Little People Art

I recently stumbled upon a painting that I immediately recognized as a print that had hung in my room when I was little. It was like smelling a familiar smell, I was hit with this feeling of warmth and nostalgia, and the intensity of it really struck me. I can't remember there being anything significant about this print, it wasn't even a particularly great piece of art. It was just a baby in a blanket. It just happened to be in my room for most of my life. You will often hear people talk about a favorite toy, or book or movie, but rarely will people mention a piece of art in the same context, "Oh, I used to love that piece when I was little" but I bet if you stopped to think about it, there is probably an image buried deep in your head. And why not? Its probably the last thing you saw as you drifted off to sleep, the first thing as you awoke, and probably followed you to whatever room you moved into, whether it be in a new house or just the next bedroom over, for a significant portion of your life.

So now that you're thinking your kids are going to remember this for the rest of their lives, what are you going to put up? No pressure or anything. ;) If you don't want to go all Dora your mainstream options are pretty limited, but on Etsy you can find a plethora of options (so many in fact that this post was days in the making, just narrowing it down was almost impossible). Here's a few of my favs, and I'll be sure to share some more later on.

If I had a dedicated play room I would love to plaster it with these posters by John W. Golden. There are like twenty different versions. The No Monster's Allowed is my absolute fave. Find these here.

I think these would be a super sweet starting point for decorating a nursery, boy or girl. I love the color combos, and who doesn't love an owl?

The owl prints and the following prints are at yumiyumi, and yeah, basically I could just plaster my house is pretty much everything she makes (there are some more "grown up" prints that I'm dying to have!). I love that the alphabet and numbers in the prints are backwards and on top of each other, its just how toddlers and preschoolers see their numbers and letters. Yumiyumi store can be found here.

And finally, these never fail to make me giggle. I found these prints a long time ago, and seriously have not bought any because I can not make a decision. I thought, oh I'll get four and hang them in a grid together. But I can't do it. For reals, I can not narrow it down to four. I would love to have a very very serious grown up library with these prints in very formal frames. A cheetah with a monocle?! A panda with a pipe?! Come on! Find them here.

Now I'm going to go back and look at the twenty plus animals and torture myself some more. Maybe I just need a whole wall...

*"Life Is But a Dream" print at Nella Designs.

TGIF

Yeah! Its Friday! It seems like every week I start out thinking I have nothing to do the next weekend, and by mid-week my weekend is jammed packed with things we need to do. But this weekend is planned with all fun stuff, so I'm looking forward to it. And I've been so happy all week. I know I said I had spring fever yesterday, so I thought I'd share some of the little things that are making me happy and putting a spring in my step (pun intended).

We have this hedge in front of our house, and most of the time, its just this boxy boring entity in our front yard, with a few sad little flowers. But all of a sudden this week, it is covered in these gorgeous pink blossoms. And I never noticed before, but they smell just heavenly. Their scent hits me when I walk outside, and while I sit on the front steps watching my kids play, I can hear all the bees buzzing happily. I collected some flowers for inside today, and I've got a little vase tucked into every corner. There's just nothing better than a little vase of fresh flowers.

Earlier this week I was inspired to spruce up my home office and went searching for a cork board. I couldn't find anything particularly cute, so my baby girl and I hit up our local Salvation Army hoping to find something with a little more character. I scored the perfect size cork board, and a particularly garish gold frame with an interesting shape. We stopped at Home Depot on the way home for some butter yellow spray paint, and voila! The perfect colored accessories for my office. Now I just have to decide what, if anything to put in that frame. We also found this yellow striped fabric. I think I'll use the bigger cut for a dress for baby girl, but the small one could fit inside the frame...

Thoughts? Leave the frame empty and hang on the wall? Put the fabric in the frame? Put the fabric and a silhouette in the frame??

Etsy Find - Gracious May Booties

I've got spring fever over here.  The weather is perfect, the flowers are blooming, the Easter dresses are starting to come out!  Whenever I start looking for that perfect Easter dress and accessories (seriously one of the greatest perks of having a daughter is the quest for an Easter dress) Etsy is one of the first places I look.  And the other day I found these.  Could. You. Die.  I lurve lurve lurve these sweet little guys!  My favorite pair of shoes for my daughter were a pair of shoes similar to these, with a leather sole. I loved them because they were super flexible, and fit my early early walker's feet so well (all the shoes with a traditional rubber sole wouldn't bend at all, making her clomp around like Frankenstein).  These little beauties have the same sort of leather sole.  And they are handmade.  I'm just bummed I didn't find these two years ago!  Oh well, those little red ones do come in toddler sizes...

Oh, and here's some for the boys!!  Just as cute.  I know a baby boy who needs those robot ones (I'm looking at you Mama A.J.)...

Find these cuties here.

 

From the Desk of A.J.

So my birthday is just around the corner (I'm turning 37... or flirty-seven as I'd like to call this one) and I am remembering my best gifts of birthdays past.

A couple of years ago I received one of my most favorite gifts from my previous boss lady. I came home to a large box (everybody knows... any box arriving at your doorstep... small or large, whether you purchased it or it's a surprise is an excitement all in its own) and when I opened it I began to salivate. It was a case of wine (insert ahhhhhh here). I carefully took out each bottle and slapped my husband's hand away as he tried to grab the bottles himself. A beautiful array of shades. . . and bottles. . . and labels. . . all in French!!!!

I became a wine drinker in my late 20's . . . said no to White Zinfandel right off the bat . . .started with the whites. . . but immediately moved on to the reds. Cab-Savs, Merlots, Syrahs, the usual. In my early thirties I started to develop a taste for wine and now in my mid thirties? . . .a love. I am no means a connoisseur, but I am well on my way. . . in no lush sort of way. :)

This beautiful case of wine was sent to me from an amazing wine shop located in Berkeley, California. The owner is Kermit Lynch and he opened up his wine shop in 1972 (funny, the same year I was born! See, I was meant to drink this wine) He lives half of his time in France, the other half in the bay area. This man knows wine. He's received several awards and has made his passion his work. He has a great staff that will shop with you over the phone and sends out monthly newsletters that showcase their new arrivals, bottle and case specials, all with explanations on his thoughts behind his purchases with great little tales and added taste notes (BTW he's a writer to boot and has a few books on wine . . .must reads for wine lovers). What's even more fantastic is that Kermit Lynch offers great wine, no matter what the price is. You can easily purchase a $14 bottle of wine and have it be the perfect compliment to your dinner, an $80 bottle as the perfect gift, or you can purchase a 6 bottle sampler set for $200 for that cheese and wine party you've been wanting to have. And if they're having a sale, even better! I learned a long time ago that a hefty price doesn't always mean a great bottle and Kermit Lynch carries a wide range, for every one's buds and wallets.

I did a lot of traveling in the Bay Area for work and when I had time I would stop in to Kermit Lynch and take a tour of his goods. Now I get these fabulous newsletters and can hardly wait until my bottles arrive at my door. Check out his shop if your in Berkeley, or go to his website here.

New Design!

We thought we'd share one of our newer designs with you.  We made the first one as a gift for a new mommy, and have since then had a several orders just from word of mouth (gotta love that!).  We were inspired by the new babies Japanese heritage, and wanted something feminine and sweet.  This design is a little different from our others, in that we use the gold inlay on the silver.  The gold is a perfect mellow contrast to the silver (and we love that you can layer it with your gold or silver necklaces).  We've used the cherry blossom on a few of our pendant shapes, and it looks great on all of them!  

This ID bracelet was ordered by a fab lady who just happens to be diabetic and didn't really want the traditional medical bracelet.  All her pertinent info is on the back:
This pendant was created for one lucky Nana who has been blessed with seven grandkids.  And we fit every single name on the back (and you can see they weren't short ones!) :)

If you're interested in this design (or any of our designs for that matter) you can contact us through our website, we'd love to help you come up with a custom design for yourself or a loved one!

Cravings-Ikea Finds

Every once in a while I'll hop onto Ikea's website to check out what's new (because honestly one does not actually set foot in Ikea without the knowledge that your entire day is shot, whether you went in for one or twenty things, browsing online is much safer for my wallet and time).  But look at all this cute bakeware they've gotten in!  Its all super cute, and you can not beat Ikea prices.  It makes me want to start baking and a little bummed that the kiddo's birthdays are so far off.  Anyone need a birthday cake??  

These are probably my favorite find.  How cute are these cake liners?!  They are reusable and I love that they go from totally girly pink hearts to tough guy black.  Slap one of these guys under a round cake with some sprinkles on it and voila, a totally pulled together look with very little effort.  And at $1.49 they cost less than the price of the box of cake mix.

Feeling more ambitious about your cake decorating?  Take it to the next level with this cake decorating set that will only set you back $4.99.  I've always wanted a pastry bag (and am soooo over using my ziploc baggy trick) so this is really exciting for me.

And when you're done decorating your perfect little cake, keep it safe and sound in this sweet little cake stand ($19.99):

Not much in a cake mood?  Rather make some woodland creature cookies?  Well lucky you, they have some cookie cutters too ($3.99).  I'm especially enamored with the hedgehog.  No the squirrel.  Or maybe the moose...

I never really understood how useful a big tray could be till I started having birthday parties for the kiddo's and realized how handy they are for cupcakes and other little treats.  Since we do our birthday parties on the cheap, I love the ease of cupcakes, and they always end up looking great grouped together on a tray, no matter how you decorate them.  I love the simplicity of this one (it'd go with any theme!) and would look great with some decorative tissue paper under the cupcakes.  And hello!  $1.99??  

And while we're on the subject of things I love at Ikea I'm going to throw these little guys out there.  These are one of those simple things that make my life that much easier.  These are the BEST cups for toddlers.  They are the perfect size for their little hands, and made the transition from sippy cups totally easy.  I also love that its made from safe plastic that is BPA, PVC and phthalate free and is completely dishwasher safe.  Its tough to find that at this price point.  They also make for an excellent rainy day game of bowling when stacked in a pyramid.  ($1.99/6 pack)