The Smart Bird

Busy Bee

 

For the past week or so, I've been rushing to get a big order out to the lovely boutique in Breckenridge that carries my work (Wandering Daisy; see link at right).  Jana requested a few specific pieces, and also I wanted to get the heart-themed pieces there in time for a Valentine's Day party she's throwing tomorrow.  Well, I am pleased to announce that I got the package in the mail today, and it will be there tomorrow.  Just in the nick of time.  Phew!

 

I'm also very pleased with my new display cards.  It's kind of a crummy photo, because I took it late in the afternoon just before packing everything up, so you can't really see the true color balance (despite wrangling with them in Photoshop.  Drat).  The main thing I love about the cards is the background:  it's a color I "invented" that I'm calling Lemongrass, and it was inspired by the color of the dress Michelle Obama wore to the inauguration (the color of which was...um...lemongrass).  I was so taken by the cheerful yellow/green color, and thought it was such a bright spot in the midst of a cold winter day.  These cards are quite a bit lighter than her dress, for obvious reasons - if they're too saturated, they'll clash with the different colors in the jewelry.  But in person, they are the perfect pale shade of lemongrass.  Yum!

Speaking of yummy, I also managed to make a batch of fruit and yogurt smoothies for the bebe and me.  This particular blend includes strawberries (frozen), peaches (also frozen), fresh blueberries, a touch of lowfat milk, whole milk yogurt, and a smidge of honey.  I freeze them in cubes, so they keep for a couple of weeks and we can work our way through them at our leisure.

   

And, speaking of leisure, of course I have to wish a happy birthday to our 16th (and by all accounts our best) president, Mr. Lincoln.  What grace.



And, last but most definitely not least, speaking of bees, I also have to wish a very happy birthday to Charles Darwin.  Thank you for everything! 


 

Got An Hour To Spare? Or Five?

 

Here's a great idea for those of you who want to add a little handmade touch to your holiday gifts, but don't know where to start.  Clothkits offers these adorable doll kits that you cut out and sew yourself.  Everything is included: printed fabric (no need to mess with fussy paper patterns), "top quality" thread, and polyester stuffing.  They even sell dress and kimono kits so you can dress your doll.  How cool is that?

And, after you've practiced making doll clothes, you can step up to the next level with unbelievably cute clothing kits for living, breathing children.  I don't think I would trust myself to tackle one of these just yet, but they give me something to aim for! 




Finally, once you've honed your chops on the kiddie stuff, you can step up to ultimate, and final, level: a skirt for yourself!



I might just go for the "ready made" skirts, though.  They're only £15 more, which is about $26 at current conversion rates.  If, like me, you'd have to actually buy a sewing machine in order to make one of these skirts, then the extra cost is pretty trivial.  Plus, the Trellick skirt in red only comes ready made.  Darn!  ;-)

All You Need Is...

This:



Or, maybe, this:



But, definitely, this:

A Tale of Two Palettes, Part II

In talking about sources for non-pastel children's clothes last week, I accidentally left out a couple of my favorite makers of colorful handmade clothes.  Silly me!  So, for those of you who want a more personal touch when injecting color into your child's wardrobe, may I present the following...

The first is 1girl 1boy.  Stacy and Mark hand-dye, block print, and applique these amazing onesies and tees in their basement.  Read their shop profile for all the details (they really put a lot of care and work into their designs). Their pieces are on the more expensive side, but when you think about what goes into each one, it actually seems like quite a deal.

The other is Charlie and Sarah.  They make what they call "flashcard apparel."  It's comprised of simple, bold prints silkscreened onto solid backgrounds.  Learn (or teach) the Queen's English whilst adding color to your child's wardrobe.  Brilliant!  Happy Wednesday, everybody!

A Tale of Two Palettes

 As many of you know, I have a bebe.  As I mentioned here, she's now one year old.  Since the beginning, shopping for little girl things has been some of the most fun I've had in my life.  Little boy things are quite cute, but you just can't imagine the cuteness overload you'll be faced with when you start shopping for little girl things. 

{Insert gratuitous cuteness here}



  Between shower gifts, grandma gifts, hand-me-downs, and my own shopping, we had two drawers-full of swaddling blankets, onesies, rompers, socks, hats, sleep-sacks and burp cloths by the time our bean was barely 3 months old.  But at some point, I looked over my daughter's wardrobe and realized that, on the whole, almost everything was a pale pastel color.  Lavender.  Petal pink.  Light green.  Pale yellow.  Sky blue.
 


For a helpless baby, such a pale color pallette seemed somehow appropriate.  But as my daughter grew and gained skills - sitting up, rolling over, crawling, walking (almost) - the pastels began to look...washed out.  Boring.  Just all around un-kid-like.  So when she was around 9 months old, I vowed that any future clothes I bought for her would be in the richest, most jewel-like tones I could find.


In part, I was inspired by the crazy-colorful (or are they just crazy?) designs of Hanna Andersson.  These are by far the brightest, loudest, most vivid clothes you will find for your child.  Which is why you need to use Hanna Andersson with care; a few carefully chosen "accent pieces," as the saying goes, is enough.  Just mix them in with your child's "regular" clothes for a pop of pattern and color. 

Another great source for richly-colored kid clothes is the Tea Collection.  Their current fall collections have names like Fjords and Forests and Nihon Nature (which of course appeals to the Japanophile in me).  If only they made that green floral dress in adult sizes.  Sigh.

 

Last, but not least, is Mini Boden.  Their style lies somewhere between Hanna Andersson and the Tea Collection.  Their patterns are mostly of the dot/stripe variety, but even though they're visually exuberant, they don't have the over-the-top quality of Andersson's offerings.  I haven't actually bought anything from them yet, but I know women who love their adult offerings.

Only four months in, I think I'm doing well on my anti-pastel mission.  Final touches this season include these brown boots from Target, navy blue leggings from Baby Gap, and raspberry pink cords from Old Navy.  My daughter now has great mix-and-match options for fall, in vibrant colors that I think are much more fitting for an active little monkey than the barely-there pastels of her...youth?

Postscript:
Supposedly, Hanna Andersson's fashions are "inspired by our Swedish heritage."  Conveniently, a friend of mine is currently doing a stint in Sweden.  Her blog documents her daily life there, and she has a weekly "ask me about Sweden" feature.  So I checked in about whether children in Sweden actually do dress like the kids in the Hanna Andersson catalog.  You can read Megan's informative reply here.)

Tidbits

Last month my daughter turned 1.  Wow!  Now her age will actually show up on official documents (until now, her age has been listed as "0").  We threw her a farm-themed party, and I wanted to share a few pictures with you.  The kids had a lot of fun playing in our large front yard.  I had given every (child) guest a plastic lei to wear, so they could feel festive, and in short order one of the boys figured out how to unspool his.  So of course all the others followed, and then took on the project of wrapping a big cottonwood with the resulting long strands of plastic.  Are maypoles just embedded in our genes or something?  It was like the kids were running on instinct...

I was especially happy with the cupcakes.  I ordered them from our local amazing cupcake shop - Tee and Cakes - and then spiffed them up on my own.  I found cute farm stickers and made little tags that I attached to popsicle sticks then stuck in each cupcake.  The kids were more interested in the fine points of the various flavors, however.  One boy, after eating all the icing off a strawberry cupcake, then nibbling at the cake part a little bit, brought it to me and said, "I don't think this one was very good.  I think I should probably try a chocolate one...." 



Every child got a goodie bag, with, among other things, a sheet of stickers: bugs for the boys, butterflies for the girls.  One of the boys made quick work of self-adornment, giving himself arms-full of bug "tattoos."  There were also bubbles, books, finger puppets, and balloons.  For the grownups, there was soda, beer and barbecue.  All in all, everybody had a great time.  Happy Tuesday!

Wowsers.

Every now and then I come across an Etsy shop that just makes my heart go pitter patter.  I found this one today, and just had to share it with you.   It's called Cookie Dough, and she makes the most amazing - and creative - assortment of children's toys...and more!  Tina uses non-toxic paints and finishes, and all the toys are treated with a non-flammable glaze that lets you just wipe them clean.  What first caught my eye were the pull toys (she'll attach pull strings at no extra charge; just ask):

But then I started looking around, and found these stunning blocks:






A little more browsing, and I found this.  An amazingly inventive and original toy that I wish my daughter were old enough for.  I may just have to get one anyway and put it in her "When You're 6 Years Old Box" (along with the two Black Apple dolls and little ghostie I was lucky enough to get for her).  I love it that much:



You see, it's filled with clear plastic "beads" and 40 "treasures."  The lid is sealed, so the fun is in shaking the box and trying to find the hidden treasures listed on the back.  How great is that?!



Oh, and there's even something for the grown-ups.  You can never have too many picture frames, especially when they're this cute:

So what are you waiting for?  You'd better get on over there and start shopping!  You can thank me later.

Art For Babes

If you're looking for great art for your nursery or child's room (and who isn't, really?), may I suggest Petit Collage?  They make collages using "found, vintage, and painted papers on maple plywood," all in limited editions of 50 each.  Plus, any collage can be personalized with a name, date and initials. 

If the collages are a tad out of your price range, they also offer posters that are much more affordable (I especially like the brown/orange/green poster; it reminds me of Ed Emberley's classic "Drawing Book of Animals," which was one of my favorite books as a girl.  I still have my original tattered copy on my bookshelf).  And if you're really on a budget, you can buy a few notecards, get creative with a frame or two, and you're all set!