Away

A short trip and a stream of visitors will keep me away from blogland till the end of the month. My flight will leave today, and I'll back in Singapore on Sunday. My sis, my parents and parents-in-law will keep me occupied afterwards. :)

I've added some new links on my sidebar over the past couple of months. Please do visit them, I'm sure you will enjoy them as much as I do. Tons of great reads, guaranteed! ;-)

Here's a picture of seashells I found during Natassja's school excursion last September. We took some home and snapped few pics of the seashells. They are precious little things in life, aren't they? :)

Now, if you could just roll your eyes slightly to the right and start clicking on my sidebar links. :) Happy browsing, take care!

Mary Maki Rae

Sorry for too much colors lately, but I just can't help keeping these all to myself! :) Here are some pictures from Mary Maki Rae's etsy shop. Mary Maki Rae is known for her children books, acrylic paintings and limited edition serigraph prints.



I stumbled upon her High Flyer on Etsy last month, and was stunned with the vibrant colors she's using and how perfectly they were registered on this limited edition hand pulled original serigraph. So I ended up buying two of her works, Blue Tambourine and High Flyer on White. I was waiting so impatiently for the prints to arrive, and when vpost finally delivered them Tuesday last week, they're just exactly what I thought they would be. Perfect in every way. Perfect.


And yes, the colors are really THAT saturated. And Mary was generous enough to include another gorgeous print for me. Every single print in the package is just perfect. Have I said that enough already?! ;-) If only I could afford this fourteen colors HAND-PULLED ORIGINAL SERIGRAPH with Hand-Applied Collage Embellishments (bottom pic). *sigh* Fourteeen, I said. 14!!! Gosh.

Present&Correct

Neal of Present&Correct wrote to me after seeing my comment on his poster over at design*sponge. I personally like the idea of putting endangered species in a fun learning way, like alphabet poster in a nice color-scheme. So when Neal asked me if I would blog about it, I didn't hesitate to say I would! Seriously. If only schools back then had more subjects presented in this manner, perhaps I would had paid more attention to class. ;-)



Perfect for all age groups, The Alphabet of Endangered Species in the British Isles Poster is available for purchase here. And oh, watch out for Present&Correct's upcoming new and vintage paper products, must be fun to see! :)

TAJ Wood & Scherer, Germany

I first saw TAJ pillows at Selfridges, UK, in 2004, then totally forgot about it, until my trip to Grønlykke, Copenhagen. And yet my impressions of TAJ pillows remain the same, even after 3 years not seeing them. Gorgeous motives, vibrant colors and fine embroideries. A must have! :)




They are the kind of pillows that would scream "pick me! pick me! pick meeeee!!!!", so yes, I gave in and bought one at Grønlykke. They're just so irresistible!! I couldn't possibly walk out of the shop and not seeing them again for another 3 years, could I? ;-) Too bad, there are only limited images on TAJ's online shop, but fret not, Arrivee et Depart (Tokyo), a stockist of TAJ Wood & Scherer, has more TAJ products online. It's another pretty shop, I must say! :)



TAJ Wood & Scherer was established in 1999 by Roger Wood and Christine Scherer, to create "fashion for the home". You can learn more about Roger Wood and Christine Scherer on Munich Shopping Less Ordinary's recent interview with them. Click here to read. And yes, Selfridges, UK still carries TAJ Wood & Scherer products. Well, it says so on its website. :) Enjoy!



(images: TAJ Wood & Scherer, Arrivee et Depart, and Munich Shopping Less Ordinary)

Grønlykke, Copenhagen

Grønlykke is surely one pretty shop in Copenhagen, Denmark. I believe their brick and mortar shop has more items than what they have online. When I was there last June, they had tons of embroidered pillows, well, at least more than 6. And if you're a pattern addict like me, I bet you'd loooooove this shop! ;-)



Grønlykke carries some brands you'd seen around the blogland, like Susanne Schjerning, Rice Denmark, GreenGate Copenhagen, Pakhuis Oost, TAJ, and oh, they carry Thomas Paul pillows, too. So can you imagine how excited I was seeing all those brands for the first time? Well, okay, it's not my first time seeing TAJ pillows, but still.. I was like a little girl in a candy store! :)

Chenhui Su

Speaking of chair pad, here's another one by Chenhui Su, called Chair Chair pad. Chenhui Su is an independent designer, born in Taipei, Taiwan, and now lives in Brooklyn, USA. And guess where I stumbled upon her Chair Chair pad? Etsy! *that place is just filled with treasures!*



Chenhui Su's etsy store led me to other fantastic creations she had produced, like her Trompe L'oeil, Drawing in the Environment, and more. Plus, she's a great photographer! Check out her pictures at flickr, or at her blog. A real multi-talented lady, I must say. :)

Have you seen these?

Self Selective Heat Sensitive Wallpaper by Shi Yuan

It's a heat-sensitive wallpaper which the flowers will appear when the radiator is on. *Clever, isn't?* (via poppytalk)


Glänta for Blond by Johan Carpner Design

A sheet metal and acrylic pendant lamp shines through a beautiful foliage, bringing you the feel of outdoor to indoor. (via emmas designblogg)


DIY Wednesdays: wine crate display cases at design*sponge

DIY Wednesdays is one of the d*s latest features brought to you by Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom of the Curiosity Shoppe, the new design*sponge's craft editors. Be sure to check out their diy projects every wednesday! I'm sure I will. :) *congrats, Grace!*

chair-chair, Japan

chair-chair is a Japanese shop selling new and vintage furniture, cameras, toys, and soft furnishings. I stumbled upon its blog while searching for Sdi Fantasia. I had fun browsing through all the pictures at chair-chair blog, where the seller displays the items in a hilarious way (note the toys!). Pretty good sense of humor, don't you think?



And I just had to post this picture below. I think it's a perfect(!) shot for a retro shop, like chair-chair.



oh, btw, don't miss the chair-chair original bikini pad! love it!

Sdi Fantasia, Japan

Sdi Fantasia is a children furniture manufacturing company based in Japan, founded by designer Toshimitsu Sasaki. A glance on their products page, you'll realize that Sdi Fantasia must be known for their innovative designs.




New Bambini (first row pics) serves a dual purpose, as a high chair or as a rocking horse. Cart (bottom right) is a wooden toy vehicle with adjustable height and adjustable steering wheel. And don't you just love that mini Carota chair? :)

French Toast Friday, Malaysia

A creative mom, Fairuz, from Malaysia wrote me about her personalised kids name frames. Here are some pictures of frames she made previously. Aren't they lovely? :)



The wooden frames are 7 inches by 5 inches and backings are scrapbooking papers. To order yours, please click here. One thing to note, the pricing is in Malaysian Ringgit. Click here if you need currency converter. Enjoy!


Thanks, Fairuz!