Posts filed under 'Websites'
Whippet Grey began as a story-book, one full of enchanting objects … and that’s just the feeling you get when stepping onto the web pages of this online store. Whippet Grey is a family-run business selling various curiosities for the home, garden, you & the kids. With the departments sounding like chapter-headings; “Secret Garden” or “Curious Objects“, Whippet Grey is a lovely cyber-space to spend a coffee break.
I particularly like the “Children’s Den” split into 3 sub-chapters; Animal Kingdom, Budding Artist and Discovery Trail — there are some beautiful and different gifts for children of all ages. I love this shaggy black sheep rocker (if only there was justification for another rocker!) and have just ordered these ‘play-shapes‘ for my son’s 3rd birthday — we are very into any good rainy-day activities and these not only fit the bill but are beautiful to boot!
Oh and also their sale just started — temptation just got a bit more tempting!
- Mo. x
Mo in London
March 1st, 2010
Over the summer break I spent a bit of time decorating my home. (No, the pic above is not of my place — but somewhere I might now be able to stay.) One of the reasons was that I wanted to take some photos so I could list it on a house swap website.
We featured an article on house swapping a couple of years ago in the magazine where I work. It seemed like a great idea. But I always wondered — is it too good to be true?
Well, I believe that you should “give it a go” — as Aussies like to say. So I took the plunge and listed with two sites. Creative Caravan tags itself as “Craiglist for Creatives” — the idea being that you can swap with like-minded people.
The other website is Homelink. I did a bit of research and was attracted to this one because there is strong membership within Australia so if I want to take a trip to Byron Bay or Tasmania then I can swap with people who live there… as well as people in Italy. And within a week of listing I got a message from someone wanting to swap in Martinique!
- Natalie
Natalie in Sydney
February 24th, 2010
How superbly cute is this card? I just sent it out for my son’s third birthday party (which will be this week, and still needs to planned completely). Don’t you think it looks like the real thing?
Well, it’s not… not really. I just discovered Cocodot, a wonderful source of the most gorgeous designs and, best of all, paperless for perfect simplicity and extreme eco-sensibility!
I must say I was always a bit skeptical about using e-mailed invites, but after having sent out my first one, I’m a convert. Completely.
How extremely easy it is! How perfect to keep track of the guest list and interact with the invitees! How sweet are the designs! How wonderful for an at-the-moment-not-very-organised, overworked mama…
The service is not free, but compared to paper mail it’s quite cheap, and the ease of creating, sending and planning your correspondence is great. I’m planning to use it loads.
xxx Esther
Esther in Amsterdam
February 21st, 2010
After putting the kids to bed and sitting down with a good, warm cup of tea (you just cannot take the Irish out of a gal, even when living in Paris), I grabbed my computer to sit down and write some blog posts. I was suddenly inspired not to write yet another post about great things for kids but, for a change, something about some great things for mums!
So here is one of my latest discoveries — the lovely UK webshop Plümo full of beautiful trinkets, clothes, shoes and furniture. Whomever the person is who sources the items, they have fabulous taste and I want to get almost everything… And the best thing about it? At the moment they still have a sale going on!
You see, this is my way of thinking: if you have daughters, like I do, everything you get for yourself will have a second life in the future. The girls will steal things out of your cupboard, wear them and call them vintage. So if you shop now, all you are really doing is investing in the future…
- Emilie
Emilie in Paris
February 5th, 2010
So someone dared one of my husband’s very conservative and straight-laced co-workers to grow a shaggy 1970’s style moustashe last month. I guess everyone chipped in $10 and pretty soon the guy was going to make a small killing — so he did it. Anyway, after a month or so the moustache was in full force and he looked, as predicted, ridiculous. So after the jokes were told ad nauseum the poor guy got his loot and was free to shave it off. As a parting gift, they took a picture and printed out his face on an M&M and gave tiny tin boxes to the entire staff. I thought it was a cool idea! Who knew you could print an image on that tiny thing? While I don’t advocate the eating of junky candy per se, I do like silly ideas. We just ordered a bunch with a picture of the girls to give out at their birthday party next month.
-Dina
Dina in New York
February 2nd, 2010
I used to keep a picture in the front of my diary of an old-fashioned sweet shop. You know the kind: shelves stacked with glass jars brimming with brightly-coloured sweets. The Juliette Binoche in me always quite fancied being a ‘purveyor of splendid confectionery’. However these days there would be little point in me following this dream as Hope & Greenwood do it so perfectly.
They have stores in Dulwich & Covent Garden (which would be perfect if you happen to be taking a trip to Benjamin Pollocks as per my last post), but they are also sold in some pretty lovely other places: Liberty, Selfridges, Fortum & Mason (to name but a few) and of course you can buy them online from their site. I find the Miss Hope’s Jolly Mixture a very exciting treat and the Sugar free Gummy Bears a good one to ensure the children don’t bounce off the ceiling with too much sugar!
-Mo. x
Mo in London
January 25th, 2010
I am completely smitten with a virtual wonderland called Kindergallery. Actually it is a very genius online art gallery but it might as well be a wonderland — it is so gorgeous and enchanting!
Based in Sydney (with a second home in Berlin), Kindergallery sources and sells exclusive art works for children — original paintings, limited edition works, prints, stretched canvases, box art and wall decals. It is the brainchild of Fiona Lang, mother of two and curator of the stunning collection. She gathers the very best of Australian and international artists including Ida Pearle, Shinzi Katoh, Anna Ventura and one of my personal favourites, Meredith Gaston.
What I love about this collection is that each piece has clearly been handpicked to inspire the imaginations of young kids, but will also appeal to the discerning, style-conscious parent. And the best part? There is something for every budget! Works can be purchased for under AU$50, but Kindergallery also focus on providing that really special, once in a life time purchase too.
Whether you are in the market for some artwork or not — have a look at the website, it is guaranteed to make you smile!
-Sara
Sara in Melbourne
January 5th, 2010
My family is in the grip of ‘Masterchef’ fever! My kids are so enthused by this reality television program that I practically have my youngest deriding me for not making the terrine for his school lunch. And while the downside for me is that the bar has been raised (my rather unspectacular cooking now looks even more… unspectacular), the show has reinforced the value of good eating, team-building and the importance of accepting constructive criticism. My daughter particularly has been caught by the cooking bug. This morning she made us a lovely, albeit slightly burnt dish of scrambled eggs, grilled tomato, and baby spinach — we devoured it… every char-grilled morsel!
A friend recently introduced me to a great children’s cooking website called Wholesome Productions which creates a fabulous range of children’s cooking kits. They also sell party cooking kits for those brave enough to host their own kid’s cooking party.
The Pizza Baking Kit (pictured) is particularly adorable because it comes in a genuine pizza box and includes an apron, chef’s hat, a pan, rolling pin and an easy-to-follow washable recipe book… a great present for this holiday season! I have also found a ton of kid’s cooking utensils and baking sets at Mini Whisk and these are worth a mention because they come in a range of cool themes (Australiana, love hearts, flying etc.) and they are really well-priced too. Alternatively, add a cute little recipe book to some mini-sized cooking tools, or a little chef’s hat to a pint sized rolling pin and there you have some practical and fun gift ideas for all the aspiring master chefs out there!
-Sara
Sara in Melbourne
December 23rd, 2009
The Mother Huddle is a fairly new blog which, in addition to great recipes, craft ideas and other interesting topics, regularly posts fantastic bullet lists from fellow bloggers. Such a great idea!
Molly from My Favorite Things wrote a list of 10 tips + tricks for traveling abroad; Gabrielle (the world-famous Design Mom) wrote about 16 Things she likes about Early December, and I am proud to announce that the latest bullet list is mine: Fifteen original activities to keep your kids entertained in- house on a rainy autumn or winter day, without turning on the computer or the television (I know, that title is insanely long). Check it out!!
xxx Esther
P.S. The super-cute picture is from last-century’s Dutch illustrator Rie Cramer…
Esther in Amsterdam
December 21st, 2009
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.
Banana Fritters: slice,mix4banana/2T lem. Mix c flr/⅔c h2o/2T oil. Sit30m; fold+2whipd eggwt. Dip,deepfry bananas brwn@325℉. Srv w icecream.
Humus: Mid East. Soak c chickpea 8h. Replace h2o; simmer3h. Drain. Puree/season to taste+⅓c tahini&lem&olvoil/½t garlic&salt/cayenne. Chill.
Cool, don’t you think? Find more on http://twitter.com/cookbook. I’m a follower!
xxx Esther
P.S. graphic from ThinkPlusInk
Esther in Amsterdam
December 12th, 2009
Did you see? We changed our logo and we also adopted a new URL!
Instead of Babyccino we will here forth be known as Babyccino Kids (www.babyccinokids.com). We’re super excited to have added the little extra to our name; I mean, we are growing, just like our kids, who are not all babies anymore (although they don’t seem to stop coming)!
Of course we will continue to bring you the best products, coolest craft projects, tastiest recipes, fun stories and best places to visit in our cities. And who knows, if we find the time, there might be more to come – change makes progress, after all!
Love, the girls at Babyccino Kids! (wow, does that sound cool!)
P.S. Please make sure you change your links to us!!!
Esther in Amsterdam
December 3rd, 2009
I love letterpress prints. I love the mix between old techniques and contemporary design, and the results are always so chic and stylish!
Small Square Design caters exactly to my taste with their beautiful collection of cards, gift tags, prints and notebooks. Their designs are wonderfully simple and sweet, and are perfect for all sorts of occasions! I love the idea of the (pictured) gift tag, it definitely inspires me to say thank you in a more original way. And I think the cute organic onesies combined with a letterpress card are just perfect to send to a new baby… Not to mention the notepads and journals; they make the sweetest gifts for the holidays!!
Small Square Design has an Etsy shop where you can find most of the merchandise, and Basak, the owner, also keeps a beautiful blog called Full of Mistakes. Oh, and you should also check out her house, featured at Design Sponge a while ago — to die for.
xxx Esther
P.S. I found Small Square Design through papernstitch, a showcase of high-quality, high-style items from the categories of art, handmade, and vintage. Be warned — it’s addictive.
Esther in Amsterdam
November 30th, 2009
While I have loads of cookbooks stacked on my shelves, they have all started to collect dust. I have started using the internet more and more to discover new recipes — I get really inspired when I am looking for a recipe, discover a new site and then stumble over great new ideas! There are some fab sites out there which are regularly updated with new recipes.
I wanted to list some of my favourites, and would love to hear which ones you guys read and salivate over! (By the way, writing this post has taken hours because as soon as I checked one of the sites I liked, I linked to one they liked and so on and so on…. So I have been sitting in front of my computer screen looking at food, which is not the most constructive thing. It is better to make it and eat it!) Here’s a list of some of my favourite cooking sites…
Chocolate and Zuccini almost needs no introduction — it must be one of the first food blogs that became famous. The recipes are fab, some are complicated and some are not, and Clothilde, the writer, has a beautiful way of describing the recipes.
I love making food but I am not the best cook and sometimes (in fact always) need simple, basic instructions to make something new. My fall back site has always been Delia Online by Delia Smith, England’s version of Martha Stewart. It isn’t fancy, but you know that when you are looking for a recipe for something wholesome like Sheperd’s Pie, Delia is perfect.
The Food Section on the Guardian website is great. It features recipes by some of my favourite cooks: Nigel Slater, Dan Leppard, Yotam Ottolenghi and Allegra McEverly.
I do have a sweet tooth and the baking website, Cakes and the City, is just too lovely (check out the lemon and meringue cupcakes on the photo above). I know it is in French but the recipes are relatively simple so maybe you can use this as an exercise to refresh your school French??
Hope you enjoy these!
- Emilie
Emilie in Paris
November 23rd, 2009
You probably recall that for our latest Birthday Week I wrote about Homemade Happiness: great downloadable deco kits for every birthday, holiday or other special occasion. I’m really quite fond of their designs and, in yet another attempt to get organized, have been using their to-do-lists faithfully (and LOVE them)!
Now this week we have a special surprise for all of you: Caroline and Diana from Homemade Happiness have very kindly offered a free download of their beautiful ‘Oh so Sweet’ To Do Lists to ALL Babyccino readers!!! Perfect timing as the holiday season approaches to help organize your preparations!
For the free PDF download just click here, and simply print the lists on your home or office printer, as much as needed.
Enjoy! And thanks again, Homemade Happiness!!
xxx Esther
P.S. If you celebrate St. Nicholas, check out the fantastic Sint downloads in the Homemade Happiness shop! I LOVE that T-shirt print!
Esther in Amsterdam
November 16th, 2009
I’m sure you’ve already noticed… that things are looking slightly different around here. We’ve switched some things around, and we’re in the process of making a few changes to our site. We have swapped the outer colunms around, so everything that was on the right-hand side is now on the left, and vice versa. It’s not an attempt to confuse you, we promise! We’re trying to make the navigation of our site a bit more clear and straight-forward. Please bare with us while we make the changes. Thanks!
Courtney in London
November 13th, 2009
Often we’re asked where one can find tasteful, cute party supplies. Here in the Netherlands we are lucky to have Hema, which has a really good selection, but since it seems to be the only tasteful choice locally available, we seriously see the same decorations on nearly every birthday party we attend!
Then there’s Martha Stewart, who comes up with wonderful suggestions for homemade party decorations, but most of them involve complex and time-consuming craft projects which may eventually result in a well decorated house, but chances are that you’ll suffer a nervous breakdown simultaneously.
Now look at this: Homemade Happiness. Great downloadable deco kits for every birthday, holiday or other special occasion.
These super-cute digital DIY designs are downloadable in return for a small fee, and you may print them as often as you wish on card-stock paper. Next cut, fold and glue (even the most non-creative soul with two left hands and 5 children running around can do this!) and presto – you have an extremely original and cute selection of cake toppers, gift tags, gift boxes, party hats and buntings. Seriously everything you need for the cutest and most original birthday party you can think of. Every Homemade Happiness download comes with clear instructions and paper suggestions, and they even thought of including recipes, suggestions for games, sweet to-do-lists, etc. etc. Have a browse, I’m pretty sure you’ll love everything!
Now, the only disadvantage is that the original website is still in Dutch, but the two lovely work-at-home mums behind Homemade Happiness, Caroline and Diana, are working hard to translate their designs and the English versions of most of them can be found in their Etsy shop.
Now… enjoy! Happy birthday Babyccino!
xxx Esther
Esther in Amsterdam
November 3rd, 2009
Thankfully my boys let me off the hook this year. The older one has decided he wants to be a ghost for Halloween (how easy is that?!) and the other one is happy to use his brother’s costume from last year. We’re set.
But… I did have a temporary freak-out last week when I realized I wasn’t prepared at all for Halloween. So I searched the web for DIY costume ideas, and of course I found it on Etsy. You have to check out these darling ideas for turning a simple sweatsuit into a costume. The kits include simple step-by-step instructions, felt and necessary fabric, and needle & thread. So brilliant! I love the shark and the lion.
I am so doing this next year.
-Courtney
Courtney in London
October 26th, 2009
I have to give credit to my Mac-obsessed husband for finding this little gem on-line. It really is such a smart idea and one that was, of course, invented by a mom.
I really do try my best to NOT be on the computer when the kids are around. It’s not so much that I am worried that they will view me as a drone who does nothing but surf celebrity gossip websites all day but well, because it’s basically impossible to even type an email without them flying over to pound on the keyboard.
Alpha Baby is a simple program that allows your child to “work” on the computer and/or allows you to leave your computer and walk away without fear of them destroying it. With each push of a button different color shapes and letters pop up on the screen allowing you the freedom to run and take a shower, return a long overdue phone call, run to another computer and check out your celebrity websites….the list goes on.
It really is a brilliant little idea and if you have a mac – check it out…it’s free!
-Dina
Dina in New York
October 24th, 2009
Need a unique baby gift? There’s nothing like a little personalisation and embroidery to make a gift special. Izzy and Floyd’s personalised baby bundle bags come with the baby’s name and birth date embroidered on the front. You can either fill the bags with Izzy and Floyd’s selection of babywear and toys, or you can simply buy the bags to wrap a gift you already have.
I received a bag for my daughter and it’s darling. They’re handmade in Wales using a natural calico, a choice of gingham trim and a big wooden button. I’m planning on filling the bag with Ivy’s little treasures and hanging it in her room.
-Courtney
Courtney in London
October 22nd, 2009
I just received a Paperless Post card from a friend announcing her new address, and it is the cutest on-line announcement I’ve ever seen. Unlike so many e-cards, Paperless Post looks like traditional stationery — you can almost feel the quality of the paper through your computer screen. And like traditional stationery, Paperless Post allows you to personalize your stationery, choosing the paper, ink color, fonts, images, and even the envelope. I love this sort of thing — I almost want to throw a party just so I can create an invitation!
Traditional personalized stationery is expensive, for one, but it also wastes a ton of paper. Paperless Post eliminates those problems, and it also makes it easy to monitor who has received and responded to your invite.
You can send out birth announcements, invitations, holiday cards, etc. Try it and see, but let me warn you — it’s addictive!
-Courtney
Courtney in London
October 20th, 2009
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