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Pass the salt

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Cate

Most of us have salt and pepper shakers stashed away somewhere in our cupboards, which we bring out for special occasions or visits from in-laws. Some are pretty fancy – motorised pepper grinders made by car manufacturers, expensive salt shakers that light up (in case you were dining in the dark), hand carved wooden pairs, or stainless steel pieces that could be mistaken for modern art sculptures. But I say boo to your fancy salt and pepper shakers that are too good to use every day. Here are some inspiring salt and pepper shakers that will have you seasoning everything from your breakfast to your milkshakes, just to give you an excuse to get out these beauties…

First, baby legs. Yes, that’s right – these ceramic baby legs are actually salt and pepper shakers. Apparently, they are guaranteed to be the talk of your baby shower party table, but I say don’t stop there – these babies should be out and about at every opportunity. Sprinkle salt on your potatoes with the baby’s left foot, and a little pepper for your steak with the baby’s right foot. And when the legs are running low, just remove the stoppers in the baby’s thighs and fill ’em up! Or if you’d prefer, there are ceramic baby hands salt and pepper shakers in the collection. Maybe just buy both and complete the set with a ceramic doll to store your dried herbs? Creepy.

Continuing on the baby theme, here are Baby Puddin’ heads, which also take care of your salt and pepper needs. I am not sure that you could keep any of these on the table during dinner without scaring your guests. But then, I don’t really know your friends that well, perhaps they already have these in their kitchen! These are all from the Modern fx store on etsy, along with some other perculiar salt and pepper shakers – featuring Colonel Sanders of KFC fame, JFK and Jesus. But I’ll leave you to look for those if they sound like your thing.

These two ladies are apparently a darling set of vintage Holt Howard salt and pepper shakers from the “Daisy ‘Dorables” line. They are a pair of blonde pony-tailed girls holding large daisy flowers in front of their faces. Maybe it’s just me, but I think they’re a bit shifty looking. And I would be worried that they’re sitting on the table, listening to all the conversations and gossiping about us behind their giant daisies. You can check them out at Gizmo & HooHa, the vintage emporium.

I prefer these cute little guys from SuperRetroChic – they look like something out of Super Mario Bros and would definitely brighten up the table, without freaking out your dinner companions. Unless, of course, you are dining with Super Mario and Luigi, in which case, they will probably try to smash these with a hammer or something.

But now, to finish with my favourites – vintage Mr Peanut salt and pepper shakers. They’re not in perfect condition, but they make me laugh. And if they can still dispense salt and pepper after all this time, with their top hats and canes, I say these will add a touch of class to any home. Ye olde peanuts are available from Olde Tyme Memories on etsy.

Who knew there could be so much variety in the world of salt and pepper shakers? Not me. But I may well start collectin’. And with 110 pages of them on etsy, you mightn’t have heard the last of these table toppers…

Something Fishy

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Cate

Have you ever had a fish as a pet and thought, gee, you’re lazy? Or have you imagined your fish being capable of so much more than just swimming ’round and ’round the bowl, with the occasional detour through the fake castle or the fake volcano? Well, check this out. I first saw it on Fab.com – it’s the R2 Fish School: the complete kit to teach your fish amazing tricks. Uh huh.

Your Fish School kit comes with an instructional DVD, over 20 training bits, feeding wand and an instructional manual. Crikey, sounds complicated. But it would be worth it to see your fish performing cool feats to impress your family and friends. Wouldn’t it?

Apparently Dr Dean and his son Kyle developed this idea while they pursued their peculiar hobby of training fish to perform tricks. Yes, really. They found out that fish are smarter than we think, so they got in cahoots with the good people of R2 Solutions and – hey presto, the Fish School was born.

According to the Fish School website, “it is easy and fun to teach your pet fish to swim through hoops and tunnels, do the limbo, eat from your hand – even play soccer!” And if you want proof, the website has video footage of “Fish School graduates” doing their thing. Just don’t expect them to be wearing little fish caps and gowns.

They also have a web cam on poor Comet, a goldfish that is currently in training. Not for the fish Olympics, but to beat the current world champ of fishy tricks (yes, there’s a Guinness World Record for it) – Albert the goldfish, who has even appeared in a TV commercial.

For more info, you can check out Dr Dean’s Fish School website, or buy the kit for your fishy friend from R2 Solutions here.

Home sparks, Sparky gifts

Man Candles

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Cate

Yes, you read that right – Man Candles. As the name suggests, they’re candles for men. Some clever marketer saw a gap in the market for scented candles which, let’s face it, are largely bought by women for women (or sometimes by clueless men for disappointed women, as a mistakenly ‘fail-safe’ kinda gift). So the Yankee Candle company in the USA has made a special range of four scented candles for American men.

First in the range is Riding Mower(TM). This large jar candle provides at least 110 hours of “Hot sun. Cool breeze. And the intensely summery scent of freshly cut grass.” Oh yeah.

Then there’s the 2 x 4″ (TM) Man Candle, featuring “the warm, unmistakable scent of freshly planed wood and sawdust”, which apparently “evokes a sense of confidence and quality.” I’m not sure how you can burn 2 x 4″ without it smelling like the furniture in your house is on fire, but clearly the Man Candles aren’t designed for me.

Man Town(TM) promises an “escape to the man cave with this masculine blend of spices, woods and musk.” I’m not sure that man caves are meant to feature scented candles, although I guess Man Candles are ok.

And last, but not least, there’s First Down (TM). As in, American football. In a very ambitious promise, the people at Yankee Candles say it’s “Game on! This combination of orange, patchouli, vetiver and leather is as exciting as game day.” I find that very hard to believe – if you had this candle in one hand and two tickets to the Superbowl in the other hand, the man in your life would say, “Oh, thanks honey, but I’ll take the candle – it’ll be just as exciting as game day!”

An interesting idea, the Man Candle. If you’d like to check out this range or the other candles from Yankee Candle Company – makers of “America’s best loved candle” – their website is here.

Home sparks, Sparky gifts

Great Danes

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Cate

I first read about Danish label LuckyBoySunday in Frankie magazine, alongside a photo of three very cool looking chairs. So I looked at the website (yes, even though they were apparently only for children) and I was hooked. I don’t know if Danish children are more melancholic (if that’s a word) than other children, but the collections of accessories on the website would scare the crap out of most kids I know.

The creation story of LuckyBoySunday is a cute one. The idea was born “on a Sunday in August 2007” as Camilla & Camilla (yes, really) sat by a lake in Copenhagen and “shaking hands, promising each other to create our very own version of a child’s reality”. And so they did. With their focus on “silly, seriously, joyful, graphics, dreams. Yes!” they are surely on the right track. As long as your children aren’t prone to nightmares as they see their toys coming to life at night…

The collection is made of “very soft 100% baby alpaca”, which sounds a bit cruel to me. (They haven’t specified, but I presume they mean the baby alpaca’s wool.)

Anyways, the peculiar hand cushion is called Fancy Finger, for obvious reasons. And the little girl is holding Dead Buddy. Uh huh. Then there is Balthazar, the shirtless guy with the blue balaclava and his bestie Sailor Jack, who look like they’ve had a rough night at sea. Or somewhere. And then there’s the Uffie cushion – part-robber, part-anxiety and all charm. Then there are the fabulous Mr Bells, with their green and blue moustaches.

The collection is for children? Do you really think so? Either way, they have some very cool and kooky accessories and their website is well worth a visit. You can check it out 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.