Perth Upmarket does Junior Upmarket

it all started with a lovingly stored matinee jacket & an appliqued` elephant tee.

It really did.

as I sit here tonight, cutting out elephant, after elephant, after elephant

I have to also say it all started with Perth Upmarket.

The first elephant applique` drew so many comments of where did you get that, & then requests of 'could you please make one for me?' that it led me to look into whether this was an option worth pursuing.

with a brand new baby on my lap I surfed the net looking for options & stumbled across the site Perth Upmarket. not really expecting to be accepted, I put together my application, attached my photos & waited to see what would happen... & it happened! I was accepted! & so I set out to create a suitable amount of stock for a novice hand craft marketer. how much? how much?

looking back I realise now how very lucky I was, one of those 'in the right place at the right time' kind of moments.

The first Perth Upmarket was a roaring success.

Exceptionally well organised, so much thought put into it from every angle & such high quality hand crafted goodies everywhere you looked, & then the crowds came.

I had friends who had come in to 'keep me company' who I never even got to speak to because I was run off my feet!

Since then Perth Upmarket has grown from strength to strength. Justine has crafted a hand crafted market so highly regarded that there are now huge waiting lists to be given a stall. Perth Upmarket has drawn rave reviews, from both the retailers involved & the customers who come, hoping to find something just a little unique, & are treated to more than they imagined. The quality of merchandise produced at Perth Upmarket is remarkable, and the variety of stallholders maintained through Justine's policy of rotating the retailers to keep the market fresh & active. Browse through some of the listings on the Perth Upmarket site to get an idea of the diversity or talent displayed at these events.

She has recently expanded to also organise and run a Junior Upmarket, catering to all things, well, junior & is now even being asked to select & co-ordinate stalls for other established 'special event' markets around Perth.

the next Junior Upmarket (where you can find me :) will be held at UWA Winthrop Hall undercroft from 10am till 2pm

& the next Perth Upmarket will be held on 29th Nov at the Town Hall, 10am to 4pm

If you live in Perth, this is one not to miss,
& if you do come, stop & say hi :)

Mathilda's Market

For those of you living in Perth, you may like to know that I will again be having a stall at Mathilda's Market.

Mathilda's Market gives me an opportunity to show off some of my funky, beautiful & unique clothing discoveries, in 'real life'

& gives you a chance to grab hold of some items that you wouldn't otherwise find in other stores.

Many of the lines I carry are either exclusive to me, or limited to only a handful of retailers throughout Australia,
so you can be sure to find something a little unique!

Come & see me at the next Mathilda's Market-

finding funky kid's clothes has never been so easy!

check this out, what a cool competition from Itch Design

getting kids to eat

complaints at dinnertime...

fussy eaters...

it seems to be an ongoing issue in many, many homes.

I must say we're pretty lucky. Our three are really great eaters.

Of course there are a few things that are 'sticking points', (like broccoli for the 9 yr old)
but for the most part I think they have a really healthy attitude towards food.

Whilst I do think that a certain amount just comes down to being fortunate,
I also believe that there are a few things that we have 'got right' that have led to our smalls being un-fussy eaters.

I think one of the best things we have done is to follow this rule *idea*

the parent is in charge of providing the food,

the child is in charge of deciding what to eat.

yes, it means giving up on 'total control' but really, who has total control anyway! (it's all an illusion)

 remember, the idea is, that if you only provide nutritious, healthy meals,

then your child will eat nutritious, healthy meals.

we have never subscribed to the idea of making special meals just for the kids, they are quite familiar with us saying
ok, you eat what you like, that's fine, but that's dinner.

occasionally this has been tested, but for the most part, they understand.

part of our approach to raising our children is to maintain a healthy respect for them as individuals.

this means that we do respect that they have different tastes & preferences,
but we also expect them to develop a healthy respect for other's tastes & preferences too.

whenever possible, we plan our meals for the week as a family.

everyone chooses a meal they particularly enjoy & then mum hehehe :) chooses the rest to balance out the rest of the week.

the kids (well the big ones) are then expected to help make their chosen dish.

This is working really well in our home for a few reasons.

the kids get to feel like they have a say, that they are respected, & they get to choose a meal that they love.

they get to see that other people may not enjoy their choice so much, but that to make it fair to everyone, we all take turns.

the responsibility of helping make the meal means that they have a greater appreciation of the time & energy involved in feeding our family

& of course they're learning some great skills as they go.

my son (age 9) now has around 10 meals that he can make with minimal assistance...

& we're not just talking boiled eggs & soldiers.

apart from making meal times a whole lot less stressful, we love that our kids really enjoy food.

That they are not scared to try new things, (blue cheese, snails in Paris!)

they love olives & anchovies, sushimi & curry, & they eat spicy food.

& now, rarely complain at mealtimes.

Swimwear for Summer

Living in Sunny Perth, in a suburb quite close to the coast (not quite walking distance... well, ok, a longish walk) we tend to spend quite a bit of time at the beach. In order to make sure the kids can all swim well & confidently, & of course for our own fitness, we also spend a fair amount of time at the pool. So it's fair to say that for us, swimwear becomes a Summer fashion staple.

I've been looking for  a while for a swimwear range that was gorgeous, well made, practical & child-appropriate.  

something that I feel would withstand the demands that my family would throw at it & yet look fun & funky. 

well... I've found it!

on it's way to us at ele-ahbaant as we speak is a gorgeous range of swimwear from Stella Cove.
a fresh take on swimwear, with simple clean lines & beautiful fabric designs.

A boys range is coming very soon also, don't worry, we'll be snapping that up as soon as we can too! but for now, here's a sneak peek of some of the girl's range on it's way

 

Twirly, Whirly, Dusky Rose Pettiskirts

More from Alejandra Kearl, these divine Dusky Rose Pettiskirts just seem to encourage dancing, twirling, whirling & much giggling.

Made popular (read; created a world-wide craze) by Dakota Fanning at the

Teen Choice Awards, Pettiskirts have now been elevated to a 'must-have' status.

Gorgeous for dressing up, for getting dressed up,

for special events & so, so popular for portrait photography-

who wouldn't look cute in one of these?

these pictures say it all really