T H E W I L D | Modern apparel for hip kids.

Hello! So I've been alluding here and there to a project that I've been working on for ever (and ever) and it's all finally out in the open. This has been a labour of love to say the least...what an adventure. I'm so SO happy it's all launched!



So, a little back-story. Years ago I had been painting and had created some characters for Ben's room. People started asking for them and things began to snowball. I had this crazy idea that it would be so wonderful to create something really cool with these drawings of mine. 

Countless sketchbooks and notebooks and months (years) later, this is where I'm starting. And seriously, starting is the key word. For now, we are offering baby clothes, kids clothes and accessories. There are so many more things I will be adding. Stay tuned! But for now, check out what we have!!

















This is just a little peek, you can see more on our website here and our Etsy shop here. Also, you can follow along with us:

✚ INSTAGRAM /// @thewildkidsapparel

✚ FACEBOOK /// facebook.com/thewildkidsapparel

✚ TWITTER /// @thewildkidsapp

✚ PINTEREST /// pinterest.com/thewildkids/

We plan on adding more products, different characters, running some fun contests....eee I can't wait!!

This project was not done alone. I could NOT have done any of this without Billy, who has been my sounding board, my constant support, my photographer, my complete partner. I want to do this for him and for our kids. I want Ben and Sawyer to see that Mommy works hard too, and if all goes well I too can be contributing to our family. Taking these years to be home with the boys has been a DREAM and I feel so completely lucky to have been able to do it. It's all because of Billy. But it's time to really seriously integrate work into my life, and balance that with my mom duties. This balance is something I've been really needing and I'm happier than ever when I have work to do. Ask anyone. I'm strange.

My Mom and Dad. Those two. I can't begin to describe how much they help and support me, encourage me, motivate me. It's because of them that I applied to school again, to this amazing semi-secret program that has helped me make this all happen. They are the hardest working people, both small business owners, and they push me to do things that I normally wouldn't think were possible. You guys. Thank you times a billion.

Ben and Sawyer! My handsome little muses. This is ALL because you exist. Not even lying, before you I wasn't sure that I liked kids all that much. Now, I'm sold. Kids rule. You two most of all.

Don, Norine, Cass, Kurt, the family that I married into who are the best ever. You guys are always there for us every step of the way and I don't know what we would do without you. Cass, I'm totally going to need you at my upcoming markets girl. 

To everyone, my family, my friends, everyone who is sick of hearing about this, ALL OF YOU, I'm so very grateful. Not only for being my cheerleaders, for sharing and liking things all over social media. But just for being in my life and for being AWESOME. I never could have imagined I would have the best set of people in the universe surrounding me. It's the best.

Anyway, I love you guys. Straight up for real. You get it.

xo

Lost and Found

We are huge Oliver Jeffers fans around here. Ben has three of his stories (and two more coming to him on his birthday!) and he loves to have them read to him. He seems to love them in a different way from his other books, which sounds weird but it's true. He looooves them.

I recently discovered that one of his favourites, Lost and Found, is also a movie! I had no idea...how did I not know about this?! A copy of this will hopefully arrive here before someone I know turns two ;)



Via Oliver Jeffers

DIY Walrus Toy /// Step-by-step handmade soft toy tutorial

Alright, this is my holiday DIY project finale..in the last week I've received a total of ELEVEN custom painting orders through my shop, so I have my work cut out for me! But, I still had to take a few minutes to share this. It was so much fun to make.

I decided ages ago that I wanted to make Ben a handmade toy for Christmas (you know, to balance out all of the fisher price crap) and I finally got around to it last week. This was MUCH easier than I thought it would be. It took some time, but it was very simple, and most of it I was able to do while drinking tea and watching bad daytime tv during Ben's naps. Yay!

Here's what you need:

• One yard of fabric for the body
• Half a yard of fabric for the tummy, snout and feet
• Tiny little bit of white felt (I used leftover felt from my Christmas Tree Skirt DIY, but if you are buying it you can get away with asking for a few inches)
• Black and white crochet thread
• Stuffing (or a pillow you don't want anymore)
• Fabric glue
• Regular thread
• Sewing machine

You might want to add more details like cute buttons or something, so you can add to this list as you need to. 

Here's how I did it. Very easy, and this time I took semi-decent (non-iPhone) pictures. Go me.

I started by designing my walrus. This is based on my Walrus painting, because it seems to be Ben's favourite. I hereby allow anyone to copy this for personal use in making this soft toy, so go nuts! I used large craft paper and cut out a body shape, an oval for the tummy, etc. You can see above the shapes I used...and these do not need to be perfect, they look better if they're not! So use these shapes as a guideline, but feel free to change them up.

I cut the fabric using the paper templates by tracing around them with a Sharpie.  I used a dark grey suiting fabric for the body and the lighter wooly grey fabric for the other parts. Make sure you cut two pieces for the body, and make them larger than you need (leaving room for a hem). The other pieces should be exactly the size you need.

Next I placed my pieces on the fabric where I wanted them to go, and used a little bit of fabric glue to hold everything in place. Play around with the eyes and other pieces here to get the look you want. 

Time to stitch! Using your black and white crochet thread, hand stitch around the tummy, snout, and feet. The eyes are also finished with stitches, and little details added here and there like little nostrils, foot details and whiskers . This part was really fun and quick, you can really just do as much or as little as you want. Here are a few close ups of the stitches that I did. 

As you can see, my stitches are far from perfect. I like the look of it, but you can be more careful if you want here. You basically just sew it by hand, then knot the thread in the back when you're done. 

Once you've stitched all of your details, you're almost done. Lay the two sides of the body together, with the good side of your walrus facing the second piece of fabric, and pin around the edges as shown above. (Here you can see the mess of hand stitching in the back....doesn't matter though). Stitch around the outside edge all the way around leaving a gap at the bottom for your filling (about 5 inches or so). 

Give it a quick iron, then flip it inside out. Stuff it with your filling (I used about half of the contents of a king size pillow) and blind stitch the opening. And you're done!

So, what do you think? Anyone going to give it a try? This project took me about 2 days to finish, and I only worked on it while Ben was napping or after he was in bed...so it's definitely doable before this Christmas!!! More holiday gift ideas here.

Just a reminder, my special A & B readers-only discount ends on December 10th! Use discount code AANDBSTORIES1 in my shop and you will get 20% off!

ADOP spotted in Nicole's house! EEE!

Did anyone see Nicole's (of Making It Lovely) house tour on Young House Love? Well it was pretty amazing, and I also spotted a little gift I made for her wee one! 





Back when I met her at Blog Podium I brought a mini nursery painting for each of her kids. I know, such a kiss-ass....NO, I've been reading MIL since 2007, and I remember when Nicole posted about being pregnant the first time, and the second time, and if you read blogs you know how connected you start to feel to the writer and their family after a while. I know, it's weird, but it's true! Little Eleanor and August are just so cute, and it makes me soooo happy knowing that I have a little painting in each of their rooms!

For August, I did the orange fox pictured. I knew Nicole had designed his room with pops of orange, so I thought this would be perfect. For Eleanor, I knew she loved elephants, so I went with that, and I chose green to go with the new decor Nicole was  putting together for her. 

Anyway, just wanted to share this, I'm sure Nicole is showered with gifts all the time (well-deserved) but she could have just tossed these. I'm thrilled to know they are in her home being enjoyed by her little ones :)

Images via Young House Love

Holiday Gift Idea /// Wee Gallery Nesting Dolls

I stumbled upon this oh so sweet Wee Gallery nesting doll set and I had to share. How perfect would this be under the Christmas tree for a little one? Love it!



Image via Wee Gallery

H&M Playhouse

Why can't everything that I want to buy just be at Walmart and on some sort of awesome sale? That would be too easy.

I want to buy/make Ben a little playhouse for Christmas...and I want this one SO BADLY.

Of course, it's through H&M Home which is not even in the US yet, let alone way up here in Canada with the igloos. Ugh. 

So, I'm hoping that someone I know somewhere can track one of these down for me...otherwise I'll have to make something myself. I don't want one of those over-the-kitchen-table jobies. So, we'll see. 

Side note: There should be a website where you can post things you want that are not available in your country and some good samaritan somewhere agrees to buy it for you and ship it to you. Sure, it would be on some sort of honour system and people would get scammed by the thousands, but MAYBE it would work sometimes, and that would be amazing. 

UPDATE - A truly kind, sweet lady who reads my blog bought one of these for me and had it sent to Canada. Read this amazing,y kind story here :)

Image via The Guardian

Modern Baby Goodies

This week I've been finishing up a little batch of ADOP nursery painting commissions that came in, it's been so much fun! I love all the different colour requests that I get. I am partial of course to this one, loooove the black and white.



All of these nursery requests have had be thinking a lot about Ben's room and the cute little things out there that I would love to get. Of course I turned to Etsy and found some of the cutest finds for modern babies. I created a little treasury of them, take a look!



You can look at any of these shops through the treasury list. They are all amazing!

Bath Toy Storage - Boon Baby Products

Lately I've been looking for more bath toy storage options, and I have not been able to find much. I did pin this idea recently, but something about it just looks too kitchen-y, and cluttered, and I think it would bug my forever, so I didn't go that route. I wanted something really simple that would look cute and out of the way.

Then I remembered Boon. I knew they carried great high chairs and I already have and LOVE my grass drying rack (which I use for my paint brushes instead of baby stuff, he he). They have a ton of different products, but I especially love their bath line. SO CUTE. 



I'm not normally into having typical baby stuff all over the place, but I thought this whale would look pretty cute in our bathroom, and Ben is a big fan. I think it's adorable.



It's also a really practical option, because there is drainage, so the toys don't sit in a wet container and they stay within reach, which I like. It holds quite a bit too, definitely enough for bath time. And I love that there's a little shelf for shampoo! 

I'm going to be stocking up on more Boon products for sure, including their bath toys which don't absorb water so they never get mildewy. Love it. I also love this organizer and this penguin snack container.

Have you found any cool baby bath toys or storage options out there? Love to get new ideas!

Product images via Boon

ADOP /// Fun custom nursery painting

Not too long ago I shipped out this custom nursery painting to a client who was looking for something very specific. She was looking for a modern shaped apple with the phrase "You are the apple of my eye." written below. I love how it turned out! 








Oh, it's so much fun painting for kids's rooms and nurseries. I have so many ideas of things I want to do for my kids line. JUST NEED MORE TIME. I'd probably free up quite a bit if I'd stop whining about never having time. I should try that.

Baby Gap - The New Little Cubs Collection

Over the weekend Billy and I were out looking for birthday outfits for Benjamin, and we saw this insanely cute collection in Gap. Have you seen it? AH, why didn't they have this when Ben was first born? I would have bought....well...all of it.





SO sweet! I am so in love with everything from Gap for kids and babies. We ended up going with this cute denim romper...love it!