Giveaway: Clippies!

As a follow-up to my Becoming Mom post, I have a little giveaway for the kiddos!

Wonderful Etsy seller ariamamma, from whom I have bought a Sophie giraffe leash and a hairclip from, has kindly sponsored this giveaway. You could win one of two packages:


- the Infant giveaway contains a pack of 7 infant no-slip hair clippies in Spring Colours as shown. Plus, one Sophie leash (Sophie not included).


- the Toddler giveaway contains a pack of 7 toddler alligator hair clips in Spring Colours as shown. Plus, a Fantastic Elastic in your choice of colour. The Fantastic Elastic is great for holding up those a-little-too-big pants once your toddler moves out of diapers!

Ariamamma's products are great. The clippies stay in Chloe's hair no problem, even when she had baby-fine newborn hair. I've bought hairclips from other etsy sellers and places like Gymboree or The Children's Place, but these ones are really the only ones that do stay in her hair. See how happy she looks?



To enter:

• Leave a comment telling me (1) which package you'd like to win, Infant or Toddler, (2) your email address, and (3) also tell me your favourite child's name... NOT that I am in need of another baby name anytime soon ;)
• One entry per person
  
• Contest open until Wednesday, January 13, 10pm EST
• Winner will be selected using random.org number generator
  

Good luck!

Etsy Shopping

Have you started your Christmas shopping? I haven't. But after spying these pretty things on etsy, I may just have to put some things in my cart.



Teacher Holiday Greeting by simplesongdesigns
Palest pink ring by sweetmini
Girl's Christmas dress by HolyCrapClothing
Pink Lemonade Headband by ummashin
Counting Fish set by Heartfelt3
Brown silk headband by BeSomethingNew
Literary Journey by almondtreeframes
Kids chunky cowl by knittles

Friendly Folks

One thing I love about the internet is how it can bring you in contact with some wonderful people. Whether it be through chatting on a forum, blogging, or just emailing people about their products or services, I've been able to meet some great people - virtually. I love it when little things happen to remind you that on the other end, behind the computer screen, is another human being. Here's a little thank you post to some of those nice folks who have made my day:

Lindsay at Penny People was kind enough to send me this print for Chloe's room when I helped her with some reno questions. How thoughtful! Lindsay is a fab renovator and DIYer herself - you should check out her desk transformation!


Ariamamma is a lovely etsy seller. I bought a leash from her shop for Chloe's Sophie the Giraffe toy! But (blame it on the mommy-brain), we lost the leash so I ordered another one. Ariamamma sent one + a spare! And she sent this supercute hair clip which holds tight even in Chloe's babyfine hair. Visit her shop if you're looking for cute baby accessories.


And Liz at Wallpaper sent me this pretty album when I won her first giveaway. It was just what I needed - see, I've already filled it up with 200 photos! Liz is a stylish gal so I'm always peeking in on her blog to see her latest find.


So thank you, kind people. A virtual hug is coming your way!

Etsy Love

Loving this modern baby owl clock by decoylab... it would be great in the nursery so I can know exactly what insane time it is I'm doing those middle-of-the-night feedings :o\ Oh Chloe, are you sure you don't feel like sleeping through the night yet?? :)

Pea in a pod

So cute. The Noonie by etsy seller lala's pequenos

Etsy Love

More things I'm loving on etsy:




Bookplate and Silhouette print from nelladesigns; quilt by aniandtrio; tags by sweetbeets; print by tollipop.

Bathed In Light

If all goes according to plan, there should be a new tiled bathroom floor by the time I come home tonight. We bit the bullet and decided to get the contractor to put in the floor tile too. It saves us the trouble of having to find a place to cut the marble tiles that surround the perimeter (12”x24” pieces that need to be 6”x24”) to fit the design we came up with. Only problem is that the basketweave tile we chose won’t be in stock until mid-January, so tiling guy will have to come back to fill in the middle piece. At least if the marble goes in then we can get the toilet installed!

HandyMan put primer on the walls on Sunday so right now the room looks fresh, bright, and white. Over the holidays we plan to get the subway tile done on the walls and paint. We’ve got a few other things left to do…order the tub glass and curtain rod, order the door. We could have done these weeks ago but HandyMan was preoccupied with his exams and I’ve just been my lazy, pregnant self, lol. Here’s a door we can special order through Home Depot.


I would have preferred a flat shaker panel style, but for that we’d have to go the custom route as I haven’t found anything readily available. I have ordered the custom Bath decal though from etsy.com. It’s similar to the one we put on the kitchen chalkboard. Once the door is in place, lots of natural light will fill the bathroom and hopefully create a serene, spa-like feeling. Slowly, the pieces are all starting to come together!!

Christmas Greetings

Wish I had found this earlier. It would have been the perfect card to send out to our friends this season.

From etsy seller shakespearesbaby

Soft and Cozy

I ordered a custom made blanket for Baby HandyLuster and its being shipped to me as I type. Its from etsy seller whynottsewn and features an oh-so-pretty Amy Butler fabric on one side and soft minky plush fabric on the other. How I love etsy, especially for kids’ stuff.

Buyin' for Baby

The baby growing inside me is now the size of a baked potato. What a strange, surreal, incredible, scary thought. I'm in that in-between period, where I'm no longer feeling the nausea and tiredness of the first trimester, and a few weeks from feeling the first definitive kick from Baby HandyLuster. So, aside from the bigger belly that makes it difficult to have a restful night's sleep, I don't really feel too pregnant. I'm not worried though. I know the rest of the aches and pains will come soon enough. In the meantime, I guess I'll shop. Here's some of the things I've got my eye on. If you've had experience with any of these, I'd love to hear about it!

Phil & Ted's Sport Stroller; BabyHawk Carrier; Swaddle Me Wrap

And this, I think this would look adorable decorating the baby's room...French alphabet cards from etsy seller bibitty:

Final Touches

A few final touches in the kitchen... the magnetic chalkboard is up. We had the cabinet manufacturer make an oversized door and HandyMan painted some sheet metal with a few coats of chalkboard paint. He attached the metal on some mdf and mounted it in the frame with some construction glue. At the bottom, I attached our Etsy vinyl decal. So cute. I love the touch of black against the white cabinets.




We also got our Sony LCD TV mounted. We used an 8" arm, to give us a little swing action. Funny, but with the TV, we find we spend more time now in the kitchen...a way to kill some time while you're waiting for water to boil, or its good background noise when you're tidying and cleaning up. Go figure.




Is the kitchen done? Just waiting for the curtains to come back from the seamstress, and then yes, it is done :)

Cute Stuff

Having a whole new room to decorate is a dangerous thing. I'm already dreaming of the sweet little prints I'll put up on the walls, little decor items I'll display on shelves, and the adorable stuffed animals I will use sparingly to add just a hint of baby style. Of course, my go to source for many of these things is etsy.com. I haven't bought much there lately but here are a few of my favourite things. And with Halloween coming and the holiday season right behind it, now's the time to start some early gift buying.

I love love love these alphabet posters and cannot decide which of them I want. Maybe I want them all! Posters by CreativeNeesh, tarahogan, paperedtogether.

Personalized notecards or letterpress calendars would make such a great gift for my dearest girlfriends. And how about letterpress holiday cards? So sweet! Stationary by storybymia, pistachiopress, ilee, ignafruit, paperedtogether.

Baby needs some new things too...and baby should be just as stylish as mom and dad ;) From neverenoughhours, pogibabies, superflylullabies, jamtartbaby, quiltbaby.

But maybe HandyMan and I should try our hand at making some edible gifts in our new kitchen for the holidays.  Here's some accoutrements to pretty them up.  Tags and bows from sweetpaperie, dsharp, smallsquaredesign.