Blog posts of '2013' 'April'

We just love creative documentation of your new little ones first years.  New and first time mom, Elise, has taken some time off work to raise her cutie-pie son, Gio.  Well sometimes all that baby stuff lying around the house just becomes inspiration (especially for an artist).  Elise decided to take us all on an adventure.She writes:

"This is what happens when an artist becomes a first time mom! Baby Gio travels to fantastical places in a weekly saga of DIY photo art (collaging household items, e.g., sheets, dishes, baby, etc.)... When I donned the wig to play "Alice" and made my husband take the photos, we both cried with laughter. Yes, I have totally lost my mind. But we're all mad here, aren't we? Or we wouldn't have come here. :)"

What we love about this is the effect in the final composition is stunning and the components used to create this beautiful picture are hardly recognizable. Candles and jar tops function as apples on the tree, changing pads. Shower curtains and blankets take on the life of grass and trees. It is all just stunning and so clever. We will have to keep an eye on her adventures over at her Elise in Wonderland Pinterest page.

"Little known fact: the reason why Alice went down the rabbit hole was because she was chasing her 10-week-old baby, Giovanni Everett."

Gio and the Mad Hatter:

Baby Gio was quite pleased to join the Mad Hatter in celebrating his unbirthday, which just happened to fall on April 29th, the day Gio turned 11 weeks old. Alice had been sitting in the extra seat, but she drank out of the wrong cup, and grew too large for the table. Made by me, with: table cloth, shower curtain, window curtain, bed sheets, napkins, dress socks, an old beach towel, hair barrettes, tea set, teddy bear, mouse toy, vines, baby bottle, and construction paper. Starring Gio and Ian

Gio in the Garden of the Queen of Hearts:

At twelve weeks (which is not at all the same as 3 months), Baby Gio wandered into the garden of the Queen of Hearts. Made by Elise Ippolito using napkins, bird statue wrapped with tissue paper, halloween costume, Venetian mask, two stuffed animals, silk flowers, clothing, jewelry, curtains, sheets, window drapery, pipes, envelopes, potted tree and a broomstick.

Gio and the Magic Beanstalk

Brave little 13-week-old Gio found some magic beans while in Wonderland, and put them to good use... Picture made by Elise Ippolito, with "elephant ear" vine, blankets, sheets, gauze, dress, shower curtain, changing pads, and gold plated serving cup. Starring Gio

Gio Meets the Giant while trying to get a Golden Egg

14-week-old Baby Gio isn't afraid of that Giant, or the Goose, and fully intends to make off with the Golden Egg, even if it is a bit heavier and larger than he'd expected... Made by me with fuzzy baby blankets, gold tablecloth, oval serving dish, a coil of rope, several sheets, and elephant ear vine leaves. Starring Mr. Gio and his daddy, Ian, as the Giant.

Gio on the Magic Carpet

Gio is off again.  I guess we are gushing about this alot lately, but we just love when someone's passion for their child becomes a visual testament:

Gio, now 15 weeks old, escaped the Giant with the help of a magic lamp, and made a couple of new friends in the process. Made with: blue towel, carpet, more towels, belt, a multitude of clothing and sheets, sash, ribbon, gold card stock, monkey hat, construction paper, swaddle, and actual authentic Egyptian lamp. Starring Gio

One of our favorite things about this artist is her self deprecating humor about the project in general. Some comments she made on the original image she posted on facebook:

You can tell it's not a professional's work, because you can see the zippered fly of the pink jeans in the top right cloud! Gio cooperated amazingly, though. I was also really pleased with getting a Genie-shape out of the one blue towel we owned.

 ] 

Protect your investments, Baby Furniture Plus Kids offers a great program for protecting your furniture and upholstery!

We often joke about our customers having the "perfect child" just because they shopped with us, however the reality is little hands can be quite destructive and accidents do happen.  One of our favorite products is Montage's incredible furniture protection plan.  This is not an extended warranty...   This is a protection plan to help protect and maintain the products you buy for your kids' rooms.  For five years, after the purchase, Montage will repair or replace product from:

• damage from wipe warmer
• burning by curling iron
• deep penetrating scratches from toys
• chipping from the vacuum hitting the leg of the dresser
• rips in upholstery on your glider
• broken glide mechanism
• stains from juice
• stains from lipstick
• stains from fingernail polish
• stains from fingernail polish remover
• stains from kool-aid, mustard, red wine (yours of course your child won't be drinking this, right?)
• ...and any other staining things your child can think of
• drawer fronts ripped off in a fury of slamming (yeah it can happen)
• drawers broken because someone stood in the drawer (also happens)
• REALLY the types and number of damages is mind boggling...and your three year old will know every single one

This incredible program is available on all furniture and gliders.  You must purchase the protection program prior to picking up your furniture and the plan stays with you and your furniture for the next five years (they don't call it the Terrible Twos and Terrifying Threes for nothing)

Dads are making it big in advertising these days...bout time!

We all know a few of the dedicated stay at home dads that took the initiative to devote their time and energy to the kids (cant imagine a more exhausting or rewarding career). Finally some big national companies are taking a liking to this great group of parents and actually spending some time and money to advertise about and to them. This is such a big change from as early as a year ago when a group of dads started a petition to get Huggies to pull some ads that made "dads" out to be incompetent at child rearing; encouraging their consumers to videotape dads 'trying' to diaper a child.  Huggies eventually pulled the ads and apologized. Looks like the 'stay at home father' is finally getting their due and we hope the trend continues.  We just love this commercial from Tide. Stay at home dads ROCK!  They work hard hard hard!