Whimsical Wednesday!

It's the middle of the workweek once again. Maybe you've tossed a few sheets of paper into the trashcan (or back-spaced through a whole paragraph on your draft email) by now?

Wouldn't it be cool to use this notepad at work? The back of each page is printed with a ball design - basketball, football, tennis, soccer, rugby, baseball, golf and billiard. So when you're done with one page, crumple it into a ball with the design facing out, and you'll get these adorable crushed paper balls!

A finalist design at the 2009 European Design awards by Netherlands-based design studio Trapped in Suburbia, the resulting crumpled paper balls are just too cute to be tossed into the trashcan! :)

And for those of you on your computer, wouldn't it be more awesome to highlight and click delete with this equally fun mouse designed by Nendo?

 

Isn't the yummy coloful cable that wraps around the simple white mouse so stylishly pretty? 

Makes it worth getting tangled in mouse cables even if you've already moved to using a wireless mouse! I wish I could get this in the coral, turquoise and apple green (eep, hangover from my previous color obsession here). 

Don't you just love these whimsical design concepts? Have a whimsical Wednesday!

Photos from lushlee here and here.

Click here for previous posts from the Whimsical Wednesday series.

Noah says...

... a page from one of the scrapbooks I made for Noah. It was so funny that for him, sealions need to jump through hoops. Oh, and "well" is not a typo. Oddly, Noah said "will" with an accent. :)

Photo is of the seals at La Jolla in San Diego. Photo and layout: my own.

Click here for previous posts from the Noah Says series.

paper or porcelain?

Would you have guessed that these paper-cup-looking cups were porcelain?

And would you have guessed that these ceramic-or-stoneware-looking plates and cups were made of paper?

Amazing, right? As discovered on Lushlee, Wasara is a series of paper tableware designed by Japanese studio Simplicity. Wasara does take disposable tableware to a whole new level with its stunning form and style. Each simple but sturdy piece is designed so that it will fit comfortably in one hand while you eat. Perfect for cocktail parties at home! And they are even made from renewable and natural materials!

The paper-cup-looking porcelain cups are meticulously handcrafted by Australia-based artist, Samantha Robinson.

Photos from Lushlee (here and here).

some polka dots i spotted...

 To my dear birthday girl...

This past year, your 13th year, you started shying away from the camera. This is just one of the many things about you that changed during this past year. Truly, you are no longer a child...

But I love that you still anticipate your upcoming birthday like a kid. You no longer count "sleeps" anymore. You know very well when it is. But your excited anticipation of your special day is still clearly apparent! I love catching these glimpses of the kid in you!

Never lose your childlike quality, my Isabella. Happy 14th birthday sweetheart! Have a fantastic day...

... everyday of this new year!

Photos from lushlee and i'mjustsaying.

Click here for previous posts on my Isabella.

Today, I am loving...

One of the many facets of my work is packaging. And while I've accepted that taking products out of their store-bought packaging tends to look good (read what I'm talking about here), it is refreshing to see how the packaging these products come in need not be stripped off...

Today, I am delighted... at how the packaging of these products look so much like the real thing, they don't seem like packaged goods. 

I do have a soft spot for the usual bear bottle.

But am loving this bottle that looks like a bee's bum.

Don't these make you crave for a fruit juice even more?

Today, I am also moved... by these examples of how packaging can make a strong statement.

This is quite unnerving. But hey, the blood-red ketchup

does make you stand up and take notice, right?

While not as pretty as the bee's bum, this pot encourages you to reuse the pot

to grow flowers for the bees to suck nectar from so they can produce honey.

So the circle of life continues.

Today, I am enlightened... to see that packaging can go beyond just branding - to see how packaging can evoke a memory of simple, organic and un-commercialized days or even incite action towards a worthy cause.

Photos from lushlee and chewingthecud.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I Am Loving series.

Noah says...

I was wearing torn jeans and when Noah saw me, as though he had been holding back his question for months, he asked, "When will you fix ba that jeans???"

And when I had on a wool sweater, Noah exclaimed, "Hey, you look like a sip [sheep]!"

And when I wore my animal-skin heels... "Why you have Baby Jaguar (from Go Diego Go) on your shoes?!"

P.S. I know this is about what Noah says, not what I say. But since I featured Katie Holmes throughout this post, I just have to say that I love this photo of her from the Ann Taylor ad. Perhaps because I met her in Dawson's Creek, despite her being so all-grown-up now, I still see her as girl-next-door Joey Potter. Except here. With her serious yet seductive stare. Looove the styling and the navy suit!

Photos of Katie Holmes from here, here, here and here.

Click here for previous posts from the Noah Says series.

Whimsical Wednesday!

It's the middle of the workweek again. Time to take a break from your serious work topics by getting a wee bit playful with a few whimsical bookshelves.

These bring the outdoors in and even take away the pressure of arranging bookshelves as a composition (see related post here)...

These even give you a space to sit and read...

These are just plain goofy!

Don't get me wrong. This post is not meant to get you to buy a whimsical bookshelf, but to get you into a whimsical mindset. Maybe by simply rearranging your bookshelf tonight according to color as someone did here?

Or simply putting your 'serious' on your bookshelf and pulling out a fun, playful book (maybe a light comic book? or funny chick lit?) to read.

Have a whimsical Wednesday!

Photos from lushlee, here, here and here. Photo credit for the reposted rainbow shelves can be found in the original post.

Click here, here and here for previous posts on other interesting bookshelves.

Click here for previous posts from the Whimsical Wednesday series.

cut paper art

One can start with just cutting out a shape. Like these adorable little camels.

Then you can cut out several shapes, put them together in varying depths and create beautiful paper sculptures like Helen Musselwhite does.

Or you can cut out parts of a sheet paper to create beautiful art out of the map of cities like Paris, as Karen M O'leary does.

Or you can go beyond maps and create intricate cut-out art like Elle of Stealing Hearts and Yuko Yamamoto.

Or even create mind-boggling art from paper rolls like Yuken Teruya does. Isn't this paper forest absolutely beautiful?

Who would have thought one could create incredibly magnificent art by cutting paper?

Photos from lushlee and here.

Click here and here for previous paper art posts.

saving the earth one little step at a time

It is comforting to see that our country is taking steps toward saving the environment. For a couple of years now, we've seen how more and more cities and supermarkets are saying No To Plastic. Am sure you're familiar with the supermarkets that ban plastic bags on Wednesdays. For these days, these leather totes would be useful! Yes, they're leather! Isn't it funny that they look like plastic sando bags?

Also on Wednesdays, I learned that the McDonald's on Pearl Drive does not give out plastic straws. They don't replace them with these gorgeous stainless steel ones, but who says we need to drink from a straw when we can drink from the glass and use a little less plastic? I overheard a McDonald's customer get annoyed saying, "What's the point of banning straws if they use plastic cups?" While she had a point - because we really could do much more, I am still glad that McDonald's is taking that little step rather than none.

And it is such a little step. Like the Earth Hour. Right after this year's Earth Hour, the minute we turned the lights on, my daughter asked, "Why do we only do one hour a year?" True. Why do we just do one hour a year when we can easily do more? So to that woman in McDonald's point, we have decided to take a bigger step as a family. Just a little bit bigger. Earth Hour once a month. We've decided on the 30th because it doesn't fall on anyone's birthday or Hallmark holiday. We're starting this month and Isabella is in-charge of making sure we follow through on it. Will you join us on this monthly Earth Hour endeavor to help save the earth, one little hour at a time?

For more tips on green living, catch Green Living on ANC every Tuesday at 9:30pm, Wednesday at 4:00am and 2:30pm, Saturday at 3:30am and 8:30pm and Sunday at 12:30am, 10:30am and 9:00pm.

Photos from lushlee and here.