Check it out - Fred Flare has put out a call for entries to crafty types. If chosen your things will be sold at Fred Flare, and even more good stuff. This is exciting. Also, they have the latest Knit Knit zine for sale.

These are amazing - seeds that sprout and display a message as they grow. The messages, such as "good luck" and "i love you", are inscribed with a laser beam. The one by Tomy is set in an eggshell which seem to hatch after they are put in water. via boing boing, with links to a few others like it.

It seems practical enough if you take bananas with you everyday, but I cannot stop giggling over the idea that I have my choice of two containers just for bananas. First the Banana Guard is a hinged, banana shaped case that comes in many colors. The second is the Banana Bunker, with a flexible middle like a bendy drinking straw.

Neato Balloon Lamp, it creates a single hanging lamp with an led and a tiny battery. via urbanSPY.

Cute heart shaped sugar cubes for your tea. They remind me of the coffee puffs (candy, for your coffee!). Drop Tea also has heart shaped tea, and a star shaped sugar cubes. via Lucky Magazine.

Yay, the current Lucky Magazine has a section on shops in Seattle.

The little Gnome and Garden Kit is so adorable. You could get friends from all over to send you photos of places for the gnome to visit.

Evany is on a thorough quest to replace her perfect bag, and I feel her pain. I have the slightly less branded version of this LeSportsac bag (which she mentions as close but not right). It has a few less features than the bag on that page, but is probably the knock off of it. I keep trying to outgrow it, I have a green leather tote, and a nice shoulder bag from Banana Republic, but I keep coming back to basic black bag. It has all the right pockets in all the right places. I spent a good long time last night browsing bags on every source I could find for something kind of between the bag Evany has and the bag I have and I had no luck either. The Trucker size bags at Queen Bee are the closest I could find for what I'm looking for (I like the black Kinetic), and thinking about all the rain here I'm liking the flap and the vinyl more and more.

We finally nabbed a Playstation 2, figures we would decide to get one in the midst of a "global shortage". Now we just have to make sure to buy a game before the console arrives. I listened to a story about a confectionary shop and now all I can think about is gorgeous chocolate eggs. I spotted a lounging sweater on Sex and the City which I want. I cannot find a picture but the fashion credits say it was Rick Owen. It's been cold here and a big warm sweater looks so yummy.

I likey this ladybug USB drive, and totally want to do as Cool Hunting says and attach a stick pin to it and keep it on a jacket. More here.

Hooray! Sew Dorky, makers of deliciously adorable felt donuts, had launched it's web site. Dig the Kate Hepburn.

In an effort to combat the frozen pizza cycle around here I grabbed a Grace's Kitchen dinner yesterday. I hoped to make it for us tonight but despite checking the preparation sheet carefully I failed to notice that it all needs to be thawed in advance (the thaw notice is on the box in one of those too obvious places). So, it'll have to wait for tomorrow.

LJC asked about where to find bags of polystyrene beads to make your own bean bags, and in the comments someone linked to Love Sac, which has at least one shop here in Seattle I've seen. We have had something similar to the 5' round for a few years, we call it the poof. (I bought it online from a place which has since disappeared.) I'm not entirely sure about the LoveSac, but ours is filled with chopped up foam pieces which don't make noise the way the polystyrene beads can. I have spotted bags of the foam bits at fabric shops in the area with the foam blocks. I have actually been meaning to re-cover our poof for a while. Note to self: check out the foam shop in Seattle, they might have larger quantities of chopped foam for sale.

Huh, look at that. Lush products can now be found on Amazon. Makes me kind of miss the days when you had to order from Canada and the prospect of a Lush store opening in San Francisco made me giddy. via Jejune.

Dioramarama reports about her trip to the Los Angeles Fashion District fabric shops. Something I have always wanted to do.