Since the week has been so crazy for me preparing the Spring 2012 picture books at work, here are a few announcements/discoveries to keep y’all busy:

1. Seems that Coralie Bickford-Smith, senior cover designer over at the UK’s Penguin Books, has been on everyone’s brains lately . . . I received two links to her in the past few days!  I have always been a huge fan of her Clothbound Classics series, but I hadn’t seen her full site.

And, my goodness, take a look at her newest work!  I’m getting giddy looking at this Penguin Great Food series (link courtesy of Creative Review, via Ryan, extremely cool fellow designer/cubicle neighbor).  Each plate is based on vintage ceramic patterns, and I seriously can’t get over how gorgeous they are.

2.  Speaking of how the UK dominates beautiful patterned covers, let’s move along to White’s Books, a small London publisher directed by David Pearson (a former Penguin Books designer himself).  In a different way, these patterns draw the reader into other imagery and bring visually potent symbolism to distinguished classics. Thanks to Kevin Stanton, amazing paper-cut illustrator from the Illustration Week extravaganza, for referring me to Jessica Vendsen’s blog!

3. On a local level, I have to give a shout-out to a new show opening up in town: Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World).  I’ve mentioned before my infatuation with Maira’s work, and since she’s a Nancy Paulsen Books author/illustrator, I get to drool over her new children’s books on a regular basis.  Can’t wait to check out this exhibit of many of her best-known works, as I know it’ll be as original and out-of-the-box as ever.

Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) is on display at The Jewish Museum from

It comes with Sterling Silver Chain. 16″ and 18″ chains are available. Send me a message specifying whether you want 16″ or 18″.

All jewelry is made by hand. The back is signed by the artist.

This ring is not waterproof. Please do not wear while swimming or taking a shower.

packaged in a cute little box. Only $16. Buy Now

How cute are these caramel cream tart earrings by Janet Shaw! Ahh, jewelry and dessert, two of my favorite things. She's got all sorts of yummy jewelry on her Esty site. I want to gets me a pair, I just can't decide which dessert to order.

Confession time. This post has nothing to do with writing or reading.

I just gotta say it: I love rings.

And not ordinary ones.

Crazy, kitschy, funky rings. Big and loud.

I’ve spent too much time trying to act my age. And why? I’m a picture book author! I should be able to wear Legos on my fingers, right? And polymer clay sushi. And dictionaries. Yes, dictionaries.

Let your inner goofball shine!

Fairy Fashion Chick is a cute and stylish character with a funky hair due against a yellow background. The image was created in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

It’s a round 1″ in diameter glass ring

The ring band is bronze and it’s attached firmly to the base of the glass pendant. It’s sturdy, adjustable and can fit on small to medium sized fingers.

I make all of my jewelry by hand.The back is signed by the artist.
This ring is not waterproof. Please do not wear while swimming or taking a shower.
Comes in a pretty little organza bag. Only $9. Buy Now

The Glass heart shaped pendant is 1 1/4″ tall by 1 1/4″ wide.

It comes with Sterling Silver Chain. 16″ and 18″ chains are available. Send me a message specifying whether you want 16″ or 18″.

All jewelry is made by hand. The back is signed by the artist.

This ring is not waterproof. Please do not wear while swimming or taking a shower.

packaged in a cute little box. Only $15. Buy Now

I saw a necklace similar to this ribbon and pearl one at American Eagle. The only difference is that their necklace was much chunkier, and thus, more casual.

This is going to be tricky to explain, so bear with me, okay?

You'll need some black thread, nearly 3 yards of black satin ribbon, and a bag of faux pearls. (We tried a sheer ribbon but didn't like it as much.)

1. To start, cut ribbon in half. Hang the pieces around your neck (leaving plenty of room behind to tie a bow), and decide where you want the pearl beads to start.

2. Double up your thread on the needle and tie a knot at the end. Poke your needle through both ribbons at the point you decided on in step one.

3. Place a pearl on your thread.

The birch in the back yard was a gift, ten years ago, from my parents. The brick walkway that leads to the front door was a gift, the last one from my mother. And this week, in between the rest of everything else, I was retracing the provenance of the hard metals and spark that I've carried forward, from girlhood until now.

I have been thinking, in other words, about the way things signify. About how often the objects in our lives are less about the things themselves—their utility, their value—and more about who we were at the time that they entered our lives, and who shapes our lives, and how memory waits for us in a quiet afternoon. Memory waits, and it lingers.

I'd bought myself a proper jewelry box, my first. I was putting my history in place. The ring I'd proudly acquired with the $35 dollars I'd earned one summer as a teen in South Carolina. The earrings my son brought home for Mother's Day. The ring I bought to remember my uncle by. The pearl that remembers Chicago. The tarnished silver from a friend who forgave me my decision. The ring I purchased one day, post-surgery, to prove to myself that I am a survivor, and the other ring, the one born of a poem. Reiko's Hawaii, in a pair of dangled fish. My brother's aquamarine. My own Seville, in tangled silver. My Barcelona, my San Miguel, my Nashville, my husband's exquisite taste in sapphire.

I have too much jewelry, I kept thinking, as I fit each piece into its velvet wedge. Too much, and I was almost in tears. But then the tears were for something else altogether—for lost time, for lost friends, for the liquid wash of was.

Melanie Bilenker creates jewellery featuring drawings made with human hair.

From her artist’s statement:

The Victorians kept lockets of hair and miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of a lost love. In much the same way, I secure my memories through photographic images rendered in lines of my own hair, the physical remnants. I do not reproduce events, but quiet minutes, the mundane, the domestic, the ordinary moments.

And now a word from one of our sponsors...:)

(Venice, Italy) Angela Cook is a self-made woman with a jewel at the center of her heart. Her decades of hard work sparkle before your eyes the moment you enter her shop. Ganesha, the revered Indian god known as the Lord of Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles, is the subtle influence for the name of the shop, filled with inspirational jewelry.

From precious rubies, emeralds and pearls, to chunks of amber and onyx, each piece is a singular creation, either designed by Angela herself, or specially chosen from her shopping expeditions throughout Europe, India and the Orient. She has gemstones at Ganesha that I've never seen before!

Ganesha radiates the flavor of the East spiced with a British touch, a unique combination. I love to wander in there and play with the jewelry. Angela has big, clunky silver wrist bands from Asia that make me feel like a female gladiator. Or rings and bracelets of fossilized ivory, intricately carved into roses. The ivory comes from the tusks of the wooly mammoth who roamed the Siberian tundra thousands of years ago. Imagine all the great women of the world wearning ancient mammoth ivory Rose Rings...

I’m happy to announce the impending launch of this project. Metal for Monsters is a run of limited-edition stainless steel pendants being sold to raise money for UNICEF.

Each pendant features an illustration of a monster or creepy creature by some very talented folks including Drawn! contributors Jay Stephens, Adam Koford, and myself. The official launch date is October 1st, but you can pre-order the pendants now. Each pendant costs $81 and is limited to 100 pieces. The lineup of artists includes: S.britt, Stefan G. Bucher, Jon Burgerman, Anna Chambers, Justin Hillgrove, Adam Koford, John Martz, Jay Stephens, and Brian Taylor.