You know what’s a good time? Parties. I think the best kind of party is a birthday party because there’s always some really tasty treats available for the eating. Whether the cake is homemade or store bought, all that really matters is that you’re getting a slice of that sugary goodness. But what is a birthday cake without a bit of mood lighting, specifically candles? If only there was some way to add candles to a cake that was actually useful…
The Light Bites Candle Forks (Perpetual Kid, $5.99) are sure to be a welcome addition to any pastry laden festivity. The reason these forks are guaranteed to be a hit is because they combine a useful cake essential with another useful cake essential: a fork and a candle. The pack comes with a dozen reusable cake forks, each outfitted with a slot on top to hold a candle, and a pack of twelve candles. So basically, you’re getting a personal party kit that you can bring to the next birthday bash you have the pleasure of attending. I mean, imagine the looks on everyone’s faces when you offer to set up the birthday cake, and then you come out with a fork and candle combo stuck into each slice. It’s a perfect way to divide up the cake and to make sure that everyone gets a bit of special birthday fun. Since the forks are washable and reusable, all you really need to do to get multiple party uses of out this set is to buy more candles.
If you really want to get crafty, you can buy this little set and wrap it up a your gift to the birthday baby. What, is that wrong? I mean, it’s event appropriate, useful, and it will last a long time. Some might say that it would make you look cheap, but I prefer the term frugal. Maybe even thrifty.
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 6″ tall (cake forks)
-Includes 12 cake forks and 12 candles
-Cake forks are reusable
-Food safe
-Hand wash only
It’s always nice to be able to know exactly what your plans are at any given moment, but who wants to carry a day planner with them everywhere? I mean, they’re bulky and unfashionable, not to mention expensive. But how else are you supposed to make sure you don’t double book your next Friday night?
With the Calendar Tape (ThinkGeek, $9.99), you can turn just about any surface into a calendar. This pack actually includes two rolls of tape, as well as a marker,One roll is marked with dates, and also has spaces for the month and the year. The other slimmer roll of tape has the days of the week printed on it, so you can line up the appropriate day and date for any particular month. This is a calendar that’s never wrong because the year has already passed. So essentially, you can forget about it for a few months, or even a year, and the tape will still be applicable to the calendar year. And if you want to put calendar tape on all your stuff so that you have a calendar on everything you could ever need to reference, you could. This tape would be especially useful for college students because you could stick it right on your notebook for each class and keep track of when assignments are due on a class by class basis.
You gotta admit, this stuff is pretty handy. And it’s a good deal. I mean, you get at least a calendar or two out of this tape and it costs less than a standard wall calendar. Not only that, you get to choose when and where you access your calendar. That’s right, you’re the boss. Big man on campus. The buck stops with you.
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 3″ wide (dates), 1/2″ wide (days)
-Includes: roll of dates, roll of days, and marker pen
-Place a calendar anywhere you want
-Spaces for year, month, and day of week
-Create any date and day combination
-Rolls approx 164′ long that you can use to keep track of your appointments.
If you’re a regular caffeine drinker, like myself, I bet you have a whole routine when it comes to preparing your daily cup of liquid crack. You know just how much sweetener goes into each cup, and that you don’t like the stuff that comes in the pink packets. You’re also a stickler when it comes to the amount of milk poured into each cup – too much and it’s like drinking water; too little and your morning cup o’ joe is way too strong. Sure, this doesn’t seem that important when you’re living in your own little plastic bubble, where you’re the only person to fetch that cup of tea for yourself. But what about when you go out into the real world and someone offers to get your a cup of coffee? It’s easy enough to explain how many sugars you want, but how do you explain the exact shade of tea you’re accustomed to consuming? It gets a whole lot more complicated, now doesn’t it?
Not if you had the My Cuppa Coffee and My Cuppa Tea (Getting Personal, £9.74 each) mugs, it wouldn’t be. Nope, if you had one of these babies, you could just throw out one of the four shades on the inside of each mug to accurately describe your preferred method of beverage alteration. Available in either Coffee or Tea, each mug has four shades located in the inner rim of the mug that indicate the amount of milk added. The Coffee mug range includes Milky, Regular, Dark and Strong, and Black. Similarly, the Tea mug range is Milky, Classic British, Builders Brew, and Just Tea. I have to say, I cannot believe it took this long for someone to come up with something as useful as this. I mean, it’s pretty much a no brainer. This way, when someone asks you how you take your coffee, you just hand them your mug and specify a particular color. That’s it, you’re done. No longer do you have to suffer through tea that is basically a cup of milk or coffee that’s so strong you can practically feel your stomach lining burning.
This would also be a pretty good gift for the person who is a pain to buy for, providing that they enjoy coffee or tea. I mean, then they wouldn’t be able to complain the next time someone got their drink wrong because clearly it would be their own fault for picking the wrong beverage shade. Then again, if they don’t like coffee or tea, giving one of these mugs as a gift would just invite a whole lot of grumbling. So if I were you, I’d double check before ordering.
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 2 7/8″ x 4 3/8″ x 3 3/4″
-Available in Coffee or Tea
-Coffee scale range is: Milky, Regular, Dark and Strong, and Black
-Tea scale range is: Milky, Classic British, Builders Brew, and Just Tea
-Dishwasher safe
-Microwave safe
-Delivery only available in the UK
Something a little bit different for you today…an in-depth look at one particular design specialist for your reading pleasure. Now, we don’t post a lot of t-shirts on here because frankly, most quirky t-shirts are a dime a dozen and they’re usually something that you think is pretty cool, but would never wear. Well, get ready to thank your lucky stars because there’s someone out there producing awesomeness in the form of a t-shirt.
Daydream Silkscreen is an independent silkscreen printing company whose products range from your average t-shirt to book artwork, patches, rock posters, etc. Basically, if you have an idea and you want it silkscreened, they can do it. Based in the New York metro area, the company is comprised of a small group of artists and friends who have a passion for fashion. Ok, just kidding about that last part, but they do have a passion about producing your design concept throughout the art process.
If you’re interested in wicked cool apparel, then you can check out Daydream’s store for a taste of what they have to offer. The prices are pretty decent, especially when compared to that generic crap you find at the mall, with each shirt costing about $22 each. Now, let’s take a moment to think about the last time we saw an original design at the local craft fair, and now
let’s think about how much it cost. About twice that, right? I know, I know, artists have to eat, but that doesn’t mean that you should charge $40 for a t-shirt. I digress. I’ve posted just a few of my favorites to show the eclectic range of design available at Daydream’s store. Ok, so maybe you’ve checked out the store and you’re thinking, “Those shirts are pretty sweet, I think I might have to get me one of those. But wait, what if someone else buys one too? Then there will be someone else out there looking just as rad as me.” Well, you’re in luck because Daydream is a full service design shop, meaning that if there’s something you want them to make from scratch, they’ll do it (click here for a price quote). They’ll work with you until you’re satisfied with the final design. If you want to draw it and you just want them to print it, that’s fine. Do you suck at drawing? That’s cool too. You can just describe to them the idea you have and they’ll work it out. And you don’t have to worry about meeting a minimum quantity requirement because there isn’t any. Daydream will design and print just one shirt for you, if that’s your fancy. I’ve gotta say, that’s totally boss.
There is another way that you can get a one of a kind t-shirt, and that’s to go to one of Daydream’s shows. Daydream has been involved in a number of craft fairs, which help support artists and local communities. At these shows, you can pick up a collage shirt which is guaranteed to be the only one of its kind. What happens is that sometimes a design gets messed up, and since Daydream wouldn’t sell anything less than perfection to its customers, that t-shirt gets transformed into a collage shirt made up of different designs and ideas. Then it’s set aside for the next show, where someone like yourself might be lucky enough to purchase it. And no, these shirts are not outrageously priced either. Collage shirts can range from $7-$30, depending on the intricacy of the design.
So what are you waiting for? Go out and get yourself some Daydream!
5 out of 5 design stars.
Upcoming events:
Brooklyn Lyceum Craft Market
May 2, 2009 and May 3, 2009; 11am-6pm
Brooklyn, NY
Renegade Craft Fair
June 6, 2009 and June 7, 2009; 11am-7pm
Brooklyn, NY
INDIEana Handicraft Exchange
June 13, 2009;11am-10pm
Indianapolis, IN
For more Daydream Silkscreen events info, click here.
I just love awesome tech gadgets that really don’t require any technological knowledge whatsoever to enjoy. I mean, who wants to sit there with a brand new toy that they have no idea how to operate? Then you have to read the manual before you can start using it, and that just sucks. You could try to skip the required reading, but then you just end up wasting a few hours of your time before eventually tearing into that dreaded manual. So there you are, new gizmo laying abandoned, and quite possibly torn to pieces, with manual in hand and tears of frustration running down your face. It’s not a pretty picture, now is it?
Now, with the Hot Cold Mug (Generate Design, $29.00), you get a gadget that’s pretty much foolproof in its operation. This beverage receptacle contains ingenious technology that allows it to alert you to the temperature status of your drink. Translation? You’ll never again assault your taste buds by accidentally gulping down lukewarm coffee. Ok, so let’s walk you through a typical morning, without this mug in your life. You get up, grab any old mug out of your cabinet, fill it with coffee as you like it, and you’ve started your day. You get a little busy during the day with work and you get a touch distracted. You go to take a sip of your coffee to rejuvenate yourself, and much to your chagrin, it’s ice cold! Now, not only are you stressed and tired, but you’re pissed off because you just drank nasty stale coffee. Ok, let’s walk through that same morning, but this time with the Hot Cold Mug. You get up and you grab your white Hot Cold Mug out of the cabinet, with the word “cold” written in black. You fill your mug with coffee and watch as the heat causes the mug to change from white to black, with the word “hot” now illuminated in white on the side of the mug. You’re working hard, trying to get everything done by its allotted deadline. You reach for your Hot Cold Mug to take a sip of your coffee, but you notice that its color has started to fade from white to black, indicating tepid beverage temperature. So instead of drinking gross coffee, you dump it out in the sink and make a fresh cup. See how a crisis can be averted?
Sure, this mug can’t solve all the problems in your life, but you’ve got to admit that beverage temperature is pretty crucial to your happiness. I mean, if your hot coffee gets cold, it sucks and you don’t want to drink it. The same thing happens when your iced coffee gets all warm and watered down. If you drink sucks, then your whole day is ruined. And the next thing you know, dragons are roaming the earth and breathing fire in your face. Just saying.
5 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 3.5″ diameter x 4″
-Alerts a beverage temperature change
-Mug is white with “cold” written in black when cold
-Mug is black with “hot” written in white when hot
-Made from Earthenware
