1st Day of Christmas: A Gift for My Younger Sister from the Lotus Shop at the Crow Collection of Asian Art

I stopped by the Crow Collection of Asian Art last night to check out the holiday oragami table they had set up for our Holiday in the Dallas Arts District. I am always fascinated how they find oragami patterns to fit any occasion!

While I was there, I figured I would get started on my holiday shopping, since I have a list of 12 gifts I need to buy and not much time before Christmas! So I browsed through the Lotus Shop at the Crow Collection of Asian Art. They have a wide variety of items, from clothing and china to recycled bamboo chopstick baskets. As I perused the shop, something caught my eye. They had a sample of one of the gift items out, a silicone translucent placemat that had been colored with marker. One of the store employees told me this was one of their most popular items and proceeded to pull out mats from the boxes, each with a different design. Basically, it was a re-usable coloring mat that could be easily rolled up and transported, and could be colored on using dry or wet erase marker. What made this item even more interesting is that the manufacturer really thought about the creation of this item and who would be using it and where. It’s food-grade silicone (perfect for the dinner table), won’t crease or tear (perfect to pack for car trips) and reusable (environmentally friendly). This is the perfect for my younger sister, who loves to color and would definitely use this on long car trips to go visit my grandparents. After spending a few minutes coloring the sample map (I’ll admit, I was tempted to buy one for myself as well, it would make a great addition to my desk at work), I looked through the creative coloring mats they had available. All were really cute, but I ended up selecting “Day at the Pond”, which is pictured below.