Drop by Mum's Lounge

It is amazing how many more sites have popped up designed to help mums keep track of many online shopping specials, compile it together and delivered to your inbox. Here is Emma Marks who started Mum's Lounge – a social network built by a mum for other mums who love to shop.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Emma Marks and first and foremost I am a wife and a mother to 5 gorgeous children. They all keep me very busy and there is never a dull moment around out house. 

2. How did Mum's Lounge come about?
Mum’s Lounge came about when I felt like I was spending all my time ‘googling’ products and services I needed in my day to day life as a mother.  I thought it would be great if there was a site that bought it all together and became a place Mum’s felt like they wanted to retreat to in their down time.

3. What can people expect when they go onto Mum's Lounge?
When you come to the Lounge you can expect a lot of fun and laughs with our forum and blogging and a massive array of online shops in all areas important to mums including women’s boutiques, children’s boutiques, health & fitness, beauty & pampering, help entertaining, things to do with the kids, nannies & babysitters....to name just a few

4. What are some of your favourite blogs? 
First and foremost I love our blogger Jolene Humphry, she is hilarious and every week she writes a new introduction for our weekly newsletter with one of her hilarious antics!

5. What was your latest online purchase?
My first niece just arrived so I have been spending a lot of time (and money) in baby boutiques shopping up big for her!

Register to become a part of their growing community or get connected via Facebook. Emma and other Mum's Lounge fans are waiting to chit chat away!

Oz Etsy Picks by Buy Modern Baby

Our international guest blogger is Esther from Buy Modern Baby who I met via Twitter. Buy Modern Baby's blog showcases kids spaces, nurseries, hip kids and babies gear. Esther, like many other online shoppers love Etsy for its handmade variety and global shipping! You'd be surprise how many local Aussie handmade talent is on Etsy.

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When I was selecting items for my child's nursery (6 years ago now!), I was frustrated that so many of the things I loved were only available abroad. Because of this, the products I choose to share on buymodernbaby are all readily available to my readers in North America. When I was asked to guest post for Chic Mother & Baby, I was excited by the opportunity to focus on items from another continent! These are my favourite Etsy picks that are made and sold in Australia...

1: The etsy shop milk and cookies creates art prints with the cutest little characters. I'm in love with Birthday Bear but Mr. Schnitzel is a close second.

2: Buntings are all the rage right now for both nursery and party decor, but I haven't seen anything quite like this set of three vintage fabric buntings from naughty shorts.  They are bright and beautiful.

3: I've heard of Paul & Paula at Hickey Clothing, but it's waaaay cooler than I expected. Shark, dragon and bat hoodies?! Fantastic! And as the red hooded sweatshirt was always a staple in my childhood wardrobe, the Ladybug Hoodie can't be beat.

4: It was hard choosing my favourite print from printspace, but it's hard not to fall in love with this penguin family!  If these colours don't suit you, visit the shop to see their other adorable creations. 

5: I would have loved Penelope from Little Wooden Shoe when I was a girl.  One of you MUST take her home as my own boys wouldn't quite appreciate her. 

6: The sock monkey mobiles from Snickerdoodle Creations are my new favorite mobiles ever!  They come in a variety of colour combination or can be customised to suit your nursery colours.

7: Tiges and Weince makes a variety of prints and iron on transfers, but you can never go wrong with a personalised cushion.  This is a gift that would be treasured for decades. 

8: The collection of fabric wall decals from mae is precious.  I've selected the "Up Up And Away" set as my favorite, but the dress up dolls, birds or trees might be what you're looking for. 

Fortunately for me, all these items can be shipped to the U.S. You've got to love etsy!

My Colour Palette: Pink/Red Gingham

Gingham is back! BOWtique has released new range of hats which goes perfect with our Alex & Ant pink gingham onesie. As well as some other gingham patterned products: Red Toy Basket , Sophie & Jack, and Gingham Cupcake Holders 

There's a beautiful and sweet gingham party over at Kate Landers Events.

Must Visit: Best Buys 4 Baby

Love to shop? Love a great sale? Who doesn't! It can get a bit much having to shop around for quality baby gear, compare different brands and prices offline and online. The solution? Best Buys 4 Baby - a resourceful website that provides honest reviews a wide range of baby gear, lists great sales Australia wide (make sure you sign up to their newsletter) AND amazing prizes to win. The latest prize up for grabs is IKEA DUKTIG mini kitchen.

You'll see a few of my cool kid's products finds popping up on Best Buys 4 Baby's blog. My editor, baby gear whizz, founding director, Vanessa gives us the low down on BB4B.

1. How'd Best Buys 4 Baby start?
Well, by profession I'm an analyst. Always researching, weighing up the options, finding the best solution, comparing quality with price. When I had my little guy I applied the same principles to my baby shopping; which was extensive.

Sounds a bit boring? Well, at home I've always been interested in design and have collected antiques from my teens. When my little guy was born it gave me an opportunity to venture out to include great vintage and modern design for children.

So, combined, I was always looking for great babies & children's design available on my maternity leave budget. I became known for knowing what the best baby products were to meet different parenting needs and finding them at the most competitive price and/or finding the best service.

Julia, my business partner, was a member of my mothers group. By profession she's in marketing, a skill I don't have and have no desire to learn or apply. One day I put to her my idea of a unique baby product review website and our 3rd child, Best Buys 4 Baby, was conceived.

We are very proud of what we have built with Best Buys, everything you see has been achieved within the Best Buys 4 Baby family. At the time Julia & I went into partnership I could never have anticipated how well Julia's skills in business development would compliment my love and knowledge of baby gear & childrens design.

2. Tell us about the website
Best Buys 4 Baby is an independent online resource for parents buying baby gear. Our aim is to provide parents useful advice on choosing the most suitable baby products for their families. For us, this is a combination of best functional design, best looking design, best price & best service across all family budgets.

What makes us more than a blog or sales site is our unique hands-on product reviews. A lot of work goes into those reviews, every product we review gets put to the test.

Our site consists of 4 main sections, reviews, blog, features (on buying specific types of baby gear) and sales listings. Each section is cross referenced allowing our readers to smoothly transition through all relevant sections when doing their research, checking out their options or just reading for fun.  We like to have fun.

3. What are some of your favourite products on the market right now...
This is a hard question to answer because we cover all aspects baby gear & design and there are so many great products out there.

When it comes to baby gear I'm in love with Mountain Buggy at the moment, we have recently reviewed the urban jungle & terrain. Mountain Buggy have completely changed my mind about big prams because they are so very smooth to push. Not my design ascetic but very very functional and comfortable. The other bit of baby gear I'm loving at the moment is the new BabyBjorn Travel Cot Light. It's such a practical product and, again, so easy to use. I'm all for baby products that make life easy.

On the design front I am currently planning a new room for my little guy.  We've chosen the new STUVA range of furniture from IKEA which I'm quite impressed by, especially the ability to configure it to suit your space.  Also I'm pretty impressed with myself for scoring a Dwell Studio carpet (aqua Gio) which we lugged back from our last trip to New York.  I applied true Best Buys principles and bought it for $100 US at a sample sale.  Saved over $1100! (that never would have been in our budget).

For play time my little guy & I are really enjoying the Momma Modern Playhouse & Family at the moment. We always love making and them playing with our own toys. For Christmas I've chosen Miller Goodman Playshapes as our splurge (they are really for me but don't tell the little guy that!) and a hand made (read non branded) play cape from Monkeytail & Wellington.

4. Where do you get your material from?
Information comes from all over the place. I have my favourite blogs, mainly overseas design blogs where I go bug-eyed over baby & children's products that will never make it to Australia. We have great working relationships with baby gear distributors in Australia and they keep us up to date with whats going on with the major brands. We also like to support small Australian family business (like ourselves) and are often approached by parents, in particular mums, who have designed their own great new baby products.

My favourite way to get information, though, is to attend various baby fairs & tradeshows. There are several main shows in Australia and a few great international shows. I was recently lucky enough to attend the biggest European fair, Kind + Jugend, in Cologne, Germany which was amazing. It's a great opportunity to see all the new innovations and products available around the world.  In January I'm looking forward to attending the Bubbles trade fair in London.

Sourcing and investigating new & innovative baby gear & kids design is my favourite part of Best Buys.

LOVE LOANS + LINEN

LOVE this store - Love Loans + Linen out in Palm Beach, NSW.  The website design is stunning too! They do have an online store for those who can't trek out that far!