intro

LuckyKids and BKids' guest posts

{image links you can find over at Lucky right now}

...and speaking of Guest blogging... perhaps you have seen me, already two weeks ago, over at Lucky right now? ? It was an absolute honor for me to be invited by the wonderful Jen Ford from Lucky Magazine to write guest posts for their awesome blog.

I made 5 posts in total and these were the titels:
* A splash of Neon
* Kid Crafts around the web
* An Illustrated World
* A Million Reasons to Party...
* Vintage-Inspired Fashion for Kids

READ MORE READ MORE READ MORE

Guest Post by Jenny Rinzler about 'making things'

*Guest post by Jenny Rinzler

How exciting to be a guest blogger here on bkids. I am Jenny Rinzler, the designer and maker behind This Humble Abode. Since 2006 I have using my little apartment in San Francisco to sew heirloom goods with modern appeal. The project that started this whole company was sewing a very large quilt for a friend who was getting married. I wanted to honor the wonderful tradition of quilting, but have always been more attracted to the bold color and clean lines of modern design. Last year when another friend was getting married, I started making neckties which has been the perfect addition to my product line. Apparently weddings inspire me.

While city living has many advantages, space is certainly not one of them. I started making baby quilts because I could manage their smaller size in my little workspace. Our dining room table is where I cut out all items, and I have a small table in the corner for my sewing machine. At times it can feel cramped, but working in a small place makes me more considerate about what I buy and how I use the fabric I have.

Craft Project: make fabric play money

This is possibly the best Play Money i have ever seen, I absolutely love Helen's new craft project for us. Like her adorable girls many kids love love playing shop and doing this with personalised money makes it even more fun.

Just click here to see see how Helen has made the money notes....

Much easier then you might think :)

..Curly Birds..

A new week...

{all images above are taken by Marjon Hoogervorst aka Vorstin}

I hope you missed me ? I certainly missed you :) but wow have I had a spectecular week last week. Marjon Hoogervorst (Dutch photographer) arrived on Monday exactly one week ago and picking her up from the airport was exciting, because we had actually never met before... sort of a blind-date I guess... and I was chasing the wrong blond in the arrival hall at first..., but found her eventually...:)

It was great having Marjon over and get to know each other but no time to relax...we planned to shoot 7 houses in 6 days...crazy, yes absolutely crazy, but we DID it! And we even had time to visit some remarkable places here in Kuala Lumpur and shot some images too...just some impressions above.

Quite a steep learning curve for me... doing the interior styling for all of these houses... never did this before... having blogged about interior design for almost 5 years this was a welcome and exciting change (and challenge...). Luckily for me Marjon is very experienced and I am so impressed by this photographer's attitude towards work... complete commitment! No complaints at all by her, although it was 30 degrees C, only positive energy, true focus on everything she did and she has an amazing eye for that what needs to be captured. 

Yesterday evening I brought Marjon back to the airport, it was  a bit emotional, because I made a true friend last week, one that I am going to miss having around, she tought me soooo much and I now have even more respect for the hard work by photographers... and stylists...:)

You probably wonder where are the images!!! Well we have made close to 1000 images, we have to filter them first, see where they fit best ... we are thinking of a small book or publication in a magazine. Once we know more I will share some images here on Bloesem.

Tomorrow BloesemKids is going to be back to it's normal self, I will start with an amazing new craft project ... see you tomorrow xx irene xx

 ps. if you are an editor from a magazine and interested in one of the homes we photographed here in Malaysia, please do shoot us an email!

ps. sorry for using the same text as on my Bloesem post ... not sure how to describe it differently.

 

Giveaway: Extra Large Wall Decal 'The Owl Tree' from Little Lion

What can You win this week :: this fantastic wall decal (extra large) for a nursery, play room or bedroom from Little Lion Studio... the Owl Tree.

What do you have to do :: just leave a comment stating which item you like best from the Little Lion Studio shop

This giveaway runs until Tuesday 29 March and winner will be announced the following day.

..LittleLion Studio inc...
..LittleLion Studio shop..

 The Giveaway is CLOSED, Winner is: Damaris S.

Guest post: make your own ABC cards by Hiskia van Leeuwen

**Guest post by Hiskia van Leeuwen

Hello, I'm Hiskia van Leeuwen, Dutch mother of 4 year old Isis. Recently we moved to the Swiss countryside from where I write a blog kleinezaken. 

Since Isis is eager learning the alfabet these days, I made her her own ABC cards. With a 'S' for Snow White, 'A' for Ariel and an 'O' for 'Opa' (Dutch for 'granddad') etcetera. Most ABC cards are in English, making them nice to decorate, but useless for us to learn the alfabet.

I figured that there might be more kids out there wanting to learn the ABC their own way, so I made a free download that you can customize yourselve.

Guest Post by Valentina from .design per bambini.

{image: cardboard toys from A4A design studio in Milan}

Hello... I am an Italian mum of one and a half (a baby is on his way). I have been living in Berlin for few years but I was back in Italy when the time came to build the nest, and that's when I realized how design-poor the Italian baby market is. I was back home, in the country of great designers and craftsmen, the country of figures like Maria Montessori who influenced forever the way space is designed to fit kids' needs, yet I had to go on-line and buy abroad to find baby gears and decor items!

I had the feeling I had to tell other mums too, show them that it is indeed possible to find truly beautiful things for kids-friendly homes, and where to find them...Then in 2008 I visited the Milan furniture fair Salone del Mobile and saw so many inspiring design items that I decided to start blogging about design&kids. In this two years of blogging I had great fun and met lots of people.
With her motto "help me doing it myself" Maria Montessori introduced kids-sized furniture and equipment as educational material not just as practical items. One furniture item proposed by Maria Montessori is the floor bed that can be used as alternative to the traditional "cribs" from the age of 6 moths as the baby does not fit in the cot anymore.

For older kids my favorite pic instead the "Abitacolo" bed from Bruno Munari, an Italian artist and designer. He worked a lot with children introducing a new approach to art education. He also wrote and illustrated fantastic kid’s books.

A nice room and a special week.

This week is going to be a special week for me. A photographer from the Netherlands who I have never met in person before is on her way to Kuala Lumpur and she is going to stay with me for a whole week. Together we are going to shoot 5 houses here in KL. 

Her name is Marjon Hoogervorst. She and I met each other trough Bloesem. Today I will be picking her up from the airport and it feels like a blind-date :)

To give you a nice idea how stylish this talented photographer is you can look at the images from her son's roombelow and above or hop over to Bloesem and see all the images from her beautiful home in the Netherlands.

Of course I will posting on BKids this week. In fact I have gotten help from some awesome guest bloggers and I can promise you the posts are Super, so please come back this week to see what we have prepared for you....

..Let's Get Personal with Marjon aka Vorstin

HELP Japan

I started last week with this post... hope you don't mind me starting again this week with some attention for Japan...

This raffle for Japan organised by Lynn Russel...

 

Pikaland will be giving 100% of their net profit from the sale of Tokyo-based artist Mogu Takahashi’s Chotto Omoshiroi poster to the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Society.

some things I liked this week...

these t-shirts from Finnish label Polka Jam...

These lovelies from Bella's Party...

T-shirts and bags from Gooey Brand. Thanks Marjon!

these free printable labels from How About Orange...

Enjoy the Weekend! Irene xoxo

Craft project: Glass etching

I honestly think that etching a glass would not be somthing you can do at home yourself but appearantly you can and wonderful Khali just shows us in a few simple steps exactly how it is done....

..more Craft Projects..

Sponsor Spotlight: Etsy Kids

It wasn't difficult for me to find some cute little handmade things to bring us in the Easter spirit (yes i know it's already that time of the year) over at Etsy Kids. The EtsyKids Team is a of talented and dedicated Etsy shop owners making lovely stuff especially for babies, toddlers, and children.  Just a selecion of the things I liked and found via Etsy Kids: Dusty the Bunny Rabbit by tz burps;; Chick Applique Shirt/Pant Set by room to romp;; yellow spring chick hair elastic set by thecleverkitty ;; Baby Blanket by guzanito;; Bunny Felt Hair Clippie by everydayclippies;; Easter greeting card by junping jack designs;;

  ..Etsy Kids members..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

incredible project: DIY Fancy French Wallpaper at momfilter

I think it was a Tweet from Jaime that brought me to this wonderful new to me blog; momfilter and even better to this post ... wow such a great wall-project Meghan McEwen has done herself in the bedroom of her kids. Just head over to the post for the whole story, about the idea, how long it took her and what to do....

You can find Meghan's personal blog right here.

I loved the interview with Anya Hindmarch, and yes I do have one of her gorgeous bags and no I didn't know she is a mother to 5 kids and tjeee she looks stunning!

momfilter a blog I definitely will visit more often!

Mom Story : Hylkia from the Netherlands

 

I always enjoy reading about other mom's lives and how they coop running a business next to being a WHAM = working at home mother. Hylkia de Jong is such a multi-talented mom. She has her own lamp design label called Hartendief, a beautifully decorated home and she is (step) mother to 3 kids ...

Her Mom Story is here for us...

..Hylkia's Mom Story..
..more Mom Stories..

HELP Japan

Shall we start with this?

:: DONATE ::

illustration by natascha rosenberg and print by Adam.

illustration by chibird

 

How can you HELP? (via Tonic); Zara's frontpage and Keep Safe by Friends of Type .

Donations. Red Cross.

and more information, prints, donation ideas over at Bloesem.