Kooroo Ceramic Animal Banks
There’s no question that a “piggy” bank is a wonderful gift for a new baby. It’s a great decor piece, can become a sentimental heirloom and it’s useful in the meantime. If you’re looking for the perfect bank to give as a gift, take a look at the ceramic animal banks from Kooroo. These limited edition pieces are crafted in the US and are little works of art. Prices range from $34 to $50
Their newer series of Mocha and Cream banks are $32.
In addition to the Lion and Elephants, they have Rhinos, Buffalo and Camels. I’ll be looking forward to their future creations as well.
Coming Soon: Bloom’s Coco Go
Bloom used to just have a few special modern baby products but their line has been growing slowly but steadily over the past few years and now they’ve got a rather thorough collection that includes nursery furniture, high chairs and more. Now they’re introducing a portable fold-able version of their incredible Coco lounger. The Coco Go is a 3-in-1 lounger and baby seat. It also folds flat into a custom carry-bag for travel.
More information to follow including release date and price. I can’t wait to add it to our list of baby loungers!
Kid Made Modern at Target: The Coolest Art Supplies Ever
I’ve been excited about the Kid Made Modern collection for Target for months now. I was awaiting its debut on May 20th but yesterday Alex from Modern Kiddo posted some photos on her Instagram feed that showed the products at her local Target. Well, you can imagine what I did next! No, I picked my oldest up from school, silly! And THEN I went to Target!
If you’re looking for it at your local store, head to the stationary, art supply area– usually near party decor as well. So I’m just going to admit, I picked out a ton of stuff. I’d been waiting for this and was prepared to expand both our art supplies at home as well as our gift supply. Sets of Kid Made Modern items are just the kind of gift that I love to give.
The collection includes wonderful art supplies like the crayon gems, printed tape, double pointed crazy crayons, brush set and mini colored pencils. I now have 4 out of those 5 plus a few other items.
The art project kits are also fantastically fun. I picked up a couple of the board book kits, but also check out the flashy light kit, creature cushion kit and Charley Harper wood figures painting kit.
Today I’m heading to another Target that, according to Target’s website, has more of the collection in stock. I’m in trouble. But then again, I’d be upset if I missed out and you will be too. So go. Go now.
Top 25 Home Design Moms 2012 from Circle of Moms
It was a very exciting day. If you follow me on twitter and Facebook you MAY have noticed me shamelessly pleading for votes for Circle of Moms’ list of Top 25 Home Design Moms 2012. I really hate getting caught up in these contests but as I kept meeting my goals and advancing up the list, it became just feasible that I could somehow collect enough votes to make the list.
Now WHY would I be interested in this intangible honor? There’s no crown, no magic traffic spike, not even an awards dinner to attend. First, it’s the badge. I collected a few of these badges for my blog last year, but 2012 was a little slow in that department. One of my friends suggested it’s a remnant of the girl scouts. You get a badge, and it shows you’ve really accomplished something. Sometimes with blogging it’s hard to see that you’ve accomplished anything. You spend a lot of time and effort gathering your information and presenting it in posts, but if nobody visits your site or acknowledges what you’ve done then have you really accomplished anything? Sometimes the collection of badges shows that SOMEONE or even a FEW someones see what you’re up to and maybe even admire your efforts. Second, if there’s a chance that a few new readers and fans might discover BuyModernBaby because of my presence on the list of Top 25 Home Design Moms, then there’s nothing more valuable in my blogging life than that.
Yes, those readers, fans and friends are what keep me going. You all are precious and wonderful and came out of the woodwork for me today to ensure that I would make that list of top 25. It was a wonderful day and week even just hearing from so many of you, and I was so gratified to be reminded of all the lovely people who have connected with me over the past 2+ years that I’ve been blogging here. You’re the ones I love to chat with on twitter, the ones who leave messages on my Facebook posts, the ones who leave me a comment on my posts, who email me with your questions, repin my pins and heart my Instagram photos. You make me feel connected to the wider world and today have really come together in a wave of incredible support.
If you were watching, it was a photo finish with the bottom 3 places on the list all tied with 267 votes. Each and every one of your votes made it happen for me in the last minute. If just ONE of you hadn’t made the effort you did, I would have fallen behind and found myself back in unsung 26th place. Thank you so much for your support each and every day and for coming together for me in this crazy vote gathering attempt. I promise to TRY and not get caught up in another contest again too soon. And now, the debut of my new badge…
Thanks. And now back to my less wordy posts with lots more pictures- just how you like ‘em!
Etsy Finds: You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine
While the song wasn’t written for or about children (as you know if you’re familiar with the complete lyrics), the chorus of You Are My Sunshine is a popular refrain we sing to our babies. They are the sunshine in our lives and only if they become parents will they really understand just how much we truly love them. It’s no surprise that etsy artists are creating visual representations of this heart squeezing sentiment. There are dozens and dozens of versions, but these are some of my favorites.
1- “You Are My Sunshine” N “You Make Me Happy” from Seal Design Studio- $14
2- You are my Sunshine Typography poster from Raw Art Letter Press- $15
3- You Are My Sunshine print from Gus and Lula- $22
4- You Are My Sunshine – Set of Three Prints from The Ink Sociey- $50
5- You Are My Sunshine Print on Wood from Petit Collage- $15
6- You Are My Sunshine from leesaralou -$15
7- Letterpress You are My Sunshine Poster from Ink Petals- $30
8- You are My Sunshine Shadowbox from Invincible Inc- $35
Vintage Creative Playthings Rocking Beauty Hobby Horse
The new Wary Meyers Kids Shop has a vintage Creative Playthings Rocking Beauty Hobby Horse (from 1964) for a mere $1200.
If the vintage version is too pricey, I DID find the modern remake (called the Red Ball Rocker) still listed at Genius Jones for $265. It is no longer being made by Knu however, so this may just be some stock that they have left over. I’d call and check if they still have it before I put in my order.
For more information about the history of this modernist rocking horse, read Greg’s post on daddytypes.
Even if you’re not in the market for a vintage Rocking Beauty, you’re going to want to bookmark the Mary Meyers new kids shop as it is sure to have all kinds of wonderful vintage treasures. I was tickled to find Robie among their offerings. We’ve got one of these mechanical banks in my son’s room!
Right now they also have a couple of Cosco modern plastic chairs (green and white).
And I’m trying to figure out where I could put this incredible Big Bird poster!
Happy Mother’s Day
Our 4th annual Mother’s Day photo.
I can’t believe that this is my 4th mothers day as a mom of two! So happy to be celebrating with these adorable boys and their handsome father today. I hope all you moms and moms-to-be out there are enjoying a wonderful day full of all the gratitude that you deserve for all that you do each and every day.
With love,
-Esther
Jr. & Sr. Lounges
In case any of you have started to think that babies get the coolest stuff, I’ll be looking for more grownup versions that we can enjoy as well.
If you love Bloom’s Coco Baby Lounger
Etsy Find: Personalized Growth Chart
As usual, when shopping for wooden teethers, I stopped at one of my favorite etsy shops, Little Sapling Toys. I love giving their state teethers as gifts! Today I was excited to find a new product in their lineup however. If you’ve been reading along with me since the beginning, you might remember that for a while, I was slightly obsessed with growth charts. It’s no surprise that Little Sapling Toys has come up with a beautiful version of their own. The Personalized Growth Chart is a modern Maple yard stick with inlaid Walnut tick marks and your child’s name at the top.
This would make an incredible shower, baby or birthday gift that would be appreciated by both child and parents! $120
Imaginary Forest by Patrick Hruby
I was a fan of Patrick Hruby’s Imaginary Castle wall decal from Blik, but I think his Imaginary Forest is an even more usable design. The tree motif for nursery walls is pretty standard, but this is a colorful, magical, storybook version.
The larger version is $110 from Blik and the small version is $45. The only thing that would be better is if it were even LARGER.
