Browsing in Chapters, I found several notebooks whose design and cover vignettes by the poet Monique Duval just begged for me to buy them. (The only problem was which one to choose!). Since then it’s been a handy place to jot down ideas and record those fleeting thoughts I hope to act on one day. Best of all it makes a great gift and since there are lots to choose from at http://www.live-inspired.com/, you will surely find one that fits the occasion.

Just wanted to give a shout out to Curly Girl Design. Her cards are full of fun whimsical sentiments that I find,  so often are spot on with how I’m feeling! And while we live in a age of digital media, there is nothing quite like receiving a ‘real’ letter in the mail (especially one that isn’t a bill!)

I have always found a good quote inspiring. They perfectly sum up short poignant messages. Here are a few of my favourites in no particular order.

The world is a canvas to the imagination.
Henry David Thoreau

A man may die, nations rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
John F Kennedy

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
Michaelangelo

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
R. Buckminster Fuller

You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
Walt Disney

You see things; and you say, “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?”
George Bernard Shaw

You’ve got to jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down.
Ray Bradbury

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Antoine de Saint-Exup’ery

The secret of all effective originality in advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.
Leo Burnett

No, Watson, this was not done by accident, but by design.
Sherlock Holmes

Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.
Paul Rand

Creative without strategy is called ‘art’. Creative with strategy is called ‘advertising’.
Jef I. Richards

Questions about whether design is necessary or affordable are quite beside the point: design is inevitable. The alternative to good design is bad design, not no design at all.
Douglas Martin

Paper Moon Media is pleased to announce our official launch on Friday July 15, 2011. Very exciting times are ahead. We gain inspiration from all around us but find the TED website particularly insightful. This video was very inspiring during this last week of production.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.