Well, if you’ve been reading the blog for even a short time, you will know that I can never resist a good rag doll (here, here, here and here…just to remind you of a few) and have even been known to make my own like here! So, these Humbletoys Rag Dolls really caught my eye. Made in Canada by hand, you can order custom made. I love the minimalism with these dolls as far as the faces go. Mainly just eyes and minimal nose and mouth. So cute. Go to her Etsy shop to see what is on offer and to put in a special order of your own!

This is just such a sweet and original Zebra Rocker by Dinara Mirtalipova. A lifelong doodler, Dinara Mirtalipova left her hometown of Tashkent, Uzbekistan to start a creative new life in Cleveland as an artist and designer. She’s developed an incredibly recognizable style of art and illustration that’s inspired by her family life, folk tales and her native Uzbek art and culture.

For a long time Dinara has been among illustrators and designers at American Greetings. She left her creative role at AG in February 2014  to pursue her ever growing freelance career and to start a new chapter as an independent designer.

Currently Dinara works from her home studio in Sagamore Hills, OH. She uses a wide range of materials and tools, like carving lino blocks, gouache, acrylics and many others. She has been working with many great brands, publishing companies and ad agencies and she is continuously looking forward to making new friends.

Take a look at her other wonderful work right here. She also has an online shop right here!

These are seriously Delightful Handmade Portrait Dolls by Timo. They caught my eye on Etsy and there is something so interesting about the craftiness of these dolls with those graphic touches. They are like a marriage of drawings and rag dolls. And the stories that Timor, the artist, weaves with her characters are charming. There are portraits of humans and animal families and fairies and all sorts of beings going about their business in this world, dressed in very original garb, I might add.

Visit her Etsy store. It will change your day and make it more lyrical!

This week I went to the NY NOW trade show at the Javits Centre and well, it’s so huge that I really concentrate on the kid’s section! And here is  just a small sampling of things that stood out. Even in the kid’s category, there were so many brands and products that my head was spinning. I must say that the innovation and invention with toys and gifts for kids is so exciting and I look forward to seeing these new ideas and products every year.

The Kid Made Modern Booth was my fave. This brand of creative toys and crafts for kids is the brainchild of former fashion designer, Todd Oldham, who started this company with his renowned book below, entitled, yes you guessed it, “Kid Made Modern”! This book of 52 kid friendly projects just grew into a very robust range of products.

I love these notebooks that the kids can weave and do needlepoint on.

A newcomer that I was taken by is Little Miss Workbench. These wooden camera and cellphones are all handmade personally by the Mompreneur owner of this company! Very cute and simple and hours of imaginary play.

Tree Hopper is another fave company of mine. They have lovely and creative wooden toys and some paper toys as well. They have come out with some really great stencil toys below.

We’ve been buying Eco-kids craft materials and kits since the very beginning of this company. Everything is completely non-toxic and made from few ingredients.  The egg coloring kit is novel as when you have finished dying the eggs, they provide you with grass seeds to grow in the egg carton so you can recycle!

Jack Rabbit Creations has wonderful, colorful, mainly wooden toys and they have this new range of irresistible vehicle toys with the little wooden people that go in them.

Just discovered Lily & Momo who make the cutest and most interesting hair accessories ever. We are big on barrettes of course as most little girls are, but I wouldn’t be able to drag the girls away from these!

And finally a solution to all of those kid’s drawings taped to walls! The Articulate Gallery has come up with these neat and modern frames where the works of art just get slotted in. And you can easily swap them around for variety.

And I’m a sucker for wooden cars and Candylab is producing a very retro range which is not only for kids. These cars are being bought up by adults as well as display pieces.

Tattly Temporary Tattoos has just come out with their new children’s collection of Eric Carle’s, The Very Hungry Caterpillar set.

I got some of these for the girls at NY NOW this week where Tattly was exhibiting. And they love them. You can nab them right here.

And apart from that, Tattly has a large range of other wonderful kids designs right here, including a Sesame Street collection. Kids go nuts for those!

Tattly is also of course a brand for adults as well. Check out their enormous and artistic range at http://tattly.com.