Emma Elizabeth

As promised some updated information on Alison's new arrival!

Emma Elizabeth arrived at 3.45am on 27th September 2009, at nearly 3.9kg with a lovely head of hair Emma is just stunning. She decided on a dramatic entrance with an intense and quick labour (well after weeks of start/stop) on a cold rainy Canberra night arriving a mere 10 mins after getting to hospital!!! Both Mum and bub are doing well and recovering in the comfort of home.

The photo below is of Emma at about 7 hours young - welcome to the world baby Emma!

Spring has Sprung at Handle With Care...

...With the arrival of Alison's darling little girl Emma! She arrived in the early hours of this morning so I'll provide more details as they come but I'm too excited to sleep after the news so thought I may as well get up and blog!!!

x heather

'Little Brown Mouse' is the newest addition to Handle with Care and what an amazing range it is!

Little Brown Mouse comprises of a daughter and mother team, and together they create these gorgeous clothes, bed linen and accessories in an extensive range of beautiful, vintage and whimsical fabrics.

I was so excited to stumble across the range from Little Brown Mouse and even more excited to become one of their retailers.

Unfortunately however we only ordered a limited amount, and once I received them and wanted more I found out that it is too late- they are no longer making these!! However I do know they will be bringing out a new range that will be just as amazing.

Have a look at this Scarlett Pom Pom Dress, just too cute for words!

Below is a picture of the 'Dainty Dress and Bloomer Set' which is my absolute favourite, do you think they look lovely in this picture? you should see them in real life!

We will be taking this range to the Canberra Handmade Market however at the rate we're going there won't be many to buy as we've already sold some in store. (Don't like my chances of keeping one for myself!)

I am sure all the mothers of boys are thinking 'there's just no cute clothes for boys out there' I understand, as I have a 2 1/2 year old boy myself I understand how frustrating it is to see racks of girls clothing and not much for those gorgeous boys in our lives. Well, have a look at this lovely outfit- just the cutest outfit for your little man!

Little Brown Mouse will be available online as soon as we get them up! however in the mean time if there is anything you are interested in or would like to see images of the other designs we have please email us and we will happily provide these for you. Alternatively if you are in the Canberra region, come along to the Canberra Handmade Markets on 12th September at the Yarralumla Woolshed- we will have a stall there will with their lovely range!

Little Miss Stitch

We are very excited to receive our latest Handcrafted Creation here are Handle with Care!

Sandra from 'Little Miss Stitch' has created these lovely tunics from printed cottons, denims and corduroys contrasting with gorgeous designer fabrics.

The dresses were beautifully packaged and sealed with a 'Little Miss Stitch' sticker and we could see the vibrant colours of the retro style dresses the minute we opened the parcel. As we delved further into our parcel the gorgeous buttons jumped out at us, they were all unique for the different tunics and nicely complimented each piece.

As there are only very small runs of each of the items available at Little Miss Stitch, you can be assured that you are purchasing something that is different and unique.

To see more of the 'Little Miss Stitch' range go to the 'Handcrafted Creations' section of our website: http://handle-with-care.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=78

Enjoy!

Swaddling the little one

This week with Alison's nappy stash finally sorted for her new arrival it was time to turn to swaddling wraps. Whilst we both have plenty of wraps from our first little boys there is something nice about using fresh new swaddling wraps for a new baby. Plus it seems our old wraps are all pilled, and a lot smaller than we remembered! have we forgotten how small babies are when they arrive?!?!
So we found ourselves in a pile of our beautiful Aden + Anais wraps comparing their size to our older wraps. I think we found a winner, Alison is keen to have a selection of these wraps for her little September baby.

Aden + Anais was formed by Australian mothers who moved to the United States and found the swaddling cloths made of the muslin fabric they wanted were too small for their babies, Aden and Anais.

Further, every swaddling blanket that was large enough was made with fabric other than the muslin cloth that is so readily available for swaddling a baby in Australia. So they began making their own, adding baby hooded towel designs and baby washcloths to their soft muslin creations.

Each of the wraps by Aden + Anais are 47 inches by 47 inches (120cm x 120cm), which makes them a perfect size for keeping any little Houdini gently wrapped. What we love about these wraps is that they come in such a large variety of colours and pack sizes which makes them not only useful, but affordable. It seems there is a colour for everyone, with anything from navy camo to soft pink stripes or solid white.




To view our range of Aden + Anais swaddling wraps please visit our store http://www.handle-with-care.com.au/ in the 'Swaddling your Baby' section.

New Website at Handle with Care

Yes it was well and truly over due, and is now finally here!

We were never entirely happy with our previous site, but it was better then no website at all and it served us well for over a year! We are so excited to see our new website live. We hope that it will allow our customers to find our products much easier and provide a better shopping experience as well.

Thank you to the wonderful support at Internetwork Solutions who have once again out done themselves with their patience and support during this time!
Hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!!!

x heather

myMonkeymoo

The first pram I owned had a lovely plush interior, my son was always so cozy. I bought a new pram though as my old one just wasn’t right as far as functionality- but it wasn’t the same comfort wise! The interior was a bit plastic like and wasn’t so appealing to the eye.
So I started my search for a pram liner. I started by folding a blanket over and lining the pram, however I couldn’t slot the straps through.
I searched and searched, and finally! I stumbled across the myMonkeymoo pram pads and matching blankets.

I often email Heather with photos attached with the subject line as ‘we must get!’ This was one of those moments.
The myMonkeymoo range is so divine, it is hard to pick which pattern you want to co ordinate with your pram or stroller, there would be more than one you want for sure!
Here are some of my favourite prints!

Not only does it fit most strollers and prams, but it also fits some bassinettes perfectly! (thankfully mine is one of those!)

To complete the picture, each pram liner has a matching blanket which is just as luxurious- and when you don’t need to use it in the warmer months, you can use it as a tummy time rug.
These gorgeous pram liners are compatible with most 5 point harness systems, they are reversible (the chenille side is oh so soft!) and machine washable (VERY important when dealing with littlies!)
With the hip urban style fabrics on one side and soft and cosy chenille on the other, these liners and blankets are a must for any Pram! Especially if you have a hard time resisting style!
Are you excited yet? Well now is the time to tell you there is more!
myMonkeymoo are about to release the new ‘Solido’ range which is as the name suggests- lovely solid colours, if you are after something a little more subtle.

myMonkeymoo are also releasing the ‘Metro’ range which has a unique quilted look (images soon to be released).

Handle with Care is excited to be Australia’s only retailer of the myMonkeymoo range. Visit our website and go to the ‘Out and About’ section to see the range, alternatively you can go to http://www.mymonkeymoo.com/ for full product information!
We are due to have a shipment arrive in July, so if there is a liner & blanket that takes your fancy let us know now- if we don’t have it on our website we can include your order, so email us now so you don’t miss out!

Please email us with any questions you might have regarding these exciting pram liners and blankets.

Kids in the Shed

On 21st June we will be holding a stall at The Old Bus Depot Markets, the theme of the day being - ‘Kids in the Shed’.

This market has a focus on the little people in our lives. Come by the Kingston Markets and pick up something special for every occasion.

Not only is this a nice thing to do on a Sunday for parents, but it is also enjoyable for the kiddies- Milo the Clown will be there to help entertain them!

We love going to the markets as it gives us an opportunity to show off our beautiful range of hand crafted children’s clothing made by designers such as Ivy Designs, Brusselsprouts, Tikiboo Kids and Evie Lala.
These gorgeous clothing lines are unique and beautifully made by extremely talented people, your little one is sure to stand out in the crowd.

We will also have our Modern Cloth nappies with us and will provide assistance on the use, care and other general information to help people who are converting to cloth or building on their stash.

Attending markets also allows us to meet more of our customers face to face, so please come and say hello and introduce yourself if you happen to make it to the market!

Sleep well and bye for now

Heather and Alison

Canberra Handmade Market...

Well Alison and I have nearly recovered from our big day at the markets on Saturday! The Handmade Market brings together talented artists, designers, stylists, craftspeople and gourmets all at one destination. It is a unique event to connect the makers of beautiful things to people who appreciate the quality, handcrafted and locally designed. The time put in to organising the Handmade Market, not just by each individual stallholder but also the Handmade Market organisers truly shows on the day.

The hall was crowded and certainly exceeded expectations, perhaps a sign that people are keen to spend their money on those unique and high quality items! One particular thing I was impressed with on the day was the choice of music (not that you could hear it that well once the crowd arrived!) Michael Buble and I have had a love affair for many years now so he was the icing on the cake, it made setting up even more enjoyable!

Rack of clothing, Brusselsprouts, Ivy Designs and Tikiboo

Evie lala Reversible baby shoes

Bobishi Newborn baby booties


Wild Things of Noosa Ellie and Ivy Designs Top
Brusselsprouts Cardigan with Buttons

We were so busy we didn’t get much time to search the other stall holders items (probably a good thing for our wallets), I think this was the case for all the stall holders – the crowds astounded us all! We did however get a taste of a delicious White Chocolate and Raspberry cupcake by Little Miss Cupcake before they sold out, we also had enough time to eye of some of Col Ellis’ photographs- his photographs are truly amazing and we wish we had more money to satisfy our children’s clothing obsession and to make our homes look beautiful!

We were familiar with some of the other Stalls items as they have been fellow stallholders at other markets we have attended and whilst we didn’t get to chat to them it was nice to see familiar faces around, it was equally nice to see some other products that we were not familiar with! I really want to know how do all these talented people actually exist? How can there be so many unique items in the one place?! Certainly something to be seen to be believed.

It was lovely to see some of our previous customers come by with their gorgeous little babies and swelling bumps – we really enjoy being a part of our customer’s lives and sorry we couldn’t catch up more during the market! We had some wonderful feedback on our products; it was really nice to see them all so beautifully set up on the racks.

We also discovered that some customers who have seen us at previous markets have had problems contacting us. Once again we apologise for our unreliable email system, this is something I am getting on to first thing tomorrow morning!!! If we do not reply to your emails within 12 hours please chase us up! One of us is online almost all the time!

Well that is it from me tonight, still feeling very weary from a day on my feet and keen to hit the pillow!

New Products at Handle With Care!!!!!

I'm too excited not to update with some pictures of our new stock!

This week Handle With Care became the first retailer of Woddlebots All In One nappies.


Krystie Bremer is the founder/owner/creator of Woddlebots nappies. Since 2005 Krys has been admiring, purchasing and making her own Modern Cloth Nappies. In late 2006 Woddlebots became available to customers via an online forum, and in 2007 that customer based extended with the opening of her online store. I'm fortunate enough to have met Krys via this online forum in 2005 and so used a number of Woddlebots on my son. I loved the trimness of the nappies and ofcourse the cute factor of them. As Handle With Care is loving our Australian made and handcrafted products we were very excited to get onboard with Woddlebots this week. Although our fluffy mail is yet to arrive I have added the products onto our website so our customers can view and order them. Woddlebots will offer a slightly different AIO option in comparison to our other handcrafted AIO, Bubblebubs and our other brands Baby BeeHinds MagicAll and Bumgenius. http://www.handle-with-care.com.au/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=CuteStylishBottoms&Sub=32&isThumbs=Yes&curpage=2&Thumbs=100


Yesterday I also received a very exciting package from Brusselsprouts. Handle With Care has slowly been extending our clothing range over the last few months with ordering more of the brands we already stock and finding other new and gorgeous ranges to stock. We cautiously ordered some Brusselsprouts clothing and awaited our package, I have to say when I opened the products yesterday I let out an audible gasp. They are just absolutely beautiful. Not only do they compliment our other ranges, Evie la la, Ivy Designs and Tikiboo but they offer something just slightly different to what these other brands do. The classic fabrics and beautifully crocheted and knitted garments are a pleasure to not only the eyes but also your hands.

As with all our brands I cannot wait to do another order and Alison and I have already been selecting some other items that we would love to stock up on. Hopefully in the not too distant future. These items are also up on the website, http://www.handle-with-care.com.au/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=DressingYourBaby

Well that is it from me, I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Our store will be open tomorrow, Sunday 17th May from 9am until 12 midday and I'm looking forward to seeing a number of customer I know are coming by.

x Heather