Hasta La Ideas

image by Sara StevensonSarah at Redlinedesign has relaunched her site with a focus on creative exploration. She recommends starting a collection as a jumpstart to creativity and I couldn’t agree more. It is invigorating to find something that inspires you—whether it is a beautiful retro button that starts a lifelong love of sewing, or a vintage package that leads to a deeper appreciation of lettering, or a simple bread tag that reminds you to appreciate the little things. Read more at Redlinedesign.

(Purchase A Collection a Day here.)

Day 1 of Lisa’s new project

I really admire people who can dedicate themselves to a 365 (or 366 this year!) project. Lisa Congdon’s 2010 A Collection a Day was certainly a wonderful example of how fulfilling and inspiring such an endeavour can be. I’m so proud of our book and will forever be grateful that Lisa allowed UPPERCASE to publish the project.

Lisa has just launched a new project: 365 Days of Hand Lettering:

Each day for 365 days for the year 2012 I will post an image of something I have hand-lettered: a letter of the alphabet, a word, a phrase, a quote, a name. Some of the lettering will be based on traditional forms of calligraphy or vintage lettering and some will be of my own design. I am taking a calligraphy class right now and will certainly incorporate much of what I learn and practice there. I will be mostly working with ink, nibs and brushes, but will occasionally use pens. Some of the designs will be quite simple and some more elaborate.

I’m sure Lisa’s blog posts will be added inspiration to all of us working on improving our handwriting this year. 

A Collection a Day is available in the online shop. And it’s on sale this week, you can save $10!

I wish I had made this purchase sooner! A table top lighting system for product photography. I’m still working on proper exposures and best compositions, but off to a nice start. The images still need photoshopping for removal of the background, but so much easier than waiting for decent light to filter in through the window…

(Purchase these books here. Or get all four of the most recent books as part of a bundle and save off the cover price and on shipping.)

I was very happy when ModCloth contacted me a while ago, with interest in stocking some UPPERCASE products. From initially selling vintage clothing, their offerings have grown and diversified considerably over the years, but the quality of their website, blog and creative offerings is still very impressive. Their product shots are great (I like the zoom feature) and they have started to create short videos as well.

Recently Lisa Congdon was featured in this video interview that presents A Collection a Day so very nicely. Thank you to everyone at ModCloth for highlighting Lisa and our book in this way! Well done!

“We all save, store, pile, and stash, but author Lisa Congdon makes her curated clutter look absolutely envious! For one year, she catalogued her collection of collections for all to see, photographing, sketching, and sometimes even painting the treasured tidbits that filled her home and studio. Now transformed into a petite paperback, Congdon’s calendar year of accumulated objects will captivate you with its simple charm. Pictured in situ or on a plain white background, her compositions of mushrooms, mugs, and matchbooks draw the viewer in, while they inspect every detail and difference. Moved to make your own anthology of adorable knickknacks? Use the reusable tin that holds this bitty book to begin your own inspired collection of vintage postcards or paperclips – and don’t forget to document every addition. Your shelves are about to look sweeter!” Click here to shop at ModCloth!

Join us on A Collection a Day summer blog tour:

July 6 Design for Mankind
July 13 Cafe Cartolina
July 20 DesignWorkLife
July 27 Poppytalk
August 3 sfgirlbybay

I’m definitely a collector at heart, which is why Lisa Congdon’s A Collection a Day blog in which she posted a special arrangement of one of her many collections throughout 2010 was such an inspiration. It was so inspiring that I asked Lisa if we could collaborate and turn the web project into a book!

What you might not know is that I procrastinated in contacting Lisa for quite a while. I was expecting a baby and just figured Lisa’s idea was so good that surely a big-name publisher would just scoop it up! My entrepreneurial and design drive weren’t yet dampened by late-night feedings, so I emailed Lisa with my book proposal. I was honoured that she preferred to work with me rather than any other publisher and that we shared a similar vision of what the book could be.

Since Lisa would be busy completing her online project until December 31, 2010, I figured that when the time came for me to design the book, I’d be accustomed to motherhood and it wouldn’t be too difficult to get it all done. I’d design it late that year and just add the final pages in January and off it would go to the printer! Sounded simple enough.

What I didn’t anticipate is that after the initial getting-to-know-you months of having a new baby, and the few months of exquisite babyness in which they lay happily on the ground and stay in one place, is that the growth and development rate is incredible! I would just get used to one stage, and Finley would quickly be on to the next one… rolling over, crawling, standing… walking!

Designing the quarterly magazine plus committing to publish four books (The Elegant Cockroach in October 2010, Work/Life 2 and A Collection a Day in Spring 2011, and The Suitcase Series Volume 2: dottie angel for later this summer) and being a new mom has been a challenge and then some. I’m still in awe that I’m getting the job done—and proud that everything that I’ve released is very high quality, unique to UPPERCASE and most definitely a labour of love.

A Collection a Day and its collectible tin are highlights in my career as a designer and publisher. I hope you’ll decide to add them to your own collection of books. (Available in the online shop here.)

There have been some late nights (and some crying), but the first 16 months of managing a business and mothering a baby have gone pretty well. I think a lot of newcomers to UPPERCASE don’t know that it is still essentially a one-woman operation. (But believe me, I’m exhausted.) Over the next months, I hope to get more help in managing the logistics side of publishing—distribution, circulation, subscriptions—since there really is way too much work for one person to handle, especially since I don’t have as much time as I used to. UPPERCASE is my baby, but it’s getting too heavy to hold on my own.

Anyway—back to A Collection a Day! We’re having a summer blog tour! What better season to start a collection or two? With flea markets and garage sales (and more time for eBay?) now’s the time to add to your collections or start a new one.

Thank you to the following blogs who are part of the tour so far (email me if you already have your copy and have posted about the book and you want to be part of the tour!):

July 6 Design for Mankind
July 13 Cafe Cartolina
July 20 DesignWorkLife
July 27 Poppytalk
August 3 sfgirlbybay

A Collection a Day can be purchased right here. thanks!