celebrating the world’s tallest buildings — and their wall decal twins
Mar.6
Afraid of Heights? Then maybe some of these luxury skyscraper hotels aren't for you! (Source: Hemispheres Magazine - Click for more info)
So many of us have noticed the silly practice of hotels, apartment buildings and other high-rises skipping over the 13th floor — just jumping from 12 to 14 as if it were possible to simply eliminate Number 13 to calm superstitious nerves. This practice is an extremely slippery slope as any staircase shorter than 13 steps means you’ll be staying in a dollhouse.
I thought of this paranoia when I was reading about the World’s Tallest Hotels, a recent feature in Hemispheres Magazine, the official in-flight publication of United Airlines.
As the magazine highlights, the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong has 118 floors (wonder if 113 is there) and at 1,608 feet, it towers over the highest hotels in Chicago (Trump International Hotel @ 1,392 feet) and New York (Four Seasons @ 682 feet). The top floor of the Ritz-Carlton has a restaurant appropriately named the Ozone, where you can marvel whether or not the Biblical Tower of Babel will one day come to fruition.
I’m personally a fan of the sailboat-shaped Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
Remember your first glimpse of the big city?
Now your kids can let their architectural imaginations soar by erecting their own urban landscape with skyscrapers galore, traffic and even a news helicopter hovering above the Big Apple. True, we’re positioning this snazzy French Bull City Wall Stickers set as Any City, USA, but candidly, yeah, that is our tribute to the magnificent Empire State Building.
French Bull City Wall Decals (Click the building of your choice for more info!)
Our removable, repositionable, self-stick Made-In-The-USA city scene was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show!
Take a look and get hooked:
Wall Sticker Royalty: What do Princesses do once the wedding is over?
Feb.10
WallCandy Arts removable wall decals celebrate princesses of all shapes and sizes!
So remember the hoopla surrounding the Royal Wedding? You know, when we were bombarded with 24/7 coverage about what Kate and Pippa were wearing, what kind of china they’d be eating off, who made their shoes, and what kind of shampoo the princess used on her gorgeous locks?
Much like our own weddings, the time zaps by in an instant. The only difference between Kate Middleton and the average bride is that Kate gets to keep wearing the tiaras and party dresses all year long. Just like your little girl.
In the spirit of promoting imaginative play and the new launch of WallCandy’s French Bull Princess Wall Decals, we thought we would check back in with Princess Kate to see what she has been up to since saying “I Do.”
Well, just she won my heart over by celebrating her 30th birthday in January by staging a 1980s-style disco and karaoke dance party with Duran Duran songs and 80s-themed cocktails with creative names like “The Ferris Bueller Fizz,” the “Pacman Martini,” the “Back to the Future,” and my favorite, “The Walkman.”
Remember those?
Princess Kate, also known as the Duchess of Cambridge, opened up a new art show this week at London’s National Portrait Gallery, while Prince William was busy on a routine six-week training mission for the Royal Air Force in the Falkland Islands (that “war” was so 1980s, too). It’s good to know that Britain isn’t just letting their prince play dress-up with the military uniforms.
But back to your daughter(s) and the bedroom or playroom walls….
Turn your girl's bedroom or playroom into a Princess Paradise with our new French Bull line.
So you get four princesses in all and as you’ll notice, they are not skewed to the traditional blonde stereotype (not that there is anything wrong with blonde princesses). Hey, why can’t a princess have strawberry pink or purple hair? They’re princesses!
And as with all our Made in the USA removable decorations, these princess wall stickers (and fantasy castle with royal gardens) are completely repositionable, reusable and BPA and Pthalates free!
And if you’re secretly feeling guilty about missing Princess Kate’s Birthday, you may want to check out our Special Occasions section. 
Puppy Love: Dog Balloon Birthday Wall Decals and other Canine Curiosities
Jan.24
So when is the Museum of Modern Art going to open up a Birthday Balloon exhibit?
Having waited in line at numerous family festivals and kids fairs to spend 15 seconds with a balloon-twisting clown, I know the magnetism that animal balloons have for little children. Heck, why bring age into it? I’m blown away by how a thin latex tube can instantly be transformed into giraffes, lions, party hats, etc.
In case you missed it, I highly recommend that you check out the movie trailer for “TWISTED: A Balloonamentary,” which highlights some of the world’s most creative balloon artists. Forget one-balloon creations. These ambitious folks have created balloon suits of armor for themselves and even made a balloon lounge chair that will support the weight of the average adult:
If you like this stuff, you’ll LOVE WallCandy’s Dog Balloon Wall Stickers for birthdays or just for overall playroom or bedroom decor when you want to add a splash to a boring plain wall.
As our clever marketing copywriters suggest (hey I can’t take credit for this), these doggies will provide you with “commitment-free cuteness.” That’s right, all the fun and pleasure of owning a dog without having to worry what time you get home to let it out of the house. No messy clean-ups. No “accidents” on the new rug or scratched furniture. And no expensive food or vet bills.
Of course, I jest.
No hard feelings, dog lovers — I know in my heart that Dog Balloons will merely enhance your love for those precious pups and can never replace them.
Balloons that will never ever pop!
Speaking of dog lovers, if you’re not one of the more than 6.65 million people who have seen “The Bark Side,” the new Volkswagen doggie tribute to Star Wars, you absolutely must! There’s a fantastic Internet parlor game going on to see if you can match the correct breed of dog with the right Star Wars character.
Darth Vader, Princess Leia and Chewbacca are obvious, but can you name the alter-egos of the rest of these cute pups?
Emmy Recap: Celebrating our own Modern Families!
Sep.19
Which "Modern Family" Character Are You?
You know that silly question of which child or grandchild you like the best?
That’s how I felt watching the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category during last night’s Emmy Awards. Four actors from “Modern Family” were up for the honor — Ty Burrell (Phil) Ed O’Neill (Jay), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell) and Eric Stonestreet (Cameron) — as well as two outsiders, “Glee” songbird Chris Colfer and Pretty in Pink guy Jon Cryer (better known as Charlie Sheen’s surviving sidekick in “Two And A Half Men.”)
There was no doubt that last night was Modern Family’s Night — the sitcom won five Emmys in all. But my mind went blank when it came time to choose who to root for. The show has a true ensemble cast with the laugh lines getting spread pretty equally. My preference would have been to kick out Cryer and Colfer and give the two remaining nominee spots to the Modern Family kids: Nolan Gould (sweethearted but clueless Luke Dunphy) and Rico Rodriguez (precocious Manny Delgado).
Check out the pic of Manny holding the Emmy above. Doesn’t he seem like age 10 going on 40 — even in real life?
America's First Comedy Couple: Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell.
A pre-Emmy US Weekly poll favored Burrell and Stonestreet, but Burrell won out in L.A.
I think the Phil Dunphy character is super relatable as a goofy dad who will do anything to entertain his kids and himself. And the actor’s acceptance speech reflected it, too. Burrell also seemed more excited for actress Julie Bowen (his TV wife)’s corresponding Emmy victory than her real life husband did!
Entertainment Weekly recently posed the "Modern Family" cast in the most realistic scene in family life... The dreaded competition for the bathrooms.
The success of Modern Family is truly remarkable because the episodes focus on the absurdities of “normal” suburban life. When we take a big step back, all of our lives could be made into sitcoms.
It’s the perfect fit for the WallCandy family demographic. The show pokes fun at sibling rivalries, the struggles of work-life balance, the crazy competitiveness of PTA moms, zealous youth sports coaches and where our life’s dreams and realities unexpectedly meet. As a dad, I love the ongoing dynamic between popularity-obsessed Haley and her goal-oriented bookworm sister Alex; and the contrast of Peter Pan-like Luke and his can’t-wait-to-grow-up cousin Manny. You can’t miss “The One That Got Away” episode which spoofs those birthday tribute videos we all make for relatives’ milestone birthdays or wedding anniversaries.
The new season premiere is at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 21. The one-hour special has a Dude Ranch theme (click here for the preview) and was shot in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, exploring how the family dynamic changes on vacation.
Which brings me to my tangential excuse for writing about Modern Family on a wall stickers blog. We all have an Inner Cowboy or Inner Cowgirl clamoring to break free. And the brand new WallCandy Arts Western Birthday Decorating Kit is a way for your boys and girls to continue their role-playing fun long after the candles go out.
I’m curious to see if Manny rediscovers that he’s a kid and reluctantly enjoys the cowboy masquerade — or if he dismisses the entire exercise as too juvenile. In any case, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the episode and if there are any other birthday party sticker themes you think we should explore! Drop us a line at hello@wallcandyarts.com.
Invaluable Advice for Storing Your Removable Wall Decals
Feb.2
Any guess what this is?
Perhaps a futuristic barcode? Some kind of post-modern art?
Once you pan a little over to the right, you’ll get a few more clues!
The elongated rectangles are the light beams and the identical lemon wedges are the sun from WallCandy’s vibrantly upbeat “My Sunshine” removable wall stickers.
I foolishly threw away the slick paper backing from my “My Sunshine” kit and so when it came time to take advantage of the removable and reusable features of the wall decals, I was up the creek without a paddle.
My solution: Find a blank hallway wall and use it as a temporary storage canvas. So far there have been no complaints from family members about the unorthodox decoration style, but at some point I will have to figure out another way to salvage the sun.
Moral of the story: SAVE YOUR STICKER SHEETS!
In a pinch, you can also stick the reusable decals on your refrigerator. I’m a fan of displaying WallCandy’s Polaroid-style Frames on the fridge. You can put photos or kids’ drawings in there for a slick retro presentation.
But back to the mysterious barcode at the top of this post. Maybe scrambling up the pieces of WallCandy sticker sets could be the basis for a new game show. Stay tuned!
What do Wall Stickers and Actress Julianne Moore Have in Common?
Nov.1
In the latest issue of New York Family magazine, actress Julianne Moore (Frannie Hughes on “As the World Turns,” and Nancy Donovan in “30 Rock”) dishes about her childhood as an insecure girl with freckles.
The popular actress has written two autobiographical “Freckleface Strawberry” books to encourage children to be happy with who they are.
Fittingly, in the very same issue, WallCandy’s Dottilicious wall stickers are featured as an editor’s pick! I say “fittingly” because these colorful dots (which have ice cream-themed colors) are really just freckles in disguise.
Yes, WallCandy removable wall decals are more cost-effective than hiring a painter. But they are also a heckava lot more fun. When they were younger, my own kids loved grabbing the cardboard paint color samples at Home Depot and Lowe’s and then tossing them on the floor to give me something to do. But chalkboard decal elephants and giraffes are much more exciting than paint.
But back to Julianne Moore. If you happen to be a fan and want to simultaneously pay tribute to her AND make your kids’ rooms look fantastic, I have some ideas:
* To commemorate Julianne’s role as Dr. Sarah Harding in “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” check out our Dyno-Mite Dinosaur Wall Stickers!
* To honor her gig as Linda Partridge in “Magnolia,” how about some other flowers such as these Roses Wall Sticker Frames!
* And for her role as Alec Baldwin’s girlfriend in “30 Rock,” these lovesick deer stickers should do the trick!
As for the Dottilicious stickers featured in New York Family magazine, we have some other exciting news. Stay tuned to this space to find out how Dottlicious designs have been recently used to brighten up an arts education center for impoverished women in South Africa!
Sticker Survival 101: How to Use Wall Decals in a Bathroom Emergency
Sep.19
Wall stickers might not be one of life’s barebones necessities. It is very unlikely that they will ever be one of the personal luxury items brought into the wilderness by a contestant on “Survivor.”
But nonetheless, WallCandy removable wall decals can be used to solve some urgent real world problems outside of the home decorating universe.
I found these funny “How-To” instructions on Facebook. As you can see, they suggest a simple way for women to instantly transform a men’s room into their turf if the lines are too long at the women’s bathrooms — as they always inevitably are.
As the New York Times eloquently puts it, long lines at public restrooms “have plagued women since the dawn of the porcelain age.”
Some enlightened places, such as New York City, require restaurants, sports stadiums and other areas of public gathering to have two women’s bathroom stalls for every men’s toilet — reflecting the reality of how much longer it takes to sit 100 percent of the time (and presumably, cover the disgusto toilet seats with 17 layers of protective paper).
But let’s say you are in a backwards place where officials don’t recognize the problem of bathroom inequity. Then it’s time for some guerrilla stickering to get those extra toilets by any means necessary. Since an early age we are conditioned to stay out of the opposite gender’s restrooms, though I will admit to sneaking into the one-person Women’s Room at gas stations when the Men’s Room is out of soap. Women’s bathrooms never run out of soap, because women are smart enough to demand it.
This tactic wouldn’t work for a huge multi-stall bathroom unless you are the first to get there in the morning and make the transformation believable to the first bladder-strained patron.
So where do you get YOUR WallCandy sticker-skirt and do they come in different sizes?
Well, most of the sticker sheets you order have plenty of blank scraps left over (the negative space between the stickers). You can cut these into any shapes you want and use permanent marker to add color.
The great thing about using WallCandy products in these situations is that you can do it with a clear conscience. Unlike those pesky bumper stickers that activists plaster all over street signs and newspaper boxes, our removable wall decals leave absolutely no sticky residue when you pry them off the door. You can pull off this practical joke (or genuinely save yourself embarrassment in a potty emergency) without feeling like a vandal.
Humor aside, it is probably not a great idea to commandeer any public men’s room even for emergency women’s use. Believe me, you will be horrified at the condition of the floor and the ratio of flushed-to-unflushed toilets.
Take my advice: Choose the long lines!
WallCandy® Arts Decoration Inspiration: Sticker Contrast is Important
Sep.14
One of the problems of being a design lover is that you find yourself critiquing everything around you: the paint choices in your local coffee shop, the authenticity of a mural scene or the font choice on a menu.
Recently, I visited the Philadelphia Art Museum and was stunned by the captions underneath a few statues in the sculpture garden. The imposing figure pictured above is General Friedrich von Steuben, the chief of staff for George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
I suspect you don’t come to the WallCandy Arts Blog for a history lesson, but please indulge me because this was an AMAZING man.
A military strategist from Prussia, Steuben first volunteered to serve in the Continental Army for free. He is credited for instilling discipline into the Minutemen and often conducted drills by yelling at his troops in German and French (hey, it worked!). He is also the visionary who decided that the Continental Army needed to separate the kitchen and latrines for sanitary reasons and suggested that leaving rotting animal carcasses in the camp might not be a bright idea either.
In the PBS Kids cartoon, “Liberty’s Kids,” General von Steuben was voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Most people who walk by the statue learn none of this information. Why? Because the text is virtually invisible — especially when the sun is in your eyes. Take a look at how difficult it is to read the engraving. Gold letters on a tan background is absolute blasphemy.
Heads should roll over this.
Now take a look at this wall sticker display I created for my daughter’s birthday party, using elements from the WallCandy “My Sunshine” set.
Notice how golden brown decals are not stuck on the golden brown wall. Note how the letters were chosen for maximum contrast. I assure you, no one walked by the dining room and was unaware that a birthday party was going on.
Unfortunately, there is currently no commercial demand for General von Steuben removable wall decals, but you can honor his memory by choosing colors that bounce well off each other!
(Full Disclosure: The fuschia and green Happy Birthday letters were handcut freestyle from paper plates. Try experimenting with different textures of paper and layering them on top of WallCandy decals with tape. You still don’t do any damage to the walls!)
What’s Stickier Than Helicopter Parents? Wall Decals!
Sep.2
We all know so-called “helicopter parents,” those overprotective moms and dads who hover over their children on playgrounds like they are Secret Service agents. And who are afraid to let their kids make mistakes on even the most rudimentary levels.
According to the New York Times, helicopter parents are now hovering over college campuses, too — some refusing to leave the dorms!
The Times reports that college administrators now have to formally include messages to “hit the road” in orientation programs to parents who insist on setting up their children’s dorm rooms as if they are still playing with Barbies and Mr. Potato Heads.
“In order to separate doting parents from their freshman sons, Morehouse College in Atlanta has instituted a formal “Parting Ceremony.”
It began on a recent evening, with speeches in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. Then the incoming freshmen marched through the gates of the campus — which swung shut, literally leaving the parents outside.
When University of Minnesota freshmen move in at the end of this month, parental separation will be a little sneakier: mothers and fathers will be invited to a reception elsewhere so students can meet their roommates and negotiate dorm room space — without adult meddling.”
Smothering your kids’ independence in college, which is supposed to represent the first real steps into adulthood, is obviously counterproductive. But as a sentimental parent, I do think that this is not a black and white issue. I have played the role of bodyguard on many playgrounds over the years because the reality is that toddlers don’t need to learn the harsh lessons of life by getting stepped on and crushed.
Any parent who goes to the playground can attest that older kids have absolutely no regard for the fingers and toes of younger children. Sometimes I see teenagers playing on the slide and swings and making things very unpleasant for the kiddies meant to be there.
If or when I am ever confronted with the unpleasant issue of bullying, I guarantee I will not sit idly by if the school officials look the other way. We all want to protect our kids and it is tough to let go at every mini-stage of independence. But overall, I side with Lenore Skenazy, the leader of the Free-Range Kids movement.
Skenazy maintains that kids don’t need a helmet and elbow pads when they are climbing in the backyard treehouse. And she urges us to drop the fear that every kid who rides his or her bike to the local grocery store will get kidnapped. Check out some of the irreverent lecture topics she offers for her speaking engagements:
Playdates & Axe Murderers: How to Tell the Difference
Who’s Crazy: People Who Trust the World or Those Who Assume the Worst?
How Come We’re So Much More Afraid Than Our Parents Were?
Raising a Sad, Worried Wimp (How Not To)
No matter where you stand on the helicopter parent issue, here’s the great news…. WallCandy’s amazing removable wall decals come in creative themes and styles appropriate for both the nursery and the college dorm.
Just one piece of advice, though. Please let your college students peel and stick the decals themselves. These decorations are phenomenal for building up hand-eye coordination and self-confidence!
Decorative Cravings: WallCandy® Arts Scores a Pregnancy Trifecta
Aug.11
Sharing the spotlight with “Hollywood’s Hottest Moms” may be one of the most flattering compliments WallCandy Arts has received this year. Thanks to Pregnancy & Newborn magazine for categorizing our funky Rococo chalkboard decals and our giant ice cream lamp as “Cravings.”
The issue is on newsstands now.
Our 28-inch ice cream lamps, which come in either vanilla or strawberry, were paired with Ben & Jerry’s recipes and pickle-flavored lip balm as items the editors “can’t get enough of.” Hey, maybe we should branch out into pickle-themed wall decals and furnishings
Lastly, Pregnancy & Newborn gave a shoutout to our Smarts Bees & Trees collection, which was a special “Black and White and Cute All Over” pick. As the mag points out, studies show that simple black-and-white patterns stimulate babies to “learn, develop and grow in an optimal environment.”
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a newborn’s vision is most attracted to high-contrasted patterns such as checkerboards, bull’s eyes and stripes. And color recognition really doesn’t kick in until about four months. The Smarts collection was designed with this science in mind.
Do you have any decorative pregnancy cravings? Let us know how your nursery walls are shaping up at hello@wallcandyarts.com. We’d love to share your creativity with other wall decal enthusiasts!
