Nursery Decals

I came across these gorgeous decals by Australian designer Mae recently. I have seen quite a good deal of wall decals by various designers but you can say it was love at first sight when I saw Mae's fabric decals.

Mae decals are perfect for children as they are removable & completely reusable. The stickers have a premium quality adhesive, so they can be scrunched into a ball and will easily un-scrunch & re-apply to your wall, many times over without damaging it.

(above) Girly Alphabets

(above) Up Up and Away & Summer Doll

Mae is Australian made & owned. What I also love about them is they make a point to keep the environment in mind and their products are sourced from local small businesses. Their packaging is recycled & their stickers use eco inks.

And to add to the list of why I love them, they also produce mini versions of their decals that you can apply on your accessories such as your laptop, books and other personal items. Simply adorable!

Available here.

Choosing the right toy for your child

I am a firm believer that children learn most through play. Giving appropriate toys to a baby stimulates his/ her learning potential. Studies have shown that suitable infant educational toys play an important role in baby's early development. Bright colors, interesting patterns and variety of shapes help stimulate and appeal to the developing senses of your little one.

Here are some pointers, which will help you in knowing and selecting the perfect educational infant toy for your infant.

1. Sight. Research has shown that baby’ eyes are immature at birth and can only focus on contrasting colors like black and white. However, as they grow, they are attracted to bright primary colors. Chose brightly coloured toys such as this and this that are easy to gasp and most importantly safe for your child to chew on.

2. Touch. As your infant grows his/her sense of touch is more developed and this is evident when he starts fiddling with things. When you notice this, it’s important for you to introduce different kinds of textures such as this and this to your baby to stimulate his sense of touch.

3. Hearing. Studies have shown that babies respond well to sounds even before birth. Music can soothe your baby during uncomfortable times. Consider getting a musical toy with a gentle tune to play for your baby even before birth. They will continue to be comforted by the familiar melody they hear from your womb even after they are born. Rattles are also helpful in stimulating baby’s eyes and ears, while at the same time encouraging your little one to lift his/her arms and feet.

4. Taste. You will also notice at one point that your baby will enjoy putting things in their mouths. This is a natural reflex and an important part of their development. Chewing on different materials and shapes stimulates the periodontal membrane under the teeth. This helps promote jaw development which is essential as they start on semi-solid food. It is important to choose teethers that are made from non-toxic materials and are appropriately sized for baby's mouth and hands.

Rice Melamine

While looking for cute, high-quality, melamine dishes to use as toddler tableware, I ran across a range of gorgeous and high quality ones designed by a company in Denmark called Rice.

Recently, Nadya has taken to flinging and throwing her food and dishes on the floor. Vera had gone through this stage when she neared her terrible-twos and we managed then with Ikea children’s dishes. With use however, we found that the Ikea plastics got scratched up and worn looking over time which got me very worried about using them.

I did a little research online and found our about the melamine dishes by RICE. A bit of background on melamine: this material is often used to make children's dishes as they are unbreakable, scratch-resistant, dishwasher-safe. They are generally known to be practical and safe, as far as unbreakable plastics is concerned. The only thing is melamine isn't microwave-safe, but I generally avoid popping any plastic containers in the microwave anyways. RICE produces really good quality melamine and what I really like is that the company take a lot of effort to ensure that their products are produced in a socially responsible way. I have completely ditched all my ikea plastics and porcelains after discovering them. They keep very well with heavy use and the best part is, they are all BPA free! YES!

What I also like about RICE, besides being beautiful eye candy, is that the designs are well thought through. The spoon and fork set for instance are smooth around the edges, unless the Ikea ones that tend to be quite sharp (not great if you have a food-stabbing kiddo like mine).

A limited range of Melamine dishes, cups and utensils specially designed for kids, such as the 2-handle cup, set of 6 baby spoons, Room-4 plates, is now available on Pupsik Studio here.

In addition to the melamine tableware, Rice has a lot of other really well designed products such as fabric banners, storage baskets.

The winner of our 64 pc Plus Plus Maxi is.....

I roped in my 2 little helpers at home to construct a fort from a 64pc Plus Plus Maxi set to defend against a herd of dinosaurs.We stuck the names of all the participants in this giveaway on the fort and randomly selected 20 names to be stuck on a dart board behind to find our winner. Is your name on the dart board?
Vera had the honour of throwing the dart to find our lucky winner....Want to know who won? Watch the video below to find out!


Dear winner, please contact me to claim your prize. If it is unclaimed within 7 days, this prize will roll over to our next giveaway! Thank you to all the 200+ participants for joining the fun!

ps: Don't miss our next 2 giveaway on our facebook when we hit 900 fans!

Cool food portioners

I was recently asked to review a very cool-looking food portioner by Brother Max.

Designed like little ice cubes that click together to attach, all you have to "un-click" a cube from the rest in the freezer, defrost in microwave, serve food straight from the pot and viola! I find this really convenient since I usually freeze concentrated soup stock which I use to add to porridge for that added nutrition and taste for the kids.I love the fact that the little pots click on and off easily. Its "lego-like" design means that you can configure it any way you like and even stack them up to optimise your freezer space. Each blocks is designed with easy open lids that lift up but also close firmly so it is great for travel without having to worry about spilling. Plus there is a pen included for you to write what you have freezed (important cos all frozen food look kinda the same!).

These portioners are wonderful to have when you are weaning as it conveniently stores pre-prepared food purees neatly in the freezer and all you have to do is "unclick" and pop in your diaper bag when you are planning to go out. The lids also keep out potentially unpleasant fridge odour from your precious baby food. Neat!

Featured on My Paper

We were proudly featured in today's issue of My Paper. How exciting!

You can click on the image above for an enlarged version of the article. I am called the "Carrier Woman"(!)