Aren’t these the cutest little bloomers ever –  I love the frills and colourful fabric.  Made in Australia, they cost about AU$20 and shipping is cheap at between $1 and $3 depending where in the world they are going. You can get them in sizes from newborn to 2 years.  Go have a look at the pretty range right here.

If you are after something a little different for your wall, then how about Oar art.  The lady behind these great pieces is Leanne Culy, a New Zealand woman living in the beautiful Bay of Islands.  Take a look at her About page and scroll down to see more of her oar art.  There are several galleries here that may have her pieces for sale.

I posted a while back about the great little birds made from vintage wallpaper, (that you can now get at Allium Interiors here in Auckland) and still I love the other pieces in the range for children’s rooms.  The folks over at the online store Romp have a great selection of the Inke silhouettes, and down-under here and here stock a selection as well.  Quite expensive but if you own your home or know the rooms going to be the kid’s for a while then they are a great way to brighten a room without the standard one-wall-painted-different-colour-theme. 

If you have a thing for modern classics, then you may just like a smaller version for your child.  At least the house would all come together without nasty bright plastic furniture!  Little Nest is the Australian store that sells them and you can purchase online.  They will be shipping internationally shortly, so keep checking back or send them an email.

Ahh, yay.  Master four (and three quarters) loves going along to any new kids movie that’s out.  He has done it for a few years now and is very good at sitting still for a couple of hours – so it makes for a fun outing – and I will pretty much sit through anything as I love the movies.

We will so be going to this when it arrives way down here in NZ.  Apparently due out 16 October in the US, so not sure when it will happen for us, but I’m hoping pretty soon after!  Take a look at the trailer – v exciting!

One image to inspire a little fun into your reno or new house build.  How about a slide beside the stairs? Actually, I had to add a few more pics for you. This whole place is cool because it’s under ground mostly and sits right smack bang in hip Notting Hill.  The home belongs to Alex Michaelis, an architect at Michaelis Boyd Associates, so of course his home would rock.  Click on the link to go see a few more images on their website under Residential, Oxford Gardens.  Master Four (and three quarters) would love it!

via [Bloesem Kids]

If you are ever in the need for a gift, The Spoon Sisters is a great shopping site.  They ship worldwide and have a vast selection of goodies to sift through.  One of my favourites at present is the Happy Birthday Cake Mould.  Now I know that most folks love chocolate icing on top, and if you do a runny mix and pour it over the cake, then you don’t have to try and smear it in and around the letters, making it so much easier…and tastier.  It’s sells for NZ$55 plus shipping, but think of the amount of birthdays you bake for (especially if you have children) in a lifetime.  Oh, and if they want something fancy then you can decorate the centre of it any way they desire!  

If you don’t know, or haven’t seen these fabrics before, they are by the talented Lara Cameron of Ink and Spindle.  The three girls – Tegan, Bianca and Lara recently had their first open studio where you can purchase the fabrics and you can also go visit by appointment or get them online.  Lara works from her cool studio in Kensington, Melbourne, Australia and she also has a great blog where you can keep up with where the fabrics are on show and new developments in the line.  I would love to just go visit to see how it’s all done.  The happiness of working around all that colour would make it worth going to work every day!

This is a groovy new way to see what average people do on an average day.  Called The Average Day Watch it divides your time into routines with the outside loop representing AM and the inner loop the PM.  Mr Jones Watches ship worldwide and this model costs about NZ$290.  

via [LikeCool]

I still love finding bird houses that aren’t the norm and these from Modern Birdhouses by Weiler are another great collection.  There are three different roof styles and each would sit perfectly in a garden with a matching modern home.  At US$195 they are quite expensive, but perhaps if you are buying just one it mightn’t matter. However, I still want a row along my fence line one day so maybe it’s something I will have to make.  Or find myself a handyman to build something similar.  For more info on where to get them and the sizes, click here.  

This Remuera, Auckland house recently sold around the NZ$5.5m mark.  Whoever ’snapped’ it up must be pretty chuffed, and have a load of wine!  I have cellar envy.  We don’t even have wine in the house right now, so could not imagine what this would look like full.  I love that you can see part of the cellar from the dining area as well (image second row left).  This mighty home has 5 double bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 4 living areas, a home theatre, a games room, a gymnasium, a 1000 bottle wine cellar, a state of the art kitchen with huge butler’s pantry, 3 car garaging, a pool house, an 18 metre gas heated pool, a spa and dedicated utility rooms covering about 800m2.  The house is fully automated to control everything from lighting to irrigation.  Oh, and last – beautiful views through beautiful native trees.  To view more images go here.

images [Open2view.com]

After hunting around for a little side table for the nursery, I came across these cool stools/tables!  The Zaishu comes flat packed and takes only one minute to assemble, is hand printed with cool artwork by international artists and is made from sustainable Australian native plantation pine.  My favourite is the Antique Kimono which features rare patterns from the 16th century Edo period in Japan. Made in Australia you can buy them online and they ship worldwide or google them and you’ll find a few stores that sell them.  At AUD$350 I am finding it hard to justify right now – (with all the other baby stuff that’s far more a necessity than a pretty side table) – but I am just going to keep saving as it’s already got a spot waiting!

A while back I posted about this thermometer and now I have discovered something just as great, and it’s on sale!  The Scaneo is a digital thermometer stocked by Bay Bee Cino and can be used across a childs forehead or used in their ear.  It can be read in celsius or fahrenheit and is only AU$63 at present on their website. 

Recently – ok not recently, but at Christmas I received a great Christmas card from relatives in Portland, and thought the card was totally cool.  Instead of an email or a letter printed on some plain paper and put inside a standard card – they sent this instead.  With short bullets of the important things they did over the past year, where they holidayed, a new baby etc was all on the front, and inside a great family pic.  The card is above, bottom left.

So I went looking and found this great stationery from Erin Condren.   There is so much to look at, so you’ll have to get a cup of tea and sit for a bit to select what you love.  There are even practice sheets for your four or five year old to practice writing – (something I am doing with Master Four at present).  Many pieces are customizable down to colour and font.  Think I might do something similar this Christmas.  Enjoy your browsing, it is so worth a look.

I want to go to London, to Portobello Road, to the store called From Somewhere. The clothing is recycled from offcuts, end-of-lines and surplus high end fabric. Their pieces are colourful and poetic, and have a little bit of whimsy in them all.  I am not sure if you can get the skirt above right (which made me fall in love with their clothing) but the other pieces are from their last two seasons.  It’s not cheap, and there are some stockists online where it’s available, or you could just flip through the quirky look book.