Made4Aid Monday - Winter Snow Photography Cards

Today's Made4Aid post highlights a set of greeting cards, made with prints of original photography of snowy winter scenes in London. They would make a lovely gift for someone this season (or for you). The photographs are printed in high resolution on premium glossy photographic paper and mounted on good quality white card. The cards are blank inside for your own greeting and come with matching envelopes. The size of these cards is 5 inches/12.5cm square.

If you would like to order a custom set of cards, there are 16 winter scenes and you can choose any of these to be made into cards. See the full set here.

Any of these photographs, made into cards, at the following prices:
7 cards for $19; 8 cards for $22; 12 cards for $32

All prices inclusive of shipping worldwide.

Made4Aid items are sold to support the work of Médicin sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and the World Food Programme. Please see other items in the made4aid shop : http://www.etsy.com/shop/made4aid

Weekend - La chanteuse, Françoise Hardy

For a little French fun, visit Francoise Hardy's terrific website. You can watch some of the videos from her new album, La pluie sans parapluie. Giulia especially loves the first song Noir sur blanc & she's listening & tapping her pawpads this very moment. (1960s photo by Jean-Marie Périer via FH website)

ciao-lalala-meow/GGCM

The Line of Beauty in London - Week's End

What's with all the London posts? Jealousy, pure & simple (& we have friends & readers in & near London). Another terrific fashion illustration exhibit, this time at Somerset House (through 9 January 2011). The exhibit is Dior Illustrated: René Gruau and the Line of Beauty. And before or after you see it (maybe after is better?), you should absolutely go ice skating. The rink opens next week (23 November). (illustration & the head's up via automatism, thanks!)

ciao-cheeky-meow/GG Central

Free Holiday Downloads from West Elm

West Elm has free lovely holiday downloads. There are two categories: Gifting (gift tags, labels, & recipe cards) & Entertaining (place cards, name tags, & menus). The four themes: botanical, animal, graphic, & a GG favorite, snowflakes. Just download & print out on card stock, sticker paper, whatever suits you. Thank you, West Elm.

ciao-meow/GG's freebie coordinator

November Afternoon in Venice

A happy little boy in Venice in another time. By our friend Bernd who took wonderful photographs in Venice. Here are two more on bricolage. (photograph by Bernd Krause/all rights reserved)

Here's a fun game called Europe Map Match via KidsGeo.com.

Have a good evening!

ciao-meow/GGCM

Write2Win - Calling All Writers & Editors

Writers and Editors: Will You Help Us?

Write2Win is a new nonprofit organization that brings the writing community into 6th-12th grade U.S. classrooms via email to provide personal mentoring to struggling students. Our goal is to make a difference by helping teachers and administrators who are working hard to turn around failing schools and galvanize effective educational innovation.

Low-achieving students in our Chicago and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, pilot programs have been raising their writing grades an average of over 19% working with our editors’ one-on-one guidance. For many of them, this has been the difference between a D and a B! Teachers report that students look forward to their personal notes and encouragement each time they receive our edited files.

Too many of our young people are falling through the cracks of the public school system, and too many are dropping out or graduating with very low academic confidence. We want to help them succeed, and having strong writing skills leads to success, not only in college but in just about any career they might pursue.

To that end, we are asking everyone who has taught writing or made their living as a writer or editor to consider volunteering an hour or two a week (or even an hour or two a month). Joining our team of volunteer writers is easy, flexible, and absorbing. You will notify us when you are available to take on a few papers, with no pressure from us. We usually have four to five days' turnaround time, so our editors find it easy to fit this into their schedules.

Many of us enjoy reading the students' papers and finding creative ways to encourage and mentor them. I hope you will consider joining us. Please go to this page on our website to see our small but mighty (and growing) wall of heroes: http://www.write2winonline.org/editors.html

You can view and open sample edited papers from this link to see the color-coded system we use to provide guidance to the students: http://www.write2winonline.org/system.html

Please write Linda Wolf at info@write2winonline.org for more information on becoming part of our team. More info: http://www.write2winonline.org/index.html

**************

As seen on Work-in-Progress. How about it?

(photograph via Spanish Vogue)

An Apple a Day

GG's editor is massively busy cleaning up the aftermath of Giulia's Sunday Wild Rumpus. (As opposed to her Daily rumpi) Everyone is so busy these days...but here are two easy-peasy apple recipes from Jamie Oliver & Martha Stewart. Here's another gorgeous apple recipe--not as easy, no, but worth a bit more time. It's Hollandse appeltaart from super-Pille's nami-nami food blog. (photograph via Martha Stewart(dot)com)

ciao-meow/GG's cook

Tate Kids Create - Colouring Book

More free coloring pages--this time from Tate Britain's Tate Kids. There's lots of craftiness on the large site but you might want to start with the outline of Emma, Lady Hamilton as Circe by George Romney. (image via here)

Enjoy!

ciao-meow/The Management

PS: Today is your last chance to vote in Shabby Apple's Dare to Design (a dress) Competition. Vote here.

Monet's Debt to Flowers

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.--Claude Monet

Happy birthday to Claude Monet (1840). For some helpful travel information about, thoughts on, & photographs of Monet's garden at Giverny, visit The Clever Pup's Paris Notebook. She was there just last month & has the best ideas about how to visit Paris. Hint: Wear rose-colored glasses only part of the time or you will miss out. (Poplar (Autumn) series via here)

We're off to walk through some autumnal garden scenes, as well. Have a great Sunday.

ciao-bonjour-meow/GGCM

GG Takes a Hike - Week's End

We're off to take an urban hike but mainly GG's editor is fussing about with a new banner & template colors. A trip to Brookside Gardens is planned for the weekend. Here is their cool (new-to-us) online botanical drawing gallery. Giulia is fuming that the website says: no pets at the gardens. She is claiming service animal status. It's true that she has an invitation to become a "licensed" therapy cat. (Seriously.) Have a good weekend! (photograph by laura trevey via rachel follet/lovely clusters)

ciao-meow/GG's editor

Ice Skating in Washington, DC

Opening weekend for the 2010-2011 ice-skating season at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC) is currently scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, November 13 and 14. For inquiries, please call (202) 216-9397. (Jules Chéret poster)

Giulia wants skates. We've been over this before. No & no. Non.

ciao-meow/GGCM

The Art Zone - Make Your Own Art

Do you know about the National Gallery of Art's Art Zone (for kids of all ages)? You do? Oh. Why did you not tell us? It's an interactive site on which you, yes you, can make art. There is so much in fact, that why don't you just visit? Giulia's head is about to pop with excitement. (She's a very sensitive artiste.)

The NGAkids Still Life helps you create interactive art that mirrors the paintings of the old masters. Mix everyday objects and painted elements while experimenting with composition, scale, and perspective. This Art Zone activity is suitable for all ages. Young children can compose engaging interactive still lifes online while learning simple spatial and math concepts. More advanced artists can create complex compositions and then switch to the painting mode to add and manipulate textured 'brushstrokes" that give the art a more abstract quality. (from the NGA website, credits here)

We're off to create a masterpiece.

ciao-arty-meow/GG's editor

November 9/10, 1938

On 9 November, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Anne Frank House will present the Anne Frank timeline a visual timeline in which Anne Frank’s story is placed in the context of important historical events. The Anne Frank Timeline starts in 1914 with the outbreak of World War One and Otto Frank’s conscription into the German army and continues through to today including the significance of the diary and the Anne Frank House.

The Anne Frank Timeline includes exceptional photographs and audio and video fragments. There is a TV interview with Simon Wiesenthal about his search for Karl Silberbauer, the SS officer who arrested Anne Frank and the others in hiding. There are also images taken in Amsterdam showing Jewish refugees from Germany who were taken in after the Kristallnacht. The timeline also includes fragments of radio broadcasts from Dutch radio stations with one of Otto Frank speaking at the opening of the Anne Frank House on 3 May 1960. (via Anne Frank House)

(photograph by D Sharon Pruitt)

Drawing Fashion in London

For lucky ducks in London (or who will be) before 6 March 2011, there's a new exhibit at London's Design Museum on fashion illustration. In the museum shop is beautiful catalogue, a set of 6 cards, & two reproduction prints. (image by François Berthoud via artnet(dot)com)

ciao-cheerio-meow/GGCM

From the Design Museum website:

"Drawing Fashion celebrates a unique collection of some of the most remarkable fashion illustrations from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. These original works define the fine art of illustrating fashion, from the collections of Chanel, Dior, Comme des Garçons and Poiret as well as Viktor & Rolf, Lacroix and McQueen. This exhibition showcases fashion illustrators at their creative heights: Lepape at the beginning of the century, Gruau in the 40's and 50's, Antonio throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, to current artists Mats Gustafson, Aurore de la Morinerie and François Berthoud. Film-clips, news reels, music and photography will sit alongside the original illustrations to reflect not only the spirit and the style of the decades but also the wider social and cultural changes of the century."

Made4Aid Monday - Blue Messenger Bag

This beauty is for sale at Made4Aid's Etsy shop. We're thinking it could accommodate a laptop, too. While this bag does require extra money for shipping (only 5.00USD within the EU), there are two pretty bags available, free shipping anywhere in the world. Made4Aid accepts payment via PayPal & 3 major credit cards. If you're not buying anything this year (or yet), understood. But visiting the site's shop & adding it to your favorites would be helpful. Thanks so much. (image property of Made4Aid/used with permission)

ciao-meow/The Mgmt.

Sunday Style - Let's Bring Back

30 Things that Need to Stage a Comeback - Pronto! What's on your list? There's a slideshow compiled by Lesley Blume on The Huffington Post. She has a new book based on her columns Let's' Bring Back (started in 2007). Accuse of us of sentimental hogwash, we don't care. How bad can it be to wish for a return to manners, libraries, picnics, cool hotel lobbies, & hats on men? Waste some time, you know you want to, & vote for your faves. (Annie Hall still via Huffington Post under Long, Leisurely Evening Walks)

ciao-cheeky-meow/GG & her editor

IKEA Launches Annual Soft Toy Campaign - 2010

Ta da! Oh. We're five days late...eep. If you're planning a trip to IKEA, pick up a soft toy. If you don't need one, donate it to Toys for Tots or another toy-collection campaign. This year, from November 1–December 24, for every soft toy sold, 1 euro (USD $1.35) will go to IKEA global partners UNICEF and Save the Children to extend and start new children's educational programs in 22 countries. The 2010 campaign goal is to raise over $13 million dollars globally, with $1 million being raised in the U.S.

You can count on us to remind you every so often & about the specials upcoming in December, as well. But if you happen to be going to IKEA tomorrow (or today, if you're up too late in Europe--go to bed!), any purchase, however tiny, goes to the campaign. Don't forget about Darfur Peace & Development baskets (either seconds or firsts) & Made4Aid's Etsy shop. (image of Klapper animal set & Klapper elephant mama & baby via IKEA US website)

ciao-wow-meow/GGCM

Basket Seconds Sale at Darfur Peace & Development - Week's End

Second isn't always a bad thing. You have to learn & then you can move to first, right? Please consider buying some baskets. (They work well in work & play & kitchen spaces.) Please pass on this message. Thanks so much!

ciao-meow/GG's editor

From the DPDO website:

The May shipment of baskets contained a number of baskets that are less than perfect. The imperfections include dye bleeding from designs, loose weaves, broken weaves, and inexpert craftswomanship.

Our quality control standards have been fully implemented at Kassab camp, but we have some work to do with the weavers at our new center in Abu Shouk camp. Some women who are less skilled in the craft join the Center to earn regular income. These are women looking for a second chance and we do not turn them away.

Going forward, we are maintaining a high level of quality control. We encourage all the new weavers to learn from the masters in the group.We have a few hundred SECONDS. They represent a lot of work by women in desperate circumstances.

The baskets are serviceable and structurally sound – but not decorative in a “gifty” way. These SECONDS could be used for storage of supplies – crayons, pens, etc — in schools, community centers and homes.

We are selling the SECONDS at cost. This way we preserve the income lifeline of all the weavers.

Cost per item: $7-10. We will accept any reasonable offer for quantities over 25. Please contact Susan Burgess-Lent 202-393-8150

(French market by Eistenstaedt for LIFE/basket collage via DPDO photographs)

Damson & Slate - A Breath of Welsh Air

We're awfully floopy here at GG Central. So, here's a recent post from GG's editor's blog. (To avoid the first-person pronoun--oh it's exhausting, truly--the text is here.)

Looking at the Vogue Knitting Holiday 2010 magazine + Dylan Thomas birthday + hand-washing Laura Ashley Welsh knit scarves & lacy cardigan = Damson & Slate website gazing. Just about everyone on US design blogs talks about Toast. (They are terrific, but here is a site that actually toots their Welsh horn.)

ciao-cariad-meow/the Mgmt.

(image via Damson & Slate)

What to Wear to a Mad Tea Party

Thank goodness a friend had the foresight to send Giulia's editor this fab Zara Carpenter Alice Bow headband for a recent birthday. She'll be suitably attired for the new Washington landscape. Zara is the talented hat/head gear designer at Chatham Girl. She has a cheeky English sense of humor. GG's editor wrote about her, here. And you can visit Zara, here. Now we must rush for we are late, very late...

Update: look at the new feline-inspired berets!

ciao-curiouser-meow/GG Central

(image via Chatham Girl/Zara Carpenter/all rights reserved/used with permission)

The Waiting...

...is the hardest part.

ciao-fume-meow/GG Voter Central

(image via Mary Cassatt - The Complete Works)

"I Need You to Vote"

President Obama & GG ask you to vote, please. If you still do not know where your polling place is, please go here & find out. (scan of sign we proudly display)

Made4Aid Month

Made4Aid now sells items through a new Etsy shop. GG will be featuring items from the shop this month & next.

Made4Aid is a non-profit-making organisation, raising money for aid and relief work, through the generosity of creative people around the world. Handmade art or craft items - or materials - can be donated to made4aid and will be sold online to raise money for aid. All proceeds go to the relief work of Médicins sans Frontières (aka Doctors without Borders) and World Food Programme USA. You can find more information about where the money goes here.

If you have any items to donate, please read guidelines, here.

ciao-meow/GG Central

(made4aid mosaic/all rights reserved)

Happy Hallowe'en

Have a spooky (but not too scary) evening! (illustration via Vintage Holiday Crafts)

ciao-shivery-meow/GG & her editor

The Clever Pup's Paris Notebook - Week's End

GG Central is in a mad Friday/Saturday- Hallowe'en-Rally for Sanity rush...oof. So pull up a chair, sip on some hot chocolate (or a glass of wine) & dip into the recent Parisian adventures of our Canadian friend. This is a new & ongoing venture, not the Pup you might be accustomed to (note the Breton shirt, ballerinas, & the beret placed just so). Très mignon, non?

We'll be back over the weekend to wish you a Happy Hallowe'en. (You can always hop over to GG's editor's blog & say boo.)

ciao-meow/GG's editor

(illustration by Hazel Smith/all rights reserved 2010/used with permission)

Pepita Treats

We just made these--so easy. All you need are pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), sugar, honey, & a little butter. Click here for the recipe from Martha Stewart's Halloween Central. More What To Do with Pumpkin Seeds. We're making the spicy pumpkin seeds next. (image via Martha Stewart) PS: Each treat is 2 Weight Watchers pts. Enjoy!

ciao-crunch-meow/GG Central

Play Dress-Up - Mad Men Yourself

Are you missing Mad Men? Are you supposed to be doing something else right now but musing & waiting for a good idea (or waiting to get out of a task?). It happens to the most productive of us. Go to AMC's Mad Men Yourself & play. (Be aware that some jazzy music will start up & we can't figure out how to mute it for you.) Set a timer so you don't spend more than 10 minutes. Then you're done. Here's our rather plain first attempt. Note the rolled-up newspaper, ready to whack (lightly) people for criticizing Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert for holding the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Keep Fear Alive here in Washington, DC on Saturday. Yes, we're going. No, it will not harm our democracy. That political satirists are allowed to have a rally in the middle of the national's capital IS the point.

By the way--if you're in the States, you are planning to vote next Tuesday -- if you've not already done so in early voting/absentee voting. Right? Hmmmm.

ciao-meow/GG's Mad Men Basket Case

(second image via Indecision Forever (dot) com)

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Finalists - Vote Now

GG wants YOU to vote for your favorite Shabby Apple's Dare to Design finalist dress. There is a technical error that zee blogeuse at Apple a Day is working to resolve, but you can vote in the comments for now. Voting ends 15 November 2010. Vote only once. (This photograph is on many sites. This particular version is from audrey hepburn complex via daily bits of beauty)

ciao-meow/GG's hairdresser (she doesn't need a dress, remember?)

Win "A Long Piece of String"

Hint--it's a children's book. Are you interested in vintage (ahem) 1963 children's literature? Are you American or Canadian? Well, go to Basket of Kisses & enter this giveaway. (Basket of Kisses is GG's editor's favorite blog about Mad Men.) You have until 31 October (this Sunday). All you have to do is visit & say to whom you would read the book if you won. Easy peasy. (images via Basket of Kisses)

ciao-meow/GG's editor

Hallowe'en Costumes - Butterflies & Bees

Some fun costume ideas & how-to for adults & for grown-up + child via Martha Stewart. Only a few more days. We are working on the GG template & also on GG's editor's blog, so we're letting Martha & her amazing staff do the heavy lifting. (above: Madame Butterfly, Cat & Kitten, & Beekeeper)

ciao-meow/GG Hallowe'en Central

Celebrate Hallowe'en with a Black Kitten

Pssst. Do you live in the Washington, DC-area? There's a wonderful idea on the Washington Animal Rescue League's website (in italics, below). Also enjoy artist Tina Tarnoff's Audition for a Black Cat. It's very funny. (photograph by Ralph Crane via LIFE archives)

ciao-meow/GG Central

In the spirit of Halloween, if you adopt any of our kittens with black hair on them, you will receive 50% off the adoption fee (only $25)! From now until the end of October 31, when you adopt a kitten (under 1 year old) that has any black fur on them, the adoption fee will only be $25. As always, if you adopt a cat that is over 1 year old, the adoption fee is waived. Come in to see the spectacular kittens we have available at the League who are awaiting their perfect, forever homes!

GG's Geography Games

Quiz Your Noodle & other free games from National Geographic Kids. GG is utterly uninterested in broadening her horizons today. Even after viewing this adorable illustration of a worldly teacher & her students. She just yawned. Despair. (An Interesting Lecture illustration via Vintage Holiday Crafts)

ciao-meow/GG's editor

Fierce Feline Pumpkin

GG's pumpkin design choice this year. Lots of good ideas & templates to download/print at Martha Stewart Halloween Central. How difficult can this be? We'll let you know. (We are still trying to sort out the website template & colors. Meanwhile, thanks for not making fun of us!)

ciao-rowr-meow/GG Central

New York City Ballet Coloring Pages - Week's End

Who knew that one of our favorite ballet companies had a children's section on their website? You did? We salute you. We're behind the times, apparently. There are 36 thumbnails to click on. An outline of characters is downloaded with the ballet title, choreographers, & costume credits. Click print et voilà. You become the costume designer. GG's editor just tried it & it works perfectly. Have a great weekend.

ciao-meow/GG Central

(little ballerina feet by Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE; coloring book via NYCB website)

Hallowe'en Flower Girls

Need Hallowe'en costume ideas? Flower mad like GG & her editor? Here are a few from Martha Stewart. The top photograph is our ideal & is definitely do-able. (Don't forget about FEED Projects Halloween Trick-or-Treat bag.) Adult costumes & masks up next. (Very simple ideas, too.) (photographs via Martha Stewart & bricolage)

ciao-meow/GG Central

The Sketchbook Project 2011

Doesn't this look like fun? GG continues to hide her opposable thumbs & cannot participate. But you can. (There is a price but if you would like to be part of a large art project & travelling exhibit, it seems small. Of course, if you cannot, keep drawing anyway!)

Even though GG's editor has used Moleskines for various projects over the years, she was alerted to The Sketchbook Project by the lovely author of secret, fragile skies & agelessbeautyalways (separate blogs). We highly recommend these elegant & slightly wistful reflections by a writer in New York.

Now go sketch, draw, play, start a rumpus. Giulia is exhibiting her talent in that last activity. Right. Now.

ciao-meow/GG's beleaguered editor

(graphics by Hannes Haus from his 2009 Sketchbook)

NB: The deadline to sign up is 31 October 2010. There are discounts for groups.

GOTV - Volunteer to Get Out the Vote

"This election isn't just about one vote or one party--it's about your future. It's time to get out there and shape it, it's time to get out there and fight for it."--President Obama


Please spread the message. This election is as important as 2008, perhaps more.

ciao-meow/GGTV

Fresh Flowers for Tough Times

For those of us residing in the State of Penury, here is an excellent idea by Sarah of Blossom and Branch, via Design*Sponge. It's a definite upgrade from our parsley-in-a-creamer. This is Sarah's second post in a twice-a-month series, Flowers A-Z. Take a look, you might be surprised by the ingredients.

ciao-meow/GG's floral designer

(images via design*sponge, GG collage)

Made4Aid Monday - Flower Photography Cards

GG's editor did the math--not our strong suit, admittedly--but we are aces on a calculator. With free shipping world-wide (this is rare, people), each card costs $2.75 (USD). Go to any store & see if you can find lovely handmade cards for $2.75. We'll save you the trouble because we searched: you cannot. These cards make a thoughtful gift, too. GG Central has ordered from Made4Aid from nearly the beginning & can therefore highly recommend from several trouble-free experiences.

ciao-meow/GG's editor

(photograph & text below via Made4Aid's new etsy shop)

From Made4Aid:

A set of 8 original flower photography greeting cards. Made and donated to made4aid by Sally. The photographs are from a series of flower photos, printed in high resolution on glossy photographic paper and mounted on good quality card. The cards are blank inside for your own greeting and come with matching envelopes. The size of these cards is 5 inches/12.5cm square. The price of this item includes shipping worldwide. Made4aid items are sold to support the work of Médicins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and the World Food Programme. For more info. about made4aid go to www.made4aid.org

Sous le Ciel de Paris - Week's End

GG & her editor wish everyone a good weekend. A big welcome back from Paris to our friend La Clever Pup. Here is Juliette Gréco in 1962, singing the Jacques Brel song. It was re-popularized by last year's excellent film, An Education.

ciao-meow/GG Central

(Photograph by windswept ribbons via audrey hepburn complex)