Piktopest - Kids souvenir collection from Budapest

Souvenirs are a dear subject to me. Many years ago we started buying magnets on our travels. That seemed like a sensible thing to do, it is small, easy to carry and it hangs on your fridge all the time, and whenever you see  it you remember the good times. But, truth be told, even though there are some beautiful magnets out there, most souvenir fridge magnets are crap. Crap dear to your heart nevertheless. So it happens, that because I had a certain number of magnets on my fridge, my friends got the idea that I was collecting them, and they started bringing me magnets from places I've never been. The whole crap-collection started losing it's appeal, I couldn't connect to it any longer, except at moments when I was picking them off the floor and swearing. Needless to say, when we moved I packed them all in a box, where they are still resting in peace. I have this great series over at Eastok Europe, where I tell you all about the souvenirs you will never want to hide in the box.


Budapest based graphic designer Zita Majoros, who also happens to be my friend (our sons are actually friends, we just sort of tag along:) and the owner of a cool design concept store Printa Budapest, where the best coffee in town is served, has created a kids souvenir collection called Piktopest.
I am normally not too crazy about souvenir T's, but Printa T-shirts are really cool even outside the souvenir category. We're still in love with the one P got for his birthday last year. And could you resist a T-shirt with pooing dog on it? If you've been to Budapest don't think so:)
Printa has a great grownup souvenir selection too AND they have a contest going on at the moment called Love in Print Phrase Contest, if you have some original thoughts on Love submit them here, you might land some Printa stuff if you win.

What kind of souvenirs do your kids get when you travel?

Learning to read just got complicated - Hungarian alphabet

My son, as I already mentioned once or twice, has developed an obsessive love for letters. Which is great, and loads of fun, because it sort of gives me a little rest in the creativity department. See, I don't need to try to figure out what he should do when at home, because if he is not playing with his cars he will want to read or write...or as he calls it: DRAW LETTERS! Even in the bathtub. It is also incredibly amazing to follow how his little mind works. However, it came too fast! Why? Because I haven't been able to figure out how to deal with all of those languages we use here  (you can read about that here) when it comes to reading and writing. We've sort of mastered the Croatian ABCs, but suddenly he starts reading a Hungarian label or takes out an English book and then I explain the differences to him, and he acts as if he understands, but I get all tired and worried it might just be too much to handle...for me:)

Did you know that Hungarian alphabet has 44 letters (English has 26).

BUT, when you learn the letters in Hungarian, however intimidating the word must look spelling is pretty straightforward (same is in Croatian) while in English spelling is where the fun begins.

I've been eying this  Hungarian alphabet book by Anna Kövecses on Behance for ages, love the vintage look of all her work.

pepper

button

jazz

Although I love ABC posters and prints in general, I somehow feel they are 'for decoration only'. When a small kid is just learning this is the perfect way for them to see the letters, over sized and one by one, especially for sounds that consist of more than letter, and there are several of those in Hungarian, Croatian and let's not forget German, which luckily for me has not come up yet as a reading language...but it won't be long I am sure.

Anna Kövecses' book is available for purchase on Blurb.

Animal madness

I think I am going animal crazy, and it is completely unintentional. We're redecorating our kids room (if you can call that a room) - I'll tell you all about it once it is ready to be made public. P finally got a big boy bed, total Ikea hack and we are super happy how it turned out. Because of this room makeover I've been browsing pinterest lately (with a valid excuse), when yesterday I came across something I loved AND NONE OF THE LINKS LED ANYWHERE. I started obsessing about it and trying to find the source, or think of an idea based on which I could search further. When at 3 o'clock in the morning I still had nothing, I went to sleep but couldn't, because I was trying to figure out how to make something resembling what I saw, because obviously someone else did it too. It is not a shop! It is nowhere.

But then it hit me on my facebook timeline today: Groovy Magnets. Still love it. I want one for the boys room. I can't really want it for our bedroom, since we already have Adrien Gardère's Zoo Vache, aka COW there. I also have a zebra door wallpaper waiting quietly, AND I just remembered my huge ANTS, WE ARE NOT A COLONY wall decal stickers (where are they, I ask myself now).

Oh, and in the living room I have a huge Ikea rabbit tapestry. OK, enough with my animals. 
Bella is snoring and I just want to show you this perfection. Not only it is a cool looking wallpaper, it is also magnetic and it comes with a batch of fancy magnets. Also, considering what they 'do' I was expecting a price tag to be somewhere in between sky end never, but I was confronted with a reasonably priced wallpaper I can actually start thinking of purchasing (when I come to terms with my newly recognized ''animal in the house'' obsession.

Hard to guess which one is my favorite, he?