Dreams of flying

Eric found the work of Jan von Holleben and pointed out to me this wonderful series of photographs that von Holleben has called "Dreams of flying".

The Dreams of Flying photographs features children in fun, semi-fantastical poses that are accomplished by having them actually posed on good solid ground.

Here's a few favourites from the series:





For the complete series go here. Information about von Hollenben's other works is here, and details about purchasing his work can be found here.

Fellow indie designer: Little flower designs

I found Little Flower Designs through Indie Finds (where both Little Flower and Blend Creations are members!)

Little Flower Designs features the creative ceramic works of Linda Johnson. The first piece of Linda's that caught my eye was this pretty little hand-carved and hand-painted teacup ($30US):



Even better would be to pair some teacups with the matching teapot ($100):



We still have a spot o' tea in the evenings around here -- unless it's crazy humid and hot. If it's too hot for tea where you are, Linda also has sushi sets ($45):



It looks like Linda will be adding vases and bowls in the near future, so best check back to her site now and then to see what else she's been up to :)

Guilty pleasures

We can blame it on not having cable. Yeah. That's why we end up watching "America's Got Talent" every week.

Besides the (mostly lame) talent acts, the real draw is watching "the big Hoff". Admittedly, there is something fun and cheesy about an actor / sometimes-celebrity who can poke fun at himself and aside from maybe William Shatner, David "Don't Hassle the Hoff" Hasselhoff is the best at doing just that.

Case in point, this video that was recently passed on to us:



He is SO the King of the Internet.

Monkey lovin'

Eric found these stuffed monkey portraits, via we-make-money-not-art.

UK-based artist Peter Jones does a wonderful job in conveying a certain poignancy with these oil-on-linen paintings to express how well-loved these monkeys must be :)





Visit the Fred [London] Ltd. site for more info on the collection and the artist.

All the cool kids are doing it

Lately it seems everyone we know is doing it.
"It" being having kids, which of course sometimes results from doing it. ;)

But, just because people are having kids shouldn't mean that they lose their witty sense of humour right?

I think the stuff at Wry Baby is perfect for a lot of new parents/parents-to-be that we know.
Their products aren't your typical pastel coloured, fuzzy bunny onesies. Their stuff basically serves to amuse the parents and their friends.

Like these instructional snapsuits ($24 US):



For even more guidelines, they have the book of Safe Baby Handling Tips too ($9.95).

For a little fun, check out their Arcade of Parental Diversions with some funny little flash games. (Note that if you play the "Flashy Baby Photo Studio", you'll get a coupon code for $1 off your Wry Baby order). Wry Baby also has a "Pop Quiz" to test how ready a father-to-be will be :)

Croc-odile tears

A few months ago I'd started to notice how it seemed that everyone and their kid were wearing some downright ugly plastic clog shoes.

Yep -- the Crocs.

"So ugly!", I exclaimed. Though, part of me had to commend the product designers for producing an injection-molded foam shoe that could be made in a range of sizes and colours and seemed to be so successful... Yet, that doesn't make them any prettier.

Last week, after realizing there's not enough cushioning under our floors, I succumbed and tried on a pair. And, now I am a convert.



Yes, they're still ugly, and years from now perhaps we'll all look back at the Crocs like I remember jelly shoes from the 80s. But at least these ones are comfortable! And yet, still quite affordable at $35.

Sitting here at my computer, it's nice to note that they do say "Made in Canada" on the bottom, though, the company is based out of Boulder, CO. The Crocs website (also molded on the bottom of the shoe), has their full-range of products, which includes specialty therapeutic shoes, and some less clunky looking sandals like these:



or these (if you don't mind the whole toe-thong thing):

Fellow indie designer: Mohop shoes

I've been a long-time admirer of Mohop shoes. Designer Annie Mohaupt is a former architect who now devotes herself full-time to her shoe company.

Last week I received my trade with Annie for my very own pair of Mohops!



(I actually got this 'Hibiscus' print on the square-toed 'Susanna' sole with the kitten heel).

They're quite easily the prettiest pair of shoes I ever owned. And I don't just mean, 'look how pretty they go with my outfit', I mean, they look so beautiful as a product that they could be shadow-boxed and displayed as art. :)

Unfortunately my current requirement of having to wear ugly orthopedic and highly-arch-supportive shoes has not allowed me to take my new Mohops out for a spin. So for a little while at least, my brand new Mohops will actually become art for all to see.

All of Annie's shoes retail for $150US, and if you're interested in owning your very own pair, she's got this sizing chart that you can print out to help you figure out your exact size. Once you get them, check out the guide on how to tie your Mohops to get a new look everyday.

When I'm feeling a little more ambitious, I think I'll try these:

Pitagora Suicchi

After spending too much time watching various videos on Youtube, we found these videos of Rube Goldberg machines that they made for segments on a Japanese kids' show called Pitagora Suicchi (Pythagorean Switch). A warning though, the music can get annoying and the video's a little over 4 minutes long.

We're suckers for these types of things. In my first year of design school I was required to make a similar type of machine that had to be powered by a steel ball and take up no more than 2 cubic feet while running a total of ten seconds. The other requirement was that it light a match in the end. And have a theme. Hard, but in the end, kind of fun. Mine had a New Year's theme, counted down from ten, played Aud Lang Syne and popped a balloon full of confetti to boot. I'm glad I'm not in school any more ;)

... and we're back.

So the technical difficulties we were having with our internet connection have been resolved. YAY!

I'm not an addict or anything, but I do feel a bit like someone's taken something away from me when I don't have almost instant access to all things interweb-related.

So it's back to business as usual for Blend Creations :) and now I'll go think of something more fun to blog about

Ooooh -- The 2nd set of 'Fresh Foliage Brushes' is out!

A quick blog entry while I can still take advantage of a decent internet connection:

Check out Jason Gaylor's blog for the second set of Fresh Foliage 2 brushes that just came out.
Very pretty! Hmmm... already thinking of different ways of using them.



(The first set is available here.)

Experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by :P

One of the advantages to having an online business such as ours is that it's run virtually. That is, orders are taken online, we process them and we ship them out. Pretty straightforward.

Or so we thought. We're having issues with having our internet service installed into our (new to us) 30+ year old home, and after much run-around from our lovely local ISP, we were informed it'll take quite a while for them to do the necessary technobabbly stuff to get us the power of the interweb.

Yeah. It sucks. Which means for the meantime, this blog'll be pretty quiet. :(

But, we're still taking orders! That's the great thing about hotspots and wi-fi ;) It just make take a little longer to process since it's hard to justify loitering at a free wi-fi spot for too long.

In the meantime, if you're looking for places to surf, blogs to read, I suggest our links page as a starting point if you want to check out some other great indie shops. Oh -- and of late, I've really been enjoying the blog decor8.

Fellow indie designer: mi-SPA

I'd wash my mouth out with soap if I could be guaranteed that the soap I used tasted exactly like it smelled. :)

This week's fellow indie designer is Mimie Wong of mi-SPA. We recently did a little trade (yay trades!) and we're now washing in luxury. Upon opening Mimie's package, there was a deliciously clean smell.

Since we're in the middle of moving house (no fun!), we've only been able to try the Mango Ice Tea luxury soap so far.



It's a wonderfully subtle and fruity smell that puts me in a spa mood. And it also makes me want a mango bubble tea, but that's a whole other thing altogether. ;)

Once we're settled into the new place, I'm going to be trying Mimie's shampoo-mi bar and following it up with the conditioning hair rinse.




They both smell gooooood. There's something fun and luxurious about spa products!

The 'mi' in mi-SPA refers to "rice" in Chinese, since the products use rice bran oil/rice extracts along with other natural ingredients. Oh and hey, we received some wonderful little samples from mi-SPA which we'll be giving away with our orders while they last so you can all try some too.

Canadian Design Resource

Found the Canadian Design Resource site via Cool Hunting.
Written in blog format, the Canadian Design Resource has posts about various forms of Canadian Design -- some more recent, and some that brings on twinges of nostalgia.

They have the designs categorized by product type or more specific types of graphic design like symbols, logos and packaging.

It's certainly a good way to educate oneself about different things that have been designed by Canadians.

I for one, didn't know that Tobias Wong was a Canadian -- he's done a number of tongue in cheek designs and his Smoking Mitten is featured on the CDR site:


They also featured a few designs by one of my favourite Canadian Designers, Scot Laughton (though, they don't have any of his now-defunct Lolah designs).


In any case, if you've got a Canadianphile or you just want to see a pretty good collection of various types of design, check out the CDR site.

Btw, if you're ever in Toronto and want to see a decent collection of Canadian Design first-hand, make sure to visit the Design Exchange at 234 Bay Street too.

Assemble your own shoes

We found unu-life via Treehugger (a great blog about eco-friendly design).

unu-life makes these interesting leather shoes that you assemble yourself without the need for glue or any stitching.



They come to you in a mailing tube, and the shoes are made from a single sheet of recycled leather. You basically pop out the shapes, and slip the appropriate tabs into the right slots for the straps, then fold the panel that makes up the sole.



Et voila! you've got a pair of sandals with which any eco-hippie would be proud.

In addition to the sandals, unu-life also has their slats33 table that's made from waste plywood,


and leather goods made from leather off-cuts.

Unsigned

Unsigned is "the largest magazine dedicated to indie music", and in this latest issue, you'll find an ad with Blend Creations in there as part of the Indie Finds group on page 3.

So, if you're into indie designers and indie music, check out the latest issue of Unsigned -- you can pick it up at some of the major magazine/book shops, or download the .pdf of the issue here (be forewarned that the image and the link are to a 5.7 mb pdf file).


Happy reading!

Fellow indie designer: Girls' Night Out

I'm not really a girly-girl, but I do appreciate a funky purse, and fellow indie Holly Bedard and her company Girls' Night Out sure has some funky purses made with old cigar boxes.

The purses have a retro/vintage feel to them, with a velvet lining, and some of them even have a little mirror inside them -- like a jewelry box :)

My favorites are:
The Champagne Cocktail ($65 US):


And the Scarlett Fever ($65), with its bamboo handle:


Holly's full collection of cigar box purses can be seen here, and while you're at it make sure to check out some of her jewelry too!

Layout help?

We found Stock Layouts, via Communication Arts magazine. (It's a magazine all about graphic/web/interaction design, and they probably have some of the best annual design and illustration editions around).

Hearing the name "Stock Layouts" I thought it'd be a site along the lines of "Just give us your company name, and we'll make you a logo for the low low price of $29.95" and their layouts all look like something that you get as a garage-sale flyer. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, but even the non-designer can appreciate that there's something aesthetically pleasing about a good layout versus something that's hard to read...)

Instead Stock Layouts has examples of some very nice looking layout templates for all sorts of different projects (like ads, newsletters, posters etc.).





If nothing else it's a good jumping-point for the designers out there, or a valuable resource for small business who need own design work/do their own design, but either aren't formally trained or need some help.

A new little store to check out

In a past post, I've said how much I admire Lori Joy Smith's work. She's a talented illustrator who's originally from Ottawa (holla!) and now lives in Vancouver.

Well, she's now opened up her own little online store where she's got screen-printed plates,


shirts,


and hand-sewn greeting cards.


And if you go alll the way down to the bottom, you can inquire about commissions.

This:


was the painting that she did for us. It'll have a very special place in our new home. If you like Lori's style, I highly recommend getting a commisioned work since she's great to work with, and in the end you get such a personal piece of art. :)

Blog contest winner!

Well, we're a bit late in the day, but as promised, the winner of our blog contest will be announced today.

In total, we received 26 different blog entries (see the "Read these Blogs! sidebar --->). Each of the blog names were written down on separate slips of paper, put into our fancy glass bowl and mixed around.



Without looking, we randomly pulled out one slip of paper -- the winner of our contest.



If you can make it out, the name of the winning blog entry is Mogeno Photo and Design. So its author, Amy Smith wins our contest! Congratulations Amy! You can check out her entry here.

Thanks so much to everyone who entered our first ever contest. We've very much enjoyed reading all sorts of new blogs, and if you'd like to know about future contests, promotions and new stuff, make sure to join our newsletter.