New Set of Modernist London II Winter Edition Greeting Cards by Graphic Designer Stefi Orazi

Designer Stefi Orazi of East London has produced her second set of Modernist London Winter Edition cards for 2012.



above: details from London Zoo's Penguin Pool card and the Centrepoint card.

The elegant and graphic urban snow scenes are printed in 4 special colours. The iconic buildings featured in this set include the Brunswick Centre, Erno Goldfinger's house on 2 Willow Road, Lubetkin's Penguin Pool at the London Zoo, Centrepoint as well as her old favorites - Barbican and Golden Lane Estate. She's also donating £1 of every sale to a homeless charity Shelter this year, making them even more beautiful.








Printed on recycled paper in England, each pack includes 6 illustrated cards (size A6) and envelopes. Since the cards don't feature any text they work throughout the season as Holiday Greetings, New Year's Cards or just for special correspondence.

Get your pack here.

Stefi's first set from 2007 which contained four cards and is no longer available, can be seen here.

Wishing You All A Very Hip Christmas.

To all my readers - faithful and infrequent - thanks for the kind notes, interesting submissions and continued readership. Your encouragement and compliments make the daily task of blogging very rewarding.

I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday from the bottom of my heart.

It's Snowing Star Wars! 10 new DIY Star Wars Paper Snowflake Templates.

above: Yoda, one of the ten new DIY Star Wars paper snowflakes for 2011


This year, one of my most popular posts has been my 2010 how to make your own Star Wars snowflakes (Darth Vader and a Bobba Fett/Clone snowflake) as taught by a husband and wife team.

Well, now it's snowing Star Wars!
Two more designers, Anthony Herrera and Chaunce Dolan of Matters of Grey have jumped on the paper Star Wars Snowflake bandwagon and provide us with ten new Star Wars paper snowflake templates for 2011.


above illustration by Anthony Herrera

A new Darth Vader, Yoda, R2D2, C-3PO, Scout Troopers, Storm Troopers, Clone Troopers, Admiral Ackbar, Ashoka, and Boba Fett snowflakes you can make yourself with some paper, a pair of scissors, a downloadable template and a little help from The Force.

c3po Snowflake:

R2D2 Snowflake:

Scout Trooper Snowflake:

Storm Trooper Snowflake:

Clone Trooper:

Ashoka Snowflake:

Admiral Ackbar Snowflake:

Darth Vader Snowflake (new for 2011):

Boba Fett Snowflake (new for 2011):

The Yoda paper cut snowflake is shown at the top of this post.

The pdf diagrams/templates of all the above can be downloaded here.

and the original two...
Darth Vader Snowflake:

Boba Fett and Clone Trooper Snowflake:

pdf diagrams/templates of the above two can be downloaded here


"Have A Merry Christmas, You Will."


Looking for Star Wars related gifts? Check these links:

Other Star Wars toys, Star Wars christmas ornaments, figurines and more

Star Wars Books, Movies, Calendars and more from Amazon

Winter Magic. Spellbinding Photographs by Per Breiehagen For Italian Children's Brand Chicco.

I came across these stunning winter landscapes by photographer Per Breiehagen and discovered that they began as a personal project and blossomed into an international ad campaign.




In 2007 Breiehagen photographed his three year old daughter Anja, styled by his wife Lori Evert, as a traditional Nordic elf near his home in Minnesota. The images expertly and magically captured the holiday spirit for his personal Christmas cards.




Encouraged by the feedback, Breiehagen embarked on a much larger project. Born and raised in Norway, his childhood had centered around the fairytales and lore that are rich in Norwegian culture. Stories of elves, trolls and other creatures have inspired his narratives, instilling a sense of magic and mystery in his imagery. “Growing up in a storytelling tradition, these mental images would always be there and certainly influenced my creativity,” he says.





The first round of images went to Getty Images to be used as stock photography. Within a year, the elf girl series had been picked up by agencies in South America, Northern Europe and Asia for a variety of advertising and editorial campaigns, including AT&T. In 2010 ad agency McCann Erickson used the images for Italian baby brand Chicco's holiday campaign.




This year, Breiehagen has worked again with McCann Erickson to shoot his daughter Anja in an exclusive set of images for the 2011 Chicco brand holiday campaign, making the sweet little elf in the red cap the icon for the brand.


above: One of the images as used on Chicco's website.

The images can be seen on billboards, on television, in print and on their web site throughout this holiday season.














Breiehagen and wife Evert are now actively on the hunt for a publisher to create a Christmas book featuring these images. Anja is getting older but Breiehagen hopes her legacy as the little elf girl will continue to represent a timeless holiday spirit.

I have chosen my favorites from his Winter Magic Series to place in this post, to see all the shots, visit Per Breiehagen's site.

To learn more about the props, styling and digital compositing for these beautiful images, read Jacqui Palumbo's detailed article on this project for PDN, here.

all images courtesy of Per Breiehagen