Hello all! I am Karina, the newest member of my all time favorite blog, and I feel truly honored. Why me you might ask? Because I have three kids, time to spare, a computer, and a penchant for cute kids stuff. Clothes, shoes, decor, design, you name it... I've searched it.
My first posting is going to be about clothes. I am always looking for something unique and different and more often than not it is easier to shop online than to cart three kids (two unwilling boys and one loud baby) around from store to store. Here are just a few of my very favorite things:
In the market for a tutu? These are honest to goodness the BEST tutus you can buy! I bought one for my daughter but am looking to buy another as she's growing out of the red one. Some may say, "OH, I could make one just as easy" but TRUST me, it would not be the same. Oopsy Daisy Baby Pettiskirts are not to be missed, now if only they'd make them in adult sizes ; ) Prices range from about $50 - $90.
Then there is Mountain Aven Baby, based out of Wyoming. Oh, they've got such cute little sets and dresses. I just want to buy them all up, but alas, I must hold back. Click here for the full line as what's pictured is just a sampling of what to expect. Retro Robot Lounge Set, custom sizes (long or short sleeves), $42 Reversible dresses can be custom made, check their shop.
I love, love, loveLe Bouton's clothing line. She doesn't currently have anything posted for sale as she is waiting for her new sewing machine. You can see her previously sold designs here though. Keep a close eye on her site as her kids clothes are amazing! They are a bit on the splurge side, but if you ever get the chance to splurge, do it.
Oh how I love this coat by Hana & Violet. Too cute! It also helps that her daughter is adorable!
One more and then I'll call it a night as I could be up forever doing this! I'm posting this under clothing because when you are a child, getting dressed is boring unless you get to use your imagination every once in a while! My boys are totally obsessed with dressing like Indiana Jones and my little girl isn't there quite yet, but I really like what babypop designs has to offer little kids and their growing imaginations. Custom Superhero Capes, $13 Custom Pirate Cape, $19
Get dressed, have fun!
Until next time, this is Karina. Signing Off. Over and Out.
Softies! I admit, I still occasionally sleep with my stuffed animals... although in recent months they've just been hanging out on a shelf by my bed - I'm getting better! I've done some INTENSE research. Let me tell you people, cute stuffed animals are haaaard to come by. My fingertips are warn from all the research I had to do to bring these to you.. so enjoy!
OH here is mine (Pepper Jerky, the grey one) Love His Eyes!
I got this book from my future sister-in-law for Christmas and love it! They have quite a few softies I can't wait to make, and one that I'm in the process of making right now. The instructions are super simple and they have included patterns that are really easy to follow. Therese Laskey has another book about softies out too, if you like this one. Softies: SImple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals by Therese Laskey, Leah Kramer and Laurie Frankel, $14 Used from $9, Amazon
This is incredibly, amazingly expensive, but look how beautiful it is. What a neat idea. I had to include it, even though it absolutely does not fall into the category of 'affordable design.' Oh well. Be inspired! Collection: Cardigan in Bloom, ONLY $1,297.34, Cardigan, Brighton, UK
My sister, Paige, has a disease called Cystic Fibrosis. Your body produces too much mucus so she gets colds easier and has a harder time fighting them off and hence breathing. She knows how important lungs are, so how perfect are these lungs for her?! Paige, I hope you aren't reading cause this is your Christmas present! haha! Lung Plush [I lung you!], $18, I Heart Guts, LA, CA Check out I Heart Guts website for other innards softies!
Rosalind is a very special kitty! She's an awake/asleep kitty. This means on one side of her kitty body she has an awake face with safety eyes. On her other side she has a sleepy face which is all embroidered. She's accented differently on each side. Your little one will love flipping her over to put her to sleep and wake her up (mine does!) She's totally washable, made from cotton, wool felt, and trim. Shes' snuggly and totally cute! Perfect!
Charming stuffed animals in the boxy style typical of era. Imperfect but a rare and delightful find. Simplicity 2262; 5 to 9 inch toys; from late 1920s or early 1930s. Boxy Stuffed Animals Pattern, $25.00, Sewing Palette Exceptional 1920s stuffed terrier dog transfer pattern. Butterick 16136; 13 inch toy; 1920s; unstamped. Terrier Pattern, $50.00, Sewing Palette
If your loved stuffed animal is as cute as the ones on the website promoting the book Dirty Wow Wows, then I suggest you share them with us!
Still can't get enough? Visit Softies Central, a blog dedicated to bringing you the most current events and developmnts in the plush world. Don't die of softie overload!
Prologue: Being Canadian I feel like I was raised semi-British. We have very strong ties with the British! It was always - would you eat like that in front of the QUEEN!?! I think not! Along with Royalty I associate tea with the British and my up bringing. My grandparents, whose parents descended from Britain, had tea every day at 4 on the dot their entire lives, and again after dinner! My grandmother on my other side took us to tea houses every summer when we would visit. There was a lot of tea in my life!
However, as much as I love tea culture... my palate will not accept tea! I have tried tea with honey, sugar, without sugar, with milk, soy milk, no milk, many different types of tea... alas, I cannot taste it for anything other than murky water with leaves in it- very similar to my distain for lemon in water. It's watered down lemonade! Anyways, It is so sad that I don't like tea because I love everything tea related. So with this post I will leave out the taste factor of tea and present to you tea related thingies!
I love love love love love Sea Spray Blue's art, as featured twice last week! This tea cup print is so gorgeous, but sold out : ( Please print more! Too Many Teacups, Sea Spray Blue, Dresden, Germany District Thirty from Vancouver creates this hand pierced and cut tea pot necklace that I believe would be a perfect addition to any jewelers collection - including my own!! I especially love their giraffe necklace titled "Look Up, Way Up" after a very old Canadian TV show, The Friendly Giant. Thanks for the reminiscence! Is that a word? Tea for Two, $48, District Thirty, Vancouver, Canada
This has nothing to do with Tea and everything to do with District Thirty reminding me of the Friendly Giant. If you want to hear the world's most soothing voice, press play:
I told you I was loving Yellow! This teapot has such a perfect design to it. To me it is all that entails gorgeous design, and guess what? It's only 8 bucks... Do I need to buy this too!? I can't buy everything I blog about!! Check out her shop because she has a lot of other neat vintage finds.
This teapot design was screenprinted using a hand-cut paper stencil. It is printed in purple on to 90gsm Recycled Ribbed Kraft, and mounted on a 220gsm white greetings card. Comes with a bright orange envelope. I love Lucy's bio on her Etsy store: This shop is the result of a Graphic Design student with a long summer ahead of her. A few months off from uni gives me the chance to do some self-directed design, just for the sake of it - playing around with ideas I don't have time to explore during term time (More of my design work can be found here And I've just started a blog) too!
These tea tins and the pot that inspired them from Nigella Lawson are so affordable and adorable! I love the colours, they go perfectly with my kitchen colour scheme. Red, baby blue and white. Thanks NIgella for creating such beautiful things for our kitchens! She also creates tins with sugar bowls on them. eek!
I Love Sparklebean's Etsy Store. Love. With a capital! Remember the ice cream sandwich earrings!? She sells the Cutest (with a capital!) jewelry this side of cutesville. Think of anything cute and she has it in the form of jewlery - miniature pan of cupcakes as a necklace? √ poodle earrings? √ berry pie earrings? √ ice cream hair pins? √ my business? √ Well this time she has tiny tea cup rings! cutiepie!
I'm throwing this in the mix... anyone else play with this tea set growing up? I did!!! Get it for you or your kids, or nieces, or nephews! right here on ebay.
Hennie Haworth. Another artist I could go on and on and on about. She has amazing illustrations at her website, including this tea infused one. Get it? Infused! oh man. Here is a bit about her in some amazing type:
These tins are so neat - they actually probably appeal to me so much because they remind me of Hennie's Tea Print. Since I don't actually own or store any tea in my house I would use these to store many of my other necessities: stamps, buttons, stickers, markers, etc. Available by emailing Accord Tea or visiting their Website.
New | Old Tea Sets by Christine Misiak
According to Misiak: Basically I take old, worn forgotten tea sets and give them a new lease of life. I find the old battered metal tea sets at car boot sales or flea markets.
The reason why these tea sets are cast away and end up on Ebay is probably due to the reason that they are deemed un-cool or unfashionable, however another reason may be because of their dated styling and colour. Also the condition of many of these tea sets means that they cannot be used; silver plating has often come off, surface is dirty and unpolished, dints and scratches are present on the surface.
Therefore the idea of reusing these old things acts as a way of giving them a new lease of life. Reusing and reinventing old tea sets to make them more current and fashionable for today’s market."
The Green Sets: The silver metal parts I have taken off old sets, and cut them off the originals then cleaned them up and made new bodies for them out of metal. Then the components are all permanently fabricated together, then the whole thing silver plated, then the parts I want green are sprayed green (the green sets are prototypes that I am developing and seeking to get manufactured). So its a mixture of old and new, and mixing of the eras.
The Orange Set: When I sourced this set at a car boot sale the previous owner snapped off the metal handle and so no one would want a broken tea pot, so I bought the set, cleaned it up and made a new wooden handle for it, then powder coated the whole set to make it usable and desirable again. The same applies with the black set.
The Black Set: When I sourced it at a car boot sale it was in extremely bad condition. The surface finish was rusty, dirty and scratched, also the inside of the tea pot was very unappealing. Moreover, one of the little legs on the sugar bowl had been snapped off by the prior owner, therefore it had really reached its end life.So I cleaned the set up and applied black to it, and now the surface finish is glossy and smooth and the set can actually be used again. The imperfection with the broken sugar bowl leg is still there, but it acts as character and the set aims to celebrate the imperfections.
Huge thanks to my Source of this interview with Christine, Dezeen.
Repurposed Teacups and Teapots are amazing! Especially when they are used by Raylene Sutton to make miniature worlds. I love miniature things! I couldn't find much else about Raylene, but she does show her miniatures in the Miniature's Club of B.C. (Source)
If you would like to find uses for all those gorgeous or chipped teacup/pots you have either in your (or your grandma's!) home or that you see in thrift stores, follow Martha's lead! Turn them into candles or use them as drawer organizers!
She has a step by step guide on turning your teacups into candles at her site. It looks really simple! A commenter suggested using an old tea pot as a double boiler for your wax so that you dont have to search Martha's Housekeeping bible to figure out how to get wax out of a $100 all-clad pan. Thanks! You can also melt crayons into your wax for colour! awesome! Clicky Clicky.
Epilogue: Just a reminder, anyone can leave comments- blogger registered or not, anonymous or leave a name and website, your choice! I love hearing from you and your opinions and additions to my posts! I so appreciate the folks leaving comments, so this is a little shout out to you guys! thanks! People read my blog! sorry about the "!!!'s" I have warned you about my excitement over little things before! ♥
