Shirin Kids
A few days ago my daughter’s teacher came up with a new nickname for her: she now calls her Kate Moss. This is slightly due to the fact that she insists on wearing a pair of over-sized purple sun glasses to school and never wants to take them off, even when it is raining (actually more Paris Hilton than Kate Moss…).
It is also due to the fact that she was wearing a fabulous T-shirt by Shirin, a New York-based artist who is producing a fantastic collection of screen printed T-shirts all printed individually with water based inks. They look and feel amazing and I have never seen anything quite like them for kids. I started having T-shirt envy until I realised that there was no need: Shirin also makes T-shirts for grown ups!
Here is the link to the online store!
- Emilie
Holiday ideas?
For a lot of people a summer holiday is a real holiday only if it’s spent on a beach. But, if you are like me and love mountains and have still not planned your next trip, you might want to consider the Alpe di Siusi area in the Dolomites, here in Italy.
The Alpe is a plateau at about 2000 mt that is surrounded by beautiful mountains and to me is the closest thing to paradise on earth! On a sunny summer day the scenery is breathtaking, with endless grassy fields punctuated by stone and wooden huts, a few nicely built hotels and a few spruce woods. And, what has kept us going back for 4 years now is that it is an extremely family-friendly environment! (more…)
Feel the cakelove
Have you noticed how cupcakes are the trendy dessert of the moment? Bakeries are popping up all over the US and abroad, it seems. I first heard about DC-based Cakelove from a cooking show on tv, and was intrigued by the lawyer-turned-chef Warren Brown– someone who was truly following their bliss to open a bakery. I finally succumbed to the cupcake craze yesterday when I passed by one of Cakelove’s bakeries – I got one for my daughter and her friend, a lovely vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting. I have to say that it was quite possibly the best cupcake I’ve had. (I had to have a bite in the name of research!) The frosting was real, made with chunks of real strawberries, and not sickly sweet like some frostings. Cakelove now has 7 locations in the DC area, and also does big cakes and other sweet treats. I am looking forward to my daughter’s next playdate to try out another flavor!
-Rebecca
Shapemaker
Twenty five rubber-wood blocks, all hand-printed with colourful, geometric designs, allow you to create tons of different creatures (or just build a tower)!
As an admirer of all things simple by concept but with ingenious possibilities, this Shapemaker is a toy that I just love having on my coffee table. Not just for my children, but for me! It is so beautiful to look at, and so much fun to play with. I just spent another half hour trying to assemble different images — addictive, really!
The designers of the toy, Zoe Miller and David Goodman, must have had fun too creating this wonderful animation. But really, their job must be fun to start with — they also produce children’s art books for the Tate Gallery!!!
If you’re interested in adding a Shapemaker to your personal design collection (or your kids’ toy collection), they are available from the millergoodman shhhop for a very reasonable price. For a design classic, that is!
xxx Esther
Jardin de L’acclimatation
Imagine a tiny Disneyland on the outskirts of Paris, but run by the city and founded a good one hundred years ago. So, actually not like Disneyland at all!
The Jardin de l’Acclimatation in the Bois de Bologne is Paris’ own kiddie fun park, and it is great. My eldest daughter is finally old enough to enjoy it, so this past weekend we headed off for a day of fun-filled activities. I really recommend a visit if you ever happen to be in Paris with kids.
I will say it has the most random mix of attractions I have ever seen, but who I am to complain? The kids loved it.
These are my top tips to visiting the park: (more…)
S.T. CLOSET FRABJOUS
Last time I was in London I bought this lovely shirt for my daughter. It’s just one piece but it looks like a checkered shirt under a navy blue cardigan. The fact that the back is just cotton jersey makes it super comfortable and very easy to pull on. It looks adorable over jeans — just a tiny bit grown-up, yet very sweet.
It’s from S.T. CLOSET FRABJOUS, a Japanese brand that is difficult to buy outside Japan (no western webshop seems to sell it). The only European retailer is Jabberwockie — a lovely new children’s shop in Islington. Jabberwockie stocks many cool Japanese brands and it was very difficult to leave with just one piece (but from the window I could see my husband trying to keep the children quiet while I shopped, and I did not like his look). Next time I’m back in London I’ll make sure to drop by again, and in the meantime they’re opening a webshop soon and they’ll ship to Europe!
-Michela
A recipe for preserving children
I thought this was cute – makes me want to put on my apron and bake gingerbread. (Does anybody have a good recipe?)
I took it from Papier Mache, a new Australian online magazine that is very inspirational!
I find online magazines a great idea; they’re so much more environmentally friendly than conventional magazines…
xxx Esther
Toasty tootsies
There is a chill in the air in Sydney now. Yes, it’s not toasty warm all year round – but it doesn’t get anywhere near as cold as Amsterdam. I have never been so cold in my life as when I visited Amsterdam (although it was spectacularly beautiful with all the canals frozen over).
But the problem in Australia is that homes just aren’t designed for cold weather. So you really need to layer both you and your children in warm clothes. That’s why “ugg” boots are so popular here. Well, now there are an increasing range of cute ones for babies. I’m loving these wool and sheepskin ones from Emu, an Australian-based and owned company.
-Natalie
Hello Kitty Hospital
This story is just too good to be true, I needed to share it with you!
Taiwan has just opened up its very first Hello Kitty Maternity Hospital. How crazy is that?!
Imagine arriving at a hospital in full labour and being greeted by nurses and doctors dressed in Hello Kitty gear, not to mention the rooms being completely decorated with Hello Kitty accessories. I think I would be so shocked that I would forget about the pain!
Whatever works to make birth a pleasurable experience for other people is fine by me. But I think there is a fair chance that I would feel like bopping a ‘Hello Kitty’-dressed doctor on the head while he was trying to give me an epidural.
I also would love to know if kids born in this hospital are going to have a secret Hello Kitty addiction…
- Emilie
Bonnie Baby blanket
My daughter’s transitional object is a very soft, but very thin, cashmere blanket. As the months go by she gets more attached to it, not less. Unfortunately her blanket is showing more than a few signs of intensive use.
I have been looking around to find a replacement, and opted for this striped cashmere blanket by Bonnie Baby. It arrived in a lovely grey box with a cut-out apple on the top, providing a sneak peak at the super cute blanket inside.
The blanket is made of a cashmere/cotton mix that makes it more resistant and machine washable at 30° while still keeping it soft. The colours are sweet and unusual without being eccentric, quite feminine in spite of not being just plain baby pink. The quality is also excellent — the seams and the borders are a bit more robust, ensuring the blanket will keep its shape even when pulled and dragged along.
I’m now planning the phasing-out of the old blanket. I thought I would do it gradually… or is is better to go cold turkey? Any tips?
-Michela
Friends of a Feather
Linda Solovic is a mixed media collage artist who likes to create things out of anything she finds interesting or intriguing. Art paper, found paper, altered paper, found objects, fabric… Apparently her home is so full of junk and cast-off treasures that her husband is afraid their home will be bursting at the seams!
This print of nine cute owls, sold in Linda’s Etsy shop, is called ‘Friends of Feather flock together’ and is even cuter in reality than on the computer screen! The colours are really bright and fresh and it looks really cute in the kids’ room. My toddler son loves counting the owls before falling asleep!
Each piece is a limited edition print on fine art paper of original collages she has made. They fit in a standard size frame which makes them all together not very expensive — cute for a present too!
xxx Esther
Skirt length
Summer is around the corner and it will bring bare legs and arms. But those of us who are not in perfect shape may be a bit reluctant to follow suit.
This entertaining article on the Guardian gives some nice and intelligent style tips to help you achieve a smart look while avoiding faux pas down that slippery road. The tips include not baring too much chest if legs are on show or never to buy a skirt with a hem at mid-calf, mid-knee or mid-thigh – that would just be too unflattering. There is also a cute way of finding out the right length for your leg shape, because, as the author reminds us, the beauty of legs is in the shape, and they do not have to be extra-slim to look nice. Apparently they are also the last part of your body to age!
Go on, show your LTZ (lower thigh zone)!
-Michela
Velib’
Though this is not strictly something you can do in Paris with small kids, I do have to sing the praises of something that has very quickly become a Parisian institution: The Velib‘.
You see, all over this wonderful town you can find bicycles belonging to the city council. With a swipe of a card that costs me all of 25 euros a year, I can jump onto an elegant grey bike and cycle (in my case kamikaze style) to my destination. There I find the nearest point and drop off the bike. Nothing could be easier.
The Velib is now as much a mode of transport as the metro and the bus. It is really interesting to see how every Parisian from every walk of life has taken too it. (more…)
Brainymats
I discovered these great place mats a while ago and got one for my daughter, and since then I’ve been back to buy several more, plus some for gifts! The kid-friendly place mats are a great activity on their own, but especially helpful during that dinner hour crunch. Plop your kid at the table, give her some dry-erase markers and a Brainymat, and you’ll have her entertained (and nearby!) while you cook. We even make games out of them, such as: find all the letters in your name and circle them in blue, etc.
For younger kids, there are things like shapes and ballerinas, and for older kids there are addition and subtraction, world maps, and more.
-Rebecca
Classic clothes from Small Company
I like fashionable, funky clothes for my children but I also have a thing for nostalgic, old-fashioned pieces. A crisp short-sleeved shirt for my little boy, a traditional pinafore dress for my daughter…
Every season Small Company creates a collection of classic clothes that is of great quality and timeless style. The clothes have a really good fit and the colours are very nice. I love the little frilled blouses for girls — they are so very cute with jeans! And aren’t the baby dungarees (pictured) darling?
Durable thought: Traditional clothes like these never go out of fashion, so even though my children will outgrow them at some point, my grandchildren might wear them (in 30 years time, obviously)!!
xxx Esther
+ and -
Plus and Minus is a visual game by Bruno Munari which consists of 72 cards, each having a different image.
The images are meant to be the building blocks of a creative story that children can invent by using a sequence of cards.
Many of these images are printed on transparent cards so they can be superimposed to make complex images and stimulate children’s creativity. Superimposing the different tree images, for example, creates a forest. Alternatively the background image can stay fixed while you create different scenarios by changing the image(s) on top. The transparent images include animals, trees, leaves, cars, rain, sun, snow, clouds, plane, boat, bridge so there is plenty of material to build on.
Quentin Blake
Quentin Blake must be one of the world’s most famous children’s book illustrators. The books he illustrated for Roald Dahl are now classics.
I recently wrote a post about his book “Mrs Armitage and the big wave” which my daughter loves, and whilst researching it, stumbled over his official website. It turns out to be one of the most inspirational websites I have come across in a long time. It is a great gateway into the world of illustration.
We are all used to looking at illustrations every day, all the time, especially when reading children books. It is so easy to forget all the work and thought that is needed to illustrate words well. Quentin Blake describes in detail what goes into creating an illustration and how his ideas come together. It makes me want to become an illustrator (unfortunately my 3-year-old already draws better than me). (more…)
Sam Sam
Sam Sam is my son’s favourite cartoon these days. It’s shown on satellite TV here in Italy but it’s originally a French comic book series illustrated by Serge Bloch.
Sam Sam is a 6-year-old superhero who lives a “normal” life with his SamParents, and his friends. They do what any normal child does — they play, go to parties and have little adventures. These adventures are just a tad more exciting because Sam Sam lives on a strange planet and instead of a bicycle he rides a tiny flying saucer.
Sam Sam tries really hard to behave well because he is a “good” superhero in training. The stories are never violent and they tend to pass on a good message of loyalty, friendship and courage. Even the “bad guys” are totally funny, like the Bedwetters who are strange little yellow creatures armed with water guns.
In addition the colours and the images are nice and modern, so I actually don’t mind watching it too!
-Michela
Cacharel
I love cute summer dresses for my daughter, and I love them to be sort of old-fashioned and romantic… This Cacaharel dress is a replica of the original ’60s collection and is exactly my style!
It is made out of gorgeous Liberty fabric, and has lovely detailing, like tiny pockets, pleats and buttons. It is also fully lined and has a side zipper, which adds to the quality of the dress.
I can’t wait for summer — me in my floral maxi dress, my daughter in her Cacharel dress, both tanned and barefoot — real hippie style!!!
Cacharel’s limited edition Liberty-print dresses are sold (exclusively) on Alexandalexa.com.
xxx Esther
The perfect cocktail
Lets face it girls, we all deserve a drink from time to time. Though, with children at home, we cannot quickly slip on our heels and head down to the nearest bar. But sometimes a little something to celebrate the end of a long week on a Friday night is an absolute necessity!
Not just any old drink, but something that tickles the taste buds and makes you feel like there is more to life than snot.
I am a very partial to a well made mojito. Then again…. a perfectly mixed martini is hard to beat! Here are some of the best classic cocktail recipes I have seen in a long time, but if you have any to recommend — I would love to hear! I am always up for a new experience when it comes to cocktails!
- Emilie
