My little piece of Liberty London

I'm sure you've already heard as it's already been around the blogosphere at least a hundred times, Liberty of London for Target hit stores on March 14th. After first catching wind of it's imminent arrival I'm one of those crazies who promptly marked the event on my calendar and watched and rewatched their sneak peek vid and generally got caught up in the hype. Needless to say I wanted one of everything! Unfortunately though Target does not ship internationally... sob sob (get with the program "Tarjay" we want to shop too!).

I really wanted the tiered serving tray and some throw pillows, but while I debated and desperately tried to secure a stateside shipping address, to no avail! just about everything I wanted was out of stock... Target should have anticipated the sell outs.... oh well. from what I read though the tray has received low ratings and has broken for many people...which really sucks. Also on closer inspection of the pillows via their site I wasn't convinced that the quality of the fabric was that great... Then I thought about getting the girls matching sundresses but alas those sold out too. But heck I still wanted something... anything! So I promptly turned to Ebay and was quickly disappointed not by the selection but by the jacked up pricing with some items going for as much as four times! their original price. Note to said sellers... not cool, really not cool!

After much deliberation I came to the conclusion that it was much hype about nothing and that I'd fallen badly for all the advertising. In all honesty I didn't need a tiered tray or any more throw pillows and their canisters while lovely do not fit in with our current Kitchen decor. I did however *need* gardening gloves and thought how nice it'd be to get some girly ones to kick start some spring weeding and planting work!




I won these on Ebay for just $2.21! totally justifiable and cheaper than most run of the mill, i.e dreary! gardening gloves. Though the Dunclare pattern certainly wasn't my fave I've still got a little piece of liberty in something I'm already putting to good use. The quality is nothing to write home about though and makes me happy I didn't attempt to break the bank getting my hands on some of the other available products. Though I still think the Bike is awesome... and the storage bins are pretty cool too... How about you? have you gone wonkers for Liberty or have you let it pass?

Wheel of Colour

Hi there! This is just a quick post to share my good fortune with you. Months ago while randomly searching PBK on Ebay I came across Pottery barn kids awesome colour wheel puzzle. The puzzle being offered was in good used condition and was won by some other lucky soul for more than I could spend at the time. To say that I love colour would be an understatement and while in school I spent many hours mixing and painting to get Itten's colour wheel just right. Seeing the puzzle It was love at first sight and I mourned the loss of the puzzle for quite some time... and gripped about it lots to my dear hubby...

Johannes Ittens Colour Wheel

Well, what can I say sometimes the gods of ebay laugh at you and other times it's smiles all around!! I am now the proud new owner correction My daughters are the proud new owners of a brand new mint condition Pottery Barn Colour wheel puzzle complete with canvas storage bag! Me loves it!! won for just $13.05! I do my Happy dance every time I look at it! It's beautiful and even better in person. After all it's only fitting for MY daughters to own such a puzzle, it makes my designer heart skip a beat to hear my two year old perfectly pronounce Fuchsia, Magenta and Chartreuse! the joys of parenthood!

PBK Colour Wheel Puzzle

Newest editions to my Library

I've mentioned before my love of design books and especially of late, children's design. While so many retailers and show rooms continue to show pastels, circus, and baby animal themed nurseries or children's spaces... let me not forget dreaded primary colours and plastic! It's very refreshing to see sophisticated, fun, lived in and organic spaces for children. As you probably already know last year saw the fold of two of my favorite magazines, Cookie and Domino. It's tragic really as they housed a major source of inspiration for me. Luckily there are still many other sources for great design for children. Like milk mag and Jeu de paumes.

To temporarily satisfy my demand for kiddie room eye candy, I recently purchased some new titles to add to my collection. I've blogged before about Milk magazine and I especially love their Deco spreads. You needn't speak french to appreciate their inspiring images. Not quite sure how I missed this but they apparently produce a special interiors inspiration edition once yearly. I'm still kicking myself for missing the first two (sadly out of stock everywhere...) but at least I've got the third! I purchased my copy here. This is really more like a book and it's full of gorgeous and eclectic family spaces from around the world.

I also purchased the missing Jeu de Paumes Children's titles to complete my set, Children's rooms London and Children's rooms Stockholm. As usual these spaces are ever inspiring, I notice new details in their delectable photos every time I flip through them!

Children's rooms London

Children's rooms Stockholm

Milk Deco No3

Seems the more I get the more I want! but alas ces't la vie! non?

P is for.....Push Presents

As you already know I recently gave birth to my second darling little girl. After a tiring and challenging pregnancy, this time with a toddler in tow some days I felt like it would never end while other days I silently and sometimes not so silently asked myself what the heck I'd gotten myself into. All the while dear hubby did his best to be supportive and understanding and most importantly helpful. I've joked before that while holding my hand during labour or massaging my back, watching me get poked and prodded and with tears streaming down my face that he's no doubt playing a track over and over in his head.... a track that goes like this "thank God it's not me! thank God it not me! thank heaven it's not me!" After all that we go through to bring a child into this world it's nice to receive a little appreciation! So as you can imagine I'm an eager advocate of push presents!



I think it's funny that push presents have gotten so much press and hype about them in recent years. In my circles it's pretty standard... my father purchased little tokens of appreciation in the form of jewelery for my mother after the birth of each child and it's a pretty common practice in Jewish society and especially here in Israel. Actually truth be told, local custom dictates any holiday, birthday, you "fill in the blank" as a good occasion to buy ones wife some baubles here... but that's material for a whole other post. Now don't get me wrong I'm not advocating the pretentious notion of demanding such a gift, that would be down right tacky! put I wasn't entirely surprised to be presented with one either. Most women/mothers I know have received some sort of jewellery for the occasion of birthing a child and it needn't be ostantatious or have you refinancing your mortgage either.


For the occasion of my older daughters birth Dear hubby bought me an eternity ring. He knew I'd wanted one for some time now to wear beside my wedding band, and the symbolism of the ring, worn beside the one solidifying our marriage seemed fitting, even more so as we became a family of 3. I must disclose that I don't generally lust jewelery or collect it, outside of my rings I own just a few simple pieces I like to wear on special occasions. Having two daughters though I especially like the idea of jewelery as I've decided that we should present them with the present I received in their honour somewhere down the road.. maybe when they themselves become mommies... we've got time to decide being that they are just 28 months and two months... (and yes I know it's weird that I'm already thinking about them all grown up and being a grandmother....but heck I'm weird like that...and the thought definitely wouldn't surprise any of my friends!).



Last week while doing some blog hopping. late one night I stumbled upon The Vintage Pearl and what can I say I swooned with delight! these have got to be the perfect gift! unique. handmade, hand stamped, personalized keepsakes you can wear proudly. These lovelies can be personalized with your children's names, initials, and birthstones in several fonts and finishes and with their signature little pearl. Needless to say I want one!! any one! I really like the mama bird with her two pearls and I almost fell out of my chair because one of the examples could have been made for me! with very affordable pricing and worldwide delivery I'll be hinting to dear hubby that these are just the thing! go ahead and leave this open for your other half to see... you know you want one too!

so simple and sweet!

loves it!

for the whole clan....

*All pics are via thevintagepearl.com

And then we were Four!

I'm thrilled to announce the arrival of my precious daughter Princess M! born on Thursday January 21st. Bouncing baby girl, daughter to myself and dear Hubby and a little sister for Princess L! It's been a month and I'm feeling great! Little one has me enamored and I love our little family of four! Four is perfection! I absolutely love saying "My Girls" or "the Girls"! I wouldn't want it any other way! nevermind that I've always had a thing for symmetry and even numbers...

Four also brings along it's fair share of sleepless nights, lots of juggling and mountains 'o mountains of laundry! amongst the hubble and bubble of family life I have rare moments of quiet to myself, besides cozying up with a good mug of java or indulging in a long hot shower my preferred means of escapism is reading my favorite design and parenting blogs. I read ohdeedoh and apartmenttherapy religiously and check in for any new stuff on Babble daily, there's nothing like a little eye candy! unfortunately all this eye candy either sends me on wild goose chases tracking down "stuff" I just have to have for the kiddos or ends up on my ever growing list of wants. Blogs also seem to have a way of leading you into a black hole as I jump from one to the next bookmarking and "favoriting" away... there are so many talented and inspirational individuals out there that my list of projects and DIY'S I'd like to try keeps getting longer too.

It's really difficult trying to organize and keep track of all my links and favorites and sometimes after seeing an image somewhere I'll spend a frustrating hour of more just trying to track it down again! If you have any suggestions on setting up an organized and user friendly system for filing I'm all ears...

Some days when all is under control I pat myself on the back and think heck you're a domestic goddess other days I stare at the pile of dishes in the sink and the smudges on the white floor (yes very impractical...not my choice it's a rental...) and tunnel vision starts to set in... it's probably too early to tell as were just a month in but life with two in tow will no doubt be a learning experience with some strategic tactical planning and a bit of flying by the seat of my pants but I'm excited by the process and hope you'll tag along for the ride.

Blogging Hiatus...

EEKK! I know it's been a long time since I last blogged, but really I didn't think it had been this long... what can I say? where to start on my blogging absence?!?! to be honest at first I just told myself it would be a short summer blogging break of sorts... using the time I normally spent blogging enjoying the outdoors with my toddler and getting some long awaited projects out of the way... but if you've been following then you know well um, one month just led to another and then another.... shame shame on me!

Well I do have one fairly good excuse though... I haven't been entirely idle... I've been really busy BAKING! me being the oven! Baby number two is on the way! due any day now actually. Since this is after all a mommy blog please bare with me and allow me a short kvetch fest. Before conceiving my daughter, precious little L (can't really call her baby L anymore...she's grown so much! we celebrated her second birthday back in November...) I promised myself that I would be the perfect, fit, glowing, happy and glorious picture of pregnant bliss if there ever was such a thing, reading copies of fit pregnancy mag and the like and imagining how perfect it would all be! REALITY CHECK oh the disappointment!! turns out I make a miserable pregnant person! with lists of complaints longer than the "what to expect when you're expecting" books I halfheartedly flip through. Morning sickness is a bad joke! if only! I seem to be one of those "special" people who suffer from all day, all nine months long sickness! head hung over the toilet bowl really is no way to spend almost a year out of your life! to further excite things throw in a pelvic disorder decreasing mobility to a stand still, spells of dizziness resulting in blackouts, acid reflux, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and eventually a diagnosis of Preeclampsia resulting in an induction at 38 weeks! hardly the picture of pregnant bliss! I know I KNOW! many women have it much worse, enduring horrible procedures just to conceive a child and really what's important is the happy end! I'm very grateful to have a beautiful little girl whom is my pride and joy and object of my complete adoration! but heck it's would be nice if it were just a tad more pleasant!

Now after all that one would assume that I'd learned my lesson and had lost my "innocence", well nope not me... must also suffer from some sort of pregnancy induced naivete as I totally bought into the "each pregnancy is different" lore that floods prenatal books, blogs and forums... truly believing that THIS time would be different. YEAH RIGHT! at least the end is near.. at least I hope so! entering my 40th week the whole notion of waiting is totally foreign to me and I must admit quite frustrating, my nesting instinct kicked in a few weeks ago and I've torn through our house from top to bottom, cleaning, organizing, purging, DIYing, decorating, laundering, painting, gardening you name it! I've gotten more exercise this month then in the previous 8 months combined! but our little "babes" (that's little buns nickname...) has yet to arrive! now trying to maintain everything I've accomplished with a toddler and a husband loose in the house is no easy task and I've taken to avoiding phone calls, if I get one more "is anything happening? nu nu?" call I'll scream! there isn't anyone in the world who wishes I'd deliver already more than me!! with many a false call I may now be runing for longsest stalled labour ever! and I'm getting tired, and bored... and tired of being tired and bored and not sleeping is taking it's toll, and I want to sleep on my right side never mind my stomach and it would be nice not to have to contort like a pretzel to manicure my feet! mind you my obsession with having my feet in tip top shape is totally lost on dear hubby who shrugs it off with a "who's going to be looking at your FEET anyway...." arghh!! he just doesn't get it! my bags are packed, nursery and nest are feathered and ready now all we need is for the good old stork to drop on by! Hello babes, this is your mother speaking, can you hear me? is this thing on? time to come out!

Etsy treasure spotlight - Kooky Dolls

I first stumbled on to Lola bee's shop while decorating my daughters nursery. I wanted her to have soft cloth dolls not necessarily linked to "proper" anatomy and was immediately attracted to the bright, colourful and quirky, Kooky Dolls. It took me awhile to decide on the kooky doll of choice, honestly I wanted at least two! I still have hopes of owning another mini Kooky to go along with our Colleen...

Colleen the Kooky


Colleen the Kooky looking cozy on our "Etsy" chair...

We eventually chose Colleen the Kooky in a lovely pink and red floral pattern with red Swiss polka dotted legs. My Daughter has been fascinated by Polka dots practically from birth so that was a no brainer. Colleen was such a lovely addition to our nursery and I was so impressed with the quality and craftsmanship that I ordered an Emma the Kooky for a friends daughter as well.

Emma the Kooky

Kooky dolls are the brainchild of artist Val Rousseau and are available in the most delicious fabrics and stuffed with Eco friendly corn based fiberfill. Unlike many doll creators your little boy won't be neglected, Kooky dolls cater to both kooky girls and kooky boys and come in full size as well as mini and as a major plus Kooky dolls are available in 3 different skin tones.

Hurry and you might catch super Kooky while he's on sale!

Val is in the process of phasing over to her new shop Kooky Dolls where you can purchase from a wide range of dolls, and DIY patterns. If you're looking for a sweet little gift for your own little precious or need a gift for another special little person you can't go wrong with a kooky doll, they're irresistibly sweet while being toted along by the "ear"!

Pirate Kooky aarr...

Mini Zoe Kooky

Charley Harper

I just love Charley Harper's illustrations and was thrilled when his toddler board books Charley Harper's A,B,C's and Charley Harper's 1,2,3's came out. What a wonderful way to introduce his art and these most basic concepts to my daughter. There's always a catch though... I first spotted the collection being sold online via Old Navy, only problem old navy does NOT ship internationally but even more annoying is that they won't even except international credit cards, so even if I wanted to ship to relatives in the US that option was out... I then desperately searched ebay and came up with nothing! while I love ebay and for the most part have only had good experiences, I mean I totally rely on it to get my fix of all things North American... the sellers had some of the stuff but the prices were jacked up to almost double retail! and that just made me mad... I'd basically given up on acquiring any of Harper's items, at least for the time being.

But then our luck changed! As it's summer A.K.A. Wedding season here in Israel we've already been busy attending weddings. My husband's cousin got married two weeks ago and we had some relatives from the U.K. fly in for the occasion and a visit. They had the opportunity to meet our daughter for the first time and were kind enough to leave her a little MAD Money before their departure. Books are always well received in our home so I thought I'd flip through my Book Depository wish list and see if we can get some new titles. I'm not entirely sure how I stumbled on to it but low and behold they sell Charley Harper! they've got both books that I covet and the Charley Harper peg puzzle!! oh happy day! it never cease to amaze dear hubby the things that make me giddy... go figure?!

Anyway The Book Depository carries an entire line of Charley Harper products complete with their amazing worldwide free shipping! what glee! they have the memory game and the most awesome set of Harper illustrated wooden blocks that have got me swooning.... unfortunately these are not currently in stock but I'm on a waiting list for when they are, and you bet I'll be their first customer! for now the books and puzzle will have to tame the beast...



*Warning* Mommy gloating ahead! As a side note my toddler took up painting this week and even learned to say "Artist" which she articulated perfectly so it seems very apropos to start her Art education with examples by such a great American Artist...

Making Rounds...

Was thrilled to pop into ohdeedoh today to spot something really familiar, my Ikea Latt Table hack! If you haven't already done so check out the original post A table for two! this is really getting around!

A ballerina in tulle land...

My Daughter is obsessed with ballerinas! It's hard to pin point exactly how and when this obsession started but I fear it has something to do with as innocent an image as three ballerinas representing the number three in a DK publishing Counting and Numbers book I bought her as an infant. If you ask me I'll tell you earnestly that it was never my intention to push the gender specific, stereotypical pink frilly tutu confections and all that comes with them. Long ago though, I vowed that I'd be sensitive to my children's strengths and interests and do my best to support those interests. I know that much of what we associate with gender is acquired through socialization but honestly biology must play a fair share in it too! At only 18 months old my daughters first requests each morning are usually "necklic" (her version of necklace...) I let her wear a strand of my fake pearls... otherwise she'll find her way into my jewelery box and choose something herself... That request is usually followed by "tutu"! now to be honest we didn't own a tutu a couple months ago, she'd improvise with a scrap of shimmery purple material I had lying around in the sewing room!

I guess I am guilty on some counts though, it's hard not to ooh and ahh when your little princess is twirling around and around and attempting to do pirouettes and curtsies. My husband, myself and other family members lavish her with attention in return for her little performances...

Materials; two 25 yrd rolls of tulle in Lavender and Lt. blue, some elastic, scissors, and a measuring tape.

20 minutes into the project... I was very anxious to get tying so I didn't cut all the tulle to start... was definitely irritating to have to stop and cut more tulle once I got the hang of it... next time I'll be prepared!

To help make my little ballerinas dreams come true I decided it was time to whip up a tutu for her. I searched the web for tutu tutorials and watched a couple demos on youtube. Then decided to do my own thing.... From all I had read it was highly recommended that I purchase the precut 6" tulle rolls, so I ordered 4 rolls off ebay in 4 different colours. The plan was to make two tutu's in coordinating colours. I love the idea of a no-sew tutu that way It would hopefully be quick and easy to put together. I started it with a piece of 1/2" elastic measured to fit my daughters waist minus a few centimeters... this is because the taught tying of the tulle stretches it out... I got about half way through tying when I realised I'd tied them so tight that the elastic no longer had much stretch... on to plan B. I cut the elastic I'd sewn closed and sewed a length of sheer ribbon to either end then tied a knot on each end. Then I continued tying the tulle up to the knots. I cut the tulle ahead of time to the desired length x2 plus a little extra for the knot... to make my tutu poufy I tied two pieces at a time! this tutu turned out very poufy, glad I didn't opt for three layers as it would have been way over the top! never mind that I wouldn't have been able to finish it as I went through every last inch of two 25 yard rolls!

I love the combination of the lavender and the blue I think they work really nicely together... I also wanted to avoid the classic pink!

Originally I wanted an elasticized tutu but we ended up with a bow/tie version. Either way my toddler is in seventh heaven! trying to pry it off of her to go out to the park or to have a bath is tricky and trying... I'm taking a breather from the tutu making but will probably be back sometime next week diligently cutting up more tulle for number two! this time equipped with a little insiders how to knowledge... mainly of what not to do!



I don't know if this is just a phase or the start of lifelong passion but either way I'm very happy to see my little one so smitten with something "Mimi" made!