This morning I woke up to dark skies and rain. Looking at the forecast, it looks like it’s going to be a wet weekend. *sigh* Yes, Fall is definitely here. It’s time to pull out my sweaters and scarves from the back of the closet.

*via*

This week’s Friday I’m In Llama image is one of my favorite llama photos of all time. These contrasting colors are gorgeous and this beautiful white llama couldn’t look more cozy. It embodies everything I love about this time of year, warm and rich textures. It makes me want to cozy up in my favorite knit blanket and drink some MarieBelle Hot Chocolate (my favorite!).

Happy Friday! Have a cozy weekend.. and don’t forget to shop the LAMA SUPER SALE (while you’re favorite LAMA merchandise is still around).

This is my favorite time of the year! The weather is gorgeous, the air is crisp, the trees are turning orange and red, and Halloween is just around the corner. Halloween was always fun as a kid. I loved getting dressed up for the Halloween parade at school and planning the trick-or-treating evening with my friends. It was a great time. As an adult, I’m happy to say that Halloween is still a ton of fun! I still dress up. Last year, I was fashion witch and I threw a pumpkin carving party with my neighbors. We also made Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls and played Guitar Hero (check out last year’s post for fun instructions on how to make your own sugar skulls). This year I’m already having a ton of fun dressing up Miles for Halloween. Yesterday he made his Dog-Milk debut as a shark (with an underbite of course).

Miles’s shark costume was part of my Halloween Hounds roundup that I had SO much fun putting together. Of course, I had to throw some great Latin costumes into the mix. How cute are these Mariachi and Carmen Miranda costumes from Bitch New York?!

This little Taco Chihuahua didn’t make the final cut but I couldn’t resist sharing him here. My parents have three and a half Chihuahuas (one is only half) and I can’t even imagine how cute it would be to send out an entire taco Chihuahua platter!

I still haven’t decided what I’m going to be for Halloween this year (any ideas?) but at least Miles is ready to go (and he looks fierce!) How is everyone else getting ready for Halloween? Is anyone else dressing up their dog? I would LOVE to see your photos and post them here for the holiday! If you’re dressing up your dog this year, please send me a photo and I’ll send you a great discount code to use at the LAMA shop. Trust me, with all of the great new products coming in, you’re going to want this code! Send all photos to info@lamadesigns.com with the subject dog costume. I can’t wait to see you’re wonderful photos! P.S. cats are welcome too!

Lately I’ve been working extra hard as I am currently in the process of redesigning the LAMA site with my wonderful graphic designer, Hijiri K. Shepherd. Along the with site redesign, I’m also in the process of ordering, receiving, and photographing new products for the shop. Product photography has always been a bit of a daunting task for me as I am not a trained photographer. In fact, I barely know how to use a camera. I often spend a lot of time searching the web for simple but beautiful product photography inspiration. I was excited to recently discover a beautiful e-shop from Praia da Aguda, Portugal called Loja de Estar. I adore the simple, colorful, and effective product shots taken by the shop’s owner.

I take all of my product photography in my own apartment and these photos make me want to paint all of my walls bright and brilliant colors! Unfortunately, I don’t think my landlord would approve. Oh well.. here’s to shooting the new line of products! (wish me luck)

In case you follow LAMA on twitter, yesterday I promised a new product sneak peek. Well, here it is! I’m thrilled to be working with Planar, a wonderful and environmentally conscious company from Argentina. Nothing brings me more joy than to welcome new companies to the LAMA line. I hope you like what you see below.. I sure do!

Cute canvas bags

Felt pillow cases with chic and modern prints

Industrial felt coasters that go in every interior

Mamushka felt bags (with polka dots!) Super cool 3 in 1 bag design (coin purse, handle purse, and cross body sling bag)

Modern print felt pillow case (also available in grass-green!)

Coming to LAMA soon!!

I’m taking a couple of days off to finish up with some work here in NYC. I’ll be back to regular blogging on Wednesday!  See you all then! Happy Monday!

Today I’m hanging out in New York city preparing to head off to Rhode Island for the wedding of one of my childhood friends. The past couple of days have been awesome hanging out in this incredible city (even though I was soaked in a torrential and unexpected downpour yesterday). I took the blogging day off yesterday to work along side my favorite graphic designer, Hijiri K Shepherd (and her dachshund Maia), on the redesign of the new LAMA site! We had a great time working together and we’re both excited about the new look LAMA will be taking on soon. Speaking of great people here in New York, today I’m off to Astoria to hang out with my favorite shop owners and contributor of this week’s Friday I’m In Llama!

Mackenzie Farquer, owner of SITE, was kind enough to send over these adorable llama illustrations by artist Migy. The llama above is Aymara and she is the main character in Migy’s latest book which is loosely based on the Northwest of Argentina. Cute! I need to find this book!

Thanks again Mackenzie! I can’t wait to visit you and your fabulous store this afternoon!!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope your weekend will be filled with as much fun and happiness as mine.

This morning I realized I was waking up to the first day of what will be a very hectic week. Needless to say, it was a bit of a struggle to pull myself our of bed. Luckily Miles was there to give me an encouraging lick in the face. I think he just wanted his morning treat, but still, there’s something so charming about having a cute little dog lick you awake. Anyhow, later this week I’ll be in NYC working on LAMA’s site redesign. Yup! LAMA is getting an overdue facelift and a whole new look! I am thrilled and a little terrified all at once, but I’m excited to see what we come up with. Aside from that, I have about a million and a half tasks to get done prior to and during my time in New York, which led me to today’s Monday Motivation poster by artist Chris Piascik.

While it might not seem like the most motivating message, I actually love that at this point, I have so many ideas floating around in my head and so many things I want to get done, that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I’m thrilled about the creative explosion that’s going on inside my head.

On an unrelated (well, somewhat related) note, I was going through Chris Piascik’s site and I came across a very cool Monday project he likes to do. Every week, Aaron Cohen writes a recap of Mad Men for his blog Unlikely Words, and Chris illustrates something from that episode to go with it. As someone who spends lunchtime on Mondays discussing (in incredible detail) Sunday night’s Mad Men episode, I got this biggest kick out of this. These are some of my favorite illustrated words from this season. I can’t wait to keep checking back every Monday.

Have a great week!

Recently I’ve been on the hunt for cute new products to fill the LAMA shop with. In my search I came across these adorable laptop cases by “diseñadora estrella” (design star) Laura Mendanha, better known as Lala. Polka dots, stripes, and a charming llama illustration?! I’m kind of in love. What do you think? A new LAMA product? Let me know, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Happy Friday! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Sometimes, when you’ve been working on the same project for several years, it gets a little.. well.. maddening! At least, that’s what started to happen for me. I think anyone with a creative side needs to take on half a dozen projects at the same time to satisfy whatever it is that makes them nuts when they’re not being creative. At least, that’s my theory. This has been a very interesting summer for me. I have found my way and lost my way about eight times. I have thought about where to take myself and my career until I thought my head was going to explode. I have walked around aimlessly searching for answers. The funny thing was, the answer was so painfully simple: do more of what you like! Then I thought, “okay, so what are a few of my favorite things?” 1. Searching for great products. 2. Writing about them and sharing them with others. 3. Design blogs. 4. Dogs! That short list led me to my newest undertaking; a contributing editor for one of my very favorite design blogs Dog-Milk!

What’s really cool about this (besides everything!) is that I get to be a part of a design blog that I love doing work that is just fun for me. Dog-Milk is the sister site of Jaime Derringer’s very successful Design-Milk blog. Design-Milk is one of the first design blogs I started reading years back when I was fresh out of art school and looking for some inspiration. I’m so excited to be contributing posts her way at this point in my life. Speaking of posts, my first one went live yesterday! Based on the incredibly cute and hilarious Hipster Puppies blog, I decided to do a roundup of great products to help your pup get this of-the-moment look. Go check it out!

The best part about this, is now that I have something new to focus some of my energy on, it has really inspired me to get back on track and move into a cool new direction with LAMA. It is a direction that is right for me and hopefully for everyone involved. I’m looking forward to sharing what that is soon. So, to wrap up, I guess the biggest lesson I’ve learned this summer is to decide what you want to do, and then be the person who does it.