Alto sewing machine by Sarah Dickins

The most unbelievably beautiful sewing machine I have ever seen.


And it is not just pretty. It is said to be used friendly and practical, with the arch opening space for your right hand, and a touch sensitive base instead of a pedal. Could you even imagine a sewing machine without a pedal?

Well, it is here. Designed by Sarah Dickins who says "By increasing the appeal and accessibility of sewing, Alto encourages users to ‘make do and mend,’ inspiring them to recycle, customize, and repair clothes which would otherwise end up in the bin."

Thank you for the tutu

Little Ana made me a thank you gift for a tutu we made.

Isn't it lovely? Isn't SHE lovely?:)

Girlie fun for a boymom - making a tutu

Back in June I won a Bellissima Kids Tutu Kit in a giveaway. If you are a regular on this blog, you must be asking yourselves, why would I need a tutu kit..because YES, I have two boys, and they don't wear tutus, at least not yet. But, I am a sucker for giveaways. I love them...especially if I win. I also love getting packages filled with pretty goodies, so much fun. This particular package has traveled a long way from New York to Budapest to not find me there. So it hat to travel a bit more, to get to the Croatian coast and make our unsuspecting neighbor, little girl called Ana, a very happy girl.

While P was fishing with his daddy and baby I was having a nap, I showed Ana how to thread a ribbon through 3 tutu pieces. I loved it best at this point, but this tutu kit is made for girls just like Ana, who was mesmerized by all the glitter, feathers and ribbons that came with it.

When P came back he had a total meltdown because I was making a tutu wit her and not with him so we continued sticking together. When we finished it was dark, and raining. It was really something else to see a little girl excited over glitter and pink ribbon.This was fun, for a boy mom such as myself.

After the rain came sunshine

Glitter and beads were everywhere.

and then came sunset.

Linking to No Time for Flashcards

This is how we do it...

Late night post, because we are in summer mode, and have things to do during the day...

Like fishing with daddy

or shopping for lunch with mommy.

 

I know...:)

Hands-free pumping bra - PumpEase

You ask why?
The first answer form a long list is:

You would like to multi-task (do other things while pumping)

What? Why?
I mean, I don't know...I am all for innovation. I am all for multi-tasking...but this seems like a weeeeee bit of an overkill.

What do you think?


source

Baby bottles I love

I am not a huge bottle user. Baby I is already on sippy cup as far as bottles are concerned, so I will deffinitely not get to use Mimijumi with this baby. This bottle looks amazing, and we'd probably be the talk of the town if we flashed it around. I've never seen a bottle as beautiful as this one.

"The innovative nipple design replicates a mother’s breast, creating a natural feeding and latching experience for a happier and healthier bottle fed baby. Bold colors and soft textures are combined to give the Very Hungry bottle a distinctive, eye-catching appearance."

Pura however has a stainless steel bottle. Wow, right?!

 "Crafted from safe, anti-bacterial, #304 stainless steel, the same material used in milk pasteurization for years"
What is really cool with Pura bottles is that they are compatible with many types of spouts a nipples, even the sippy cup ones we are using. The newest addition to the collection are colored sylicone insulation sleeves.

I can totally see ourselves rocking orange sleeve on aqua blue bottle.

MEZOOME - interview

A little more than a month ago I posted about a play mat by Mezoome, young Israeli designer brand for children. Today I am bringing you a mini-interview with the two ladies behind Mezoome: Maayan and Anat.
(There is also a discount code for their shop in the bottom)

1. For introduction, could you first tell us a few words about yourselves? Who are the two ladies behind Mezoome Designs?


Maayan Goln Shpigel is 31 years old mother of two girls: Alona is 3.5 years old and Michaella is 1.4 years old. Maayan is a trained feldenkrais instructor specializing in babies and a fashion/children designer.

Anat Biala is 30 years old mother of two boys: Jonathan is 4.5 years old and Yoav is 1.2 years old. Anat is an interior designer specializing in kitchen design and a children designer.

2. How did it all start?



It all started when we met two years ago in our older children's kinder garden. We started talking and became very good friends (so did our kids :]). We realized we both shared a passion for design and for children's design in particular. As mothers, we were both under- whelmed by what we found in the market for kids and decided we wanted to start our own brand that would cater to mothers like us that wanted children products that were both practical but also aesthetically pleasing. This is how Mezoome was born.

3. What does the name Mezoome stand for?




The name Mezoome means "who's who" in Hebrew. When we started working we were together a lot and constantly got asked who's who. We liked the way it sounded as well as what it stood for.

4.How much do your children influence your work?

Mezoome =our kids. They were the inspiration for the brand to begin with and stay our source of inspiration till this day. As they grow we grow with them - constantly looking for new ideas and products that can grow with them. They are always in our mind's eye when we think of new ideas.

 5. Which part of the creative process do you like best?

We both work around the business but the thing we enjoy most is the design aspect as well as the product development. Seeing how a sketch on paper grows and develops into a prototype and from there into a finished product. It's like a mini- birth. We get excited every time :)

6. Do you have a 5-10-year plan, or do you just do it instinctively?


We have a 1 or 2 years plan and a 5 years vision.

7. Could you suggest some other Israeli designers we should pay attention to?


We are always happy to recommend talented Israeli designers. The ones that we most admire are:

Pockets (children), Wild Thing Studio (jewelry), Timo (hand made dolls)

8. Favourite foreign designers!

Charles and Ray Eames 

Thank you so much ladies!
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I fell in love with their Baby Sleeping Bag, but unfortunately I discovered them too late, baby I is already too big for it. If you love their products as much as I do, this is your lucky day, because Mezoome ladies are offering a 15% discount to BoP readers in their etsy shop, just use a code BAGOFPRETTY. The code will be active for the next 14 days (ending on 2nd September).

Find them on twitter and facebook too.

Doggy wrap

Bumbo baby seat - safe or sorry?

Bumbo baby seats are being recalled for safety reasons.

Personally, it never appealed to me. I love the design, it is really cute, but the idea it promotes, that you can put your baby in it when she can hold her head up is scary to me. What is even more scary is that people do it. I mean, I am no expert...but where I come from it is a common opinion that you should not sit the baby up until she can do it on her own.

Are you using one? What do you think?

Chalktrail

Chalktrail is a new and wonderful product in the see of millions of toys we see every day. And what is so wonderful about it that is so simple that it "could have been made a half-century ago but, for some inconceivable reason, wasn’t". It is an add-on to your bike (any size) or a scooter that holds a piece of chalk in the back and it draws as you ride.

In my opinion, any toy that combines outdoor play with creativity has to be wonderful. If you can attach it to your bike or a scooter...even more so. Street art with chalk, let the kids color the world.

Invented by Washington based Scott Baumann apparently came up with the idea playing with his kids and watching them hop on and off their bikes to draw on the pavement with chalk. This  is also supposed to be super-simple to use independently by kids and installing it does not require any tools. Also, the more the merrier...fun grows with number of bikes and chalk colors available.

Follow Chalktrail on facebook or get it on fab, it is on sales for the next 10 or so hours.

See Chalktrail in action

Long weekend at grandma's

I am back guys, after a loong weekend of finally enjoying my morning coffees on the oh-so-popular pallet garden set, and watching these two guys hang out with their great grandmother...

Priceless!

The Mouth Man hoodies

I pinned the raptor hoodie to my Cool kids clothes board many, many months ago. I even almost bought it several times.

I know P would go completely crazy about these tops. Any of them.

First of its kind in animated apparel Mouth Man hoodies are patented, custom designed and printed with eco-friendly inks on recycled fabric, 100% Polyester Sport Fabric. Mouth Man Products are green and designed and made in the USA.
 

Total boy stuff. The only thing I can't come to terms with is, the are 100% polyester. I am not sure what to think of that. Is that bad? Not so much? I am not to crazy about polyester, am I wrong? It does say it is 100% Polyester Sport Fabric, so I suppose that should be a good thing.

Anyways, they are about 35% off now on zulily so do leave a comment about this polyester thing if you think I am off the track, and I will go get several of them. Thanks.

Pinocchio washing line

I love funny design. I could really use one line like this for situations when eg. we come home after the day at the beach, when the night beofre I've done 2 full washes and I have nowhere to hang our towels. Plus, it is funny, and I love funny design. I already said that. Bye.

Castiglione Morelli Design

Smellies - interactive T-shirts

Ok, so I am not sure if the name Smellies is more of a head scratch or the 'interactive Ts' description. So, let me enlighten you. This Australian brand specializes in clothing you can 'experience'. There are three ranges available:

Scratch N' Smell range

Scratch the print and then smell the chocolate.

"We use the latest scent application technology for clothing, we have discovered a NEW engineered microcapsule technology that holds the scent longer. Scent has the power to evoke emotions, evoke long lost memories and change people’s moods. It has been shown in studies, that scent effects 75% of the emotions we experience everyday. Let us now experience these emotions from our clothing and have some fun with it!"







The colourchange range

T-shirts that will change colour due to changes in temperature.












The glow in the dark range

Even this one, which is pretty unexciting compared to the first two, would without a doubt become my son's favorite piece of clothing if he was to get one.












"...for the kids of noughties!"

They ship worldwide! Which one is it going to be?

Unleash the artist

Several months ago, at 3 years of age, our son decided to make his walls more pretty (as he put it) instead of having his afternoon nap. We acted angry and explained that is not a nice thing to do. A week later he was having his nap, or so we thought, until he called out from his room, that he needs more wet wipes, and we were confronted with these images:

He tried to wipe off his work of art from the week before...

I mean, it is not THAT beautiful, but it can be painted over, so not that big of a deal.

Some designer thought of a creative ways to solve this problem, so today you can buy a color in wallpaper by Jon Burgeman:

or you can have your kids customize their or their sibling clothing with this Monster Leggings Artist Kit, by a super cute new brand from Australia, AmorAmor.

I don't think any of these would have stopped P from doing what he did, but they ARE sort of cool even without this pedagogic connotation. Not only they make it possible to kids to scribble on their walls and clothes, the design is great even in monochrome. And even if they get bored and stop coloring half-way, it still looks great...but only a little better then the wet-wiped wall at our house.

If you like the idea, but are more of a DIY all the way type of person, you might like Summer Art Love and/or Boys of Summer Art free printables by Lil Blue Boo.

Happy doodling!