As soon as I surfed over to notcot.com my eyes glazed over and the warm cloud of euphoria fell upon me. Talk about brain candy. Not Cot in all its many forms ( there is an .org, .com, the gallery, and NOTed features section) is dedicated to fabulous design. At Notcot.org anyone and everyone can post their favorite designe find, notcot.com is home to hand picked editor finds, the gallery is a display of new and upcoming artist and the NOTed section is a hand crafted photoshoot by Not Cot editors, with descriptions of why they love the featured designs. The presentation of the site is minimalistic, with a comic edge. It is like stumbling into a museum currated by the love child of Willy Wonka and Audrey Hepburn, full of bright but restrained colors offset by sophisticated black and whites. The design of the website deserves a nod in and of itself. But the real fun is cruising through the clips of other people’s art/products. Its overwhelming the amount of good ideas that are out there these days. It’ll bring a smile (and maybe a little spittle) to your face.

Oh. My. God. How did I not know about swap-bot.com until now? It is all of my favorite things combined. Getting mail, making things, and inexpensive gift exchange. How could you go wrong? So here’s the skinny on how it works: you open an account with your name, email and mailing address. Then you go and sign up for different types of swaps. For instance, right now I am participating in a swap where I will be mailing a tea packet and a magazine article out. There’s also a “swap a postcard from your home town” and a swap of hand made bags with treats inside, as well as a whole bunch more. It’s like being penpals, except with stuff. And if there’s only one thing I love more than letters is little treasure stuffs. After you sign up for the swap, you receive notification that you can see who your swap buddy is on your account. You’re given his/her name and address and you have to send out your swap item to that address by a given deadline. Assumably your swap buddy will be doing the same. I just signed today. I’ll let you know how it goes. I think it might be the best thing I’ve ever experienced, but I suppose I could be overestimating it somewhat.

Listen to me very closely as I am about to recommend something so totally amazing that it may or may not change your life. The graphic novel, Blue Monday: The Kids Are Alright by Chynna Clugston is just about the coolest thing I own and I suggest you go out and buy it too. While I realize this isn’t strictly craft related, it is the artistic fruits of a creative person, so I think y’all enjoy it. Set in the average suburban high school, full of the average suburban lame-o kids, Bleu Finnegan and her best friends Clover, Alan and Victor do everything they can to avoid becoming the mall-shopping, pop-star loving clones they’re surrounded by. Their hi jinx are hilarious, their musical taste sublimely awesome, their fashion sense enviable. If you took your years in high school, sifted out all the crap and kept only the good stuff then what you would get is this book. Drawn in Americanized manga (Japanese comics) and referencing every influential punk and Brit rock band in the last half of the century (The Jam, Adam Ant, The Kinks, and Blur to name a few), Blue Monday is as hip as it comes. Get your iTunes (or whatever, wink wink) ready because I guarantee that after you read The Kids Are Alright you’ll be itching to make a soundtrack. It’s less than $10 on amazon.com so I recommend digging in your couch cushions for spare change and jumping online. And after you do, come back and post your comments here. Tell me what you thought of it. I love to hear from you!

Jennifer Borton has found the key to my heart with her craft website, spazzticcrafts.com. That key? Weird randomness. Spazztic Crafts is an odd assortment of fun, unusual projects. You won’t find any scrap booking tips here. What you will find instead are clever, eclectic tutorials, such as how to make gummi bears, toothbrush bracelets, and marble magnets. I found her section on methods to remove super glue to be practical and interesting. I’m attacking the gunk on my desk tomorrow. What’s best about Spazztic Craft, though, is its comfortability. Like talking shop with your best friend, the tutorials are witty, fairly easy to follow and clearly are made with love. And no, I’m not just partial to it because my cat’s name is Spaz. Check out one of her free stencils and my baby kitties (Leo and Spaz) below.

Hopefully, someone out there caught my refrence from “The Tick.” (Spoon!) I, personally love interior design above most things. (Top Designer, anyone?) I think living in a space that revitalizes you after a hard day is one of the best presents you can give yourself. But if you look at some of these design magazines, they have not been created with the Pack Rat values in mind. (serious, if I had $2000, why would I spend it on a mirror?) Digs Magazine is a handy resource to have in that department. While some of their suggestions do involve going out and buying new supplies, a lot of their daily tid-bits involve repurposing what you probably already have lying around the house. One of my favorite articles, “Getting Crafty,” centers around the uphill battle one of their staff writers fought, trying to create a slip cover for her sofa. The writing is fun, functional, and (keeping with the most important Pack Rat value) free. Check out the aforementioned slipcovered sofa below.