Discovery Toy: Colorful Quackers

Hello everyone.  I have been gone for a week because I have been really sick and trying to prepare for our class field trip to Dallas.  Last week we had final crits for our Discovery Toy project.  Mine was the Colorful Quackers.  Each Toy had to have at least one educational feature and had to be for children ages 1-3 or 3-5.

            Colorful Quackers is a set of bath toys that help children learn their shapes and colors.  The starter set  comes with three ducks colored in the primary colors (red, blue and yellow), their matching innertubes and a central buoy.  The ducks are made of soft rubber with a squeaker in the middle.  The add on set has three ducks in the secondary colors (orange, green, purple) and their corresponding innertubes.  Each duck has one geometric shapes that determines their body form, feet form and innertube hole.  The child must match each of the ducks to their proper innertube and arrange them around the central buoy in the order of the color wheel.  All toys and toy components are meant for children ages 1 and up.

Click on the pictures for a larger view.  the model in the last few pictures was hand sculpted out of engineering foam, coated in Bondo and painted.

some sweet sounds for your day

 --grace

Decadent Design: Mikili

If you commute by bicycle or ride for fun, you will love Mikili.  They are a product design firm started in 2012 that creates indoor bicycle racks and furniture.  They are beautiful and functional ways to keep your bike safe and out of the way in your home.

some sweet sound for Tuesday recommended by my best friend

--grace

Oh Yum: Salads in Jars

A few months ago, I posted about Salads in Jars.  They are absolutely wonderful!  If you get groceries on Sunday night and make salads, they keep for the week.  This is perfect for our packed schedule this semester.  There are tons of recipes out there for Salads in Jars, but I'll share the ones that I make below (some are healthier than others).

Salad 1:
Baby Spinach (or whatever greens you enjoy)
Lite Ranch Dressing
Whole wheat croutons
Roasted Edamame
Hard Boiled Eggs
Shredded Cheese
Sliced Peppers (green, red, whichever!)
Shredded Carrots
Sliced Celery

Salad 2:
Baby Spinach (or whatever greens you enjoy)
Sesame Ginger Dressing
Sliced Red Peppers
Shredded Carrots
Cooked Edamame
Snow Peas
Wonton Strips,  Rice Noodles, or Rice Chips (broken up)

Salad 3 (A vegetarian, and slightly healthier version of my favorite Runza Salad)
Baby Spinach (or whatever greens you enjoy)
Southwest Chipotle Dressing 
Corn
Sliced Tomatoes
Shredded Colby Jack
Sliced Green Bell Peppers
Tortilla Strips

for a good Monday laugh, watch this!

--grace

Form v Play

 

We just finished our first project in Digital Applications.  We were tasked to build a playground in a given structure.  The playground had to allow the children to do the following things: climb, crawl, jump, hide, roll, slide, explore, assemble.  We also had to build a physical model of one component.  (click on the picture for a larger view)

--grace

Decadent Design: Playsam

Check out Playsam toys.  They have wonderful wooden toys created by a team of Scandinavian designers.  Their sleek simple designs are little pieces of art.

As the leading Scandinavian design company in its class, Playsam creates innovative and timeless wooden toys for the young and young at heart. With each and every toy, we not only strive for physical functionality, but also for an art form that challenges pre-existing artistic concepts and conventions. Take your pick of our exclusive products -- from the miniature Saab Keychain Car to the Streamliner series to Playsam's wonderful Rocking Rabbit -- and give the best of Swedish design as a baby, birthday or business gift.

My favorites are above, the Dollhouse, Sailboat Small and the Streamliner.  Don't you just want to play with one of these? 

--grace 

The Plant Whisperer: Mileece Petre

Hello all!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I read this great article from the New York Times called A Haven for Making Music with Plants.  It is about:

Mileece Petre, a 35-year-old English artist and musician known professionally as Mileece, is a plant whisperer of sorts. In a digital-age spin on “The Secret Life of Plants,” the 1973 book that suggested plants are sentient, she attaches electrodes to leaves. The electromagnetic current is fed into software she wrote that turns the data into musical notes, so a garden becomes an orchestra (she especially likes philodendrons; their hearty leaves offer better support for the electrodes).

Mileece also has this wonderful garden as her yard with a vintage Airstream trailer and turtle named Ting.  Wouldn't you live here?

--grace 

Sweet Sounds: Jónsi

The other day I was listening to Sigur Ros in studio and decided to check out the We Bought a Zoo soundtrack.  I absolutely love that movie!  Last time my brother and I were watching it, he asked if Sigur Rós had done the whole soundtrack.  As it turns out, it was done by Jónsi who is the lead guitarist and vocalist for Sigur Rós.  He has a solo album and also collaborates artistically and musically with his boyfriend in Jónsi and Alex.  Listen free to Jónsi below, or purchase the albums here (you could also get the great poster pictured above).



--grace

Decadent Design: Lulie Wallace

Check out this great artist I found through one of my favorite blogs Oh Joy!.  Lulie Wallace is an artist that works in the Charleston area.  She has beautiful bags, textiles and paintings.  If you don't already know, I absolutely love floral fabrics and patterns.  These are some great ones.

--grace

Simple Geometry: Taj Mahal

I have been hooked on Geometry Daily lately and it gave me a good idea for a vector sketching project of my own.  It isn't difficult to make a really complex and detailed drawing of a building, but I thought it would be a challenge to make a drawing of a building using only circles, rectangles and triangles.  I also decided to limit myself to four different colors in each illustration.  Expect to see more as the semester carries on!  The first is the Taj Mahal (click on the image for a better view).  What do you think? 

--grace

Team of Horses

I have a some new toys in my store: Sail to the Moon.

This small team of horses has two adult horses named Boris and Charlotte. They have been best friends since they were young colts. They come in a collapsible cardboard fence. Boris and Charlotte stand about 4" tall from hoof to ear. In their previous lives these horses were taekwondo boards and rulers. Now they gallop along the countryside looking for a new home.

Listen to some sweet cover sounds below


--grace

Strawbot: Harvey 1.0

Hello all!  Hope you are having a great long weekend.  My sister came this weekend and it was so fun!  We got Bananagrams at Target.  Have you played it?  My cousin showed it to us one Christmas and I had forgotten how great it is.  This summer my mom found Harvey 1.0.  He is a robot made out of foam, straws and small hair bands.  We made a kit before I left for school and he was finally built.  How fun is that? 

--grace