shak-shuka

Urban Baby Quilts

 

With all this baby buzz lately, even me, a tried-and-true children's store owner often gets stumped for what to buy for the babes. Many times I can pick just the right item from the shop for the baby, trying to match the parents taste with what a baby really needs (I remember buying baby shoes for my daughter before I knew better that babies don't need real shoes til they start walking!).

But sometimes, just sometimes, a really specialfrom-the-heart item is needed. Whether it is a special friend, family member, no ordinary gift will do. Think a handmade gift that you don't have to make with your own hands. Too good to be true? I googled, I saw, I drooled, I blogged: Haptic Lab's map quilts are hands-down the most gorgeous things I have ever laid eyes on. Just imagine the intricacy of a quilt stripped down to the bare essentials, then injected with the structure and design of a city map - of your favorite, or local neighborhood! I personally love that there are so many NYC neighborhoods offered, as I know A LOT of people poppin' in those 'hoods! But you're in luck if you're also in cities like Barcelona, London, or Paris (boo! no Rotterdam....yet). I love the fact that it's a personal item that can actually be used, and even when the child outgrows it, it can be an heirloom that hangs on the wall, or is kept in a box for their children to use. Love it, love it, love it. So go ahead mamas, get to poppin', just hopefully in one of the Haptic Lab's neighborhoods!

Dress Your Neck(lush)

 

Have I mentioned that I am personally declaring 2011 the Year of Accessorizing? I have never been a strong accessorizer, instead claiming that I am more a "simple, understated" kind of lady when in fact that is just a lie as I don't really own much jewelry, etc to adorn myself with!

Given this information, I have been on the hunt for new and fun things to update my (drab, drab) winter wardrobe. One thing that I have been hankering for is something like a necklace, but with a softer feel to it. I don't know about you, but one of my daughter's favorite past times is attempting to dangle herself from my necklace. No no! This would not be as painful if I were to get my grubby paws on one of these gorgeous Necklush accessories. Something like a hybrid between a necklace, scarf, and hundreds of fabric strings, Necklush takes accessorizing to another level. You can loop it as many times as you want, or don't want, for a really different look each time. I personally fell in love with the fact that many of them are made from organic cotton, come in a variety of styles and sizes, and the color palettes that they come in are all to-die-for-gimme-gimme-ish. One accessory down, many more to go....

Bold Tea Towel Time

 

There are a few things that I've never really understood: tea cosies (remember I'm US American), egg cups (seriously cute but have no idea how to get egg out of them), and tea towels (remember I'm US American - we practically invented paper towels!). Even though I don't really understand the full use of these items, or maybe even how to use them, I have always wanted to start a collection of them, maybe that's a twisted part of me that wants to tease me "Hey you! This is the super cute thing that can be used in the kitchen but your sorry self doesn't know how to use it - HA!".

Even though the egg cups and tea cosies will probably never make it into my cooking domain, the tea towels definitely have. Gone away are the paper towels (minus Papa Shuka's obsession with using them for  EVERYTHING!) and instead I use tea towels, or I just call them kitchen towels - for everything. My mother used to walk around with one draped over her shoulder, and even though as a chef I was trained to tuck it into my apron, I still wear one on my shoulder! Of course when I was browsing Etsy I had to find Mengsel's gorgeous print tea towels: so bold, so graphic, you can't help but stare and want to soak something up with it. No - it's too pretty for that! Made from cotton and printed using non-toxic waterbased paints, these add a serious statement. Even though I'm not a coffee drinker (enter collective gasp), I love all things coffee related, and find myself teetering between the rooster print and the Moka express coffeemaker print. Oh well, why not just get them both? Next stop: Mengsel's gorgeous prints for the walls.....am currently obsessing over the (surprise surprise) Moka express coffeemaker one!

Get Crafty: Dress Up Wardrobe

 

We've officially hit the toddler mark as playing dress up has become a daily part of our routine. Getting dressed in regular clothing? Puleez - that's for chumpies! Around Casa Shuka, we like to rock fire(wo)man hats, fairy wings, and animal masks - sometimes all at the same time! Now that we are blessed with space, I have really begun to scratch my head about what I'll do with all this dress-up gear and no proper place to store it. I've read numerous times that it's essential for kids to have a proper space to put everything - it teaches respect for their things, organization, and not to mention it's easier to find everything and it looks better!

Given that my craftiness is limited, I looked to the experts to find a DIY solution, because the ideas for dress-up storage in stores is limited, or non-existent. Two of my favorites that I found are really great to keep everything tidy and organized. The first is made by recycling a large cardboard box, courteosy of the genius of Childhood 101. I fell in love with it as it's easy to do, uses recycled materials, and you can really customize it with ease. The second option is made from wood, a bit more of a challenge for us crafty-less folks, but the results are super professional: it comes from the long list of amazing tutorials from Craftiness is Not Optional, and if you have the hankering to do some crafting, this website is a to-die-for spot. Just try and keep to one tutorial at a time! Start with the dressing up wardrobe I say!

So that's it - go forth and be crafty! Enjoy the fruit of your work in the form of a tidy play space, the kids get a storage space of their own, and you can continue on your firefighting, fairy flying and animal scary ways!

PB Dynamite Kids Rugs

This week I seem to be exposing my weaknesses in the domestic department: first my black thumb, and now my inability to be crafty. As much as I try to be "creative" on my own, everything ends up looking like a glue gun spun out of control and stuck everything together. Not a good look for anyone!

I am always delighted when I find something handmade that I *pray* that someone entering my house might mistake for something I whipped up. I've got sewing done pat, but knitting, crocheting, basically anything with manually moving needles, I'm pitiful at. That's why when searching for cute rugs for Lil'Miss' room I was delighted, no - over the moon - to discover Peanut Butter Dynamite's children's rugs. The rugs are handmade and in a variety of slap-me-silly cute designs. I find that most children's rugs are either: 1) super uninspiring and dull, 2) blindingly bright and super sweet, or 3) a regular home rug made into a kids rug. That's part of what I feel makes these adorable rugs so special, and feel seriously homemade (meaning when someone asks if you made it, you can simply reply "what a question!")  I love that Peanut Butter Dynamite is handmade, gorgeous and just right to fit under some sweet little feet, while they're still - little!

(Yawn-ka) Yon-Ka Eye Cream

 
In one of my many former reincarnations (ok, professions, but they feel like past lives) I worked at one of the top spas in New York, and we sold some of the finest face and body products. Luckily we were given some freebies so we were able to play guinea pigs on each other or ourselves and see what did work for us ($100? why thank you) and didn't (electric blue eyeshadow? the 1980's want it BACK!).

Some of the products that we sold seemed unimaginable as to why you would need it - eye cream? I was young, fresh, carefree, able to sleep whenever I wanted....ah, those were the days. Now I don't just use eye cream, I buy stock in it. Which one do you ask? Well, one of the brands that I tried out at the spa that I still am loyal to today: Yonka Phyto Contour Eye Cream. Long time, sounds like Willy Wonka, but boy oh boy does it work. I personally think that all new mothers should be given this cream along with an undereye concealer so that they can feel human again once they climb out of the post-baby slumber. This Eye Cream seriously does what it says: depuffs, minimizes the dark circles (don't expect miracles here ladies), and I have to say, feels really cool when applied. Finding out that it's made from rosemary, beech buds, aloe vera and Vitamin E only convinced me even more that I'm doing the right thing to keep my peepers looking as fresh as they can be after 5 hours of sleep.

Upside-Down Home Gardening

 

We're back!!!! Millions of boxes packed - some for our home, most for other lucky Shak-Shuka customers, a big move behind us, and lots of boxes ahead to unpack. But we're back, we're funky fresh, and we're ready to ring in some amazing posts for this new year.

Since most of you know we are decorating, or shall I say, renovating our new place, I have been busy in the decorating department while Papa Shuka has been in charge of the renovations (nothing like gender stereotyping, eh?!). Things have been going along as smoothly as can be expected for an old creaky house, so I've already got my drawing pad out for plans. What's up first? Bring some fresh air into this old place - and by that I mean open windows and bring some life in here. I'm sure many of you remember me saying that I have the blackest thumb possible, but that never deters me from torturing, oops, I mean acquiring new plants and flowers. My biggest conundrum at the moment? Pots and plant holders that don't hit the snooze button on the eyes. So, feast your eyes on this my friends: an upside-down Sky Planter! I kid you not, this is to place a small, medium or tiny sized plant in, and it stays alive! At one of my favorite Amsterdam shops, Droog, I found this planter/pot and had. to. have. it. now. It has a unique reservoir system which gives the plant exactly as much water as it needs, and it keeps the soil contained, so you don't have to worry about it raining earth on your freshly coiffed hair. Best of all? Watering is only needed once a month which means I can spend the other 29/30 days of the month figuring out which plant I'm going to subject my love and over-watering affection to.