaper for your computer desktop, compliments of Eleanor Grosch.
Or print some cupcake toppers from TomKat Studio. That looks yummy.
Allow me to introduce you to this free printable from Amanda Joy: a label you can stick on a box of goodies for your neighbors. Love it. I've given baked things to new neighbors before, but my paper plates covered with foil probably explain why we never became best friends. Packaging some treats this way should seal the deal.
(Image from Joy Ever After)
Thanks to the magic of inkjet iron-ons, Alex will be able to attend our Oscars shindig dressed appropriately. If you're going to watch TV for four hours, you might as well be comfortable. I, on the other hand, will be aiming for the red carpet worst-dressed list in a black and gold $5 thrift store gown.
You're welcome to download my version of the ever popular tuxedo t-shirt and make your own. Print it on iron-on transfer paper, available at office stores, and transfer the image to a t-shirt. The iron-on paper I have is letter-sized and of course I wanted the image larger than that for Alex's manly chest. So I printed the design on two pieces of paper, cut out the halves, and spliced them together when ironing them on. To download that 2-page PDF, click here. If you'd like the design as one piece, click here. You could reduce it to fit on one sheet for making kid shirts or baby onesies. For personal use only, please, not commercial. Enjoy.
I'll tell you a secret. I post tons of links to desktop wallpaper on here because I love illustrations and artwork. But I hardly use any of them since I just can't work with a crazy, distracting background. Only minimal ones make the cut, so imagine my delight when I found Simple Desktops, a collection of... simple desktops. (Via Coudal, I believe.) Love that phone booth!
My name is Jessica and I'm an Olympics addict. I have zero interest in sports outside of two weeks every two years. Then if I could have my way, I'd never leave my house at night so I could stay permanently glued to my TV set. I love watching people who work really, really hard experience the sheer joy of victory. I also like watching people fall down and get back up again. Human beings are amazing and bewildering creatures.
Wow, I'm chatty this morning. What I set out to mention was Vancouver's completely adorable Olympics mascots, created by the design studio Meomi. The Olympics have had mascots since 1968, and these characters must be among the cutest. According to the Vancouver Olympic committee, Miga is a snowboarding Orca whale-turned-bear, Quatchi is a shy and gentle sasquatch, and Sumi is an animal spirit who wears an orca whale hat, has the wings of a thunderbird, and the legs of a black bear. So round up the kiddies and send them to the official mascot site, where they can watch videos, play games, download desktop wallpaper, print coloring pages, and make paper models of these guys. Awww.
Find an enormous stash of free desktop wallpapers and background patterns, all designed by Sarah at Totally Severe. According to Sarah's bio, she was raised and educated by pirates. That explains a lot of the wackiness in her artwork, I imagine. Pirates are always so silly.
And a tip about background patterns for the non-computer savvy: when you download a file and want to make the pattern cover your desktop or Twitter page, there should be an option called "Tile" in your settings. Select it, and the pattern will repeat across your screen.
This super cute dessert-laden postcard is free to download and print from Inspired Bride. It comes in pink and brown, too.
Web Design Ledger has links to tons of free seamless patterns you can use for Twitter backgrounds or websites. Most are free to use personally and commercially; just remember to check the usage rights. If you like the examples above, you can find them here (clockwise): birds, security envelope, stripes, plaid.
A couple of beautiful Valentine's Day projects you can make with paper: framed papercut hearts at Martha Stewart, and an elegant printable card from Emily Montgomery at Paper Seed. I love the simple design of this card, and that it won't cost you a whole ink cartridge.
(Images from Martha Stewart and Paper Seed respectively)
Do you like flying elephants? Of course you do. You can download and assemble your own fantastical pachyderm, or watch him come to life in a little stop-motion video right here. He's a sample of the work produced by the Curiosity Group, a Portland-based marketing agency.
(Image by PaperKraft.net)
The talented Alma Loveland has created some Valentine's Day freebies, including these sweet tiled patterns you can use as Twitter backgrounds.
Now, I hear there are people out there who loathe Valentine's Day and the merest glimpse of a heart will make them nauseated. If that's you, I apologize for the ongoing seasonal posts, but dang it, Valentine stuff is so pretty. Perhaps you might help yourself to Alma's speech bubble pattern instead, and hunker down until Feb. 14 has passed.
Free for the downloading: a printable Valentine card and matching envelope available at Ruffled.
Natalie Jost has designed some printable floral "cardvelopes," a genetically engineered card-envelope hybrid. You know, like a liger, only not as sad. Just print on cardstock, trim, write your message on the blank interior, and fold. They're free for the downloading right here.
Kathleen of Twig & Thistle has done it again! Beautiful graphics to print on Valentine's Day treat bags are yours for the downloading, free. Get the floral bag image here and the brownie bag here.
(Images from Twig & Thistle)
Free, well-designed fonts? You suspected it was an oxymoron, until now. The League of Moveable Type presents to you a variety of typefaces you may use for personal or commercial use, as long as you credit the original creator. You can read their interesting manifesto here.
If you know some little girlies who might enjoy paper dolls, here are links to download and print a couple sets. This is a more kid-centric post than usual, but I bet it will stir up happy memories for a lot of us.
Meet Clementina. She even comes with bee and raccoon outfits, because you never know when dressing up like a bee might be a good idea. (The charming site Kireei.com is in Spanish; I've linked to it through Google Translate. When the page loads, click "Cuts" to see the dolls.)
Update: For those having trouble downloading, go to the untranslated site, click "Recortables", then "English," and finally "Descargar". 
The May 1951 issue of McCall's magazine introduced Betsy McCall paper dolls. Download ten years of Betsy and her wardrobe right here.
BgPatterns.com is an online tool for creating customized patterns for websites, desktops, or Twitter pages. You can choose the color, design, texture, and size of your image, test it as a tiled background, and download a jpeg of the image you made. Nifty.
Welcome to 2010, everyone! Hope you had a refreshing holiday break. I'm still on mine until Thursday, so I'm trying to avoid making eye contact with my computer as much as possible. Heading into Christmas vacation I'd wondered if I had a computer addiction and wouldn't be able to stay off my Mac. Nope. Turns out I can quit any time I want—easily. Yeah, that's what they all say, but I've tested it and it's true. Last week I was hunting through my recipe box for cake and found this Thomas Merton quote printed on a scrap of paper. I have no idea where it came from or when I put it in there. It reinforced my longing to move to a deserted island.
Ironically, before typing that last paragraph, I had set out to write a post about Twitter backgrounds. My island will absolutely not have Twitter access. But if you must spend hours tweeting, you may as well freshen up your page with a cool background by illustrator Nate Williams. Visit his gallery of patterns, click your fave, hit "no" to tiling the pattern, and save the image. Upload it to Twitter and click the check box to tile it.
In case you're still scrambling to give cards and wrap gifts, here are a couple more goodies you might like. Left: a quirky Santa card, illustrated by Rosemary Travale. Right: awesomely orange reindeer gift tags, designed by Kristina Walton for Creature Comforts (scroll through all the December posts at Creature Comforts for a host of pretty downloads.)
And with that, I leave you until the new year, friends. Happy holidays to everyone!
(Images from The Little Chimp Society, left, and Creature Comforts, right.)