design :: wild west coat rack

Tame that tangle of piled up clothes and lasso them onto this cool lasso coat rack clothes holder hanger thingy. This wild wild west inspiration from Stolen Wood is JUST COOL! So is their website ;)

art :: from portrait to landscape

There's nothing like blending in with the landscape and artist Levi Van Veluw  knows how to do it. His camouflage portraiture is a little weird, a little quirky but really JUST COOL!

Levi van Veluw´s photo series are all self-portraits, drawn and photographed by himself: in  a one-man-process. His works constitute elemental transfers – modifying the face as object – combining it with other stylistic elements to create a third visual object with  large visual impact. The work you see therefore is not a portrait, but an information-rich image of colour, form, texture, and content.

art :: Nerdbots

Kansas City nerds, Nicholas and Angela's robot obsession has turned into a lucrative business. Their home turned "robot factory" transforms old orphaned appliance parts gleaned from antique and thrift shops into beguiling and loveable robots called Nerdbots. Each Nerdbot has it's own personality depending on the mix master, biscuit tin, fuse box or jumper cables it was born from.

Which one is your fave? I love them all!
Check out these loveable hunks of salvaged junk at nerdbots.

They're JUST COOL!

IPhone :: double duty

Why not make your IPhone or Ipod touch useful as well as beautiful while it's in it's dock charging? This cool  app features an LCD Clock and calendar combination  with an alarm clock function. Looks great with different screens to match any decor!

 

Features:

-12 or 24 hour time mode display (Tap the time display to switch).
-Four display colors to choose from (Green, Yellow, Red, Indigo).
-Able to change the display color and adjust brightness by simply double-tapping the display screen.
-Able to flick the calendar to display up to six future months. Tap the date display to return to the current month.
-Multiple date formats; yyyy/mm/dd, mm/dd/yyyy, or dd/mm/yyyy.
-Option to display the weeks starting Sunday or Monday.
-Option to select highlighted U.S. or Japan holidays on the calendars. You can also customize holidays by selecting “Customize” in “ Select Holidays” and go to “Customize Holidays” to personalize highlighted dates. A useful option to remind you of birthdays and anniversaries.
-Option to disable “auto-locking” of the system, so LCD Clock display will stay on while LCD Clock application is running.
-Alarm function with snooze option (Tap the alarm clock icon on the display to set and activate).
-Backlight Timer (Tap right side of the alarm clock icon or gently shake the devise to activate the backlight)
-Support the device’s landscaping and reverse portrait position.
-Option to display Japanese “Rokuyou” calendar.

Ninety nine cents. Get it here.

via foryou-

art :: folk art dog trunk

A primitive painted trunk by moi








inspired by a favorite blog of mine

virtual travel :: please remain seated

The Taj Mahal, India

Half the fun of traveling to exciting destinations is the exilaration you get from discovering these far off places first hand. But suppose you'd like to tour...say the Taj Mahal... from the comfort of your home? Without the hassle of airports, lost bags, jet lag etc. Now it is possible.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Last month, 3Dreamteam launched it's unique informational and educational portal, www.vizerra.com., making a virtual journey to the famous remarkable locations in 3D format a reality! National Geographic Russia is the project’s information partner for the first few locations and the site promises to be a popular one with more great destinations in store. Right now you can take a virtual tour of The Taj Mahal ,Angkor Vat, and Tatev Monastery. The tour is free - so check it out!

Its JUST COOL. Of course!

fashion ::our little designer

What you do when you're broke...

Sasha sent me this email of my little 3 yr old fashionista granddaughter this morning:

"Calla did this all by herself and came into the room saying it was her new outfit. Then she showed Aven how to do it."

Designer's are soooo...inventive! You go Calla!

art:: dillusional beauty

Dion Hitchings' art is raw, colorful and fantastic. Bright colors, twisted faces and spirographed daisy circles make his paintings dance on canvas! This St. Louis born, New Jersey-ite has been around the block when it comes to art, working in the design field as art director and fashion illustrator for such names as Marshall Fields, Conde Nast, Saks Fifth Avenue and Avon.  But his direction has changed over the past few years, and now he works for himself (shouldn't everybody?), happily and prolifically producing these beauties.

He's definitely  found his niche in the world of RAW ART - and in book illustration - 

check out The B Book - very cute!

I love raw art - It's JUST COOL!

design :: funky millipede seating

They don't call the DS 600 sofa "Slinky" for nothing. It's millipede-ish  good looks function just like our classic childhood toy, the Slinky. But don't try "walking" it down the stairs. 

The Swiss-based design house de Sede came up with this slithering yet comfy design and describes it  as “a multifunctional element range.” A nifty notion to zip any number of it's sections together , making up an endless variety of segmented configurations of virtually any length, creating seating groups that will conform to any space -

Now that is JUST COOL! 

pets:: campaign promise

We hope to see the new Prez fulfill one of his first campaign promises. This ad from Pedigree says it well...

art :: veggie bowls

Bowls made from vegetables? That doesn't sound too uncommon. But bowls molded from cured, paper thin vegetable slices - now that is a little different. Artist Margaret Dorfman created these interesting art pieces by molding what she calls vegetable parchment into free form bowls. The veggie parchment is paper thin vegetable slices that have been dried, cured,pressed and aged.

snap pea

cantelope

beet

carrot

 

watermelon

There are no chemicals used and each bowl takes ten days to complete. The translucent quality of these beautiful works of art makes them perfect for votive candles as well as a container for potpourri or --- nothing at all - display them just because they are uniquely beautiful! And JUST COOL!

photography :: new becomes old

You know me and my love for chippy, aged, decayed anything. This morning,  DIL Sasha sent me this very cool website that ages your photos for you. Just upload the new photo and voila! it magically photoshops it to look "100 - 150 years old" . I chose a fav pic of  my sis Stephanie and my daughter Libby.

So get all your  "new" photo files together and have fun over at wanokoto  aging them to your hearts content. Wouldn't this be great for scrapbooking or other applications? It's definitely JUST COOL!

art :: watch out for the flying tetris

High above the streets of Sydney, in a narrow alleyway, you will find a bunch of gargantuous, glowing Tetris blocks. These aren't industrial lighting at all nor are they meant to act as the primary light source for the narrow corridor, Abercrombie Lane, but are actually an art installation.

photos via Justin James

This cool giant tetris sculpture is part of an outdoor art exhibition called One More Go One More Go which runs until the end of this month. So get a gander now because it will be over before you know it. The larger-than-life installation was concocted by Gaffa Gallery and is JUST COOL! (So is there other stuff, take a look)

fashion :: jot it down jewelry

How often do you get caught somewhere with a great idea in your head or a phone number you have to write down with nothing to write it down on? Drat! Have no fear - Ana Cardim to the rescue!

This prolific little designer has forged a solution for you - the book ring -made from sterling silver with a teeny tiny notebook on top.And if you are so prolific as to fill every page of one book, you can always stack more on top, via the tiny elastic band that holds everything in place.

Now, if only we had a pencil to write with. Ana, how about some pencil earrings?

This girls jewelry is always JUST COOL!

technology :: try LeapFish !

Remember my earlier  post about LeapFish? Well, since I wrote about it yesterday I've been testing it out and with great success! Ordinarily I do my searches on Firefox through Google, until I unknowingly downloaded some virus from Firefox over the New Year, it crashed my computer and then I had to reinstall Windows. Not a fun undertaking, so cross your fingers that it doesn't happen to you. So then I started using Google Chrome but that  has alot  to be desired - it's very basic and doesn't have all the addons like the other search engines. Internet E xplorer? Don't like it at all.- I have never had luck with it- tons of annoying popups and it crashes all the time. So right now  I am playing it safe and using Chrome  despite it's limitations , but also  doing my searches with this cool Leapfish interface which I am very pleased with. My searches go much faster and the results seem to be right on too. And like I mentioned before ,it searches while I type which is a very cool feature unlike the other search engines. I hope it catches on because I'd like to see the company develop it even further, with more add ons and features. Who knows, it could  easily become  one of the top search engines.Oh and another great feature about Leap Fish? You can choose which of the three major search engines you would like to search through - Google, Yahoo, or  MSN. Or use all three if you'd like! The tips widget  it has is neat too. For instance  I learned four ways to cut onions without tears , just from going on there to do a search. I like to cook, I needed to know that!

I love this multifaceted search engine interface called LeapFish. Even it's  LeapFish Blog  is JUST COOL!

fashion :: queen of boho - iris apfel

Design icon, Iris Apfel is definitely a woman ahead of her time. With her inherent artistic nonsensibility, her style, individuality, and keen eye for color and pattern, it's obvious that she wrote the book on Bohemian chic long before the term and style ever became fashionable.

Over 50 years ago as an interior designer looking for fine traditional silk-woven fabrics and finding them few and far between, Iris Apfel cashed in on a golden opportunity along with her husband, Carl, and founded Old World Weavers. She built it into one of the most prestigious brands in the world of textiles and interior design, with a who's who clientele that included Greta Garbo,Estée Lauder and even the White House. Now in her mid eighties, she still tantalizes her followers with her glorious offbeat styles, colors, textures, and patterns. Her ostentacious oddball style has no regard for convention which makes it all the more wonderful and genius to me! Take a look at some of her crazy creations.

And the shoes too! Although you won't catch me wearing any of these - I think they are definitely JUST COOL! But Iris, nix the poindexter glasses, please.

art :: painted worlds

If you aren't familiar with the art of Trompe l'oeil  then take a look at these. Trompe-l'œil is french for "fool the eye" and an art technique involving  realistic imagery that creates an optical illusion making the object appear three dimensional. Above, you may think you are looking at the panoramic Hudson River through a set of classic architectural columns, but nope... fooled ya! You aren't. What you are looking at is actually a 10' X 60' mural painted on a long cement wall. This amazing artistry is just one example of New York City born, West Coast raised, artist  Eric Grohe's painterly expertise.

Great American Crossroad

Miller Brewing Company

Mount Carmel College of Nursing

Believe it or not all of these beautiful facades  were once plain old blank cement walls until Grohe got his hands on them. His  large public mural projects are painted on site and typically take several months, giving the local community a unique opportunity to witness the day-to-day progress of his art. 

For Eric Grohe, each project is a grand adventure resulting in a believable fantasy that is JUST COOL! Check out more of his fantastic projects at his website.

Technology :: LeapFish, a new way to search

  Move over Google because there's a new search engine on the web and it's changing the way we surf and search! LeapFish.com has just released its totally new click free interface that brings you search results while you type. This cool new interface is one of the fastest search programs you'll find today, eliminating tedious clicks and keystrokes. Your search results are displayed instantaneously when Leapfish extracts the data from all the major online destinations  like  Google, YouTube, Ebay and others in a single search query. Can all those other "click search" search engines do that? No.  LeapFish is  revolutionary in that it searches everywhere and conveniently surprises you with relevant information that touches upon all aspects of your query, ones that you wouldn't even think of! In addition to working with major online destinations to retrieve and organize all that the internet has to offer, LeapFish features a refreshingly clean interface with search widgets that display up-to-the-minute news, images, videos and more on each and every search term you type in. 

“This technology is truly evolutionary in the context of today’s Internet,” said Behnam Behrouzi, president and CEO of LeapFish. “Desirable data continues to be lost at an accelerating rate due to the information overload and filter failure of search engines.The LeapFish click-free search functionality and aggregation capability offers users a convenient solution for users to maintain control over this data.”

Want to know more about this smart search engine? Check out the official  LeapFish Blog .LeapFish - searching that's  JUST COOL!