homewares – Page 3 – everydaysparks

There’s a creature in my cup

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Cate

I first saw these Creature Cups, made by Yumi Yumi in Brooklyn, on etsy a few months ago. I wanted to write about them, because they are a little bit different to your standard mug. But then the etsy shop disappeared and I could find no trace of Yumi Yumi or her Creatures.

Until they appeared on sale recently at Fab.com and I realised that Yumi Yumi (I’ll keep using both Yumis as I’m not actually sure if it’s a person’s name or a shop) has become bigger than etsy (imagine that!) and started a website to share these cool mugs with the world.

Whether you need a unique housewarming gift, have a friend who’s a vet or a zookeeper, or just want to scare your visitors by serving their coffee in cups filled with creatures, this may be the collection for you. Featuring an alligator, octopus, sea otter and lobster, these Creature Cups are sure to liven up your morning coffee. And I’d keep my eye on that lobster – he looks like he’s planning an escape…

You can check out the Creature Cups here.

Treasures from Italy

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Cate

Ah, Italy. It’s easy to love everything about it – the language, the food, the beautiful country, the fashion, the people, the history. Not to mention the design, which is world-famous for good reason. And thanks to Fab.com, I’ve discovered Antartidee – an Italian company designing and making zany homewares that are both practical and quirky. And brightly coloured. What’s not to love?

Here’s The Rock Coat-Stand, part of a series of coat stands featuring different coloured hands making different kinds of gestures. I think this would look very cool just affixed to a plain wall in your home (especially if you added some of the other hands to create a slightly creepy gallery), but I understand if you want to use it as an actual hook on which you hang coats or hats or bags. Their coat stand range also features a banana, gelato in a cone, gun, tap or fairly lifelike human ear. Uh huh.

If you find yourself reaching for the lolly jar a little too often and want something to scare you away, this might be just the thing: Chameleon-Glutton sits on top of the jar as a sign of where you’re headed if you over-indulge. Genius.

Or if you’re looking for some innovative lighting solutions, then be sure to check out their lamps. The Frame Hand Lamp Clouds is part light, part artwork and part fortune teller. Love it.

And this Fall Lamp looks almost magical and is sure to keep you calm. Unless you live in a country that is prone to drought, in which case it might just make you feel guilty all the time.

Speaking of time, here’s a cute clock – Valentina – from their extensive range of wall and table clocks. I’m sure it’s an insightful commentary on how we all want time to slow down, or something like that. But really, I just like the snail.

And I’ll finish with this vase – Pablo – because I could honestly find another 30 pieces on the site that I would like to show you. But instead, you might want to check out the Antartidee magic for yourself here.

Food sparks, Home sparks

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…

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.

Sparky gifts, WWWhat?

A bit of geekery

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Cate

A confession – I’m not really all that cool. I like gadgets, good spelling and other things that I guess could be described as ‘geeky’. So it should make me happy to know that I’m not alone – and my measure for that is of course the most popular craft marketplace in the world, etsy. There is a whole category of ‘Geekery’, featuring nearly 118,000 items, catering to crafty geeks (or crafty people who know and love geeks) across the globe. But I found a lot of the geekery to be kinda scary. Here are some highlights…Cool kids, consider yourselves warned.

For the geeky home accessory, or if you’re after a romantic trip down memory lane, here’s an Etch-a-Sketch cushion for your beloved. Sure, the white knobs don’t actually work and you can’t shake it to erase and start again, but the writing is still as wonky as the real thing. Part of a collection of geekery made by Cindy and Randy Green, this is one of the few things in their Yellow Bug Boutique that I actually ‘get’. They have a lot of chemical and periodic table type gags (!), but I’m afraid the memory of struggling through high school Chem classes means that I’ll never find that stuff funny. (I do also like this black & white cushion in their shop, but I think it would bug me too much to have it lying around. Which, come to think of it, is maybe why I need it.)

If you’re a Dr Who fan, you might appreciate this Tardis beanie (more than I do). The Gromidez shop also has other beanies that might appeal to geeks – including these cute and colourful numbers modelled on those ghosts in PacMan. And some other Pokemon things, which I am far too old to understand. The shop also sells a cool SpiderMan web blanket, just in case you’ve been looking for one to complement your new lounge.

Or maybe you’re looking for some geeky jewellery that also serves a practical purpose. If so, apparently you will really like the BitofSugar shop. Who knew that beautiful Hawaii could be a hotbed for so much geekery? They sell this ‘Zombie Antidote’ necklace, by asking: Are you preparing for the eminent zombie invasion/apocalypse? If you answered “yes,” this zombie antidote necklace is the most important component of your stockpile. Ah, the old marketing technique of scare tactics, gets ’em every time. But in a somewhat evil twist, they also sell a ‘Zombie Virus’ necklace, thereby cleverly creating the zombie virus market of supply and demand. Genius.

I’ve only scratched the surface of Geekery, but if you’d like to see more, you should check out etsy. If the cushions are to your liking, the Yellow Bug Boutique is here, and the beanies can be found at the Gromidez shop here, while the zombie antidote (and virus, if you’re so inclined) are for sale at BitofSugar here.