Sounds (that are) Good: Adele

"Adele" as photographed by Bianca Barrett on Birmingham Live!'s Flickr photostream

Adele is another artist that I kind of just happened upon.  And I am so glad that I did.  Her voice is incredible--and she recorded her debut album, 19, at well, nineteen.  Ridiculous.  I can always tell how much I am enjoying a particular artist by how often I listen to their album after first acquiring it--and how many other artists I filter in within that same time frame.  And I can say with no small amount of certainty that 19 was the only album getting any of my attention for quite some time. 

She cites Etta James and Dusty Springfield as influences, and that is definitely apparent in her music.  If you have been enjoying artists like Amy Winehouse or Duffy you might give her a listen.  But I think that you'll find that she has a sound that is, thankfully, uniquely her own. And she wrote all of the songs on the album, except for her cover of Bob Dylan's "Make you Feel My Love".   So she has that going for her too.

You can sample some tracks on her MySpace, if you'd like to give her a listen.  Happy October!  More to come.

xo,

Amy

Currently Craving: Orange

So, welcome to new-blog-feature #2: Constantly Craving. I thought I would share a few things that I've been loving, wanting, am inspired by, etc. We'll see how it goes. This week's Craving is focused on the color Orange. Now, here in Oklahoma where college football is king you are either RED (University of Oklahoma) or ORANGE (Oklahoma State University). People are very rarely, if ever, both and many will go so far as to never own anything of the opposing color. Silly. So, so silly. If we went strictly by my alma mater then I would be RED. Luckily for me, though, I never really took to football, so I have a wealth of color choices at my disposal without even the tiniest fear of betrayal. Moving on...

click on the image to view larger

1. Letterpress Alphabet Poster in orange and gray from Sycamore Street Press on Etsy. First of all, let me just say that the knowledge that we will soon have two little ones in the family is falling somewhere in between thrill and jubilance. However, not knowing the gender or age, etc. is killing me. I am a compulsive nester, and even though I realize that it is not my nest, nor is it a nest in my home (and that for my brother-in-law's sake alone I should probably state that I realize this more often), I still feel this need to start adding to the nest. I think this little alphabet print is so perfect. Orange and grey is a great gender-neutral color combination (I think, atleast.  I, somewhat by accident, had a very-much orange and brown bedroom as a toddler, so it's possible that I'm biased), and this print will appeal to kids and parents alike.  Or even aunts.  

2. A Look Only You Would Understand (Orange) by ashleyg - also on Etsy. It's really no secret that I love Ashley Goldberg's work, as I have her prints scattered throughout my house. I absolutely love this one. Always a fan of the blue and orange combo.

3. Simple & Pure Beautiful (to me) as photographed by citypix on Flickr. I first saw this photo on Creature Comforts and was so taken by it, but almost fell out of my chair when I realized that it is merely paper doilies and orange pushpins. How inexpensive! And simple! And just the thing for the empty I-have-absolutely-no-idea-what-to-do-with-this wall in my bedroom. Perfection. Totally inspired.  Let's just hope it works.

4. Practice Kindness by Lisa Congdon -- again, on Etsy. Lisa Congdon is another favorite of mine, and her prints can also be found throughout my house. And now this one can be as well, as it is part of her $6.00 Gocco print series. That's right -- $6. And everyone could use a little reminder to practice a little more kindness.

5. Large Orange Letter "A" Storefront Signage from the incredibly lovely three potato four . I got, oh, perhaps a little too excited when I came across this giant letter 'A'. If only I'd had the extra $140 to buy a vowel, then perhaps I wouldn't have been so disappointed when it, alas, sold.

So that's about it. Have a lovely, lovely weekend. Have the best weekend ever. Just go for it.

xo,
Amy

Excellent Citizenship (if not blogger-ship)

So, today I was an excellent citizen.  Which only really amounted to sitting very still for an awfully long time fulfilling my civic duty of jury duty.  More than happy to do my part, but my goodness it was a long day.  And they never even called my name.  Until 3:00, when they told me I would have to report to a different location tomorrow for juvenile cases.  Two days of being an excellent (and a little bit bored) citizen in a row.  We'll see.

In other news, I have noticed that I have become maybe the-worst-blogger-ever.  I was thinking of ways to jazz things up a little/give a little structure to my life and blog, so today is the first go of it.  I decided to focus on the things that I like the most, so from now on I will be featuring a different musical artist each Monday.  I'll be talking about music that I like, and hopefully you might find something that you like too.  

So here is the first installment of Sounds (that are) Good:

I happened upon Brooke Waggoner completely by accident a few days ago, and am totally hooked.  And here is something so exciting--she is giving away her EP for FREE on her website. Yes, you have to enter your email (which means you are signing up for a newsletter) so they can send you the link for the free download. But it's worth it, trust me.  And her new single is also one of the FREE downloads on iTunes right now.  So, all in all, two very good deals.  Here is the thing that is interesting to me, from a design perspective.

This is the album cover for "Fresh Pair of Eyes".  I really like the album artwork and think that it really looks like the EP's overall sound.  

And this is the artwork for her second album "Heal for the Honey".  The single that you can get for free on iTunes is off of this album, and clearly the artwork, the overall look and feel of it, are very different.  I like it, but it's a very clear departure.  But again, it looks just like it should sound.  Which is, I think, what the cover art should be all about.


The thing that grabbed me immediately about "Fresh Pair of Eyes" was the piano.  She is really amazing and it adds this beautiful, textural element to each of the tracks.  It's intricate and complicated and so much more than the strategically placed chord that you get from so many songstresses.  Apparently she studied composition and orchestration of classical music, and that training is obvious.  And she has combined that training with more modern influences without detracting from either.  They are both equally obvious and important.

"Heal for the Honey" is still refreshingly unique.  You'll still hear the interesting lyrics, the amazing piano, the complex arrangements.  Great if you like Feist or Regina Spektor.  It's more upbeat, more synthesized, more layered.  And really, really good.

Both are amazing and highly recommended.  I'll be adding some other new features to the blog this week, so check back if you'd like.

Oh, and the "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" print sale is still going on the in the Project 8256 shop so take advantage of it while you can.  Man, oh man, bargains all around.

xo,

Amy

a sale! a celebration!

Well, if you read the previous post you might remember that my sister and brother-in-law were not only officially approved to adopt from Ethiopia but they were also approved to adopt a set of TWO SIBLINGS! Such exciting news. And I also promised a celebration of the non-cupcake variety. So here it is...



That's right. For the ENTIRE MONTH of September all of the prints in the Project 8256 shop are "buy two get one free"!! Just purchase two prints, and then leave me a little note in the "message to seller" portion of the invoice and I'll send them all out to you. A perfect chance to get some Christmas shopping done a little early this year, or to cover up some of those bare walls.

Happy shopping! And thank you all so, so much for all of the love, encouragement and support that you've shown to us over the last several months. It's been an incredible experience for us, and we are so overwhelmingly thankful.

xo,
Amy