Bonpoint — Now For U.S. Shoppers!

Great news! Bonpoint just opened a site for U.S. shoppers. Gorgeous things for newborns, toddlers, boys and girls. Mmmmmm. I will take one of each.

Robot Letters

We have a little bit of a robot obsession happening at our house. Aren't these robot initials adorable? Available in pink, green or blue.

Ear Piercing

Is it possible? Maude Blair is 11 years old.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, she wanted to get her ears pierced. She invited two friends to come along, plus her sister Olive (of course) and the five of us spent some quality time at the mall yesterday. Maude was very brave during the piercing. Olive held her hand while I teared up behind the camera. (Why so emotional? I'm not totally sure. Something about knowing it was painful and knowing it was going to leave permanent marks in her perfect little body. And something about how grown-up it seemed.)






After the big event, each of the girls picked out a little something for themselves — new earrings or accessories — and then we all hit the food court for milkshakes. They were a delightful bunch and gave me the 5th grade/6th grade low-down on fashion and brands with in-depth discussions of Hollister, Abercrombie, Aeropostale and Uggs. We would have been content to window shop for another couple of hours, but it was time to head home (gymnastics and ice-skating lessons happen on Thursdays).

We opened presents and ate cake last night. For cake, Maude requested a white layer cake with frosting made from chocolate pudding and whipped cream, topped with Samoas (the Girl Scout Cookies with the coconut on top). It was yummy. And I ate a slice for breakfast this morning. (And we're not judging because I am pregnant.)



Extra fun: in the middle of cake-baking and present-wrapping, the CO2 alarm went off. All festivities were paused while we immediately moved outside and called the energy company to come assess the situation. Which was, thankfully, all clear. Turns out the alarm was faulty. (We're replacing it today.)

Happy Birthday sweet Maude! It's a delight to be your mother.

Dear Readers, do you remember getting your ears pierced? I was 8 years old. I have a sweet memory of squeezing my dad's hand through the process. (The whole idea grossed my mom out, so my dad took me instead.) Some weeks later, my ears became infected and I let them grow in. In 5th grade, I had them pierced again. This time, I was old enough to care for them properly. How old were you?

Toms & Neiman Marcus

This is fun: Toms, the amazing company that gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair you purchase, launched an exclusive line of shoes for kids at Neiman Marcus last week. What do think of the collaboration? I love the glittery silver ones.

Knight Party

How was your weekend, Friends? The weather here in Denver was gorgeous with a capital G and we enjoyed every bit of it. Saturday morning was Oscar's birthday party. Oscar's requirements for the party: knights, cupcakes and a pinata. Done and done.

We couldn't find a good-looking, knight-related pinata, so we used papier mache boxes from the craft store to build a castle pinata. We filled the containers with goodies, wired everything together and used packing tape to secure.





When the guests arrived, they went to work immediately covering the pinata with strips of silver tissue paper, gold stars and gold wire garland.






Balloons, cupcakes, party favors (a knight dress-up set with shield, breast plate, helmet and sword) and paper goods were all in gold and silver.



In the middle of the party, the Black Knight (big brother Ralph dressed in a black cape) arrived on the scene and stole the castle pinata. Luckily, we had a group of brave knights on hand. They were able to follow the clues and save the castle. At the end of the party, they used their knight swords to break the pinata.



Oscar thought this party was heaven on earth.

Ask Design Mom — Flowergirl Dresses

Ask Design Mom Question:

Hi Gabrielle. My daughter will be the flowergirl in my sister's wedding on 10/10/10 here in Southern California. (She is 5 years old.) We are looking for unique flowergirl dresses for the outdoor event. Any clothing company recommendations? We are thinking non-white for the little ones in the wedding. Thanks. Stephanie

Design Mom Answer:
Thanks for the question, Stephanie! What a memorable date for a wedding. Love it. My first thought is to send you to Crewcuts. It's a super-dependable source for wedding-appropriate kid stuff. Check their everyday dresses and their wedding/party dresses.

But there are also a million other great sources. Depending on how formal the wedding will be, you might like the offerings at Dagmar Daley, Ses Petites Mains or this Hanji dress from Tea Collection.

What about you, Dear Readers? Where do you shop for wedding clothes for little kids?

Mister Clothing

Charming photography and styling from new children's clothing line, Mister. Available for purchase in the next few weeks.

Toy Storage

We are in search of something in which to store our endless collection of dress-ups. Isn't this a pretty toy box? By Mod Mom Furniture. (It's custom! You can pick your preferred patterns for the flowers.)

Done.

It's 9:00pm. We have officially finished up our valentines-for-classmates preparations. Things I'm thinking: 1) I have a lot of children. 2) Those children have a lot of classmates. It turns out Colorado has bigger class sizes than New York. It took me until Valentines Day to notice.


We used this clever idea on Kirtsy — via 24-7-365. I think they turned out great. We couldn't get Betty to stop looking at her fist. And Oscar refused to wear anything red. But we rolled with it.

To those who are up late making stuff: I salute you with my exacto knife.

Ismodern Sale

Happy February, Dear Readers! Did you have a wonderful weekend? Did you watch the Grammys last night?

I checked my email this morning and found this huge, huge sale announcement for Ismodern — one of my favorite children's clothing lines. Their clothes have such appeal for little kids and tweens alike. I bet my girls would love this dress.

Nightlight

There's another gift that Maude made this Christmas that I didn't get a chance to share. It's a nightlight that she made for Oscar. She used modpodge, small squares of patterned scrapbooking paper and a nightlight form. The technique was similar to the sketchbook she made for Ralph. But the nightlight turned out sort of quilt-like.





Maude did a great job and Oscar LOVES his nightlight.

How about you, Dear Readers? Did your kids make gifts for each other this year? Any projects they were particularly proud of?

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Want more ideas? Here are some links to other sibling gifts we've made:
- Potato Print clothing
- Embellished gloves
- Jumpropes
- Ribbon flowers (as belts, clips and hairpins)
- Glitter Initials
- Decoupaged Sketchbook
- Tutu, decoupaged bucket for matchbox cars, after-school bags, tiedye tees
- Flower headbands
- Wool mittens from recycled sweaters, embellished dragon mittens, sculpey bracelets, bibs, snowglobes and romper stompers made from cans

- Bubble bath, circle loom scarf
- Ribbon barrettes, painted t-shirt
- Bean bags, heating pad, hand chalk (for gymnastics), iPod cover

How great is this idea (that I heard about at our ultrasound on Friday)?

Every year, Kim (the ultrasound technician) and her husband and two kids, spend a night camping out under their Christmas tree. She said it typically happens early-to-mid December — the night the tree goes up. Extra fun: while the kids take their nightly bath, Santa leaves new holiday pj's on their bed with a short note (Sleep tight! love, Santa)

I am so in love with this tradition. It's the exact sort of thing that makes Christmas magical. You just know if you managed this even a few years in a row it would be THE thing your kids remember about the holidays — how the whole family slept under the twinkly Christmas lights and Santa came early to leave some cozy pajamas. So great! I'm saving this idea for next year.

What about you Dear Readers? Any favorite traditions that your kids especially adore?

image from SMN's flickr stream

Potato Print Clothing

Olive made potato print clothes for her siblings this year. We bought supplies on Friday and Saturday (clothing items and fabric paint) and on Sunday afternoon we carved our potatoes and got to printing.





We put pink and gold hearts on a little corduroy dress for Betty (these pics are before the gold hearts were added). They curve around the side of the dress.



We put red and silver smiley faces on a navy tee for Oscar.




We put brown and black skulls on the back of a grey t-shirt for Ralph.





We knew Maude really wanted a hoodie, and we found a lovely cable-knit, pullover, hooded sweater in grey that we thought she would love. But. We knew we wouldn't be able to print directly on it very well. So we printed on a washed piece of canvas instead (bird, stars and dots), then used big stitches to attach the canvas to the grey sweater. I think it's my favorite.

As long as we were printing, Olive wanted something for herself as well. So we put pink and purple hearts on a turquoise sweatshirt just for her. (For those who are curious, we bought all 5 items of clothing at Old Navy on Friday night and the total cost was about $30.)

Want more ideas? Here are some links to other sibling gifts we've made:
- Decoupaged nightlight
- Embellished gloves
- Jumpropes
- Ribbon flowers (as belts, clips and hairpins)
- Glitter Initials
- Decoupaged Sketchbook
- Tutu, decoupaged bucket for matchbox cars, after-school bags, tiedye tees
- Flower headbands
- Wool mittens from recycled sweaters, embellished dragon mittens, sculpey bracelets, bibs, snowglobes and romper stompers made from cans - Bubble bath, circle loom scarf
- Ribbon barrettes, painted t-shirt
- Bean bags, heating pad, hand chalk (for gymnastics), iPod cover