shak-shuka

Kid+Eco Friendly Hair Accessories

For a mother, it's a funny time in life with your child when they start asking to have their hair "done". I was feeling super lucky for such a long time that I was able to get away with Amelie/Coco Chanel-bobbing my daughter's hair, but now that she's starting going to pre-school, she eyes the clips and hairbands in the other girls hair and wants them. Now. Like yesterday. Gimme!

I have to be honest that the hair accessories out there for kids is generally quite awful. Glitter, bows, dangly things, colors that don't match anything. Yikes. Don't even get me started on their carbon footprint, un-eco-friendly practices, and the labor used to make them. Alas, you can always rely on us to find the solution! Our favorite brand Franck & Fischer, who has supplied us with wonderful toys and children's bedding made from organic and sustainable materials using only fair trade labor, now has a line of hair accessories just in time for our little "hair episodes". Monkey clips, cat hairbands, stripes - pick your fun accessory and go! Not only are they adorable, but they're made from 100% organic cotton yarn and made in women's homes in rural China under fair trade working conditions. Usually I am not a sucker for hair-wear, but I have to say Franck & Fischer has once again outdone themselves, and now Lil'Miss Shuka will be rockin' some eco-sweet hair accessories.

Gobstoppingly Gorgeous Necklaces

Things are becoming increasingly busy over here at Shak-Shuka headquarters: think holiday rush, taxes, moving, child-raising....just to raise a few! Surely many of you identify, so I'll keep this post short and sweet so you too can get back to your "regular program".....

Gorgeously delicious. That is how we would describe the new collection from Kris' Color Stripes: necklaces features ruffles, double loops, and the famous "Mama+Me" necklace sets in new colors. We're thinking these are all perfect gift ideas for the holidays: the mama+me set for the girls, and the ladies necklaces for the lucky mamas. The only problem will be to decide what color? Just like a scrumptious candy, these necklaces could cause a rush of excitement and desire for more, more more!

Blow Sofa: Anything but Hot Air

For our new house, I've been dealing with a slight dilemma: what kind of couch/chair/pouf do I put for the kids to play/jump on in the playroom? A regular couch seems too big, hard wooden chairs seem to not make much sense, and regular poofs seems like the filling will spew out in a matter of minutes......I seem a bit like Goldilocks here not able to find just the right seating for this space.

Thumbing through a Dutch magazine this weekend (101 WoonIdeeen), I found one of the fun(niest) solutions ever: a recycled paper, inflatable couch. No joke! It's called the Blow Sofa, and it's made from 100% recycled paper dunnage bags with a metal rack and rubber straps. They say that the couch can be "personalized" with a pen, which, if you have a child, you know what that means: lots of scribbling! I love the idea though - an inexpensive, eco-friendly, and poofy enough for the bouncing little beans who will be sitting on it. The Blow Sofa is from the Polish brand Malafor, and is recycled, recyclable, inflatable (meaning a low-carbon footprint when it's being transported) and the fact that it can be written on only adds to its kid-friendly value. The Blow Sofa is available to order thru their site, for €262, including shipping costs.

Go Green this Halloween!

Ok, the holiday are upon us. There's no avoiding it people: first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Sinterklaas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, New Year's Eve - you know the drill. Let's get you prepared for the first, and possibly the most fun, or at least the "training wheels" for all the other holidays - Halloween! Don't fret, we've got you covered for last-minute Halloween outfits.

Loving the idea of a kiddo running around in this as a caterpillar

Or what about a super cute bumble bee in this cute-as-a-bee dress? Easily does double duty after Halloween!

Put on the hat, then the suit, and you've got a moose loose in the house!

Doesn't get much simpler than this: just add baby and you've got a hissingly cute rattlesnake

Add this, a few feathers in her hair or make a set of feathered "wings" to have one struttin' peacock

One of Lil'Miss Shuka's faves can easily be tweaked with some fancy face paint to have the Pink Panther

For the ultimate costume: become a cowboy, fairy, superhero or princess, then after the candy-sugar rush wears off, they can just pass out in these and already be in their pyjamas!

Go with a classic: masks that are so stunning you need very little else to make this bird, giraffe, elephant or lion come to life!

Tapikid: An Organic Play Space

I don't know about you, but our play space (I use the term "space" loosely) for our daughter looks like a toy bomb exploded. No matter how much I clean, they seem to multiply over night, and (in)conveniently, I end up stepping on them on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Ouch.

Not only is it a mess, there is also no nice play space for the toys to be collected on and for us to designate a real "play" zone. Think borders. Think containing the mess. Think fun for the child. Think Tapikid. I'm literally doing flips as these playmats that are brand new to the market (aka and to us!), and are the best thing that I have ever seen. Quite literally- the colors are stunning, and they are done using fair trade labor, non-toxic dyes, and printed on 100% organic canvas - and did I mention how cool they are for playing? With different Tapikid colors to choose from, and different "terrains", these printed playmats are some serious fun for kids of all ages. Another great aspect of these Tapikid playmats are that they can be laid next to each other so that there can be added fun! One of my personal favorites about the Tapikids are that once the playtime is over, I simply center all the toys in the middle of the mat, fold up the corners like a package, and place it all in the toy bin. Bida-bada-boom. Toy bombs no more - Tapikid has my back in keeping the peace on playtime and giving the kids a creative space to play on.

Studio JUX your (eco) Wardrobe

It's really funny when your weekly blog posts seem to have a theme that you weren't even aware of - as if the posts start to take on a life of their own (fun and scary thought at the same time!). This week's subliminal theme is everything Dutch. But not the Netherlands that you are used to. I think that's really exciting (for me, since I live in the Netherlands!) and it goes with the slow food motto: keep it local. For us at least!

A very exciting breath of fresh air into the Dutch fashion design circuit, or at least for us "greenies" or ethical shoppers, is the brand Studio JUX. Exquisitiely cut garments for women, and surprise surprise gents - for you too! What I love most about this company, besides the fact that they use organic materials and fair trade labor, is that their clothing would fit right in in a high-end boutique and would not blaze "green/eco/hemp-y/organic". If you've ever got an organic item of clothing, you'll understand that is a rarity, even nowadays as so many designers are dipping their toes in the "green" water. One of my favorite items from their collection (available for purchase online at their own shop) is the Cute PET Jacket with a military-band collar and made from a mix of hemp and recycled polyester. I'm trying to resist the Dresses section, but for some reason that's where my finger always clicks first......one item at a time, and as Studio JUX says, "sex up your wardrobe with some eco fashion". Oh yes, thank you, I think I will!

Woollight Lights the Way

By now you already know that I have a mild (ok, for me - an intense obsessor) obsession with wool felt. Especially something wooly that was given a second life. That really gets my eco goosebumps a rising and my heart beating faster......

With this information in mind, you can imagine I almost fell over in my chair when I was browsing (for the millionth time) BijzonderMOOI's site (a great interior design site with a funky name but an amazing and well-edited selection) and looked at one of my favorite sections: lighting. I have no idea why I have been drawn to lighting so much, as it's usually something that I completely pass over and don't give much attention. For this new house though, I am all. about. the. lighting. Enter: Woollight's hanging lampshades designed by Dutch duo Beeldenbouwers. Don't get it twisted: Woollights are not your ordinary yawn-inspiring hanging lampshades that you see danglin above in most households - these are handmade, gorgeous works of art, from my favorite material: repurposed wool blankets. I think I'm in lighting love. And since I know the beautiful light that filters through wool, then I know this is the gorgeous, downright glamourous lighting that is MADE for our living room. Thanks to Beeldenbouwers for making my eco-lighting dreams come true and solving my lighting issues for the living room!

Plush Alphabet Tutorial

So we've dropped the ball a bit with the blog, but life has gotten away from us a bit. Sorry! We're pretending that we're really really important and that you notice when we're away......if not, no problem, as we're back with a vengeance today to remind you why we're here!

I think you'll all be pleasantly pleased with this find that I discovered last week. A craft project that involves using up what every crafter has: scraps! I remember the bags upon bags of excess scraps that I collected over months of projects and would beg people to take off my hands. Begging no more! This Plush Alphabet tutorial by the hilarious Chez Beeper Bebe is not only easy to follow with its great photography, but I love the candidness of the writer. I am not a precise cutter by any means, so I love that this "rustic" cutting technique fits right in with this Plush Alphabet, if not makes it look even more "shabby chic"! I didn't even realize it until it was (almost) too late, but you can include magnets on the inside to make for some refridgerator fun. So go forth: grab your excess scraps, and get to Alphabet makin'!

Slovz-ely Boots

I'm probably not the only one who has fashion flashbacks. For instance, our friends at the Dutch blog Kleine Zaken recently wrote about Slovz boots, and when I saw them, it was like I got hit in the stomach by a wave of deja vu. I had seen these boots somewhere else a few months, or even years back, so it was wonderful to re-discover something old all over again.

Slovz are traditional Russian wool felt boots that keep your little tootsies warm, even in Russian-esque temperatures. Wow - that's some seriously toastiness! I remember the image that I had seen of the boots: a girl wearing a short corduroy a-line dress, thigh high thick socks and these boots. To-die-for fashionable. The boots somehow manage to marry a certain "ugly chic" with the function that a woman wants in a winter boot. Slovz come in a few classic colors, are customizable (you can cut them off to make them shorter if you want!) and the boots don't have a left or right foot, and the sizing is in centimeters based on your foot length - a totally unique concept! To make the boots even more desirable, there are "mini me" kids versions, which you just know mamas and kiddos are gonna be rockin' together. Little Miss and Mama Shak-Shuka will walk the streets in toasty warm Slovz style this winter!

boom! boom! Recycled Aluminum

Even though I am normally a fashion magazine kind of girl, as of late I have become quite the interior design mag junkie. Put an Elle Interiors or VT Wonen in front of my face, and I get giddy with excitement. What exciting things do they have in those pages that I either HAVE to have, or can't afford and then need to re-create on my own? The possibilities are endless, and it's an excellent way to cap off a long day - reading interior magazines in bed before you drift off to sleep and dream of your, well, dream home.

I recently purchased a "buy one, get one free" set of magazines, and believe it or not the freebie was much more exciting! In the Residence (Netherlands) Magazine, I came across these worn-in looking beauties made from recycled aluminum. First I fell in love with the dented look of the hammered aluminum, then I realized what really drew me to them was the fact that they look very similar to the aluminum jugs used to serve wine in Greece. We had a wonderful journey for a month in Greece, and probably swung back more of those aluminum jugs than expected! The maker of these beautiful recycled pieces is Brunno Jahara, a Brazil-based studio that creates an extensive collection made from recycled aluminum that includes everything from platters to cups, to vases, and my personal favorite (and dream-worthy): hanging lamp. This lamp for me merges a few of my favorite loves: my new interior design obsession, my fab Greek holiday, and my love of good green design.