August is here, and it’s unofficially “vacation month”. Camp Wandawega, located in Southeast Wisconsin, is tailor-made for vacationing: rustic, but not “too”. (I don’t mind camping as long as I can sleep on a real bed.) I’ve been wanting to visit Camp Wandawega forever as it’s a stone’s throw from my in-law’s summer house. Owner Tereasa Surratt enchanted me with her lovely book, A Very Modest Cottage (Hearst/2010), where she shares the process of moving a cottage from Central Illinois to the campgrounds and the details of its renovation on a budget of $300.*
Over the 4th of July holiday, we finally took the small detour to check it out. As the 4th was a scorching hot day, things were quiet at Wandawega but we peeked around and snapped a few photos (and grabbed a couple brochures) before continuing on our way. The campgrounds are just as charming as I’d imagined. I’m hoping to revisit on a summer Sunday when the Campstore is open. I have my eye on a jug of maple syrup, but I’m sure there will be a few impulse purchases as well.
For more information, visit the Camp Wandawega website.
loving the patch (and the souvenir envelope: perfectly retro)
*you can read my blog post about A Very Modest Cottage here
Camp Wandawega is also profiled in the second issue of Show Pony Magazine as well as the Design*Sponge Summer 2012 Newspaper.
images, layout and type by jane potrykus
I’m a fan of anything that encourages curiosity, with bonus points for clean design. AGUA Design’s clever line of “seed book” notebooks (my city/my island/my observation) would be perfect to toss into your tote bag to record myriad bits of inspiration as they occur.
images from aguadesign.com: they also designed a gorgeous notebook covered in a 1945 map of formosa/taiwan
business card (front)
I’m pleased to officially announce the redesign of simplepretty! (Yes, I realize that I spilled the beans late last week on Twitter …. couldn’t wait.) The seeds of this redesign were planted over a year ago when my friend, designer extraordinaire Peggy Wong, and I started kicking around how to combine Futura and Didot Italic (my favorite typefaces) into the perfectly simple updated logo and business card.
Once the logo was ready, M Stetson Design/Lindsay Stetson Thompson and software architect Rommel Santor did a bang-up job of taking Peggy’s business card design and translating it into a functional-yet-minimalist (and gorgeous) website.
Some of the highlights:
- simple + pretty has transitioned to simplepretty. short answer is because it’s simpler.
- the redesigned website is responsive, so whether you read on an iPhone, iPad, Android, or the web, it retains ease of navigation.
- streamlined sharing of simplepretty blog posts on social media: simply click on the relevant icon at the bottom of the post.
- links (with photo previews) for my instagram + pinterest accounts have been added to the sidebar.
- blog archives have been compressed to a drop-down menu. after six years of blogging, the previous archive list was quite cumbersome, to the point of becoming unruly.
- the addition of a travel category. more places to go + things to do to follow.
business card (back)
Thanks Lindsay, Rommel, and Peggy! And thanks to all of my readers. I hope you like the new look as much as I do.
So happy to have stumbled across these photos from artist Kazuko Horii’s 2011 “Crocodiles & Stationery” exhibition at Claska (Tokyo). Sweet designs and a cheery green that pops when paired with gray! More photos at the Claska blog.
images from claska.com
In today’s ever-increasing predilection for virtual interactions, Real – The Physical Network aims to preserve (and celebrate) all things material.
Participants submit (via the Royal Post) items of their choosing to be displayed in one of 100 claimable metal cages or “plots”*, which are on view through July 27 in London at 1-2 Royal Opera Arcade. The plots are also viewable at the Real website.
A clever project which may alter your view of (and perhaps lend thought to) social media postings going forward.
* plots are claimed and reserved through the Real website
images from welcometoreal.co.uk; layout and type by jane potrykus; project discovery via protein
