For all you proud modernist parents out there, here is a way for you to show some parent pride. Hip Kid Art makes personalized canvas wall art that comes in 12 fresh modern designs. These 12" x 12" and 24" x 18" sized prints would be perfect for customizing your nursery. The wonderful designs are brought to you from the delightfully talented ladies over at Toccare Design. Prices start at $75, but you can enter the code GRM for an additional 15% off at checkout. Available at Hip Kid Art starting at $75. Comments? Post them here in the forums.

My sister tipped me off to this great section of Urban Outfitters website that is called DIY, which stands for Design it Yourself. They have quite a few nice things, but my favorite by far are the stencils. They have several different ones, watertower, cars, powerlines, sparrows (shown), deer, just to name a few. They show most of them being used on bags or shirts, but I think the best idea is to do wall stencils like this picture shows. For $10 and some spray paint, it makes a cheap way to spruce up that white wall. Available at Urban Outfitters (online only) for $10 Comment? Post them here on the forums.

What do you get when you cross a graphic illustrator dad who is passionate about modernism and a pack of alphabet flash cards?

A pocketful of genius. Coolness in a box. A Mid-Century Modern education in 26 remarkably easy lessons. Or a way to keep your kids busy on the train to the City or the 101. Forget A is for Apple. B is for Bauhaus is where it's at.

These are some seriously sweet flash cards, and a great deal at only $25.

Available from jargonboy.com for $25. Comments? Post them here in the forums.

Winter solstice is just around the corner, and its time for you calendar addicts to start looking for a new wall calendar for 2007. Nikki McClure has created a calendar named "The Time is Now" which features beautiful wood block style prints of everyday life. Each print inspires an action for the month such as "Build" or "Respond". Printed on acid-free, chlorine-free, recycled paper using soy ink.

Available from Elsewares for $16.

Comments? Post them here.

Your know those cheesy cards you always get around the holiday season from your third cousin twice removed. You know the boring stock card with a picture of their kid and a some totally generic text to fit the occasion. Admit it, as much as you hate the cards you are a little jealous about just how easy it must have been for them to take a picture of Tommy and Sue to Walmart and have several dozen printed up. Basically Cards has filled the niche market of stock modern cards for any special occasion. Don't worry, you will still have some creative input, you can choose all the color combinations, and customize the text too. Most cards start at around $2.50 a card.

Available from Basically Cards starting at $2.50

Comments? Post them here.

This one is perfect for the print/design geek in your life. The Helvetica Clock from wrapables features jumbled numbers in Helvetica. Printed on a white coated metal base, and topped with an acrylic dial this clock is built to withstand the ages. Rest assured that Helvetica will not go out of style. It was first developed in 1957 and is just as popular as ever. What other fonts do you know that have a movie being made about them, and have their own myspace page?

Available from wrapables for $29. Comments? Post them here.

Sure you love the look of the bonsai tree, but you can't even keep your lucky bamboo alive. For those of us who are less gifted in the art of the green, comes the Atomic Bonsai Tree. The kit includes the basic parts you need for your atomic bonsai, you don't even need scissors or glue to put it together. If you get bored, just rearrange a couple leaves, and revel in your master bonsai skills. Available from Chocosho for $22

On my anniversary earlier this year, I posted about a card that I had gotten from a local store called Artichokes and Company. Unfortunately at the time I didn't have a website for the designer of the card. Luckily today Leslie of Mingo Design, stumbled across my website, and gave me a link to her blog. It turns out that Leslie is a Salt Lake City based designer that is making beautiful cards, as well as some very cute little modern onesies. All her wholesale prices and minimum orders are listed on her page, and the prices are great. For all you local SLC folks, lets do our best to support a local artist. Mingo Design

If you haven't been able to answer the age old question of whether the glass is half empty or half full, maybe these "Revolution" Wine/Water Glasses are for you. Depending on which side you choose to be up you either get a 8 oz or a 5 oz drinking glass. I can't help but think that they would make a great vase as well. Designed by Felicia Ferrone, these Italian made glasses are sure to be great conversational pieces at your next party. The price is a little steep at $40 for a set of two, but if you think about it, it's almost like getting four glasses right?

Available from Fly-Bird.net for $40

Everyone knows that hand made cards are the best, but if you don't have the time to get creative, and just want to buy some sweet hand made cards, check these out. Each card is hand made by Melissa Morris a Philly based graphic designer. She makes some very nice stuff. In a letterpress world, its kinda nice to see some cards that don't have a out of the box style. Here are the details:

Fine patterned, linen textured papers are torn and sewn together and adorned with a handmade embelishment. They are all blank (white) inside, which means endless opportunities! All cards are 4”x5.5” and come with a white A2 envelope.

Available from Melissahead for $5.95

Nothing defines a good space more than art. For those of us that are less affluent, well known original art is sometimes out of our reach. Luckily there is no shortage of very talented artist out there, many of them with affordable prints. The Bird Machine has a large collection of original art posters for sale that can be had for well under $100. With a huge selection, there is sure to be a print that captures your artistic spirit, and ads a splash of color to your home. Shown to the right is "Special Dianogah Package" by Mat Daly Available at The Bird Machine for $80

I remember a few years ago my step mom was trying to find a nice simple radio. Not a radio-cd-tape player. Just a simple radio. Its amazing how hard it is to find something simple. Almost every model she found had way more features than she wanted. If you have ever wanted just a radio, here's the one for you. Designed for Lexon (great company) this simple joistick radio is just that - a radio. Nothing more. The simple and whimsical joystick gives you all the controls you need to change stations, volume, and turn it on and off. The simple clean lines are guaranteed not to add too much visual traffic to your simple decor. Available from presentshopper.com for $39. There is a video that shows how it works on their website.

I have seen these vases before, and had completely forgot about them until I stumbled across them again today. Made from bent plywood with a bright resin filled inside, these vases achieve a nice balance of natural and artificial. They are available in six different wood veneers and four different bright resin colors making the possibilities almost endless. They are available in three different sizes, the smallest being 10 inches high and the largest 22 inches. Pricing ranges from $60 (not bad at all) to $230 (ouch). Available from Greener Grass Design.

I admit the fact that I have been practically obsessed with walnut lately may have played into the attraction to these frames. These hive inspired frames make a retro classy holder for some of your best memories. Priced at $20 they are not super expensive. Unfortunately it seems that $20 will only get you one frame, not three like shown in the picture. Who knows maybe you could buy one a month for three months, the it wouldn't feel like your were blowing $60 on a picture frame. Designed by Boom Design. Make sure you check out booms other goods. Available onine at Wexner Center Bookshop for $20.

Designsponge has posted a couple things about Reprodepot.com lately. If you haven't checked out their website ever, I suggest you do. They sell retro print fabrics among other things. Many of their fabrics are very affordable, starting at $8.50 a yard. Checking out their selection, I can't help but think about how easy it would be to buy a yard of fabric, and stretch it on a frame. If you are looking for inspiration or examples, check out the Poppycotton wall hangings, or the inhabit stretched canvases at designpublic.Shown above is Maxi Mondo - Cola, which is one of the more expensive at $18 a yard, but it has an awesome nubby texture which I love.

If you've been following the story of our house, I've related up until we actually took ownership. In may of 2005 we started moving our stuff in. As first time home owners were were quite ecstatic to finally have a place of our own. When we bought the house it had a 4 foot chain link fence in the front yard. The first thing we did was rip it out to open up our yard a little. We recycled it by using it in our back yard so that our dog would have a place to run around while we were at work. The previous owner had been parking in the back yard for years and there was even old asphalt that went through most of our back yard. It took me months to rip it out with a pick axe and a shovel. Needless to say, the back yard was a mess, and still is. Inside was a different story... Our home was built in 1917. To be truthful, judging from the original structure I think it started out as more of a shed than a house. Since then it has gone through a multitude of remodels and additions, and it still has at least one more big one until it is done. The previous owner had gone through everything about four years before we bought it. They increased the square footage a little, (by extending out the back another 8 feet) getting it up to its current 700 sq/ft. The front of the house was divided into a living room and a bedroom. The living room had a nice vaulted ceiling, but the bedroom had a dropped boxed ceiling. The whole house was done in neutral colors, although none of it very tasteful. One of the very first things we did to the interior to celebrate the fact that we were home owners was paint our bedroom wall a bright grass green. It felt good to be able to do whatever we wanted, and it was nice to get a little color into our cramped little bedroom

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Todd Oldham of La-Z-Boy fame has been bringing a nice modern angle to the overstuffed recliner for some time now. What a lot of people don't know, is that he also has a great collection of accessories. I managed to find most of them on Target's website, unfortunately they are for online purchase only. To bad too, because I would hate to blow $40 on a nice Walnut Gear Vase (shown) without being able to look at the quality first. Never the less, if you need some great MCM pieces to go with your Jet Set styled interior, make sure you check it out. Available from Target $29-$349

It seems that there is a positive trend with city dwellers to ditch the old SUV and get out the trusty old bike. Its an idea that helps both the environment and the wallet (especially with crude oil at a record high). Well if you live in a small pad like my wife and I do, then you know that finding a place for the bike to stay in the house can be less than simple. Luckily for us, cycloc is just that, simple. This cone shaped hanger is just the thing to hang your old metal stead on. Designed and produced in Britain, this award winning hanger comes in orange, white, green or 100% recycled plastic black. Available from Cycloc for £49.95.

via designsponge and cocolico

A quick congrats to one of my favorite local funky pop artists Leia Bell. She has been doing posters for a local music venue Kilby Court for years, and has even done some shirts for her brothers band Weezer. This last month she had some of her work included in Print Magazine, which is a great honor. There is also an interview with her and pictures of some of her posters in a new book called "DIY: Design It Yourself". If you are interested in getting into printmaking at all, make sure you check out the webpage for "DIY: Design It Yourself", they have some great resources. Also check out Leia's website for some great affordable funky posters featuring some really great indie bands.

Its hard to find a good shower curtain to match the rest of your style, luckily Plush Living has a bunch of nice ones to meet any modernists style. All of their shower curtains are completely machine washable and lightweight. Plus they are affordable at only $36. They do have an online store, or you can contact them to see if someone local carries their stuff. Make sure you check out their other goods too. The have some great pillows, coasters, journals and wall art all featuring great graphic design patterns.

Available from Plush Living for $36