Random Giveaway — I'm Thankful for Creative Women

A few of the things I'm thankful for this year:

1) People who read Design Mom. This community makes my day, every day. I love the email you send with suggestions and ideas. I love the comments you leave. I love that this is a positive, happy, creative place. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for telling your friends about my blog. Thank you for reading.

2) Good news about Nie Nie's recovery. For those of you following the story, Stephanie is awake and has been moved to a rehab center in Utah. Reading updates about her progress makes me tear up. I love the Nielson family. Which reminds me. There are still many, many events and fundraisers happening on Stephanie and Christian's behalf — like here and here and here. You can read about them all at Nie Recovery.

3) Creative People. I'm inspired by the makers and doers around me. Crafters. Artists. Patient mothers. I love knowing so many people who are building a life they love. Brick by brick. Like Noelle, Molly and Stephanie — who promote and support artists every year at the Beehive Bazaar. And gain their own personal satisfaction by doing so. I heart creativity in all it's forms.

How about I try to demonstrate a little (tiny) bit of my gratitude with a Giveaway. Featuring seven companies started and run by creative women. Eleven items. Going to eleven different winners. Here's what's up for grabs:



- 100 mommy calling cards from Sophie & Spice
Because motherhood is a job. You may as well make it official with some cards.

- Two bags, one large and one medium, from Wet Happened
Wet in fact does happen. And now you'll have cute, practical bags to carry the wet mess until you can get to the laundry.

- Two wipes cases from Made by Angie
If you're going to carry a wipes case. And you are. Why not carry a cute one?

- A tutu and cape from Ellie Bellie Kids
Every kid in the world thinks they're a superhero or princess or both. Make it real with a fab cape or tutu.

- A Tiny-Tales kit and babysitter notes from Tiny Tales
Record keeping made easy. Tiny Tales does the thinking for you.

- A plush blanket from Mairzey Dotes
Because 9 times out of 10, when something happens to your little one, the first thing you reach for is a blanket. You can't have enough.

- And a Birth Necklace Square — with up to two pendants — from Julian and Co.
Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. A little bit of understated bling never hurt anyone.

Pretty things for pretty ladies. Made by other pretty ladies. Fabulosity all around. Please know that my gratitude for you is completely and totally sincere. You make my day. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

kisses,
Gabrielle

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Guidelines:
-You have until Midnight PST on Sunday, November 30th to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment ON THIS POST to enter — any comment. One entry per person, please.
-The winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday, December 1st.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Zena Hollaway

Spotted on kirtsy. Gorgeous underwater photos by Zena Hollaway featured on Daucus Carota. Completely awe-inspiring. I just love that someone's brain thinks like this.

One Laptop Per Child Giveaway

Have you seen the latest contest at kirtsy? It's probably the most Thanksgiving appropriate contest ever. Kirtsy has teamed up with One Laptop Per Child to give away Four XO Laptops! That's right. You could win one of four laptops. Honest and true.

How? Easy: Spread the word about One Laptop Per Child by sharing their link (http://laptop.org). Email it. Tweet it. Blog it. Put it on Facebook. Call a friend. Do whatever it is you do.

Then tell kirtsy what you did by leaving a comment on the kirtsy blog or on the kirtsy entry, like: "I twittered about OLPC." And you're officially entered to win.

Winning a laptop is a fantastic thing. But OLPC's programs are even more fantastic — their whole mission and purpose is to get a laptop into the hands of every child in emerging countries across the globe. Every. Single. Child. OLPC understands how a computer can give advantages and offer opportunities in a life-changing way.



See, the little laptops they make are amazing. Super sturdy. Designed for children's hands. Easy to care for and maintain. Self-networking. And they send them for free to children around the globe. These laptops can't even be bought for personal use — they are strictly for giving away.

With one exception. Over the holidays, OLPC is holding a Give One, Get One (G1G1) promotion. You buy a laptop for yourself or for someone you love, and OLPC will donate another laptop to a child in need. In fact, this G1G1 campaign is the only way to actually buy one of their laptops. Period.



I'm a big fan. If you were reading Design Mom a year ago, you may remember my post on OLPC. We participated in the program last December — and our kids love our XO. Your kids would love one as well! Bonus: I'll bet it's the best price you'll find on a laptop anywhere.

If you are able to get involved with the Give One Get One program this year, you won't regret it. If donating a laptop isn't an option, then I hope you'll get involved by trying to win one from kirtsy!

Share the OLPC link. Tell kirtsy about it. Then you're entered to win. Done and done.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned this contest is particularly Thanksgiving appropriate. This is what I mean: I am thankful every single day for the opportunities and friendships that have come into my life through a computer and the internet. And I'm thankful for companies like One Laptop Per Child that understand the power that computer ownership can bring to a child's life.

Lunch Sack Alternative

What a cute idea — check out the charming brown paper lunch bag alternatives designed by Rebecca Peragine over at Print*Pattern*Paper. With velcro and drawstring closure. In six pretty patterns. A good stocking stuffer for your school age kids. And during summer vacation, they can use the same bag to carry their rock-leaf-dead bug collection.

Do You Twitter? Do You Facebook?

Oh my goodness! I'm so excited. Remember when I told you about Hands On Kirtsy? It's a new program kirtsy is launching — featuring gatherings across the country where women can learn how to use web 2.0 services like twitter, delicious, flickr, kirtsy, facebook, stumble upon, rss feed readers, tumblr. . .

The first Hands On Kirtsy was held a few weeks ago in conjunction with the Startup Princess Retreat. And the 2nd Hands On Kirtsy is happening on Monday. This coming Monday, December 1st. And it's coming to New York!

If you're in New York and you're wanting an introduction to social media, we hope you'll attend. Maybe you've read some blogs. Signed up for Facebook. But you're not sure what all the fuss about Twitter is. Or how one would use Stumble Upon.

Then Hands On Kirsty is for you.

Hands On Kirtsy sessions are like the funnest class you ever took. No stress. No judgment. Just a bunch of girls learning what's up on the internet these days. Real hands on learning. Trying things out. Learning new skills. At the end of the session, you'll feel so in the know! You'll be able to use verbs like tweet, kirtsy, stumble and flickr without being tempted to giggle.

Extra fun: all the kirtsy girls will be in town! Laura is coming from Texas. Laurie is coming from North Carolina. And Gwen is coming from Colorado. And we can't wait to hang out with everybody. Best part: it's free dollars and thirty free cents. For reals. The details:

Hands On Kirtsy
Monday, December 1, 2008
6:00 to 8:00 PM
Hudson Hotel, in the Studio
356 West 58th Street, New York



Too advanced for Hands on Kirsty? Already a social media pro? We get that. But we want to see you anyway. So immediately after the Hands on Kirtsy, we've got a fabulous meetup happening. In the same building, at the Hudson Bar.

Kirtsy Meetup
Monday, December 1, 2009
Hudson Bar
8:00 till you go home
356 West 58th Street, New York

For sure, if you're in the area, you need to come by and say Hello! Oh. And send me an email or leave a comment if you can make it to either event — I'd love to know who's planning to come.

UPDATE: You can register for your FREE tickets to either event here: http://handsonkirtsy.eventbrite.com/

Preparations

Are you busy with Thanksgiving preparations? Me too. I had our knives sharpened a couple of weeks ago, and just picked them up on Saturday. Time to check the linens...

Photo by Marc Lemmons via flickr

SeaVees + Pantone

For the designer on your gift list. SeaVees sneakers in Pantone colors. If you order today, you can get them before they're generally made available to the public.

Thanks for the link, Laurie.

Zoom Albums

Have you heard of Zoom Albums? Zoom Album offers kits for little (3 inch x 3 inch) hardbound books that you can put together yourself in literally minutes. Ellen Marden, the how-to face behind Zoom Albums (she even demo'ed them on Martha Stewart), attended the Startup Princess Retreat. She was lovely — full of energy and great ideas. She would sit and put together these little books while she chatted with you and you could see first hand, just how easy it was.

Basic 411: using Zoom Album's free software, you drop photos onto their template. Then you print the photos on their special perforated sheet that's made to work with any inkjet printer. After that, it's fold, fold, fold. Stick, stick, stick. And then you're done.

Watch the videos here to see how quickly they come together — or you can check out a video of Ellen's 9-year-old daughter, Nancy, putting one together for her brother's soccer coach — so cute!




The possible applications for these have my imagination in overload. You could make little photobooks of each grandchild — the perfect gift for Grandma and Grandpa this Christmas. You could make one book every birthday as a mini-record of your child's life. You could scan drawings your child made and turn the drawings into a little illustrated story. You could make an album full of photos of your toddler's favorite things, and then keep it in your handbag to entertain your child during errands. How about party favors?

And did I tell you, you can print custom covers? Text, photos, whatever you'd like. Or if you're more of a scrap-book-ey person, you could make the covers from pretty paper and embellish them to your hearts content.

I'm so excited about these! And so glad I met Ellen. I feel like I should buy the kits in bulk, because I know I'll want to make dozens of these little albums. (Also, because the price point drops to about $6 a book if you buy large quantities — nice.)

Winner — Epson Artisan 800 Printer Giveaway

It's a great new week — Thanksgiving is so close — I can taste it already. And it was wonderful to arrive at my desk this morning to find there were 1300 entries on last Thursday's giveaway. I think this may be a record at Design Mom — 1300(!) entries. Good to know you like Epson Printers.

Big congratulations go to: MMW who said, "May the gods of Random.org pick me. Thanks Design Mom."

Hooray for MMW! Please email me and I'll put you in touch with the sponsor right away. Thank you all so much for participating. And a special thank you to Epson for sponsoring the Giveaway.

Advice Please

I've been looking for a new heavy coat and found this beautiful red one at TJ Maxx the other day. I'm loving the shape, loving the details, and loving that it was a bargain for an overcoat at $60. Plus, it's from Esprit which made me happy — I don't think I've worn anything from the Esprit line since junior high. : )

Only problem, it's a size too big (and they didn't have a smaller size). Other only problem, will I like it less after Christmas when I've had my fill of red?

Do I keep it? Or return it? Feeling so indecisive...

Schoolyard Gardens — by Guest Mom Rochelle

Our local school is trying to get a schoolyard garden and I'm doing what I can to support the effort. Ideally, it would be something really lovely — like the edible schoolyard that Chef Alice Waters helped create at the MLK school in Berkeley, California.

The Edible Schoolyard website lists 20 good reasons to support a student garden and kitchen in your local schools. I can think of so many more, but my favorites are: “The garden and kitchen are beautiful spaces that connect students to their school. They provide a context for rituals and celebrations. And a kitchen and garden promote risk taking, such as trying new things...foods, activities and making new friends.”

If you're interested in more information, I am continuing the schoolyard garden theme at studio g today with more postings about specific ways to fund a garden and ideas for getting started on a small scale. And may I also say, thank you so much for the opportunity to be a Guest Mom this week — it's been lovely!

photo by Jen Sundeen

Martha's Craft Night

What a fun week this has been! On Tuesday night, we (Ralph, Maude, Olive and I) went to a craft night at Martha Stewart's offices in Chelsea. I had taken Maude to this event last year, and knew it was great, so made sure I could bring all the big kids this year. And we've really been looking forward to it.

Last year we glittered ornaments. And loved it. This year we decorated cookies and boxed them up in charming packages. And I think we loved it even more.



Finished cookies by Ralph, Maude and Olive.



Adorable boxes (with compartments!) filled with our cookies.

Martha's empire is striking. A delicious dinner was served — made from Martha's new line of food products available at Costco. Ham, turkey soup, chili, raspberry/apple pie, mushroom dip and some really yummy meatballs. (I didn't ask, but I'm betting the food was served in pieces from Martha's line at Macy's.) The cookies we decorated and boxed up were all made from recipes found in Martha's Cookie Cookbook. Everything we used to box up the cookies came from Martha's Craft line. And all of it was wonderful.

It's difficult not to be impressed with the company that Martha Stewart has built.

Everyone had a great evening. I loved seeing all the craft options — the pretty glitter collections, the little boxes for packaging handmade gifts, all the adorable tags and embellishments. I'm feeling all inspired to get my Christmas-making on. The kids couldn't get enough of the cookie decorating. They wanted to try every technique and would have decorated dozens if I'd let them.



But far and away, the craft item hit of the night, was the felt letter stickers. So cute! I can't find them online or I'd link to them, but I find all sorts of satisfaction just staring at them.

Random Giveaway — Epson Artisan 800 Printer

Oh my goodness. I've got a great Giveaway for you today. I'm just going to tell you right out: Epson has sponsored an Artison 800 All-in-one Printer for the prize. It's a beautiful piece of equipment:



And ladies, it prints like a dream. A dream. I heart this printer. The last two printers I've owned were both freebies/mail-in-rebates attached to computer purchases. They were generally small and wimpy and always felt a bit inadequate. But the Artison 800 feels substantial. It's the real deal. It's big. It's powerful. It's fast. It's a $300 printer. And it does everything you need it to do. Everything? Yes, everything.

Let's talk specifics: It scans, it copies, it prints, it faxes. It's got wifi networking — so that you can print from any computer in the house. It can print professional quality CD and DVDs. And it will even turn your photos into coloring book pages if you ask it nicely.



And because a $300 printer just isn't enough, Epson is throwing in more fun stuff to the pot:
- Epson 5x7” photo paper (20 sheet pack)
- Iron-On Cool Peel Tranfer (10 sheet pack)
- Premium Matte Scrapbook Photo Paper (20 sheet pack)

The holidays are here. The economy is slow. And everybody's thinking handmade gifts are the way to go this year. The Artisan 800 is the way to make handmade handsome. Print pretty labels for your homemade jam. Print cute packaging for your holiday cookies. Print photos of the kiddies for Grandma and Grandpa. Ultra Hi-Definition photos printed on the Artisan 800 last 4 times longer than photo lab prints, plus they're smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant — are you thinking Christmas cards? Me too!

In the market for a new printer? This is the one. And this is the time, because Epson has a great deal going on. You can get the Artisan 800 for $70 off. Sweet.

It so much fun to ponder all the wonderful things a lucky winner will get to do with this printer. Happy commenting! And thank you to Epson.

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Guidelines:
-You have until Midnight PST on Sunday, November 23rd to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment ON THIS POST to enter — any comment. One entry per person, please.
-The winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday, November 24th.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Serving Platters

Things I want to draw your attention to:

1) These pretty silver serving stands. Thanksgiving is next week, my friends. A thing which is almost impossible to believe. (Where did November go?) I probably need these platters. From Crate & Barrel.

2) See the other pretty things I found at C&B in my most recent post at Cookie's Nesting blog.

And while you're there, check out some of my other recent posts as well. Like this roundup of pretty mobiles I've noticed lately. And this basement decorated entirely in Sharpie marker. And this how-to on making a super-plush eco-friendly bathmat.

3) Have you noticed all the new vendors listed in the Marketplace? Deals and discounts abound. Check it out before you do your shopping and save yourself some cash.

Book of the Week — The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo — posted By Guest Mom Rochelle

As someone with a career based on the outdoors, ecology is on my mind. A lot. And I try to pass what I know on to my children. A great book for introducing kids to ecology, and the knock-on effects that our actions have on our environment, is called The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo by Charlotte Pomeranz.

Bad news: the book is out of print. Good news: your library probably has a copy. For more fun: I am giving away a couple of garden books over at studio g. Come by and check it out.

Justin Hackworth Photography

While at the Startup Princess Retreat I was lucky enough to have my photo taken by Justin Hackworth. It was one of those everything-comes-together sort of things. Early in the conference, kind of out of the blue, Gwen Bell said to me: we need to get you a new head shot. (Ummm. True. And also. Ouch.) And then I met Amy Hackworth, who was attending the retreat, and she said: My husband is a talented photographer. If he can make it to Midway this afternoon, would you like to have a portrait shot? And I was like: Done and done.



So Justin came. And I'll be honest, I was dreading it. I don't love having my picture taken — it just makes me so self-conscious. But Justin made it easy and painless and I was ever so pleased with the results. The shots are very straightforward. Simple. Just right. I'm sharing a couple of my favorites here in this post. Justin likes to work in the classic documentary style. He goes for non-trendy — planning his work to be as fresh and genuine in 20 or 30 years as it is today.

If you're looking for a real-deal, full-time, this-is-his-career-photographer, I'd love to recommend Justin. If you don't live where he lives, know that Justin does travel for shoots as well. Family portraits. Destination weddings. (I hear there are some really good deals to be had from Justin if your destination wedding happens to be in Italy. It's hard to say no to a trip to Italy.) Visit his site and his blog to see more of his work.


Justin's cute wife, Amy and me

Disney World - Report #3

Maude flying high in the rockets at Tomorrowland.

This is my final Disney World trip wrap up. And it can be summed up with this sentence: Heed the wisdom of the Disney Mom's Panel.

Seriously. Following the advice we received absolutely made our trip. Here are 3 specific pointers from the Mom's Panel that were spot on:

1) November is one of the best times to go.
The weather was fantastic. Not too hot or muggy, but totally swim-able. And the lines were reasonable or non-existent. Throughout our trip we were able to basically walk up to a ride and step right on. And when there was a wait, it was typically less than 20 minutes.

We walked onto the teacups. We walked onto the carousel. We walked onto the magic carpets, and then rode a second time immediately because the kids were loving it so much. We walked into Star Tours. We walked into the Indiana Jones show. We walked into the Philharmagic show. We walked onto It's a Small World. And then did it again later in the day, because it's my favorite ride. (I love all the glitter and I love that's it's nice and cool in there. It makes for a restful break in the day.)





2) Attending a Character meal will be worth your while.
We did this as a finale on Friday morning before we left to catch our mid-day flight. And what a great finish to the trip! We had yummy food at the Cape May Café, and had photo ops with Minnie, Donald and Goofy throughout the meal. Oscar thought he had died and gone to heaven.

Another benefit of knowing we were attending a Character meal, was that I didn't feel pressure to seek out characters throughout the parks.




3) For food in a hurry at Downtown Disney, try the Wolfgang Puck counter service.
We only spent an evening at Downtown Disney — when we saw Cirque's La Nouba. But it was a hungry evening. And with all the restaurant choices there, it was great to have a place to go that we knew would be good and where we didn't need a reservation. It was our most delicious meal of the trip.

One last thing. I haven't told you about the kids reaction to the surprise. The night before the trip, we were all packed up, the kids were in bed, and I wrote up my blog post about the surprise. It was a relief to get to write it — I had hardly been able to tell a soul about the trip, just so we could keep the secret. After I wrote the post, I was so excited, that I twittered the announcement at the last minute. And then we went to bed.

Early, early in the morning the 3 oldest came into our room and crawled into bed with us. Maude said, "I just saw something on twitter. But Ralph doesn't believe me." (Darn Twitter! What are the chances she was going to check in with twitter at 6:00 in the morning. Ha!) At that point we officially spilled the beans. And the kids started freaking out. And running around the house. Ralph was sort of wandering around. He kept saying things like, "It doesn't seem real."



It was great. I don't know if we'll ever be able to manage a big surprise like that again. But I'm so glad we did it this time. On the plane ride home we made 4 pages of notes to make our next trip even better. First note on the list: stay longer. I think this could become an annual November tradition.

Spotted on Kirtsy

Spotted on kirtsy. Another blog to feed my addiction: Greedy Girl. Clever writing. Pretty pictures. And there's a smart calendar swap going on right now as well. Check it.

Also spotted on kirtsy. You can win free registration to the Mom 2.0 Summit in Houston, Texas. The kirtsy girls will be there — with a whole crew of other interesting people — and we can't wait to meet you! Plus, while you're at the summit, you'll get a chance to attend a Hands On Kirtsy session.

What's Hands On Kirtsy? So glad you asked. I've been dying to get the chance to announce this. Hands On Kirtsy is:

"Fun, practical gatherings of goodness to show you and yours a few new easy things to take up online. Each session will be hosted and led by kirtsy editors, kirtsy founders and kirtsy friends, who just want to get together to show you some new (and maybe not so new) cool things that will help make your online life easier, smarter and definitely more interesting."



Basically, kirtsy is going to host meetups all over the country where you can come and learn how to twitter, how to kirtsy, how to use an rss feed reader, how to facebook, how to flickr, etc. We've got 6 dates on the calendar so far. And plans-in-the-works to roll this out nationwide early in 2009 with over 200 gatherings next year.

I can't believe how excited I am for this program! I think this will go a long way in filling a big educational need. There are several people in my life that keep me in the know on the latest social media trends and sites — that teach me how to use sites like delicious and stumble upon. But from what I hear, most women don't have such mentors. So kirtsy's going to make it our mission to teach these tools to women everywhere. Because we can. And because we're all about empowering women online.

What social media/web 2.0 tool do you most want to learn?

Celebrity Mom

Big news! Huggies has officially named me, and some of my favorite peeps, a "celebrity mom." It feels good. But honestly, I always thought "celebrity" involved more limos/Escalades. In my case, it means Huggies posted a video of me being interviewed by Ralph. Hot! You can view the video under the Celeb Mom Spotlight tab at Generation Huggies.

Bonus. At The Motherhood you can also see the video Huggies chose NOT to use. It features Maude interviewing me — plus Betty crawling all over me — plus a glimpse of Oscar's bare bottom. And it's filmed by Ralph.



I feel like this "not picked" video is pretty representative of what goes down at my house on any given evening. Watch for this highlight: I ask Oscar where his pants are. He looks down and says, "I don't see them." Fabulous.

Hey. Also. Tomorrow — that's Thursday, November 20th — is your very last chance to submit your own video to Huggies. You should totally do it. It's free. It's fun. And you could win fame and fortune — you know how I'm all about celebrity.

Tree House Update — by Guest Mom Rochelle

You may remember this time last year, we had just started our tree house endeavor. Phase 1 (thanks to grandpa) was the platform, Phase 2 was to make it safe (i.e.add a railing) and paint it. Here is where we are now. I love the way the rope looks and we went with red to match our barn.

So now we are onto phases 3 and 4: make the ladder safer and nicer and start adding features. Here are some of the cool swings we are considering.



Teak Swing from DWR, the leaf swing from Enea Studio, and the beautiful handcrafted oak swing from the Garden Boutique that you can customize with your own poem. Or possibly the romantic swing from Droog — it has planters in the sides and comes with seeds so that the vines will grow up the ropes. (Available through Poaa.com)

Climate Change Exhibit at AMNH

On Monday night I took my older 3 kids to the American Museum of Natural History to see the new Climate Change exhibit. We loved the exhibit. It was beautiful, informative and had lots of interactive bits that the kids could explore.

I especially loved learning about coal and seeing the ginormous piece of coal on display — I don't think I knew that it had a sort of iridescent sheen. Coal is pretty. Ralph really liked the coral display. The way the lights moved made it feel like we were walking through the ocean.


Olive attempting to piece together pieces of the polar ice cap.



Ralph and Maude studying water levels around a model of lower Manhattan.



Maude striking a pose in front of the Solar Panel portion of the exhibit.




Most of the Museum was closed — this event was focusing on the Climate Change exhibit. But they did let guests explore the Butterfly Conservatory as well. We were told it was rare good luck if one of the butterflies landed on you.


To get to the exhibit, you walk through the Hall of Reptiles.


A sticker on the floor to help you find your way.

New Boots

Look at my cute new boots! I love the heel. And the bright yellow lining — so cheery on an overcast day. An unexpected gift from Tretorn. And just in time. Winter has arrived in all it's fury.

Seven Smooches

The products coming out of the Seven Smooches shop are gorgeous. The fall/winter line is made from recycled sweaters. The spring/summer line is made from recycled sheets and feedsacks.

And because of the nature of the source materials, every single item is one of a kind. One of a kind. And super soft. And full of tiny delicate details. All this, while remaining fully machine washable.

It's an incredibly impressive collection — especially considering the entire line is conceived, designed and sewn solely by two women — mothers of 7 kids between them (thus the company name seven smooches). I met the talented ladies behind Seven Smooches, Jennifer and Stacy, at the Startup Princess Retreat. I fell in love immediately. With the ladies. And the products.

I want to buy a pair of charming bloomers and a sun bonnet for every baby I know.

Disney Pin Trading

We discovered Pin Trading within a few minutes of checking into our hotel at Disney World and quickly concluded that it was going to the perfect souvenir/activity for the Blair kids.

Here's how it goes: you can buy pins at locations all over Disney World. From what we could tell, there are hundreds, probably thousands, of pin variations. You can attach them to a lanyard and wear it around your neck. You can wear them on your clothes. You can pin them to a backpack. Then, if you see a "cast member" — which means any Disney World employee — wearing a collection of pins, you can approach them and trade pins with them.



Why we liked it:

1) The kids felt comfortable striking up conversations with anyone wearing a pin, which meant they met lots of interesting people throughout our trip. And not just Disney employees. They also traded pins with other kids. Olive made 3 pin trades before we actually made it into a Disney park.

2) A typical pin isn't too expensive — about $6. We let the kids each pick out two, and this kept souvenir expenses to under $15 per kid.

3) We don't have anything big or bulky or overly precious to transport home and store, but the kids still have something special for show-and-tell.

The Share Chair — by Guest Mom Rochelle

Normally I am not a huge advocate for plastic in the garden, but this chair and the rest of the collection of kids furniture by Inekehans Collection (available in the US through Wabnitz Editions) is the absolute exception.

I love the black recycled plastic that blends into the landscape and I love that learning to share is built right in. They also have a great line up of furniture for big people gardens that we are featuring at Studio g.

Flower Shop — by Guest Mom Rochelle

I love the kids stuff that comes out of France. When I saw this mini flower shop on Madame La Marchande, I fell in love, then quickly realized getting it shipped here was out of the question. So I've been considering how to make my own version. Here is what I came up with:



1) Paper parasols at Luna Bazaar.
2) Silk flowers from any local craft shop.
3) Cute watering can from Spotty Boxes.
4) French Flower Buckets from Flowers and Supplies.
5) Either of these two Ikea tables will work — the Hemnes table is almost a perfect match, and the Dalom table (which is much less expensive) would work as well.

I'm so excited to try and put this together!

Hello Again Rochelle!

What a great thing. I get to reintroduce Rochelle Greayer as a Guest Mom. Last year, her scheduled Guest Mom week was cut short. But luckily, she's here again with all sorts of wisdom about landscaping and gardens and other good stuff. I'll let Rochelle say Hello:

I am so glad to be back again guest blogging at ‘Design Mom’. It was almost a year ago exactly that I last guested and a lot has happened since. My daughter went to kindergarten, and my son to preschool (both for the first time), we went aupair-less for the first time since having children (wow, it is really nice to not be living with my child care provider anymore!), I continued to grow my design business and I launched a design blog of my own called ‘Studio g’. Whew!

I would love for you all to come visit and let me know what you think. ‘Studio g’ is inspired by many my favorite blogs (Design Mom, decor8 and Design*Sponge) but talks about garden and landscape design instead of interiors or kids stuff. I happen to think this is a very overlooked corner of the design world and would like to try and elevate it a bit. I will be posting all week in both places — here with a slant towards gardens, design, kids, motherhood and families and there with my normal mix of goodies.

Disney World - Report #1

I've got three posts planned to tell you about our Disney World trip. This is the first one. And it's really all about Disney service. The overall trip was great. Surprising the kids was fantastic. The rides were as charming as I remembered. But the service was above and beyond. Some of the outstanding moments:



1) After we arrived and checked into the lovely Fort Wilderness Cabin, we had a complication ending up with a wounded Maude (she's fine and dandy now). Within a few minutes, the staff at Disney World had sent paramedics and located a new room for us at a nearby resort, Old Key West. David, the property manager at the Cabins helped us stay calm, introduced pin-trading to the kids to keep them entertained (more on that in the next report) and did everything he could to get our vacation back on track as quickly as possible.

2) We spent our first evening of our trip touring Epcot. When we arrived at Soarin' near closing time, we realized Oscar and Betty were too little to ride. So I planned on waiting at the ride exit with the little ones while Ben took the big kids. To my happy surprise, the Soarin' ticket taker gave me a rider-switch-pass, so that when Ben and the kids were done, I could go on the ride without having to wait — and the big kids could ride with me, getting a second chance to go on Soarin'. Apparently this rider switch policy is standard on any ride at Disney World. Nice, right?

Here's where they really stepped it up though. It just so happened that by the time Ben and the kids met me at the end of their ride, it was after 9:00 and Soarin' was closed. I assumed I had missed my chance to try it out. But the ticket taker made a point of sending me and the older kids back on the ride. Basically, they kept the ride open just so I could get a chance to try it. In fact, we (me, Ralph, Maude and Olive) had the ride completely to ourselves. Which was really, really fun.



3) A couple days into the trip, the Manager of the Old Key West resort left a message checking in to make sure Maude was okay. She was. And we were touched that someone called.

4) We used the Kids Night Out babysitting service for Oscar and Betty while we took the older kids to La Nouba. And we were very pleased. Our sitter's name was Brandon and when we got back he said everything was "fantastic", that our kids are super smart and that they went right to bed. (Note to all babysitters: that is exactly what every parent wants to hear when they arrive home.) If you need a sitter at Disney World, you should totally request Brandon.



5) Another thing we loved is that the hotels at Disneyworld are full-fledged resorts themselves. Meaning, even if you didn't go to one the parks, there would be plenty of entertaining things to do right at your hotel. Our kids loved watching a nighttime showing of Ratatouille at the Old Key West pool. If we'd had more time, I'll bet they would have loved taking one of the crafts classes that were offered. Or trying out the family-size bicycles.

Old Key West photos from About.com

Custom Alphabet Prints

I just received an email about these customizable alphabet prints by Penny People. These are fantastic! Great type, great colors, great prices. Get one made with your family name and hang it in the family room.

Winners — All About Cute, $150/Orla Kiely Giveaway

Disneyworld was lovely — I can't wait to report. And it feels good to be home again. I have to say, I really miss blogging whenever I take a break. Blogging is my reliable, creative outlet and it always feels like a productive day when I get a few posts up.

It's especially fun to be back at my computer and have two lucky winners to announce from the great and wonderful All About Cute Double Giveaway. Big congratulations go to:

1) jessica, who said, "Wow - amazing prizes! All things I can cross are crossed ; )"
You won the gorgeous Orla Kiely Handbag!

2) vfg, who said, "someday I'll win...for being here when there was a mere 100 commenters..."
You won the $150 gift certificate!

Hooray for both of you! Please email me and I'll put you in touch with the sponsor right away. Thank you all so much for participating — almost 1200(!) of you. And a big thank you to All About Cute for sponsoring the Giveaway.

Disney World — Surprise!

The kids are going to wake up in a few hours.

They don't know it, but we're heading to Disney World this morning. For reals!! And I have to say, it has taken every ounce of my self-control not to tell them — the brilliant surprise idea came from Josh and Erin. We had promised them a trip back in April — after my Disney World Blogger trip. And we finally made it happen. Yay!

I am so crazy excited. Excited to see the kids' reaction when we tell them. Excited for time with our kids — without work and distractions. And super excited to be at Disney World. I heart Disney World.

We're trying to keep the schedule pretty open. But there are a few things we're planning on for sure:

-Staying at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness — the perfect option for our big family — so that we don't need to get two rooms.

-We have lunch reservations at the 50's Primetime Café on Wednesday. We hear the waiters make Mom and Dad keep their elbows off the table and finish our vegetables. Which our kids will think is the funniest. thing. ever.

-Reservations for a Character Breakfast at Cape May Café on Friday — right before we check out and head to the airport.

-Plus, on Wednesday night, we're taking the 3 oldest kids to see Cirque's La Nouba at Downtown Disney — and making use of the babysitting services, called Kids Night Out, for the 2 youngest.

To help plan the trip, I went straight to Disney World's Mom's Panel — because no one knows Disneyworld like Moms. I worked with Darcie — a mother of four and dedicated Disney World enthusiast — she's the genius that recommended the Fort Wilderness Cabins and filled me in on the 50's Primetime Café. I think I would be terrified about this trip if she hadn't basically held my hand through the planning stage. Thank you Darcie!

I'll be back on Monday with regular posts. I'll leave the Double All About Cute Giveaway and Kirtsy to keep you company while I'm gone. And I'll try to give updates on Twitter throughout the trip.

Seriously. I'm so excited. The suitcases are packed. The reservations are confirmed. If you drive by my house in the morning and hear screaming, know that it's joyful screaming.

Random Giveaway — Orla Kiely Handbag, plus $150 Gift Certificate from All About Cute

I'm feeling pretty celebratory — for all sorts of reasons — so how about a super-cool Giveaway? Actually. How about a super-cool Double Giveaway! There's a new shop out there called All About Cute (great name!). And they want to give you something.

First off, they want to give you a Boulevard Laminated Shoulder Bag. And it's fantastic. See?:



Lots to love about this prize. It's a handbag — can't have enough of those. It's covered in lollipop trees — which makes it match my celebratory mood. And it's designed by Orla Kiely, and crafted from her signature laminated cotton-canvas — so I can't help but covet it. Probably the best part about this bag is that you can win it for free! And make all your friends jealous.

But there's more. Say you don't particularly need the handbag (maybe because you're an Orla Kiely fan and have two of these bags in your possession already). Then you should know, there's also an additional prize. For an additional winner. It's a $150 gift certificate to All About Cute. With which you can buy whatever you'd like. Cute things like this Apple Blossom Hoodie. And this You Will Be Loved sterling silver necklace.



One of things I am grateful for in my time-crunched world: people who pare down the choices for me, saving me time and brain power. The buyers for All About Cute are those sorts of people. They have put together a great collection of pretty clothes and accessories. For gifts. For a treat for yourself.

There's one more treat I need to tell you about. To keep the celebration going on, All About Cute is offering 30% off on their entire store!! Just enter the code: design. So generous!

Happy commenting. Happy week (please note the unusual-for-design-mom end date below — you've got a whole week to enter). And thank you to All About Cute!

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Guidelines:
-You have until Midnight PST on Sunday, November 16th to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment ON THIS POST to enter — any comment. One entry per person, please.
-The winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday, November 17th.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Goodbye Salt Lake City

It feels like there was a week's worth of events and learning packed into my very short trip to Salt Lake City for the Startup Princess retreat. It was a really good trip.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll make sure to introduce you to some of the vendors, entrepreneurs and experts that I was able to meet and hang out with. This was an amazing group, with great energy and lots of ideas. They provided me with a month's worth of blog content. I swear.

In the meantime, you can read writeups about the weekend at Gwen Bell's blog — including a role call of everyone who attended the MeetUp on Saturday night. At Sarah Jane's blog. And at Holly Buchanan's blog.

Plus, Sarah Bray, who was supposed to present at the retreat, but had flight complications, made a video of her 2009 Web Predictions so that we wouldn't be so darned bummed about missing her presentation. Thank you Sarah!

Also, if you want to see what was twittered about the event, go to search.twitter.com and type in #princess.

Princess Goodies

This is what greeted Gwen and I when we checked into our hotel room:

Two tiny glass crowns. Made by Tiny Tiaras. Super charming. So delicate. Really beautiful.

Extra-delicious cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. Excellent branding and packaging. Plus, super yummy.



Two copies of The Soccer Mom Myth. Holly Buchanan, one of the authors, has been speaking at this conference and she's a genius. Plus a really entertaining, smart, personable speaker. If you're marketing to women, you want this book.

Two bottles of fruity fuze. And a helpful conference packet with all the info we could possibly need.

Thank you, Kelly! Way to make your StartUp Princess presenters feel like princesses.

Caffe Niche

Happy day! It's the weekend. I'm in Salt Lake City. And it's cold and beautiful here. The conference this weekend is going to be fantastic. At least I suspect it is. Because the first thing on the event schedule is massages at 5:00. Which makes for a pretty great conference. Period.

If you're in Northern Utah, and feeling bad that you're not participating, I'll take this opportunity to remind you of the good news: there is a super-cool meetup happening on Saturday night in SLC. And anyone can come. And everyone (read: Gwen and Me and Liz) will be there. Here's the 411:

Caffe Niche
779 East 300 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84102
7:00 pm on Saturday Night, 11/8/08

You know it's going to be hot dog fabulous. Can't wait to see you there!

My Flight Plans

The flight to Salt Lake is about 5 hours. Five luxurious hours where I don't need to think about email, or if my kids need a snack, or if Maude has made it to her birthday party on time. I am completely aware of how lucky I am.

My big plans for those 5 hours:

1) Dog-earring the November issue of Domino, which I have not been able to even peek at.
2) Working on tomorrow's presentation.
3) Reading Guy Kawasaki's latest book, Reality Check.

It's been out like 5 minutes, and I hear it has already made top-seller lists everywhere. Can't say I'm too surprised. That Guy Kawasaki is a genius.

Thanksgiving Traditions

We don't have any super solid Thanksgiving traditions. Every November this fact surprises me.

One thing I do attempt is to pull out Ox-Cart Man (featured earlier here) and make sure we read it. It's not especially a Thanksgiving book — it covers all four seasons and never even mentions Thanksgiving. But the cover looks Thanksgiving-y to me. And the characters are quite pilgrim-ish.

Plus reading it tends to make me feel thankful for what I have. In the book, the father brings home gifts for his family: a pot, a knife, a needle and a bag of peppermint candies intended to last the whole winter. It helps me remember how plentiful my life is.

Plus, plus, it's my favorite children's picture book.



Two other traditions I'm wanting to share with you:

1) My friend Laura B is trying something new this year. Every day in November, Laura is taking a photo of something she is grateful for. Then. She'll take her 30 photos and make some kind of gratitude project with them. Maybe publish them in a blurb book. Or frame them in a series. She's not sure yet what she'll make, but I sure look forward to seeing it. Laura invited lots of her friends to do it with her — and now they'll have a great excuse to get together and work on their gratitude projects. Great plan, right?

If you like this idea, don't feel like you have to dismiss it because it's no longer November 1st. Just take 6 photos today and catch up.

2) My friend Danielle B keeps a jar on her kitchen counter next to a small pad of paper and a pen. Anytime she or her husband think of something they are grateful for, they write it down and put it in the jar. They do this all year. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, they read all those little slips of paper. Brilliant!

If you haven't been doing this all year (I certainly haven't), the same idea would also work quite well from now until Thanksgiving Day.

What are your Thanksgiving tradtions?

Little Alouette

Shopping for baby gifts? Don't miss these gorgeous, handmade rattles/teethers. Lovingly designed and handcrafted by the husband-wife duo Amy and Joe Sharp (you may remember Amy from her week as a Guest Mom here).

Actually. There are lots of gorgeous things for all ages in their Little Alouette shop. Like these beautiful wooden egg shakers. And these bundles of bakers twine. And this little lap chalkboard.





Extra fun: Amy and Joe are featured as a Forest Find over at one of my favorite shops, Fawn and Forest. Congrats to Amy and Joe!

Extra, extra fun: I heard through the grapevine that Amy might be hosting a teether/block giveaway on her super cool blog...

Vote for your Favorite Video

Spotted on kirtsy: the best looking and most clever electoral map ever. ("Leaning weirded out by Joe Biden's hair" will make me smile all day.)

Hey. I know the election is over, but if you're still feeling the urge to get your vote on, I suggest you head over to Generation Huggies and vote for your favorite video. Moms from all over the country have submitted 60 second videos filled with their thoughts on Motherhood. They're super sweet and if I could, I would watch them all day. Seriously. I can't believe how much I like hearing mothers talk about their experiences.

The videos with the most votes will be featured in a national ad campaign and recieve a cash prize. Best part: you (yes you!) can submit your own video as well. Generation Huggies is accepting videos through November 20th. Go check it out.

Epsonovemberama

Hey friends! A kirtsy Giveaway launched on Monday and I totally forgot to tell you all about it. You can win a super fabulous printer-with-all-the-extras from Epson. Worth over $450.

Funnest part: to enter, just leave a comment here or here, letting everyone know what your favorite holiday art project is. Something fun you did as a kid? Something you've always wanted to try? Something your own kids love to do?

It'll be so great to read everyone's happy memories/good ideas. Yay for Giveaways!

Apple Party

Nathalie, from the Australian paper company Imprintables, sent me photos from the super-charming apple-themed party she had for her son, Travis. So cute! And I love that's it's totally unisex. And totally adaptable to pretty much any fruit.

Refreshments were child-sized apples, apple lemonade and of course, apple pie with ice-cream. Games were traditional — bobbing for apples, sack races and tug-of-war.

Curious about Apple Lemonade? Me too. So Nathalie graciously shared her simple recipe:

1 bottle of apple juice
1 bottle of pear juice
1 2L bottle of lemonade
Combine; watch the children and mums alike devour this tasty concoction

Sounds delish!

Red Ruby Rose

Have you seen the gorgeous clutches at Red Ruby Rose? Stunning. Handmade. Many, from fabrics of her own design. That's right: Fabrics. She. Designed. Herself.

One of these is going on my Christmas Wish List.*

*Christmas Wish List? I haven't actually made one since I was a kid, but doesn't it sound like fun?

Election Day

I voted.

Then. To commemorate the event, I called in a voice recording at The Motherhood telling all about my experience at the polls. And then I embedded the message here on Design Mom (click the triangle "play" button to hear what I said):



You can call in and record your voting experience too — right from your cell phone. Go here to try it out. And find simple instructions here. It's so great to hear everyone's voices.

Happy Election Day!

PS — is the patriotic pin-up girl (found here) too sexy? You know how hard I try to keep it G-rated around here. . .

Salt Lake City Meetup

I'm really looking forward to my trip to Utah this weekend for the Startup Princess Retreat. Gwen Bell, one of my kirtsy partners, is coming too. (Yay! Who's more fun to hang out with than Gwen?!!)

The conference is going to be great. And for those of you who can't participate at the actual conference, here's another way to take part: we just heard that some of the super-cool bloggers and twitterers and kirtsy fans in Utah are planning a meetup/tweetup in SLC on Saturday night, November 8th. Sweeeet!

The deets:

Caffe Niche
779 East 300 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84102
7:00 pm on Saturday Night, 11/8/08

I'll be there. Gwen will be there. Hopefully, you'll be there too. Can't wait to meet you.

vintage posters for all 50 states available at AllPosters.com

12 Winners — Delight.com Random Giveaway

Twelve Winners today! And then tonight, we'll all be watching to see who wins the elections. Which means it's winners all over the place today. Win! Win! Win! And now to the winners:

1) Holly wins a lego-esque iPod speaker.

2) Laura Meeks wins a lego-esque iPod speaker.

3) randy and danielle wins a set of Woodgrain File Folders in Birds & Flowers design.

4) em wins a set of Woodgrain File Folders in Birds & Flowers design.

5) amy wins a set of Woodgrain File Folders in Damask pattern

6) Tiffany wins a set of Woodgrain File Folders in Damask pattern

7) bec wins a Chalkboard Candle in Gardenia scent.

8) Are We There Yet? wins a Chalkboard Candle in Persian Fig scent.

9) TJ wins adorable Flashcards in French.

10) Caroline wins adorable Flashcards in Spanish.

11) ConnieC wins a Summer to Snow Scrapbook — by Sukie.

12) bekah wins a Summer to Snow Scrapbook — by Sukie.

Hooray for the big winners! Please email me with your shipping address and I'll put you in touch with the sponsor right away. And a big thank you to Delight.com for sponsoring the Giveaway!

bieq Knits

It is suddenly chilly here.

This is what I am craving: a clean white closet full of bright, knit, hats and scarves and mittens. And I would start by buying out the collection at Bieq. By the way, it's worth a visit to the site just to see the pretty photos.

Halloween Candy

How do you handle Halloween candy? I know every family has their own traditions. At our house, the kids add all their goodies into one big pot and then we eat it as fast as we can. It's usually gone within a couple of days of Halloween. Which I love. Because then I don't have to fight sticky hands and wrappers for an extended period of time.

But this year, we really hit the motherload. The kids came home with way too much candy. Yesterday, we took the colorful ones out their wrappers and sorted them — I think they look so much prettier.

I'm betting everything will be gone by Wednesday.

Welcome November

We spent Saturday hiking in the Catskill Mountains — a most proper way to greet November — and something we don't do often enough. It was beautiful. And could only have been improved by being even closer to our home. You can see lots of photos of our hike (Hi Mom!) on flickr.

I'm really looking forward to this new week in this new month. Plus I'm super psyched(!) to vote tomorrow. (Possibly even more psyched that this relentless election will be over.)

Also, I want to give a ginormous thank you to Mrs. Dub for the excellent job she did Guest Mom-ming last week. Each post was beautiful, but I think everyone who read it, was especially touched by her beautiful post on infant loss. Thank you, Mrs. Dub, for sharing with us.