The mid-century modern inspired artwork you have to have by Inaluxe

Another amazing Australian-designed Christmas gift idea: the Sleepy Lion art print by Inaluxe - the masters of mid-century modern-inspired artwork. It's a piece that transcends all ages, and would look pretty fabulous with some beautiful mustard linen sheets, or even adding a massive pop of colour in a neutral space. It's certainly a head-turner.

Finally mini couch covers that you and your child will love

I’m so impressed with this spill-proof mini couch cover by Aussies Alicia, Hayley and Hayley from Marmalade Lion. We had two of those fold-out foam couches in the ugliest fabric possible, and if you have one yourself, you’ll know that the little ones adore them. They have been so practical; and now they can be cute too.

Bondville Christmas Gift Guide 2015: For Beach Bums

This Bondville Christmas Gift Guide 2015 is dedicated to little beach bums. Summer and Christmas in Australia are made for each other - school holidays, festive food and drinks, lazing around with full tummies and spending all day at the beach. Pop a couple of these Australian-designed beach items for kids under the Christmas tree to celebrate long days in the sun.

Personalised Brett Curzon kids' book by Hippo Blue

Brett Curzon is a pretty fabulous Australian author and illustrator who has teamed up with Bondville sponsor Hippo Blue to create The Adventures You'll Have - a fun 32-page kids' book about being unique and special, and having the inspiration to Dream Big. Even better - the book is available with either a boy or girl main character and can be personalised with your child's name; and we know how much kids love to see their own name printed! Having your child referenced as the main character puts them front-and-centre in this story of self-belief.

Original A-frame kids play Wonder Tents

You might remember my story on rustic-inspired goodies, including Adelaide-based Such Great Heights in July last year where I showcased their amazing A-frame play tents for kids. There have been lots of imitators along the way, but SGH is still the original and the best. I love that they can guarantee that their products are created ethically, and with the genius conversion kit, the tent becomes a super-stylish clothes rack.

Laura Blythman kidswear

Laura Blythman is without a doubt one of my favourite Australian artists and is super-clever to boot with partnerships with all sorts of Australian makers. One of my favourite collaborations is the kidswear (and cushions, and tea towels, and adult tees!) with The Club of Odd Volumes. So many cute pieces of art ready to wear:

You can find Laura Blythman's kidswear and other homewares at The Club Of Odd Volumes online store.

Read more about Laura Blythman here on Bondville.

Images: Laura Blythman for The Club Of Odd Volumes

Love Mae sale: Let's Go Camping wall decal

Our recent trip to Seattle has me dreaming of fir forests and Sasquatch. Luckily, the indomitable Love Mae has a cute solution with this Let's Go Camping wall decal set, now on sale from $229.95 down to $130.00. Get this and many other sale items for a limited time only (including party goods from $2!) in the Love Mae online store. Be quick!

Image: Love Mae

Crochet watermelon rug for girl's rooms

Do you remember the cute-as house shadow box with pirate scene styled by Karen from Yellow Dandy? Karen is also a keen crafter and sells these amazing handmade crocheted watermelon rugs in her Etsy store. They are beyond fantastic - just look at the face on Karen's gorgeous daughter Willow. Loving it! More great news from Karen - she is opening her very own online store chock-full of gorgeous clothes, design and fun for kids. Can't wait!

If you love watermelons as much as I do, head over to our watermelon birthday party that we had in January with watermelon cake and more!

Image: Yellow Dandy

40 gifts for kids from Australian online stores

Each year I feature fabulous Australian online stores stocking gifts, kids' fashion, kids' interior products and art. These stores are always listed in my shopping directory (make sure you bookmark it!) for whenever you need to order something special online. Here are 40 of my favourite products found in these stores at the moment, for all budgets:

Homely Creatures kids' room decor

There is so much to love about this image by Melbourne-based kids' homewares brand Homely Creatures. The fawn pillow is beyond cute, and I love the pastel pink with graphic black and white palette.

The great news is that you can find many of these pieces in the one place. Head to the Homely Creatures online store to find the gorgeous fawn pillow, Moon cut-out banner and pink wall dot decals, as well as many other cute homewares for kids' spaces designed by the very clever Emma Patterson. I promise you will love everything!

Image: Homely Creatures

TinyMe wooden name puzzle

Australian company TinyMe are well-known for their cute personalised stickers and products for kids, and are working on the production of this cool-looking wooden name puzzle.

With it's smart felt case and stylish design, it's a great gift idea for babies and small children. If you're interested in purchasing a name puzzle, head over to the Kickstarter page that TinyMe has set up and pledge away; delivery is expected in July 2014.

Image: TinyMe

Caravan cubby house from Little Green Room

I just about fell off my chair when I received the email from Little Green Room about their caravan cubby house for kids. Oh my goodness!

Little Green Room also creates amazing contemporary cubby houses from eco-friendly plywood and all-weather recycled plastic Plaspanel.

The 'Caravan Me Happy" cubby house is an entry in the Kids Under Cover cubby house challenge at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. The cubby house will be auctioned off at the show to raise money for Kids Under Cover, working to prevent youth homelessness. So rad!

Image: Little Green Room

Make: Free Superhero doll craft pattern

So you crafty types out there - what do you think of these gorgeous DIY Superhero dolls designed by my friend Lisa from the red thread? Head to Lisa's blog now to get the free pattern for these dolls and surprise the little ones in your life. Great for using up scrap fabric!

Image: the red thread

One Very Tired Wombat children's book by Renee Treml

Renee Treml is both a dear friend of mine and a talented illustrator-turned-author/illustrator. Her first children's book One Very Tired Wombat is a counting book for kids full of her incredible illustrations of Australian animals and... wait for it... is on the 2013 Crichton Award shortlist for new illustrators!

What is the message of your story for kids?

RT: Other than the counting theme, I wanted to show off some of my favourite (and sometimes lesser known) Australian birds. I always hope that after reading my book, a child will recognize a crested pigeon or fairy wren in the wild.

Is the Very Tired Wombat based on a real character?

RT: Wombat is based on a common wombat I saw at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane, in 2007 – just a few weeks after I moved to Australia. It was the first time I had ever seen a wombat and all he did was sleep, despite all the noisy children, lorikeets and kookaburras around him. I didn’t realize how impressed I was by his ability to just sleep until the illustrations started popping up in my imagination.

Where did your inspiration for this story come from?

RT: The story came to life after I started illustrating the above mentioned sleeping wombat – first I drew him with one frogmouth, then two galahs, then three kookas and so on. I kept hoping someone else would come along and write me a story featuring the wombat, which I could illustrate.  f course, this didn’t happen, so after my son was born I decided to try to write it myself.  It took well over a year for the story to transform from a straight-up boring counting book (1 frogmouth, 2 galahs…) to the story it is now.

Have you always been interested in illustrating animals, and in particular, Australian animals?

RT: I have always been interested in illustrating animals and I tend to be interested in whatever is in my immediate environment. In the States, it was chickadees and barred owls.  Here in Australia, it’s wombats and frogmouths and boobooks…

How did you decide to make the transition from illustrator to author and illustrator?

RT: Taking on a new title is tough – I didn’t study writing and was very unsure about claiming myself to be an author. But after Wombat was published and the second contract was signed I had to look myself in the mirror and repeat ‘I’m an author-illustrator’ until I believed it.

Are there any more children's books in the works?

RT: Yes! Colour for Curlews is due out in September – in fact it’s at the printers now and I’m anxiously awaiting my preview copy to arrive in a few weeks. Curlews is published by Random House Australia and follows the two curious curlews and a host of other birds as they get into mischief with my paint brushes and paint. (Of course Wombat makes a guest appearance as well.)  I am finishing up two other manuscripts that feature Aussie natives and another pesky one about a cheeky owl that I just can’t seem to whip into shape.

You can find One Very Tired Wombat in good bookstores including Fishpond, and Amazon. Read more about Renee Treml here on Bondville.

Images: One Very Tired Wombat

JAB Designs Australian animal melamine plates at UrbanBaby - 25% off

You know I'm a sucker for good Australiana and I love these melamine plates featuring Australian animals by JAB Designs. Head to UrbanBaby where they are currently 15% off, and get an extra 10% off with the code JUNE10 through until 16th June, 2013. Perfect for the kids and the mono-colour photo prints are so on-trend right now.

Image: UrbanBaby

The Little Veggie Patch Co. heirloom seeds

Have you ever had a stack of heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil, drizzled with olive oil? It's truly a sensation for the tastebuds and the eyes with the tangy layers of tomatoes in varying shades, colours, shape and sizes. I just love the idea of saving our seed diversity and growing heirloom fruit, veggies and flowers, and with gorgeous vintage-style packaging like this, how can you resist these seed packets from Melbourne's The Little Veggie Patch Co.?

Growing heirloom produce is a great way to experience food the way that our ancestors knew it - tastier, with longer harvest times, more variety in shape, size, colour and texture. These are all the characteristics that have been bred out of modern-day mass-grown produce to ensure more economical harvests (but where sadly, nutritional value and taste is secondary). Using heirloom seeds is also a great way to protect against extinction of these fabulous varieties.

According to The Little Veggie Patch Co, an heirloom vegetable is "a cultivar that was commonly grown pre 1950′s, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture. Many heirloom vegetables have kept their traits through open pollination. Due to their genetics, they are often resistant to local pests, diseases, and extremes of weather." So what are we waiting for!

The Little Veggie Patch Co. selection of seeds includes beetroot, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, kale, kohl rabi, beans, capsicum, celeriac, coriander, leek, mustard, chilli, corn, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, onion, pumpkin, rockmelon, radish, spinach, squash, swiss chard, peas, watermelon, cosmic purple carrot, tomatoes (black russian, burnley surecrop, tommy toe, yellow pear), nasturtium and marigold.

What a fabulous gift. You can find The Little Veggie Patch Co. heirloom seeds in the online store as well as stockists around Australia.

Images: The Little Veggie Patch Co.

Chalk Chook handmade chalk

My friend Kate (Katie Crackernuts) knows me well and when she sniffs out a great Australian-designed product for families, she sends it my way. Lucky for me, she found a gem with these Chalk Chook hand-crafted chalk products. So great for the school holidays and for parties too!

TINYFOLK cardboard play houses and puppet theatres for kids

Would you love a cubby house for your kids, but just don't have the space (or wallet) for one? Super-clever Sydney theatrical designer and mother-of-two Genevieve Dugard has just launched a fabulous range of flat-pack cardboard play houses and puppet theatres for kids under the TINYFOLK label.

 

We all know how much the kids love cardboard boxes (we still can't get rid of the last packing box, nine months after moving!) and Genevieve has taken the humble box to a whole new level with her fun designs. The range includes a blank playhouse, ready for decorating, a printed playhouse with graphics and a puppet theatre with removable shadow screen, light and shadow puppets (also sold separately).

The structures are made from durable, recyclable PEFC certified cardboard that packs away quickly and easily for storage when not in use - perfect for smaller spaces too. I know that these playhouses are going to go gangbusters for Christmas.

You can find the TINYFOLK playhouses and puppet theatres in the online store. While you are there, have a look at Genevieve's great blog, and follow along with her fantastic pins on Pinterest too.

Images: TINYFOLK

Scoops Design accessories and childrenswear

I got the cutest mirror seal brooch in my ABCD meetup goodie bag last month. It is so much-loved at Bondville headquarters that I have to seriously negotiate with my 4-year-old about who gets to wear it. The brooch is part of a great range of jewellery, accessories and childrenswear by talented Sydney designer Sophie Cooper (Scoops) under the Scoops Design label.

Parrot Carrot book for kids

It's fantastic to see local artists teaming up with local writers to create excellent illustrated children's books. Such is the case with Sydney-based Kate and Jol Temple, who have collaborated with super-talented illustrator Jon Foye (also based in Sydney) to create the beautiful book Parrot Carrot, launching at the end of this month. This is a fun rhyming book that will appeal to a pre-schooler's silly side - a parrot that looks like a carrot?!??! That's crazy!

Jon Foye's fantastical illustrations and hand-drawn typography will appeal to the little ones as well as design-savvy parents. I'm feeling a whole line of licensed products using these illustrations! Who wouldn't love a Whale Snail t-shirt or a Hawk Cork backpack? (I'm looking directly at you Kate, Jol and Jon!)

Carrot Parrot is published by Allen and Unwin.You are cordially invited to the Parrot Carrot book launch, 4pm Sunday 30th October 2011 at Ariel Book Shop, 42 Oxford St, Paddington, NSW. I'm thinking a signed copy of the first edition will be pretty special for years to come. And there is an app coming soon - keep an eye on the Parrot Carrot website.

Images: Parrot Carrot