The Importance of a Goal ...

Dear Reader,

It's been a couple of weeks since I took my inspirational little road trip up the coast with my old math buddy Rob Pollack and I just realized I never regaled you with images of our galavanting.

It was a wonderful trip that underscored a few truisms of travel that equally apply to life, and it feels important to share them with you.

1) Have a goal. With no reason beyond that it looked interesting, we aimed for Carrizo Plain National Monument.

2) Don't be hung up on your goal! A rock slide blocked the road to Carrizo so we simply went in a different direction.

3) If it looks like an interesting side excursion, take it! This is perhaps more obvious when on holiday, but I kind of think it applies equally to life in general. We noticed a tiny side road at one point that led to a magnificent walk along a beach, up a cliff and along some train tracks.

4) Stop to smell the flowers. This didn't apply very literally to our trip, but we did stop to look at a rock pools of wildlife down by the ocean and pretty much any fun thing that crossed our path.

All in all, a wonderful trip :)



Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Our Fantastic New Envelopes!

Dear Reader,

Some of you may have noticed our fantastic new envelopes on Instagram the other day. Well we've now stamped instructions onto them :)

And with painstaking love and attention to detail they've been filled with arms, legs and eyes.

The new batch of acorns are heading out today. Order a kit and see for yourself just how gorgeous they look, that and the yarn balls with "waistbands". Remember it's free shipping from our site :)

Have a great weekend!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Excursion to the Natural History Museum

Dear Reader,

Yesterday morning was a bright and early rise - especially for a Sunday! We were at the Natural History Museum by 7am for a member's event.


Guess what we were crafting. ...

I'll give you a clue: look left, just above the Squirrel King and Natural History Museum logos :)

With a little help, our enthusiastic participants whipped up almost one hundred brightly colored trees! Fun! Fun! Fun!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

The Ultimate Chandelier!

Dear Reader,

Searching around for inspiration for paper structures the other day, I came across this amazing light-fixture.

I can't help but think just a little of the dusting effort required to keep it clean, but doesn't it seem worthwhile!

To see more magnificent works of architectural art check out Cristina Parreno's website.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Behind the Backboard

Dear Reader,

In life it is often the case that great leaps forward go unseen. So it has been for us recently. Among the developments are plans for adornments for your squirrels. Our gallery of squirrels will soon offer more than simple inspiration!

In the meantime, check out our new improved backboard for the stores. Oh, and we've been working on our supply ... Toy Crazy in the Brentwood Country Mart has a new supply!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Yarn Balls get Waistbands!

Dear Reader,

In life it's important to innovate.

Some of you may recall the great balls of yarn we rolled for the early yarn balls in our kits ... well like all of us, once in a while they would unravel in travel. Happily we've found a solution!

Waistbands!! Don't they look spiffy now :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

A Different Treehouse

Dear Reader,

I was looking at tree houses the other day and came across this little gem from Indiana. Made from a single tree this park structure and kiosk certainly reminds you where it came from :)

I always love seeing the designs of people who see the world a little differently :)

To see a few more pics and read more check out FastCo Design.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Treats From the Trade

Dear Reader,

Earlier this week we took our first steps into the wide world of trade shows.  Not quite sure what to expect we held our breath and headed to Vegas ... To our delight we met a wonderful array of fun loving peeps. In this happy shot alone we have the guys from Flickerz and Strider bikes, both companies devoted to getting kids active and out there!

We were also treated to an amazing display of hacky sack style ability by Cody. Check out his skills:


Naturally a few squirrels found new homes and perhaps best of all we came back fully inspired with more ideas for you :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Our First Review!

Dear Reader,

It's official! Last Friday we got our first product review.

Erica Buteau of Buteau Full Chaos took the time to enjoy our kit with her son. They clearly had a blast. Check out the awesome endorsement here and click around for all manner of wonderful advice on spending time with your kids!

Thanks so much Erica, we're delighted to see you had so much fun and we look forward to seeing how you adorn your squirrel :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Custom Bags!

Dear Reader,

Meeting popular internal demand we have finally decided to make Squirrel King tote bags!

As with so many things Squirrel King we have decided to make our first batch from scratch.

To begin the journey we employed our marvelous die cutter to cut our logo from freezer paper. The Trouble and Strife then ironed it on to canvas and loosely painted the inside the design.

Et voila!

There's a little bleeding on the first batch, but the method is simple enough for everyone to try :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Tiny Wooden Figures

Dear Reader,

Recently I was delighted to come across the work of Joe Iurato.

I particularly enjoyed his use of forced perspective, such as in the image of the fishermen below, but also the juxtaposing of different media and scale as in his climbers to the right.

It's always exciting to have someone just slightly tweak your view of the world ... for me at least it opens my eyes for a day or two and I look at my surroundings through a lens of possibility. I hope it does the same for you :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

What Would a Youer Do?

Dear Reader,

What a wonderful weekend! Filled with magic moments with two of my favorite girls.

First, riffing on our squirrel kit, Alien Two unleashed her creative whims and made the most magnificent giraffe. Best of all she had a ball doing it :)

And then to top that off, my eldest daughter brought out a poem she'd been quietly working on in her bedroom - she does so love tapping away on her computer. So filled with simplicity and still profound perceptivity ... and I don't think it's just that I'm a proud dad :)

Hope you too had a wonderful weekend!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims