Blackbird news

Summer heat!

2011-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it is piping hot finally, and we are eating watermelon over here at Blackbird. We also have lots of great summer duds for your little dudes (and ladies).

Going To Seed is a new line of clothing made by me, Joanna! I have been whipping up some recycled Tshirt dresses, as well as some vintage style dresses made from recycled fabrics. Oh, and some pants and skirts as well! More to come! Come check them out!

Also, I've been working on some great pants! More on that later. If any of you want to lend me a kiddo to model these dresses, I would offer 15% off your next purchase!

SALE RAGING!!

2011-02-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

We still have some delightful picks here at the shop. Winter stuff is 50% off!

We also have some clothing on sale that could roll right on over to Spring and Summer. Because those seasons really will be here someday soonish.

So come on down and stock up!!

Our used section is OFF THE HOOK!

2011-01-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

Seriously, this here used section is insane right now! Patagonia, Kate Quinn, Zutano, Hanna A, Kicky Pants, Columbia, and so much more! Come check it out. We have a good selection of both boy and girl items!

Christmas Crafting here at Blackbird!

2010-12-15T16:57:00.000-08:00

We will be hosting a Christmas crafting sesh here at Blackbird this Friday, December 17th at 11:00!
These little gems are what we will be making! Christmas cookies, and cider will be offered as well. We will read a sweet Christmas book to wrap it up. Please come join us! It's always fun, and you'll get to leave with a sweet little Christmas craft that your child makes, which has huge gift giving potential!

If you haven't seen the Advent calendar in awhile, come check it out! It's getting more amazing everyday.

Hope to see your faces on Friday! If you want to attend the craft sesh, just RSVP by commenting on this post, or call down to the shop! Happy Holidays!

Advent news

2010-12-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

Our window got more heart, and a lot more birdy over the last two days with the opening of window number 8 and 9.

Only 15 more days until Christmas. Don't forget to stop in the store and get your special little ones some treats from Blackbird!

Advent Calendar: Day 7

2010-12-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

Our window Advent Calendar is looking more and more like the fun place to be this Christmas with every unveiling. Today we have 7 windows open, in this big old windowful house! Check out how much light is startiung to come through, and what visions have sprung over the last few days:

On Day 4 we opened the tiny attic window to this little surprise

A couple of mice doing a festive little dance....Day five revealed this friendly fellow:

And on Day 6, even more.....

Today we saw a lovely poinseta in the window to up the Christmas cheer

What will tomorrow bring? Stop by and find out. Happy Holidays!

Advent Calendar: Day # 6

2010-12-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

Well, if you haven't checked out the Advent Calendar yet, you are missing out! Today's image is lovely, lively and full of mischief. Unfortunately, I am camera-less, so I couldn't take a picture. If anyone wishes to come take a picture of it and send it to me, I'll post it! How's that for making the customer do all the work? Besides, if I posted a picture of our Day #6, you wouldn't need to come see it for yourself!

We have some lovely Christmas-y stuff in the shop for all your holiday needs. Come on down to check them out.

Also, we will be announcing our next craft sesh soon! So stay tuned.

Blackbird Advent: Day 3

2010-12-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

The little black cat is peeking through the #3 window this December 3rd. She is pretty cute, and looks cozy all tucked up into the window.

Tonight we are hosting a special first Friday extravaganza. First of all, it is a Pajama Party, which means if you bring toothbrushes, you can party down until bedtime, brush the littles teeth, and transport their sleeping bodies from the carseat into their beds when you get home! No crying, tired little bodies to try to stuff into pajamas after a long day.

Also, if you are a fan of Andy Smetanka's enchanting silhouette designs (who isn't), then you really should come on down, because he will be taking orders for custom sihouette NIGHT LIGHTS! They are magical, and make a perfect Christmas present for anyone. I plan to give grandma and grandpa silhouette nightlights of their grandkids! I know, right?

Also, a musically inclined friend of ours, Andrew Hunt, will be seeing tunes for kids to sing and dance along with. Festivities start at 5pm!

Happy December 3rd!

Our Advent Calendar: Watch our window every day until Christmas to see what lovely surprises will be revealed

2010-12-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

Happy December!

I am very excited to blog about our amazing Christmas window display. We have created a giant advent calendar, mostly with the crafty talents of our resident artist, Andy Smetanka, but Joanna and I had a blast doing some brainstorming and cutting for this one too. We are hoping you will follow along with us to discover a new scene behind each window as we count down the days until Christmas!

On December 1 we opened up a window to reveal these rambunctious stair climbers

On December 2nd we found this behind the door!

Anyone want to guess what will be behind door number three tomorrow?

Stop by and check it out with us at our First Friday event from 5-8pm. It's a Pajama Party! Come wearing your PJs, and if you forget, don't worry we will have some that we (hand)made here at the shop! Also, sihouette artist, Andy Smetanka will be doing customized silhouette portraits of kids, to be put into night lights! Dreamy Christmas present for just about anyone. And live music by Andrew Hunt to get you and your kids singing and dancing! Refreshments will be provided. Come one, come all!
Meanwhile, keep watching our window and counting down the fun surprises until Christmas!

Statriot

2010-11-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

We've got some creative friends, and thankfully they keep us stocked with some of the coolest T-shirts around. Who are they? They are the fine folks at Statriot . And, if you are wishing they made them in your size (adult), THEY DO! In fact, they even have more of an adult selection than kids. You can check out their website , or you can find them at Betty's Divine.

Here are the styles we currently have in the shop.

This one is called Montanka, because Andy Smetanka, aka Big Papa, designed it.

Look at this smart looking Tee!

And the perfect Missoula T-shirt. Don't you think?

We are fully stocked in all these styles, and they make awesome gifts. Plus, they are local, which is cool.

Thanksgiving Craft Party

2010-11-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

Despite the onset of frigid temperatures, we had a blast making place mats, reading books, and eating cookies at our Thanksgiving craft party yesterday...

The place mats turned out amazing!

And fun was had by all...
We will do it again in December, so stay posted!

Thanksgiving Craft Sesh!

2010-11-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

We had such a good time at our last craftsesh, we decided to have another! So, this Friday, November 19, we will be hosting a Thanksgiving themed get together. We plan to make Thanksgiving placemats, eat cookies, and read a good book.

We hope you will be inspired to join us. If so, please RSVP by commenting to this post, or call us at the shop at 543-2899.

Also, we have some new books in the store. These are sure to please all the youngsters in your life.

Hello November...

2010-11-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

We let our skeletons out to walk the streets for The Day Of The Dead parade, one of our favorite Missoula events. They managed to cuten up this classic look quite a bit, I think.

On that note, one of the things we LOVE about being in Missoula is all of the wonderful opportunities to celebrate our community and our kids. We are happy to be hosting an event of this kind right here, tonight, at Blackbird for the November First Friday art walk.

Tonight we celebrate with art by the students of Primrose Montessori and our very own in house artists, Andy Smetanka and Eric Pederson ( Asa, the white skeleton's, dad and grandpa!)

The students at Primrose Montessori School have been inspired by Vasily Kandinsky, the father of abstract painting. I must say, these preschoolers have done an amazing job with their multi-media interpretations of his paintings. And they look amazing on our walls.
Also...

Andy Smetanka has teamed up with his father-in-law, Eric Pedersen and will be showing their brilliant nightlights! These will be one-of-a-kind nightlights with Smetanka silhouette designs, framed in a small hand-crafted (by Eric Pedersen) wooden box. They would sure make a nice Christmas gift for any little or big person.

So please bring your family and join us, and help us celebrate these artists, eat snacks, drink juice and or wine, and be merry. Tonight from 5-8pm. We hope to see you tonight, but we know you are busy..the artist's work will be hanging all month, so stop by later if you can't make it tonight.

Thank you, October....

2010-11-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

November is here already, and we are excited for another fun month as we head into the season of Holiday fever. We had such a great time at our October Halloween craft session, that we are cooking up another one to celebrate Thanksgiving and the month of November, we will announce the dates and times for that soon! Speaking of giving thanks, we are always feeling like we have a ton to be thankful for around here at Blackbird, so I want to give a shout out to all of the things that made our October special!

First off, we added two new racks to our used section, and we are pleased as punch with the way it has been growing. Thank you all for bringing us your special used items, and perusing this section like mad! We love it! It is currently stocked full of gently used Zutano, Patagonia, Columbia, Hanna Andersson, Tea Collection, Kate Quinn, Speesees and more!

We are also tickled about the new local items that have arrived recently ....like these cozy boots from Starry Knight designs, our favorite soft soled shoes ever, and they are hand-made in Corvallis MT!...Or these brand new appliqued knot hats, a perfect small baby gift from one of our favorite local designers, Nici Holt Cline. We are also in love with these adorable and stylish handmade bibs from locals, Moody Milkcow designs!

....What else are we thankful for?

Our favorite trick or treaters, of course! We hope you had a happy Halloween and a super fun October with your favorite trick or treaters too!

Just in case you were wondering...

2010-10-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

Batman made an appearance at Blackbird today. He wanted to make sure we truly had a great Fall selection in our store, like we claim.

He made the rounds, critiquing everything he saw. Here are some of the things he really liked.

This ultra warm fleece sleep sack. He really appreciated the fact that this cozy little number would keep sleeping babies warm all night.

He was also really into this pumpkin face that his friend made at our Halloween crafting sesh, we had here at Blackbird last week.

Being a great supporter of locally made products, he really loved these leather booties, made by Starry Knight Designs. Starry Knight is based in Corvallis, MT.

This Day of The Dead poster was a real hit with Batman. He plans to be there for the parade, just in case any funny business goes down.

He is really into sensible footwear. These new styles of Livie and Luca really caught his eye.

The only real crime he could accuse us of was not having a line of merino wool undergarments for chilly winter days. So, we are on the search for such said items. Any leads from our trusty customers??? We'd love to hear what you have found.

Spooky things brewing!

2010-10-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

We are hosting a halloween crafting hour here at Blackbird this Friday at 11:00. You should bring your kidlets and get crafty with them. We will be making pumpkin faces like this. And we will be consuming pumpkin cookies and apple cider, to really get that blood sugar spike happening. After that we will be reading Bat's at the Library , by Brian Lies. If this all sound exciting to you and your littles, please give us a call to RSVP, so that we know how many supplies to have on hand!

sweaters!!

2010-10-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

These are in! From Kiwi Industries, the cutest sweaters in town. They are made from organic cotton, and hold up really well. We also have their sweater rompers in, which are so stinkin' cute! For some there are no images of them on their website yet, and I don't have my camera at the shop today, so no pics. But soon! They really are the cutest thing in the shop as of right now. Besides my kids, that is.

Come on down and check them out!

Also, we will be hosting a Halloween Craft session here at Blackbird on Friday October 22nd! We want your kids to help us decorate our display window with the art that they make! Call for details!

Coats!

2010-09-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

It is fast approaching! Coat wearing weather will come, lest you think this warm weather is forever. We have exceptionally cute, stylish, and most importantly, WARM coats to keep your kids protected all winter long.

We also have buntings for the littlest family members. They are fleece lined and really soft. Come see for yourself!

And, to top things off, Axel and I are rocking out to Berlin radio on Pandora right now, my new favorite. 'Pictures of You' is bringing a tear to my eye as we speak. Happy Fall!

Fall foot wear...

2010-09-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Kids shoes are loved by all. Seriously. If I had a dollar for every person who said "I wish they made these in my size," I would have enough to buy myself a new pair of shoes.

I took the liberty of photographing some of what I think are our cutest new shoes. Of course, they would have looked a lot cuter on a child, but mine was sleeping and I wanted to get 'er done quick.

These exceptionally adorable Morgan and Milo high tops with fur lining are zany, in a Pippi Longstocking kinda way, and warm! They have sneaker-like versatility but look girly enough to make your pink-loving lovely happy, while still being able to take a beating on the playground.

And these little red Mary Janes are perfect for the holiday season. There is something so classic about red shoes--thanks to Judy Garland, I suppose.

These chocolate sneakers with lime green accent are sleek and sturdy. Eleven makes a cool shoe indeed. They are so Portland hip, it makes me weak in the knees. I would wear these if they were in my size.

These Woodstock slip-on shoes from Morgan and Milo are fantastic. My five-year-old has them, and he loves them. The best part about them? They are slip-ons! He can put on them on himself, and that has changed our lives. Getting out the door just got a whole lot easier in the Smetanka household.

And of course all of these shoes, and many more, are available at Blackbird Kid Shop, your local hip kid resource store. Come check us out.

Huge Sale! AND knitting....

2010-01-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends. Just wanted to let you know first that Blackbird will be having a Huge winter sale January 20th-24th. Everything in the store will be 50% off. Everything. We will also have some snacks and a replenished play room with some new toys for the kids to play with whilst you shop. Please come down and take advantage of this huge opportunity to get all the things you've had your eye on.

ALSO, in other news, Blackbird will be hosting a Tuesday knitting group from 10:30-12:00. Bring your project if you have one, if not maybe you will be inspired to start one! Also we have hot water and a few snacks, so bring some tea and a cup. And, of course kids are more than welcome.

Hope to see you all soon!

Comments are enabled and welcome folks

2010-01-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

Wondering why you couldn't comment on our posts unless you were a "registered" user??? Well, I have fixed that my friends, and now you can comment away. Stay tuned for some winter activities coming soon at Blackbird. Plus, huge winter sale, 50% off of everything! xo

did you see our window?

2009-12-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if any of you have had a chance to see our window, but if so, WOW! right? It's absolutely amazing and beautiful. Andy, my partner in life/husband/artist in residence, made the sweetest silhouettes, each the size of a standard piece of paper, framing each of our picture windows. If you haven't seen them, you should. especially at night all lit up, they really are stunning. We will be crafting a little this Friday if anyone is interested in stopping by. We will be open until 8pm. Come see us.

First Friday Craftastic

2009-12-03T16:51:00.001-08:00

You heard it here folks. Blackbird Kid Shop will be hosting a First Friday evening of crafting. Bring yer wee ones, and we will provide the rest. We will be decorating shoe boxes to be used as pretty little gift boxes designed by you and your kid/s. Cookies and cocoa on hand if you dare. We really need to recycle some shoe boxes so PLEASE come join in the cheer. Hope to see you tomorrow evening. Oh, and it's all going down from 5pm-8pm. Cheers~!

Craftin'

2009-11-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

So we've been doing some major crafting around these parts as of late. Yesterday we made: Raggedy Ann or Muppet depending on when you ask Asa, and Christmas cards out of recycled stuff. Last week I completed my first knitting project, a lovely blue hat for Axel. He looks really good in blue. And, perhaps most exciting for me are the elf slippers I made out of an old felted wool sweater. Seriously cute, warm, and CHEAP! It takes awhile so I won't be able to crank out as many as I'd like, but still. What does any of this have to do with Blackbird Kid Shop. Well, let me tell you. Lately, I have been a bit disgruntled about leaving home to come to the shop. It requires a lot of packing for two kids, plus it's colder now and home is just nice and comfy, and we have been having sooooo much fun crafting..... So, I decided to bring that same goodness to the store. We are gonna craft away here too!! What does this mean for you, the customer??? You can come down to the shop and craft with us!! I'm gonna start a weekly crafting thing here at the store. I'll keep you all posted on dates, after Thanksgiving. And, on that note, all of you have a lovely Thanksgiving!

today is our birthday...

2009-11-17T05:31:00.000-08:00

Wow. Two years ago today Blackbird opened it's doors. Seems like a decade ago in some ways. I was six months pregnant with Axel. Asa was only 2 1/2, Silas was barely a year old, just babes. Kia and I decided to open this sweet little store because we didn't want to be away from our children. We wanted to be able to work, and hopefully make an income, with our kids by our side. In frustrating moments I have to remind myself of this. I am so lucky to be able to have my kids there, even when they are screaming at customers, tearing clothing off of the hangers, or spilling food on the carpet for the tenth time that day. I get to be with them, which was all I really wanted. It's still all I want. Happy Birthday Blackbird Kid Shop. You make Missoula a little bit more awesome with your presence.

I can be your cowboy...

2009-11-13T14:12:00.001-08:00

Axel is wearing a Cowboy Shirt by Kate Quinn Organics. It is oh so comfy and only $24!! The back is yoked, as you mayb or may not be able to see in this very blurry picture. Sorry 'bout that. I should mention he is playing with our Feeleez game in this picture. Locally made here in Missoula, Feeleez is a game that helps develop emotional intelligence. For more information visit www.feeleez.com.

Our kids come to the shop with us each and every day that we are here. You would think that they would get soooooo bored. And, sometimes they do, but most of the time they keep themselves pretty well entertained. For intance, today Asa built a river scene out of stuff he found laying around the store. The white paper Blackbird sticker backings are the water/river, the boat that the little guy is on is actually a foam pad off of our hat rack, and the blue and yellow blocks are mountains off in the distance. See how much fun we have! Now come down here and visit us!!!

2009-10-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Livie and Luca shoes are in. Probably THE cutest shoes I have ever laid eyes on. for real. Just look at them! These are called the Woodland Boot. Sorry for the semi blurry photo, but you get the picture. We so many more adorable styles in a variety of sizes. These shoes are especially great for the toddlers. They are awesome shoes for the beginning walker. The soles are flexible and they run a little bit wide for chubby little baby feet. I can't get enough of them!

Peace sweaters by Kiwi Industries

2009-10-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

Stripes!!

2009-10-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Girl Tunic Style, and Sleepy boy style with elbow patches!!

Oh so long ago....

2009-10-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Back in my personal dark ages, I didn't understand the power and impact of technology. I didn't understand the importance of connecting with my customers through blogging. I didn't realize that even if our customers weren't actually in our shop, I could still communicate with them. I can show them glorious pictures of our beautiful new clothes, shoes, and accessories. So, loyal friends/customers, I pledge to update you regularly on this blog with what is new in Blackbird land. Here are some pics for your delight.

Welcome

2008-03-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

We are currently working on building this site, so that our customers can view our new lines of clothing, furniture and books whether you are in town or far away. We will be posting our first friday events on this site, as well as other events happening in and around our store. We also hope to use this blog as a way to get customer feedback and requests. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us!