Cate – Page 39 – everydaysparks

Worth Noting

Posted on October 4, 2012October 3, 2012 by Cate

Anrol Designs are a Melbourne-based outfit that appreciate the quirky. They have licensed the work of the clever folk at Dear Blank Please Blank and come up with some notebooks that made me smile, so I thought I’d share them with you. I’d put these in the funk-tional gift category: surely everybody can use another notebook in their collection. I have quite a large collection of notebooks myself – I still have grand plans of filling them with story ideas, business ideas, website ideas, shopping lists, gift lists, lists of my enemies…those kinds of things. And I’m a sucker for cool stationery. I was also a star procrastinator when studying – I could spend hours sharpening all of my pencils and testing all of my pens, then re-arranging my desk drawers by colour and spring cleaning my wardrobe, before I’d finally settle down to start writing an essay. As if all that re-organisation could somehow help me to write more convincingly about something I still didn’t quite understand. Kinda like Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams. And no, I’ve never seen that movie, but I do hope that analogy makes sense. So it is with the notebook – once you have one that looks great, the amazing ideas will surely flow. Anyways, here are some of my favourites from the collection:

Dear Twilight Fans — (Ok, this one is a card & not a notebook.)

Dear Facebook — (Alright, another card.)

Dear Windscreen Wipers — (Yes, this one is a canvas. Promise there are some notebooks for sale too.)

You can check out the range of notebooks, canvasses, t-shirts, tea towels and cards at the Anrol Designs etsy shop here and the Dear Blank Please Blank website is also worth checking out – you can even submit your own message to the world. Or to your neighbour, or whoever it is that is bugging you. One of my favourites is: Dear Nickelback, That’s enough. Sincerely, the world. That website is here.

WWWhat?

Anything is Pozible…

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Cate

I was having a look at the Pozible website this morning – it’s another crowdfunding website (like Kickstarter), specifically for creative projects and ideas. There are always some interesting people and plans on there, looking for some cash to turn their dream into reality. Today, I noticed the pitch of a lady called Skye from Sydney – it was entitled: Are you brave enough to eat a BUG?

Apparently, Skye runs the Edible Bug Shop and is looking for funding to help expand her range of buggy treats. Skye has degrees in Entomology and Food Science, making this business the perfect marriage of her two skillsets. In promoting bug eating, Skye says: “Edible insects are high in protein, low in fat and have various essential vitamins and minerals (depending on the actual bug itself). Crickets (which are one of our best sellers) are high in calcium for example.” Indeed.

Skye’s shop has been selling Creepy Creature Candy since 2009 and Skye assures us that it is a very popular product. Here is a photo of some of the Creepy Creature Candy range. I don’t know about you, but it’s the kind of lollipop I would take straight back to the shop as some sort of health & safety breach, asking for a refund.

Skye has developed a new range of products – Rocky Roach, Bug-O-Nut Rough, Buggy Brownies and Energy Bars. Apparently, “ some of these products contain invisible insects (you can’t see the bugs but they are ground up inside), and some are obviously have insects inside, so there is something for every level of bug eater”. Yummy.

If you’re brave enough to eat a bug, or you would like to read more about Skye’s business proposition, or you would just like to check out the freaky bug shop, Skye’s Pozible pitch is here. And you have 50 days to get on board with the bugs (and Skye).

Overcoming the post-holiday slump

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Cate

And so today it hits me. That inevitable post-holiday slump as things return to normal – bills need to be paid, appointments need to be made, work needs to be done…and the chances to reminisce about my recent holiday will be few and far between. So, I need a bit of a boost today. Normally, Dr Seuss is my go-to guy for motivation and a smile, but today I’m going with Flight of the Conchords and their recent NZ charity single: Feel Inside (and stuff like that).

You have probably already seen it by now, but in case you haven’t (or you need a refresher, like me today), here it is – a longish clip, but the interviews absolutely make the song, so I suggest you grab a cup of tea and sit down and enjoy it with me. A bit of feta really can make things better. Oh, and you can now buy this song on iTunes outside of NZ, so it’s like having a source of smiles on tap – I love it!

Arty sparks

On the map

Posted on October 1, 2012September 30, 2012 by Cate

I think Karen M. O’Leary is very clever. An artist / architect based in North Carolina, Ms O’Leary creates original ‘modern map art’, in the belief that ‘a map is more than just a navigational tool – it also tells a story’. My lovely friend Aoife gave me one of StudioKMO’s creations – a map of Dublin city – as a fantastic souvenir of my recent trip to Ireland. I thought it was pretty incredible – a map of the city created entirely out of black lines – and when Aoife told me that there was an etsy shop, I was sold. StudioKMO features some amazing works of art – I’ve included some examples from Karen’s collection below.

KMODublin — Dublin – stretched canvas print
(c) StudioKMO

KMODublindetail — Detail of Dublin print
(c) StudioKMO

In addition to the hand-drawn maps, StudioKMO features incredible paper cut cities, like this unbelievable hand-cut map of London.

KMOLondonmapcut — London map cut
(c) StudioKMO

And if you can’t decide on a city, you could always go for the set of 25 collector postcards.

KMOcards — Collector postcards
(c) StudioKMO

So, whether you’re after a unique gift to remember a city that you love, to remind you of home, to inspire you to travel, or to mark a special event…or if you just want to marvel at the incredible skill and technique of Karen O’Leary and her hand-drawn and hand-cut world of maps, you can check out her brilliant StudioKMO on etsy here.

Travel sparks

There is no place like home. Except when there is.

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Cate

So, here’s my last travellin’ post for a little while. A collection of some of the pics from my final days in Ireland – after a fortnight of mostly perfect weather, these last few days have been rainy and pretty chilly, so it’s a good time to head home to the sun. Always tough to leave here, but I have had a fantastic holiday and it has been great to be able to catch up with old friends and check out some of my old haunts. There’s a line in that John O’Donohue poem (‘For the Traveller’, which I posted a few weeks ago) about old friends making it seem like nothing has changed since you were last with them, and that is exactly how it’s been. Whether it’s five years or ten years since I’ve seen some of my Irish mates, they’re the kind of friends who fit like a glove. Some people don’t have any place that feels like home – I know I’m super lucky to have two. Waa waa waa – here are the photos!