I am going to live by these!

Poster available at this shop.

Separated at Birth?

When I discovered the Kay Bojesen monkey online about 4-5 yrs ago, it struck me as strangely familiar. Growing up in India, we played with a very similar monkey. When I went back to India this summer, I found many of these wooden monkeys in the handicraft stores, made in Channapatna, South India, an area well known for its laquer wood toys. I wondered how this monkey that was designed 50 years ago in Denmark, made it's way into the repertoire of the Channapatna toy maker? Google offered no explanation, so it was left to my imagination. A Danish tourist left their toy monkey behind, and the craftsman picked it up and replicated it? Or was it more deliberate? We will never quite know, I guess. Any information from you is welcome!

 Image from here: http://www.nova68.com/

Image by me.

Kay Van Bellen

Fantastic illustrations in the latest issue of Small Magazine by Kay Van Bellen.

 

Images from Small Magazine.

Japanese Kids have the Cutest Lunchboxes

Ninjas and Kissy Girls - how could I resist!??!!! I bought these Kokeshi Bentos in Chinatown in New York, and I am imagining a slew of little Wee Gallery animal lunchboxes in the same vein... wouldn't that be nice...

They are available online here.

Another perk of being at New York Gift..

...is that we get to play with all the cool new toys!

 

Awesome organic shapes and colors to these blocks. And look how cute the designer is too!

 

Cardboard rocket by Dutch designers, Kids on Roof.

 

Robot cube puzzles from Areaware.

Fun backpacks from Madpax.

Wee were at NYIGF

Last week we showed at the New York International Gift Show. We love going in summer because we get to enjoy New York in the sunny weather, and get to show off what we've been working on the last year. The product that I have been waiting to unveil is our new set of stamps, the Gift Notes Stamp Set. It was received very well, so we are excited. It will be available on the website after it gets to our warehouse September 15th. Will keep you posted.

Our booth.

Product tester!

Showing off our new stamps.

 

Catalog shot.

 Riding the subway home after a long day at work!

Alternate Current

One of the funnest things we did in India was a workshop organized by my husband's cousin Jenny Pinto, who is a lighting designer and paper maker. The project was to make a lamp out of trash. The kids had a blast, and we all got to enjoy Jenny's amazing space. If you'd like to see more pics of Jenny's studio, go here.

 

 

 

I found a Wee bird!

There are hundreds of these little mobiles all over the shops in India, but this particular one reminded me of our Wee Gallery bird, so I had to get it! Isn't it cute!?

Mango Tree Monkeys available at Blik!

What's a Mango Tree Monkey wall decal? It's two little monkeys swinging in a tree just as happy as can be.Wall Graphics available at Blik, coming soon to Wee Gallery.

In India

We are here! Here are a few snaps of our trip so far...

Mango season.

Baby season!

Horse ride.

 Praying mantis outside our window.

  Praying mantis - a better look.

  The family bike.

 Choosing from the flower sellers wares.

 My parents' living room.

The parachute dress.

Summer Staple

 
  A friend brought over this dish on the Memorial Day weekend and it was an instant hit. This fruit salsa is such genius and so easy to make. Here's my friend's recipe:

SALSA
Chop up into tiny pieces any fruit you have into a large bowl (I used strawberries, mango, kiwi, peaches and apples), and mix in one tbsp of honey and some lemon juice.

CHIPS
Smear butter onto a tortilla (you can use regular flour tortillas, I used a Spelt tortillas I had in the fridge), sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon. Cut into wedges using a pizza cutter, and bake at 400C for 10 mins or until crisp and golden brown.

Deelish!!

Random number generator chose Sheau to win the Secret Garden Stamp set! I included the Facebook post comments as well, for the total number of players to be 25. Congrats Sheau! Please email me your address at surya@weegallery.com and I will mail your stamps right away. Thanks for playing, everyone!

Sheau said...

This is such a cute creation. We have been growing flowers and vegetables in our small yard. We also have ladybug babies in our yard and some snails. It is so fun to be in the nature so close no matter how big or small they are. My little one really loves them. Thank you for the chance.  

Experimenting with chenille

I loved working on the hand cut faux chenille baby blanket project from last week so much, that I tried some new tricks like cutting the rows in a modern pattern, or around an animal shape to see if it worked. Although fun, all turned out 'flops' as the chenille does not work unless it is cut exactly on the bias of the fabric, or else it frays too much. Oh well, I had fun anyway!


PS. Don't forget to comment on the Stamp Set giveaway, I will announce the result tomorrow, Wednesday June 1st. Thanks for playing!

Giveaway - Secret Garden Stamp Set

We created this custom stamp set for Borders. It has 8 stamps, and 3 inkpads in a wooden box. Leave a comment if you want to win a set!