Hey Mama! We need you!

Whether you are a Mama in business, or simply one who loves to shop, we're always on the lookout for Mama's to share!

Here are some suggestions of ways you can participate:

• Your Wednesday Wishlist of things from Australian or New Zealand online stores
• A Six Picks post - your favourite items from Australian or New Zealand Etsy sellers
• Give us your fashion tips for Mums in Monday Mama
• If you have an Australian business you'd like featured you can participate in a Spotlight or Interview post. (If you can offer a giveaway to our readers, even better!)
• Maybe you have a beautiful nursery, child's bedroom or fabulous birthday party you'd like to share photos of? Or the trendiest kid around - show us inside the wardrobe!
  

{Monday Mama} Liss from Frills in the Hills

Liss is a busy Mum of three girls who loves to cook. That doesn't mean she doesn't love to shop though! Shopping and cooking go hand-in-hand - don't they?

At any given time it's unlikely that Liss is not either planning, executing or serving some goodies for her family - and posting her recipes on her awesome blog, Frills in the Hills. She is also a culinary contributor over at Kidspot and Make It From Scratch.

Liss has kindly offered to share some of her foodie shopping picks:


Food Face - if you have a fussy eater this is so cute - a 'real' ceramic plate you can make different faces with the food! $14.95 each from Alfresco Emporium.


Bakers Secret Puzzle Cookie Cutters - use these on Sandwiches too - they are fun for the kids and you can engage them to eat anything with these! $7.00 a set from www.petersofkensington.com.au.

Two hearts baking cups set of 50 - this is a great price for super-cute baking cups! You don't need to have cupcake or muffin baking pans, you can fit many on a standard baking tin, saving time too! $6.95 pack of 50 from www.pinkfrosting.com.au.



Cute sugar images - these are a great shortcut to decorating cookies and cupcakes. Birthday Pack of 6 $3.00 a set, Animals $4.40 set of 6 and flowers set of 12 for $3.30 from www.inspiredbychocolate.com.au

If you head over to Frills in the Hills right now, Liss is sharing the recipe for the awesome butterfly lollipops pictured below. PLUS you can ENTER TO WIN A Tikiboo Kids Apron and oven mit set plus from Inspired by Chocolate, the whole kit to make these lollipops! Make sure you enter before midnight Sunday 11th April.

{Monday Mama} Jaime

I've been on the lookout for stylish mums. The first person who I though of was my friend Jaime, author of the witty and often acerbic blog She Will Have Her Way. I love reading her 'Much Loved or Much Maligned' celebrity fashion posts, they are always spot on. In my opinion anyway.

It's often an exercise in practicality, being a mum. Wardrobe especially.

Every morning I would myself climbing into the same uniform. Jeans, converse, t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt underneath if it was cold. So often would I wear this, now the mere sight of converse/t-shirt/jeans nearly makes me want to retch!

Tiki-Boo by ~Jaime~ featuring All Saints tops

Bor-ring!

And it’s completely pointless to look to magazines for inspiration. Photoshopping aside, I always feel completely deflated. Mostly because fashion editors and stylists seem to be on crack. Because in terms of the school drop off/pick up, this would be just perfect.



There has to be a middle ground, right? Where practicality meets style, and when you walk in somewhere you aren't instantly branded as 'mother'.

Versatility is what I embrace in my wardrobe. Now that I no longer have the luxury of time when it comes to putting an outfit together, I need to rely on combinations of clothes I can put together without even thinking, because more often than not getting out the door is all about speed.

Tikiboo3 by ~Jaime~ featuring Michael Kors dresses

While dresses don't always meet the criteria, I do love to wear them. And in the depths of an Australian summer, my wardrobe seems to be magically filling with tunic style dresses. They cover everything that seems to have stretched or bumped and seems to magically make me feel stylish.

Tiki Boo2 by ~Jaime~ featuring Michael Kors

These are a couple of rules I follow.

1. Never, ever be a high-panter. All high waisted pants does is make your ass look huge.
2. Supre is great for little on season cheap tops. Do not buy what the 16 year old manager is wearing, however.
3. Spend a little more on key pieces. The ones you’re going to be wearing over and over.
4. For winter, I’m going to buy the season jacket, you’ll get crazy amounts of wear out of it. Something like this one from Abercrombie & Fitch, that’s going to go with everything.

TB2 by ~Jaime~ featuring Bettye Muller shoes

5. Espadrilles are brilliant. Gives me the height I so desperately need, but stability too.


If you have a opinion and some great ideas about fashion for mothers, we'd love to hear from you!

gorgeous mum chantelle

One of my daily absolutely *must* read blogs is fat mum slim by the beautiful Chantelle. I love reading the snippets from her life - simple things that she makes interesting by the lovely way she writes. Here, she shares with us her shopping wish list. Enjoy!

My daughter, Lacey, has a pretty extensive wardrobe. She had a pretty extensive wardrobe. For the first year of her life, anyway. She's only 13 months, so it's not really that long ago. Four weeks to be exact.

I bought so many things when I was pregnant. As soon as I found out I was having a girl, it was like getting my ticket to shop. I bought lots and lots of teeny tiny pink things from newborn to zero. I didn't really see beyond that size.

I only started noticing a few months ago that I didn't really have many clothes that fit anymore. It was harder to team an outfit together. I had to start putting away things that were too small and sorting through the things that could possibly still fit.

I have already shifted 5 huge garbage bags full of clothes from her room that no longer fit. It's left her cupboards a little bare.

What's a Mama to do? Shop? It seems only right.

Shopping for kids clothes online is such a wonderful world. Window shopping from the comfort of your own home, for clothes that I know will look delightful no matter what.

Here are a few handmade Australian items that are on my lust list:








Thank you Chantelle xx
Now - head on over to fat mum slim.
If you'd like to be a guest blogger at Mama Loves to Shop, please contact me!

Dress ups aren't just for kids.

After some not so subtle hints along the lines of "What about us?" we've decided to add fashion picks for mummy as well. So, if you're a fashion conscious mama, contact us with your top picks. Nisha, from Creative Neesh - WAHM to two georgeous little boys - shares some of her favourites for this winter.

I’ve decided to make more of an effort to look 'put together' this year. My style is pretty classic and ladylike when it comes to ‘dressing for public viewing’. I do like neutral and black as my main colours but I’m learning to be braver and venture out into colours and bolder prints.

I like the look of blazers and jeans, a line dresses, coats and heels but I also like breezy little dresses cinched in with big belts, tonnes of bangles and accessories and also a little smattering of more rock 'n' roll edgy stuff like dresses with studded fronts, chain belts and tall biker boots.

In the last 2 months I’ve bought 4 dresses for winter, I’m trying to layer more and not succumb to the lure of the fleece trackie. The problem is, I now feel overdressed, but I'm learning to just keep my head up and not worry about what other people think. If I'm wearing something new and am unsure about it, i wear it at home first, till I feel more comfy in it, making sure I feel like I’m wearing IT and IT’s not wearing me. Making more of an effort makes me feel better about myself, less frumpy.

In the collage below, the top row is stuff that I've recently bought off etsy.com- considering the fact that everything is handmade its nice to pick up pieces that are a little quirkier than the department store basics. The bottom row (excluding the necklace) are looks that I like, and that I think is suitable for everyday wear, as alternatives to track wear or jeans- they are all from ezibuy.com.au. You can layer with long sleeved tops underneath, thermals or cardies or cropped cardies worn over the top.


This collage features looks I like for this winter along with some nice prints- I know a lot of them feature high heels and that’s impractical for kid wrangling but you can easily swap them for patent ballet flats in browns or blacks or if you don't have a long blazer or short jacket, swap those for a long cardigan or a cropped one.

If you think dresses don’t suit you, there are lots of different styles of dresses, cut in different ways and the trick is to find the shape and cut that suits you. Of course this means dragging an arm full of dresses into the change room and trying it all on, perhaps drag a friend/sister/mother along to give you the final verdict.

Now for the mums out there who are shaking their heads saying “But I get spewed on and food thrown at me” – I hear you. I have two messy boys whose lovely hugs result in two choc coated hand prints on my butt! Choose fabrics that are easy to throw in the wash or that are easily spot cleaned, so you can forget about the hand washing and dry cleaning hassle.

I don't have a lot of time for shopping in store but I do have time to do my research online. I check out my favourite stores online and what’s new for the season, so when i do happen to be in a shopping center i know which stores to attack first and, time permitting, browse through the rest. Shopping online is also becoming a pretty common thing for me. There is that initial fear of credit card fraud and ill fitting garments but I make sure I only shop on secure sites, with good returns policies and with sizing charts available. I also keep a measuring tape in the top drawer of my office table so I can whip it out easily.

So heres to a brighter bolder coloured winter!

Style Guide:
1. Wind Tunic ,Etsy
2. Weapons Tunic , Etsy
3. The Tamsin Dress, Etsy
4. Earrings, Etsy
5. Vintage Boots, Etsy
6. to 11. Dresses, EziBuy
12. Necklace , Etsy
13. Outfit, Forever New
14. Street Fashion Inspiration from The Sartorialist
15. Outfit, Forever New
16. Street Fashion Inspiration from The Sartorialist
17. Street Fashion Inspiration from The Sartorialist
18. to 20. Sara brand, EziBuy

Make sure you also check out Nisha's gorgeous custom made posters in her etsy store.