Fab.com – Page 3 – everydaysparks

It’s in the bag

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Cate

I am a bag lady. Be they fancy bags, practical bags, work bags, silly bags, travel bags or shopping bags, I love them. And I first saw these kooky handbags on sale at Fab.com. Dutch designer Sylvia Krens created the Hi-Di-Hi range of bags in striking styles that highlight individuality and, most importantly, spark conversations. Yep, I’m pretty sure these are going to be conversation starters – or stoppers…

The pics of these Winky cross-body bags are from Fab.com, which featured them in a recent sale. They come in a range of bright colours and, as the name suggests, the hologram eye appears to open and close when the bag moves. Be warned that your bag will be winking at everyone that you pass on the street. Which may work in your favour, or may result in you getting slapped. Please take care.

The winking eyes made me curious, so I checked out the Hi-Di-Hi website, and was delighted to discover more wacky accessories there. Like these Birdy Shopper bags, designed to look as though you’re carrying around a bird in a nest. Granted, the ‘nest’ in this image is made of faux fur, which is a little confusing, but it somehow works.

Or there’s this funky Home Sweet Home, which features a cute little bird stuck in a cut-out hole, like a cuckoo. Only cuter.

Then there are colourful bags with butterflies, flowers, babies, and even hoodies to customise your backpack as your mood changes – from Little Red Riding Hood to a dragon, elf or robot.

These pics are all from the Hi-Di-Hi website, which is well worth a look. You can check it out here.

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

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.

Arty sparks, Home sparks

Bonjour, stylish kitchen!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Cate

They’re not called ‘whitegoods’ for nothing. Kitchen appliances, while practical, can be kinda boring. (Except if you live in my apartment, where the previous owners were so funky that they matched the fridge and dishwasher with the glossy blue laminated cupboards and drawers. That’s a whole lotta blue, I tell you.) Anyways, I say boo to boring kitchen appliances – and hello to these fabulous dishwasher and fridge decals by the clever French folk at ADzif, recently featured on Fab.com.

If you’re looking to expand your cooking space into a serene wonderland with beautiful images of nature, you might like the green leaf fridge decal. Or the tricky pile o’ logs photo. Laugh as visitors to your home try to work out how you’ve managed to turn your humble refrigerator into a portal to the forest.

Or perhaps you’re more of a city person and you want to recreate the hustle and bustle of New York City on your dishwasher or fridge. These decals are big enough to have you sitting on the floor in your kitchen, imagining you were really there. In which case, you might also want to buy a soundtrack of honking taxis, emergency vehicle sirens, shouting people, a subway rapper impersonating Jay Z, and someone yelling, “HOT DOGS”.

Or if you’re fancier than me and prefer to say bonjour to your dishes, you might like this Parisian dishwasher decal. They also have a Parisian fridge decal, but this is my blog and I prefer New York to Paris, so you can check out the website if you’re interested in all things Frenchy. (The default ADzif website is actually written in French, so you’ll love it!)

I think these are a brilliant idea – they can be cut to size with your trusty scissors, they can be removed without leaving marks (but can’t be reused). For less than $70 for a fridge and less than $50 for a dishwasher, a trip to Paris, New York or the forest has never been cheaper. (Unless you actually live in Paris, New York or a forest, I guess.)

My pick? Thanks for asking. It’s this fabulous image of my favourite part of Times Square, where the overwhelming tackiness of all those lights is replaced by street furniture that’s reminiscent of a cobbled European side street. In the middle of such a busy city. Love ya, New York.

If you like these, there are plenty more amazing decals on the French website of ADzif. These images are from Fab.com and I couldn’t find all of them on the ADzif website (the dishwashers and my favourite fridge decal were missing), but maybe I need to brush up on my high school French and have another look. Toute de suite!

Arty sparks, Sparky gifts, WWWhat?

Book ’em, Danno

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Cate

I love books. And when I saw a headline for ‘an eclectic collection of books’ by Melville House featured on Fab.com recently, my curiosity was piqued. An eclectic collection indeed. You can keep your alleged classics like War and Peace or Ulysses, I’ll take How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees, a master in “the age-old art of manual pencil sharpening”. According to the hardcover of this 224 page book, it’s perfect for flange turners, anglesmiths and civil servants. I don’t know any of them folk, but I do know some contractors and apparently it’ll be right up their street too. (On another note, if you do know a flange turner or anglesmith, please let me know. And tell me what they do.)

Or maybe Drunk is more your thing. (No judgement.) Written by word nut Paul Dickson, it’s basically a list of 2,964 synonyms for ‘drunk’ (including such classics as roasted, whazood, whiskey frisky and Boris Yeltsinned). So now you know.

But the choice doesn’t end there – oh no. How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive or I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have To Be Destroyed By Me or the beautifully covered (yes, I know the old saying, but I’m shallow) Rotis – Roasts for every day of the week (including slightly off-putting pictures of cute animal faces).

So, whether you’re an avid reader, love a pretty bookshelf or you’re a flange turner looking for a helpful tome, this collection could be eclectic enough to suit!