I heart Czarque shoes!
These baby loafers and ballet slippers by Australian-based company Czarque are exquisite and so, so chic. My only gripe is that they were not around when my children were babies!!
They are delicate and soft, understated and …. just so very adorable! Not to mention, they come in the most gorgeous of textures (honestly, I’m not sure that these pictures do them justice). They are perfect for the special occasions in life or ‘just because’. After all, there is nothing more frustrating than spending money on something special for your children only to have them outgrow it after two wears. What a waste!
Czarque baby shoes are handcrafted in Australia in the finest quality Australian leather and they all feature soft, flexible brushed suede soles that are perfect for babies’ delicate feet (from newborn size to age 2). As a first shoe I think that they would make the sweetest keepsake.
They are available at Bon Bon Tresor for both local and international shipment.
- Sara
Raisin Scone Bread
In our recent bread-baking adventures, my husband and I have stumbled across a recipe for the most yummy, scone-like raisin bread, and it is now a weekend morning favourite! Plus, it is dead easy to make, only needs a minute or two of kneading, and it bakes in 30 minutes (seriously easy in the world of bread making)!
The trick for creating moist and flavourful raisins is to soak them in whiskey beforehand. I’m sure the alcohol burns off while baking, but if you’re against the idea you can soak the raisins in hot water instead.
Here is the recipe: (more…)
Erbaviva baby shampoo
My older son never suffered from cradle cap when he was a baby, but now at 4½, he is affected by a mild form of it! It’s nothing major; we have just been advised to use very mild, oily shampoos. Which is how we discovered Erbaviva, a company that was started in 1996 to offer mommies-to-be and babies upscale products completely free from all harsh detergents, chemical fragrances, and other unhealthy additives. Following the success of their initial line they now offer a wide range of products for the entire family for bath, body and aromatherapy.
We have been using their baby shampoo for a few weeks and absolutely love it! The smell is a delicate mix of lavender and chamomile, it contains a detergent made from olive oil and wheat proteins, and it even lathers well thanks to Quilaja (the bark extract from a tree).
It’s an American brand but in Europe you can find it at online shop, Shak Shuka.
Michela
Free gift tags from Mrs Booth for all Babyccino readers!
It is soon that time of year again. The holidays are coming up very quickly and people are getting ready to wrap loads of presents!
I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but I routinely run out of paper and accessories and often have to write down people’s names with a marker on the wrapping paper. Practical but not very chic, right?
Together with the lovely and very talented Mrs Booth we thought we would make your life a tiny bit easier. Mrs Booth is a card, print and book designer whose simple and engaging style makes her one of my favourites. And she has kindly designed some holiday gift tags exclusively for Babyccino readers!
The designs are stinkin’ cute and I am sure your kids will love them too. You can download the adorable gift tags here, and print as many as you need! We hope you like them as much as we do!
-Emilie
Date Night
So I went to see “New Moon” this weekend. I have been looking forward to it for months! And yes, I was one of the older people in the theater. And yes, I think Robert Patterson is hotter than hell! But in the final analysis I did not think the movie was as good as “Twilight”, a movie which reminded me that 1) vampires are actually much cooler and better dressed then I expected and 2) I needed to plan more “date nights.”
I really don’t like the term “date night.” I feel like there is so much pressure — like we are supposed to easily switch off our day-to-day roles and somehow slip back to the carefree days of our old selves…. days, say, when my husband did not openly pick his nose in front of me…. days when I could drink a bottle of wine and not be completely incapacitated the next day.
People talk about it a lot here but rarely stick to it and I totally get it. It’s just so hard to feel romantic and energized when you have young kids pulling at you all day long and what’s worse, a dinner out at a restaurant really just does not cut it.
But it is so important to do! To feel connected to your significant other as well as reclaim the side of yourself that exists outside of your daily role. (more…)
Eye can art — art project in a box
It’s such a great thing to do art projects with kids. They really enjoy it, and it’s so fantastic to see them explore their creative skills. My 4-year-old is especially fond of craft projects, and she’s getting really good at them too!
Sometimes, though, I admit that my life is a bit too hectic to plan around complex art projects. I always have the best intentions, but I just end up without the right materials, without a great idea, or simply without the time to plan the whole thing. And this is exactly why Eye Can Art is SUCH a great idea!
Every Eye Can Art kit is completely developed by professional art teachers and provides everything you need for a fantastic and original art project (including scissors!). There are currently four art projects in the range, and there’s enough material in every box to repeat the project multiple times. (more…)
Animal puzzle from Spunky Sprout
I think this wooden animal puzzle is so beautiful, and would make such a lovely gift for the holidays. It consists of 25 maple wood cubes which can create six different animal faces all in the same puzzle (or a funny imaginary animal, if you mix up the blocks)! This is the kind of toy the whole family will want to play with. Plus, it will look great on your coffee table.
This puzzle is just one of many great toys and gifts available from Spunky Sprout — a fantastic children’s webshop with a huge selection of items.
Spunky Sprout is offering Babyccino readers a 10% discount on all orders (not including furniture) from now until December 31st. Just enter babyccino10 at check-out!
-Courtney
A garage for drawings
My daughter comes home with tons of drawings from school and cannot stop creating artwork after artwork here at home. Obviously I think she has more talent than Botticelli and Picasso combined… and so I have plastered all of these masterpieces all over my kitchen cupboards! But there are just too many to display.
The Danish company Sebra have come up with a great solution to this problem. A nicely designed box with 10 separations in it, so that you can store your children’s artwork by age. A nice way of storing and also a great way to be able to look back and see how your little one’s motorskills have evolved over the years.
The “drawing garage”, as it is known, is available from Nordinary.
-Emilie
Twitter, Tweets and Twecipes
You may have noticed… we have started tweeting. Wow! In the upper right corner of our website, you’ll discover the Twitter logo, just click it to find our tweets…
I must say, I have to get used to tweeting, it’s not something I automatically do just yet! But I can see the fun of it – there are so many interesting things to be found on Twitter, I had no idea!
I just discovered twecipes. Twecipes are recipes posted in tweets, and of course the challenge is to fit all the ingredients and instructions into the maximum of 140 characters. Like these recipes by Maureen Evans:
Lemon Curd: zest,juice lb meyer or reg lem. Simmr in bainmarie+2c sug/c buttr; whisk+5btn egg. Stir 20m@low to set. Fill 5x c jars; boil10m. (more…)
Surviving bed rest and pregnancy in general
I knew being pregnant with twins was not going to be a walk in the park but when I went into pre-term labor at 27 weeks I was shocked and terrified. After a short stint in the hospital I spent the next ten weeks on an IV drip at home, in bed, on my side, exactly 23 hours and 55 minutes a day.
You would be surprised how much of a routine you can make for yourself from bed and I must say, as the days wore on I did fall into a rhythm that made the time pass. While I did purchase a few books offering ideas on what to do while on bed rest, most suggested things that were not up my alley, like scrap-booking or knitting. I turned to Plan B which was to just suck it up and deal the best I could. I watched A LOT of television. I read all of the books that I have been meaning to read for years. I made special appointments with family and friends to come visit and bring me food. And most importantly I leaned on my husband a lot and would call him at work to just cry for a few minutes every day.
One of the best finds that come out of the whole experience was the gigantic U-shapped pillow which I would recommend to anyone who is pregnant. We found it on-line and it was life changing. I lived in that U. We still laugh about “the U”. We would joke about me being in U-niversity during the day and would sing all sorts of songs about it. Corny, yes….but your mind goes to mush when you are pregnant as you know.
-Dina
Christmas Stockings
When my first baby was born I went on the hunt for the perfect Christmas stocking to hang over the fireplace for his gifts. I found a delightful old-fashioned one from Volga Linen. It is Christmas red and has his initials embroidered onto it in a classic font (it felt very Clement. C. Moore’s The Night Before Christmas
Two Christmases later and it is now my second child’s first Christmas… and the couple of years of motherhood have taught me some lessons — 1. Baby’s first Christmas could be your cheapest as they really don’t understand presents (but phooey to that!) and 2. Christmas stockings really don’t actually hold much. So I have returned to Volga to buy my daughter’s monogrammed stocking (for the little things) but I have also opted for their Christmas Sacks this year (which being larger hold bigger presents and can fit their full names across them).
Now all I have to do is ALL that wrapping ….
Mo. x
Potato-stamped penguins
I have to admit that I have totally swiped this idea from my friend Sally. She gave us our holiday gifts this week with the sweetest penguin card attached (see the photo), and I thought it was such a cute idea — so festive but in a really original, playful way.
My boys and I gave it a go yesterday, and it was a really fun project. And super easy too! (BTW — potato stamping is SO easy. I can’t believe I have never done this before!)
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own penguins:
-2 potatoes
-paint and paintbrush
-paper
-stamps (optional)
And here’s a little how-to: (more…)
Seed
Well… it’s almost summer here and we all know what that means: summer clothes! I always find it exciting shopping for summer clothes – it’s the promise of hot days on the beach, long balmy evenings, lashings of sorbet, endless swimming and those delicious summer fruits…. and as much as we complain about the heat (oh, do we ever, and don’t even get me started on those pesky flies) it really is my favorite time of the year! Now, the first place I will head to is Seed.
Seed is one of those kid’s labels that you can always rely on to deliver the essential basic pieces (the plain t-shirts, the perfect pair of cargo shorts, the classic linen shirt) and then some more. No logos, no excessive detail or styling, just lovely comfortable, clean-cut classics and always with a modern directional twist… think playground chic!
Seed’s gorgeous signature stores are located throughout Australia and Hong Kong. For the rest of the world, international shipping is available online.
-Sara
Cute cuddles from Kayatine
As Emilie pointed out, in French a ‘doudou’ is a little soft toy that small children take everywhere with them. I think all mums love the thought of a ‘doudou’, or at least I do — a little toddling toddler, thumb in mouth and doudou in arms, what can be cuter? (BTW, my kids never sucked their thumbs, but I did as a kid and was punished with braces when I was 12… A pretty sight, especially paired with the glasses!)
Kayatine is a French mother and daughter design team, and their main line of products are cute doudous in a diverse collection of fabrics. I like the way Evelyne and Julie-Anne stick to one design — it’s simple and cute, so why look for more?
Kayatine’s doudous make perfect gifts for baby showers or for newborn babies. Or even for a pregnant mum (this one for sure)!
xxx Esther
Mishmish prints
We recently moved and so we had plenty of white walls to fill up! I was looking for something to hang in my children’s bedroom and landed on Mishmish studio. Artist Susie Lubell offers high quality prints of her original watercolor paintings, which means professional archival ink and professional museum etching paper. Her subjects are sweet and airy, perfect for children’s rooms and nurseries, but she also has an animal section and a more spiritual one. I also have the feeling that the print I chose will not look out of place in an older child’s bedroom, so this means it will probably last until my daughter will replace it with the poster of her favourite pop-band I guess!
Each print can be personalised with the child’s name, birth date and a special quote. Susie is happy to offer suggestions, but you can have your favourite quote printed if you prefer. I picked an inspiring and well-wishing Native American proverb that I was not aware of, and it somehow seemed perfect for my daughter.
Michela
P.S. Remember to write BABYCCINO on your note to seller for a 20% discount until December 31st (it will be a Paypal refund)
Giant sticky notes — fun for everyone!
Do you like my kids’ art gallery they created? They drew sketches on giant sticky notes and then stuck their drawings up on the wall. And I didn’t have to do a thing!
The Genius Pads are great for kids, but fun for grown-ups too. Say you have a really big grocery list, or a really important event you must remember. Or maybe you just want to tell your husband you really LOVE him… or give him a reminder you don’t want him to forget (i.e. ‘throw your socks in the laundry basket and not on the floor’ or ‘please take the rubbish out!’ etc.) I even left a message for our postman today with a giant sticky note stuck to our front door! Pretty handy really.
The sticky notes and other clever gadgets are available from Arash and Kelly.
-Courtney
Oona L’ourse
I was recently in a shop and saw a little girl wearing a fabulous dress. It was one of these little dresses that looked comfy and yet chic, could be worn at any occasion and was special without being showy… I had to ask her mom where she got it. She told me about this little children’s clothing label called Oona L’Ourse.
Oona L’Ourse has been around for almost 20 years and has managed to stay small and personable! Why? Because of the beautiful, great quality timeless products they’re known for. Oona L’Ourse really is a great example of European style. It is a bit exclusive but the team strives to make all their clothes locally here in France.
The collections are not sold anywhere else than in the atelier and on the website. If you spot anything on the website that tickles your fancy just send an email with your request. Alternatively, the atelier in the 16th arrondissement in Paris is open every Tuesday and Thursday for you to go and have a browse. (more…)
Babyccino selection at Smallable
Like Mo said earlier, dragging the kids out to do holiday shopping is unbearable! And how are you supposed to buy gifts for your kids in front of your kids? Thank goodness for great webshops like Smallable — which has SUCH a lovely and wide selection of beautiful children’s gifts, toys and accessories. Whether it’s something big like the Offi Rocking Horse, something crafty like the Mitik Mask’Animo Kit, or something beautiful like the Lalé Suitcases, there is something for everyone.
Smallable recently asked us to choose 8 of our favorite products for their Babyccino Chrstimas Selection (yes, only 8 — can you imagine how long it took to narrow it down?!). And in return, they’re offering our readers 20% off the selected 8 items! Just enter discount code NOELBABYCCINO at check-out (offer good until Dec. 21st). Holiday shopping just got easier!
-Courtney
An odd obsession
I’m obsessed with bunk beds. There. I’ve said it. I don’t know why. It’s a strange obsession to have, especially as I only have one child. I think it’s because I live in an apartment and if I was to have more than one child then they’d probably have to have bunks. Perhaps it’s also because they look like a lot of fun, and I never had one as a child.
Either way, I love this one by Lilly & Lolly — a great Aussie company that designs and manufactures the products locally. In fact, this bunk is made from Tasmanian Oak. Beautiful.
-Natalie
A tray for the Stokke highchair
We have already sung the praises of the Stokke Tripp Trap chair here on Babyccino. I think some of us have even admitted to owning two — one for each child. (And I’m even contemplating buying a third one!) I personally think it’s the best highchair on the market, especially considering how long it can be used.
I suppose the only qualm people have with the chair is that it doesn’t have a tray (where will you put the Cheerios? how do you keep your table from being destroyed? what if you want to use the highchair in the kitchen, away from your dining table? etc.).
The PlayTray is the perfect solution. It’s a scratch-proof plastic tray which goes easily on and off the chair to be used whenever necessary. The design is sleek yet functional, it easily wipes clean, and it has an outer edge to keep spills and messes at bay. It’s also free of phthalates, PVC and BPA. Brilliant!
-Courtney
