Archive for the ‘Nursery’ Category

Save a Buck or Two

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Feeling the pinch of the economy? Who isn’t?!

We want to remind you that our partner, Hand-me-downs.com, is here to help! It’s a classifieds-style site allows you buy, sell or donate gently used children and baby items with other fellow parents.

It’s simple and easy… perfect for the new mom!

{Start Shopping and Selling}

Guest Cradle Crusher: Project Nursery

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Melisa Fluhr and Pam Ginocchio, co-founders of Project Nursery, believe that decorating your child’s room can be a delightful project for new parents. Sharing a passion for interior design, these two fabulous moms created Project Nursery as a way to focus on real life inspirational rooms and tips dedicated to helping parents create smart and beautiful spaces for their wee ones.

So, what are they currently crushing on? Melisa and Pam chime in…

1. Everything and anything Etsy! Support small businesses, artists and designers with amazing and affordable art to decorate your little one’s room. Etsy shop owners, like ModernPop Designs, will provide you with not only personalized art but personalized attention!

2. Fun Furniture Finishes. Try incorporating a brightly painted piece of furniture in the room. Using stylish adult furniture (like this Trollsta side table from Ikea) to furnish a nursery is a smart idea because before you know it, your baby will be 15!

3. Decorative Hardware. Enhance the existing, or breathe new life into an old piece of furniture by switching out boring drawer knobs with fun, decorative hardware as seen on Layla Grace.

4. Mommy makeup. Conceal tired eyes with Touche Eclat and mend chipped nail polish with Nail Touch while on the go. An absolute makeup must-have by YSL Beauty!

5. Tent Time. Otherwise known as quiet time! Create a peaceful reading nook or playful hideaway in your child’s bedroom or playroom with darling Play Homes from The Land of Nod.

Amenity Nursery Collection – 30% Off!

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

Why are we crushing on the nursery collection by Amenity?

The adorable nature themed prints are fresh and contemporary… and we love the fact that they use only certified organic cotton and sustainable hemp in their nursery line. It’s perfect for your baby’s sensitive and developing immune system.

Now until March 15th, you’ll receive 30% off all of Amenity collections!

{Get Your Coupon Code}

Guest Cradle Crusher: EcoStiletto’s Rachel Sarnoff

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Rachel Sarnoff is an environista who wants to help you shrink your carbon footprint (from an Ugg boot to a Manolo!) through daily eco-friendly fashion, beauty, parenting and lifestyle tips at EcoStiletto.

Cradle note: Check out EcoStiletto this month – they’re giving away a free pair (or pairs) of eco-friendly shoes worth $500 or more each and every month in 2009!

So, what’s Rachel currently crushing on? (You can count on it being eco-friendly!)

I’d love to dress all three of my children—all the world’s children, frankly—in organic cotton. The production of conventional cotton dumps a whole bunch of unnecessary pesticides and insecticides into the Earth, not to mention the residual chemicals that stay on the fabrics, which we put next to our little ones’ bodies. But organic cotton products tend to be more expensive than their conventional cousins, and with the amount of buying I have to do to keep my kids clothed, it can be prohibitive. Enter Green Babies, which has been providing affordably priced, fair-wage, American made, organic cotton clothing for babies and kids for so long it practically created the market.  You can’t get much greener than that.

These butter-soft blankies are made in the U.S. with 100-percent certified organic cotton fleece or velour, available in a brilliant array of colors created by low-impact, heavy-metal free dyes. And best of all, they’re machine washable – with eco-friendly laundry soap, of course.

I’m all for creating healthy meals from locally sourced foods that I found at the farmer’s market. But most days, dinnertime involves finding the fastest way to get healthy food on the table and into my kids’ mouths before we jump back onto the Habitrail of baths, books and bed. So I was overjoyed to see Plum Organics – which I knew for their frozen baby food – jump in to the realm of packaged meals for kids, giving me an extra option in the freezer when I’ve run out of time or inspiration. Do not mistake Plum Organics Kids meals for the TV dinners Grandma served up when you were a child. These are organic, healthy meals, heavy on the vegetables and low in sodium and fat, but yummy enough to have your kids asking for seconds. In which case, you can open another box.

These round little balls of fun fizz up when they hit the water, infusing it with fair trade-sourced shea butter and essential oils, letting you clean up your kids stealth-style while they’re busy having fun chasing the bubbler around the bath. What’s more fair than that?

You agonize over the car seat and whether or not to vaccinate. You buy chlorine-free diapers and swaddle in organic cotton. But the place that you think is safest may be the most dangerous of all: Your baby’s bedroom. Formaldehyde, which has been identified by the EPA as a carcinogen, is widely used in children’s furniture that’s made with plywood, particleboard, paint and wood glue. I wish I’d known this when I was buying furniture for my little ones, because I would have chosen piece by Q Collection Junior, which produces zero-to-low VOC, formaldehyde-free furniture, and also considers the environmental impact of its production. They buy 85% of their sustainably harvested wood from responsibly managed forests within 100 miles of their production facilities and 100% within 500 miles. Their door handles and drawer pulls are made from Tagua nut wood sustainably harvested and fair trade produced in the Central and South American rain forest. They are founding members of The Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC) and have Forest Stewardship Council chain-of-custody certification. And they donate to 1% for the Planet. Did I happen to mention that their furniture happens to be ridiculously cute, too?

Remember pick-up sticks? That game with the multicolored straws that your brother always cheated at? Now Beyond Learning, which manufactured the world’s first eco-friendly games back in 2006, has transformed this family favorite into a reading readiness game for preschoolers. Created from eco-friendly, sustainable bamboo, the Pick-Up Words sticks are veggie-ink printed with rainbow colors and basic, non-phonetic sight words like “write,” “friend” and “these” that kids need to master in order to read. Easy to stow in a backpack or bag, the game comes in a tube made from recycled and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper and formaldehyde-free glue and printed with vegetable inks. The game is perfect to play with parents (or older siblings, providing they stay honest).

Print*Pattern*Paper – Artwork for Your Nursery

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

I wish my daughter’s nursery had numerous walls. I need more space to hang all the gorgeous artwork that’s out there in this world.

Current crush: The designs created by Rebecca Peragine at print*pattern*paper. So lovely… so whimsical… so in love!

Rebecca takes scrap papers, magazines and foreign text and turns them into – you guessed it – pieces of art.

And, her work isn’t just limited to walls: Check out her adorable thank you cards and eco-friendly lunch sacs (a perfect preschool lunch bag for the older brother or sister!).

Right now she’s in Isla Mujeres, Mexico doing a fundraising art show where she’ll donate half of the proceeds to PEACE (www.peace-islamujeres.org). If for some reason you can’t make it to Mexico to stop by the gallery (!), you can still buy art from this collection at her website for two weeks following the event on January 16th.

Note: For the next two weeks, Cradle readers will receive a 20% discount with the coupon code: CRADLE. 

{print*pattern*paper}

Guest Cradle Crusher: Serena Dugan from Serena & Lily

Monday, November 24th, 2008


The textile designs and furnishings created by Serena & Lily make us giddy here at The Cradle. Lovely, clean, and fresh – their style will give any nursery that extra special touch. Oh man, we’ve got a serious crush on S & L!

So what are they crushing on? Serena Dugan, one half of the dynamic duo, shares her current top faves with The Cradle.

1. My Rye Serena & Lily crib bedding set in my son Fisher’s nursery.  I love every crib set I design, but this one I swoon for.  Something about the color combination of the ocean blue and camel, and pattern and texture mix of the bandana print, ticking stripe, and natural canvas is, I think, quintessential little boy – A little bohemian and a little old-fashioned at the same time.

2. Any Taurus artwork or memorabilia (my baby’s zodiac sign).  I’m loving that look into the future of his personality, and I’m totally into the little bit of kitsch that it adds to his nursery!

3. Fisher’s little itty-bitty Patagonia fleece vest, with the retro label on the chest. Cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

4. Original art by Sara Westover, who works for us.  Her abstract ink-on-paper pieces are delicate and inspiring.  I just bought one for Fisher’s nursery. (Note: For information on Sara’s art, email her at sarabethmatson@gmail.com).

5. The organic “monkey pants” by Sckoon.  They are the cutest cut for a little baby, in great colors and super soft organic interlock fabric.  I own four pairs. There’s no need for my baby to wear anything else!

6. The paint color of Fisher’s nursery…one of Serena & Lily’s paint colors called “Paddleboat.” It’s a strong greenish blue or deep aqua.  Everyone who walks into the nursery dies over that paint color. I will never tire of it.