8 High Quality Free PSD Websites

Web Treats has a whole lot of nice seamless web textures.

Here's a list of 8 websites that offer freebies for photoshop including web elements which I'm always in search of.

Best Places to Stay on Vacation

The two most important factors when booking a hotel or place to stay while on vacation is 1. Location 2. Price. This website www.airbnb.com, featured in the New York Times allows you to find a creative solution to both. Simply put, people place their homes, apts, flats, mansions, tree houses (for real!) on the site. You can get a good deal and it beats any hotel by far. Is there some risk involved? I would say so, but you do have some reviews to look at and other factors to ensure that things go smoothly. Regardless, I love their website interface.

These Retro Charms are just irresistible

In truth I am no fan of charm jewelery but browsing this season's Fossil magazine, I just fell in love with their retro charms. They have an awesome selection, some with great detail - like a rhinestone in the camera lens (how adorable!), and others with beautiful color.

Hear design geniuses shmooze while you work

5by5
Just found these web shows on 5by5 and I'm very happy I did. It's playing in the background as I work. They have lots of different shows airing and have compiled quite a large database by now. I'm finding "The Big Web Show" relevant for me talking about thinks like "...web publishing, art direction, content strategy, typography, web technology, and more. It's everything web that matters. Hosted by Dan Benjamin and Jeffrey Zeldman."

How long does it take to bike from NJ to California?

For these 3 guys its going to take them 2 months. Now that's what I call motivation. They're biking for friendship and stopping along the way to the various Friendship Clubs (pairs up teen volunteers with special needs children) all over the US. Track their trip to see how many miles they're going, plus you can read their blog. They've got some great pictures!
http://www.friendshipcircle.com/bike_events.asp

No I'm not going to Stockholm...

but I would love to attend this art school just from watching the video! Can you please move to NY, Hyper Island?


Hyper Island On a Wall from Hyper Island on Vimeo.

My Virtual Cork Board

Neat example of a cork board. Notice the color swatches in the center 
and the vintage labels scattered around. (Photo: Magic Jelly)

Here's a toast to the first post on my virtual cork board! I was flipping through the book Signature Weddings by Michelle Rago - hey, it was so much more appealing than studying for biology - and I just loved the way she found inspiration from things like browsing the vintage shops, to papery and beaches. Each wedding profile featured in the book had a chart listing all the things that inspired the wedding design. They seem so fragmented and varied (think blueberries, old gates, Bohemian, meadows, Maine ) but then you see how she puts it all together, its incredible. Where does she pool all these ideas together? In the intro she describes the two cork boards hanging on the wall next to her desk. One is where she hangs her magazine tear-offs, color pallets, flowers, charms, cool wrapping paper and anything else that wows her (and can fit on the board), the second one is a visual sketch-board for the client to hang her favorites.

So here I am, excited to have this blog as my virtual cork board. Aside from saving room and preventing clutter - ok I will probably get one, once I set up my office -  its a great way to keep all my inspiration in one place and hopefully build up great ideas from it. Just let the ideas flow...