TANTO is not your normal bean bag. It’s giant and magical – the perfect place to read (and write) fairy tales. TANTO is manufactured in Italy and you can place an order on Etsy! #wishlisted

Instagram by Douglas Wray

I tweeted this a few days ago. Made me smile.

Kaleidoism turns your browser into customizable Kaleidoscope! #somuchfun

Little tip, after the image is loaded, click on it and move your mouse around and mouse hover the bottom of the browser window to bring the controls back.

(Thank you Tony)

It’s that time of the year again: Nerd Valentine! YES!

Aboard the New York City Startup Bus.

Imagine this: You and a team of strangers, on a bus, traveling at 60 miles per hour, have 72 hours to conceive, build and launch a startup. That’s StartupBus in a nutshell.

StartupBus began life as a joke, a roadtrip starting in San Francisco with friends, but with the twist of launching a startup on arrival in Austin in time for the SxSW technology conference. Somehow though, people thought Elias Bizannes (the founder) was actually serious. A few unexpected blog articles and many emails later, he was stuck with having to now make good on his pub night promise.

StartupBus has since evolved into a competition and grew six-fold with buses departing from San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and Miami. In 2011, an impressive 156 ‘buspreneurs’ participated who produced 38 different products.

Talk about turning an experiment into an international community! I can’t help but chuckle at the term Buspreneur. To become one, apply to the StartupBus.

StartupBus – what a refreshing and charming concept! Hat tip!

Three Primary Colors is a collaboration between OK Go and Sesame Street explaining the basics of color theory in stop-motion. Try to watch this without smiling.

(via Brain Pickings)

There are *a lot* of people that would have every reason to send me that first card, on the left, ‘hi. i sent you an email. ok‘.

(via found it loved it)

Next time you’re invited for dinner at a friend’s house, don’t just bring a bottle of wine, bring Corkers as well. They are a pack of adorable animal parts that turn any cork into a bunny, buffalo, bear, monkey or deer.

This minimal table by Switzerland based company Colin is quite beautiful. And how fun are those random feet sticking into the photo? Made me smile.

Ohio-based identity designer Adam Ladd asked his 5-year-old daughter to comment on some popular logos. Made me smile.

(via Brand New)

These Clump-O-Lumps made me smile: It’s a family of stuffed animals that can be mixed and matched thanks to the world’s best invention – the zipper. Oh, the fun that can be had. My favorites are Bee-o the Bee and Shark-o the Shark.

(Thank you Jake)

Hey New Yorkers, need a place to go for a staycation? A Cabin in a Loft in Brooklyn is a two-bedroom loft in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The cabin is available for short-term rental as an alternative to hotels and hostels to those seeking a more local experience of New York.

Made me smile.

(thank you The Design Ark)

Jeff Atwood’s graph on what it means to be a parent. Read his post here. Best article I’ve read so far on the topic of parenthood.

(thank you Paul)

(via Kottke)

OSTRICH offers a micro environment in which to take a warm and comfortable power nap at ease. It is neither a pillow nor a cushion, nor a bed, nor a garment, but a bit of each at the same time. Its soothing cave-like interior shelters and isolates your head and hands (mind, senses and body) for a few minutes, without needing to leave your desk.

Made me laugh and I think our Studiomate Paul could definitely use one.

(thank you Josh)

Apparently not everybody is always running late; with this in mind, Team Tattly asked Julia Rothman to put a positive spin on her bestselling You’re Late Tattly to make Love Watch.

Wear it on a date, wear it to remind yourself that everyone needs a little more love in their life, or give one to a special friend. (Valentines Day is february 14th!)

Yay for new Tattlys! Love Watch!

This Mondrian inspired Sandwich made me laugh. This might be my new way of sending subliminal art messages to my daughter with her lunches.

(Thank you Brittany)

I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw this Toast Bird Feeder. Granted, I know nothing about birds. And some of you bird enthusiasts might tell me this totally doesn’t work, or might harm he birds. I just simply love the design/idea behind it.

With a crafty obsessed 5 year old girl at home, Whimseybox makes me go ‘YES, Please’!

When you register for Whimseybox you’ll receive 4-5 craft product samples in the mail every month for just $15. They’ll select the products based on the things you tell them you like. There’s no contract and you can cancel at any time. They also offer annual subscriptions and 3, 6 and 12 month gift subscriptions.

Check out some of the recent projects. This will make my daughter seriously happy. Crafty surprises in the mail? It doesn’t get better than that. Whimseybox.

(via curiositycounts)

After organizing their bookshelf almost a year ago, Sean Ohlenkamp & Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp decided to take it to the next level. They spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto.

(If someone can tell me the couple’s names I would like to add them to the post and give them proper credit!)

This. Makes. Me. Happy!!

(thank you Alexandra)

This two sided sleep mask by Pamela Barsky put a smile on my face.

(via andreagmuer / better living through design)

Graphic designer/typenerd parents rejoice and turn your next cookie baking event into a letterpress lesson with these Letterpress Cookie Cutter/Stamps.

Whenever we go for a ride in the NYC suburbs I get a total kick out of seeing what people store in their garages. There is hardly ever a garage that actually can hold a car. Garages around here *always* end up being storage. We are talking crazy-packed-storage. I was laughing when I saw my daughter’s Fisher Price House Garage used the same way.

(This is a photo I took a year ago and shared on Instragram. Thank you Timehop for reminding me and making me smile.)

Is life good? Wallpaper available for your computer, iphone or ipad. Two swissmiss thumbs up!

(Thank you Gustavo)

We are all back at the studio and just launched 4 new Tattlys that will help you tackle the new year: Now Or Never by Christoph Niemann, Ok, Let’s Do This by Marc Johns, Oh, Hello There by Mike Lowery and Thinking of a Master Plan by Arianna Orland.

(Photos: Iwan Baan & Alan Tansey)

This picNYC TABLE by Haiko Cornelissen would definitely make it easier to get through the cold NYC winter months.

This dish rack by Veronika Paluchova made me chuckle. Check out more of her projects over on Designeast.

(via shoeboxdwelling)

This Short Order Design Notepad by Adam Oreste made me chuckle.

Japanese design studio Microworks created a wearable Farfelle Bowtie. Made from bright acrylic, the clip-on tie is an imitation of the pasta shape, for an amusing twist on men’s party attire. #mademesmile

(thank you Jeannie)

Check out this Tutorial to make Ice Cream Clouds, illustrated by Melinda Josie. Download the recipe as a PDF here.

(Thank you Nate)

(via Tim)

A few weeks ago I traveled to Atlanta to see Ben Chestnut, co-founder of Mailchimp speak at CreativeMornings/Atlanta. That was the best money I’ve ever spent on an airplane ticket. Ben talked about the history of the company and what he does as a manager to cultivate the infamous Mailchimp culture. If you are running a creative business do yourself a favor and watch the talk!

A little background info: Ben Chestnut is the CEO and co-founder of MailChimp.com, one of the most successful e-mail marketing companies around, with over 1.2 million users. They were recently featured in “Fast Company” for their non-traditional corporate culture and creative environment. Ben is one of my all-time personal rolemodels when it comes to running a creative business. Meeting him was my highlight in 2011. (Yes, I am a fan!)

A big giant thank you for the CreativeMornings/Atlanta team, especially Blake Howard, for organizing the morning and Dare Dreamer Media for taping and editing the talk.

At tuesday’s AIGA winter bash one of the raffle gifts was a huge knitted pigeon. The lovely couple that won it let me hug it and I experienced my first case of SPE (Serious Pigeon Envy).

The stuffed pigeon is from Various Projects and hand-knit from alpaca wool — a soft, cuddly version of New York’s native street bird. #wishlisted

The Nicest Place On The Internet totally made me smile.

(via the fantastic TBD Newsletter)

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If I had walls for artwork in my kitchen, I would order these typographic prints right now.

Le chef a toujours raison = The chef is always right
Pasta, Ti Amo! = Pasta, I love you

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(via Tim)

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If you’re really serious about a White Christmas, this is how you do about it: Build your on DIY Snow Machine with this step-by-step guide over at Instructables.

(via LifeHacker)

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I wrote about Punchfork before and was thrilled to learn that they just introduced an iphone and iPad app. I am in heaven!

It’s a fantastic way to discover the latest recipes and dishes that are trending on popular food blogs like Smitten Kitchen, Simply Recipes, 101 Cookbooks and more.

Also, check out punchfork.com. (Makes me want to get rid of all my cooking books.)

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