Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.
Carry your precious bundle in a lovely ring-style sling made from 100% cotton batik. Think you’re not coordinated enough to pull it off? That’s OK, because it comes with a detailed instruction booklet. From Baby Love Slings.
My sister-in-law is having a baby in July. So, of course, as a doting aunt I’m always on the look-out for something wonderful and handmade for my soon-to-debut nephew. And, being a mom myself, I know that a newborn’s innate instinct, and the one that stays with a child well into toddler-hood, is to “get it and put it in your mouth”. Tiny fists, toes, mommy’s chin, and car keys work, but really, nothing compares to a good wooden teether. I found some at Little Alouette { previously interviewed here } that are smooth, satisfying, and thoroughly gnaw-able.
The shop owners, Joe and Amy Sharp, are a writer and master carpenter who have joined forces in life and in business to create a line of delightful teethers, rattles and toys for babies and toddlers. Incidentally, they also happen to have one of the most endearing shop profiles I’ve read in a while. I love it when parents create a business for their own children, because the love shows through in each product. Little Alouette crafts wee gifts using quality materials and master techniques, and with a parent’s eye and heart for what a little one needs and wants most.
I also like that these toys will serve a child’s needs from infancy on. First as teethers, then for make-believe fun. Bunnies, fishies, even a group of dinosaurs are available to inspire imaginative play. I am personally enchanted by the Egg Shakers. Talk about super-sensory stimulation. From the smooth surface, to the swirly wood grain, to the discovery of “music” with every shake, I have a feeling that even adults might have a hard time keeping their hands off this one.
Visit their shop and check out all of their beautiful offerings. And be sure to look into their Wood of the Month Subscriptions. They’ll ship out a parcel every month for three months. I am so going to be the World’s Coolest Aunt after this.
I love fun furniture for kids. Especially whimsical pieces like these from My Little Big Chair. The Little Miss Muffet Tuffet featured below is loaded with details, down to the bug print on the lining beneath the ruffles. I’m not sure if it is the ideal place for your little miss to sit and eat her curds and whey*, but it’s a perfect perch to read, to brush her hair (vanity stool?), to put on her shoes, etc
Tuffets are not just a chick thing, incidentally. There are tuffet options for boys in My Little Big Chair’s shop. I like this drum themed tuffet. Perfect for him to sit on, or bang out a tune on. You could say this piece is easy on the ears and the tush.
* Side Note: Has anyone ever deciphered exactly what curds and whey are? Because I am still wondering. It doesn’t sound all that appetizing. Maybe that is the real reason Little Miss Muffet ran away.
Ryan Ringel’s boys are hard on their toys. Any parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or big brother or sister can probably relate. Ryan’s oldest son especially loves a good puzzle. But when ordinary, store-bought puzzles were subjected to his enthusiasm…over time, the results were not pretty.
Of course, store-bought puzzles are merely cardboard or chipboard with a sticker slapped on, or paper glued to the front…hardly designed to stand the test of time. Ryan’s boys were going through puzzles like tissues during flu season.
One day, Ryan was inspired to make more durable puzzles while watching a sculptor use a scroll saw to create intricate patterns in wood. He figured the same technique could be used to make puzzles for his kids, puzzles that were more interesting than the standard square or rectangle, as well as tougher than the flimsy ones from the mall toy store.
The first puzzle (“Faye Fish”) was a huge hit with the boys, and could keep them entertained for hours, without breaking apart, peeling, or bending. Soon, Ryan was making puzzles for the kids of his friends and neighbors, as well as his sons’ classmates, and My Daddy Puzzles was born.
Every puzzle is drawn by Ryan, and cut, sanded, stained, and painted by hand in his Alexandria, Virginia workshop. Each design is available in a variety of paint colors, in natural stain, or unpainted.
The poplar or maple hardwoods used to make them are grown and harvested in the USA, and the paints and stains used to decorate them come from a company in Ohio.
The puzzles are simple, yet challenging enough to keep kids as young as 18 months entertained and mentally stimulated. They’re painted on both sides to add a layer of difficulty, and range in size from 5 pieces for the littlest ones, to 10 pieces for older children.
Visit the My Daddy Puzzles web site to find out which Washington, DC-area art and craft shows they will be attending, or pick one up from the online shop.
I’ve been a fan of Nikki McClure for some time. Her exquisite paper cuttings are simply wondrous in their detail. She uses an exacto knife to create her beautiful images, each from a single sheet of paper. The painstaking detail. The complexity. I find her work enchanting and perfected suited to children’s illustrations. Her collection of books are available at Buy Olympia, along with a lovely assortment of notecards, gift tags and other paper beauties.
Mama Is It Summer Yet? is a heartwarming tale of a little boy who asks the same question of his mother, again and again; a theme familiar to mothers who try to satisfy the curiosity and eagerness of their little ones, and to children for whom waiting a few weeks might as well be a few decades.
The First 1000 Days is a baby journal unlike most. Parents have long enjoyed chronicling their children’s early days of life, but Nikki’s illustrations elevate the experience to a creating a work of art that will be eventually passed on to your child. There’s lots of room for notes and such, and tons of her beautiful work to inspire to more than a record of the order that solid foods were introduced. This journal makes you want to write something wise and eternal. My children are six and three and I’m thinking about buying two of these, just because they are so beautiful and poetic.
“The Great Chicken Escape is a true story, or as close to truth as I could ascertain from the chickens themselves.” These are Nikki’s own words about this book. And judging by her illustrations of nuns wrangling chickens, this will probably be one of those books that your child requests over and over.
Nikki is a self-taught artist who has been making paper cuts since 1996 and who produces her own merchandise. You can find Nikki’s books, t-shirts, notecards and other merchandise, as well as her original paper cuts on Buy Olympia.