J received a unique birthday present from my sister yesterday… a sunflower mug drawn and personalized by celebrity actors Sir Michael and Lady Shakira Caine. It’s actually part of donated artwork from Whatever It Takes, a unique charity project by 21st Century Leaders.
Their concept is simple, they “gather artworks from leaders in all fields; royalty, film, music, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, sports, literature etc. Each ambassador donates a symbol of hope, a self portrait and a message of hope for the future.”
Their products come in the form of wristbands, footwear, mugs, clothings to bags; each with unique hand drawn pictures and hand written messages from the celebrities.
Proceeds from the merchandise sales go towards tackling key global development issues including poverty, child abuse and environmental conservation. So far, they’ve raised $1,071,663.
J’s birthday mug includes a picture of a sunflower drawn by Sir Michael Caine and his wife (as shown), their autographs and a hand written message “Smile Today. Life is not a rehearsal.” The picture, message and autographs are also fired into the mug making it washable.
What a lovely idea and a great present! It’s such a great quote to live by too. My sister has always been known for sniffing out unique presents but this one takes some beating.
If there’s one thing computers don’t do well, it’s matching your home decor. Wood Contour may change all that.
These beauties are made from one piece of wood, and you get to choose from 29 wood varieties - Mahogany, Beech , Oak, Ash , Birch and others. Hand crafted and custom made, the company guarantees that no two items will be exactly alike given the nature of wood.
I wonder what it would feel like using a wooden keyboard and mouse. I’m not quite ready to find out, as a set of keyboard, mouse and monitor costs about $2950 (or more depending on the type of wood I get).
Trying to find a good HTML color reference page is really tough, I haven’t found one that is useful to me. There are always missing elements to it, no color codes, can’t copy and paste the code, there are colors but no reference codes etc.
Therefore, I went ahead and made a simple chart with the color codes matching the colors in the background. I made it such that you can copy and paste the color codes (based on the proper matching background color).
It took long enough but the effort is worth it. I didn’t really bother with spicing up the page layout but it does the job — for me anyway. I added handy social bookmarking icons on the bottom of the page so you can easily add to your favorite bookmarking sites (script courtesy of Alexander Hadj Hassine). If there is anything else you would like me to add or if you have other ideas, let me know.
Access my html color swash page here or click on the picture below.
I’ve been an admirer of Janet from A Planet Named Janet ever since I started blogging. Her nick name is Jan Van Gogh, a fitting name for such a talented artist.
One of my favorites of Janet is her colorful patterned fishes. At first glance, you’ll see a colorful fish but you’ll soon notice that it is more than that. All her fishes have cleverly placed animals and people painted against its bodies.
Here is one of many that Janet sent me. This one is titled Cat Fish. It’s nearly a Miles (if not for the white stripe under it).
You can see more fishes here.
For those of you who want modern minimalistic living, here is a house for you…
Designer Luigi Colani has created a space-saving house with a 64 sq foot cylinder inside that contains a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. The cylinder rotates left or right bringing the room you want into view of the main living room. There’s a separate toilet and a small hallway, and everything is controlled with a remote. One may find it a little time consuming wanting to grab a glass of water in the middle of the night. Also, where would you put your clothes, kitchen utensils and cutlery?
The bedroom.
The bathroom.
The kitchen.
(Source: MoCo Design)
If you are a comic enthusiast, you will love this hotel room. The Arte Luise Kunst Hotel in Berlin, Germany gives you a chance to experience life in a comic book style room.
A characteristic touch is that every corner and angle is outlined with a thin, hand-drawn, black line – whether on the ceiling, on the bed, or around a plug. The result is a dollhouse-like, comic book room with papaya green walls, a sunny yellow rug, a lilac bed and a pink cupboard. Graphics and decorations by the artist complete the design.
The hotel is often called a “gallery where you can spent the night” and is located in one of the Berlin’s most exciting neighborhoods. Comprising a neo-classical residential palais from 1825 and an addition from 2003, the hotel offers almost 50 rooms, a generous lobby, and an art gallery for holding events. All rooms within the hotel were decorated by renown artists, giving each room an original, unique artistic concept. Check out the other different artistic rooms.
Art enthusiasts will relish the chance to take a stab at being Jackson Pollock (and creating his brand of splatter art) with this website. Enjoy!
(Website Instructions: Move your mouse to draw/splatter and click your mouse to change the splatter colors.)
Thanks to Recommended for finding a great site called Mr. Picasso Head. It allows a person to show his/her creative Picasso side.
Here is my two Picasso-like efforts. I call both of them The Confrontation.
See this online @ the Mr. Picasso Head gallery.
See this online @ the Mr. Picasso Head gallery.
