School House

My love for all things school-related has not abated, and I've got two recent(ish) projects to prove it. The first I actually dreamed up a couple of years ago when I found an old school desk at a garage sale and just couldn't leave without it. My pictures of the original desk were lost when my last phone crashed, but it's a cousin to this desk:

Like this one, my desk also has an inkwell, and the big hole got me brainstorming...A fortuitous trip to the library on a day they were giving away charming old hardcover books brought the whole vision together.

Ain't she cute? Now (out of pride), I do feel compelled to mention that since I dreamed this up I've seen lamps made from stacks of books popping up in the handmade marketplace; but I thought of this all on my own, before I'd ever seen one. Great minds think alike? 

I actually completed the books/lamp mechanism a year ago and was living with a normal lampshade on top. But I always felt like something was missing until about a month ago, when my mom spotted Marconi filament bulbs for a great price and the final piece of the puzzle popped into place.

These old school (figurative) bulbs (which I am not nearly talented enough to photograph, so I stole this pic) were the perfect complement to my old school (literal) desk. 

A skeleton lampshade (i.e. a thrift store shade stripped of its cover) was the cherry on top. My desk lamp finally feels complete.

Which frees me up to continue pursuing my globe obsession.  When I saw this in Restoration Hardware... 

...it made me think of this, which I made last year...

...and got me thinking I could make my own version of an earth ottoman.

So obviously I did.

Once again, ain't she cute?

And oh so comfy.

Bring me some figgy pudding

I know Christmas is over, but I have a fun Christmas project as well as a tasty Christmas collection that I want to brag about.

First the project. My brother and sister-in-law have great but very specific taste (in everything, from clothes to music to electronics).  It makes it difficult to find presents to give them that they'll actually enjoy and keep.  One thing I do know they'll consistently love is good food.  They live in NYC and, understandably, eat a lot of takeout.  The doctor recently recommended that they cut back a bit to be healthier, so I decided to get them some yummy "take in" food as a Christmas gift.

Being me, I also decided I wanted to give them the "take in" in an enormous chinese takeout container.  I googled directions for making one, and after a quick trip to the dollar store to buy a few sheets of poster and foam board, I got to work whipping one up.  The finished product didn't take long to make and looked oh.so.cute under the tree. 

In other food related Christmas news, my Christmas tree was tastier than ever this year.  A few years ago I decided I wanted to start a junk food themed Christmas tree as a counterpart to my mom's tree, which is fruit themed. Her tree is really beautiful and she's amassed an unbelievable collection of fruits both familiar and exotic.  But fruit is too classy for my blood. 

In just a few years, I've built up my own collection of tasty confections (with many gifts from friends and family who are always on the lookout for good food ornaments).  The collection grows every year, and I'm strongly considering opening it up to food in general, and not just junk food.  In any event, as I dismantled my tree today I snapped pictures of the major good groups to share :)

Fast food.

Italian.

Asian.


Mexican (empanada and taco -- the empanda was actually sold as a pierogi but I'm claiming it as an empanada instead)


Breakfast.


Candy.


More candy.


Even more candy.


Cheese (gouda, blue, swiss, roquefort) and bread, of course.


Chocolate.


Christmas treats.


Cookies & Smore


Desserts


Donuts (the chocolate frosted with bright sprinkles might be my favorite of all the ornaments)


Drinks (not sure how I ended up with 2 margaritas, but I'll take 'em!)


Greens -- avocado, olive, cucumber (I dip mine in so much dressing they may as well be a junk food) and pickles.


Meat!  T-Bone steak and bacon.


Pastry.


Pie (cherry and lemon meringue)

Salty snacks.


Sandwiches (sub, grilled cheese, PB&J)

Soda (I'm actually a diet pepsi drinker -- I know I'll find one someday!)


Miscellaneous minis.


Candy button garland.


And last but not least, my Angel Food Cake topper -- I bake a new mini angel food cake each year and attach the wings. 

My biggest supplier is bronners.com, which I can count on to release some great new food ornaments each year, as well as Sur le Table.  Let me know if you know of any other great places where I can fatten up my calorie-laden tree!

Carrathon

What do you do to help cheer on your friend Carrie (aka Care Bear) in her second marathon?

Make cheering Care Bears of course.

A combined 27,000 people ran the Philadelphia Marathon and half marathon yesterday, and it was really fun to be among the 50,000+ cheering onlookers on a gorgeous fall day. 

The joy and excitement of countless friends and family at the finish line was really moving and motivating. Love actually is all around :)

See you in Soho...

Good news!  dirsta studio will be at the Bust Magazine Holiday Craftacular and Food Fair on December 10th & 11th in Soho (NYC). 

I can only imagine the venue will look and smell delicious with over 200 food & craft vendors on hand to make the holidays merry & bright.  I'll be representing with all the shop favorites -- science pillows, chalkboard maps, chalk-by-numbers and of course plenty of letter pillows (including plenty of J's and M's, I sold out of them at the Renegade Craft Fair.  J's sell much better in person than online, odd...)

I'm a fan of any magazine that puts Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, and Amy Sedaris on its covers, and I'm sure they've curated an equally fun show, perfect for finding quirky gifts for friends and fam. 

Click here for more details.  See ya there.

New Science Pillows

Once again, I'm going to be delayed in posting for Project Project Runway.  But once again, it's because I was busy developing some new products for the shop!  I released three new science pillow designs this week:

A plant cell (shout-out to middle school science teacher Carrie, who helped me make sure I included all the essential parts!).  This would make a pretty cute pairing with the animal cell if I do say so myself.

A cross-section of the earth

A kidney (I've gotten multiple requests for this one).  If you like organs, this would look mighty cute next to the heart. Just sayin'.

I also added another penmanship pillow, with the classic teacher mantra "settle down."

As always, these and more are available in the shop.