Awesome Halloween finds at Coffee Times

A very quick post tonight, but wanted to check in with some super cute finds they had at my local Coffee Shop, Coffee Times! They always have the best and most clever Halloween gifts there!

Alligator Dish with Leg Spreader
Alligator dish with foot spreader
The dish could hold crackers or the like or spread I guess. The leg pulls out and has a spreading knife on the end. So funny!

Glitterville Buckets
I heart glitterville!
They’ve actually had these the past couple of years, but I can never get enough of them!

Skull Chandelier
Skull chandelier
They always have a couple of high price ticket items like this skull chandelier. Me likey, but can’t affordey.

Skull Decanter
Skull decanter
This is so awesome too! Love the shiny black look. I’d probably put Kool-aid in here (drinking’s not my thing)…ha, but not the Jim Jones variety.

Skeleton Journal
Cool Halloween journal
Coolest.journal.ever. I just wish it wasn’t $35. I always have good intentions with journals like these, but I would want to have nice handwriting and drawing skills to actually mark in this, and I’m lacking both!

Well, I still haven’t figured out a costume!!! Time is running out, Swellions.

Alexa

Some things I’m loving today…

I wanted to share a couple the fun things I’ve scoped out on the net over the past day or so…beware, these are all very random sides of me. I go from whimsy to kitsch to ultra fab. Can you handle it??

french toast girl
Starting off, found a fun and whimsical painting/life site called French Toast Girl. French Toast Girl is made up of the the art and illustration of Ă©lena nazzaro and man is she ever talented…I love her little thoughts and lists like this. Her beautiful and simple html design brightens my spirits…she even tells you how to get started on making your own web site. The first thing, though that drew me to her site was this awesome stripey goodness partfait illustration I found on Craftzine’s blog. Everything is just so.much.fun.

uncoolhunter
Check out The Uncool Hunter. OMG! I can’t believe the crazy&wacky&tacky&completely absurd stuff on this site. I totally love it! Just to give you a little taste, here’s some topics I came across while perusing this site…

A miniature horse in shoes dubbed “Reebucks”
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Macho Man Randy Savage just might be my new style icon! Look how glam and gawdy in all his neon glory!
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Oh, and how can you not like a site that features literacy campaigns featuring Mr. T?
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Just a quick FYI, some of the stuff on that uncool site is NSFW, so might be best viewed at home on your own time!

pb teen
And finally, totally diggin’ the looks I’m seeing on Pottery Barn Teen. I love the fresh, bright colors and patterns, especially this zigzag one mixed in with the flowers…

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And how cute are these mod dot mirrors?
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Oh, and these jewelry stands make my mouth water!
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I don’t care that I’m 29. I’d rather shop at Pottery Barn Teen over the regular Pottery Barn anyday!

Hope you enjoyed exploring these fun finds with me. Until tomorrow, Swellions!

Alexa

Places to go and things to see

In the world of swell, there is always something going on. Tonight, in fact, I am going with my friend Chris to take photos around downtown Lexington. Chris is an amazing photographer and we are Flickr compendres. If you aren’t familiar with Flickr, I suggest you get familiar! It’s a great way to meet like-minded creative folks who love to share photography and interests. So you are not into photography? Peruse the many craft groups, shoe groups, kitsch groups, fetish groups, etc. Whoops. Did I say fetish groups? No, there’s some truly bizarre stuff on there. I have found that out by randomly clicking on members icon (don’t let this scare you off, though, it’s not all bad). Who knew there was a fetish for old school Reeboks? I’m not saying just regular shoes, I’m talking a specific kind of Reeboks! Yikes. I find this out by clicking on a profile of someone complimenting my sexiness (ha ha) while sporting a pair.

Anyway, that should be super fun. Also, going to whip into shape and do a set the timer for a ten minute cleaning frenzy. Does anyone else do this? I just hurry and rush around and clean as fast as I can. Kinda reminds me of some skit from Sesame Street while “Flight of the Bumblebee’s” is playing. Wouldn’t it be pretty funny if we could have soundtracks like that in our life while we did stuff? It would make things a lot more interesting.

I was planning on my Tuesdays featuring products/trends I saw out in the marketplace, but I don’t want to force myself into following such a rigid blog schedule. I do want to incorporate that as much as I can, but I don’t think I have anything to prove to myself or my readers, so I will do as I darn please, when I darn please.

That being said, these things are so darn cool

that I just have to share…I’ll let the pictures do the talking…just click on the links below for more info…

Get Well Soon masks (from Samira Boon) for the sickly people around you…
orang_utan_mask__codeMaikoGetWellSoon
Find it here…

Porcelain paper plates (by Virginia Sin)…a must for avoiding a baked bean catastrophe.
porcelain-paper_LRG
Find it here…

And is it so wrong that I want this organizer from Close to my Heart, cause it reminds me of Connect 4?
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Find it here…

And finally, a crafty shout out to the Impatient Beader, Margot Potter in her completion of second crazy and fun craft video. Check it out…

I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna have to try some of that Utee for myself! This makes me want to video blog too! One of these days, one of these days.

Until tomorrow, loyal Swellions!

Alexa

Friday Faves

Ever since I got hooked on Google Reader, I’ve found so, so many inspiring links, sites, shops, and the like that have just blown me away. There are a lot of mega talented people out the crafting & designing their little hearts out and coming up with super innovative eye candy and concepts. Each Friday, I’d like to share 3 different sites/posts that have inspired me in some way and get my brain buzzing. I hope they inspire you as much as they inspire me and get your creative juices flowin’ as well!

The Carrot Box
First off, I browsed upon this really cool web site…The Carrot Box. It’s a web site devoted to just rings, and super cool rings at that. I looked through their blog and was just blown away by the innovative ideas like these…

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This rug ring by Atipika reminds me of my Grandmother’s old sofa (it was orange, red, and green faux flocking). I just love the 70’s influence and the abstract pattern and concept. Very unusual and very cool.

This orchid ring by April Aultman also caught my eye…

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Of course, anything colorful always catches my eye, bu these little buds are just so fresh and fun, sweet and simple. Makes me want to have one for each finger!

This site is loaded with info, cool links, and the designer’s own design and shop and contains lots of quirky information and tidbits. So. much. fun.

Craft Critique’s review of Virtual Memory Boxes by Paint the Moon by Annie Manning
Craft Critique reviewed one of the new hot trends in digital scrapping–virtual shadow boxes. This concept is so fabulous and interesting and can be taken in so many different directions. Designer Annie Manning really outdid herself with these lovely Photoshop designed boxes. I just loved this doodly and happy piece, created by Annie’s design team member Holly…

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And I love the realism in these vintage-esque boxes. They are so beautiful…

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Word to the wise, though. Being a graphic designer, I know a lot of work went into making these photo illustrations. So, you need to be adept at your Photoshop before jumping in to tackling one of these. I think I could do a pretty good job of creating my own, but a beginner would really struggle. So, I recommend getting yourself a Photoshop book or digital scrapbook magazine to master more than just the basic techniques.

Silje’s visit to the Boneyard in Vegas
And finally, this post by Silje on the Red Velvet Girl’s blog made me really giddy and also mucho mundo desiring a trip to Las Vegas. She talks about a 3 acre sign boneyard that is the home to a collection of non-restored signs. If I could take photographs there, I would be a kid in a candy store! Check out this amazing set of photos taken at the Boneyard by Silje. Here’s a quick screen shot I took to show you of her cool photo set. Aren’t the colors amazing??? You can visit the actual Boneyard website by clicking here.

the-boneyard

Hope you’ve found inspiration of some kind through these sites! I had fun sharing them with you.

Until tomorrow Swellions!!!

Alexa