Hangin' Around

I'm always on the hunt for child friendly coat racks and I've just found a lovely selection at super cool eco shop Shak-Shuka

Giraffe Coat Peg - Franck & Fischer

Albert Hook Sr - Our Children's Gorilla

Blue Elephant Coat Rack - Franck & Fischer

Bunny and Me

Sleepy heads will love this cuter than cute pillowcase from Twisted Twee. Gingham and stitching combine to create nothing but sweet dreams. Oh and for best results, place heads inside the dotted lines for a good night's rest!

Make and Do: Snow Domes

Once again, my favourite Pirate Mum has wowed me with crafty know how. See? Simplicity - it's the answer to everything!

Snow domes are the ultimate in kitsch holiday souvenirs.  So for my two snow dome obsessed pirates we decided to try our hands at making some:

The Captain's vintage Space Lego Snow Dome

The Little One's Dinosaur Snow Dome

Materials

Glass Jar with a screw top lid

Non-water soluble glue

Glycerine (available at Chemists)

Water

Glitter

Items for the "Snow Dome Scene" (must be plastic or ceramic)

Making the Snow Dome:

Make sure the jar is very clean. You can use eucalyptus oil or nail polish remover to remove any adhesive marks.

Glue the scene inside the lid of the jar (I did this part for the little one and assisted the 5 year old)

Fill the jar halfway up with water:

Pour in 2 tablespoons of glycerine and give it a good stir:

Add some glitter and glitter shapes and top up with some more water:

Lower the lid onto the jar, it does not matter if water spills out:

Wipe the jar and check for leaks,  Add more glue around the lid to seal it and then:

START SHAKING!

My little Aussies

It's coming to the end of Australia Day Down Under. We're a house of four nationalities and so, celebrating each others countries will always be a wonderful thing to share amongst our brood. The idea of celebrating has been top of the charts since December, as we have had 2 birthdays, a wedding anniversary, Christmas, New year and an epic moment in Poppa Trimm's career with the opening last weekend of one of the world's most talked about private collections - MONA.

Celebrating is a wonderful thing and when we were invited to join a little pal for his 4th birthday in Sunday, the boys and I were keen as mustard, especially when we heard it had a superhero theme. But of course, I left the costumes to the last minute - (normal) work, boy wrangling and general life getting in the way of any quiet and content Martha Stewart moments. So with 2 hours to go and breakfast everywhere I abandoned ship and headed for the closet where I found three empty pillow cases and an old sheet. And so the snipping began. With a little foresight 2 weeks prior at our local supermarket, the bed linen costumes were accessorised with super shiny masks and hey presto, my superhero brothers were born!

My terribly hasty cutting and glueing, with not a thread in sight made me ponder something, if  just for a brief moment. I write a blog surrounded by others that create some enviable products, shown with prowess and immense creative flair. All of that I love and enjoy sharing. But sometimes, its ok to make something really really basic. It's ok not to be perfect. My boys thought these terribly frayed outfits were brilliant and although in a few years they will abhor  me for making them wear pink and lime green, we all had a giggle and brought smiles to those neighbours we scooted passed on our way. Simple fun. Simple play. You can't beat it

The elder Super-bed-fellow. He'll never forgive me!

Super Scooting!!

Life Story

One of the most beautiful new online stores has just been launched, and although not directly focussed on children, it is certainly not one to be ignored. Ex Hobartian, Monique Germon has created Story, a space that not only supports some of the most creative people in the land, but cultivates the importance of life outside the city.
If you ever want your parents to tell their story to your children, then this little box might hold the key to unlocking the ancient art of storytelling. So many of us ignore the importance of sharing valuable words, perhaps this might help you along the way.

DIT Paint

In light of our big art week, here are some great tools to help you Make and Do. We used a very basic recipe of light Corn Syrup and various blended vegies and herbs to make our paint. If you want to take the alternative route but can't bear the stickiness, then try this natural paint kit. Thick or thin, you decide - this paint comes in 6 colours, complete with compostable jars and 2 bamboo paint brushes.
For those of you who like to get their hands 'dirty', then have a go at making your own paints. Here is an alternative recipe for making water colours. Whatever you do, it's nice to know you can make it from scratch, make it your own, and most importantly, 'Do It Together'. Now get painting!

DIY Paint Kit from Glob

Photo Heather Hackett

Kids Corner!

We had a terrific two days down at the MONA FOMA Festival here in Hobart. Our afternoon sessions were packed with poncho painting, cutting, snipping, gluing, stamping and best of all, sticky food painting! We created the best gloopy mess possible, thanks to lots of corn syrup, beetroot, parsley, carrot and the winner, (no surprises here) chocolate!

Kids came from everywhere as soon as they saw me setting up and it was such a treat to watch them all comfortably and confidently get creative. With minimal guidance and the right amount of tools, they set about making a picture or two, most proud to know it would be pinned up on the wall for everyone to see.

So to all my new friends, hello! Thanks for stopping by and making some great art with me.

Poncho Painting

Potato Stamping

Origami Champ

The Fruits of our Labour

Delicious Detail

A special treat - making magic Ice Cream with a real Chef!

Mobile Mimi

I found these wonderfully whimsical mobiles over at one of my favourite blogs Kickcan & Conkers. Created by Mimi Rondelle, these papier mache sculptures capture a wonderfully childlike whimsy with a unique French charm. N'est pas?

We need YOU!

I'm quite proud to admit we've achieved a great deal in our 10 months of blogging and so with that in mind I thought I'd go out on a limb and nominate The Brothers Trimm for a Bloggie!

Trend forecasting agency WGSN seems to think we know a thing or two about Design and Fashion and a sweet bundle of fans keep voting for us on Babble. So friends, go on, cast your vote and see if we can be in the running for the 2011 Weblog Awards.

Nominate The Brothers Trimm for either Best Parenting or Best New Weblog, or both! You could even vote for us in other categories, but I think two is plenty. Check back in February 1st to find out who the lucky finalists will be and whether we got more than just my vote (eek)!

Lunch storage alternatives

With such aversion to cling film or cling wrap, tin foil or aluminium foil, (depending on where you live) these days,  there are thankfully some kinder alternatives for wrapping little sandwiches and snacks. Here are two we like, particularly for their graphics and colour. Don't forget, crusts off please!

Snack Taxi reusable snack and sandwich bags

Graze bags reusable lunch bags

Playing with Food

As I was playing with food art ideas for next weeks MONA FOMA Kid's Corner, I found these incredible foodscapes by Carl Warner. Would I be pushing it to ask the kids for one of these in an afternoon?

What's for lunch?

The Brothers Trimm got new lunchboxes for Christmas. They winged their way from spendalot Paperchase in London and now sit pride of place in their daycare cubby holes.

Pop Owls Zip lunch bag by Paperchase

Along with our Pop Owls, we have a matching version from the Pantry Peepers collection. I just found this little carry case from said range that is just too cute for comfort. Forget the apple, think of all the cars you could put in there!

Pantry Peepers carry case by Paperchase

Pencil me in

I just couldn't resist adding these today. Those of you who know us well will spot the link! These personalised pencil cases from Stuck on You come in red, blue and yep, pink, and can be customised with tags, badges or key chains galore. At least you'll never run the risk of forgetting whose is whose!

Add a wink and a smile to your pencil case with these badges from Paperchase

Back to School

In Australia, the sun is setting on school holidays and its time to think uniforms and school gear. For those heading to preschool, here is a sweet little satchel that should hold the vital ingredients for a happy day.

Blabla Bandit Canvas backpack 

Blabla Charles Canvas backpack

thanks to little lovely

See you at MOFO!

I am very excited to share that I will be running the Kids Corner at next weeks MONA FOMA festival! Yep, Hobart's festival of cutting edge art and music will now be catering for our pint sized pals, and they've asked me to help out. We're calling it 'PLAY with Your Food' and our hope is to give our mini MONA's a chance to get down and dirty with food based paints!

Kudo's goes to my very clever husband who runs the catering side of things down at the festival HQ. Seeing an opportunity to not only get kids involved in food, but entertain them while parents try and enjoy the music and exhibitions, he pushed for this to be a part of this year's programme. Bravo!

Curated by local resident, Brian Ritchie, (yep he of Violent Femme's fame!), MONA FOMA (or MOFO to the serious groovers) is one mean set-up and it's such a treat to be involved! I'll be sharing the events and how our little corner develops with a few ideas on how you too can create a food inspired project or two. So if you happen to be hobbling around Hobart, come down, say hi, and roll up your sleeves with me.

LUST for Life

Do you need to get one of these for your kids? Think about how often your head is buried in your iPhone, are you guilty of an iDDiction? Maybe seeing one of these T's on  your kids will remind you of being in the moment a little more. Check out LUSTbkyln for some therapy of the texting kind.

One Man Band

This is possibly the cutest squeeze box I've seen. Sign your boy up for one of these accordions and he could be the next Weird Al Yankovic! OK maybe not ideal, but isn't it nice to see this old instrument given a new lease of life?

Thanks to Babyology

NEW for 2011 - APPy Days

So I lingered over this one and wondered if I was going against Brothers Trimm etiquette by promoting techy toys. But since I am now an unadulterated iPhone geek and the eldest Brother Trimm can almost use it as well as I can, then maybe there is an 'ok' clause for me to share what I like and think is fun, educational and design savvy for kids in 'App-land'.

So to begin, we found this totally fun Stop Motion Recorder that had us completely hooked this week. Our guinea pig was a new PlayMobil figure 'Trevor', our reluctant hero who is now the latest addition to The Brothers Brigade... have a giggle, we sure did!

Make and Do: Lolly Jars

I ran out of Christmas time to post this cute as pie activity from our creative cool-cat Emma from Two Little Pirates. Although it has a distinctive Yuletide theme it can certainly be modified for any occasion, hence my posting it today! A great rainy day activity or gift idea for any boy I reckon, so dust off your pom poms and get crafty 2011!

Materials:

old jars
buttons
glue gun
poms poms in white and red
glasses
eyes
pipe cleaners
(all of these items can be found at Spotlight or similar craft shops)

Making the lolly jars:

Get the glue gun out and start glueing!  Make sure you supervise closely as the glue gun gets super hot.

Lastly fill with lollies or shortbread, ours are to decorate the kids Christmascraft table with, but they would also make great home made Christmas gifts!