Cate – Page 60 – everydaysparks

Let’s ear it for cuffs

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Cate

There’s a lot about fashion that I don’t understand. The whole concept of ‘ear cuffs’ would be an example of something that I just don’t get. They sound painful, like you’re punishing your ears for doing something wrong. But they must be popular, as there are 159 pages of them on etsy. (And, no, they’re not all made by the same person.)

In case you’re not familiar with ear cuffs either, they are different to conventional earrings, as they wrap around bits of your ear without piercings. So you can easily swap to a different ear cuff to suit your mood. I have provided a selection for you to consider here. And may I say, it has been kinda creepy to look at so many photos of ears – not our prettiest feature, that’s for sure.

I call the first cuff, “Wait, can you hear a peacock?” and it is made by Anna in London. For $31 you can buy your own and freak people out as you wait at the bus stop. Or you might prefer the spiky cuff that Anna has for sale for $18 – this one would come in handy if you are trying to tone down your punk rocker look at work (or if you are trying to convince people you are actually part-human, part-machine).

And then there is this gold number, apparently inspired by the movie Labyrinth and made by ravenevejewelry in Detroit. To my uncultured eye, it appears that a fancy bird has taken up residence on this lady’s ear. Either that, or the aliens have vistied and are using her ear to transmit messages back to the mothership.

Or maybe you’d prefer a bronze octopus crawling on your ear, from martymagic in Santa Cruz. I’m just not sure how comfortable it would be to have those tentacles tickling your ear all day and am sure your Granny would try to bat it away as with any other eight legged creature crawling on your ear. Eeeeek.

But I think my favourite would have to be this black & white feathered number by Mariya in Russia. It’s pricey at $90, but will surely keep you cool in summer and if anyone wants to start an impromptu badminton game, unclip the cuff and away you go.

With Mother’s Day coming up in many parts of the world, I’m sure it goes without saying that any of these would make a great gift for the mothers and grandmothers in your life. And I reckon you shouldn’t limit the cuff’s potential by explaining where it is meant to go – hours of fun as Mum and Granny Mac smile politely and try to work out if they’ve been given a brooch or a duster or some sort of new ipod accessory… You’re welcome!

Knitted Fashionistas (Fashioknitstas)

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Cate

Diane is from Canada and she sells knitting patterns on etsy. Unfortunately, you can’t buy these dolls ready-made, as Diane notes that she doesn’t have time to knit them for you, but she will sell you the pattern so that you can do it yourself. And if I could, Diane, I would. Because I can think of so many people who would love your work. Ok, mostly me, but there will definitely be some other people who like them. They are kooky, they are bright, they are hilarious. Put them together and you could have a beauty pageant to rival Miss Universe. And I love that Diane has named all of her dolls and provided funny back stories on the site.

This pink doll mightn’t fit the pageant look, but I had to include her. Back in my day, there was a cartoon about a chick in a rock band called Jem. I can’t remember much, but that theme song has stuck with me since the 1980s. Probably because the lyrics were mostly a repetition of: Jem. Truly outrageous. Truly, truly, truly outrageous. I can’t remember if she really was, but since they said it so many times, I guess she must have been? Anyways, the pink haired, pink leg warmered doll reminds me so much of Jem. Although Diane says that she modelled this on an outfit she saw on Dancing with the Stars. Uh huh. I must try and find that episode to see it with my own eyes.

If the beauty pageant isn’t your thing, you might prefer your own knitted family. Or you can recreate (or dream about) your special day with the knitted wedding scene. Or adopt the doll that looks a bit like Marilyn Manson, with different coloured eyes. Diane’s etsy shop is well worth a look and you can find it here.

And the post wouldn’t be complete without a knitted streaker. Here he is.

Fashion Sparks

Lashes of style

Posted on May 6, 2012May 6, 2012 by Cate

Apparently, I’m lucky to have nice, long eyelashes. I guess it’s luckier than short, stumpy eyelashes, but I can’t be sure. Although I do know that a lot of women spend a lot of money on mascara that promises to fatten their eyelashes, give their eyelashes volume, or enable their eyelashes to sing and dance. I’ve never worn it as I worry that it looks like I have long legged spiders sitting on my eyes. But then I saw these – goodbye spiders, hello birds or scorpions or fish!

Yes, these are fake eyelashes. MADE OF PAPER. Apparently “inspired by the Chinese art of paper-cutting”, these Paperself eyelashes “blend an element of traditional culture with contemporary design”. And then add a whole heap of creepy. The lashes are reusable (you just re-glue them, as with any craft project) and are available in full-width or half-width, depending on just how scary you want to look.

So, if you’re inspired and want to jazz up your look for a special occasion – and I’m going out on a limb to say these beauties will work for both girls and boys – then consider whacking a paper insect, bird or undersea wonderland on to your eyes. Nothing says I’m serious about this promotion like a scorpion tail on the corner of your eyelid. Or stamp your authority – I’m here from the UN to sort out this crisis – with the deer and butterfly set. Or for someone in a serious profession (dentist, accountant, politician), there’s a clown set. And I know that I’d trust a scalpel-weilding surgeon much more if they were sporting these undersea lashes.

Something for pretty much everyone, then! You can snap ’em up at the Urbanities website here.

Home sparks

Shoot the light(s) out

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Cate

Even if, like me, you don’t like guns or shooting, I think you’ll agree that this is pretty cool. And you’ll like it even more if you’re cranky about electricity prices or you think desk lamps are pathetic or you enjoy threatening inanimate objects.

This lamp was recently featured on Fab.com – it’s made by the clever folk at bitplay, who apparently like to add the element of surprise to the every day. Which sounds good to me!

This is the BANG! Remote Lamp – a desk lamp with a gun shaped remote control. In a nutshell: Fire the gun to turn the light off and as the light goes out, the lampshade knocks to the side, showing that it’s been hit. To turn it back on, shoot it again and watch as the lampshade slowly rises up and turns the light back on at the same time.

But if that’s not clear enough for you, the website helpfully provides a graphic to explain further…

Aha! The lamp retails for around $300, but is not widely available at this stage. If you’re in the market for a lamp or a gun, why not combine the two with a BANG! (Remote lamp). You can check it out here.

Sparky gifts

Ethical Eco Enviro Elephants

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Cate

By now, I think you will have gathered that I like quirky stuff and love to give quirky gifts. But the downside is that they are all too often made without care for the people who produce them or the environment around them. And we people who have waaay too much stuff say, “Aww, cute” and then shortly thereafter say, “Aww, landfill”.

But we have to give something to that little kid / colleague / neighbour / friend to mark a special occasion, right? And a card telling them that you bought a chicken for a family in South America instead of a present for them doesn’t always go down too well. So I was excited to find these guys on the very cool Australian site Ethical Gifts.

They are animals made in Africa out of recycled flip flops (or thongs, or jandals). Apparently, this idea started back in 1997, when women and children started to collect all of the rubber shoes washing up on the beaches off the northeast coast of Kenya. They turned them into toys, buoys and cushion stuffing. The FlipFlop Project was born.

In 2005, the UniquEco brand was created to expand on the FlipFlop Project and support the local people to clean up their beaches, recycle the rubber, earn an income, and produce fantastic animal friends (and jewellery, keyrings etc) to share with the world.

You can check out the range of gifts at Ethical Gifts here and read more

about the story behind UniquEco and the FlipFlop Project here.