Habitat Kid

DISCOVER: The Art Studio

Several years ago I worked as a studio assistant for the very talented painter and political cartoonist Geoffrey Moss. Since then, he and his wife Marion have become my "New York parents" and it is always a hoot getting together in their art studio. It's a glorious mess, with paint brushes and paint tubes by the dozen, paint splattered on the walls and floors and canvases taking up every square inch of space. I absolutely love going there. I took London over for a visit and I'm pretty sure she fell in love with it too. Geoffrey showered her with one-on-one attention – overseeing her work and teaching her how to properly clean her brushes and the two quickly hit it off. Such a beautiful way to spend the morning!

Photos by Ashley Jensen

DISCOVER: Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair

This past weekend was the Renegade Craft Fair, which is the only craft fair I really go to all year because you can't beat the goods from 300+ vendors. It was a bit staggering trying to get to all of them in the beating heat, but London was a good sport about it and I think we both really enjoyed ourselves. Lots of jewelry this year I noticed, less art than I would have liked, but fun all the same.

I did find a few good kid-friendly vendors and we picked up some nice things. I discovered wooden toy company Noli Noli, who crafts absolutely beautiful works for children and we settled on a sweet penguin. I also found artist Lisa Chow and fell pretty hard for one of her new prints "Couldn't Contain the Colors." I think it will find a new home in the playroom when we move. And lastly, I was thrilled to hit up Coral & Tusk's sample sale and finally got the embroidered piece I have been wanting for forever (just need to find a frame now) and some super cute fabric hankies for $1 each! The only bad part about the trip was me getting a sunburn while we waited for the boat to take us back home. :) Ah, summer.

Photos by Ashley Jensen

DISCOVER: Top Hat

Monday again? Already? Time seems to be flying by and I can hardly believe that June is nearly half over. Scott and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Nashville to see some friends get married, and now we're exhausted. It was an 18 hour trip total, so literally all we saw was the wedding and ate some yummy BBQ. Oh, and I may have had five maple doughnuts in the DC airport. Can't say for sure. Anyway, luckily our amazing friends Jill & John watched London for us so we could travel quickly and that made all the difference. Traveling with kids is no picnic! Thanks, guys!! We owe you big.

I've been wanting to share this new shop I recently found called Top Hat. It's on the Lower East Side here in Manhattan, on the corner of Broome and Orchard Streets and is full of treasures from all over the world. I could have easily bought everything in that store, it was all so lovely and just my style. I somehow settled on only two things: a pair of walking stilts from Germany that have horseshoes on the bottom and sound just like a horse walking, and some colorful wooden star dominoes from Kiko Kids. They have both been used like crazy around our house since we got them! If you live in NYC or plan on coming soon, be sure to add this store to your list of places to visit – it's a perfect spot to find unique gifts for children or adults or just yourself!

DISCOVER: Amish Country

Scott's parents were in town this past weekend and we decided to take a day trip out to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania to visit Kitchen Kettle Village, a cute little touristy spot with lots of shops and Amish goods. It was beautiful weather and I was pleasantly impressed by some of the kid-friendly activities: a furniture shop with lots of authentic Amish toys for sale (some available online here), a petting zoo, pony rides, wagon rides, and a playground. We ended up going home with an awesome wooden marble run, although I'm sure London would have probably preferred one of the farm trikes with a wagon to pull. Sorry honey, no room on our city streets for any farm equipment. :)

DISCOVER: New Territory

Image by cocochula

Well it's about time I shared my big news with you! We are moving to Seattle this summer! After a long three years in NYC, we are moving from a land of skyscrapers to a land of trees and I am so looking forward to the change. I have never been there, so this will be completely new to me, but as a lover of trees, green, and rain, I think I'll be just fine. :) We fly out there today to look for a home (first home I will have lived in since high school!) and we are crossing our fingers that we find something during the few days we are visiting. I'll be consumed with pretending to be a grown up, so I am going to take a short break from blogging. I will return in a week – hopefully with more good news!

In the meantime, I'll be lusting after this project from Sanna Annukka for Marimekko. Her work reminds me of what the Pacific Northwest might be like, with all of her forest animals and pine tree graphics. I think we just might need these cookie cutters for a rainy day (and I'm sure there will be many).

DISCOVER: Brooklyn Botanic Gardens [Part 2]

At the eastern end of the Botanic Gardens is the Children's Garden where little gardeners have been perfecting their green thumb since 1914 (!). Adjacent to the working garden is a separate, fenced-in play area with endless things for a child to explore and discover. Enchanting pathways, tiny bridges over small streams, a bamboo forest, a box of moss for exploring texture, a giant steel spider, boxes of soil for digging, trellis archways, small tables with scales for weighing pinecones, rocks and other natural treasures...I could go on and on about this place! The daffodils were just starting to bloom and it was almost magical to watch spring unfold all around us. It was hard to pull the children away when it was time to go and if I didn't have to get home to walk our neighbor's dog, we gladly would have stayed all afternoon!

DISCOVER: Playtime New York [Part 2]

I always love the art installations at Playtime - so much fun! This playful space was created by Ritsuko Hirai with hand drawn patterns and cut out birds.

Radish Moon: I totally fell for Radish Moon, a collection of children's illustrations done by the talented NY artist Sarah Nicholas Williams. Born in Vermont, Sarah grew up with plenty of space for her imagination to run wild, and her magical imaginary friends live on through her artwork. Her india ink and watercolor paintings come in the form of high quality prints framed in handmade driftwood or reclaimed wood frames, as well as puzzles (which I am dying to have!) and porcelain dishes. Everything about Sarah and her work is just lovely!

Chispum: This is a really unique brand of vinyl wall decals featuring art from a large group of illustrators, graphic designers and artists. They have a huge collection of over 500 designs, each manufactured in Barcelona. If you are looking for unusual, not your average run-of-the-mill wall decals, Chispum is the place to go!

Atsuyo et Akiko: It's been fun to watch this company grow and develop into a strong presence in the world of children's design over the past few years. This year they had some additional pieces to add to their Winnie the Pooh collection - love the pillow with the map of the Hundred Acre Wood!

And now, (because what fun is life without a little fashion), here are some of my favorite clothing for kidlets! Makes me excited for autumn to come back around...

Poppy Ltd.

Poppy Ltd.

Le Marchand d'Etoiles | Whip Cream

Lila Spain

Jumina

Bakker Made With Love | Neve / Hawk

DISCOVER: Playtime New York [Part 1]

Playtime NY pictures as promised! This year featured many of the same designers I got to know last year, but with a few new ones as well. I was a bit more rushed than usual since I dropped London off at preschool and then made a mad dash over to the show and back before class ended. :) I hope you enjoy my findings!

Oeuf: This Brooklyn-based company has developed a serious following and their collection gets cuter all the time. You may remember the crocheted butterflies I featured a while ago...they also had some crocheted seashells on display this year that were just adorable. 

Lucky Fish: I can't get enough of this brand with their colorful screen printed wares, both for wearing and for decorating. They had some really cute hanging banners, one with a glow-in-the-dark option! 

Seven Smooches: This new-to-me brand had awesome clothes made from recycled sweaters and a whole slew of these hand puppets! They all looked so sweet, just begging for a story.

Loop: I immediately started getting all touchy feely with these squishy thick blankets from newcomer, Loop. Founded by two NYC knit designers, the company is based on the philosophy that "kindness comes back around, love comes back around and good style comes back around." I sure hope these guys come back around next year! Definitely one to watch.

Hope you like what I liked! Until tomorrow's Part 2, I'll leave you with this fantastic sculpture that looks good enough to eat! Wonderfully crazy, no??

DISCOVER: Brooklyn Botanic Gardens [Part 1]

This past Friday we took a little train ride into Brooklyn to meet up with friends and explore the Botanic Gardens there. Signs of spring are just barely starting to show, but the gardens were beautiful nonetheless. I was very excited to discover that Patrick's Dougherty's stick installation was still there and the kids had a blast running in and out of the maze of fairytale-like doors and arches. Dougherty has completed over two hundred such installations, each one unique and wonderfully shaped. If you ever have a chance to see one of them in person, I would strongly recommend going and be sure to take a child along - they will be completely enchanted!

DISCOVER: ABC Home's "Little One" Baby & Kid

Ok, so I broke my promise and didn't post these yesterday...but there were so many to go through! Clearly I got a little too excited with my camera wandering around in this store. If there's one thing that ABC Home excels at, it's lavish displays, and the baby & kid section is no exception. I won't even try to explain it too much - I'll just let the pictures do the talking! Hope you enjoy them.