I’ve seriously started the holiday gift brainstorming by going through piles of December issues of magazines (which have the gift guides) and all my known online resources. I’m coming across some seriously awesome goodies out there. Unfortunately I want a lot of them for myself….
Tag: friday
Last night I met Adam and his colleague Mike at their office downtown, and we all headed to Brooklyn to see Mike’s apartment, meet his 2-year-old daughter, and go out to dinner with his wife Katsuko.
I wanted to post about this on Friday, but something was up with WordPress and I couldn’t upload any pictures. It has been gross here in NJ since Friday morning, and since my classes that day were a week ahead (I started last Friday) I decided to do some rainy day stories with the little kids. For Kindergarten and 1st grade, I read Bamboo & Friends: The Rainy Day by Felicia Law. I was totally unfamiliar with this series of books, but it was kind of charming and straightforward. It had a few little facts about pandas and rain throughout the story, which was nice. Some of the facts needed extra explanation for the little kids, and some of them were randomly placed in the story which made it hard to work them in. It was a short little book with nice illustrations, fine for what I needed it for.
I skipped posting one last week because I was completely exhausted after the green card interview and start of summer reading at the library. But I’m back this week with some kitschy red, white, and blue goodies to celebrate the 4th!
I found everything this week using Pounce, which shows new shops that haven’t had a sale yet. There’s some great stuff out there! Must…hold…back…shopping…fingers!
I think this Banana Sky painting from FourFeetSquare is cheerful, and I love the keys. This would put me in a good mood immediately.
I bought these great Happy Little HIPPO Notecards from Cherries & Whales’ Tails this week. They have amazingly fun, customizable stationery. I even started to do a custom gorilla design with Suzanne before I saw these hippos and changed my mind. I dare anyone receiving one of these in the future NOT to smile when you see that hippo!
I’ve been all over Etsy this week and I’m obsessed with patterns and prints.
This week I bought this Amigurumi Happy Weather Mobile Pattern from AmyGaines. Her patterns are the most original I’ve seen, and someday when crochet and I become more than just acquaintances, I will make this. I have looked at this picture all week when I’m feeling grumpy, and I’ve discovered that it’s just impossible not to smile at it. What I’m still trying to find is a pattern for a knitted/crocheted/sewn gorilla. I collect gorillas and cannot find a way to make my own yet!!
Here are this week’s obsessions:
These Pencil Coasters from HKExpressions are pretty witty. I thought about buying them to use as gift tags or cards for my writer, librarian, and teacher friends. Or just for a Naughty Librarians party or something. They also have these very kitschy patriotic coasters that would be fun to give as a sort of ironic gift, too. Or for a July 4th cookout.
This week’s picks:
I bought this goldfish fabric from Lucky Kaeru Fabric and Supplies, a regular stop for me. They have great imported fabrics and will do custom orders if you need a higher quantity or want something that is no longer posted. I used this fabric for Alannah’s blanket, so I just did a custom order to stock up on more of it. This is probably my favorite Etsy shop.
Here’s what I’ve been browsing this week.
I like these Spool of Thread pins from Courtney Watson’s shop TwIsTeD. Very cute.
I love the idea of giving a funky clipboard to a teacher or nurse or someone who’d use it. I want one of these for myself, Kute Klipboards by Amy has lots of fun designs like this one.