Meet Ajalor: Adorable Handmade Baby Shoes from Canada

Ajalor-Banner

We instantly feel in love with Ajalor when we stumbled across her adorable baby shoes on Pinterest.  What’s not to love about these tiny creations?  The combination of classic silhouettes, bright colors, and modern details made these an instant addition to our must-have list of baby gifts.  Even better, these are handmade in Canada using canvas, leather, and hand punched details to make each set special and unique.  Here’s a few of the colors we are loving and let us know which piece you are dying to add to your little ones footwear collection.

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How great is this sweet pink color paired with the natural leather?  This piece as that sweet nostalgia of something new and something old coming together to make a perfect match.

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The perfect pair for Valentine’s day!  I’m a huge believer that every girls should own a pair of red shoes.  I’m not sure if it’s the whole Dorthy, Wizard of Oz thing or what but there is definitely something magical about slipping on a bright red pair of shoes.  It’s almost like your day is destined to be good and even the little of us deserve to start the day off with a little magic.

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Let’s not forget about the boys!  I imagine these cute baby blue derbies covering little toes on a warm summer night.

If you’re loving this collection as much as we are head over to our Axl’s Market and check out the entire Ajalor offering from this talented designer.

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Ana Carini from MotherhoodWonders.com Shares Her Favorite High Fashion Ski Gifts for the Season…

Sharing everything from her insight on fashion, art, and design to her everyday discoveries in life, home and family, Ana Carini’s blog www.MotherhoodWonders.com is a refreshing resource in the world of lifestyle blogs.  A self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades, Ana shares her daily findings, editorials and stories with us and we love her perspective.  For all of you Portuguese speakers out there or just those looking to learn, Ana writes all of her daily posts in both English and Portuguese. So join us and follow along as Ana dishes on everything from Mrs. Meyer’s eco-chic line of cleaning products to the newest collaboration between Hermès + Comme des Garçons.  Click here to check out her latest posts.

Ana has joined  us as a featured Tastemaker Spotlight and has put together her favorite AxlsCloset.com picks for High Fashion Ski Gifts. Click here to discover what her top picks for High Fashion Ski Gifts are this season.

Read Ana’s Madlibs below to find out more about her style, taste and personality:

MW-Blog

Sucker For Love

lovechairs

 

It’s Valentines Day and I’m starting to feel all mushy. I can’t help it. The older I get, the more I cry over heart warming Johnson and Johnson commercials and love stories. It’s really that I am a sucker for love. There is something magic about seeing two people fall head over heels for each other. I totally swooned and got teary when I found the extraordinary Jessica Hische’s wedding invitation. The illustrations are incredible and the love story gave me a good heart melt. I’ve posted some images below but you should really take a break from that crush of emails in your inbox or your sink of dirty dishes and fall in love with Jessica and Russ.

Visit the invitation here:  http://jessandruss.us/

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Are You Ready for Some Football?

Super-Bowl-2013-Baltimore-Ravens-vs-San-Francisco-49ers

“Want to go to the Super Bowl?” – my mom called me last week with this question and without hesitant, of course, I answered “yes!”  My family’s team is the Ravens and we got lucky in the season ticket holder lottery.  The single most celebrated day in sports all year round, for me the Super Bowl has always been a time to celebrate time with friends and family while devouring great food.  This year as I get excited to go take in the experience live for the first time, it made me think of a few of my all-time favorite Super Bowl Sunday pastimes.

 

Photo Credit: USAToday.com

Photo Credit: USAToday.com

Super Bowl Food

First and foremost, the food. No matter if it’s my team playing or not, my favorite part of Super Bowl Sunday has always been the food.  Favorite food of Super Bowl Sunday, crap dip of course. I’m a Baltimore fan after all. Simple, delicious and addicting….here is great recipe from www.food.com for you to follow for this Sunday:

Maryland Crap Dip for Super Bowl Sunday

 

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Photo Credit: SimplyRecipes.com

 

Ingredients

    • 3/4 cup sour cream
    • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • 1 tablespoon grated fresh onions
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
    • 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
    • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
    • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
    • 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
    • 1 lb lump crabmeat, shells removed ( I’ve substituted 2 cans of canned crab meat as well)
    • paprika or Old Bay Seasoning

Directions

  1. Mix together sour cream, lemon juice, onion, Worcestershire, dry mustard, garlic powder, and cream cheese.
  2. I use a hand mixer to get it blended really well.
  3. Fold in cheddar cheese and crabmeat.
  4. Spoon mixture into casserole dish and sprinkle with paprika or Old Bay Seasoning.
  5. Bake at 325°F for 30 minutes, or until heated through.
  6. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers, toast points, or my Maryland family’s favorite– Bugles!

Super Bowl Games

Second most favorite part of Super Bowl Sunday, the games during the game.  Since most of the time you can bet on your team not being in the big game, it’s nice to keep your attention going with a fun Super Bowl Betting Squares game, trivia or a few other ideas the folks at party411.com have put together for us. Check them out here: Super Bowl Games

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Finally, there’s always the hype of Super Bowl commercials.  What’s going to be showcased this year? You can check out YouTube for pre-game releases of some of the most anticipated commercials for the big game. The bleacherreport.com has put together a great top 5 of the Super Bowl ads they’re most excited about…check them out here:  Top 5 Super Bowl Ads for 2013

Are you ready for some football? A Sunday night party? Hope you are now. Go Ravens!

The Perfect Valentines Day Cupcake

StrawberryCupcakes

It’s been pretty grey here in Salt Lake City and I can’t help but daydream of summer sunshine. I’m ready to move onto February and enjoy the invasion of heart shaped candies and grocery store aisles bathed in pink. To pump a little sunshine into the frigid winter temps and prep for Valentines Day, I made these amazing strawberry cupcakes. They are delicious and incredibly easy to make. ( Trust me, I am not a baker and they turned out great!) A huge props goes out to My Baking Addiction, who created this fabulously approachable and tasty recipe!

 

Easy Strawberry Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 18-22 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes

1 (15.25 ounce) package French Vanilla cake mix (see note below)
1/2 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup Greek strawberry yogurt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup diced fresh strawberries (about 10 medium berries)

For the Strawberry Buttercream

4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 pounds (24 ounces or about 5.5 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
about 8 medium fresh strawberries, pureed (you’ll need 4-5 tablespoons of puree)

Directions:

For the Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, Greek yogurt, oil, water, eggs and vanilla. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined. Fold in diced strawberries

3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes. The cupcakes may develop a slight divot in the center as they cool, but no worries, you’ll cover that with delicious frosting.

5. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

For the Frosting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes.

2. Turn the mixer down to low speed and gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar until it is completely incorporated. Add in vanilla and 3 tablespoons of the strawberry puree, mix until incorporated. Turn off the mixer and check the buttercream for taste and texture. Gradually add in the last 2 tablespoons of strawberry puree until you reach the desired level of strawberry flavor. Please note that adding more than the recommended 5 tablespoons could result in a thinner frosting. Turn the mixer back up to medium-high speed and beat the mixture for about 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.

3. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and if desired, garnish with fresh strawberries.

Notes:

- My favorite French Vanilla Cake is made by Betty Crocker – Pudding in the mix.
- I used Chobani Greek Yogurt

* Recipe and photos attributed to My Baking Addiction

It’s Friday & The Start to a Wonderful Weekend

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Any exciting plans for the upcoming weekend?  Here at the AxlsCloset headquarters we’ve had a busy week of trade-shows and appointments with some really great new brands that’s we’re launching in our Axl’s Market in the upcoming weeks.  With such a busy and productive week all of us in the office are looking forward to the weekend ahead.  Many of us will be hitting the ski resorts, as a storm is headed our way, and a few will be participating in the Sundance Film Festival as it’s the final weekend and the last chance for those celebrity siting.  So until next week here are a few our favorite finds from around the internet…..

Our favorite new Pinterest board packed full of adorable products and helpful tips: “Baby on Board”

If you haven’t discovered Fawn & Forest it’s worth checking them out.  This site is backed full of hard to find, unique furniture, home decor, and gear for kids of all ages.

Mouth watering blog of the moment: Honey & Jam  One day we’ll try one of her fabulous creations.

For all you dog lovers out there, this YouTube clip had as laughing out loud: Two Dogs Dining

Outdoor Retailer is in Salt Lake City this weekend showing off the latest in outdoor gear. Checkout their Instagram for a sneak peak at what’s going to be showing up in stores next winter.

The yawn heard around the world.  What kid can’t relate to this?

A wonderful highlight from our friends at Lately Lily.

JJ Grey & Mofro rocked through our office and helped us through this busy week.

Good news: AxlsCloset is having a HUGE sale!

We hope you have a great weekend!

 

(photo from Pinterest, unable to find original source)

Kids Winter Outerwear Decoded! A Buying Guide for Kids Ski Jackets

686 Outerwear

20k waterproofing…10k breathability…taped seams…what does that even mean?  Shopping for your kid’s winter jacket or ski pants you may find yourself stumbling over very technical features and descriptions that seem like a foreign language.  Coming from a family of non-skiers with no former introduction to the world snow sports it was all news to me.  Now with some hands on experience of my own, I wanted to shed light on this for the other lost, confused soles out there.

Waterproof Rating – usually varies between 5,000mm and 10,000mm and more.  Thousands of millimeters of what? 5,000mm means the jacket has been tested and can withstand 5,000 mm of rainfall in a 24 hour period before water permeates. So, the higher this number the more waterproof and the longer your kiddo can run around in the snow without getting wet.

image from www.patagonia.com

image from www.patagonia.com

Breathability Rating – this is usually the number right next to Waterproof rating (seen like this most often 5kmm/5kgm).  Measured in grams, the snow jacket or pant’s breathability rating is determined by testing how many grams of sweat per 1 square meter can escape a jacket within 24 hours.  The higher the number on this one the more breathable it is.

What’s all this talk about seams?  When it comes to kids ski pants/jackets I found a lot of mention about seams…taped, critical…it seemed important.  There are two types. Fully taped means that all of the stitched seams on the jacket have been taped with waterproof tape to keep the water out. This is the higher quality type of seam sealing.  The other type is Critically Taped seams.  Critically taped seam sealed means that just some of the seams are taped to protect from snow/moisture.  But this usually gets the job done and is a less expensive option.  Great unless you plan on being out there in wet/cold weather for super long periods of time.

image from www.columbia.com

image from www.columbia.com

Insulation – this is measured in grams and lets you know how toasty warm it will keep your kid.  Pretty straightforward here, the higher the number the warmer the kids jacket.  This number can be anywhere from 30 grams to 800 grams.

image from www.orage.com

image from www.orage.com

While navigating AxlsCloset.com kids ski jackets and pants but sure to look for the product videos.  These will contain a lot of the detailed information about insulation, waterproofing, breathability and more you are seeking.  Here’s one for your viewing pleasure:

Orage Kids Ski Jacket Product Video

Are there other features of kid jackets and outerwear that you have questions about? Leave your inquiries and comments here for our kids gear expert to answer.

The AxlsCloset Semi Annual Sale has Arrived!

Semi Annual Sale is On!

It only happens but twice a year. The AxlsCloset Semi Annual Sale is here! Don’t let that one piece (or maybe two, three or more) of cool kids clothes you’ve been waiting for all season sell out before you get to scoop it up.  New styles of kids winter jackets, snow pants, beanies and more have just gone on sale.  You’ll also find brands with fresh new sale pricing, the lowest it’s been all winter.  The North Face Kids, one of our most coveted brands, has just gone on sale for the first time this season – Up to 30% Off All Kids North Face jackets, pants and more!

Be Ready! Shop the Semi Annual Sale Now.

Be Ready! Shop the Semi Annual Sale Now.

So be ready for that next big snowfall, plan ahead for that spring break getaway or just stock up on much needed warm kids clothes for this cold winter season. And…keep checking back daily for newly discounted kids gear and specific kids brands.  New sale pricing will be dropping throughout the sale, up through February 28th. Did you happen to snag a great deal yet during our kids sale? Share your score here with your fellow deal hunters!

 

 

Book Review: An Awesome Book

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Secret Confession- I’m kinda of obsessed with kids books and Dallas Clayton’s debut work did not disappoint. Encouraging kids to DREAM BIG and packed full of awesome illustrations, An Awesome Book has quickly become one of my favorites. I’ve included a few great illustrations from the book.

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Picture-12-782728Dallas Clayton’s story of how he decided to write the book is pretty inspiring too. You can watch an awesome video about why he wrote the book here. (It’s okay if you get a little teary eyed watching it… I did.)

Reading this book brought back all the imagination of childhood and made me realize that at any age, it’s not too late to DREAM BIG!