Vanishing World: The Endangered Arctic Book

Aren't polar bears simply magnificent creatures? We can't bear to think that one day they only may exist in zoos, when their habitat has literally melted away. But so many more animals are facing the same dangers. Although, yes, the ideas of playful and cuddly polar bears in our imaginations give them so much sympathetic attention, we hope you'll also learn about all the other species of animals threatened by the ever-shrinking polar ice caps, too. Please take a look at 'Vanishing World: The Endangered Arctic Book' to see the wondrous critters and landscapes that could disappear in our children's or children's children's lifetimes.

Here's the ditty from the Discovery Channel Store, where you can buy this magnificent book: "Marvel at the beauty and fragility of life in the Arctic through stunning photography and moving text. The photo book celebrates the wildlife of the remote region and tells a cautionary tale of global warming in an unprecedented visual record of life in the Arctic. Set against a dramatic landscape of ice and jagged mountains, polar bears, foxes, seals, walruses and other animals now struggle to live in this vulnerable climate. Photography is by Mireille de la Lez and text by Fredrik Granath. The stunning coffee table book is a visual tribute to the remote world of the Arctic and the vulnerable wildlife that lives there."

Although we steadfastly agree that there has yet to be a Chia pet that was Chia-chic, here's an artful presentation of easy-to-grow indoor grass, for that touch of nature in your decor. If you'd like a cool eco-friendly gift, Metaphys makes simply clean and sleek planter frames to grow a little a sliver of lawn in your home or office. The frames come in several shapes and sizes (including a circular centerpiece frame so you can make a tabletop ring of green), and each comes with a seed set. Enthusiastic eco-friends can surely find delightful small flowering plants to intersperse as well. We're going to try a line of colorful celosias. How pretty is that?

Metaphys is in Japan, but here's a ditty in English from their site: "Picture is a framed planter that allows users to plant seeds and enjoy growing plants within the frame as if appreciating pictures in an art museum. Planter provides a stark contrast between the organic plant and the inorganic frame, and between the developing plant and the cropped nature of the frame background. Picture can be placed on desks or hung on walls.

A square aspect of a planter will have a variety of looks with different pieces of scenery pictures. A long rectangular plane may suit for the panoramic sea view stretching as far as horizon. A plane of another planter placed by the window may suit for white clouds floating in the sky. We designed planters to enjoy the contrast between the plants planted and a scenery picture shown on the planter. You can select whether to hang it on the wall or place it on the table."

- Buy Metaphys Indoor Grass Frames at Pure Modern
- See more at the Metaphys site (Japanese/English)

More on Pretty Patrol:
- Top 11 Eco-Friendly Gifts for Children (2007)
- Top 12 Eco-Friendly Gifts for Women (2007)

Can you believe that the first real foray into cuddly robotic critters was more than two decades ago? What a long way toys have come since the first Teddy Ruxpin in 1985. Now all kinds of critters have gone totally animatronic. Albeit, none for the general consumer market have yet reached the calibur of Jim Henson creations, but they're definitely getting closer every year.

Now you can get the latest generation of computerized critters. WowWee, the makers or Robosapien and other robotic toys, has just come out with a new series of robotic cuddlies that actually look adorable, and not so discount-store geek-lab cheap. Our favorite is the WowWee Alive robotic lion club, which by all counts looks precious, if not a little inspired by Steiff designs.

Here's the ditty from WowWee: "WowWee Alive Lion Cub Plush Robotic Toy. Meet Lion Cub, the first in a new series from Wowwee Alive. With realistic looking fur, petting Lion Cub is a true to life experience. Activate the Alive Cub's sensors when you pet him. Pick him up by the scruff of the neck and watch his legs go limp, just like a real cub being carried by his mother. He will open and close his eyes and mouth, just like a real cub! Realistic baby animal sounds. This is soft and cuddly; also it has animated mouth and eyes. Leave the Alive Cub for five minutes and he will enter Sleep Mode. He will then snore for five minutes before powering down. Your cub responds to motion, turn him on his back and see how he responds."

The new furry line of WowWee Alive includes a lion club, tiger club, polar cub and a panda cub, and each includes an adoption certificate.

- Buy WowWee Alive Lion Club Plush Robotic Toy
- More pretty animal toys

On of our favorite indie sites for frou-frou wrap and cards for perfect presentations is Jenny Wren Paperie, which is run by a mom in Vancouver. Jenny's bright, colorful designs just pop with joyful prettiment.

Now you can up the ante for fabulous gift-giving by ditching paper gift wrap, scissors and tape for Furochic gift wrap fabrics and ribbons. Just fold the cloth around your gift, tie it or cinch with a ribbon... and voila! Not only is it more beautiful than standard paper wrap, but you can reuse the cloth wrap and ribbon as well. Make your gift stand out with ever so chic fabulousity. Choose from several designs, and get pretty tips from enclosed illustrations of easy wrapping techniques, too.

In addition to Furochic gift wrap, Jenny Wren also designs and sells delightful gift tags, glitter cards, notebooks, notecards, holiday cards and children's greeting cards. Please give her cheerful creations a look-see!

- Jenny Wren Paperie

Hmm... Either something's in the water or there's some kind of post 'Sex and the City' baby boom (caused by the healing, comedic and communal effect of the fabulous movie and the subsequent boost from that healing energy to increased fertility and the urge for a little somethin' somethin' from Mr. Bigs everywhere). We had yet another -- yes, another -- baby shower to go this weekend, so we reached into our stash of no-fail mom-to-be gifts: swaddling blankets.

Swaddling is an age-old technique that mimics the confinement and warmth of the womb to keep babes comfortable and -- much more importantly -- blessedly quiet! Although you can swaddle with a normal baby blanket, newer swaddling blankets are designed to help those lacking the knack for swaddle. It's not origami, new moms. We swear! But every little bit of help counts.

Our current faves are SwaddleMe blankets by Kiddopotamus, as they come in a variety of very cute, cuddling styles. They're designed with wing flaps, so they help you adjust the swaddle as your babe grows, and the leg pouch plops down for easier diaper changes, too. SwaddleMes are made with all cotton, or, for more eco-conscious parents, come in organic cotton and bamboo (which makes a oddly silky fabric).

And a pretty bonus: "A percentage of each SwaddleMe® sold is donated to First Candle / SIDS Alliance to help babies survive and thrive."

- Buy Kiddopotamus blankets online.

Another recent find for doses of prettiment from independent retailers is a new online store, Far Countries. Some things may be a little too country bumpkin for our tastes, but they sell a growing eclectic selection of little pretty things, like the adorable soaps with animal faces and florals.

The handmade crystal body soaps include vegetable glycerin. They're not tested on animals and are individually wrapped. They come in completes sets with six each of the four pictured styles.

- Buy the cutesy soaps at Far Countries.

Rubber bands... Pretty? Well, now they are! As far as rubber bands go, you have to admit the brightly colored, animal-shaped rubber bands by +d. are absolutely clever. We love when people take the ordinary and bland and transform it into happy prettiment for all. These rubber bands are so cute you can use them in art projects for little kids. Glue them on poster board or construction paper, cut them out and... Voila! Instant farm, zoo or Jurassic Park! Yes, the animal rubber bands come in a few style packs, including farm animals, zoo animals and dinosaurs.

We found them available for the U.K. and Germany on design 3000 Shop and here for Japan.

- Buy Animal Rubberbands
- See more products from +d.

Expand the prettiment of your children's library with two fabulously illustrated pop-up books by Jason O'Malley. 'Halloween at the Zoo: A Pop-Up Trick-or-Treat Experience' and 'Christmas at the Zoo: A Pop-Up Winter Wonderland.' Both are delightfully done with crisp, jovial design and a happy, humorous story full of animals. We're curious if O'Malley could adapt his zoofuls into a TV special, they're so darling.

- Buy 'Halloween at the Zoo' Pop-Up Book
- Buy 'Christmas at the Zoo' Pop-Up Book

If you're looking for a high-styled centerpiece for your sidebar or martini set, the Bauhaus Cocktail Shaker & Carafe available on retromodern.com is a sleek, classic choice. We love the hybrid tea kettle twist on the standard shaker design -- and to think the design is more than eighty years old!

Here's the ditty from retromodern.com: "The highly polished stainless steel piece has been produced under license of the Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin since 1995. The designer is not known, but the shaker has appeared in several museum exhibitions and is characteristic of designs from the mid 1920s. It bulbous body and stopper insert make it perfect for shaking drinks but also make it a wonderful bedside repository for ice water throughout the evening. "

- Buy the Bauhaus Cocktail Shaker & Carafe

Ooh! Isn't it darling? We love the latest in fashion phones to come from LG. It's petite, pretty and stylishly sophisticated, with the convenience of a full alpha-keypad without the clunk fug of crackberries. The LG Lotus is yet another fabulous alternative to the geekarazzi's fugment of geek-fugly gadgets.

If we've delightfully mentioned it once, we've delightfully mentioned it a thousand times with a thousand smiles: Make it pretty! The male-dominated tech market is slowly -- make that very slowly -- coming around to the realization that style counts. Tech-droolie frattish guys didn't make iPods, iPhones and Macs the phenom they have become, women did.

So, hello, thank you LG for listening to the fabulous masses and at least making little steps in the right direction, the direction of prettiment. Keep it up! Below is the ditty from Sprint, the exclusive provider for the LG Lotus:

"LG Lotus: Available in October [2008] for $149.99 with a two-year contract, the stylish LG Lotus makes a distinctive fashion statement as a full QWERTY flip phone with a unique square shape and two attractive color options - textured purple or satin black. LG Lotus is one of the first Sprint devices to offer One Click, a highly customizable user interface that makes texting, Web access, email, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV(SM), Sprint Music Store(SM) and other features easier to access. A Sprint exclusive, it offers the perfect combination of both style and substance with a full QWERTY keyboard that is ideal for quick text messaging, email or instant messaging. It also features stereo Bluetooth(R), a 2.0 MP camera/camcorder and Wireless Backup for safekeeping your contact list in the event that the device is lost, stolen or damaged."

- Get more details about the LG Lotus