Blog Posts by Valerie Rains, Shine staff

Photo Credit: Anthony Dihle/gigposters.com By now, gig posters-especially those letter-pressed or hand-screened-are more or less a part of the modern design canon. They are often affordable, worthy of custom framing, and fully able to telegraph one's musical and aesthetic taste in one fell swoop, while also serving as sentimental reminders of great shows enjoyed. There's no shortage of places to look for them, so we pulled together a survey of some of the best artists and sites (in our humble opinion), along with some of our favorite prints from each. For those about to buy rock posters, we salute you.





Photo Credit: Hatch Show Print1. Hatch Show Print, Nashville, TN
The granddaddy of all gig poster purveyors, Hatch Show Print in Nashville is still the place to go for old-country icons and blues royalty. It's a family-run venture, and as the web site says, "one of the oldest working letterpress print shops in America," founded in 1879.
Triple Johnny Cash, 14x22 inches, $16




















Photo Credit: Yee-haw Industries2. Yee-Haw Industries, Knoxville, TN
Yee-Haw picks up on the block-printed,

Photo Credit: Chronicle BooksGraphic designer and artist Rex Ray has been getting a lot of blog love lately-Design for Mankind posted about his new book, Rex Ray Art + Design, How About Orange blogged his Jonathan-Adler-exclusive prints, and Leah Hennen found framed RR prints on eBay for her More Ways To Waste Time post-but frankly, we're more excited about his new line of desktop paper products for Chronicle Books, particularly the address book and the wall calendar (which doesn't actually come out until July 16, but you can start wanting one now).

The address book, which is available now, is about 4 by 6 inches and has a clear vinyl jacket to protect the pretty paper cover (at left), and goes for $13.95. Scroll down for a detail shot of the inside.











Photo Credit: Chronicle BooksThe inside.










Photo Credit: Chronicle BooksHere's a sneak preview of the oversize (13-by-16-inch) 2009 wall calendar, which also comes with a poster. I would suggest marking your calendar for its launch date, but, well, you know.





















Photo Credit: Chronicle BooksIt's really beautiful and not too girly, which is great for shared

Photo Credit: Denyse SchmidtSecond only to the ladies of Gee's Bend, Denyse Schmidt has been instrumental in the revival of quilt appreciation in the modern age. I am currently appreciating the fact that her (lower-priced) line for Sarita Handa is on sale until noon on April 30. The "Fringe Benefits" design at left is just one of many styles you can score now for 25% off.


















Related Links on Shine:

For a d.i.y. quilt project that doesn't require a sewing machine, see our post on the Purl Bee's patchwork tutorial.

For a bed cover with less piecework but more patterns, check out Domino's Deal Hunter post about an Urban Outfitters version.

You don't have to take on a full-fledged renovation to get prospective buyers interested in your house-in fact, that may even turn some people away in a challenging market. After all, every penny that you've sunk into an obvious upgrade is money that the seller is mentally adding up as a factor in the price-and may represent an aesthetic choice the buyer would not have made. (Cancel that appointment at the Sub-Zero showroom, STAT.) There are simple ways, however, to make your home seem infinitely more appealing with very little investment-and very little effort.






1. If you do only two things before showing your house, clean, and clean some more. "People want to come into a space and visualize themselves living there," says Manhattan-based Corcoran Group sales broker Jeanine Schlifer. "If there are spills on the table, toys on the floor, and dog mess everywhere, people can't focus on the space." It's worth it to hire a professional to come in for a deep-clean, as they may find dirt in

...For lots of reasons, but mostly for this:
Photo Credit: Bjarre/Flickr

Photo Credit: Bjarre/Flickr

Swiss Miss blogged "The Hiding Place" [via Stork Bites Man], a 1998 art installation by Bjørn Bjarre.
The artist says, "I made a kind of over sized fantasy-reproduction of a teenager hut, the one I was never allowed to keep for a very long time in the basement of my parents' house. The fantasy involved stealing the furniture from my parents and re-arranging them the way I pleased, filling the interior with activities to eliminate boredom. I wanted the construction to function as a free area of escape and nostalgia, a chill-out zone for the eternal teenager within..."

This whole thing just really hits me in the old childhood-memories bone. If I had a ceiling fan, I would currently be hanging my bed sheets from it with clothespins and sitting under the resulting tent.

To read about the phasing-out of another kind of tent, go here.

For more nostalgia, check out our staffers' first-record-purchase memories.

Photo Credit: Estilo WeddingsIf North America were to be suddenly and violently smothered in volcanic ash and preserved, Pompeii-style, as a giant 3-D time capsule of western life in the 21st century, and scientists and anthropologists came back to study it in a few thousand years, I would only be a little bit surprised if they determined that our current stage of human development should be called The Cupcake Age. Specialty cupcake shops have flooded our cities, leaving a trail of icing-dotted noses and crumpled wrappers in their wake, and cross-town flour wars have even broken out over whose goodies reign supreme. Not that I can't understand why-I mean, cupcakes are delicious, after all, and not even that dangerous since the portion control is built-in. Most important, they are perfect for parties-no slicing, no fumbling with stacks of plates-and Estilo Weddings' beautiful, laser-cut cupcake wrappers make them just that much more festive. The Hostess With the Mostess blogged them earlier this week, and I have

Okay, it's not technically a "flower arrangement," but that's probably why it's "easy." I spotted this (below) over at my sister's house the other day-a beautiful bunch of blossoming cherry branches dropped into a vase-and it really couldn't be simpler. She says, "We buy them on the street or at the farmer's market for $15 a stem. This time we bought three stems. They were bare initially, then got tiny, fuzzy, white, adorable blossoms, then pink flowers." Plus, the whole show goes on for about two weeks. Because flowering trees need to be pruned in order to stay healthy, you're even doing the earth a favor by bringing a few pieces inside.

Sunset magazine has tips for pruning branches yourself (if you have access to flowering trees or shrubs), plus instructions for helping the stems absorb moisture more readily in a vase. Visit Sunset's web site to read the article, then click over to Apartment Therapy for more cherry blossom inspiration.






















Want more flowers? Read about irises, sensitive

Now that I've set up this post with a really corny pun, we can get right down to business. I was so excited to see everyone's responses yesterday to the "What do you collect?" post-keep 'em coming, people!-and then last night when I picked up my sister for dinner, I realized that I'm not the only Rains with a soft spot for hooters. (It's like I can't stop with the bad puns now; I apologize.) Anyway, here's a peek at another parliament of owls-the last one is a print-out my sister made to plan out a patchwork quilt that is still in the, ahem, conceptual phase.





























































































That owl in the third photo reminds me of these cute gold flats that Jenn blogged about earlier this week. Probably not as comfy to walk on, though.

Once again, do you have any collections you'd like to share? Post a comment, or a blog! It might just get featured on Shine.

Want a little owl of your own? This notepad might be the answer.