Hello Lucky just posted some awesome printables for Father's Day. They are perfect for making not so exciting gifts, like socks, a little more desirable. And let's face it, if it has a cool labels like these then it doesn't even matter what it's wrapped around. I buy things based on the label anyway. Nice job Hello Lucky.

There are even more printables on their site here.

Right now I'm knee deep in planing a bridal shower for my best friend. The party is only a week and a half away. It's been so fun designing and planing everything but I still have a lot of work to do.

Throughout the planning process I've looked around other blogs and party planning sites to get inspired. Let me tell you -- there are some pretty cute and creative parties out there. Here are a few of my favorites.

Book Club via Not Your Average via Glitter Guide

Pink and Gold Bridal Shower via Elizabeth Anne Designs

Nice Party Box from Nice Party

Strawberry Shortcake Bridal Shower via Wedding Chicks

DIY Ruffled Party Hats from A Subtle Revelry

Now don't you just want to party?

Believe it or not the basil plant that I bought a while back is still growing strong! I'm pretty proud of myself. I've even put it to good use in recipes.

Having fresh herbs are definitely a treat. Heather Diane illustrated a lovely guide to herbs and even suggests uses for each.

I came across Letterform Inc. this morning. Their Nourishing Notes project is full of fun food related design and typography. Here are a few of my favorite pieces.

Be sure to check out their shop for more foodie inspiration and fun.

Everybody loves a good ampersand. Here are a few of the best put together as a poster by Milk Box Prints. Quite lovely isn't it?

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working on our best friends' wedding invitations. Over the weekend we started printing them and we are loving how they are turning out. It's always exciting to me to see my work go from a digital design to a printed and tactual piece of art. It really brings the design to life.

I was just going to post the entire wedding suite when we were all finished but I am so excited about it I just had to give you a sneak peek. Each piece is going to have two colors when finished. So far we have printed the main color for each. We will be printing the second colors in the evenings this week.

What do you think? Do you like it so far?

Strawberries have always been, and probably will always be, my favorite fruit. They're so yummy. Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Strawberry Festival in Oxnard. It was so nice spending the day outside and with our friends.

While we were there we bought lots and lots of strawberries. They were so juicy and sweet we just couldn't help ourselves.

Then we came back to our apartment and made strawberry lemonade and strawberry shortcake with homemade whip cream.

For dinner Jake made us some hamburgers and brats on the grill. I think I am still full from yesterday! It seems we always make and eat lots of yummy food when all of us friends get together. Hmm what should we make next? Homemade Ice cream maybe?

I've just realized that a lot of my Finders Keepers have been camera things lately. I hope you don't mind. There are just so many cool cameras and accessories out there. This week I found Bloom Theory. They make cute, dramatic, yet practical camera straps.

Jake and I share a camera so unfortunately I don't think he would want to be sporting around one of these.

I also write for Dearest Nature. You can read my post here for this week.

One of my favorite things about summertime is sitting around a campfire with friends and roasting s'mores. The warm gooey marshmallow and melted chocolate make a perfect pair. I would have never dreamed of replacing the chocolate in a s'more. That is until I saw this video from Claire Thomas. Beautiful cinematography, fun music and nice typography can be pretty persuasive. 

Now I'm inspired to make a video right after I try a s'meache!

via Curbed

How many of you grew up with Winnie the Pooh? I certainly did, and so will my kids. A.A. Milne created timeless characters and stories and the home where it all began is for sale. It looks as if it came right out of a storybook. If only I had $3.22 million I would buy it up and live every day in the wonderful world of Winnie the Pooh (and Tiger too).

Today Jake and I are celebrating our two year wedding anniversary! I'm sure I'll say this every year, but I can't believe it has already been two years. I couldn't have wished for a more loving, caring, fun (I could go on but I won't bore you) man to spend my life with. Sigh...I just love my man.

How was everybody's weekend? I hope you were able to celebrate your mom. Aren't they just the best? Jake's parents flew out for a long weekend. It was nice having some visitors. It kind of forces us take a break from our normal weekends that we often fill up with work. Instead we went to the movies, ate lots of yummy food, hiked Vasquez Rocks, explored the Rose Bowl Flea Market and grilled steak for Mother's day. Thanks for visiting Dad and Mom! We had a lot of fun.

I think it's always a good idea to try to use and repurpose what you already have before running out and buying new things. That's why I'm loving the idea of this new book by Maya Donenfeld titled Reinvention: Sewing with Rescued Materials. I saw it posted over on Poppytalk earlier this week. It sounds like a great way to be thrifty and earth friendly.

I think today is a funny kind of day. Here is a little photoshop humor for you; after all this is the whole reason photoshop was made in the first place, right?

By Mikhail Palinchak Jr. 

via Global Nerdy

via Freaking News 

Jake and I know very little about wine. My knowledge on the subject doesn't extend far from knowing that red wine is served at room temperature while white wine is chilled. That is right, right? Beyond that, it's just a blur. I'll be the first to admit that when Jake and I stroll through the wine isle with hopes of making our dinner seem a little more romantic and grown up we solely base our discussion on the label design. I know, I know. If you're one of those wine connoisseurs you are probably shaking your head and seriously considering deleted our blog from your daily reads. You've got to admit though, the wine industry does take their label design pretty seriously--something I appreciate. If I was in search of some wine to go with tonight's dinner I would gladly choose one of these.

Images: 1. Labelle Famille by Ali Labelle; 2. Concannon by Beau Monroe; 3. Carl Wine by Pia Storm and Rine Boland Folden; 4. Jam Jar via JGB Interiors; 5. Modern House Wines by Swanson Vineyards; OX (Zinfandel) by Levine & Associates

My friend and I were talking the other day about how we miss taking classes. I don't miss the late nights doing homework or the stress of keeping my grade up--I miss learning. Lately nutrition has interested me. There is so much more to food than the number of calories in it.

This morning I came across some beautifully designed info graphics on nutrition and health over on Massive Health. They are really interesting and of couse fun to look at and read. One graphic rated Los Angeles as the 3rd healthiest city! I guess that's good news for me. Here are a few tidbits from the graphics. Be sure to click on the links below each image to read the entire graphic.

Where

Perception

Bananas vs Cookies

Who

With that said I would love to take a nutrition class or even just read a good book on the subject. Anybody know of any good resources? Maybe a blog, book or website?

Once again our weekend flew right by. I wish we had just one more day to get everything done. It was really our first weekend in our new home since last weekend we were in New York. Saturday was mostly spent at Ikea and shopping around for a grill. Now that we have a patio we want to take full advantage of it. On Sunday we unpacked some more boxes, set up our patio and I pulled weeds in the garden while Jake put together our new grill. Now doesn't that just sound all grown up?

Check out my new desk! It's perfect.

We got furniture for our patio. The chairs actually recline and the table has two fold out sides which is perfect for our small patio. 

For dinner we invited Jake and Erika over to try out our new grill. We had hamburgers, corn on the cob and french fries. The grill worked wonderfully and everything was so yummy. We took some video to document our first grilling experience. Hopefully we can post that this week.

A good rug is hard to find; or maybe I'm just too picky. I've been scouring the internet trying to find some rugs for our new apartment. So far no luck. I did find Vecco though. Vecco sells rugs that you can paint your own custom design on! They even sell kits with everything you need.

Have you seen the latest issue of Styled. Magazine? It is just blooming with floral inspiration. And if that's not enough check our their blog too. Their breakfast in bed and apple pie a la bow posts are filled with beautifully styled pictures and fun ideas that I would like to try in the near future. 

Remember a few posts back when I showed you the drinking lid for a mason jar and all the inventive uses for mason jars these days? Well I decided to look up some ideas for using the jars to serve and store food. I think these would be perfect for weekday lunches and summertime picnics.

Rainbow Cake In a Jar

Margaritas in a Jar

Refrigerator Oatmeal

Cornbread Topped Chili In a Jar

Salad In a Jar

I love the label design on this one. Maybe if I served salad from a well designed jar Jake would eat more of it...just maybe.

S'more Cake In a Jar

Blueberry Pie In a Jar

Have you ever tried using jars like this before? Do you have any tips or recipes to share?