Crafts + DIY
I hold a very dear place in my heart for cupcakes. My own bergamot lavender cupcakes were a hit in the East Village when my friend Jodi of Sympathy for the Kettle would serve them up with frothy matcha lattes and endless pots of Ti Kuan Yin. Lately, I’ve had the growing desire to get back into the kitchen and bake up a storm (motherly instincts?)…
I’ve always been a lover of quilts – watching my mother create exquisite ones as a child, starting my own collection once I moved to New York City and discovered the East Village Flea and the wonders of eBay, standing awestruck before each Gee’s Bend quilt during the Guggenheim exhibition a few years back…
Aside from being visually breathtaking (and goosebump-inducing), this film pretty much showcases some of the best things in life: science, nature, education, experimentation, and… good times with the fam! The film documents the build, release, and recovery of a video- and iPhone-rigged weather balloon that, in the span of a wee 70 minutes, managed to climb nearly 100,000 feet (hitting the upper stratosphere) before bursting and frantically dancing its way back to earth — landing in a tree a mere 30 miles from the launch site!
Etsy has to be one of the coolest places for gift giving — simply because most of the offerings on the site are handcrafted and one-of-a-kind. But, with this endless trove of offerings, a bushy-eyed shopper can quickly get dissuaded by too much good stuff…
In need of a new carpetbag? Why not step it up a notch?! Japanese designer Christian Peau offers a no-nonsense artisanal line of leather and canvas goods ideal for the modern-day Mary Poppins, Dr. Dolittle, or Johnny Appleseed. Traditionally handcrafted using a combination of premium hides and canvas cloth in the style of Japanese canvas maekake (aprons), Peau’s line is designed for everyday life, work and play…
Ah, the Trojan Horse… It’s never too early for kids to discover the classics and what better place to start than with Virgil’s The Aeneid: a classic tale of military strategy. Count on the Dutch, this time by way of Amsterdam-based KidsOnRoof, to design eco-friendly playthings that are pleasing to both child’s and parent’s aesthetic…
The rain is pattering down on Brooklyn today — not that I’m bothered, considering YZ & I will be in 74º-and-sunny LA by tomorrow noon… But on gray Mondays like these (especially if you have munchkins that need entertaining) it’s always nice to whip out the origami paper and mountain fold your way to a paper crane mobile or a very ambitious kusudama.
While perusing the child-centric wares of one of my favorite Tel Aviv shops, Carousella, I came across these oversized baskets by Franco-Senegalese company Europ’Africa Deco…
Our baby niece Lir is pretty much the apple of YZ’s and my eye, making it hard to resist buying her every little cute thing that we come across. But, when we stumbled upon a beautiful striped bunny by Tel Aviv label Timo in a boutique in Jaffa, we just had to add the critter to Lir’s collection of toys. Totally in line with Lir’s parent’s philosophy of hugging (not mugging) the earth, each toy is…
So, you might say it’s far from wool-wearing weather, what with NYC temperatures up in the 90’s, but with every store, theater, and restaurant cranking the AC like they’re charged with re-freezing the glaciers, it’s comforting to have a little fuzzy critter to curl up with at the end of the day (or a cute scarf to wrap around your little one’s neck to keep the summer sniffles away!)…
In a house bursting at the seams with typewriters, teapots, and every other imaginable tchotchke, it’s refreshing to mix in simple, high-quality basics to balance out the madness. Filzfelt, the minimalist line of felt-by-the-yard and felt accessories launched by Traci Roloff (blogger behind The Girl in the Green Dress) and Etcetera’s Kelly Smith is one of those purist, interior design gems…
Who doesn’t like rope!? From worn, dirty-white sailing rope to neon mountain climbing rope to… baker’s twine. Red baker’s twine is pretty common, I actually finagled some out of the Something Sweet Bakery on First Ave…
Love this! Love this! Woodtec’s handmade cedar docking stations for iPhones and iPods are made-to-order, meaning each one is unique with it’s own knobbies and marbling. The docks are compatible with all iPods (except the shuffle) and use a standard USB wire…
I just loved Back-to-School when I was a kid. Pacing the aisles of Staples, I made sure not to let a single thumbtack’s worth of office supplies slip past my scrutinizing eye. One of my favorite things to do was to wrap my textbook covers…
