I'm in love with shoes.....

It's not very often that I have time to day dream the day away, however today I had a few minutes to go in search of my other passion..... Shoes.

I love finding shoes that are unique, girly, high and stylish - one of my fav's are Jimmy Choo and when I started Cackleberry Kids one of my rewards for achieving our goals was to buy a pair of Jimmy Choos... these are the ones that I continuously look at when I'm having a bad day!

Today, though I think I have found a new love..... these are stunning, a little bling I know, but WOW!!!

Although they are not red, they just remind me of Dorothy and her ruby red slippers... there's no place like home, there's no place like home and with a click of my heels I'm whisked away.....

Oh the dream!!! maybe these ones might be my new reward shoes??? umm... to dream!!

The Cackleberry Kids xx

Lin's Cupcakes......

Aside from her artistic talents, Lin is also our resident creator of all things sweet!!

Lin's cupcakes were such a big hit at the opening on Wednesday night that we had to pack some take-away cupcake bags for our guests...

We do get a little spoilt by Lin quite regularly with her amazing brownies, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles and her fabulous Chocolate Cheesecake....... they are so yummy and yes, there is a pattern emerging here.... we love love love chocolate here!

So you never know, if you drop in to visit us, you may just get to share in some of Lin's famous cupcakes.

The Cackleberry Kids xx

What I Wish I Knew before I Became a Mother

We are proud to announce that we will be stocking the wonderful book "What I Wish I knew Before I Became a Mother" written by Peace Mitchell and Katy Garner

This beautiful book is due to arrive in store shortly!

The Cackleberry Kids xx

Cackleberry Kids & Friends Welcomes You!!

In just under two months we opened the door to our Cackleberry Kids & Friends store in Canberra!

We can not begin to express how excited and nervous we were on Wednesday evening when Lin, Laa and I sat for a moment before Anita and Amanda arrived to prep for the workshop and before our guests started to arrive at 7pm.

To have the store to ourselves for that 5mins was a very surreal experience and with that a few tears were shed as we took in all that we had done to get to this very special event.

Those many many mornings at 3am when I was pacing my hallway thinking 'what the hell am I doing???' quickly disappeared when I saw it all come together - how proud I was of my fabulous team!

Our guests getting ready for the workshop and enjoying a few glasses of bubbles!

Amanda and Anita working with Kylie (one of our guests) on her colours

The support and encouragement of our wonderful Friends is mind blowing and I thank them for their belief in our new adventure together - how exciting to be on this journey with such inspiring women who design from their heart!

Starting next week we will be featuring each Designer and each of our Friends and their collections in our "Designer & Friends Spotlight Special" and we have some more exciting news to share with you all in relation to some new friends that are joining us over the next month... Yipee!

We look forward to welcoming you to our store if you are ever in Canberra!

The Cackleberry Kids xx

We did it!!!

Hello! Just a quick post today, but we promise another one is on the way!

We opened the Cackleberry Kids & Friends store last night in conjunction with a fabulous workshop "Summer Style & Colour - Get Inspired & have fun doing it!". It was such a wonderful night and those who attended had such a great time.

The second workshop was held this morning, with more fab reviews!

We are so excited and just loved how everyone ooh'd and ahh'd when they walked into Cackleberry Kids & Friends - I am so so proud of my wonderful team and couldn't have done it without them!

We are just going through and organising the photos and we'll get them up on the blog tomorrow so that we can share the event with everyone!

My heartfelt thanks to Amanda, Anita, Lin and Laa

The Cackleberry Kids xx

Yummo - Bouillabaisse

My latest cooking adventure was had on Sunday night and I have to say I am quite impressed with myself - I have been wanting to cook a Bouillabaisse (seafood stew) for many many years, but didn't feel confident enough to pull it all together..... but alas I found a simple form recipe in the recent edition of the Donna Hay Magazine (Issue 45 - June/July 2009).

So off I went yesterday afternoon on a shopping expedition for seafood! My list included; mussels, green prawns, white fish fillets, fennel and some beautiful vine ripe tomatoes..... umm yum!

The great thing about this recipe is that it only took about 30mins to get it all prepared and into the pot and only another 10mins to cook it.

It was another chilly night here in Canberra, so to be able to sit down to this beautiful steaming pot of seafood stew and fresh baked bread was so so good! .... and we ate two bowls each!!

The Cackleberry Kids xx

It's a Trifle Exciting!!

The world is changing so fast these days that to stay competitive and to stay front of mind you need to change the way in which you think.

At Cackleberry Kids, we always try and think way outside the square. Most importantly for us, we are on the look out for new ways that will allow us to do business better, learn as much as we can, carry out a research on new trends and to look at different opportunities that may present themselves.

I've found over the years that by taking hold of an opportunity can lead you on some exciting adventures and really push you in a new direction. Most opportunities have been great for us and while I'm happy to admit some.... not so good - they did allow us to learn from our mistakes.

We at Cackleberry Kids are starting on a another new adventure and we are so so proud to be a part of Trifle.

Trifle, is an online shopping experience for the consumer like no other anywhere in the world. Customers can shop from a choice of over 50 hand picked designers – all in the one place. Better still customers can buy from different designers, from different parts of the world, in different currencies with one click.Trifle is made up of over 50 designers from various sectors of the kids products industry. The store is made up of high end, well established designers, niche companies, handmade artists and one or two start up companies who we believe in.

To find out more about Trifle, please visit the Trifle Notebook at http://triflenotebook.blogspot.com/ and meet some amazing Designers and wonderfully talented people!

Who knows where this adventure may take us..... but the possibilities are endless and for us that's exciting!

The Cackleberry Kids xx

We have a Winner

Congratulations to Kelli from the US who was the winner of the fantastic giveaway ran by Monster's in my House!

We are organising your very own Cackleberry Kids Signature Towel to be sent of to you today ... and because you mentioned how much you loved our Bubba Louie printed Tee, we thought it only appropriate to send you one of our beautiful Bubba Louie Towels.

Our thanks goes to Monster's in my House for their wonderful review of Cackleberry Kids and for hosting this giveaway!

The Cackleberry Kids xx

Celebrating Women!

I love meeting and reading about fantastic and inspirational women doing great things with their businesses. I have been so fortunate to have met some of the most amazing business women via a fantastic network that brings women together in an environment that I've not ever experienced in the past.

This network is Skout Trade Fair and it's founder, Louise Donnelly-Davey has really taken social networking to a new level. She has created an environment that makes you feel confident, successful and really allows you grow.

Skout- Kids Product Directory (KPD) is your online resource for finding the hottest kids, baby, maternity and yummy mummy products from around the Globe. So if you have some time, please go and have a look - you'll love it!! http://skouttradefair.ning.com/

Another fabulous friend I've met along the way is the wonderful and creative Jacqui from Mee a Bee! She is amazingly talented and an all round great person - her designs are heartfelt and unique, with a high standard of quality from the fabric selection to the finished product.

Just this week Mee a Bee received 10 out of 10 Review from Best Buys 4 Baby - and it is so deserved!

http://bloomingnihon.blogspot.com/2009/06/10-out-of-10-for-mee-bee.html

Mee a Bee is also participating in the upcoming Mathilda's Market being held in Sydney on the 5th July at St Ignatius College Riverview from 9am to 1pm.... so for your little bit of Mee a Bee to take home - pay a visit on the 5th!

If you can't make it on the 5th, Mee a Bee has a fabulous Esty shop - so don't forget to check it out if you get a chance - it's worth it! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5367229

The Cackleberry Kids xx

It's space Mummy & it's sooo cool!

What can I say other than I am in love with the wall decals made by Stickytiki! No really - I wish we had these as kids!

We are working with Kim and her wonderful products as part of our new Cackleberry Kids & Friends concept store and we have been playing around with the different samples that Kim sent over the ditch for us to have a look at.

Lin and I have had so much fun putting them up on the wall and the kids just love them. Zoe (Lin's little girl) has fallen in love with the Giraffes and my little one Ethan is so beside himself with excitement with the Space Odyssey.

Can't wait to share these wonderful wall decals with the Mums and Dads of Canberra and seeing the joy and huge smiles jump off the face of the kids when they get to take one home for their rooms!

So exciting!!

The Cackleberry Kids xx