CLICK on this gift guide to see more about each product!
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Writers use everything from paper to pens to keyboards to typewriters, which is why it’s so much fun to get them gifts: there’s so much to choose from. They usually love irony and sarcastic humor, which makes them prime targets for gifts like shot glasses containing the faces and quotes of alcoholic writers. They’re usually quirky and unique, so it’s not weird to get them a USB drive or pencil sharpener with a face on it.
What are some of my favorites from the above list?
I love the NaNoWriMo Merit Badges (if you don’t know about National Novel Writing Month, check out the web-site! it’s a super-fun way to spend the month of November, and at the end you can proudly say: I wrote a novel!).
I also love the story wallet, a collaboration between Poketo and McSweeney’s 826 writing centers for kids. (The kids made the stories, Poketo made the wallets.)
If you want to get the writer in your life actual books, especially if they are an artsily-inclined writer, try Penguin’s Book Sets or McSweeney’s literary magazine subscription.
Knock Knock. Who’s there? It’s Jen Bilik, the Head Honcho (founder, creator, owner) of Knock Knock. (Sorry, I couldn’t help it.) She is the one behind all of those funny, well-written, cleanly-designed pads, books, folders, binders, notebooks, and flashcards that you always see in that Kitschy shop on the corner. (Everything is also for sale on-line, and, HINT HINT, the Nifty Notes and Pocket Notes make great stocking stuffers.)
1. Pack This! Pad, $7; 2. Pro Con Pad, $7; 3. Dial an Excuse, $7.50; 4. Thanks a Lot!, $4.50, 5. Daily Mood Tracker Paper Mouse Pad, $11; 6. Things To Do Pocket Notes, $5.50; 7. Accomplish Pad, $7; 8. Random Dawdle Paper Mouse Pad, $11
Due to my various neuroses, which result in an incredible amount of list-making and indecision, Knock Knock pads frequently come in handy. Due to my obsession with clean, functional graphic design and witty writing, I feel a tickle of joy in my heart every time I see them.
Yes, the pads can be considered humorous novelty and joke gifts, but often they are quite functional. I use my “Pack This” pad every time I go on a trip. The “Rate that Wine” pad would have been perfect for the Wine class I took in college. I’ve always thought the “Daily Mood Tracker” should be used in therapy (you might need to ignore the “kill me now” column…) rather than ugly black and white xeroxed sheets (seriously, if you’re already depressed, ugly designed mood tracking sheets aren’t going to help). And, while I hope the entire “Shit List” pad wouldn’t come in handy for anyone very often, I think Steven Colbert might like it if he were renamed it “Dead to Me.”
I wanted to make a Gift Guide featuring all Knock Knock products, but then I could just write a post that says, “Please go to the Knock Knock site for your holiday shopping.” So, instead, I’ve been including them here and there, like in the Neurotic Gift Guide post. Since then, several people have said they wished they could get me The Complete Manual of Things That Might Kill You. (TIP: For someone as paranoid as me, this would be a cruel joke.)
Anyway, in place of an All Knock Knock Gift Guide, I’m offering you an interview with the founder and owner of the company that puts the “fun in functional.”
INTERVIEW WITH THE RULER OF KNOCK KNOCK (more…)
1. These critters will always be hungry (just like me!). All four are extremely cute – although I have lukewarm feelings towards the frog’s sleazy white smile…it reminds me of Ross Geller’s teeth, Animal Swing-Lid Cans from The Container Store, $11.99 (Warning! Panda friend is back-ordered. The frog is too. Apparently I’m the only one who does not support the frog.)
2. I always need snacks while I work. I HATE, however, CRUMBS. Something else that I HATE: eraser boogers. I use my Staedtler latex eraser incessantly, thus my desk is always littered with eraser junk. AND THEN! The eraser junk ventures to the crevice of my book spines, which leads to me obsessing over trying to fish the boogers out with my pencil tip. Well, if you are a dork like me, you might enjoy this DESK VACUUM DISGUISED AS A ROBOT. BONUS POINTS: its arms move! Pretend it’s waving at you. Hello, robot friend!, Robo Vac Desktop Vacuum from ThinkGeek, $12.99
3. For some reason, new socks and underwear are always marketed as a back-to-school items. This has always struck me as somewhat strange. But, I immediately stop thinking about this great enigma when I stick my feet into new socks. Sock Dreams is the ultimate place to get new socks- they offer so many varieties, shipping is fast and free, prices are reasonable, and they are packaged well (last time I ordered from them, my socks were bundled with twine and had a cute little tag). I have two or three different colors of this style (it comes in 20 colors!), and wear them frequently in the winter under/over jeans. They keep your legs warm! I don’t like wearing them over my knees- I usually just bunch them down so I can stare at my sock-swollen ankles, O Basics from Sock Dreams, $6 a pair
4. I feel like this pen holder would go super well with Monday’s Nert Dart pen. Also, I am not as violent as my picks suggest, Dead Fred Pen Holder from ThinkGeek, $9.99
5. These sticky notes are silly. The “Seize the Day” option may sound ridiculous, but I used to live with someone who would write this/things like this on sticky notes. (Dear person in question: Don’t hate me; I love you!), Knock Knock “Don’t Forget To” Sticky Notes from Lula Mae, $3.25
6. Most of the time, I cringe at the sight of very busy prints. As a result, I am not a fan of LOUD backpacks. This one is lovely, simple, and grey (triple victory!), Enjoi Delivery Boy Backpack from Turntable Lab, $44
7. Clever to the max! This Klever (…that ‘K’ is QUITE necessary) staple-less stapler punches a neat little hole, which ultimately results in a clean paper bind. Oh! I can hear your “But I don’t be wanting any holes in my paper!” whines. Well. What are your feelings on that unsightly staple hole-barf that appears after you remove a staple? HMM? If you use this magical contraption, your document corners will no longer look like they were chewed up by a yeti, Dog or Cat Staple Free Stapler from Hapa Culture, $8
8. These gummi bear erasers/sharpeners look like they are Power Rangers about to be attacked by zombi gummi bears, Gummy Bear Eraser/Sharpener from See Jane Work, $2.50
9. So when I hear the word “drip,” my Family-Feud response is “nasal passage.” NOT “nose.” “Nasal passage.” I think that a nose-paper clip dispense would be the tightest desktop accessory, ever. I guess, however, that miniature sinks are cuter than miniature noses, Drip Clips Paperclip Holder from Perpetual Kid, $7.99
10. This alarm clock turns off when you shoot the target with the included laser remote. I would fail miserably at this; I have horrible vision AND bad aim. Maybe I DO really enjoy violent school supplies, Laser Target Alarm Clock from ThinkGeek, $17.99
11. A wonderful screen-printed messenger bag! Be sure to check out her other prints too! (the robots and flowers are pretty cool), Black Bird Field Bag from rainbowswirlz, $20
12. CRITTER RUBBER BANDS! I hate it when things fly at me, but if someone flung one of these at me, I’d probably exclaim, “A present from the critter fairies! HOW ADORABLE!”, Pet & Zoo Rubber Bands from See Jane Work, $7
Cue in Europe (…or Gob), because this list includes the final bits of the school supplies series. I’m sad that this is the end, but Labor Day is almost here. Thus, I’m sure I’d conjure up mad beef with people if I rattled about sweet pencil sharpeners in November.
To see other school supplies posts, click here and scroll!
(Part I and Part II are those places.)
These Shadow Theaters and Shadow Puppets from Owly Shadow Puppets remind me of the days of yore. (Not that I was alive in the days of yore, but they played with shadow puppets back then for lack of technical entertainment.) Anyway, what’s awesomest about these puppets is that they’re held together with brads, so they bend and move as you move the two sticks. Oh, and, as per the definition of a shadow puppet, they make cool shadows.
The Sea Monster (above) is my favorite, and is only $10.50 on the Owly Shadow Puppets Etsy page. The artist has also got some cool lesson plans for teachers on her website, so if you have kids, or you like to pretend you are a kid, you can make some puppets of your own!
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My Imaginary Boyfriend had lots of cool pillows, pictures, and, yes, a creature — if a robot counts as a creature, which I think it should. (And by “my imaginary boyfriend” I mean the craft shop, not my actual fake imaginary boyfriend.)
(My imaginary boyfriend would totally give that robot to me for my birthday, by the way.)
Today I’m reporting back on just some of the prints I enjoyed at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this past weekend (for all kinds of other Renegade Fun, click here and don’t stop scrolling!)
There were way too many lovely & wonderful prints for me to collect them all here, so don’t think this is a comprehensive collection of the creme de la creme. Although these guys are pretty, er, creamy.
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How adorable are these old school silkscreened prints (below) from animalsleep? If you want to go straight to buying a print, click here. They’re about $20-30. Very affordable for such lovely things. (**Oh, and can you not buy this one? Because it’s my favorite.**) They also make shirts and other whatnots, if you’d rather wear your art.
Sycamore Street Press is a letterpress studio that makes lovely, lovely letterpress cards (featured on all kinds of blogs these days, too!) — very delicate, a lot of pastel colors — so why is it that I gravitate towards the print below (available here)? It’s only $20 and I think it’s so funny!
I have a little place in my heart for linoleum printing (though I’m kind of/a lot jealous of these!), so I got pretty excited when I saw Tugboat Print Shop sitting right before my very eyes with their linoleum blocks out for show. (“These are the linoleum blocks you print from?” I ask stupidly, artstruck.) They range from about $20-80. (I happen to like this dragon and this house.)
And I can’t forget these Renegade Craft Fair screenprinted posters. They are like the posters you get at band concerts. Except better. And for a craft fair.
And I love the screenprinted posters from Strawberry Luna!
My (albeit limited, perhaps I’ll try again tomorrow!) quest to find the business card of the printmakers below has failed (hmm, why can’t I find that business card?). If you know who they are, please comment below!
WARNING::WARNING::TONS OF POSTS COMING UP::WATCH YOUR WALLET
When I arrived at the Renegade Craft Fair, I started collecting business cards with two purposes in mind:
But, alas, with over 200 vendors, some of them sharing a table with a friend, there suddenly became way too many business cards to even carry in my pockets (see pictures above)! But, as it goes with pretty things, I couldn’t help myself and even forced my partner-in-crime to take some, too, if the back and the front were both pretty (I didn’t want to seem like I was hogging all the business cards, even if I was).
When I arrived home, though, the poor scanner couldn’t handle such a load of cards, and thus I laid-out a few (okay, a bunch) of my favorites on a bulletin board (click on the picture for a larger view).
One big business card theme was the use of Moo.com’s MiniCards, which are about 1/3 the size of a regular business card, and each card can contain a different image. Some crafters choose to place random images of their crafts on the back (front?) of their cards and others choose to alternate between a few images or logos.
Since this was a big gathering of DIYers, there were also lots of hand-stamped, hand-cut, hand-pasted cards. Others were printed more traditionally. One of my favorite business cards included My Imaginary Boyfriend, which had a black and white photo of a high school boyfriend on the front, and thus looked like one of those pocket yearbook photos you share with friends (near bottom of left of bulletin board photo). Another favorite was from Timber!. Their card was square, but still convenient for a pocket, and the back looked like tree bark (bottom right hand corner of bulletin board photo).
But my favorite business card, hands down, was from Iskra Print Collective. Although I usually don’t like business cards in the shape of large pamphlets or postcards (ie things I can’t fit in my pocket or wallet!), I was so pleased to see that these pretty business cards could fit on my face! There were many glasses types to choose from, but I picked these (it was between these and the aviators!). You can checkout Iskra’s print shop online.
These journals (available at Supermarket, a kind of high-class Esty) pair original design with “sage quotes from The Science of Culture (a stuffy book on etiquette from 1923).”
So don’t forget: “there is danger in emotions aroused by music” and “one must know how to discuss theater intelligently.”
Mostly I think these little books are an example of how to find artsy inspiration pretty much anywhere! (more…)
Sigh. This letter writing KIT (I love kits!) from 16 Sparrows leaves me nostalgic for an era I wasn’t even a part of. More pics after the jump!
“In this era of instantaneous communication, a handwritten letter is a rare and wondrous item. The Letter Writers Alliance is dedicated to preserving this art form; neither long lines, nor late deliveries, nor increasing postal rates will keep us from our mission. As a member of the Letter Writers Alliance, you will carry on the glorious cultural tradition of letter writing. You will take advantage of every opportunity to send tangible correspondence. Prepare your pen and paper, moisten your tongue, and get ready to write more letters!” (16 Sparrows) (more…)
Just found this “Make Your Own Slime Creep Toy” at The Blog of Rowan Tedge (a pretty cool Australian illustrator). You can make your very own crazy toy by printing out this sheet & cutting & taping away!
The Publisher
There are few artistically inclined publishers as McSweeney’s who not only have a fabulous literary magazine, but also a magazine-magazine, a DVD “magazine”, a very simple but funny online magazine, and tons of cool books (some of which you can get automatically every month in the McSweeney’s Book Release Club) under its wide, artsy umbrella. Oh, they also run non-profit writing centers for kids. And raise consciousness about the crisis in Sudan. (more…)
