Kids’ drawings are no longer stuck existing only as, well, drawings. The internet, together with 3D printers and other inexpensive personalized production methods, have created a cottage industry companies that can transform your kid’s artwork into a stuffed animal or a customized carpet or, now, a sculpture.
That last item is thanks to Barcelona-based start-up, Crayon Creatures.
Cardamon. Cranberries. Cookie dough. Potato chips. Cinnamon toast cereal. Bacon . . . Wait, bacon? Yes, Either real or vegetarian. . . . Macadamia nuts. Oreo pieces. Ground coffee.
What sound like random items on a shopping list are ingredients you can use to construct your own personal chocolate bar at what might be the internet’s most delicious website: Chocomize
Black is the color of nearly every iPhone (and other cell phones), iPod (and other MP3 players), iPad (and other tablet computers) and Kindle (and other e-book readers). So putting a skin covering on your electronics devices is as much about making it distinctive as about protecting it. Fortunately, GelaSkins has you covered in both regards. Their skins are both durable and personality-full.
Gelaskins are available for a huge variety of gadgets, including virtually every major smartphone, all the recent models of the iPod and Zune and the most popular ebook readers, gaming consoles and Apple MacBooks variations. You can even get a skin for a Magic Trackpad.
For each of those, you can choose from hundreds of pre-designed skins or—and we find this very cool—design your own.
You needn’t be an avid fashion designer, à la a Project Runway contestant, to create your own men’s dress shirt. All you need is access to a cool website. Like Blank Label.
On Blank Label most anyone can create their own shirt—within limits, of course. The basic shirt concept and range of fabrics is pre-determined. But within that, it is impressive how many design options you have.
Spot Cool Stuff laments the general direction children’s toys have taken away from requiring imagination. Surely, part of the issue has been the proliferation of online gaming websites aimed at kids.
But if websites have been part of the problem maybe they can be part of the solution? That’s the idea behind the Israel-based start-up Shidonni.
Shidonni has a variety of fun, imagination-enhansing online games for children. Kids can draw animals, for example, upload the drawing to the Shindonni site, and then have their animal creation roam around the virtual Shindonni world for others users to see.
And here’s our favorite part: On Shidonni you can take a child’s drawing of an imaginary creature and then turn it into a real life stuffed animal!
No board game has as many take-offs as Monopoly. You’ve probably seen local Opolies for sale in tacky tourist stores while on vacation. There’s Londonopoly, Tokyopoly, New Deli-opoly, Cape Town-opoly, Hollywoodopoly and even Lubbockolopy (as in Lubbock, Texas). Among the multitudes of other Monopoly verstions are Photo-opoly, Christmas-opoly, Chocolate-opoly, Ice Cream-opoly, Wine-opoly, Earthopoly, Ocean-opoly, Farmopoly, Puppy-opoly and Beagle-opoly (though not, to our knowledge, Puppy-Beagle-opoly), Gardenopoly , Waffle-opoly, Princessopoly and Pirate-opoly, not to mention the counterculture Anti-Monopoly.
If those aren’t enough choices for you—or if you’d like to add a personal touch to your Monopoly-ing—Spot Cool Stuff has an answer for you: Make Your Own-Opoly
Product designer Bomi Kim has a clock that puts the design responsibility upon you. Her clock consists of a nob with insets for an hour and minute hand. What it used for those clock hands is up to you — sticks, pencils, screwdrivers or whatever. Sadly, the clock is only a concept at the moment. We’ll update this post if/when Bomi Kim’s clock goes on sale.
