A PUMPKIN FOR YOU - GUEST POST

Hello! I'm Barbara and I'm back with a new post from a new blog Pink Like a Peach. I decided to write about the new season and I ended up taking a few pictures of some beautiful decorative pumpkins I had been gifted  by a relative. Autumn is my favorite season for many reasons: my birthday is placed at the beginning of it , I have fond  memories of eating roasted chestnuts at the local church fair and of playing pranks during the Halloween day when nobody knew what Halloween was around here.

Is Halloween an official holiday where you live? I'd love to hear your stories.

PINK IN A BOWL: JUNE GIVEAWAY FOR DRASTIC PLASTIC READERS from BARBARA

Hello, Barbara from Momographica here :). June is already here and summer is approaching! The forecasting guy promised an unusual cold summer this year in Italy. In fact we are being submerged by storms and we are still hanging around with warm clothes! The fashion industry did really suffer with their Spring collection this time. But flowers had come and few days ago we were gifted with a marvellous, giant bunch of pink and white peonies. I indulged in some still-life photography and I created something new for you. 

My gift for you this June is a wallpaper featuring a peony in a bowl. I am experimenting a lot with black background lately, I simply love the light effects you can reach with it and a few lights. I am currently working on a series of photographs that feature flora and eastern styled home accessories. You can use this free picture as a wallpaper for your desktop or for your mood board, if you like it.

Last but not least, a few notes: I promised something big was coming this way, from me to you, this summer. Because I am currently renovating my workplace and I do need it to prepare what I thought for you, the project will be coming around September. Let's just hope the result will be worth the waiting! Happy June!

by Tereza

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FLOWERS FROM BARBARA

Hello Drastic Plastic readers, this is Barbara from Momographica. This is becoming a little corner of free give away and I hope that doesn't bother you too much. I love to prepare some unique creation for you, Drastic Plastic readers to enjoy and what better month than May to share the beauty of flowers!  May is also a popular month for brides in Italy and beautiful wedding dresses can be seen almost everywhere. 

This orchid looked like a delicate bride's gown and it was a way to enjoy this wedding season with you, thought I am no bride (long way to go here!) and it has been a long time since I had been invited to a wedding. If there is any fresh bride among the readers, I hope you can appreciate this modest gift.

This post comes also with some news. Next month this guest space will share a very unique interview that I am working on for Drastic Plastic readers. It is going to involve fashion, style and something that I hold very dear, Japan. But everything will happen in Italy! Stay tuned for further news. I wish you a very happy week!

SPRING GIVEAWAY by MOMOGRAPHICA

Barbara from Momographica has a new giveaway for you, two beautiful wallpapers that make me feel that spring is really here. All you have to do is save the images and use them as a desktop screen. Nice, wright :)?

by Tereza

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SPRING DESKTOP WALLPAPER GIVEAWAY

Hello! How you've been? It's Barbara from Momographica once again.

You know, I recently went through a few old photos and created some spring themed Desktop Wallpapers. I made this particular one as a gift from Momographica to you, Drastic Plastic readers, because I wish to welcome the new season with you. It's a simple offer but I hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless.  Merry spring to all of you!

All you have to do is save one of these two images, they have different sizes and you have yourself a new desktop wallpaper. 

VALENTINE'S DAY ON THE 15TH

Because of my crazy, fun and busy life I didn't realize that yesterday was V-day, that is why today I have a guest post from Barbara over at Momographica.

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Valentine has been a thorn in my side in ages. I am quite aware this is not the best introduction for a Happy Valentine post, still I prefer to be honest with you. I don't have a significant other at the moment neither particular happy memories tied to this festivity. But there is something that even I appreciate on February 14th and that thing is the tradition of gifting loved ones with chocolate.

In the last couple of years local bakeries and patisseries turned creative in this little town of mine and shop windows became filled with beautifully Valentine themed crafted boxes . As a graphic designer, I can't help but appreciating a good job on packaging and this time of the year seems to get people to be very innovative. Now that cup cakes and cake décor businesses are doing great in this part of Italy, I can barely wait to see what's going on this time.

I have one single good memory from Valentine and it was a gift I got from a Japanese friend, who sent me a delightful chocolate box from a famous shop in Tokyo. She knew about my interest for good design and she picked up wonderful crafted chocolate,shaped like tiny peonies. That was many years ago so the chocolate is long gone, but you can find tons of such examples if you google for it.

This monthly post main point was to share with you some good reference where you can find ideas for your Valentine gift. I think men always appreciate good food and there is nothing more valuable than a handmade gift, isn't it?

30 Valentine Recipes from Martha Stewart

Suggestions from the Wedding Bee Board

Victorian Tastes with Camille Styles

Old post but effective and scenic recipes by CakeSpy

The Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home: 100 new recipes for baking brilliance

CUT & PASTE with BARBARA

*Today I have a really nice guest post from Barbara, enjoy!

New year comes, new ideas do too. I am currently renovating my studio space and these days I often look around for inspiration. Doing that, I did realized that  I never spoke about anything remotely near to my tastes of contemporary fashion and interior design before on these pages. On my blog I don't speak about fashion, styling and interior design. Thought I love such arguments, I don't feel confident enough to speak about them with such experts as Drastic Plastic author and readers are. In my humble way, I'll share something I feel in love with a long time ago and that may turns out to be helpful to your fashionista ideas when you deal with styling, accessories or photo shoots.

The object in question is called Washi Tape and it's literally a tape made with washi, a style of Japanese rice paper. This idea was first introduced in 2006 , when a group of artists approached a Japanese tape manufacturer, Kamoi Kakoshi, and handed a book with their Art created using tapes by the said company. Later washi tape  quickly  became a trend well-known all over the planet.

Washi tape is a terrific object because you can use it for many decorating purposes, be it for your accessories, your interior décor or Art. It got a practical side, you can use it on surfaces like papers and such and take it off without ruining them. I found this to be really amazing. There is a huge collection of washi tapes around and it's really fun shopping.

Amazing shops can be found on Etsy, but places like Cute Tape and Hey Kessy are definitely worth mentioning. 

If you are looking for some Washi Tape Inspirations (they can help you create some unique gift for friends and family!), places like Scraphacker share amazing ideas. Just google out for it!

WISHES FROM MOMOGRAPHICA

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Momographica! How are you dealing with this freezing, cold weather? Me, I'm stuck at home, with a mug of hot tea, working.

I come with some news that you may consider my Christmas gift for you: starting from Friday I will be doing a podcast series on my blog and we will talk about creativity, inspiration and generally how a young Graphic Designer freelancer's life is dealing with this hard recession times. I am not sure if any Drastic Plastic reader out there might be interested in it but, if you don't mind, feel free to have a peek over at Momographica and see what's going on.

I really didn't know what to share with you this month but I became quite addicted with Vimeo recently and I found some fantastic animations on Christmas that I think you should really take a look. I compiled a personal list for you to enjoy. So, enjoy! :)

Have a lovely December and see you next year!

Five Christmas Themed Animation Films that will make your Christmas better:

To Give a Present

Christmas cards to friends

Nicholas Was

Share the Joy

Christmas Card

SCHOOL UNIFORMS from JAPAN

Hello Drastic Plastic readers, Barbara here! How have you been, how are you dealing with the beginning of the cold season?

I came back from Japan just a couple of days ago, where I went to exhibit my works at Design Festa. Now I am here, fresh of jet leg (12 hours by flight and 8 hours time difference are not joke!), typing for you about Japanese School uniforms. In Italy, where I live and grew up, when going to school we wear everyday clothes so I often dreamt of the cute, fashionable uniforms and bento boxes that where introduced in the Japanese animation shows of my childhood. Wikipedia got a quite resourceful page about the Japanese School Uniform if you are curious to read about it. I also found a couple of  interesting articles on They Didn't! and Danny Choo.

As for me, I took the liberty to share a couple of shoots of students I run into when I was wondering around Tokyo.

Happy November!

STORIES OF BLOGGERS FOR BLOGGERS

Hello Drastic Plastic readers, Barbara from Momographica here. How are you dealing with the end of the hot season? I've never been an admirer of warm weather so I always welcome Fall as the best of seasons. Also, I was born during the beginning of Fall so this season holds a special place in my heart. It brings back good childhood memories. It's a nostalgic time where I ponder about my life and what's generally going in it.

This Fall inspired me to speak about on why I became a blogger. I was sitting at my desk with a mug of wonderfully spiced  tea next to me and I thought that I really wanted to tell you about it and that I wanted to hear why you became one, if you are one. What about sharing our stories? I hope you are in!

In my high school years I used to keep a very small journal and website in my first language (Italian). It had been about Japanese animation, which was, back then, one of my top passions. It also helped me to gain some friend who shared my same interests. It had been great because I was lonely during those years. I dropped it when I went to University, because I had been too busy to keep it but it's still a good memory.

I didn't put myself into blogging again before last year, when I decided to open my current blog after attending a BYW course that a friend of mine recommended. For some reason many interests collided at that time: I enjoyed the course very much and I was looking for a place where to share my works and ideas as well as the things I learned.

I strongly felt that I wanted to interact with people on the network once again. After snobbing the internet community for years, I came to realize that now it had to offer so much more information and beautiful things that I could not be left out.

Once a person told me that if you aren't on the Internet, you don't exist. I am not sure how much of this it true but I can tell that being able to tell what you think and express what you believe to people who are interested in what you are going to say it's a wonderful feeling.

So, what is your story, fellow blogger?

VENICE MEMORIES

Hello Drastic Plastic readers, Momographica here. How was you summer? I am looking forward to read your stories, if you feel like sharing them by leaving comments. I really would love to read about it! Back to the subject, my summer has been totally boring. Due to work {which is a good thing} and the economic crisis {which is a bad thing}, I couldn't go anywhere, neither did my family.  Because of that, we decided for a short trip to Venice, which is an hour and a half by train from my town. Venice is one of the most popular places in Italy and it deserves the reputation. It's a place you must visit at least once in your life. But you may be surprised to hear that I visited Venice only a couple of times in my life, despite living pretty close. I really enjoyed my trip and I used this opportunity to try out my new camera. I hope you like my new photos and wish you a happy day!

THE DARK SIDE OF VINTAGE

Dear Drastic Plastic readers, it's Barbara from Momographica here. How is your summer going so far? In Italy weather is unbelievably hot during this season and I am seeking refuge in my own little study, with a powerful air conditioner and a glass of ice tea as my new best friends. 

I must make a confession: for a photographer like me, vintage markets are a shangri-la if you are looking for some interesting piece to add to your model's styling or eccentric last minute new entries to the composition.

There is a little truth behind the obscure title of this post: last Sunday I visited a vintage fair in my town which promised to be awesome so I waited so far because I wanted to share with all the Drastic Plastic readers an amazing experience in the reign of antique clothes. But what I thought to be something lovely to share turned out  to be anything but amazing. What a cruel world we live in! Bad, me and my never-ending trust into anything which smells vintage.

When I arrived at the place on late Sunday morning I had been welcomed by a small but ridiculously expensive selection of clothes and accessories, two or three old fashioned cars and a small group of (not vintage) children playing in the gardens of the building. The small selection of stalls mainly displayed pieces that were extravagant enough to come out from the closet of my great-grandma but in the worst condition and most of them costing nearly a fortune. It spoke clearly that vintage was being introduced as a mass of ugly, overpriced pieces that have nothing to do with those you find on magazines or tumblr blogs. You can imagine my disappointment.

When I lived in London I had been lucky enough to be located in Brick Lane and the Sunday vintage markets were absolutely delightful. Since then I got the habit to visit vintage markets whenever is possible. And in London, vintage was something quite unique and wherever you could find a good piece for a good price. In my place this seems an impossible task.

I am curious to know: what is it vintage where you live? Is there any rule to it? What is vintage for you?