Need something to go with all those great Valentine’s gifts you’re handing out?  Egg Press has some really fantastic letterpress cards, including a few ’sculpture cards’ that are die-cut so you can punch them out and reassemble them into little 3D objects! Very cool.  

Know of any other awesome stationers? Please share!

Valentine’s Day cards from Egg Press - $4.50 - $6

Thank you to GRM reader Jen of GreetQ for the heads up on the new sculpture cards!

Via Core 77

I found this awesome lucite candle holder while perusing the holiday section of 2modern and had to share. I love the look and versatility of this pie ce - the unique design of these lucite and aluminum candle holders allows them to stand alone, be stacked for height or connected for length. Even cooler than this customizable candelabra is the dainty price it carries. A set of three is only 20 bones! So if you’re looking for a centerpiece that packs some serious design oomph, head on over to 2modern now!

Tri-Candle Holder Set by BOOM available from 2modern for $20.

If you are a procrastinator like me, you still haven’t gotten your Christmas decorations up. We are vowing to go and get a Christmas tree tonight and pump a little more festivity into our little home. The good news is that there are tons of modern Christmas ornaments and decorations on sale right now. When it comes to modern Christmas decorations I like to keep it simple. Here are a couple of ones I’ve got my eye on; (starting top left) orange on clear moroccan ornament ($4.95) and clear glass bubble balls ($1.95 - $3.95) from CB2, white modern Christmas tree ($41.40) and beaded branch stocking ($11) from West Elm, Ikea KALLT 18 pack of assorted straw stars ($4.99) and Christmas tree mat with lighting ($4.99) and silver bells ($4.99). When I was at Ikea last Friday I noticed that all their decorations were on sale. I am kicking myself for not having picked any up.

As the end of the years sneaks up on us, it’s time to start thinking about 2009 calendars. Narchi’s house calendar and gift tags from Etsy manages to kill two birds with one stone. For $6 you get all the digital files to print as many copies of the calendar as you want, plus the file includes some nifty little gift tags for your presents this Christmas. The calendar features a different house illustration each month with only a couple gabled roofs among the bunch. That’s my kind of calendar.

Available from Narchi’s Etsy shop for $6.

We’ve mentioned Undrgrnd before, it’s a modern design store that offers deep discounts on discontinued items. Only problem was that they only listed one item at a time, and when it was gone, it was gone. Most likely unless you checked the site obsessively, or followed them on twitter, you missed out on some deals. To make things easier for the holidays, they have a top secret shop available only to members. That pretty much means you just need to create an account to get access. The good news is the secret shop has way more than one item, and they are all the same rock bottom prices. The group of merchandise changes every monday, so it cuts down on the amount of checking you need to do to get a deal.
Check out the Undrgrnd Secret Shop for great deals.

I was searching Etsy the other day for modern Christmas items and came across Byrd and Belle’s hand-stitched ornaments. These unique felt decorations are inspired by iconic pieces, like the George Nelson Ball Clock, and come with very friendly price tags. These lovely pieces are handmade by Angie Davis, an architect from Minneapolis.
About Byrd and Belle:
The items you see are brought to you from my live/work studio on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. In real life, I am an architect and I crave the simple sophistication of modern architecture and design. Couple that with my rural upbringing surrounded by domestic crafts of sewing, stitching, and just general goodness and the result is found here.

Feeling smitten? Get some for yourself (or a friend):
Modern felt ornaments in the shape of your favorite chair available from Byrd and Belle from $8 - $9.

It’s been a while since I have looked at Amenity’s collection, mostly because we are pretty pleased with our budget Ikea duvet. This week however I was browsing the Amenity line over at Design Public, and I was surprised to see that Amenity is a lot more than bedding these days. Sure they still have their gorgeous (and somewhat expensive) duvets and sheets, but they also have a whole slew of other cloth goodies. The line includes everything from bedding, to wall hangings and prints to table runners, place mats, and even modern Christmas decorations. Pricing ranges from $9 for modern ornaments to $400 for a duvet.
Available from Design Public.

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from Grassrootsmodern!

Pictured to the left is our tall scraggly crooked Christmas tree that we love. It stands almost 12 feet tall and was hand picked and cut by my little family. We got all the red decorations from Ikea in the “as is” section for $3. There were actually a lot more in the bag that we just didn’t use.
Last year we had a big dilemma trying to figure out if we were going to buy a real tree or a fake one, and which was actually better for the environment. We ended up buying one from a local tree farm, and felt good about supporting a local business. This year a friend reminded me that for only $10 you can buy a tag to go into the national forest and cut your own. I checked out the info page on cache national forest, and it turns out that by cutting your own tree you are actually encouraging good tree management in the forest. Who knew that we could save money, have a great time, and help out the forest all at the same time. Continue reading for some pics of our adventure.

Read more

In keeping with the holiday spirit I thought I would finish the week off with one more Christmas post. This one comes via treehugger. Designed by Australian Designer Buro North, the “X-Mas Tree” is the first contemporary artificial Christmas tree I have ever seen. Instead of trying to make it look like a real tree, Buro focused on making it look good. What a novel idea. This mod little tree is made of plywood and CNC routed. Not only does it look good, but it’s good for the environment as well. Buro has done an entire LCA analysis and states that his tree is 80% more green than a traditional Christmas tree. This flat packed beauty is available in three sizes and prices.
Small $69 AUS - 400mm ($60 USD 16″)
Med $229 AUS - 930mm ($201 USD 36″)
Large $1619 AUS - 2300mm ($1425 USD 90″)

Available directly from Buro North