Entries Tagged as 'Stationery'

valentines card free printable - ebabee

Do you celebrate Valentines day?  I don’t like the whole commercial side of it but I do like the sentiment behind the day.  And now with a child in the mix too, it’s more a day to celebrate love not just between a couple but all kinds of love.  That sounds a bit cheesy I know, but you get what I mean right?  I especially like the act of giving a simple card to loved ones so I asked the very talented Lucy Monkman who is a designer and illustrator to come up with a Valentines card printable for all of you.  Lucy has designed a super cute fairy scattering hearts which you can print out and the kids can simply colour in or you can make it in to a Valentines card to give out to whomever you like.

free valentines card printable - ebabeefree valentines card printable - ebabee

This cute free Valentines card printable is available to download in two sizes – A4 and A5.  To download just click the PDF in the size you want and print it out, ideally on to card.  For the A5 one you will have to choose A5 as the paper size on your printer settings before hitting print.  We have printed loads and Anya wants to give them out to all her besties at school.  A big thank you to Lucy Monkman for making this card exclusively for my readers.

Coloured-with-Love-A4

Coloured-with-Love-A5

"January 2015 free printable calendar"

This year I’ve decided to be more organised with work and managing home life.  In the past, I’ve always relied on writing things down on scraps of paper that I can of course never find when I need.  Or I’ve always got 4-5 notebooks on the go, each of which has a specific subject at the start of the year but come mid-year I’ve got random notes in all and end up looking through each one to find what I want.  Such a waste of time.  So this year, I’ve started the year with a weekly planner – one sheet for each week with lots of notes for the whole week.  That plus a whole year planner with key dates highlighted so I always know what is happening at a glance. 

"printable 2015 calendar for kids"

"free-printable 2015 calendar"

While looking for planners and calendars I came across some gorgeous free printable ones so I thought I would share them here.  They are so pretty that they may inspire you to use them, even if you don’t normally.  Or at the very least, they’ll make lovely wall decorations even if you never write on them.  I’ve picked a selection – some that are better for kids and others more for adults.  I’ll be printing one for Anya too as she has learned about days and dates in school so it’s a great way for her to get more familiar with the whole idea.  And besides, she’s told me she wants to countdown to Christmas (in January!!!). 

"printable 2015 calendars""printable calendars 2015"

Many of the calendars are released monthly so you’ll have to visit the site each month to print the latest one. I quite like that as you never know what’s coming next.   The top one is probably my favourite (it’s so cute) but not the most practical to write on, however I still love it just to pin it up in a kids room and I can’t wait to see the new ones each month.  A couple are in French but of course not hard to understand.  Here’s where you’ll be able to print all these gorgeous free 2015 calendars:

1. January bear calendar | 2. Animals monthly calendar | 3. Hand drawn font calendar | 4. colourful and cute calendar | 5. February dots calendar | 6. January dotty bird calendar

The Summer holidays have been here for a couple of weeks now and are a welcome break from the routine.  With the beautiful UK weather, we’ve been indulging in lots of outdoor time.  But since I work from home, I can’t take Anya out morning to evening every day as I need to find time to work.  If you work from home, you’ll know that the constant questions, demands for food and expressions of boredom make working nearly impossible or at least means you take three times as long to do anything!  While the TV and ipad are good at keeping her distracted, I like to use these in moderation.  So instead I’ve been stocking up on a few creative little activities which I’ve started giving her when she needs something to do.  Nothing complicated, just the very simplest little things I’ve bought which she can create with by herself.  I thought I would share the three that have been the biggest hits so far:

"best activity books for children"

Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art is such a fun book.  The book is packed with loads and loads of ideas for making art with your fingers.  All you need is a colourful inkpad and a pencil to complete the pictures you create.  Anya loved this book and takes it out nearly everyday since I gave it to her.

"indoor-Summer-holiday-activities"

I spotted this massive jar of beads in Ikea a while ago.  They’re not exactly beads but mini tube shaped bits that Anya has used for all sorts of creations.  From making jewellery to sticking them on paper to make pictures, this jar has so many uses.  Anya has also used these beads to make up counting by colours kind of games.  But be warned, every time they come out, you’ll be treading on little bits of plastic for days to come!

"ways to keep kids occupied in Summer holidays"

This last one was a bit of an impromptu made-up thing but Anya loved it so I thought it was worth sharing.  I needed to get on with some urgent work so needed her occupied.  I just made a huge sheet of paper, pulled put some poster paints and told her to have fun.  She ended up painting with her fingers and had a ball.

How do you keep your kids occupied?  I’d love to hear your ideas.

Naked Lunge

April 30, 2014

"handmade linen dolls""hand made linen dolls""grey and white striped pillowcase""liberty print bedlinen"Adorable linen dolls, beautiful bed linen and stylish stationery is what it’s all about at Naked Lunge.  It’s all very understated and simple which is what I’m loving.  Naked Lunge is the creation of designer Roxanna who is also running a workshop in London this Summer where you can learn to make your own dolls.  Speaking of those dolls, aren’t they great?  I’m loving the simple drawing style which runs through the entire range of stuff as well as the colours Roxanna has used.  

"bunny print baby blanket"

Naked Lunge has recently teamed up with Brave Ones Apparel to create the most adorable range of clothes – how cute are these trousers, mittens and tops?  I love the bunny print as well as the Indian boy and girl print.  Naked Lunge also offers jewellery, stationery and some tea towels all of which are pretty cool.  I love Roxanna’s style and think she is very much a designer to watch.

"customizable baby birth annoucements""customisable baby birth annoucements""letterpress baby birth annoucements"

In India, we have a tradition of giving out something sweet to family and friends when a baby is born.  Traditionally, typical Indian sweets were handed out but these days anything sweet is fine.  When Anya was born I gave out small boxes of these chocolates and so many people were surprised and delighted since this isn’t something that happens in the UK.  I love this ‘sweet’ Indian tradition but equally I like the American one of sending a birth announcement which is becoming popular here too.  A new baby is such a special occasion that it should be marked in some way and sending cards that you can touch and hold is so much nicer than emails or texts.  It’s even better if you can find a moment to add a personal hand-written note on each card.

If you’re lucky enough to have design skills or a designer friend you could have a birth announcement card made especially for you.  If not, these letterpress cards by Ink + Wit are beautiful.  Simple, elegant and classy, all the cards can be customised too.  In addition to the paper cards, Tara the designer, also creates wooden cards (1st picture) which become an instant keepsake. 

Does your country have a special tradition to celebrate a birth?  I’d love to hear in the comments…

"childrens activity magazine lotta"

In the Winter months, I’m always looking for something to fill those bewitching hours after school and before dinner.  Anya’s instinct is to fill those hours with TV but since that’s not allowed (mean mama here) I encourage her to do other things which often means I end up doing them with her.  Jigsaw puzzles, board games, reading books are all part of our after school play but there’s only so many times I can do the same puzzle or board game before I go crazy!  While searching for something new to do I came across Lotta magazine from Australia.  I haven’t tried it yet but it looks really promising with lots of arts, crafts, games and puzzles to get through in each issue, not to mention the cute and colourful illustrations.  Lotta is for 5-10 year olds and is published 4 times a year with each issue exploring a particular theme like ‘secrets’ or ‘sea life’ or ‘history’.  It’s aimed at filling time in the school holidays but I think it would be great for that empty after school time and one issue should get us through couple of weeks at least. 

Lotta magazine is available in the UK at Abacus-kids.

"Claudia Boldt illustrations""Melvin the luckiets monkey""odd dog by claudia boldt"

I recently came across this book – Melvin the luckiest monkey.  I checked out the author Claudia Boldt and found that she creates the cutest drawings in soft colours that aren’t just for her range of kids books but they’re also used to create adorable stickers, place mats and other stationery.  The stories look like they’re fun to read and often have messages on life lessons like friendship or creating your own luck or beauty being in the eye of the beholder.  I especially love the illustrations in Odd Dog which is all about a dog who prefers apples to bones.  You can get Claudia’s books on Amazon

"print your instagram photos"

… and keep them forever.  This year I’ve decided to get better at actually printing my photos.  There’s no point taking a load of pictures that end up stuck on a hard drive somewhere or on your phone or social networks.  There’s something much more special about holding your pictures.  And with all the creative printing options on offer, there really isn’t any excuse.  I recently found Pinstagr.am and it’s the perfect way to print all your instagram photos, especially if you use instagram a lot.  I love the teeny little books they offer as well as the stickers of your instagram photos but there are loads more fun products.  Apart from keeping memories for myself, I think they’d make inexpensive little gifts for my mum, brother and other close family who don’t live in this country so feel they’re missing out on Anya growing up.  Pinstagr.am are US based but they offer a reasonable worldwide flat shipping rate. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

"city travel guides for children"

Traveling and exploring the world has always been a big priority for my husband and me.  Once Anya came along, we probably slowed down our travels a bit but didn’t let having a baby stop us from exploring with her.  Up till now she was a bit young to appreciate and get involved in the different countries she’s been to but now that she’s 5, it’s the perfect age to encourage her to decide on some things she would like to see and do whenever we go somewhere. 

I’m not the best at finding kids activities in new places so when I came across these ZigZag city guides for kids, I thought they would be perfect to help us make our holidays a bit more kid-friendly and to help Anya get more interested.  The guides come as a set of cards with a map and some postcards, all with the cutest illustrations.  They feature Zig and Zag, two sweet characters who guide you through the city.  At the moment, there are only 4 cities on offer but they are adding more to their collection including a London guide which is due out in April this year.  We’re hoping to go to New York later this year so if we do, I plan to start with that guide and will of course let you know how we get on.

mama & baby…

October 24, 2013

"bright red cos jumper for kids"This week’s picks for mama and baby… let mama wrap her gifts with this bold polka dotted ribbon while baby wears that bright bubble knit sweater.

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