A designerly 2013 / 2014 planner

Thank you to Poppin for sending over something fun: this 2013/2014 planner ($15). I like the debossed lettering on the leather-like cover, and the typography inside is a lovely sans serif which gradates from turquoise in the front of the book to lime green in the back. Of course the best part is the bright orange ribbon bookmark.


There's a pocket in the back full of stickers! Hee! Each month has a month-at-a-glance spread, followed by weekly individual pages opposite lined paper for notes.

On the US map in the back I learned that Ohio is farther east than Mississippi. WHAT?!? Clearly I have no idea where I'm now located.

Ironically, I lost my old planner in the move. It's got to be in a bag somewhere? I normally use those cheapo month-at-a-glance ones from Walgreens, because at the most I only have two meetings to write in those little daily squares. The trouble is the design is always so ugly it pains me. I immediately detach the puppy photo from the front. I just bought a new one, but this Poppin thing is very timely. I'll try it out. It's a bigger book than I need, but it's pretty!

P.S. Poppin sells office goodies by color — check out the orange section!

A mini housewarming gift

My pal Megumi in Japan sent me a package. Along with pretty tapes, stationery, a t-shirt, and a Celia Birtwell scarf from Uniqlo, she included a housewarming item: a mini 3" dustpan and... bloom? I'm hoping it will cause tiny flowers to sprout throughout the house.

Chocolate and the color orange

Want to hear something I learned over the holiday break? Hot Chocolate Tastes Much Better In an Orange Cup. It's scientifically proven. I suppose one ought to have a brown or blue cup for optimal coffee drinking, but that goes into my orange cup, too.

Thank you to the folks who sent me this interesting article! From now on, I will only eat my strawberry mousse off of white plates.

Lucky Skins review: my iPad gets outfitted

Something happy came in the mail yesterday: an iPad skin from Lucky Skins. They sell decals for phones, tablets, laptops, and mp3 players, and kindly offered to send over the design of my choosing. My choosing had a tough time since there are lots of patterns to pick from, but I opted for Confection.

The skin is essentially a big vinyl sticker, and applying it was simple. I lined it up at the top—you can lift it up again to reposition if you don't press it down firmly—and the air bubbles smoothed out easily as I worked my way down. I even managed to take a one-handed photo while doing it.

My big concern was whether this thing (printed on 3M Controltac™) will come off again if I get tired of it. It's stuck on quite firmly, but peeling up a corner as a test seemed to work okay. I'm guessing the vinyl will stretch a bit as you peel it off, since you have to tug fairly hard to remove it from the back of the iPad. So it's probably not reusable.

The set also comes with a skin for the front of the device, so I threw that on, too. It's a little crazy to look at, but fun. Like my iPad is having a party. This sticker peels off easily from the glass if you want to remove it.

The corner radius isn't a perfect fit on my antique, first generation iPad, though that was the skin size. But it's quite close.

You can even go nuts and download matching wallpapers for most of the device skins on the website. Choose your device, select a design, and help yourself!

I finally joined Pinterest

Since last year I've been receiving invitations to join Pinterest. I've dragged my feet until now, since I was afraid Pinterest would become the ultimate time-waster. There's already Facebook, Twitter, updating this blog, responding to comments and fielding emails... stuffed into the cracks between running my graphic design business full time.

And given Pinterest's home page, I expected I'd be getting a steady stream of manicured fingernails and Ryan Gosling photos. Though lovely, I don't need to see more than one.

But after a conversation with friends I took the plunge and joined. And hey, it turns out you can follow people with similar interests. Goodbye fingernails, hello mid-century furniture! This could get terribly inspiring.

You can find me on Pinterest right here.

Grow your own mushrooms

Those who have followed this blog for awhile might remember the mushroom-growing experiment of yesteryear—the log that produced a couple shitakes and then required rest in a cold place (i.e. our fridge) while it gathered its energy to squeeze out a single mushroom. We got rid of it since the output didn't live up to the bounty we'd imagined, and who needs a log in their fridge?

So I was intrigued by an email from Back to the Roots, a sustainable urban mushroom farm in Oakland started by some Berkeley students. They grow gourmet mushrooms from recycled coffee grounds and sell kits that yield up to 1.5 lbs. of oyster mushrooms in about 10 days. Sounds fun! If anybody wants a kit, you can get 10% off your order by using the code Mushrooms4me10.

A Pantone eyelash curler?

Pantone, the color matching system used by the printing, textile and plastics industries, has teamed up with Sephora to put out a line of products in this year's official color, Tangerine Tango. (Thanks for the tip, Kayla.) I'm all for orange! I wouldn't be caught dead in orange lipstick, but my toes wouldn't mind some tangerine polish.

I'm amazed by the relentless supply of licensed merchandise Pantone has been cranking out in recent years. Socks, chairs, contact lens cases, cuff links, toothbrushes, eye glasses, Christmas ornaments, Visa cards, and more. Does the world really need official Pantone false eyelashes? Sure, why not.

An interesting note: after I posted this Pantone chip craft project, I quickly received an email from Pantone’s Licensing and Trademark Department stating that they need to protect their licensees and intellectual property, and if I desire to extend the use of their intellectual property for commercial purposes, I should contact them to learn about current licensing terms. Apparently the licensing folks at Pantone keep very busy making deals with manufacturers and combing the internet for home crafters using old Pantone chips. I'm tempted to put a set of magnets up for sale and see if I get a cease and desist letter.

Goodies from Japan

A package arrived from my friend Megumi yesterday. I'll show you what was in it, because there were some unique items. Of course everything was wrapped so adorably that I had to take a picture before tearing in. All right, I didn't tear in, either. I very carefully removed tape and opened flaps, because when you're dealing with teensy bunnies and cupcakes, you owe it to them to be gentle.

Inside I found miniature Deco Rush decorative tapes that you apply by using a pen-like gizmo. Pull the pen along, and it deposits tiny pigs on your paper. Or swap out the cartridge when you feel the need for flowers and trees.

This character was also included. His tag says "MoPet: It is living in your life!" Yes, this hedgehog is now living in my life. He looks like he's made of Cheetos, but it's actually microfiber material. The guy has a pocket in his belly so you can put your fingers inside and swish him around your desk to do some dusting. I fear for his health because it's very dirty behind my computer.

Next, check out these erasable felt tip markers. Did you know there's been a revolution in erasable pen technology? These erasers use friction to heat up the thermo-sensitive ink and make it disappear. So your eraser never wears away or leaves crumbs behind, and the erasing is flawless. I'd heard about these a few months ago and bought the FriXion gel pen version from Amazon. My teacher friend went nuts when she saw them, because now she can mark down grades with a pen, but erase cleanly if needed. Until yesterday, I didn't know they came in a marker version! Looks like you can get the whole Japanese FriXion line at JetPens.com. Apparently Pilot made a special uglified version of the gel pen to sell in the US, because the Japanese version is way prettier than mine. Or maybe it's just newer.

The last item in the package was an amazing little flipbook, but I couldn't figure out how to fan the pages while taking a still photo. Trust me; it's quirky and fun. Just like Megumi.

A Bloggie finalist

How About Orange is nominated for a Bloggie! Along with four amazing rock stars in the "Best art, craft, or design weblog" category. Vote for your faves right here. And that reminds me: time to make the 2012 Oscars bingo cards...

Jonathan Adler toilet paper holders?

I'm a big Jonathan Adler fan. And now I see (via Felt & Wire) that he has designed some toilet paper boxes for Cottonelle. Yours for a mere $1.99 when you buy a specially marked roll of TP. I'm torn between "what the heck would I need that for" and "shoot, they're kind of cool and I could put something else in there." Plus I received this awesomely orange Jonathan Adler turtle tray for Christmas and it might need a friend. (Not that I keep the tray near the toilet, I hasten to add.)

Mr. Adler intends the TP covers to be "mood-enhancing." Wow. So just think how mind-blowing my baño would be if I added toilet paper origami, too. I could go sit in there whenever I felt sad.

(Images: PR Newswire and Jonathan Adler )

Various How About Orange sightings

Dorkys Ramos, New York City magazine writer extraordinaire who blogs at Dry as Toast, has posted an interview with me today in which I blabber on about blenders, running an Etsy shop, and the color orange. Read it right here.

How About Orange also received a brief mention at Women's Health Magazine this week. They linked to my post about Kimanh's recipe cards, in which I stated my love for carbs. Now I fear they're secretly judging me.

Finally, thank you to Flipboard for featuring How About Orange in the "Living" section of the Flipboard app. Look at that: sandwiched between Bob Vila and Oprah. It doesn't get much better than that. For those who aren't familiar with Flipboard, it's a free social magazine app for the iPad. Load it up with your Facebook and Twitter accounts, favorite blogs and news sites, then read them all like a magazine, turning pages as you go. I use it. I love it.

Use binder clips to secure cords

The first installment in this week's "Wish I'd Thought of That" series:

You know how the cords that charge your stuff tend to slip down into the nether regions behind your desk? Here's an easy solution from David Bakker for organizing cables. I can't read the original post, but a picture's worth a thousand words. Via Unplggd.

Emergency argyle mugs

I bought a Groupon for Cafe Press several months ago. And then I promptly forgot all about it until it was due to expire, at which point I'd lose the money. With no projects in mind and no time to design anything, I slapped the pattern from the argyle printable business cards on a couple mugs. They arrived yesterday. I am concerned that Alex and I will fight over the orange one.

Ribbon storage idea

I have a lot of ribbon from work I've done. Once in awhile I use a bit to tie up a package, but I want to keep some of each design as a sample. Currently they're all stuffed in an ice bucket which is getting pretty full. I saw this photo from All People Quilt, shared on Pinterest by Jennifer Davis. Store ribbon in soda straw dispensers? I like it.

Happy April Fool's Day

I like today for three reasons. One, it's Friday. Two, it's my birthday. Three, it's April Fool's Day. An unrelated note: while our neighbors were out of the country recently, we may have accidentally let ourselves into their house and applied self-adhesive googly eyes to their stuff. Some eyes might possibly have ended up in our house, too.

Disturbing findings about orange

Mod Podge Amy, trouble-maker that she is, sent over this article about the color preferences of men and women. The excerpted graphic above shows the least favorite colors reported by men on the left and women on the right. Dear readers, this is a tragic state of affairs! Do I insist that orange be everyone's favorite color? No. But should it ever be one's least favorite color? Never! Lemon yellow is far worse. Results also revealed that the majority of people surveyed believe orange to be a "cheap" color. Blasphemy!

Staple-free stapler reviewed

After yesterday's post, I had a few questions from people wondering if the eco staple-free stapler works well. My answer: yes and no.

Here's a blue sheet of paper stapled to a white sheet.

The stapler works by punching out tabs that get folded over and pushed through a tiny slit. The device only works when fastening up to four sheets of paper. Any more and the stack of tabs is too thick for the stapler to push through the slit. That means your papers will have a hole but won't be fastened together—no good! However, when it works properly, those sheets are stuck together very securely and the only way to get them apart is to undo the tab or tear the paper. It took me a few tries to realize you have to push the top of the stapler down hard all the way to get those tabs inserted.

The pros: it's super cute, good for the environment, and you never have to worry about running out of staples. The cons: If you want to staple more than four sheets, you're out of luck. Since it punches a hole, you might punch through a valuable bit of information on your sheet. And the hold isn't quite as secure as a metal staple, since paper can tear and metal won't.

Orange everywhere

Vintage coffee set by Follyandglee

Creative Zone by Superflash Photography

Have you peeked in the Orangey Goodness Flickr group recently? I started it ages ago so people would have a place to share the pictures of orange stuff they often emailed me. It now has over 2,000 photos of orange objects, projects, interiors, and landscapes. Have a look.

A flower makes everything better

Note to self: when wrapping a gift with a weird shape, it doesn't matter how strange the package looks. Slap a flower on it and people will like it. Paper flower tutorial here.

I upgraded my iPad case

Before: A super stylish iPad sleeve made from bubble wrap, packing tape, and one of the stickers that came in the box, created the night before I took our new iPad on a road trip. Yeah, it's pretty sweet, all right.

After: I wanted a more... shall we say respectable?... option for the long term, so I bought this brown herringbone number. The best part is the orange lining. I like it.