Pop art LEGO

Santa brought the boys a bin of vintage LEGO for Christmas. Apparently my father kept my little brother's collection from, ohhhh, twenty years ago? The ridiculously cool thing, is that Rowan got a set of Prince of Persia LEGO as well as an Atlantis set, but so far, I have only seen him play with the funky green, yellow, red and blue blocks. It's funny how the more complicated toys get, the more children are apt to prefer the simple ones. I am so proud :)


He is definitely my son. He started by building his Star Wars clone troopers a fifties rancher to live in, with lattice windows, a Christmas tree adorned with string, a refrigerator, sofa and beds. There is a dining table where they eat with their housekeeper (where on earth did that come from?) and their adopted son (ditto), the one in the Jester's hat.



We will have to psychoanalyze that bit another time... in the meanwhile, I have asked him to build me one of these...

via brickworkz

...because, sadly, I think we don't have enough blocks for one of these...

via waylou

I have a new love.

I really should have started this affair months ago when my good friend Lara tried her best to introduce us, but I was preoccupied and a little arrogant and figured he would wait around for me. Well, I am not sure that he noticed, because he is a man coveted by many (according to the number of comments he receives daily,) and I am not going to pretend that he has been pining away the days, as he has kept himself very busy... but I finally went over and introduced myself today and I couldn't be happier with the results :)


Meet Joel. A man of great taste, imagination, devotion and love for his children (and, I am sure, his darling looking wife). Joel is an at home dad who takes his role very seriously in a not so serious manner. An artist in residence, he has taken it upon himself to enrich his life, the lives of his three year old twins and thankfully, through his blog Made by Joel, our lives as well. An almost daily account of his simple and manageable but stylin' projects is not only supremely useful to any parent... but hugely inspiring!


Joel is very good at taking a good sense of design and showing the rest of us that it really is a good thing to keep things simple and doable. It is a product of a consumer based society to believe that things must be complicated and expensive to be worthwhile. I like to think I am less consumer minded than many, but I always take things that are simple and do my best to complicate them. As a parent of two boys, it is so good to be reminded that this doesn't need to be the case.


I found myself scrolling through Joel's simple yet stunning ideas and realizing how many areas of my life are more complicated than they need to be. While he does not skimp on quality design-wise, he uses such simple techniques and supplies in each of his projects that the reader is left with no other conclusion than to say "I can do this.... and I want to." And this, my friends, is good.



More playing with our kids, less stressing out. Yes, thank you! Joel and I will be spending a great deal of time together from here on in. And he can wear what he wants, doesn't need to be fancy. It is about time I found a good man.

Old vs New

There is a lovely interview posted over at Bloesem Kids right now with Emma Cassi. Emma is a french stylist and jewelry designer and her house is so feminine and serene looking without the minimalism. You can see exactly who it is that lives there. As a single mom of two boys, it fascinates me how professional stylist moms' children's rooms are always filled with such beautiful things. Are they simply done up this way for the photo shoot? I posted this question after the interview, but will post it here as well as I would love to know what stylin' people think about how we 'school' our children in design and 'taste'.

I personally love vintage and I did when I was a child as well. I know that I was completely enamored with the things that my grandmother handed down to me and still love finding treasures in junk shops and antique markets FAR better than jumping out to a store to buy it the easy way. So my question is, how do you all feel about how your children feel? I was doing pretty OK until Rowan went to daycare, and now I am inundated with pleases for Star Wars, Diego and the Ninja Turtles. Whatever the kids at daycare have. I loathe plastic and we don't have a TV on purpose, if I had my way, my son's room would be a glorious mixture of found objects and vintage toys and books. He sees my idea of a treasure mostly as old. Is it only the vintage stuff that goes on display for these photographs? Do the mainstream toys just not find their way into the house? Is it fair to dictate what our children are allowed to play with to that extent? I am fighting his dad, aunts and uncles on this one. 

My major issue is how there is no sense of value anymore. When my mother was young, the few toys she had were absolute treasures and she knew it. My sister and I were a bit less protective as children, but the disposable toy industry of today drives me nuts and I want to instill a better sense of worth into my children. A way to see beauty in things for what they are. 

Photo credit:  Emma Cassi (Anton's Toy Cabinet) via Bloesem Kids