Grab bag surprises and big changes...

S-p-o-o-k-y  Ghost Jingle Ball from N&N

There has been some wonderful news for our family since my last post.  My husband has been offered a promotion and transfer with the Four Seasons Hotel to...*drumroll, please...*...Austin, TX! We discussed the idea of Austin as a family, going back and forth, making lists, calculations, comparisons, and in the end, packing up and starting on our next adventure is the right choice for our family.

We knew we were going to have to move at some point, we just were not sure when or where precisely.  Opportunities would come and go, and we'd say to each other, "Leave it for now. Something good will come along." In the end, I'm very pleased that we weighed our choices carefully and made this decision together.

Austin or bust...

Austin is an incredibly vibrant and youthful city. To my great joy it is the "Live Music Capital of the World," home to the South by Southwest music festival, and an eclectic center of art, culture and technology.  It is the birthplace of Whole Foods (yes, two hippies started it there in the 1970s), so incredibly hot your skin sloughs off like roasted chicken (slight hyperbole!) and sunny almost year-round.  I've been told it is so warm at Christmas, many people host Christmas bbq's! Imagine that. My husband will be working downtown on the banks of Lady Bird Lake and vows to eat authentic, mouth-watering Mexican food every single day. We're up to the challenge!

To my great dismay, Austin is also home to the largest urban population of bats in North America, numbering 1.5 million! While everyone tells me not to worry, that the bats are instrumental in keeping things like mosquitos and other gnarled flying insects to a minimum, what they don't know is that I am terrified of these creatures. I saw enough of them on vacations in Italy and Greece to say with confidence that a bat population in the millions will freak the living daylights out of me! That being said, the nightly exodus of Mexican free-tail bats from under the Congress Street bridge in downtown Austin is pretty incredible, and tourists flock to the city just to watch this amazing event night after night between March and November....just check out these videos here and here. Holy phenomenal, Batman! Let it also be said right now that I do not wish to get pooped on by bats, so I hope the colony is listening up! If they aren't, I'm borrowing Commissioner Gordon's telephone and calling that red batphone right now...

Niko & Nonnie is still in full swing and will continue to be through the very busy upcoming holiday season.  One of the reasons I started this little business was because it is something that I can do from anywhere in the world; the more moves and adventures we do around the world, the more techniques and materials I will amass, hopefully resulting in a truly unique children's shop. I will literally be conducting business out of my suitcase for the months of December and January - my carry-on is already stuffed with wool, felting needles and beads!

If you live in Vancouver, Niko & Nonnie's needle felted vegetable and fruit baskets are now available at a lovely eco-friendly shop for kids called Little Earth located on East Hastings.  Here are some examples of what you might find there:

Tomato, eggplant, string beans, pumpkin, potato

Strawberries, pear, apples, orange, kiwi, lemon

Carrot, cauliflower, tomato, squash, cucumber

Halloween is almost here and I am frantically trying to finish up the trick-or-treat bags I am making for my kids, along with a needle felted princess crown, birthday presents for my son  (although there won't really be a party considering our house is flooded with moving boxes!)... There will be much making of pumpkin pie, painting of miniature wooden cars and trucks, crayon-making, and baking in a very special new tin I absolutely could not resist...

Recycled stackable crayons

Fabulously huge acorn baking tin

Last but not least, on today's excursion to the craft store, my son and I picked up a grab bag. Basically, it was a great big sack with what was advertised as $100 worth of fall decor for only $2. We waited to open it until my daughter came home from school and this is what we found:

$2 Grab Bag Loot

Can you spot the irony in this picture? I got a massive chuckle at the inclusion of a banner that reads: Home Sweet Home. Yes - we hope to hang it up...someday!

Stay tuned! xoxo

ps: WIP for the holiday season...

Needle felted Christmas tree ornament

Back to the drawing board

Literally, back to the old template (for the most part)...still feeling very unsatisfied by Blogger's changes. Will keep playing around, but perhaps a move to another blogging site is imminent?

<3
A.

Blog with a dynamic view **

Needle felted fruits + veggies, fresh from the N&N farm!

Regular readers of this blog will probably notice right off the bat that the format for Niko & Nonnie's blog has changed in a pretty dramatic way! I am currently trying out some new templates which may allow for better interaction with blog posts, pictures and content - and avoid scrolling!  As you can see in the menu bar above, there are seven (7) different "dynamic" ways to view. Please feel free to click between them and see the results!

At this point, I am not entirely convinced by some aspects of the dynamic view; functionality and web links have been lost and customisation is virtually non-existant.  Concurrently, I quite like the clean aspect as well as the fact that social media has been integrated into every post. It will be interesting to hear what all of you think! What are your reactions to the changes? Should I revert to Niko & Nonnie's former blog look?

Secondly, and perhaps even more important than the aesthetic changes: Niko & Nonnie's blog address has changed. If you look up in your navigation bar, you will see that the address is now http://nikoandnonnie.blogspot.com The old website (nikononnieboutique.blogspot.com) is no longer.  I am actually quite pleased about the change - it definitely makes things more consistent! Be sure to update your bookmarks and address books with our new address... we wouldn't want to lose any of our very dear (and far-flung) readership!

While I am up writing, I also wanted to share some exciting news. If you live in the Vancouver area, you will (in the very near future!) be able to purchase N&N's needle felted fruit and vegetable baskets at a wonderful, eco-friendly retail shop called Little Earth. I feel lucky enough to have Little Earth as a lovely, local shop in my neighbourhood - I know of many people that drive from all over Vancouver just to shop there, so we're pleased about being displayed on their shelves this season :-)

In addition, there have been many more new items for sale in the shop! Shop online at Niko & Nonnie or drop by our Etsy shop. With Canadian Thanksgiving only days away and Halloween imminent, our needle felted pumpkins have been a very popular item! There are several options available, from jingle toy pumpkins, to pairs and groups of pumpkins - and remember that all needle felted items are fully customisable and handmade to order.

Group of needle felted pumpkins - available now!

I had given you all a sneak peak of some WIP items in an earlier blog post.  This pillow cushion was one such example, and is available for sale! http://www.etsy.com/listing/82232778/ellie-the-elephant-pillow-cushion

Features handsewn wool felt accents + organic lambs' wool

The star of the pillow is Ellie the Elephant and she is made from cut and handsewn charcoal wool felt, with a magenta wool felt heart accent and heart button. Her eyes were needle felted as a finishing touch - and met with my daughter's approval, thank goodness! The organic lambs' wool I used for this particular pillow is called polworth. It's difficult to describe how lovely it feels to cuddle up with a pillow stuffed with pure wool...absolutely divine!

Looks like it's time for me to find a pillow of my own! The fairies are arriving to sprinkle dust in my eyes and lull me to sleep...

Thanks for reading! Til next time... <3
N&N

Shop Coupon **

To celebrate FALL, take an extra 10% off all seasonal items in our Etsy shop (pumpkins, fairies, veggies, Halloween) - Use coupon code HARVEST2011 at checkout. 

http://nikoandnonnie.etsy.com

Please note that all orders for Canadian Thanksgiving must be made by this weekend in order to be shipped out on time ♥

**Welcome Fall**

Niko & Nonnie wishes all of you a spectacular harvest season!

Needle felted PUMPKIN JINGLE TOY 

Fall is the season I await most in all the world - and do you know what? I'll let you in on a bit of a secret. Today also marks my 32nd birthday! My children have already presented me with a variety of bits and bobs from their toy collection which they carefully wrapped in their re-purposed artwork.  I was startled by their imaginative offerings and very touched by the love in their hearts they share with us each day. Every birthday is a triumph and a blessing worthy of celebration, of course! A retreat to the mountains awaits us...

With love and gratitude,

A.

The Moon Festival

Pumpkin lantern + LED child-safe candle 

Vancouver celebrated the Zhongqui or "Moon" Festival on Saturday, September 17th.  The Moon Festival marks the lunar harvest, and our family held some festivities of our own.

The red and green lanterns were made for the occasion by our lovely children; their enthusiasm for the event ensured that this will become a family tradition. We ate homemade dumplings, mooncakes and admired the moon in the night sky. What a joyous evening!

Lanterns accompanied by bowl of acorns, pumpkins + fairies

The moon...the moon, shines so bright! Shine down on me...you're what we're all here to see!

Birthdays and New Beginnings

Every September, an aperture reveals itself and we begin a slow journey of returning to life as before. It is the season of back-to-school and business as usual, the end of summer holidays and the time for new beginnings. While I have not attended school since my postgraduate days at the University of Leeds (some 10 years ago now...) the ritual still exists for me - a gentle reminder of resuming life where you left off, a distinct re-definition of self that vows to be prepared and ready to take on whatever challenges are ahead, a blank sheet of looseleaf stuck in a 3-ringed binder.

This September in particular is a noteworthy one for the Niko & Nonnie family. Our daughter recently turned five! On the eve of her birthday, we read her the following poem. It is so lovely and I am quite certain that we will continue to read it to our children every year....

When I have said my evening prayer,

And my clothes are folded on the chair,

And mother switches off the light,

I'll still be __4_ years old tonight.

But from the very break of day,

Before the children rise and play,

Before the darkness turns to gold,

Tomorrow, I'll be _5__ years old.

_5__ kisses when I wake,

__5_ candles on my cake.

Interpretation of a traditional Waldorf birthday ring

Needle felted birthday crown 

Adorned with stars, flowers and hearts

Five! Still in disbelief.  She has also started going to elementary school - French-immersion kindergarten to be precise. I would be lying if I said that the transition has not been palpable around here.  For the past five years, I have been a SAHM. While I continue to stay home and take care of our son in addition to working on N&N while she is at school, I suddenly feel like I am missing an appendage. We all miss her like mad (and vice versa) but we have been assured by her teacher that she is doing well, jumping in with both feet and full of enthusiasm and energy for her new class.

For my husband's part, many changes have been happening at his work as well. He is the Restaurant Chef of YEW at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver. Let me first begin by saying that he is a brilliant chef! Yes, yes, you would believe that I am biased (and of course, I am!) but I assure you that his cooking... well let's just say: swoon.  You can read a recent feature on him, the re-vamped restaurant concept and his cleverly conceived new seafood dinner menu here. There's even a little video link where you can learn how to prepare a wonderful meal of albacore tuna at home - not to be missed! <3

In N&N news, I wanted to let you know that Niko & Nonnie was selected to join the Natural Kids Team! If you are not familiar with this particular team, it is a consortium of 60 artisans from around the world that are committed to making eco-friendly and healthy toys, decor, clothing, etc. All of the shops are absolutely lovely and I am honestly overjoyed by the warm welcome N&N has received thus far - it's an outstanding collective, really. I am so honoured to join in, especially with it being such a respected Children's team on Etsy. For more information, be sure to click on the following links:
www.naturalkidsteam.com
http://www.etsy.com/teams/6447/natural-kids?ref=pr_teams

If you've visted www.nikoandnonnie.com lately, you'll find that the look and feel of the website has been changed significantly. The functionality of our online shop has also been altered so finding handmade treasures should be even easier.

Set of (5) Jingle Soft Toys

There is a definite bite in the air this evening, so I think it very appropriate to showcase some autumnal hues before I bid you all good night! Here are some photographs of new items, WIP projects and the like...

Harvest Collection

Pillow WIP

Needle felted pumpkins now available in the shop