Friday, January 05, 2007

Tord Boontje score

Back in October, someone blogged about the Holiday 2006 partnership between Target and Tord Boontje, a name I'd never heard before. But I was intrigued by the images that were posted: intricate paper cuts of deer, rabbits, snowflakes, stars, and stark winter branches. My little pagan heart warmed.

Then I read accounts of folks dashing to Target stores across the U.S. to snatch the best pieces as soon as they hit the shelves, other bloggers mourning missed opportunities, and blogger gifts of Tord collection bits. I longed for that garland. Small. Simple. White garland. But that was one of the first products to disappear.

Then I bought a house. And I ripped up floors. And fixed ceilings. And my Tord fetish slipped into the back of my mind.

Until my Mom came to visit. My Mom - the woman who brings out my inner consumer - requested a trip to Target. While there, we dug into the deep recesses of the holiday sale shelves, and found the window clings for 50% off (score!). Ms. 1890 reallys like them, but my camera - not so much. Have you ever tried taking a decent photo of a window cling? See ... even the brilliant photographer SouleMama struggled with it.

Anyway ... after strolling around the store and digging through the bins, I started to look upward, at the beautiful designs hanging from the ceiling. Then I strolled up to the Customer Service desk and asked:

"What happens to those beautiful holiday decorations after Christmas?"
"We throw them in the trash."
"Can I have them?"
"Ummmm ... sure, I guess. Well ... let me make sure. I have to call our sign person. Can you wait here?"

I waited.

And after some logistical negotiation, it was decided that if I called every day to remind Melissa (my uber customer service chick), and arrived very early in the morning on the Thursday after Christmas, I could have whatever I wanted. I requested two strings of stars/snowflakes and two of the large panels.




Cat for scale


Dansko for scale



I'm not sure what to do with the big panels -- probably cut them up(?). Adornments for wrapping paper? Mobiles? Tracing them to make stencils? Freezer paper t-shirts [nina]?

After all that excitement and inpsiration, I came home and made stockings for my Mom and MafiaBro so they had some visual love when they awoke in my house on Christmas morning.


Now Mom and MafiaBro will have stockings whenever they come for a Christmas visit, and I have yards of Tord paper cuts to play with. Peace and Joy.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooooo, before you start cutting ... look at this http://www.hapaculture.com/home/living/light/lamps/midsum.html

Anonymous said...

And this
http://mocoloco.com/archives/000383.php so pretty!

Anonymous said...

Would be nice hanging in a window ... a craft/sewing room in fact

http://www.hapaculture.com/home/living/decor/hang/untildawn.html

sorry ... I'll leave you alone now. just pleased with your goodies. *smile*

Anonymous said...

Genius! Sheer Genius.

I am impressed by your resourcefulness (and miffed that I didn't think of it).

Dorothy said...

Stick those panels on a large piece of contrasting bristol board then put them on a wall and tack moldings around them so they look like giant art. If you want to swear a lot and get some great results, stick them in the center of a ceiling and put moldings around them. Behold, a feature ceiling.

Cute stockings too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comment about my green socks - I spun that yarn out of some roving I got from Spunky Electric - I'm pretty sure it came from Amy.....

maryse said...

nice!

Beth S. said...

You clever thing, you! That's a scrore, all right.

I like the faux frame idea. You could even cover a cheap cork board with a solid fabric (for contrast) and stick the gorgeous cutout on top of that.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Those paper decorations are beautiful. No, don't cut them up! You can hang them, no?
That was really smart of you, BTW.

Anonymous said...

seriously cool paper stuff.

Danielle said...

Wow! I'm even more impressed with you than I was already.

Anonymous said...

Listen, can you hear that? It's the sound of bloggers saying "d'oh, why didn't I do that?" Those cutouts are beautiful, good for you for saving them from the trash.

Anonymous said...

I am impressed, as usual!

I love the idea of using the large pieces as framed art. Think of the cost for a one of a kind piece and then think of the savings you have just by asking for them. WOW!

You rock.

Anonymous said...

admittedly this would 'ruin' the panals, but i think it'd be a great stencil.

paint a room in colour a. put up the stencil and then use colour b over it. (logically re-doing the pannel to cover the entire room.