Bley Art

My daughter loves pteranodons. In fact, most of her day is spent pretending to be either a pteranodon baby or mommy, depending on her mood, and I spend a lot of my time oooohhing and aaahhing over "how cute!" those little pteranodon babies are. So you can imagine how stoked I was to find these! My three year old has declared them "soooo cute" and I agree. :) How awesome is that clutch?!

Check out all of Bley Art's cheeky fun here.

From the Desk of A.J. - Mustachio Fabric Decals

I know, I know…I’ve been on the down low, but there’s a reason. Well, a few reasons.

First…Mama’s Day 2010 was our best season yet for Pinky Swear Designs! Busy, exciting, busy, scary (I actually thought- OMG…we may have to hire someone one day!)…and busy:) Still filling a few orders this week from some moms that didn’t get what they really wanted for mother’s day ( uh…hubsters pick up on hints in aisle one please:), but we’re getting back to our normal steady pace and that is all good with me…love the busy too so keep ‘em coming if you want ‘em!

Second- I’m beginning my first stages of nesting. Yep…5 months preggers and we just found it it’s going to be boy wonder numero 2:) Soooo excited and let me tell you-the wheels are turning big time. Not only for the nursery, but for the conversion of Boy Wonder’s baby room to Boy Wonder’s “Big Bruber’s” (as he’s so well telling me) toddler’s room.

So what does this have to do with you all? Here’s the point. The wall decals of all wall decals. I love ‘em…but hate that they are kind of popping up everywhere and starting to all look the same.

Mustschio. 1st...lurve the name. 2nd…they are re-usable. 3rd…they are fabric. 4th…they are non-toxic. 5th…they are super unique. 6th…they offer customization. 7th…your kiddos can actually play with them just as big re-stickable stickers if they want. 8th…they have a set of mustaches that are to die for. 9th…they are part of our Unique LA fam. 10th…they are a hubster and wife team with kiddos themselves…gotta love that!

So…in my attempts to create the most fabulous boys retreat for Boy Wonder 1 and best nesting spot for Boy Wonder 2…this is where my shopping begins…1st pick…the owls…how can you resist?

Find Mustachio here!

Order of the Week! - Love Line

We wanted to start this week off with a bang and here it is! Our biggest love line yet, this spectacular piece turned out so gorgeous (if we do say so ourselves). Wish it was easier to photo the whole piece, but this beauty had two layers of chains, three oval charms and the large and small heart you see here. We especially love the birthstone in the cherry blossom! So pretty!

If you want your own unique, spectacular piece, check us out here!

Happy Friday!

Thought I'd share a little project I did with my sister for a friend who just had her first baby. Our friend is not into pink, so when we found this cheerful floral print we were so excited. Its also super soft flannel making it that much better for a little blankie. We love making baby blankets, they are fairly simple, always cute and you can never have enough of them. We even had extra fabric to try out a new pattern I got from Bit of Whimsy (same shop I got these monster patterns from). I love the way the doll and the blanket turned out and hope my friend does too!

Have a great weekend!

Order of the Week! - Up In Charms

A sweet Up In Charms combo with the added sparkle of a birthstone. A great everyday piece.

Want your own? Check us out here!

Book Love - Never Take A Shark To The Dentist (and other things not to do)

My son recently had a book fair at his school. My daughter requested a pony book and I dutifully picked up the only pony book they offered. My son picked up a book about giant prehistoric animals. Drawn to the illustrations and the author (Judi Barrett, who also wrote "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs") I picked out this little gem. Thus far we've read the pony book and the prehistoric animal book maybe three or four times. We've read "Never Take a Shark..." three to four times daily. Filled with important life lessons like "never go shopping for shoes with a centipede" and "never hold hands with a lobster," its the combination of the "serious" advice with the absurd illustrations that keeps my whole family in giggles, no matter how many times we've read it (the expressions on the faces of some of the animals still make me giggle, even after viewing it over fifty times) . It doesn't matter that they had the whole thing memorized by the end of the first day, my kids love this book so much I'm contemplating buying it hardcover just so we have it longer. This one is destined to be on our "classics" list.

Find it here.

Absolutely Small

I can't honestly say I've ever met a little girl who didn't love stuffed animals, so it goes without saying that my little girl is bananas about anything plush. When she came to visit me at Unique LA she just about lost her mind when she came across the Absolutely Small booth. We stood there a good half hour while she agonized over which one she wanted, and then I endured the meltdown of the century when I realized we would have to go find The Husband because he had the money. But the gal at the booth (I'm assuming it was Claire, the artist behind Absolutely Small, but I was a little distracted and never asked) was so sweet to my little one and promised to save her choice pick for her. My little one and her "Tiny Tammie" have been inseparable ever since.

*Our dog, the original Tammie

Check out more plush and artwork here!

Happy Friday!

Turn this song up loud, move the coffee table out of the way and spin around with your littles. Happy Weekend!

Dan Bob Thompson

Dan Bob is another one of our Unique LA finds. An illustrator who worked for Disney, and now Cartoon Network, his prints are whimsical and vaguely retro and we love 'em! He had a series of circus prints that made me want to change my kiddo's "theme" in their room (currently the theme is "we have too many toys and not enough storage" but they have their heart set on a "Matterhorn" theme for their new room). I think his illustrations would make awesome centerpieces in any kid's room (or adult! check out that squid!)

Find more amazing prints here (and check out his children's book too! Super cute!)

Lady Chocolatier

Now that we're starting to emerge from the amazing flurry of orders for Mother's Day (and some personal emergencies involving a flooding home, hotel stays and coming up with a million ways to entertain your kids in said hotel :P) we can finally start sharing some of our favorite finds from the Unique LA show! And what better way to start then with some chocolate? We met the gals from Lady Chocolatier when they first stopped by our booth, and lured by the promise of free chocolate, later hit them up at their booth where we promptly fell deeply and madly in love. Handmade marshmallows, covered in chocolate and bits of graham cracker? Yes please. So amazingly light and fluffy, the marshmallow inside these babies are nothing like your typical bag of 'mallows. Our little group bought three bags, intending to give some as Mother's Day presents, but we later had to order some online for dear Mom, because the bags we bought at the show didn't make it that long. ;) To make it even better, when our order arrived in the mail, there was a sweet box of four chocolates just for being a new customer. *love* And the packaging is sweet and elegant, making it perfect for gift giving (and you know we're all about the packaging!).

Find Lady Chocolatier here (but don't say I didn't warn you!)

Order of the Week!

A sweet ID for one lucky kiddo. We love doing the ID bracelets for adults, but there is something about a tiny ID for a little one!

Want your own? Contact us here!

And the winners are...

1st Place: Jennie Ellis!!!

Congratulations Jennie! We literally did a hat draw with all of the entries and Jennie...yours was the one! $100 Pinky Swear bucks for you to spend as you wish:)

2nd Place goes to Holly Silliman! A $50 Pinky Swear Design gift certificate has your (or anyone you choose) name on it. Congratulations Holly!!

So Lo and I looooved reading everyones entries...love that we received answered questions from 2 year olds...up to ladies in there 40 and 50's sharing everything they love about their mamas. Thank you to all who participated in our first ever contest...and I think we'll have to do one every Mother's Day...just 'cause it gives us warm fuzzies all the way around:)

Here's Jennie's entry...and we promise...its not why she was picked...but we do believe in karma...we Pinky Swear.

"I do have little ones, and I have heard their answers to such questions before, and they're hysterical. But I'm going to tell you why my own mom deserves this Mother's Day prize more than I do!

Back December my mom hurt her foot--she wasn't sure how, but it got
all black and blue. She went to the doctor and had an MRI.
Nothing. He put her in a boot. Then a cortisone shot. No real relief. Back she went. It was tendonitis. She put the boot back on. Frustrated, she started going for acupuncture treatments, trying
to relieve the pain. She thought perhaps it was helping a little.
Then my parents went on vacation and they had to walk a lot. Her foot was killing her the whole time. When she got back she went back to the doctor, begging him to re-examine her foot. It was, in fact, broken. My mom had been walking around on a broken foot for four months! You can't imagine how little she complained. She also didn't bow out of any of her duties. She still put on Christmas dinner, babysat my kids, and fulfilled all her daily obligations. She just had surgery to repair the break, which was by now very large, and is in a huge cast and on crutches for 6 weeks. She is an active person so this will no doubt be quite challenging for her. Still, she isn't complaining and is just looking forward to having her foot back too normal again.

My mom truly deserves a beautiful Mother's Day gift, and your jewelry IS beautiful!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie Ellis"

We'll contact you ladies via email...and again thanks to all and Happy Mother's Day!!

-Pinky Swear-out!