My Little Bird Obsession...

... is preeeetty bad.

I've been checking eBay daily, searching for bargains from the 70s retro-style range. I've been pretty lucky and I have won a dress for £2.50 (plus P+P), and a romper for £6.00 (plus P+P). I'll post pictures when they arrive.

This post however, is about how I bought some shoes from the range for when Aurora is a little older. We've been lucky that we received lots of baby-clothes as gifts when Aurora was born, so I persuaded my husband to let me buy some items for when she's a couple of years old, with the money we saved for her clothing during my pregnancy. He said yes, so went mad at Mothercare.

Well... not mad, I wish. I got a dress and cardigan, which I will post with the eBay items, as well as the shoes and trainers in this post

I have no idea how old Aurora will be when she can wear them, the sizing of children's shoes is alien to me. The shoes look like they'll fit a toddler and the trainers a four year old... maybe?! Anyway, she'll fit into them at some point.

I just love the retro, 1970s/1980s look of them, as they remind me of what I was dressed in as child. In fact: in the post about the items I got from eBay, I'll include a photo of me as a child in similar clothes.

Here are the shoes and trainers:

Although I want Aurora to stay a baby forever, I can't wait until they fit her. 

Buckle shoes - £15

Retro trainers - £12

A Crafty Little Bookcase

I have posted this on my Tumblr site, but I thought I'd stick it on here too. 

I spent a long time thinking about how I wanted the nursery to look. Obviously it had to be a bit vintage-y, retro-y, erm crafty-y, thrifty, bright, unisex and fun. There are certain things I didn't want, such as clutter, Winnie the Pooh (Disney stylee) or anything dangerous... obviously.  I've gone for an eclectic nursery with craft, vintage and up-cycled/re-purposed items in; I obviously didn't want to get furniture from any old high-street shop.

One piece of furniture that was definitely needed was storage for books: it was important in the design of our nursery that the books are safely stored but easily accessible. 

So here is a re-purposed item, which I think is perfect for storing books for little people: a hand-made herb planter.

I was inspired by the book shelves you find in libraries, where the children can flick through the books. And probably inspired by the storage in vinyl record shops. So I was on the look out for something suitable for a while.

After spending much time on EBay I came across this unpainted herb planter, made from reclaimed timber, for £15. I made sure the timber hadn't been treated with chemicals and bought through Buy It Now.

Just to be sure I sanded it down before I painted it. 

The paint used was a paint designed for nurseries and children's rooms and furniture. After looking on the internet and reading up (for ages) about paint safety for children, it seems regular VOC (volatile organic compound) free paint from any DIY shop would be suitable these days. Most paint sold is now VOC-free, but always check the label. It's purely personal preference (well, my husband's demand) that a (pricey) paint that claims to be suitable for children to chew on was used. 

Knowing the colour of the walls was going to be a bluey-green, I wanted a vivid contrasting colour for the bookcase.  I opted for a soft yellow. 

Once painted, I stuffed it with lots of books I had/remember having as a child - books I have kept, and ones I bought at boot sales, charity shops and vintage book shops. 

I absolutely love our re-purposed herb planter bookcase but we do have far too many books to fit in it. Hopefully though, when she's older, Aurora will use it just for her best loved books.

Retro sun visor

This week I have been SO excited waiting for this item to arrive. I've been lurking by the front door every time the postman was due.

Ever since we popped to Mothercare in Lakeside (20 miles away, when Aurora was four days old!) and I first saw the Jools Oliver Little Bird collection, I have been in love: reasonably priced retro kids clothes on the high-street.

Obviously I've sought out true vintage, retro, hand-made and second-hand clothes (and toys and books of course) for Aurora, but I have also had to use the high-street shops too. However, I've actively looked for vintage/retro/vintage style clothes, but I've also actively tried to avoid an exclusively pink and princessy wardrobe – not easy if you shop at the usual high-street suspects. It was flipping hard buying clothes for a baby whose gender we did not find out until she popped out. With regard to buying high-street though it's necessary to paraphrase Henry Ford: you can have any colour you want, as long as it’s pink for a girl, blue for a boy, or yellow/grey for sex unknown. Yeah, great, thanks… I am aware these are things that annoy me (and many other parents/to be/rational people) and not everyone, but I honestly don’t see why I should almost HAVE to dress my child in a certain colour, or with certain set of animals/toys/images, just because that’s what’s been decided by other people, that a certain gender prefer. Grr! I feel the same about aiming certain toys, books and activities at one gender.

Anyway I sort of digress, I could bang on about that for ages, but I'm not going to. This post is about sharing the excellent retro sun visor from the Little Bird collection: a collection which is not just pink and princessy clothes for girls or blue and macho for boys.

And here it is!

As soon as I saw it I wanted it and being only £6.00, I was able to get it. Obviously one can Google ‘retro sun visor’ and find cheaper versions, but you can tell from the images that they are, well cheap. 

The Little Bird sun visor has a rainbow headband, which is elasticated at the back, with a yellow terry cloth on the inner part and a thick, yellow plastic visor. It’s not flimsy at all. Also, it’s totally unisex!

I remember having one when I was in primary school in the 80s, and I am so pleased Aurora will get to enjoy a good quality one too, although there are a few years before she can do that...

Mothercare Little Bird sun visor - £6.00 - for 3 - 8 year olds. 

(This post has nothing to do with Mothercare, I just love the visor/Little Bird... for what it's worth; I hate the Baby K collection).