Cool Tool: Free Valentine's e-Cards From Kate Spade

Step away from the Hallmark aisle.

If, like someone (cough!) we know, you've lagged on hunting down a cool Valentine's Day card for your sweetheart, bestest friend, or other special someone, all is not lost.

Thanks to designer Kate Spade, who commissioned 26 artists to create a selection of hip, sweet Valentine's e-cards, you can still send your SO or BFF a V-Day greeting that doesn't reek of fromage.

Even better? They're 100% free.

Check 'em out right here.

Cool Tool: Design/ers for Obama Downloadable Posters

File this one under: "Since I've already blown my political cover for the day ... "

For those of you who are of the Obama/Biden persuasion (and I do realize and respect the fact that by no means all of you are), Design/ers for Obama has made available for free downloading dozens of great, graphic campaign posters (like Obama, above).

Simply choose the poster you want, decide if you'd prefer it as one 8.5-by-11-inch image on a single sheet of paper, a 17-by-22-inch image on four sheets, or a 26-by-33-inch image on nine sheets, then click "print."

Some of my favorite designs:

Obama Mosaic

In Progress

I Want O

Change

Yes We Can - Vote for Change

Break Through

Yes We Can

Obama is the New Green

Mr. President

See all of Design/ers for Obama's free downloadable posters right here.

Cool Tool: Color of Inspiration

Awhile back, I blogged a color-palette generator that let you upload a photo, which it then scanned before spitting out a collection of colors used to make up the image.

It was a nifty little tool for translating rooms that appealed or even a piece of art you were inspired by into a set of colors with which you could then use for decorating projects of your own. But it had one major drawback: The colors the tool spat out were web-based color codes that you then had to match at the paint store -- and not actual paint hues.

Now there's an online tool from paint manufacturer Sherwin-Williams that does essentially the same thing, with one significant improvement: The end result is a palette of specific paint colors.

The Color of Inspiration site is simple and fun to use: Just upload a photo, click on the color in the photo you're trying to match, and let the tool do its work. Within a few seconds, you'll have your paint color -- including the name and number -- as well as two coordinating shades. (My only complaint is that you can match only one color at a time. It would be great if you could select, say, two or three areas in the photo and get those colors all at once. But it's a small quibble.) When you're done, print the page and take it with you to the paint store.

Of course, Sherwin-Williams is hoping you'll go straight to the Sherwin-Williams paint store, but any good paint shop can match shades from other companies.

Give it a spin and let me know what you think.

Cool Tool: Dwell Walking Tour Podcasts

I don't know about your bank account, but between the current economic meltdown and my woeful underemployment as a freelance writer, ours isn't exactly overflowing. So any kind of travel that involves more than a tank of gas and a picnic basket is pretty much out of the question right now (and with gas prices, even that doesn't come cheaply).

But my thirst to explore different parts of the country and the world -- and even to discover some hidden corners of my own figurative backyard -- hasn't diminished. I find that I'm ripping travel articles out of magazines like never before and relishing TV shows that provide a glimpse into other places and other lives. (Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and HGTV's House Hunters International are two current faves. After a recent episode of HHI, for instance, Nick and I became convinced that a move to Buenos Aires -- where one can apparently score a gorgeous apartment in the most exclusive sector of the city for as little as $130,000 -- was in our future.)

Anyway, I recently stumbled upon the podcast walking tours on Dwell magazine's website. Although they're intended to be listened to on an MP3 while actually hoofing it through the various areas featured, I've found that they're nearly as effective as brief armchair escapes that can be enjoyed from the comfort of one's own couch.

Hosted by local experts, the podcast tours highlight attractions that won't be found in your standard guidebook: The strange, exotic foods available on San Francisco's Clement Street; Manhattan's best design-focused bookstores and newsstands; Brooklyn's cutting-edge home shops; Berlin's architectural curiosities.

Other virtual destinations include New York's Soho, Chicago, Venice Beach, Prague, and Southern Italy. There are even podcast tours of major museum exhibitions and designers' ateliers. Photo slideshows accompany many of the tours, too, so you listen and scroll simultaneously while you imagine yourself wandering through some delightful, faraway place.

So, yeah, I'm not likely to board a plane anytime soon -- but there's nothing to stop me from dowloading and dreaming, right?

Check out all of Dwell's podcasts right here.

Cool Tool: Who's Your City? Maps

Have you heard about the book Who's Your City: How the Creative Economy is Making the Place Where You Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life?

The book makes the somewhat self-evident case that "place exerts a powerful influence over the jobs and careers we have access to, the people we meet, our 'mating markets,' and our ability to lead happy and fulfilled lives." (Full disclosure: I haven't yet read it myself -- though I have noted its author, demographer Richard Florida, popping up in a number of articles, like the recent New York Times piece on the arty-folks connection between Brooklyn and the Bay Area.)

Anyway, because I'm a total sucker for anything that promises to reveal the most perfect place to live, I was clicking around on the Who's Your City website and came across these interesting maps depicting various spots around the country through the lens of creative population, real estate prices, available singles, average education level, and so on:


Obvious take-home: Go west, young woman. (Though, despite its seeming surfeit of available young men, San Francisco might not be the best place to seek a mate ... )


This one is my absolute favorite. New York City is the neurosis capital of the nation? People are friendly and outgoing in the Midwest and the South? California tends to draw those flaky types who are forever searching for new experiences, and ultimately the true meaning of life itself? I never would've guessed!

Still, I have to admit that it's awfully fun to see your regional stereotypes and suspicions confirmed in a simple visual representation.

Check out the Who's Your City maps right here.

Cool Tool: Foldschool

Here's an interesting weekend project for you crafty types with kids: Making children's furniture from cardboard.

Thanks to Foldschool, you can download free plans for crafting playroom stools, chairs, and rockers from those leftover moving boxes that are gathering dust in the garage.

Each design is rated for difficulty, time required, and the stability of the resulting piece as well as the age it's appropriate for.

Get schooled right here.

Cool Tool: Etsy's "Shop Local"

Etsy rolled out its new Shop Local tool right before the holidays -- when, presumably, we were all scrambling for last-minute gifts that we could actually pick up in person instead of waiting for the overloaded and backlogged mail service to deliver them.

It's a great idea: Not only can you discover and support the talent right in your own backyard, but you may also be able to save on shipping charges and prevent all that packing material from ending up in landfills.

When I gave Shop Local a test drive recently, I was delighted to discover more than 100 Etsy sellers in Oakland alone, offering more than a thousand items -- including this sweet Basement Mice collage print, $18, by RISD alum Karen Ondracek.

By expanding my search parameters a bit to include neighboring Berkeley, up popped this pretty letterpress calendar ($30) from ©&@.

San Francisco? Why, it's blogger sfgirlbybay's custom-colored Keep Calm and Carry On posters ($25 each).

But here's the thing: You can also use the tool to browse wares from vendors who are decidedly not local.

Say you're into Scandinavian design. Simply type in "Sweden" (or "Finland," or "Denmark") and see what turns up:

Ms. Ursula Buttcrack Character ($56), from Gothenburg's Smosch

Now let's try the Netherlands:

Handfelted Pebbles ($24 for eight), from Geleen's Reya Veltman

Italy: I'd Rather Be Happy With You Again print ($13), by The Good Machinery

Argentina: Patterned Birds print ($15), by Pequinio Craft

South Africa: Pink Stamens blockprinted fabric ($20 for about a yard), by Cape Town's jezze

Japan: Sakura Woman ACEO, $10 from Gallery Juana

Australia: Hey Little Birdy print ($12), by Perth's Little Red Bicycle

See how fun (and potentially addictive) it is?

My only complaint -- and I have a similar quibble with Etsy's Shop by Color tool and general search form -- is that you can't further narrow the results by category or keyword. So if I'm looking for local ceramists, it'd be nice not to have to wade through all the jewelry designers who are based in my neck of the woods. (Are you listening, Etsy wizards?)

But still, it's a really nifty little feature. Give Shop Local a whirl -- whether to keep it local or to drastically expand your shopping horizons -- right here.