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Small play- building blocks

Beautiful blocks great for balancing, counting, sorting, spatial and problem solving skills and imaginative play.

clockwise from top left:

Petit Flaneur: Multi-function hand crafted blocks with images, the alphabet and tic, tac toe.

Cubikus: The challenge is to arrange the blocks so only one color shows on each side- much harder than it looks!

Twig Building Blocks: Modular bricks that fit into each other for architectural stacking.

Fidoodle: Make up stories and cities through building and stacking.

Classic ABC blocks from Romp: available in English, Spanish and French. 

Little Sapling Toys: Organic building blocks made from cherry, walnut and maple wood. A tree is planted for each toy sold.

Small diy - jack-o-lantern candy bag

This weekend I spent some time with my two kids at SpaceCraft in Brooklyn. Spacecraft is a unique craft space and supply boutique with daily walk-in crafting projects for adults and kids of every level. We had a great day making some fun Halloween crafts with Esther and Ella two sisters there for a day of fun.

To make the bag we picked a bright orange shirt with a front pocket so the bag could have a little outside pocket. Be as imaginative as you want...a white shirt could become a ghost or skeleton, a green shirt can be a ghoul or monster, and red shirt can be a strawberry....If stenciling seems too complicated you could easily paint on a design with fabric paint.

What you will need:
-T-shirt
-scissors
-spray bottle 
-fabric ink-could be plain black or not
-cardboard or old towel
-construction paper or old brown paper bag
-fabric pencil or pen

What to do:
1: First lay the shirt flat and cut the bottom hem off.
2: Cut two extra  1" inch strips off as well
3: Take the strips and stretch them until they become long bands
4: Take a piece of paper -construction or old brown paper bag cut up- and draw out a jack o'lantern face or any spooky pattern you like.
5: Cut out to make a stencil
6: Place a piece of cardboard or old towel between the front and back of the shirt and place paper stencil on top of the shirt. Be careful to place it higher on the shirt as more of the bottom will be cut and threaded at the end.
7: With a spray bottle and fabric ink spray cover the holes in the stencils right to the edges. You can use a hair blow dryer to dry the ink faster.
8: Once the ink is dry take off paper stencil from the top and the cardboard from the middle of the shirt.
9: Cut off the arms at the shoulders, the neckband, and round off the bottom by cutting at the left and right bottom corners. Take both the stretched loop strips and cut them so they become long strings.
10: Cut a half inch hole at base of arm hole and thread string through, tie a knot to hold.

11: Keep cutting half inch holes and thread string in an over-under-over-under pattern until you get to the middle of the bottom.
12: Repeat on the other side and when the 2 strings meet up tie them off in the middle with a bow or fancy knot with wooden beads hanging.

Voila! You have a re-usable trick or treat bag!

Spacecraft
355 Bedford Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Reported by Small associate-editor Jasmine Astronomo-Berger

Small bites - sweet tooth

Sweets to eat or send send anytime of the year...

Tine Temptation's shop is stocked full of delicious handmade sweets, cupcakes. You can pick up a dozen of these delicious mini S'mores cupcakes for $8.25

Celebrity Bake Sale make handmade one of a kind gourmet treats and dessert shipped to your door. We would love some of this delectable hazelnut cookie brittle.

Whimsey and Spice is one of our favorite places for a sugar fix. They are a Brooklyn husband and wife confectionery team who make sophisticated sweets and biscuits with a dash of spice. Their hand made flavored marshmallows are like nothing you have ever tasted and are barely related to the pink and white supermarket variety. Try their new maple flavored marshmallows.

Small inspiration 22

We use Fridays to collect images that are inspiring us for future shoots for Small. Often they are dyptychs and the connection may be obvious or not so apparent. You can see what we like in these two....yellow, blue and black, checkered tiles, perspective, images in the background, things in the shadows, doorways.... 

Julie Blackmon High Chair 2006

Vermeer The Love Letter 1667-1670

Small Shops- Whitten Grey

We love the Whitten-Grey girls and have featured their beautiful dresses in Small before here and here. As well as creating elegantly made and designed dresses for your little girl they give another less fortunate girl a dress for every one they sell. You can even choose the color and the country that the dress will go to and send a message along with it. Check out their new shop and their fall collection and read all about project little grey dress.

Small specials- two NYC sample sales

Kidini Sample Sale

designers include many of our favorites from the pages of Small: Splendid Little, Neige, Imps and Elfs, Rooster NYC, Claesens, KicoKids, Polarn O.Pyret, Salvor, Fauna, Appaman, Lucky Jade, Egg Baby, Sophie Catalou, and many more.....

When: Tuesday Sept 22- Thursday Sept 24 9.30am-6.45pm and Friday Sept 25 9.30am- 5.00pm

Where: Nancy Ney Studio 620 Broadway Suite 2R (between Bleecker and Houston)

Clothingline Sample Sale

Jacadi - onesies, shirts, sweaters, skirts, pants, dresses, puffers, outerwear & more

Crewcuts - sample size only for crewcuts- shirts, blouses, sweaters, blazers, special occassion, outerwear & more

Rachel Riley - shirts, blouses, sweaters, skirts, dresses, pants & more

Imps & Elfs - onesies, coveralls, knit tops, knit leggings, jeans, skirts, dresses, outerwear & more.

When: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10.00am to 6.00 pm

Where: 261 W 36th Street (between 7th & 8th Ave) 2nd Floor

Reported by associate editor Jasmine Astronomo-Berger

Small photo - people with poloroids

I guess one day it really will all be gone and there will be no more new Polaroids. Here are a few of our favorite dedicated poloroid artists.

Elizabeth Soule: Magical miniature still lives, using poloroids.

Irene Nam. Look for her lovely images in the next issue of Small, coming out the last week of November, and also here on Smaller. We are so excited to have her work with us. 

Jen Gotch. Her poloroid blog is always beautiful. She once did a whole shoot for Small all in poloroid. It was so hard to choose which photos to include- we loved them all.

Jamie Livingstone: took a poloroid every day from 1979 to 1997. After his  death his friends Hugh Crawford and Betsy Reid put together a public exhibit and website using the photos.

Behind the Pages - Portraits by Steven Visneau

Here's a few snapshots of our portrait photo story by Steven Visneau, our photo editor. The most important element of this shoot was the hair crafted by the talented Ashley Rike. We also featured some of the best Fall accessories by Mija Jewelry, Kicokids, Mathilde de Turckheim, A Alicia Handmade, M.O.M and Floret.

Small Shops - Pipsqueak Chapeau

Sveta Drescher really liked the English word Pipsqueak when she heard it for the first time and 'Chapeau' is the name of a well known store owned by an eccentric woman who always wore crazy hats in Sveta's homeland, Russia. It sounded fun to her to put the two together- Pipsqueak Chapeau!

After having her son Kai (now 6.5) she knitted her first hat. Then came the idea for a line of kids hats and scarves and clothes, followed by a line of adult clothes. She now has a second son, Finn, who is 9 months. When she is not creating a clothing line she spends the time with her kids and works on her photography. She takes all of the evocative photos of her line for her website and blog (see below). Opening her new store felt like a natural progression- her clients kept asking for it and then recently a space came up near her home and studio in Brooklyn, so she jumped at the chance.

The entire Pipsqueak- Chapeau line is made by hand in Brooklyn. Natural materials are very important and all her designs are produced in linen, silk, cotton, felted wool, mohair, hemp and her knits are alpaca. The designs are usually in solid colors and natural shades. Sveta approaches her designs with a concern about how women and children feel living in their clothing, not so much how they look. Her line goes from baby knits to kids dresses to adult clothing and now she also does home linens.

For the Fall, Sveta favorite picks are:
-the alpaca mitts are the quintessential NYC mittens. You can open any doorknob better or handle a metro card with ease.
-the tie skirt (shown above with Sveta tying it) is wool, cashmere with a silk finish.
-the long sleeve linen dress which comes in white and black.

Pipsqueak-Chapeau

99 Franklin St. Brooklyn NY 11211

Reported by our associate editor in New York-  Jasmine Astronomo-Berger.

Small Inspiration 21

Temperley London Spring 2010

Dark and Stormy watercolor by Golly Bard

Small furniture - out of the woods

This amazing bean bag grizzly bear and gnawed log bolsters are knitted! The graphics are made from the pattern of the wool, not printed on after. Check out the other equally astonishing pillow and beanbag designs in their Etsy shop:
chicsindesigndotcom

Small Art - Bee Things

We have been open for two months now and have stocked the shop with some amazing independent designers as well as our very own "Little Bean" collection.  I really enjoy sewing small runs of dresses, skirts, boys clothing and accessories exclusively for the store. This week we finally launched the Little Bean on line shop!

During our opening party we were lucky to meet the talented couple behind Bee Things. A local company that makes handmade screen printed limited edition art prints adorned with beautiful birds. Check them out in Little Bean on line shop here. We will be adding more prints and screen printed lunch bags by Bee Things this week....so check back!

Small play - AK traditions

AK was originally designed as a gallery to showcase the rich, and diverse textile heritage of central Asia, in particular that of the mounted nomads of the Kyrgyz Republic.
All AK products are designed in Melbourne and made by skilled artisans in the Kyrgyz Republic using with natural fibres such as yarn-dyed cotton and handmade and dyed wool felt.  AK artisan quality products are intended to be stylish and witty with a cross–generational appeal that is unaffected by the whims of the mass market – modern classics with a strong sense of tradition.
AK traditions : Handmade wool felt in unique colors and a diverse range of items that includes artisan quality felt toys, dolls, quilts, home-wares, accessories, handwork kits and hand knitting and much more.

Small Hands - Liza Rendina

We are smitten with the "Little Stars" collection handmade by Liza Rendina. Meet Odette, Milo, Syrus and Tobia.

Liza Rendina

Small Threads - Clover New York Fall Launch Party and Sale!

We love Clover New York!!  You can see some of the collection in the current issue of Small. If you are in NYC be sure to attend their Fall Launch party this Sunday.

Small inspiration 20

...to the suburbs.

 
Samantha Everton: from the series 'Vintage Dolls' featuring children in dream-like settings. The series involved the creation of elaborate sets in a derelict 1920s house in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Howard Arkely: airbrush paintings inspired by the architecture and interiors of western suburbs of Melbourne.

small films - period pieces

four films we love...beautiful stories, beautifully crafted.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (director Peter Weir)

The Secret Garden (drector Agnieszka Holland)

An Angel At My Table (director Jane Campion)

The Year My Voice Broke (director John Duigan)

Small threads - all things bright and beautiful

Brighten up your school days with...
up-cycled sweater by Heart Felt Baby
yellow school satchel by the Cambridge Satchel Company
socks by Le Big
shoes by Keep
bow brooches by A Alicia Accessories
dress by Chalk and Cheese

Small play- old fashioned fun

tin pull toy dog
wooden spinning top
peg pounder
alphabet blocks
rag doll by Frazzy Dazzles

Small Shops - Pink Olive

Small went by the PInk Olive Boutique in Park Slope the other day to say hi and ask whats new. Pink Olive specializes in unique and whimsical gifts for the home and babies by local artists and designers as well as many from overseas to create a really unusual collection also available on line. Pink Olive is offering 10% discount to students (instore) so drop by and see what's new for the fall, all you have to do is show ID. We were also happy to hear of an evening Pink Olive is hosting with Angela Jia Kim, founder of Om Aroma the luxury skin care company.
While you sip on organic wine Angela will be discussing how to create or keep your nursery green. It will definitely be fun and informative! Hope you can make it !

Reported by our associate editor in New York-  Jasmine Astronomo-Berger.

Small Inspiration 19

Photo by Philip Newton
Horse Sculpture by Heather Jansch

Small Bites - I Heart Tamra Davis by Joslyn from Raising Foodies

Tamra Davis quite possibly might be the hippest. mom. ever.  An acclaimed director, married to Beastie Boy Mike D., and an avid and passionate cook, I might have a smidge of a girl crush on her.  Suffice to say, I’m addicted to her cooking show (great music, excellent recipes)…her pizza dough is especially stellar. 

She also has a swell cookbook…

Small Bites - Lunchtime by Joslyn from Raising Foodies

I’m a little bit obsessed with school lunch these days.  My oldest just started kindergarten, and while I’m planning buying lunch most days (according to School Lunch Talk, one of the best ways to get better food into public school cafeterias is to become a loyal lunchroom customer), we definitely need a good lunch box on hand for the days we do pack.

Goodbyn lunchboxes are my current fave as they’re big enough for lunch and the stickers make them totally customizable… every kid’s dream

The selection of Bento boxes by Sugar Charms is amazing…my 5 year old would go nuts if I packed her lunch in one of these cuties

Small Bites - Bribery by Joslyn from Raising Foodies

This week we are very excited to have our first guest blogger!!! We called on our favorite foodie, Joslyn Taylor, from Raising Foodies to write a few Small Bites posts. You can see her recipe for Blueberry Dessert in the current issue of Small.

Joselyn: I write a lot about the epic struggle to get my two young daughters to “eat outside of the box”… Let’s just say there’s a lot of pleading, cajoling and well, yes bribing going on at our dinner table most nights.  But recently I discovered if I serve broccoli (or any other much maligned food) on some sort of groovy little plate, the girls are far more amenable to actually consuming it. 

Some of our faves…

All the kids stuff from French Bull is great, but I’m especially smitten with the groovy monster plates

Food Face Ceramic Plate – my girlies especially dig these when I serve mashed potatoes.

Animal Friends Silverware – makes a sweet baby gift too.