Princess: Gone Sporty.

It's no secret that Crew Cuts Kids is one of the best kept secrets in your child's closet, but some of their productions still come to amaze me! I was just smitten when I spotted this tom-boy-ish ballerina tee in their collectible cotton collection.

I think I'd describe my daughter as sporty-princess-chic, and this tee is totally personifying that coined definition (which has me getting even more excited about the Royal Wedding - Kate's style is definitely sporty-chic, and she's about to be coroneted as a real live princess!). Somehow, Freida's always spotted in tutus + converse, tank tops + fairy wings, wand in one hand + hammer in another etc. She loves sports, and butterflies, and construction, and babydolls, and breakdancing, and ballet.... she's quite the little cocktail, and J.Crew nailed it! Leave it to those folks to turn ballet into as athletic a sport as basketball...

Let the Wheels Roll

As I've previously mentioned, due to my cleaning help this year I was able to focus more on spring cleaning/home improvements instead of actual nitty-gritty Pesach prep. We got quite a lot done (some of which had been on our "to do" list for about a year...), and although I felt really productive in the weeks leading up to the holiday, I'm still in "organize-mode" and clearing out some (more!) junk drawers and setting up some better systems (my method for storing recipes really needs a revamp!). Thought I'd share some of the more fun projects we knocked out over the past month...

A few months ago we found this shipment crate laying out for recycling down the block. We decided to nix it's journey on the eco-friendly truck and give it a new life as a toy/random object box for our living room; a much-needed spot to stash or transport "floaters" that have made their way around the house.

The project was inspired by a Milk magazine cover I had seen a while ago, and I had one wish-listed from Rose & Grey for quite some time (but there's like a 4 week wait list!), so we conjured up a similar concept with some sandpaper, spay-on shellack, shipment stencils, black spray paint, and 4 industrial wheels.

Oh, how I love having a handy husband! :)

Naturally, Freida is a bit obsessive over the push-able "stuff box" and is totally loving the fact that she can keep some toys in someplace other than her room... Perhaps her obsessive compulsive mama is slowly cracking. Hooray!

Cupcake Anatomy

Post-Passover shout-out in appreciation of that which is leavened! :)

Once upon a time a photographer and an illustrator got together and produced this image for a friend's birthday (They even documented the whole process in this rad video!) Once out on the web, this cute and colorful photograph got heaps of unexpected attention - suddenly, it was a world wide hit! After numerous inquiries about how to get the print, the talented folk behind it decided to put it into production. You can now snag your own sweet little "Anatomy of a Cupcake" print here.

Also, check out the rest of Allen Hemberger's incredible imagery!

My First Haggadah

I printed some of the pictures from our little model-Seder last week, and used them to make a mini Haggadah-style picture book to help keep Freida involved during the Seder. While assembling the photos, I realized that I could use a harder lamination and that the book would likely end up being a long-lasting member of her little library - something she could reference and look through all year long, and, hopefully, as a keepsake for years to come...

I found the cutest (actually, the only cute) Seder-Plate illustration on Kveller from Design Pocket. I let Freida color it up and used it as the first page in the Haggadah, but it would make for a great coloring page for the kids to do the day before the Seder. You can download and print it here.

A few months ago, I helped my brother out with a linguistic job he was doing for Matisyahu (mazel tov on the newest little man!!). The religious reggae/rapper wanted a Sefirah chart made hip by using more modern, theme-related one-word ways to describe the 10 Kabbalistically-famous attributes (e.g. for "Kesser" we went with "Bejeweled"). Inspired by that minimalistic logic, I came up with 13 easy-to-read, easy-to-recognize words to navigate the many often-over-complicated steps of the Seder: Drink, wash, dip, break, ask, wash, bite, cry, remember, eat, search, thank, and sing.

Some colorful card-stock paper + card-stock frames, a little lamination job, and 2 metal rings later, the whole thing came out super-cute, and Freida is supremely proud and excited for Monday night!!

Chag Sameach dear Mamas!!

My Model-Seder Model!

We held an itty-bitty mock-seder at Freida's play table this week - just to prep her a bit and get her more interested, excited, and familiar with all the quirky Passover details. I'm a big believer in keeping the kids up and awake to witness and experience all the wholesome goodness invested in all that holiday tradition... but it's not always very practical - even with an extra nap. She's very excited that she gets to sing the Mah Nishtanah first (she's the youngest talking cousin), so I figure she'll be disappointed if she doesn't make it at least that far. Thought I'd up my chances of keeping her in the late-night game by peaking her interest in all preliminary steps. I also figured I'd print some pictures and make a little "Haggadah" to help her follow along. She totally surprised me by acting everything out! She even put on a full-fledged crying stint when I gave her the marror! She was definitely enthusiastic, to say the least. :)