From the Desk of A.J. - Our Other Unique LA Neighbor!

I love it when I hear of someone who just couldn't find the right somethin’, somethin’ and instead of sitting around and wishing for the fairies to come down and magically make it appear…they got off their butts and did something about it! (sounds like a certain pair of jewelry designers I know;).

Skunk and Sparrow. Again…another shout out to one of our Unique LA sistas. This gal makes super cute hair accessories (50’s, rockabilly/punk rock girl vibe), totes (uhm..with super cute zombies & voodoo dolls…how’d she do that???), hankies, and T-shirts & more. The prints are one of a kind and are all hand drawn & silk screened. I know… you can tell she’s put lots of blood, sweat and tears into her work…so you don’t have to:) My fav…a cutie T-shirt that has a rockin’ pink up gal and it says “Cute girls are feminists too”. Love, love!

Come check out her spot…she’ll be the one to the right of us, probably trying to convince me to do something with my “mom hair” by way of a fabulous feather clip (love those too!).

Find her here (and of course come see her and us Dec. 5th and 6th)

Unique LA - Modern POP

This is a booth that I will for sure be visiting! I love these prints! They're crisp, clean, modern and fun. I love love love the "funny girl" print. Such awesome prints for a modern kid's room (or heck, any room! I want that alphabet print for my office).

You can see more designs here and then come check them out at Unique LA on December 5th and 6th!

Best Friends

We couldn't end the week and not share this necklace with you! A special order for two great friends (the backs say Est. 1993) So cute!!

Happy Weekend!

Remember my post about the Bit of Whimsy dolls and patterns? I finished these little guys awhile ago, but didn't want to post them and ruin the surprise. How cute are they?! They were honestly really easy to make, even if I had to recruit my sister to figure out how to do a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine (I'm a newbie!). I think/hope these guys will become a favorite of the two little ones I made them for, I used super soft material for their body and think they'll enjoy chomping on the arms and legs and horns. If you missed my post about these, you can check it out here.

We have an exciting weekend coming up, Saturday we'll be wining and dining with other Unique LA vendors! We will continue to post about this event in the coming weeks, so keep checking back.

Thats it friends! If you haven't heard this already, call your kidlets into the kitchen and blast this song all weekend! We've listened to nothing else all week and I'm still not tired of it. My little ones love it, and we haven't even seen the movie yet. Highly recommend the whole soundtrack (all songs are by Karen O and The Kids).

Unique LA - Bored Inc.

Prepare yourself for the Unique LA media blitz friends! If we can't get you down to LA to visit us, then we're going to give you some more incentive by showing you some of the awesome vendors who are also participating! I promise you will find something for everyone on your Holiday list! Today is Bored Inc. who makes adorable Kawaii style tees, onesies, greeting cards, art prints, wall decals, totes and more!! All with adorable characters and sayings. I'm always a sucker for Kawaii, especially for my little ones!

Check out more of their stuff here. And then come see us and them on Dec. 5th & 6th! :)

From the Desk of A.J. - Our Unique LA Neighbor!

So you all know how super jazzed we are about being in the Unique LA gift show (Dec 5th and 6th…we warned you…lots of reminders are coming your way peeps!). Well we were even more excited about getting our table # and checking out who our neighbors are going to be. Again…the show is all privately owned entrepreneurs. Much like ourselves, and we want to give as many shout outs for everyone…so here we go with our neighbor to the left, to the left of us:)

Mimi and Lola. Super cute personalized blankets, pillows, and bibs in many different colors and designs. What a great idea to add on to your personalized jewelry;). Seriously though…these blankets are super cuddly and love, love, love the colors and designs they have. The pillows are sweet and the bibs just fun (uhm…they named one Yellow Martini…need I say more?)

I love gifting…and I love it even more when it’s something special and unique…this line is just that.

Find Mimi and Lola here.

Lila France's Personalized Wire Hangers

These have been featured in a couple different blogs, but I'd thought I'd give them a shout-out too since I love them so. Everyone loves a personal gift, but little ones especially love to see their name on something (my daughter recites her ABC's in perfect order, except when she gets to 'P' she always needs to shout, "a P a Parker!") I think these would be so sweet to hang bathrobes on, or jackets by the door. I really want to order them to hang some of their artwork from, with some tiny clothespins. I think that would be a sweet and easy way to give their ever changing artwork some important display space.

Find them here.

Ski Cap Candles

If these don't make you giggle, I don't even know why we're talking. Its a white ceramic candle. With a ski cap on! And one of them is named Ralphie, for corn's sake. And another has my son's name!

Anthropologie does it again. Find these beauts here.

From the Desk of A.J. - Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

One of the things that I enjoy most about being a mama is introducing things and experiences that I loved as a kid to my little dude. I watch his face and wait for the expression or noise that will let me know he loves it too.

The boy wonder is just about to turn 16 months and we are just starting to watch TV. Not a lot…but he knows what it is and if I let him…I think he would have it on all day long. This is tough for me….because T.V. is like my crack. So…I turn it off and thank the powers that be for DVR.

The first and only show that I was excited to sit down with him & watch was and still is Sesame Street. Of course you all say. Every morning, we wake up…get dressed….head downstairs. I pour my coffee (uh…first things first…am I right?), pour his milk, we have our breakfast…then sit down and watch who and what is happening on “The Street”.

I love that he loves it…scares me how quickly he became obsessed with Elmo (that little dude must have some sort of Jedi mind tricks…how does he hook those babes soooo fast?). Watching Sesame Street as an adult…I have a new appreciation for it. The artistic value (uhm…every sort of medium is used in, like, every single show…amazing)…the music, the morals…all of it. I am happy to say…I am a born again sesame-er…and loving it.

This week…the whole gang celebrates its 40th anniversary. New shows started this week (thank goodness…as much I love it…I was soooooo ready for some new letters and numbers:). I logged onto the website (I know…first Diet Coke…now Sesame Street)…and I was not disappointed. It’s amazing of course. Free games, videos, songs, coloring pages to print off of your ‘puter…goods to buy (which all of the proceeds go directly back to the Sesame Workshop) parenting tips ( “Are You Ready To Potty?”)…& ways you can give back to the Workshop (‘cause these muppets give and give and give to millions of children around the world).

For one hour a day…we watch together. He and his sippy cup…me and my coffee cup, with Muppets of 40 years and other mamas and babes in over 140 countries. That is one big block party:)

Find Sesame Street here. (hey, I just told you how to get to Sesame Street!) :)

Bit of Whimsy - Dolls and Patterns

Are you thinking about Christmas presents yet? Because I am! I found these dolls a while back and stored them away in my bookmarks, filed under presents, and am sooooo excited to get to work on some of these goodies for Christmas presents!! While she does an amazing job on all her dolls and little creatures herself, Bit of Whimsy also sells PDF patterns for all of her creations! I've bought two patterns (and I'm not saying which two yet!) and am so pleased with them. She emailed the patterns, I printed them out and I'm already half way through my first creation. Simple, sweet, and handmade. Who wouldn't love that for Christmas? There's a pattern for almost every little one on your list. Cute dolls, animals, and monsters, boy or girl you're covered!

Check out Bit of Whimsy here.

Happy Weekend!

Its starting to feel a little more like fall around here. With the temperature dipping all the way into the seventies and all. ;) It has been so nice to be able to take our afternoon walk without needing to shower after, and we've been able to stay out longer so we can accomplish very important business like building fairy houses and hunting for owl pellets. I picked up these potted dahlias above and love them so much I don't want to put them outside like I planned. We've also been enjoying this book my Nana recently passed down to us, My Book House. Published first in 1934 it has the loveliest illustrations and collections of short stories and poems. It tickles me to read poems by Keats and William Blake to my rapt three year old! My pictures here really don't do justice to the illustrations. They take me right back to an old collection of Fairy Tales I had when I was little, I would pore over those intricate illustrations of princesses and monsters. How about you, is there a certain book or type of book that you remember loving when you were little?

Hope you enjoy your fall weekend! We're off to collect pine cones, my daughter has demanded we need them to make bird feeders. I've never done that before, so we'll see how it turns out! :)

Heart Tattoo

Snapped a pic of one of our orders this week. Hope this mama loves her gift as much as we do! :)

From the Desk of A.J. - Unique L.A.

So…we are sooooooo excited to announce that Pinky Swear Designs has been accepted to the UNIQUE LA gift show. What’s UNIQUE LA you ask? Here’s the 411…

Last year a fabulously creative gal (founder Sonja Rasula) who is a do-er not just a talker, put together a gift show featuring up and coming artisans. She got loads of fabu people to support her (uhm…Etsy, Barefoot Wine, Oh Snap…I can go on and on) and she brought together about 300 vendors in the winter and spring and brought said artisans goods to the mass of shoppers...and I mean shoppers, who are the ones who get the "steal this look from the streets" pics into the mags. (*shhhh* one of Oprah's editors was seen at the Spring show looking for "her favs"...and tons of celebrities...I'm just sayin').

Held in downtown LA in a glorious penthouse (hello…just under 10,000 sq ft!)…you can shop your heart out…and know that your moolah will be going to private, struggling entrepreneurs who are taking over the world…one creative juice at a time. I love, love, love, that there are more and more platforms for us small business owners to strut our stuff, side by side , and really make a statement.

UNIQUE LA will have a lounge, (yep…for all you alchies…the beer and wine is FREE), café (snack time anyone?) , craft room ( compliments of ETSY…for kids and kids at heart), green room (for all eco-friendly merchandise), women’s, men’s, and baby sections for you to shop…along with new food lines, stationary, and accessories of course…really…you name it…and you can buy it here ( All while listening to some kick ass music provided by an onsight DJ). What a great way to get all your holiday shopping done. Also…prices are from A to Z…so your wallet…however big or small…will be happy.

It will be the weekend of Dec. 5th and 6th. Tickets will go on sale shortly (oh...did I mention...they'll be about $5-$10 bucks...but all goes to charity , we'll keep you posted) so mark your calendars…even though this will be the first of many reminders:)

Again…we are super excited and honored to be chosen as their “best of the best” vendors…we think we’re unique and awesome…but it sure is a great feeling when someone else thinks it too;)

Find more information here.

FontCapture

*my son filling out his form to create his own font

I'd read about fontcapture awhile ago and thought it was cool, but didn't really see how I could use it till I saw this idea from Filth Wizadry. Fontcapture allows you to create a font on your computer using your own handwriting, all for free. The mama behind the blog at Filth Wizadry came up with the brilliant idea of creating a font using her young children's handwriting. Her girls were old enough to write their letters and numbers, but still to young to write words and sentences. So she created the font and now uses it to write thank you notes and letters from her girls to whomever. So cute! I can't wait to create a font for my son, I think he'll be really excited about seeing his letters create words and sentences.

Find Fontcapture here and the post by Filth Wizadry here!