birthday blooms!

Our zuzu girl birthday blooms collection that was planted back here has bloomed again! You can't imagine how excited I was to hear from a customer last week that is planning her daughter Macy's first birthday party. She's so excited that she already has the dress and shoes picked out and guess what? They matched our birthday blooms collection so nicely that she fell in love. We've been melding our creative minds over the last week and have added a coordinating highchair bunting (complete with Macy's name and new age), paper flower centerpiece arrangement, favor bag gift tags & thank you notes.

I'm kind of sad to see all these beautiful items being packed up this weekend (especially with a third birthday party of our own closing in on the horizon) but I couldn't be happier for our new zuzu girl handmade fan. Happy Birthday Macy. We hope all your wishes come true!

tag! it's friday.

Don't ask me what any of these items have to do with Friday because I really couldn't answer that. I was simply doing what I seem to do best at late hours when I should be sleeping...browsing the Etsy halls...when I did a tag search by "Friday" and found some pretty random, lovely things. Like these...

1. girl friday necklace by pettygirl
2. petal pink rosette headband by houseoftelsa
3. handspun primitive cotton rag yarn by confections
4. iris bracelet by moxiedesigns

super fun bean bags

Checkout these *super fun bean bags* from Frank and Me. Not only do they just plain look fun but you really couldn't sell them any better. Here's the copy taken directly from the Etsy listing...

Super Fun Bean Bags are approx. 4" squares that are filled with organic lentils, and super fun! So, the toy is non-toxic, and heck...if the recession hits any harder, you can open them up and cook them for food : )

There are so many games you can play with bean bags!

Quick Beanbag Challenges
Throw a beanbag in the air, turn around, and catch it again.
Throw the beanbag up and backwards over your head and try to catch it behind your back.
Throw the beanbag in the air, clap your hands once, and catch it. Now try clapping your hands twice, then three times, and so on. How high can you go?
Throw the beanbag in the air and clap your hands under your right leg before catching it. Now try with your left leg. Now clap behind your back. Invent some more challenges.
Throw the beanbag up, jump, and try to catch it. Jump twice. Jump three times!
Throw it up, kneel down and try to catch it.
Throw and catch with just your right hand, then with just your left.
Try throwing it up and catching it with your eyes closed!
Balance the beanbag on your right foot, then throw it up and catch it from there. Can you do it with your left foot too?
Can you throw the beanbag up and catch it on your left foot?
Can you run with a beanbag balanced on your head? Can you jump? Can you twist around? Can you kneel down and stand up again, or sit down? Can you climb the stairs? Can you do any of these things with two beanbags balanced on your head? Or three?
Try balancing a beanbag on each shoulder while you walk, run, jump etc.
Sing one of your favourite songs or rhymes while you throw the beanbag up and catch it, or pass it round a circle of children.
Set up a variety of hoops, containers and targets and have some throwing practice.
How far can you throw the beanbag? Does it make a difference if you throw over-arm or underarm?


Game ideas courtesy of; http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/beanbag_games.htm

tweet, tweet. oh so sweet...

1. For the Birds Buttons by aimoobaroo

2. Mom's Nest by sj engraving

3. Little Birdie all alone by red hot pottery

4. Needlefelted Tweet by felt me up designs

reality check

Sometimes I wonder why I don't get anything done.
Other times it's pretty evident.
Zuzu thought naked Barbie would be an excellent prop for this photo shoot.
I tend to disagree.

tuesday teaser

Oh, Etsy. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
1. Neskat embroidered barrette
2. Iragrant large cressier bag
3. Bunny with a toolbelt baby elephant walk
4. Baby O Really whimsical nursery blocks
5. Tiddlywinks squeek
6. Valerie's Gallery felted wood bowl
7. Kristin Friesen lexi bobby pin set
8. Vessels and Wares teacup and saucer set

tech support?

Oh how I miss those old corporate days when you could simply fill out an IT request via email and some talented young lad would stroll confidently into your office and make everything right. Well, sort of.

About a week ago I wrote a post about the color orange featuring five very talented Etsy sellers. However, since that time my blog has been entirely uncooperative. Finally, I connected the timing and deleted all photos & links from that post only to find that everything is now working perfectly. Only took me a week but who needs that fancy IT department now?

Anyway, I apologize to those fabulous folks in the original post and I will try to resurrect it at some point but for now I am just grateful to have my blog back...and can't wait to share some more Etsy love with you soon...

POST SCRIPT
I had to delete the whole damn post. It still wasn't working. I'm so sorry if you missed it.

zuzu's flying friends

It only seemed logical to follow our paper ball gowns with some friendly flying folks. Meet our new polka dot butterfly, lovable love birds & wise little owl, the newest additions to zuzu girl handmade. I must thank Martha Stewart for her fabulous paper selection. Couldn't have done it without her sassy style!

oops, I did it again...

Did I ever mention that I get bored easily? Yes, I suppose I have. This week I spent the better part of my time perfecting the art of dress making. Well, sort of. These dresses are constructed with fabulous girly Martha Stewart paper, 1/4" satin ribbon & a handful of small rhinestones...matted on a coordinating hand painted canvas & finished with a simple 8 x 10 white wood frame. So...what do you think? Time well spent?

let's party!

It appears I've been absent for most of the week. Sadly, the time stamps do not lie. My apologies. I've been working on lots of fun new projects including the cupcake toppers, birthday banner & garland pictured above. I've got a new strand of garland in the works now that is so incredible I very well may not be able to part with it. Job hazard I suppose.

art abounds

Did I ever tell you that I get bored easily? Probably has something to do with the two blogs and all the social media accounts but that's for another post. Today, I followed through on something that's been driving me batty for long enough. Zuzu's room decor. Now, I take full credit for the current decor. And it is lovely. It really is. But it's pink and brown. Just pink and brown. And I'm bored. So today I bought her this quilt from anthropologie & four new interchangable fronts in orange, lime green, hot pink & blue for her six piece, currently pink & chocolate, via toy box. (love these by the way...you must visit that link!)

Needless to say, and by now you know where I'm going, I need to replace some of the current artwork on her walls as well so I started surfing Etsy art for children and oh my. In addition to all the fabulous artists that I've already highlighted on this blog here, here, & here I've stumbled on a handful of super talented artists. Each artist is represented twice above and this is how you find them....

1. love is everything & studio mela collage by dazeychic
2. I heart you & love birds and owl by printspace
3. summer owls & the best kind of day by stephaniefizer
4. leo and penny & benny and carlos by stubborndog
5. april showers bring may flowers & I carry your heart by calobee

What's your favorite??