Marimekko Kids

Watch out crewcuts, these images from Marimekko's kids collection are reaching the top of the cute chart. It's not unusual that we are caught wishing kids clothing came in adult sizes, but once we see those little bodies show off those fashionable threads, they're definitely making a spot on our wish list. Marimekko has always inspired us with their colorful patterns and bold decor, but now that we're seeing more of them in our every day lives, we're even more in love.

And with all the little boys in our H!L family, we're obsessing over their toy car illustrations. Who wouldn't want to trek that backpack to the first day of school next year!?

Visit their beautiful US website right here, and be sure to check out the kids collection here!

Modern Kids Photography and Baby William

We're all still giddy about the birth of Sabrina's third baby, William. She had favorite photographer Sarah Wert of Modern Kids Photography capture the exciting first moments as a family of five and they turned out just beautifully. James and Alex waited so patiently for the arrival of their baby brother, so this photo of them is just perfect. We love how Sabrina decorated the nursery with colorful wall decals from Gosh and Golly, too.

Sabrina was sure to spend some quality time with the twins before the baby was born. Reading some of their favorite books is a great way to relax together, and offered some photo-worthy moments for Sarah. They also got a little playful by blowing up balloons for the big arrival.

William is too precious! We can definitely see the resemblance to his brothers.

We are so happy for Sabrina and her family. Thanks to Modern Kids for the beautiful photographs!

Child's Own Custom Toys from Drawings

This image has spread like wildfire on Pinterest. There's something magical about a child's imagination, and the playfulness of a simple drawing. Child's Own Studio has been turning those imaginative doodles and drawings into real life toys since 2007 and we are completely in love.

The creator and master softie-maker Wendy takes time to incorporate every detail, from each finger and toe to every scribble of the nose.

This is the kind of gift that stays with a child for a lifetime, so we encourage parents, family friends, and all to invest in this one-of-a-kind toy. Currently Wendy is booked, but visit this list of other Softiemakers for your order. Congratulations to Child's Own on all the success!

Baby William

We have exciting news! On November 12th we welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the Hello!Lucky family! William Henry Abdey was born at 10:36am weighing in at 7lbs 9oz. Proud parents Sabrina and Julian (and big brothers Alex and James!) are happy as can be, and we couldn't be more excited for boy #3!

Congratulations Sabrina and Julian! Love, the H!L team.

Indoor Tents for Kids

As parents and adults, we encourage creativity and imagination for kids. One of the most treasured activities we remember growing up is building forts. Nothing brought more joy than gathering blankets, pillows, towels, cushions, and any item that could turn the bedroom into a private fortress, much to our parents chagrin. The mess was a handful, but the end product always made great memories. Now our favorite childhood pastime has turned into a sophisticated and trendy home accessory. These talented bloggers and parents have shared images of their own indoor tents and they're pitching a frenzy among crafty moms around the web. The tent above takes teepee to a whole new level. Found via Black Eiffel from Frank Features, those stars are a fun addition to any kids room.

This A-frame tent made by Rubyellen of My Cakies is a simple DIY and can easily be broken down and stored. With elastic bands sewn to the corners and washable fabrics, this tent makes parent playtime a cinch and kids playtime a dream come true.

Tifanie of Noddyboom used thrift store found sweaters and textiles for her whimsical teepee style tent.

This photo of Eva'a red striped tent (found via Spearmint Baby via Happiness is Eva) takes the cake. The structured foundation, the bold stripes, the velcro fasteners, it's all tent perfection. You can get your own tent over at An Angel at my Table.

Sabrina's Weekend Snapshots

This past weekend my family and I took a trip down to Carmel Valley to spend some time on the beach. It's truly a remarkable place and quickly becoming a favorite family destination. Only a short drive from San Francisco, Carmel's roaring landscape and sweet sandy beach makes traveling with kids easy and fun. I snapped this photo of the lavender fields in full bloom on our way down.

The view is breathtaking and we had perfect weather, as usual in Carmel!

Taking our boys to the beach can be messy! Alex enjoyed a long bubble bath after a long day outside.

It was hard to leave such a lovely place. Clearly James felt the same way but we'll be back often.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Office of Nature Blog

How awesome is the new blog by Office of Nature?? Our friend Katherine Webb (who you might remember from our holiday guest artist collection!) has built an incredible blog about art and illustration for kids and since it's launch in April we've been hooked. She has an extremely well curated collection of designs by artists like Methane Studios (above) and Sol Linero (below) along with many others. We definitely suggest taking some time to scroll the pages. It will make you feel like a kid again!

(Brad Woodard)

(Albert and Marie)

Visit the Office of Nature blog here and don't forget to browse her shop here!

New Kids Birthday Party Invitations

We have some exciting news to share with all of you! For years we've heard from our devoted fans and customers about how a variety of children's birthday party invitations would be the perfect addition to our collection. Well the time has come! Some of our favorite invitation designs are coming out of the archives, and even some brand new invitations are making their big debut.

Balloons (above)

You might remember Jude's first birthday party invitations (a whole year ago!) but now they are available just for you. Perfect for a group party or just one headlining guy/gal. This Big Top invitation sets the bar for a roarin' good time.

Alex and James' cardboard box party was such a hit, we couldn't resist adding their custom designed first Box Party invitations to the mix.

As for the boys' second birthday party (along with a whole march of kiddo's) we designed this stellar Color Block invite similar to the one created exclusively for their neon-inspired bash. Check out more photos on Apartment Therapy here!

 All these designs can be customized for twins or even group parties, so give us a call for more information. Enjoy!

Pikku

When we spotted these silk screened cotton ribbons by Pikku on Parcel Post we stopped right in our tracks. Pikku has an entire collection of pillows, office accessories, ribbons, and wrapping paper! What a perfect coincidence it is that our custom birth announcements by Pikku go hand in hand with these accessories. We personalized our Mums birth announcement to match their lemony color scheme, and it's truly a match made from heaven.

Check out the entire Pikku shop here, and our Pikku birth announcements here!

Holiday Cuties

There are only a few things that get us through the craziness of the holidays without fail here at Hello!Lucky. One being the delicious treats our talented bakers and chefs bring to the office, and another is getting to see the adorable munchkins framed so nicely in the family photos. With all of the photo cards flying through here lately, sometimes we just have to stop and say, "Awwwee." We've compiled a non-juried assortment of some of the most awe-worthy kiddo's, and just can't help but give you a peek. These are in fact the real photos our customers used, so we're sending a big thanks to the families who let us share!

Circus Fever

It's no secret that we love everything circus. We find timeless inspiration from the peppy colorways and the wild patterns, especially when we find one of a kind vintage circus themed items, like this fabric (above via Cherry Tomato).

The images inside Circus Alphabet from Whitman Tell-A-Tale-Books are packed with hilarious illustrations of the circus days of the 1950s. We can only imagine the excitement of such a fantastic event!

And we can't forget precious Jude's first birthday party invitations and circus party decor!

It doesn't end there! We have our beloved Circus Photo Birth Announcement!

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! So many wonderful ideas!

Jude's French flash cards

At craft night, Eunice has been working on French flash cards for her son, Jude. They are pen & ink illustrations with a watercolor finish - absolutely fantastic for any aspiring bilingual babies!

Eunice is trying to raise Jude bilingual in French and English, so she's always trying to find fun ways to teach him new vocabulary (ok, so he doesn't speak yet, but!) as well as adding to her own French vocab.  She has a love for making flash cards - the words really stick and it's a fun and quick excuse to doodle.  It's also a great excuse to play around with painting/watercolor techniques - the perfect platform to practice on (being the raging multi-tasker that she is!)

Her inspiration for each card is to find things Jude has seen, or words that are just plain amusing (like the fact that raccoon directly translates to "a washing young rat" more or less!) - both the raccoon and the otter are animals they saw at the zoo recently.  The kites are from a recent outing to Crissy Field and the race car is a noise he's learned to make lately.  Next up are a horse, gorilla, tiger, cow and duck - more noises he's been making lately (for the gorilla he pounds his chest!). Once he sees a cow and starts mooing, he will moo for the next 20 minutes!

Pikku Designs: New Pocket Tees

Pikku is debuting some dapper, darling new tees! Some of the Hello!Lucky boys got them as a surprise gift, and we had to share a preview.

Click on the images to visit the Pikku shop.

Have you seen our Pikku baby announcements? If you like these simple, sweet patterns, peruse our Pikku birth announcement designs. With a simple change of text they can be re-purposed as a birthday invitation, too!

Jude's Big Top Birthday: Birthday Cake Banner!

A slightly tardy post on how make the little flags that topped Mr. Jude's Big Top Birthday Cake (thank you for your patience, dear readers, things have been a little busy here at H!L HQ!)   We thought these little banners were the perfect topper for a circusy cake!  That perfect stripey candle and equally genius napkins found at Shop Sweet Lulu...

Download the tutorial here (with printable flags!)

La Moustache Party de Mr. Hugo

We were very pleased to be invited the La Moustache Party de Mr. Hugo (who you may remember from his recent appearance as a French clown)...

His mom, Vanessa, is hilarious and quite the style maven, and she did not disappoint with the many cute and funny details!

Like these snappy little moustache cupcake toppers (the cupcakes were DELICIOUS - from That Takes the Cake)

and these hard candy lollipops...

She had all kinds of simple, yet ingenious, touches - Washi tape bands add cute graphic flair to  plain glass bottles...

Love these little paper cups!

Of course, one must have a selection of moustaches on a stick!  These fab paper 'staches available here and the wooden 'staches here...

...and we loved the hilarious bunting made from photos of famous mustaschioed gentlemen - ah, Tom Selleck...

And the random celebratory moustache imagery that popped up in unexpected places...love those Y-fronts!

Ah, how we love a well-designed par-tay!  Bonne anniversaire, Mr. Hugo!

Jude's Big Top Birthday: Ring 'o' Fire, baby!

Every serious circus needs a ring of fire, obviously - here's how to make your very own.  Tiny tiger not included!

Download the tutorial here!

designworklife

Love this blog, designworklife.  We found they had posted about our Jude Turns 1 party invitation, and in the process turned up all sorts of beautiful things!  Foremost in our minds today were these amazing wee artist books by Elsa Mora (click on her name and be awed at her cut paper creations!)

Be sure not to get completely derailed by Elsa's amazing stuff, though, as there are all other sorts of goodies to see on designworklife.

Enjoy!

Oh, Vintage Fisher Price, We Heart You!

We grew up in the 70's and 80's, so Fisher Price holds a particular place in our collective hearts, but, seriously, how could you not love these classic toys?  The aesthetic is so very, very cool...

These little portable radios!

And this music box TV!

Ah Jingle Bird...

And this camera?  Seriously.

Fisher Price has brought back a few of their vintage toys, such as the classic Chatter Telephone (though it amuses us to think that the average child would be utterly mystified by this phone - rotary dial? Wha??) and the Record Player and let's not forget The Corn Popper Push Toy! We wish they would bring back more!

via Modern Kiddo with awesome photos by flickr users jpidgeon, john_kratz, monique(moki), doe-c-doe, amazing granda and julielion

Zulily Promotional

Have you heard of Zulily?

Zulily is a fab, beautifully curated listing of brands that specialize in kids and moms, be it clothing, decor, ephemera or stationery of course!

They have weekly and daily coupons and promos.  It's simple and painless to join the list (we love avoiding spam, too)— just provide your name and e-mail and you're set. They even have some deals for non-moms... and it's good inspiration for mom-wannabes.

Hello!Lucky has a current promo, through 11/9/2010, that's good for our birth announcements and great for holiday cards too.

Peruse the cuteness!

Some of our favorite stores for kids' stuff are their favorites too. They represent blabla, HABA, Zid Zid, Urban Smalls, Kiwi Industries and many more!

Oh! Tiny Owl Sweater!

We love to knit here at Hello!Lucky, and we especially love to knit tiny adorable sweaters for little people (ah! the (semi)instant gratification...), so when we saw this adorable sweater pattern byKathrin we were, ahem, a wee bit excited!

This little moustache pull is pretty darned cute too!  The patterns are available on her Etsy shop...and she has a cute and inspiringblog too!

via MyOwlBarn