cool stuff for cool kids

I was a book nerd as a kid. Voracious reader. Some of my very best memories of childhood are afternoons and evenings spent combing the shelves of the public library. I can still close my eyes and see my first library card and the manila sleeve it fit into for safekeeping.

And I LOVED finding Caldecott and Newbery Medal-winning books to devour. For the uninitiated, the Caldecott Medal is given each year to the most distinguished picture book for children. The Newbery Medal goes to the book offering the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. In short, damn good books.

Some of my favorite Caldecott winners as a kid were:

• Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1942 winner)
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1964 winner)

(My children have quite a few of the more recent winners including a few that I didn’t realize had won but am pleased to know that they did. One they love that I DID know was a Caldecott honoree was Flotsam by David Wiesner. I blogged about it here about a year ago.)

And my favorite Newbery honorees:

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (1959 winner, also set in the town next to my hometown, second-favorite book from childhood)
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1963 winner)
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (1968 winner, all-time favorite book from childhood)
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1978 winner)

This year’s winners were announced this morning. I haven’t read them yet – but you can be sure I’ll be on the lookout at the library.

2010 Caldecott Medal winner: The Lion & the Mouse, illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney

2010 Newbery Medal winner: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Don’t think I’ve been let down by a Caldecott or Newbery winner yet..

* this post contains Amazon-affiliate links

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Pretty please?

Thanks!

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We have sufficiently established that I love very classic little girls’ dresses and shoes. Ready for a few more?

Elephantito has some of the sweetest little girls’ dresses around. Very traditional, but not old-fashioned. (And don’t even get me started on how cute their mary janes are. The gold and silver ones? To die for.)

Corduroy jumpers (just like my mama used to make…), reg. price $50 (see sale info below)

Simple cotton tunic, reg. price $66

Holiday tweed dress, reg. price $68

And did I mention that right now (as of January 6, 2010), they’re offering 45% off clothes?! FORTY-FIVE PERCENT, PEOPLE! What are you waiting around here for?! (Use code HAPPY at checkout.)

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My husband has always been a bit of a shopper. Until Harold’s closed last year, one of his favorite spots to shop was the clearance rack there. Always had a few XL gems for a good price.

And then he went through a little Nordstrom shirt-shopping phase too. A Von Maur opened near us, good shirts there as well. And good sales.

So, my husband’s shirt wardrobe rotates fairly regularly. In fact, he wanted to get rid of quite a few old button-downs last year. So many nice shirts that I couldn’t bear to just give them away (especially knowing what they had originally cost), so I sold about a dozen shirts on Ebay. That was a pain in the butt.

But take a look at this option for recycling Daddy’s old shirts. Lillipops Designs (a.k.a. Jayme Lillie, a clearly fabulous mom) will take a man’s old button-down, add some fun, patterned cotton and produce an absolutely darling dress for your little girl. Jayme will recycle a shirt chosen for you or she’ll use one that you send to her.

There are several different styles currently featured at the Lillipops Etsy shop, including some very cute flower girl dresses. I especially love this one:

$48, Lillipop Designs, custom-made sizes 6 mo. to 6x

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I‘m a bit obsessed with wallpaper these days. Of course, I haven’t put any up yet (even though we’ve been in this house for three years now). But I’m always thinking about papering my dining room, the office, a bathroom or two. I’ve always had wallpaper in my other houses – it’s just such a statement.

Speaking of statements, I ran across PaperBoy wallpaper in my internet travels this week. Handcrafted, it is made-to-order in England. (They offer matching fabric as well.)

Only a few patterns but they are SO unique! I’m not sure I could handle an entire room of these patterns but they sure would lend a HUGE punch on one or two walls. Don’t you think so?!

Look closely at the dinosaur pattern and you’ll find little boys silhouetted as well. Just the right touch.

There are a few different color choices and one more pattern over at the PaperBoy website.

Each roll is 10m (10.9 yards) and costs anywhere from £78-100 a roll.  That’s about $130-167 for us Yanks.

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Oh, hi! Remember us? We needed a little breather to get a few things in order around here. School started, I started a new business, the old business got crazy, my husband had a birthday, my son had a birthday. Good god, now I’m hyperventilating again…

I had to get back to share some cute finds with you though! How ’bout these little shoes? Found ‘em right under my nose – here in Kansas City!

The JEMOS children’s shoe line is reminiscent of other soft-soled cuties. The girls styles look like they have a higher back than most so that the strap doesn’t ride across the very top of the foot, allowing for a secure fit. They retail at select online and brick-and-mortar shops for about $28.

Take a peek:

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I must apologize. I’ve been very sporadic in my posting here lately. I’ve just launched a new business and haven’t had much chance to surf around, looking for darling, beautiful, quirky, cool, terrific, awesome, cute and totally rad stuff for kids.

Don’t despair. Sassy and George isn’t finished. Not by a long shot. But we’re going to take October off. We’ll be back in November though – and better than ever!!

Thanks so much for reading!

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Last week’s episode of Mad Men (ohmygod, if you’re not watching this, please start…) featured a 1963 Barbie. It was this one:

I wasn’t born until the ’70s but I had this Barbie growing up. My sisters and I inherited the Barbies that my mother and her sisters played with in the ’60s. We played and played and played with these Barbies and their ridiculously awesome clothes until they were all completely worn out, ripped, dirty and lost. And eventually, to my absolute horror in hindsight, they were shuffled away to either the trash or Goodwill.

But the episode made me wax nostalgic about the toys of my childhood. And Back to Basics Toys carries a lot of them! Please tell me that you remember these:

Fisher Price Two Tune TV

Chatter Telephone – we had this one.

Original Colorforms

Lincoln Logs Bicentennial Edition – not the current version with plastic roofs and windows, the old one with green planks for the roof!

Snoopy Sniffer – I can still hear the click, click, click of this as it was pulled across the floor

My all-time favorite though were the Fisher-Price Little People. The new sets just aren’t as totally awesome as the old ones. Check them out in all their glory at This Old Toy. I could spend hours…we had the house, the barn and the “city”. I think we had the airplane. Always wanted the school bus and the parking garage.

What were your favorite toys growing up?

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It is time. The Halloween catalogs have started arriving at my house. My kids are changing their minds about “what they will be” for Halloween on a daily basis. And, unfortunately, every costume idea so far seems to be mass-produced crap. Can’t we find something better?

And off to Etsy, I went. Here are a few great kids’ costumes I found:

Complete Star Wars costume with tunic, robe, belt and pants by mulliganstewboutique, $140

Max from Where the Wild Things Are by katesy, $89

Little Bo Peep by WandasWhimsies, $75 (try to ignore the creepy mannequin/dress form head!)

Snow White by littleshepsters, $45

DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba by bamdesigns, $40 (Seriously, one of the weirdest shows I’ve ever loved…)

Pebbles byRaeGun, $39.50

There are more but I had to cut myself off at some point.  I hope you like some of these. I’ve gotta run and convince my oldest to be Max, King of All the Wild Things, for Halloween this year!

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