The Homies 2012

Bag of Pretty was nominated for the Best Family Blog Contest at Apartment Therapy.

 Please take a moment to vote here.

Meet my new friend: Eszterda doll

I finally have one, and she is all mine! An Eszterda doll!

I don't remember anymore when was it that I first saw her. It was probably one of those nights when I, after the house finally goes quiet, get lost in the infinity of the www. But I do know that I fell in love instantly. So much in fact, that I had to write to the creator immediately to find out who she was. And now, I will tell you too.

Eszter Dobó, the lady behind Eszterda dolls is a poetic soul. You can see that the moment you enter her blog. There is a little or no text there, only photography...but photography so beautiful it speaks to you right away.

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Even though she was always a creative being, Eszter's major ended up to be in economy. She did make toys and accessories for her daughters, but only after the third one was born she decided it is 'now or never' point in her life and started stitching for real.

These dolls are hand embroidered and if you do let your kids play with one of those they can gain so much. First, and foremost, they will not choke on a plastic eye that got detached after 10 minutes of play. Seriously, the richness of colour, texture and the uniqueness of such a doll can only do good for them. Their beauty aside, a doll should be a doll, says Eszter. You need to be able to squeeze them, caress them, even dress them up or take to bed with you.

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But even a home without children should not be a home without one of these magical creatures. Just look at them:

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 Eszter is obviously drawn to folk art motifs - Hungarian or other authentic ethno-cultures.

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Their charming naivety and tastefully primitive simpleness is what makes them so special and universal. Embroidery, as somewhat old fashioned form of decoration becomes modern and exquisitely attractive in her interpretation.

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As I've already mentioned, I love them beyond words and I know you will too.

You can find them on

Etsy, ESZTERDArte
Meska, Eszterda

Like on facebook, and be sure to check out the beautiful blog regularly.

All photos but the first one are courtesy of Eszter Dobó!

Carnival is officially over

Carnival is officially over. We had our share in dressing up.

And we finished it off yesterday with a major cooking-show by Chef Pale.

 To read more jump over to Budapest Moms.

The cheapest cool lamp, or the coolest cheap lamp EVER

You need:

IKEA EKBY VALTER bracket
IKEA HEMMA cord set
drill. screws, plug connector

And enjoy!

Piece of advice: if you are going to use it above your kids reading nook, use a LED bulb, those don't get hot, if your kid decides he wants to touch it, as mine does.

If you like my nook, you can vote for it by liking this photo here. I WON!



Linking to: Marvelously Messy, Sumo's Sweet Stuff
                 Whipperberry

Monkey parade in Budapest

                                                               
                                                          Today I am guest posting over at

You always win with Ada Ada but you can really win big now

I first learned about Ada Ada via Paul &  Paula and I was instantly in love. Designed by three Israeli sisters, the brand for babies offers beautiful, sophisticated, yet cool outfits for your little ones. They use only natural fibers, chosen for their comfort, and follow fair trade principles in their making. Label's classic, recognizable color line, and unique, but always comfortable design will make you want to go back for more, more, more...and you can get sooo much more now, only by liking their facebook page. When they hit 1000 fans, they will choose one, who will receive a gift of 1000 Eur worth of their clothes!!!! Go get it mums!

 Some of my favorites from past collections

Last minute Valentines project

We don't really do seasonal decoration. I don't know anyone who changes their decoration for any seasonal holidays other than Christmas. Including us. But, since I have kids, I have found this to be a good excuse and inspiration to do projects with them. These are still very simple projects, with some cool possibilities and results nonetheless.
This weekend I cut out a number of hearts (considering the HEART holiday coming up) with a plan for P to colour and decorate them in some bright and happy colours. If you would like, you can find the template for our asymmetric heart here. A little did I know that his choice of colour will be brown and his interest in coloring would last for about 5 minutes, or exactly 4 hearts.




So I put away the colours and the fruit of my hard work, cut out hearts and decided to wait till after his nap to do something else, like maybe decorate his room with hearts, but he wouldn't have it. Completely desperate at the thought my hearts will go to waste, I then decided to decorate my living room wall, bring some Valentines spirit in there.

He had a problem with that too. He didn't like my concept and at that point he decided to take things in his own hands.

And this is how it is done. You have yourself a nice kids project, a wall art that makes your living room happy and a prop for taking photos of your children if they let you.

 

 You can then use the photos to make quirky V-Day greeting cards to send to the family tomorrow:)

Broken Umbrella

In light of National Umbrella Day, which is today, I have some broken umbrella wanders for you.

Italian designer Cecilia Felli (already mentioned on my blog here) makes skirts from broken umbrella fabric.

 Taryn of Recycling Zynchal makes Umbrella dog rain coats.

 And here is a Broken Umbrella Bag step by step instruction video.






Happy Umbrella Day!

Baby it's cold outside - NO sew hairy draft stopper

First of all, I hate draft stoppers! Why? I simply think they are ugly, or to be less drastic, they are not flattering.

Although I can appreciate the joke in items like these ones

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and i probably could live with a cute one like this one for my door

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I really needed something else for our old and hopeless windows, and I decided it needed to be hairy. So, enter the faux sheep skin again.

I basically just took the hairy rugs faux sheep skin rugs and rolled them up

and stuffed my old windows with them

and there you have it, the rat loves it, and if nothing else it at least looks warm and cosy.