September 2008

Thought you guys might like a sneak peek at two new additions we’ll soon be introducing at The Baby Gardner. Can’t let the ‘elephant’ out of the bag just yet. But when they’re ready, you’ll be able to find them here.

I hinted in an earlier post that I was working on a new feature for the blog. Have you noticed that certain themes manage to rise above the rest and become hugely popular for baby showers, nurseries, birthday parties, etc? The cuteness factor is so big, we just naturally gravitate towards them. So I thought it might be a cool idea to take some of those themes that represent the current trends, and show ways to infuse them with a vintage flair. It’s tempting to pick a popular theme, but make it vintage and you make it truly unique!

I’ve talked about vintage sailor and nautical themes in a previous post. So how about a theme that is near and dear to my little man: Cowboys!

Planning a baby shower or birthday party theme? You’ll want to check out our Howdy Partner Invitations and Thank-You Cards at The Baby Gardner.

What about an inexpensive gift for the little cowpoke? Or maybe cowboy party favors for that big bash? Check out these coordinating Round ‘Em Up Book Plates/Name Labels. Label all his favorite books and possessions.

Looking for ideas to add a vintage flair to his cowboy nursery or bedroom? Well here’s some of my favorites…

Adding authentic vintage cowboy treasures makes a big impact in a cowboy-themed room. Look for vintage children’s books with a cowboy theme like Cowboy Dan (circa 1950). You could also hunt for vintage dress-up items for children — things like cowboy hats, pretend holsters, cowboy boots and toy sheriff’s badges were hugely popular in the 1930s and 1940s (and beyond) thanks to the likes of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

One of my favorite treasures I’ve found is this Frozen Charlie cowboy. In case you’re not familiar with Frozen Charlotte and Charlie dolls, these vintage unjointed bisque dolls were hugely popular during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most Frozen Charlottes (girls) / Charlies (boys) ranged in height from one to four inches with ‘frozen’ arms and legs. Their relatively low price allowed children to accumulate a large collection of them. In other words, they were probably equivalent to the popularity of Littlest Pet Shop today! These little dolls are a great collectible for vintage lovers. I have a collection of Frozen Charlottes (that I dearly love) displayed in a shadow box in my daughter’s room. Warning: Collecting these are addictive!!

Fabrics can go a long way when trying to create a vintage nursery or little boy’s room. My favorite fabric combination for a vintage cowboy theme are these coordinating prints by Michael Miller:

Toss in some irresistible, vintage-inspired softies like Henry the Horse (available at The Baby Gardner) and you’ll turn his nursery/room into the best rodeo in town!

And we can’t forget about baby himself! How about these cool duds — a hand-embroidered Little Cowpoke Tee & Diaper Cover Set! The tee reads ‘Howdy Partner’ while the backside of the diaper cover reads ‘Happy Trails.’ How adorable is that?

Now get out there and wrangle up an awesome vintage cowboy theme! Yeehaw!

How many classic nursery rhymes can you name? I would bet Little Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue would come to mind. Check out our new vintage-inspired enamel boards with magnet buttons available at The Baby Gardner:

Little Bo Peep Enamel Board with 4 Magnet Buttons

Little Boy Blue Enamel Board with 4 Magnet Buttons

We’ve captured images from our favorite vintage story books to create these adorable boards with coordinating magnets. Ultrasound photos, footprints, birth announcements, photos of baby, mementos galore — now you have the perfect place to show them off in your vintage nursery. The best part? It’s super easy to change out your mementos whenever the urge strikes!

Here’s the biggest giveaway we’ve had to date! We’re ending our birthday celebration month with a bang and a woof! Check out Sam. Sam is a dapper little dog handcrafted by artist, Sweetnellie and absolutely one-of-a-kind. His impeccable craftsmanship and striking good looks are sure to make him a treasured friend for years to come!

Sam is constructed of wool felt and 100% cotton. His body is reinforced with interfacing to make him extra stout. Sam has two button eyes with felt patches, a pompom nose and a hat crocheted from pure wool. A handsome bowtie finishes him off. Sam retailed at The Baby Gardner for $68, but he’s so adorable, I knew you guys would love him! So I’ve pulled him from our collection and now offer him up with much affection. He’s the perfect giveaway for our birthday celebration finale, don’t you think?

Sam is a loyal companion and itching (no worries, he’s flea-free) to be adopted. Think he’s just perfect for you? To enter our giveaway simply leave a comment on this post telling us why Sam is the perfect dog for you. This giveaway will be open until 25 comments have been posted. Once we have 25 comments, the giveaway will be closed and one winner will be chosen at random.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in our Free Vintage Fridays all month long! We’ll still be occasionally hosting these Friday giveaways, so you never know when another one might pop up!

Folks, it’s been a crazy week. Sorry for not being able to post. I do have an idea for a new feature for the blog I’m working on. So maybe the delay will be worth it. In the meantime, congratulations to PATTY, our winner of last Friday’s book giveaway! Patty, please email me your shipping address so I can get these to you. Thanks to all who entered!

For everyone else, tomorrow is the last Friday of September. We’ve really enjoyed celebrating our birthday all month long with all of you. I’m determined to finish it off with a fantastic giveaway. So whatever you do, don’t miss tomorrow’s giveaway post!! See you then!

Oh! One more thing… Don’t forget to VOTE in our Vintage Election 2008! All votes are anonymous — you don’t have to submit any personal info to vote. We just want your valued opinion!

Hey guys! Happy Friday! I’m going to do things a little differently this week for our Free Friday giveaway. This week I’m pulling some goodies from my own personal collection. Check out these adorable vintage children’s books illustrated by Dorothy Grider: Little Majorette & Little Swimmers. Both will we be awarded to one lucky winner!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite book was as a child. This giveaway will be open until 10 comments have been posted. Once we have 10 comments, the giveaway will be closed and one winner will be chosen at random. Thanks for playing!

Do you scrap? If you don’t, you’re one of the few who’ve escaped the lure of racks and racks of gorgeous papers, punches in every shape imaginable, ribbons and brads and bindings galore! Stamps and buttons and scallop-edged scissors! Crop-a-diles and Crickets and chipboard and glitter! AAAHHH! Stop me!

For me, I tend to believe that scrapping was just an inevitable progression from a childhood spent collecting and trading stickers. (Come on, admit it. I know my fellow sticker collectors are out there!) I loved to collect stickers and trade them with my girlfriends. Lisa Frank rocked! But what the heck were we thinking? [Insert soap box here.] My friends and I would spend our entire allowance buying all these stickers, stick them in these cheesy laminated sticker books and then decide to trade. So in our infinite wisdom, we would ‘carefully’ (I use that term loosely) peel each one out as we traded back and forth and back and forth… and probably a little back and forth some more. We all ended up with these pitiful-looking creased and bent stickers that never really stuck very well. But oh how we loved it! That and playing the card game, War (but that’s another story).

So back to scrapping. Believe it or not, I’m really not technically a scrapper. It’s true. Scrappers would probably call me a wanna-be. I dearly love and frequent the scrapbook section of every craft store within a 60-mile radius — but I don’t build scrapbooks. I think it’s a lack of patience on my part. What I DO do (poor grammar) is craft the scrapbook covers themselves. And I LOVE it. You can find my most recent creations at The Baby Gardner.

For me, this is the perfect alternative to scrapping. I can drown myself in all the fun of scrapping without the long-term commitment of building an entire book. The best part is that I can infuse my love for vintage in the covers of these books as well. I love to use authentic vintage cards and findings. It makes each one truly one-of-a-kind. And I cannot express my love for decoupage enough. I should own stock in Mod Podge.

I guess you could say scrappers and I kind of have this unspoken bond. I leave the expertise of building the pages to them and they honor my craft by putting their work in the books I create. Can’t get any cooler than that.

Congrats to Chay R. this week who won our set of Singing Kittens invitations! Chay, please email me your mailing address and I will get your invites in the mail. Thanks to all who entered and check back Friday for our next giveaway!

I’m sure a lot of us are probably grappling with the personal decision we’ll make in the November election … which got me thinking … why not have a little of our own election fun? The result may not be world peace, but maybe we can spread a few smiles, right?

We’re looking for a new design to include in our exclusive line of birth announcements and shower invitations at The Baby Gardner, and we quickly realized the best way to choose a design was to ask you! Please take a moment and cast a vote for your favorite. The winning design will be developed and adopted into our line! Won’t it be cool to see your votes turn into a real product in our shop? Kinda fun!

Voting will end on Election Day, November 4th, 2008! Thanks for voting!

**VOTING IS CLOSED. THANKS FOR YOUR VOTES! **

It’s that time of week again, folks! Here is your FREE Vintage Friday GIVEAWAY pick for this week: Singing Kittens Invitations – Set of 8! Won’t you please come? It’s sure to be fun! Perfect for birthdays or any other vintage-inspired event.

How to enter: Just leave a comment for this post and tell us how YOU would use these sweet little invites.

Winner will be chosen at random. Entries will be accepted until this Sunday at 11:59pm GMT. Check back on Monday to see if you won! And don’t forget we’ll be hosting a giveaway every Friday this month!

Want more? Order these invitations exclusively at The Baby Gardner!