Matilda Jane Clothing

Alright. I love shopping. I could shop for hours upon hours. The only problem is...I've seen it all before. What I must tell you is nothing gets me more excited than finding apparel that is super unique and original. Denise, Matilda Jane Clothing's owner and designer really hit the nail on the head with her funky and fresh sense of style. Her clothing line geared toward little girls and women makes my heart skip a beat!

Owner, Denise DeMarchis says:

"I want Matilda Jane clothing to make a little girl smile from ear to ear. I want her to love what she is wearing and be proud of how she looks. I want Matilda Jane clothing to showcase the sweetness of the child. I try to keep the silhouettes simple for that reason. It's not about fancy embroidery or over-the-top embellishments. It’s all about the darling girl wearing it."

Sizes in the children's line range from six months to 12 years. Now best of all, the women's line is available in sizes S-XL. The quality and attention to detail of these pieces is so impressive. I took my Matilda Jane Holly Hoodie to NYC with me last month and I'm sure heads were turning. My brick house tank accompanied me to Disney World last month, too. It was perfect in that gorgeous seventy degree weather!

I simply adore the funky and precious children's line. We have the adorable Vintage Ellie Halter ($34) that you see to the left and I've been so anxious to get some shots of Hailey wearing it.

Matilda Jane Clothing is only available through trunk shows, juried art fairs and the Matilda Jane catalog. You can view the entire Spring 2008 line HERE.

Phthalate free luxury ducks and whatnot

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind being seen at the pool hanging out with these guys. These are the most fashionable, trendy ducks I have ever laid eyes on and there are more where they came from.

At Designroom, you will find a slew of BUD luxury ducks like Moroccan, Punk and Peace duck pictured above. They are phthalate free and US and CE approved. You're crazy if you think these are just fun for the kids...surprise someone with a luxury duck for their birthday or give one as a house-warming gift. Luxury ducks are $8.99 a pop.

I'm also digging this sweet swim ring in Daydream by BUD($12). I'll be rockin' this baby in the north woods in a few weeks.

I may have to splurge and get the matching BUD beach ball ($12). It would be fun hitting this 36" inflatable around in the lake!

I could talk and talk about the BUD products by Designroom but I really don't want to delay you from heading over to their website and browsing around the rest of the cool products there. Check out all of the fab new summertime products while you're there!

Photo Creations with HP

I generally do no print out my digital photos. Reason being, I take A LOT...of digital photos. It's very hard for me to choose which ones to print when I have five of the same shot. Besides, I took a break from real scrapbooking when I realized all of the cool things you can do with digital photos online or just with programs on your computer.

I broke down and took a disc of pictures to my local Meijer yesterday to take a stab at an photo creation. I've been eying up the HP Photo Center kiosks (photo on left) there for some time and never really thought about taking the time to make something.

I can say now that I'm glad I did and I will definitely continue making more. The process was painless and fortunately, there was a store employee there to guide me through, in case I needed help. If you decide to try out this neat way of making photo gifts, here are my recommendations:

• Before you go to the store, organize your pictures. My project consisted of about 100 photos and I could have saved time doing this before-hand. For instance, if you're going to create a photo book, arrange your photos on your computer at home. Give the pictures filenames that will ensure they stay in a specific order. Choose only the photos you want to include in your photo book.
  
• Save your photos to a disc or memory card. The HP kiosks accept CDs, multiple size memory cards and USB drives.
  

Your pictures will be loaded onto the kiosk at the store (they will be deleted after you finish your project). Chose your photo creation. Pick from calendars, photo books, mouse pads, mugs, etc. Some creations are ready within an hour and some take more time. I felt that the prices were really reasonable too. I create a personal calendar for my mom every year with photos that I take. Next year's calendar will be created at Meijer using the HP Photo Center kiosk.

If you're interested in learning more, you can check out this HP Photo Services Demo.

Find a location by clicking HERE. Hopefully there is one near you!

For a limited time, if you buy a 16x20 poster, you get one free! Click HERE for the coupon. I think this promotion ends on May 31st...so there isn't much time left.

Leave us a comment and let us know if you've tried out the HP Photo Center kiosk and what project you created. We'd love to hear about it!

*In case you're wondering...I'm really digging HP products right now! I've had my HP Pavilion dv6707 laptop for about three months and I LOVE it!