25 Hours in a Day

Hey all! My sister submitted a doodle to a doodle contest. Because she is awesome and her doodle rocks, please vote for her! Just click here.

Mary Meccage – 25 Hours in a Day

 

Put a Bird On It

Typography is wonderful

Typography done right is wonderful. Check out these sweet typographic maps I came across today. Such a practical way to label a map – it brings it to life. Words no longer label location but become location: streets and rivers and neighborhoods. I love it!

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CHICAGO

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SAN FRANSCISCO

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SEATTLE

Financial Education and Kid Art

August – what a blur!

I changed jobs this month and have been adjusting to a new schedule and the whole transition of am working in a educational type role again. The subject matter is near and dear to my heart (financial education) and I’m loving being able to help families meet their asset goals and get out of debt. The opportunities to learn about financial matters (tax laws, public policy, etc.) is inspiring. I also get to travel a bit and am excited for an upcoming conference in Washington D.C.! Should be very educational and a lot of fun. Blah blah blah. Well – enough of work! Sorry to bore you all.

Now, I want to share a silly story about some nice young girls. The other day, when we were painting the exterior of our house, two girls strolled up (maybe 6 or 7 years old). And literally one was in a stroller, being pushed along by her friend, while she carried a big box on her lap. They were very cute indeed. They asked if I would like to buy some art from their big box to help their “back-to-school fund”.

Sure – I love kid art. So one by one they showed me their “posters”. I was utterly disappointed! I usually am very encouraging of art and creativity (even if I have no idea what it is), but this time I was just plain saddened. Their so-called “posters” were pages just torn out of an everyday magazine! And that’s it. Granted they were only selling them for a penny a piece, but still. No creativity. At. All. That made me sad.

So, the teacher in me thought to tell them honestly what I thought (in a nice way) and encourage them to be creative! After all kids have some of the most interesting ideas. I remembered back to when I was a little girl and went through the “make-a-homemade-envelope-from-a-magazine-page” phase of life. I told the girls to wait a sec and I ran inside, grabbed an envelope, scissors, and glue. Then on the sidewalk we made a few envelopes out of those “posters” and the girls had so much fun! And so did I. They left pretty excited to make envelopes and homemade greeting cards from their “posters”. Not sure if they sold any – they never did come back!

That is my silly story. If you have kids or are around kids – inspire them to be creative. Don’t let them settle for easy pre-made things. Help them to use their resources to make something new, repurposed, and original. OK - those are my thoughts! Would love to hear yours!

Moustache May and more

My sister is quite hilarious, interesting, and sweet. Topped with a bit of sarcasm and wrapped in random - this girl makes me laugh! She surprised me the other day with a few hilarious posts:


Moustache May (enough said – you’ll just have to go check it out and you may actually learn something about – yes – moustaches and their connection to May.)

Copyright 2010 Mary Meccage

*This actually was my dear husband in May – Naaa! I hope he doesn’t grow one next year!*


Chairs. Highlighting the “Grandma Chair” with a digital twist.





And a “charming” portrait of me to match my hubby’s moustache pic. Wow – what a weird couple you must be thinking. You may or may not be correct.

Design Advice

via:: House Tour

I came across this simple design advice printed on a dishtowel - “Get rid of crap. Buy things you’ll love forever. Make stuff.” Hits the nail on the head!

Things in a Row

1.2.

3.

4.

[image sources]

1. Apples apples in a row. Crisp goodness. apples

2. Garden on the mind. Why not bring it inside? Fun use for extra tea tins. tea tin garden

3. Light bulb simplicity. bare bulbs

4. Back on the farm. Scrambled sounds nice. fresh eggs

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Peddlers Station, 645 Custer Ave., Billings, MT 59102

By the way – last Saturday we rode our bikes down to a local antique shop called Peddlers Station (6th & Custer). We had never been there before, but when we walked in they mistook us for a couple that came in a year ago on their bikes and bought a chalkboard. Hmm…who could that have been, our good friends S & L perhaps? Hilarious!

Here is a picture I bought for $5 – and they even delivered it to our house! Awesome little store – must ride your bike there to visit.

Have a wonderful Saturday! Great day for a bike ride!

Custom Graphics Land

I have the coolest sister ever. She just surprised me with a new header for my blog! I love it! I’ve now just graduated from “default pre-made header land” to “custom graphics land”.

 This next image is pretty special too. It was an exercise for one of her graphic design classes focusing on a family member. Focus: hand drawn, up/down and side/side strokes, serif font, decorative title font capturing character of person, etc.

Grandpa Al. I love how it captures his character and personality with the simple descriptors and fun art style. Love it!

Mary, thanks for sharing! Keep up the good work!

::DOA – Descendant of Al