Fresh Seating

Here it is: a portable, all weather bean bag chair available in a variety of Sunbrella® marine fabrics.  The design-friendly bean bag for grown ups.

 

 sit.

 lounge.

 kick back.

 throw it over your shoulder:

it's lightweight & portable.

and side handles for easy transportation...
even in the toughest terrain.

Working off an existing design, we modified the back and seat depth and integrated the use of Sunbrella® fabrics to open endless options for customization but maintain the high-quality.  It's manufactured for us by a 110 year old factory in Fond du Lac.  The interior contains two bladders that hold the foam bead fill and helps maintain the chair's shape.  If it ever gets flat, it literally "perks" up with a couple whacks and fluffs.

Choose from these Sunbrella® performance fabrics:

Looks Delicious

I'm really enjoying Joe Seppi's Victory Garden of Tomorrow Posters.  Colorful and retro, Seppi describes the work as, "a self-commissioned poster campaign designed to channel the bold energy of historical poster propaganda. It is committed to civic innovation and social progress-- better food, better gardens, better cities. It is artful advocacy for the modern homefront."

This poster was inspired by the one below - a vintage cook book cover.  Love the way he modernized it and made it relevant today.

On his Etsy shop description for this poster he writes, "As a note, because people have asked, I intended the white items hanging on the line to be reusable diapers. oh well."

This is just classic.

View his website here.  Shop his Etsy store.

Hot Stuff

I spread some hot love this Valentine's Day with my Salted Cayenne-Laced Dark Chocolate Chips. I've had the plain chocolate version once before and I was recently reminded by a food show on TV.  But I wanted to "spice" them up a bit for cupid, so here's what I did.  Super easy, but impressive.

12 oz. Dark Chocolate Chips 

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 bag of ruffles of kettle chips

coarse kosher salt

Melt chocolate in a double boiler.  Add cayenne pepper.  Dip half of chips in chocolate and let set on parchment lined baking sheet.  While still shiny sprinkle with cayenne pepper and salt.  

Voila!

Rolling

LOVE Adele...and her new video, directed by Sam Brown, who brings amazing rhythmic visuals to compliment the music.  Make sure you watch it in full screen.



Here are two more by Sam Brown...these are more than just music videos.  His work transforms into something both stylish and powerful.  (You have to wait until the half point for "War of the Worlds.")

Proud Pillows

I've been stalking pillows for the last month.  At work, we're creating a line of branded soft goods beginning with outdoor & indoor throw pillows.  So every place I go now I'm on pillow patrol always aware of price, styles and construction.  I even researched the pillow label.  You know the one that says "Do Not Remove This Tag Under Federal Law," that's a pretty interesting story.  (Impress your friends at a bar with this otherwise useless information.  Story here.)

Anyway, we're working with a commercial factory that does a lot of industrial stitchery like awnings and bags.  It's over 100 years old and I'm pretty proud to work with them versus some oversees factory.  Yesterday we finished two prototypes and selected three "collections."  Here is what we came up with so far.

This is the 20" size.  The reverse is in a contrasting orange with contrast stitching.  (Love contrast, right?)

The one on top here is a lumbar with the 20" beneath it.

Even our proto-label turned out nice.  The line is called "Otter Creek Home & Garden," an homage to the creek that runs by the garden center property.

 This was the most fun.  Going through fabric to create three different collections.  According to the industry, Rust, Beige and Terra Cotta in solids and stripes are the hot colors for outdoor living.  The fabric is a high quality Sunbrella which means it won't fade and wipes clean.  Love that.

First batch goes into production next week.

Home, Garden & Underpants

I visited Jayson Home & Garden in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood yesterday.  Was a last minute day trip.  Besides wanting to hire a moving truck to load half the store and deliver the goods to my imaginary pied-à-terre, I was surprised to find they carried prints by Hugo Guiness, an artist I wrote about here a while back.  One of my favorites of prints these everyday objects immortalized is the underwear.  There just isn't enough underwear art, is there?

And if that doesn't get you going, surely this stove will.  Think of the visual riddles you can create by grouping these two together. 

Shop home decor, underwear prints and lots of industrial, vintage and re-purposed loveliness at Jayson Home & Garden.  I've even added some things to my wish list.

Favorite Things, Tied with String

This year, instead of a card I decided I'd send a box filled with some things I like - basically a box I imagined I'd send to myself - filled with "some of my favorite things."  (Yes, the hills are alive)

 

First, I baked a little: my favorite Cowboy Cookies full of dark chocolate, walnuts, oatmeal and coconut.  Then a Double Chocolate Walnut Biscotti which I like most for the contrast of the walnuts cross-sections with the dark cookie surrounding it.

I supplemented my baked goods with some Macaroons from Peter Sciortino's Bakery in Milwaukee.   I also like Glorioso's but my Macaroon aficionado Angela and I go either way and that's what she brought with my delivery from the city.

 

I finished the grouping off with Loacker's Dark-Noir chocolate wafer cookies available at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods or online.  I prefer to eat these Italian treats by placing one on my tongue and letting the wafer dissolve away leaving only a warm morsel of rich, warm chocolate.  And then compliment with a swig of coffee?  Addicting.

 

I packed them in boxes and envelopes in various arrangements.  This was most popular. 

 

This is the second shipment.  (Is that your name?)  I'd love to send more, but my two elves quit after only one night. 

Happy Holidays Everyone.