Category Archive

Shopping

Turn to our shopping category when you need offbeat decor — whether its from a link we’ve posted or one of our awesome sponsors.

wall organizer

7 picks perfect for tiny spaces from Design Public

I took a little stroll through Design Public this week to pick out a few high-design items for ogling. They have SO MUCH cute junk, and some especially great pieces for the space-crunched.

I picked out some artsy odds and ends, fun seating, great rugs, privacy ideas, and ways to organize that look pretty while they work. Let’s shop!

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Grab a Back Jack for floor-sitting

During our stay at Sacred Groves for the Offbeat Empire staff retreat last week, I discovered the chair meant for me. The Back Jack.

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Want to make photo books from your Facebook and Instagram photos? Now you can!

You guys already know how I love Blurb books, but what you may NOT know is that now I love them EVEN SUPER DUPER MORE. A friend recently brought it to my attention that you can make books from your Facebook and Instagram photos — an idea that had me shrieking from glee a little bit. Between those two apps I have hundreds of photos just sitting in albums online, and they’re not all saved somewhere else. In fact, the photos I’d most want to put into an album are the ones that are straight from my phone — the same ones I’d never think to print otherwise.

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Nice for tender feet: let’s chat about soft shoes for babies and toddlers

Every so often I can’t resist the urge to gawk at material cuteness, and right now I am totally in love with little baby and toddler feet wrapped up in Robeez. I (foolishly! FOOLISHLY!) spent my son’s infancy under the impression that it would be silly to put him in shoes. I distinctly remember being told once that he should be in shoes because it was cold out, and I remember looking the person in question in the eye and pointing out that my child had on two layers of socks.

lock pick card

Guard against lockouts: stick a lockpicker’s card in your wallet

Stash one of these babies in your wallet, and never get locked out again.

I mean, provided you have any idea how to use lockpicking tools. No? Me neither. Luckily Adafruit has our back with a video on getting started with the lockpick card.

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Books to read in bed: Polysexual romantic fiction

I decided I wanted some light reading that had sex in it, and realized… I think this means I want to read a romance novel. But ew: romance novels? I’m not at ALL interested in the bodice ripper “big strong man, docile female” dynamic that many romance novels focus on, so I went off on a hunt for something different: Intelligent feminist polysexual romantic fiction.

Wait, does such a thing exist?!

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12 constellation projects, products, and pretties that bring the night sky inside

Oh, how we love the starry skies popping up all over the place lately. In artwork, in home products, in themed BEDROOMS! There is nothing more relaxing than a serene reminder of the skies over our heads. In an ideal world, we’d all have a skylight over our beds and fall asleep under the stars, but since that’s not feasible let’s see how else we can catch a few stars for ourselves.

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10 baby traveling essentials you didn’t know you needed

I’m Australian, my husband is American, and we live in China with our one-year-old son, Xavier. In the last year we’ve traveled to Australia, the USA, Germany, China, and back to Australia — and we’ve amassed a ton of tips to help our fellow traveling families!