Happy Friday!

Thought I'd share some things that I'm loving right now:

1. This idea from Decor8's post on decorator Jan Elani - Scanning, then resizing your children's artwork to make a single print of all their work! I love this idea! (check out the post to see the rest of her gorgeous house. Those floors!) Another sweet idea for kid's artwork is to scan them in and create stationery (seen on designsponge here)
2. Small Magazine's Spring 2010 edition - Lovely spring-ey freshness
3. Geoboards - I'd never even heard of these till I read this post, but think my kids would love love love this. Basically its a pegboard with screws or push pins in it that you can stretch rubber bands across to make different shapes. I know my maze loving five year old would get a kick out this. Here's smaller geoboards you can just buy (but I think the bigger, homemade version looks like more fun for my pre-geometry kiddos)

Have a great weekend!!

Lotta Jansdotter - Stencils

I'm a huge fan of Scandinavian design, especially for the home. Lotta Jansdotter is a favorite of a lot of home decor bloggers, and with good reason (check out her site here). Her designs are fresh, simple and happy. Which is why I'm really coveting this little book of stencils right now. I love the look and idea of wallpaper, but being a renter its just not in the cards. I can however, paint! And with Lotta's designs I can get the modern, fresh look I want (no country geese here!) for my home and a million other things.

Find it here.

Mother/Daughter Wear - Sonia Rykiel for H&M

I'm not the type of mom to dress to match my daughter (just writing that conjures up awful images of Laura Ashely dresses and nineties mall bangs) but if all mother/daughter clothes looked this good I just may have to change my opinion. I loved Sonia Rykiel's lingerie line for H&M (if you missed it, it was retro, simple and sexy) and now I'm in love with her new knitwear line. The line is simple, with sweet feminine details. I'm loving this yellow and pink sweater, I picture my daughter and I hunting for Easter eggs in matching sweaters. And the little sailor shorts! Bah! I'm a sucker for those sailor buttons...

Check out the line here (and us lucky OC moms can head over to South Coast to snatch these cuties up!)

Happy Weekend!

My daughter and I are starting our weekend right by treating our swan to some Starbucks. The rest of the weekend is devoted to a few boring errands, but in exciting news we may be adding a kitty to our family on Sunday. My kids are beyond ecstatic and I'm excited too, just a little nervous about how are little dog will react. She's not a cat chaser, so finger's crossed it all works out. In the meantime, I thought I'd share our newest kitchen dancing tune by our newest favorite disco band. Oh, yes, you read that right, a disco band. Enjoy!

From the Desk of A.J. (sort of) - Chanel Tattoos

Ms. A.J. is a busy busy bee, so I'm taking over her blog post to bring you this outrageous piece of fabulousness that she found. I'd like to think we lead lives where it would be appropriate to wear Chanel temporary tattoos, but I just don't see how they'd work at a parent teacher conference, Mommy and Me class, or date night at the sushi bar. But it still makes me happy to know that they are out there. Featured in Chanel's Spring-Summer Fashion Show in Paris, these Chanel icons were hand drawn by the Creative Director of Makeup for Chanel, Peter Phillips. Gotta love the mix of ladylike tweeds with leg tattoos! *le sigh*

Need some temporary Chanel love? Find it here.

Book Crush - Dog Food

One of my favorite things about the library is that chance to make a random discovery. Because I don't have any restrictions on what or how many books my kids can get (well, I have to be able to lift the bag!) they often stumble across really amazing books we might not have found otherwise. Last time we went to the library my three year old pulled this book off the shelf and threw it in our bag. I tend to gravitate towards books with a good story, so I didn't really think much of it at the time, but over the weeks we've had it, its become an instant hit in our house. Both kids have it memorized (a benchmark for any "good" book in our house is how fast it gets memorized), and my daughter "reads" it to my son every night.

Dog Food uses pictures of vegetables and fruits sculpted to look like pups along with common doggy phrases ("sick as a dog," "dog eat dog," etc.) The visual puns make us adults laugh and the clever use of the produce is fascinating. We loved going through and trying to identify all the veggies (could be a great inducement to try new food too!). Its somewhat rare to find a book that is so perfect for my beginning reader and my little one to read together (without adults even!). We can't wait to get another book by Saxton Freymann (we've set our sites on "How Are You Peelin'?").

Find Dog Food here!

It's Friday, I'm in Love

One of my favorite songs, enjoy!:

Goldfrapp Monster Love on the Culture Show from Mike Owen on Vimeo.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend!!

Pretty in Pink

Some pink love for you as we count down to Valentines Day. Enjoy!

1. Stacked Sweetness Earrings by Violet Bella ($18.00)
2. "Sweet" Print by Orange Beautiful ($9.00)
3. Tiny Bird Vase by Pretty Random Objects ($26.00)
4. "Love You No2" Print by Lola's Room ($15.00)
5. Autumn's Bloom Felt Flower Headband by Lou and Lee ($17.00)

From the Desk of A.J. - Photographer Alicia Bock

When I see photography that instantly catapults me to the place and time that is being pictured…uhm…lets just say I become quickly obsessed with the photographer, place and time. To me…if that happens…I’d say the photographer has done his/her job:)

Last month I was so happy to hang up my new year kitchen calendar. Every year I stand in the pop up calendar store and think “hummmmm…where do I want to go this year?” Greece, no done that, Paris…did it…many years in a row I think, forget the dogs and cats. Last year was old NYC ( I heart that city waaaay too much)…so I picked a calendar that was to my pleasant surprise a photographer that I’ve been scoping out on some sites.

Alicia Bock. For those of you that lurve photography as much as I do…you’ve probably heard of her…if you haven’t…you heard it here first!

Mama from Michigan that is a self taught photographer (love that…especially when you see her photos and how amazing they are). She really does capture the simple things in everyday life, from out in the middle of nowhere…to the lovely city of lights I mentioned above. What I love, love, love even more about her work…she’s affordable. For years I have fallen in love with art and photography that I had to make myself fall right out of love with ‘cause I didn’t have the dough re mi to buy it. I love that I can buy a little signed photo for $17.oo…or a large 28”x28” mounted for $220…that to me…is a smart lady. Photography can be completely overpriced…much like everything else in this world…but I love it when you stumble upon a gem that is worth more than you are going to, at the end of the day, shell out. Beautiful art…and affordable…who doesn’t love that?

Now…I plan on using my whole calendar as framed pictures for the PS design studio when we bid 2010 adieu. Until then, I look forward to my everyday gazes at Miss Alicia’s beautiful (and green!) calendar that will instantly catapult me into some long winding road leading through some beautiful green fields…or the city of lights and love…or up some big old glorious tree. Now if someone would take a picture of my house completely cleaned and tidied (uh…every room at the same time)…that would be the best photo ever!!

Find Alicia Bock's work here.

Valentines Day Treat Bags

I normally wait to post my projects till Friday, but I figured if maybe one of you wanted to do this little project for Valentine's day, by Friday it'd be too late. So here it is (and please forgive my dark photos, we completed this after dinner). My son really really wanted to hand make his Valentine's Day cards, and I was somewhat reluctant to let him, simply because I know him, and knew that about three cards in he'd be over it (and he needs sixteen cards total). So I've been thinking for a while about a simple project for him. My first idea was to have him draw one card and take it to Kinkos and size it down and make 16 copies. But then I saw some cute goodie bags and decided to try to make something similar. I knew I had some small blank cards (if my memory serves me right, I believe they are from Michael's, in their wedding section as thank you cards but any thicker kind of paper would suffice), and my initial idea was to get the kids some stickers and let them have at it. I wanted just plain red hearts. Which no one carries! Who knew? I found guinea pigs with hearts, words with hearts, foam glitter three dimensional hearts, but plain 'ol red hearts were no where to be found. I was about to give up when I happened across the dollar corner at Michael's and my son found a stamp. We started digging through the bin and turned up these five cute little stamps. Normally rubber stamps can be pricey (and honestly? hokey), but these were only a dollar! And adorable! We grabbed five and a red stamp pad and headed home.

I let the kids have at it with the cards (and complete disclosure, ended up putting finishing touches on some). My son loves to type on our old typewriter, so I let him type on a few cards before we both ran out of patience and I finished the rest. The result definitely has handmade charm, no two are the same, and nothing is perfect or precious. But I think they turned out adorable and he's really proud of them, so thats all that really matters.

I stuck some Kashi crackers in a bag to show you how they'll look when we add our real treats (rice crispy treats made with pink strawberry "smarshmallows" as my three year old calls them). For some more ideas and free downloads and printables, check out this awesome list on The Long Thread. Happy crafting!

Happy Weekend!

The weekend is here and so is the rain! I finally finished a couple projects I had in the works (thanks for your help sis!), one of which is this body pillow for my son's bed. He'd been wanting a body pillow (who knows why) and when I found this fabric at Ikea I was thrilled (this being the boy who is obsessed with the Matterhorn). We never set out to have a Matterhorn themed room, but since he's started this obsession over a year ago thanks in part to grandparents that love to indulge his passion, he's amassed quite the collection. We love that he loves it, we eagerly look for books on rides, watch videos with him, and of course ride the ride every time we go to Disneyland. He's built Matterhorn tracks out of train tracks, legos, and straws. I love to hear about other kid's quirky passions. I've heard of a kindergartner obsessed with Greek mythology, my two year old niece is inexplicably obsessed with horses, my daughter passionate about any animal (snakes, tarantulas, bears, and kittens are all "so cute!" to her). How about you? Do your little ones have quirky obsessions?

Uncommon - iPhone Cases

So I just joined the club and got an iPhone. I won't get into how much I love that thing (because that would be a looooooong post), but I've been taking my time trying to find the perfect case for it (because its all about accessorizing isn't it?). I found Uncommon cases online, and love that you can upload any artwork or photos you want to create your own case. You can also pick from a TON of different covers by artists. They also currently have a whole line dedicated to the relief fund for Haiti (through Red Cross). I decided to go for the Haiti relief collection (specifically the one pictured above), but also think a personalized iPhone cover would be a great Valentine's Day gift for those hard to buy for men in your life!

Find the cases here.

Ling Wong Pencil Sharpener and Shredder

I don't think I really need to say more about this other than its a pencil sharpener and shredder that suction cups to your desk and its a panda. But I will anyways. My little dude is only in pre-k, but he has a small amount of homework to do every night. It took us awhile to realize we didn't have basic homework necessities, like pencils, and sharpeners and glue sticks. We had tons of art supplies, but basics like these just somehow never made it in (and you can't really practice your penmanship with charcoals). This little dude is WAY cuter than the generic one we ended up with, and wouldn't get lost every single time we actually needed it, which always seems to be the case over here. Umm, also? Its named after the fictional panda in Anchorman.

Find it here.

Seattle Show Posters - I Love You Because poster

I know that its really not the cool thing to really love Valentines Day, but I always have (whether or not I had a significant other). I mean, its a holiday thats about pink and red and chocolate and conversation hearts and telling people you love 'em. I'm all about it. I've already been searching high and low for presents and came across this (via Apartment Therapy). I think its such a sweet idea. The poster has a blank line that, once framed, you can write in whatever sentiment you're feeling at the moment with dry-erase marker. What a sweet, easy, lovely way to remind your sweetie of all the little (and big) things they do that you love. I would love this by the front door or by my coffee machine. What a way to start your day!

Find it here.