Big Boy Room: Wall Art WIP

Banquet, an, ahem, Canadian company, has some very sharp looking marine wall art. Check out their SOME SEA ANIMALS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST poster.

The perfect image but which seems to be available in only less than perfect sizes. 21.5" x 29.5"? That is about as useful as a cocktail napkin!

Barring a miracle and finding that one larger, this is my current front runner: a map of ocean currents. But we need to find a reproduction!

A pilot map is an interesting idea. Now to find one with graphic omph.

In a similar vein, maps of the ocean floor are interesting. A nice but expensive one here.

Dad had National Geographic's star chart when growing up. This Celestial Planisphere Chart seems similar but better composed.

There are some very beautiful reproductions of maps from the 18th century and earlier. I suppose they pose a danger of messing up Big Boy's understanding of world geography.

Vintage Denoyer Geppert school maps seem to be rearing their pretty head in design print and blogs lately. The colours are beautiful but the prices not so much. This one's palette reminds me of them.

Oh, yes.
This is all in service to The Big Boy Room.

Big Boy: Tegu Blocks

Tegu - Magnetic wooden blocks

Tomatoes

Black Sea Man (determinate) - You Grow Girl's review here
Costoluto Genovese (indeterminate) - You Grow Girl's review here
You Grow Girl on Tomatoes in containers here and here.

01.xii.10 UPDATE: Instead of Costoluto Genovese, I managed to buy Green Zebras by mistake. It was a huge disppointment but they proved themselves to be fairly prolific and tangy but tasty. I will have to try for Costoluto again next year!

Advent Calendars

Image from Garnet Hill

With Advent almost upon us (28th November this year), a calendar was needed for Big Boy. We chose the pictured one, available from Garnet Hill. I like the modular look of it and the fact that it is reuseable. Garnet Hill also provides the goodies to go inside. Some of them look really cute but we might have edit a few of the smaller ones until Big Boy gets through his "pop it in the mouth" phase.

I have an idea for a bowl of bags (two of Big Boys three favourite words) advent calendar using something like these.

Other ideas can be found here:

The Lundby Advent Calendar, of course! Whether you have a Lundby house or not!

What David Digs has a very thorough list of good looking, three dimensional calendars. I especially like the Lego option.

Skip to My Lou has a nice round up with a few familiar faces.

And Babble has a big roundup that I am only part way through.

UPDATE: The Garnet Hill calendar was a huge disappointment. It was poorly constructed with misaligned pieces and wrinkling and blistering of the paper graphics. It was such a lovely design and I feel really sad about it. I hope that they release it again but better executed. Wood would be nice but similar paper-covered card done carefully would be okay.

Baskets: Balinese Boxes and Senagalese Baskets

I love baskets!

Balinese Boxes and Senagalese Baskets at Serena & Lily

Balinese Boxes are my all time favourites. These are a bit gaudy but they seem to be very hard to find on this side of the pond. In Asia, you would find yourself tripping over them. Now, I typically snap the up whenever I see them. Were these not so expensive nice, I might get these too despite their bright colours.

Silhouette

Silhouette - like a printer but it cuts

Bachelor Buttons

A lovely old school cookie.
My mother always dotted hers with pretty, pink apple jelly.
These melt away in your mouth.

Play Rug(s)

Cool dimensional ones at Urban Baby.

Think Pink

A favourite clip via Filip Motwary.

For whatever reason, suprisingly few people I know, are familiar with this scene. And I work in retail!

I love it ... not because I work in retail but for many reasons I cannot nail down instantaneously although Kay Thompson has a lot to do with it.
This feels like a candidate post for an update!

Miniatures: Scales

Petit Princess, 1:¾

Lundby, 1:2/3 (1:18)

Scooters, Trikes ... Wheels!

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: Seal the Deal

At first glance, Wishbone Design's vehicles seem a little too "cross country" or SUV.
But I love their capable aesthetic and their Transformers gimmick is great: buy it as a tricycle for your toddler; later flip the frame, convert it to a two-wheel "balance bike" and, ultimately convert it to the "running bike" configuration. Now. what does that entail? A running toddler? Or is that me running after him? Regardless, what a clever tranformational design.
Until further notice, this is my first pick for a scooter thingamajig.

ANother interesting model is the Y-Bike from South Africa ... but also available at Amazon.

Skuut is the offering from the Netherlands ... once again available at Amazon.

Amnesia: Art

I have a terrible memory or maybe it is a mental block for useful information. In any case, here is the artsy stuff I need to remember:

Andy Goldsworthy
Joseph Cornell - creepy 3D collages
Patrick Dougherty - whimsical and creepy twig architecture
Hassan Fathy

Big Boy Room: Chalkboard

Martha Stewart makes the common chalkboard A Good Thing with a little (unsanded) tile grout.

Shopping List:
flat-finish latex paint
1 cup of paint into a container
2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout
a paint stirrer
a roller or a sponge paintbrush
150-grit sandpaper
a piece of chalk
a barely damp sponge

Miniatures: Sources

Mini Modernista - lovely execution of iconic pieces
Dollhouse Retro Mania - retro wall and floor coverings
Elph Miniatures
Delph Miniatures
PRD Miniatures

Wing Chun ... Ktl.

I need to start a list of notions I have that maybe Big Boy might like:

Swimming lessons (to keep BB from drowning)
Wing Chun

Camping

Better start making a list now in case Big Boy wants to go camping some day.

The Pines at Yosemite
Costanoa at Santa Cruz

Big Boy Room Update

We are still setting up The Big Boy Room.

The outstanding items seem to be toy storage and closet door treatments. Our current "deluxe" storage system, which uses a combination of old shipping boxes and some of my knitting baskets, cannot continue! I am all but sold on the baskets pictured above from Land of Nod. They are not quite as cheap as I wish they were but they seem super durable and are just the size needed.

I am still haunting Spoonflower to find something suitable to starch to the closet door. Here are the latest candidates:

Nautical Birds On A Wire by ttoz
And then there is still Marimekko's SATEENKAARI

Here is what we do have:

True Modern low dresser.
Room and Board crib/toddler bed.
Sea Gift's Signal Flags bunting.
Port hole picture Frames at Pelican Bay.
Magic Lantern with underwater theme.
Smith & Noble Black out blind in Sky Blue.

Sorbet

Image by Erin Kunkel.
I need to try Oakland's Scream Sorbet, article in the NY Times.

Plug courtesy of Siri.

For ice cream inspiration, click here.

Temari Balls ≠ Suprise Balls

surprise ball by kate spade new york.

Beautiful Temari by Suzik at Etsy.

Oddly enough, I thought for awhile that these were the same as suprise balls and could not imagine unwinding one of them. Thank goodness I figured it out before destroying one!

Suprise Ball inspiration at SF Gate
DIY Easter Suprise Ball Tutorial at Craftzine
DIY Suprise Ball Tutorial at Not Martha
Go Make Something's Tutorial uses wrappings other than the usual crepe paper.
Super-sized Suprise Ball at Kiosk
Kate Spade's video of a Suprise Ball
No time or crepe paper on your hands? Get one prêt-à-porter at Tops Malibu.

Preserved Lemons

Easy-peasy style at Bitten.

Unfortunately, they must be refrigerated and used up within two weeks. Halving the recipe might be in order.