Lost Cowboy

If you have spent any time on Lost Cowboy found, you know that two of the things we like most are soap and paper.  So you can imagine how happy we were to find the good folks at The Soap & Paper Factory.

About The Soap & Paper Factory: “We created this line to combine all natural, beautifully scented, handmade products wrapped in exquisite, earth friendly packages. Each pattern and fragrance are created together. Each fragrance is designed to stimulate the mind, body and spirit. Each pattern starts as a hand drawing often inspired by nature and finished with a modern flair.”

The “handmade natural beauty for the body and home” of The Soap & Paper Factory includes candles and other home fragrance products, as well as soaps, perfumes and creams to make you smell and feel good.  Check out the “Fig Collection.”

Find all the products of The Soap & Paper Factory here.

I don’t remember how I stumbled upon the website of Swing Design, all I know is that I am glad I did.  The items Swing Design offers are great.  From cool travel clocks and coasters to colorful note pads, I would agree that Swing Design delivers what they promise: extraordinary home accessories.

About Swing Design: “The designers at Swing Ltd. strive to create innovative items that accentuate the beauty and honesty of raw materials such as wood, metal, leather, and glass. From home office and travel accessories to tabletop and dining, the clean designs are rich and timeless—adding style and character to everyday life. Through its two brands, Swing and Sacchi, Swing Ltd. has been creating fine home products for sixteen years.”

I love the travel clock they offer and the really classy set of classy Executive Leather Wrapped Tools.

Check out Swing Design and their extraordinary home accessories here.

We love Chicago.  We travel to Chicago at least once a year, usually in August, to take in the great American city at its peak.  We love the summer festivals, Cubs games and everything the place has to offer.

We also love checking out the great shops that populate the city’s many diverse neighborhoods.  One shop we will seek out on our next visit is OMD.  We recently came across OMD’s website and was charmed by its eclectic offerings.  Of course as the anglophile we are – we love this Union Jack belt buckle. 

OMD also has a bunch of Che Guevara novelty items including a finger puppet.  Now that is one funky store.

OMD is located at 1419 W. 18th Street, Chicago IL, 60608
See the OMD website here.

We love Cost Plus World Market – a chain of stores in 30 states that sells a nice mix of things at value prices. Sadly, we do not live in one of those 30 states where the 250-plus stores are located, but once again we are saved by the internet.

I like to browse around the Cost Plus World Market site because you never know what you are going to find. Recently I came across this wonderful frame that just spoke to me. I love it!

“A clever and colorful picture frame crafted by Alejandro Chavez. He employs the time-honored techniques used to create his retablo altars, constructing the frame in wood and filling its shelves with molded ceramic plaster figures. Varied scenes represent the energy of Carnavalito, a regional celebration held in the Peruvian Andes. Painted in vivid hues and finished in a lustrous varnish, this piece lends distinctive spirit to any décor.”

Check out this and other cool things at Cost Plus World Market.

It has been 50 years since John F. Kennedy took the oath of office as President of the United States and began the 1,000 day administration, the “Camelot” era and the tragic ending. 

JFK’s Innaugural Address is one of the most famous speeches of modern times, with the oft quote lines like “ask not what your country can do for you…”

The fabulous store Levenger, purveyors of “tools for serious readers” offers a amazing tribute to that famous address, “John F. Kennedy: His Inaugural Address (book and DVD)”

About the John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address (book and DVD): “It is one of the shortest inaugural addresses in our country’s history, and yet its words have long resonated in the American conscience. John F. Kennedy’s first message as president summoned the language of a leader schooled in the oratory of the ages––from Isaiah to Lincoln and Churchill. In our exclusive book, we take you behind the curtain of this famous moment to experience how the ideas became words.  Facsimiles of scribbled and dictated notes, JFK’s handwritten version and a marked-up typed draft are among the various documents you’ll discover. All are reproduced in full color, and most at the original size. These are authorized facsimiles from the archives of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.”

Find out more on the Levenger website.

Explore all the great product Levenger offers.

One of the only good things about the early January post-holiday lull is the fact that just about everything goes on sale.  The best sales, of course, are on all of the Christmas-themed items that are still hanging around.

The folks at Ballard Designs has a bunch of cool things on sale, but these fun Dog Breed Needlepoint Stockings caught my eye.  I wish I saw these before Christmas – a Yorkie version with one or all of Sophie’s “babies’” names monogrammed on it would have been the perfect gift for her.

I happen to think that these may actually make a nice year-round gift.  The colors are not all that Christmassy and what dog doesn’t like to play with socks?  Come to think of it one of Sophie’s Yorkies, the little scamp named Harry, loves to steal socks and run away with them.

OK, the perfect Christmas gift may just be the perfect birthday gift!

See all the cool stuff Ballard Designs offer here.

Are you panicking yet?  Christmas is less than a week away.  I am all done.  But if you still have to get something for the guy who has everything…  I have to recommend this really cool iPhone case made out of wood!

Of course the guy who has everything must have an iPhone, so this is perfect. I spotted this on WishingFish.com, a site that has a bunch of cool things.  Think hip stocking stuffers.  I  have no idea if you can get it delivered before Christmas, but it is worth a try.

Also available on the site, and also made out of wood, is a really cool postcard airplane.  It is a postcard made out of balsa wood that can be made into an airplane.  Very cool!  The perfect thing to mail to all those people who sent you a Christmas card that you “forgot” to send one to.

Check out the cool thing you can find on WishingFish here.

We at Lost Cowboy love our dogs!  In fact, Sophie has three little ones of her own!  And we believe in giving them all the best.  And the best treats we have found come from the Polka Dog Bakery in Boston’s South End. 

But don’t worry if you are not in Boston, Polka Dog products can be found at specialty shops all over the US.  And you can purchase their great products on their website.

The products are great, but we also love Polka Dog‘s story:  “Polka Dog Bakery is our tribute to Pearl. Found as a stray outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, Pearl had only one eye, which gave her the funny habit of dancing her head from side to side whenever she stopped to say hello. She did a little sort of polka to everyone she met. So Pearl became the Polka Dog, and danced her way into people’s hearts.  Hard living had left our gem in need of a little extra nurturing, and to spoil her properly, we took to baking her gourmet treats. We used the finest ingredients we could find, mixed and matched different recipes, and baked a little love in every bite.”

So do your favorite pooch a favor and look into the great treats Polka Dog sells.  May be suggest the Holiday Tall Can.

See everything Polka Dog offers here.

Just a short walk from my office, which is in a small city south of Boston, there is a strip of dollar stores all within one block.  I love dollar stores!  You never know what you are going to find, but I always find something unique and interesting. 

All the dollar stores are good, but some are better than others. The one I love most is one that seems to have a direct line to goods from China.  Not the stuff that is made in China by western companies, but all sorts of knock-off goods or Asian designs and products made for the Chinese market.

Well, I am sure there will be future posts about what we have “found” at a dollar store and turned into something cool.  But what inspired this post was the discovery of Pearl River.  Pearl River is not quite a dollar store, but they feature the coolest stuff from China.  I am told Pearl River is a store in New York, but they have a great website with some very cool items.

You can find all the things you may expect from a store like this, like tea sets, lanterns, Chinese dolls and traditional clothing.  I particular like the tote bags Pearl River offers.  There are some cool designs that you are not going to see on every shoulder walking down the street.  I particularly like this one (right) that honors Queen Elizabeth,  Very cool.

I can’t wait for my next trip to New York so I can check out Pearl River, “the first Chinese American department store.”  In the meantime, you will find me nosing around the Pearl River website and my local dollar store hoping to score something unique, and cheap!

Check out Pearl River here.