Just Arrived: The Goodbyn

I promised myself that when I turned 35 I would stop using the word "man" as a form of emphasis, and when I turned 40 I would not call my husband "dude" any more. Recently I've decided that 50 (and that's stretching it, frankly) is the cut-off to say "awesome." But all of that aside, man, I really want one of these awesome lunchboxes!

It's not often you can say someone has truly reinvented a classic, but the Goodbyn totally delivers on that claim: smart, functional design that's more than just cool-looking, and it hits all the right notes for safe plastic: it's BPA and phthalate-free, it's made from recyclable & stable polyethylene. Love! It's in the shop now, all colours.

Check it out Goodbyn

The Prettiest: Furochic Gift Wrap

My dear, incredibly talented friend Jennifer Playford just wrote a book! It's a showcase of Furochic, the reusable fabric gift wrap she designs. I think you'll agree that it's spectacularly pretty. Who wouldn't want to receive something this lovely?  It elevates a bottle of wine, tin of cookies or humble cardboard bakery box into a gracious gift.

Six new designs are on the way into the shop next week. And, good news, the new price is just $9.95.  You can order them right here.

Jenn's video tutorials are really helpful, but essentially if you can tie a knot, you can wrap a gift with fabric. More gorgeous inspiration:

what month is it anyway?

Awesome dragon tail.

Between this unreasonably chilly weather and my focus on putting together the Christmas gift guide (coming out next week!) I've almost forgotten about Halloween. Until a ghost popped up on my neighbour's porch last night. And today the nice people at the Shopping Connection featured the cloth Halloween tote bags:

 You may be just waking up to Halloween but me, well I'm in clearout mode. Christmas is knocking at the door. I'm down to singles on the papier mache candy bucket and the scaredy cat lantern, so they're marked down to clear out. Sold and Sold. Thank you. You'll have to trust me that they're worth it; costumes may change every year but great decorations for your house can be reused for generations.

What do you shell out if you don't want to give candy? I'm thinking about individual packets of Nativa Cookie Buttons which satisfy the chocolate requirement but aren't as junky as an actual Hershey mini bar. Any other ideas?

apropos of nothing...

I brake for rainbows.

blog find: retail details

Finding a new and useful blog always puts a spring in my step. Check it: retail details, a brand-new visual merchandising blog for retailers of all sizes. You'll see a picture of an early Honeybunch display in the September 25th post. I actually don't get out to other stores very often (I happened to be at Vaughan Mills last night and came home with a near migraine. Sensory overload?) but I do enjoy seeing a clever window or interesting presentation so I have high hopes for this blog.

October!

sick day

We could see it coming all week: the sniffles, the cough, the sad eyes. Then this morning the full "I don't want to go to school." It happens every time - and I mean every time - our nonna goes away. Paris > flu strikes in the middle of the night (Mr. Honeybunch also traveling that time). Road trip to the states > fever. And this morning she's in Austria and we have just enough of a temperature and watery eyes to make me melt.

So the shop is closed today while I make grilled cheese sandwiches and Lipton's chicken soup - the buttercup yellow boxed variety whose value is purely emotional, not nutritive. If nonna gets wind of this she'll Fed Ex a crate of the homemade stuff across the ocean, but a sick kid knows what she needs.

See you tomorrow.

to the bat mobile

Bat mobile at The Long Thread

I'm not quite ready to deck the halls with bats and ghouls, but when I am you can bet I'm making this bat mobile. Bristol board bats are a Halloween staple of mine. I use this Martha Stewart template. I keep them from year to year (some are going on five years old now, so we make a few fresh ones every year) and we stick them to the living room window where they are spookily backlit by the inside lights, and put them on mirrors. I'm feeling this mobile, perhaps embellished with an outline of silver glitter, over the dining room table. We used to have a light there. Now there's a hole. Long story. A bat mobile would be an improvement, albeit a temporary one.