Handbags by Claire Sanchez

I came upon Claire Sanchez handbags last week. I hope to see them again soon. Ideally in my possession.

What's Your Signature Color?

My super-hot husband Ben sent me a link that I now spend way too much time messing around with: Pick a color. Any color. Etsy will find products to match.

January Giveaway Winners

After receiving a certain amount of emails filled with curiosity about who the Giveaway winners are, I thought it would be fun to post a bio and picture of the month's winners on the last day of the month. We'll kick it off today.

Hopefully this will help the Design Mom community get to know each other better — maybe make a few connections. Plus, it's always nice to get a little shout out. (It's all voluntary of course, If you're a winner and would rather remain relatively anonymous, I promise not to post about you.)

Check out these wonderful women!!:
___________

Winner of 2 Custom Tees from Mode Boutique:


Chantal Thompson
I am a busy mother of 2 adorable and extremely curious little girls ages 2 1/2 and 7 months. I currently live in beautiful Richmond Virginia. I have a B.A. in English and was a Legal/Compliance Trainer for many years. I was able to put my husband through medical school and quit to be a stay-at-home-mom once my first little girl was born and my husband started his residency. Some times I feel like I have 3 kids...my 2 little girls and then my husband who I have to rejuvenate and patch-up when he comes home from his long shifts to send him right back to the intense and high-paced world in the hospital. My hobbies include cooking, decorating, painting, finding great new restaurants, movies, being with friends and family, and of course READING DESIGN MOM!!!


Winner of the $150 giftcard from Sears/Kmart:


Karla Porter
Karla is married and the mother of 3 energetic and lovable children. They all live in TN. Karla is the owner of Fruition Designs, an online boutique specializing in custom handcrafted and contemporary wedding invitations and birth announcements. She is now offering Mommy Cards — business cards for moms — which are becoming wildly popular! When not designing, Karla enjoys reading, quilting and buying scrapbooking items she never gets around to using.


Some of the Handsome Devil Press Card Winners:


Marissa Browning
I'm 27 years old, married and living in Salt Lake City Utah. I majored in Political Science at the University of Utah and currently work as a paralegal in an Intellectual Property Office. I love cooking, playing the piano, traveling (to Australia this March!), running, and home-improvement. In the last year my husband and I have painted the walls in our home, put down ceramic tile, a (real) hardwood floor and a new sprinkling system outside. Before I got married I had never painted a wall and didn't realize that I could alter my environment in such ways. Now, I'm hooked and Home Depot sees me frequently. I'm also taking a calligraphy and salsa dance class at the moment.


Liz Maravilla
I'm a mom of two cute kids: Afton 3.5 and Abel a week shy of 12 months. Married to a funny guy who I rarely see due to his grad school/full time work status. I love to shop, especially if I can find great deals. I love to turn old things into new things. I'm currently in the mood for trying new things: books, recipes, hobbies and outings.


Bille Janette Gniewosz
My name is , I am 25 from Morgan Hill, California. My husband and I currently reside in Hawaii, where he is finishing a BA in history, while I just graduated in December with a BA in cultural anthropology. I really enjoy sewing and cooking, and I am slightly obsessed with perfume. I really appreciate products that are practical, pretty and simple.


Rebecca Bingham (Bek)
I get to mother three very different, bright and stunning children (if I do say so). A part of me wants to save the world: I stay active on the boards of several charities and manage various micro loan projects in Africa. I am passionate about lending my voice and my talents to make life better for those who did not have the privilege of being born in a developed country. I married a man who is my opposite in almost every way, but is eerily similar to my two best friends — I guess I have a type that balances me out. He works from 4:00 am to 7:00 pm and still manages to come home to take over the bedtime rituals for the kids. Two of our children joined our family through adoption. I love cooking and love to read cookbooks. I love to eat and am an amateur photographer. I also love showtunes and Eminem and am obsessed with the color orange.


Kendra Olaveson (Namona)
I was born and raised in Idaho, but I currently live in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, where my husband is attending Chiropractic school. We have three great kids - Zoey (4), Oakley (2), and Cooper (9 months). Oakley has Down Syndrome, so we spend lots of time at therapy appointments and such. All three of them keep me busy and happy (most days). I have an English degree that I use everyday in making sure the 4 year old speaks correctly! :) Just kidding, of course. I'm grateful for an education, even if I don't really "use" it. I love to read, snack, blog, chat, and shop. But my favorite thing ever is finding a good deal. I'm addicted to the thrill of the hunt,
and I like sharing the good deals that I find with others. I'm a faithful Design Mom reader and love the new things I find there each day.
___________

PS — To any of you January winners that aren't featured: send in your photo and bio and I'll add them to this post.

Share the Love Nomination

I was exploring the world wide web today and made a surprising and fantastic discovery: Design Mom blog was nominated for a Share the Love award in the Best Designed Blog Category. I am so honored and so grateful to the kind soul that did the nominating.

You can see the list of categories and nominations here. I love lists and I love good blogs so the previous link is especially good for me.

Voting starts February 1st and ends February 6th. You can find the rules here. I hope it's not too late to nominate my favorite blogs. . .

Wax Paper Hearts

One of the most satisfying Valentine decorations I've ever made. I like to pick a small window pane and just fill it up. Lots of ways kids can help. You can find instructions here.

A Little Lark Tees

High-quality hand-printed tees for toddlers by A Little Lark. Dynamite. I would love to see Oscar in the gnome one. Thanks for the head's up, Christy.

StazOn Stamp Ink

Has anyone tried this StazOn ink? I was just reading about it and wonder how well it works. Apparently it functions as a standard stamp pad, but the ink adheres to pretty much any surface: metal, plastic, glass, ceramic, clay, wood, leather, etc. It comes in 20+ colors.

Maude's birthday is coming up. She's all into decorating and decoupaging little boxes and frames and I'm thinking this might be a good time to start a rubber stamp collection for her — especially if she can use the stamps on surfaces beyond paper.

My Favorite Mirror

I think they're my new cool thing. 100% customizable pocket mirrors from My Favorite Mirror. $6.50 each. You can submit your own design or text. Or. You could take advantage of the Illustrators Series they've put together. My favorites are the nature drawings of Jill Bliss.


And the Lovely Ladies series. Smart gifts.

Amy Butler Book

I saw a review for Amy Butler's book In Stitches. And although I don't actually own any sewing books or follow any patterns, I'm curious to see it in person because I find pictures of her Midwest studio so inspiring. Definitely check out those photos. They will inspire.





In Stitches available from the publisher here.

Fabric Sources

I saw the above image in a magazine advertisement the other day, and because I so predictably love anything showing even a partial spectrum I went immediately to their website and I was not disappointed. You can browse fabric by company, style or designer. Their collection of reproduction 1800's fabrics is excellent. The japanese fabrics are so tempting, you'll buy now and come up with the appropriate project later. They also stock knitting supplies, books, and notions.

Really lovely goods and a smart crafting blog: The Purl Bee.

Seeing Purl Soho reminded me of my sister Jordan's favorite online fabric source: Repro Depot. She's mentioned them multiple times. You can read her Repro Depot posts here.

Any other online fabric sources you know and love?

Thank you to Adriana

What a treat it has been to have Adriana here and speaking to us so smartly. Thank you for the excellent posts and the excellent writing. We're excited to read more from you at What I Made For Dinner.

We hope you'll visit us again soon!

Ask Design Mom: Kid Valentine Exchange

Here's another terrific Ask-Design-Mom question:
Just thought I would throw this question out there and see if you have any fun ideas for homemade Valentine exchange cards for kids. I have three girls 10, 8 and 4. Thanks, Nicole Carpenter

Design Mom answer:
Wonderful question, Nicole! I had such a good time doing a little research for this answer. I went into my old magazine archives and picked out all the Martha February issues. What a treat to reread and remember so many great articles. I'm suddenly feeling all into Valentine's Day.

I found about one bazillion ideas, and a particularly helpful article to answer your question in a 2004 Martha Stewart Kids. I found a link to a shorter version of the text here, but no pics, so I scanned images of the 3 best ideas from the article:


Flower Lollipops. A perfect project for a 4 year old.


Hand-y Valentines. I love the stamp lettering on these.


Dot Hearts

I also found 3 other ideas that might be fun for your older girls:


Sewn Glassine Hearts
I could take or leave the envelopes, but that heart is awesome.


Doily Envelopes from a 1998 Martha
The simplicity of this is smart.

You can also find directions for the Heart Bookmarks here. (From the picture at the top of the post.)
Would be cute clipped to a card, so the recipient could see it was a bookmark and not just a little heart.

Best of luck, Nicole! I think I'm going to try one or two of these ideas with my own kids.

Croque Monsieur — by Guest Mom Adriana Velez

I got my first cooking lesson the week before I left for college. My mother had always fiercely guarded her domain, the kitchen, and didn’t like us mucking it up with our experiments. But she realized that I needed to know something beyond ramen noodles and scrambled eggs, so she taught me how to make a béchamel sauce.

The béchamel sauce, also known as a white sauce, is one of the great “mother,” or fundamental, sauces in western cooking. Once you have the basic sauce you can add any number of seasonings, flavors, or other foods to make all sorts of sauces. Throw in some grated cheese and you have a cheese sauce. You can use the béchamel for a curry sauce or a mustard sauce.

The basic proportions are: 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon flour, 2/3 cup milk (the milk proportion can vary depending on desired thickness). You start by melting the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Add the flour and stir together, cooking the mixture for about a minute. Gradually pour in the milk, mixing well as you go. Raise the heat and stir until the sauce thickens. This usually takes just a couple of minutes. If you need more sauce start out with larger proportions, say, 3 tablespoons of butter, 3 tablespoons of flour, and 2 cups of milk.

You can use béchamel as the base for a soup as well by making a thinner sauce: 1 tablespoon each of butter and flour to a cup and 1/3 (or more) or milk. Add pureed vegetables. If, on the other hand, you want a very thick sauce simply reverse the proportions. Try 3 tablespoons each of butter and flour to 2/3 cup milk. Experiment until you come upon your favorite proportions.

My favorite use for béchamel sauce is as a spread for croque monsieurs. Sounds fancy, but they’re really just grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. I add some salt and a little grated nutmeg to my sauce before starting. Then I heat two skillets.

Generously butter both slices of bread (I like to use a crusty artisanal loaf, but sandwich bread will also work). On the other sides spread the béchamel sauce on one slice and Dijion mustard on the other slice. Layer slices of ham and thinly-sliced gruyere cheese.

Place your assembled sandwich on one skillet butter-side down, then place the other skillet on top and press with a heavy pot. Grill until golden brown, about five minutes on medium heat.

Once I’ve gone through the trouble of making the béchamel sauce I like to cheat a little and serve it with this boxed tomato soup, which we love. When we had the sandwiches the other night I also made a simple salad of baby arugula tossed with freshly-squeezed Meyer lemon juice and olive oil and topped with some candied pumpkin seeds I made back around Thanksgiving.

Why not just use mayonnaise on the sandwich? That would also be good, but you don’t need the added richness of an egg-based sauce (which is what mayonnaise is) with melted cheese and all that butter. Béchamel adds just a little more creaminess, and the nutmeg gives the mellow ham and cheese an extra kick. Add some hot soup and a salad and you have the perfect warm and toasty, super-easy midwinter supper.

Block Print Towels

Another Etsy find. These are hot. Block print kitchen towels by ArtGoodies.

Random Giveaway 10 Winners: Handsome Devil Press Valentine Cards

The 10 winners, who each get to pick the card of their choice from Handsome Devil Press Giveaway, are:

1) aubrey who said... love the you da bomb one! at 10:47 PM on Thursday

2) Namona who said... I think this might be my chance! at 11:08 AM on Wednesday

3) Mirjam who said... very fun and stylish. at 12:17 PM on Wednesday

4) Lizzy who said... the need to hand make cards is becoming unnecessary with the great cards at 4:23 PM on Wednesday

5) mamalang who said... Ohhh....so cute. And my honey is military, so those cards would be great! at 8:36 AM on Wednesday

6) HeatherT who said... Love the cards and much better selection than CVS. at 11:02 AM on Wednesday

7) Marissa who said... I'm so picky with cards, but these look really great and it would be perfect. Pick me:) at 3:49 PM on Wednesday

8) Bille who said... Love it, want em! at 3:23 AM on Thursday.

9) michelle who said... yay! I love Valentine's cards! at 11:17 AM on Wednesday.

10) Bek who said... Oh man!!! I love these.... at 2:11 PM on Wednesday.


Congratulations, you lucky winners! Please email me from the link on my blog with your shipping address.

Thanks to everyone who entered the Giveaway. Thanks to Handsome Devil Press. And thanks for reading. Keep your gingers crossed — more Giveaways ahead.

What's a Design Mom Random Giveaway? Find out here.

The Little Experience

In a conversation with my friend Tania, about good birthday gifts for the 6-year-old-set, she introduced me to an excellent company called The Little Experience.

Basically, they offer simple craft/toy kits that kids can really make or do. The packaging is small and sweet. The price is right — $6 for a little bag. Their website has an excellent free-stuff-to-do section. All in all, I'm impressed.

The company is based in England and you can explore their wares in their online shop, although I don't know if they ship to the US. But no worries: Tania first discovered The Little Experience in the craft-toy-aisle at Target.

Random Giveaway Reminder — Enter Today!

Just a reminder: you have until midnight tonight (Thursday) to enter the Handsome Devil Press Valentine Giveaway.

And remember — there will be 10 winners. Just leave your comment on the original post to enter. Good luck!

kisses, Design Mom

Dangerous, Mysterious, and Lovely — by Guest Mom Adrian Velez

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s something in the air. It’s a restlessness with sleek, simple, modern design. A couple years ago I read a complaint in Vanity Fair about the proliferation of mid-century décor in LA homes. Then Tord Boontje arrived and suddenly everyone wanted his light garlands. And now everywhere you look you see ornamentation, sometimes gothic, sometimes botanical, slinking into well-designed homes.

An antiques article in the New York Times asked the following questions this fall: “Has the fashion for 20th-century decorative arts reached a saturation point, if not yet in the mainstream market then in the collectors’ one that generally leads it? And if mid-century modern is finally reaching its peak, what will collectors turn to next?” (Christopher Mason, September 21, 2006) One dealer suggested Victorian, much to the horror of his colleagues. But as wealthy Baby Boomers tire with the modern and return to the psychedelic aesthetics of their youth what will this mean for the rest of us?

These questions have been occupying my mind ever since, and I’ve been noticing highly-decorative surfaces and objects more and more lately. They were in an exhibit of Viennese crystal and glass at Moss. When it came time for Ian Schrager to renovate his Gramercy Hotel he dispensed with the usual Philippe Starck and hired Julian Schnabel to turn it into a luxe boho palace. And in the boutiques of my neighborhood, flourishes and winding tendrils can be found on everything from pillows, to wall murals, to even nightlights.

America has long loved the plain. Puritains settled New England, Shakers made their mark, and but for the Victorian era and psychedelia of the 60’s ‘tis been the simple life ever since. The aesthetic mirrors America’s straightforwardness, its youth, its position as the world leader in the modern age. Heavy ornamentation, on the other hand, can read as cluttered, sloppy, fussy, ancient, musty and dusty.




Then we spent a week in that water-bourne doily of a town, Venice. And there my head just about exploded. Those lacy palazzos, that fantastic woodwork, the saints, the angels — I was utterly seduced by ornamentation. Because most of it was carefully and exquisitely crafted it looked gorgeous. And because we could trace the region’s history of ornamentation from the Byzantine era to the Renaissance and beyond, it revealed itself to be much more coherent than the decorative surfaces I’ve encountered in the States.

I also realized how unprepared I was to look at highly decorative surfaces intelligently. My Rocky Mountain suburban brain was raised on tract houses, Nagel posters, desert landscapes, and freeway signs; perfect for understanding Donald Judd. But Veronese? I don’t know.

I returned to the States eyeing the new decorative trend warily. Where is it coming from? What are its historical antecedents? If there are any, they are known only to the designers. Your average American does not know enough about the history of decorative arts to distinguish between rococo and art nouveau. We don’t live with it. We don’t know it.

Looking more carefully, though, I realized that maybe rococo and art nouveau were not the point. The influences seem to include Asia, with its yin-yang harmony between the spare and the ornate. For centuries in Japan, for example, intricate botanical images have been painted on the sleek surfaces of porcelain jars. It’s not a question of plain/modern vs. ornamental — there is always a balance between the two.

This is the decorative trend at its best: when it is paired with the sleek and modern shapes many of us still love. If we are disciplined we can allow a few winding vines to invade our homes. Little by little, a garden may grow, and who knows what our homes will look like 20 years from now. I don’t know about you, but I’m eager to be seduced by some something dangerous, mysterious, and lovely.

Book of the Week: A Bargain for Frances

A clever friend (and former Guest Mom here at Design Mom) announced her pregnancy via blog the other day. Her's was one of 4 exciting announcements I read last week — something in the water? Anyway. She's having a girl and considering some lovely names, one of which is Frances. I love the name Frances! So in honor of this wonderful name, today I'm featuring the wonderful book: A Bargain for Frances, by Russell Hoban. Illustrated by Lillian Hoban.

I'm just going to copy the summary right from the publisher: Frances and Thelma are best friends� most of the time. When Frances goes to Thelma's house for a tea party, Mother says, "Be careful. When you play with Thelma you always get the worst of it." But Frances isn't careful and her good friend Thelma sells her an old plastic tea set, when Frances really wants a new china one with pretty blue pictures. Worst of all, there are no backsies! But with some clever thinking, Frances ends up getting the best of a bad bargain.

This book was my first introduction to Frances, but my sister-in-law Erin has more extensive Frances experience and assures me every story is worthwhile. What I really like about this book is that it deals with one of life's harsh realities — friends that are sometimes jerks — in such a graceful, no nonsense way. Maybe it's because of the era in which it was written, but there's something not quite politically correct about it. No one explains away the bad behavior of the friend with a description about her upbringing.

Originally published I'm not sure when, this book was reissued in large format last March. You can currently get the large-format, hardcover reprint from Barnes and Noble for the bargain basement price of $5. What luck that I'm featuring it today and it's on sale! We have this version and we love it.

Random Giveaway: Handsome Devil Press Valentine's

Hooray for a Wednesday Giveaway! And it's a little different today. Well, lots different. Because there will be 10 WINNERS! Leave a comment today or tomorrow and you'll be entered to win A VALENTINE CARD OF YOUR CHOICE FROM HANDSOME DEVIL PRESS. You read correctly: there will be 10 winners. And each winner gets to pick their own card. That ups your chances significantly, so keep those fingers crossed.

I love this whole idea. You can go to Handsome Devil Press today and pick the perfect Valentine for your sweetheart — then you'll be all ready to go well before the big day gets here. And remember, at HDP it's always free shipping in the continental U.S.

Take a peek at a few of these cards:






Handsome Devil Press has got it going on. Fresh color schemes. Smart text. Bold typography. Free shipping. I highly recommend placing your order right away, because this is so much better than braving the mall to browse the not-as-cool-card-selection at Hallmark while trying to keep the kiddies from destroying the store's Precious Moments figurines. Also, I hear the camo designs are 100% Dude Approved.

Bonus full disclosure: Lucky you. You can actually pick any card you want, Valentine or otherwise (birthday, thank you, everyday) — but I'm especially feeling the Valentine selection.

Thank you, Handsome Devil Press!!

-------------

Random Giveaway Guidelines:
-You have until midnight EST on Thursday, January 25th to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment ON THIS POST to enter — any comment.
-Anonymous comments will be ignored/removed.
-One entry per person, please.
-Winner will be randomly picked and announced Friday morning.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Playing with Magnets — by Guest Mom Adriana Velez

We spent Christmas with a friend who lives in France just outside of Geneva. One of the highlights of this visit was cooking in her newly remodeled kitchen. In fact, I feel the need to coin a new term in response to this dream kitchen: she Mieled it, from the dishwasher to the ovens.

Miele is a German manufacturer of high-end appliances, and my favorite of their appliances is their induction cooktop. Induction works by creating a magnetic force that causes the pan to heat without the hob itself becoming hot. In other words, the pan becomes its own heat source. Induction cooktops are safer than electric or gas cooktops, more energy efficient (up to 70% more), and are easy to clean. Even better, they’re just as fast and versatile as gas stoves.

I’ll take one! But wait, Miele induction hobs are not currently available in the US. Also they’re just a wee bit out of our price range. I am undaunted, however. The cooktops should be available this spring and we will be able to afford one. . . someday.

For those of you who are ready now, Viking makes induction hobs as well.

Jewelry Designer Tina Rice

After reading Tina Rice's wise advice in the comments of this jewelry post, I checked out her Etsy shop and now I have to share. Because I am digging her earrings.

The top pair are my favorite — and they're very reasonably priced at $18.

Scheduling Holidays

If I could pick, all major holidays that my family celebrates would fall on the last weekend of the holiday's regularly scheduled month. I have issues with Holidays that don't fall near the end of the month. I need several weeks to think about and prepare for any upcoming holiday in a way that satisfies me — and those weeks have to exist in the same month as the holiday.
For example, I find it's really hard for me to think about Valentine's Day until February. But because I wait until then, I end up celebrating in a really low-key way. Two weeks is not enough time to make putting up decorations worthwhile.

And July 4th? I mean come on. That leaves me 3 days to realize it's July, make BBQ plans, deck the halls in red, white and blue, figure out where to watch the fireworks, and get my hands on some sparklers for the kids. Not gonna happen. And it's a shame. Because I really like Independence Day.

Easter, of course is the worst, because it can't even manage to commit to a specific month.

Just some thoughts I'm throwing out there to the Calendar Making Gods. I received a Valentine's Day related question last week and it threw me off. (Valentine's Day? It's only January. . .) But I'm getting in gear. This blog is really good for me. I've even got a Valentine's related post coming later today — and it's only January 24th!

pic from Sur la Table

New RSS Feed

Here's the new feed for the new address:
http://www.designmom.com/index.xml

thanks, Josh

Moda Home

I like what I see coming out of Moda Home. Lots of vintage reproduction tablecloths. Fresh aprons. Would love a stack of the polka-dot plates.

They wholesale. But you can find a list of retailers here.

Fishs Eddy — by Guest Mom Adriana Velez

According to the shelves at Target I should be feeding my son with plastic: plastic plates, plastic bowls, plastic sippy cups, plastic cutlery. I can see why — the kid throws and drops things all the time. We don’t want him anywhere near china or crystal.

But plastic has all those toxins. You can’t microwave it. It always seems to come in garish colors. And I just don’t like the aesthetics of eating with plastic.

Psst, come over here with me to Fishs Eddy.



Fishs Eddy saved us. They carry diner china in all shapes and sizes. We found these great little plates perfect for Jasper-sized meals as well as morning toast and fresh-baked cookies. They’re microwaveable and harder to break. Even if he does break one, who cares? They were cheap.

We also picked up these cocktail forks and demitasse spoons at Fishs Eddy. I don’t recommend them for babies and he’ll outgrow them in a year or two, but they’re perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

If you don't live near a Fishs Eddy look for diner china at your local restaurant supply store or at tag sales. Now if only we could find an alternative for sippy cups. And if only Jasper would stop breaking my heart by saying “Mommy, I like eating with plastic!”

Global Bazaar

So I spent an hour wandering through Target the other day. It had been awhile since I had done this — the wandering, not the going to Target — but I loved it and wish I did it more often. I spent most of my time in the Global Bazaar where I think I touched 90% of everything on display. These were my favorites:


Capiz Shell Modern Lamp
Worth seeing in real life.


Reverse Painted Glass
There were several items in this series — boxes, trays, coasters. All were sort-of mirrored and lovely.


Square Glass Plate Set


Small Black Woven Box
Very tiny and just perfect for setting somewhere.

Target is probably my favorite destination for kid-friendly window-shopping — the perfect place to find cheery colors on a bleak January day. I would have lingered longer, but fruit snacks and string cheese will only keep Oscar and Betty occupied for a certain amount of time.

What I Made For Dinner

Lovely Readers, Adriana Velez, who is our Guest Mom this week, has just relaunched her blog with a new, smart, weekly format. I especially love the post on the Women's Bean Project. The new format is not to be missed. Congratulations, Adriana!

Maude's Shoes

Maude's Pumas from the beginning of the school year were really thrashed, so we went shopping over the Christmas break for some new sneaks. Maude said she was in the mood for a no-tie version. And happy day, look what we found at Payless:


Camo Mary Jane's with Velcro closures


Graffitti slip-ons by Airwalk.

Nice work, Payless. Way to champion design-for-all.

My Favorite Kitchen Things — by Guest Mom Adriana Velez

First I just want to say how thrilled I am to be guest blogging on Design Mom. I have ZERO design experience but a growing interest. Design Mom has been one of my favorite classrooms — how fabulous, then, to appear on her pages!

Since my expertise is in cooking rather than design I’m going to start the week off in the kitchen. Perhaps you’ve seen Oprah’s “My Favorite Things” episodes around the holidays; this is my version. These are My Favorite Kitchen Things. Regrettably, the audience will not be going home with these items. But they’re cheap and easy to find!


Citrus squeezer. This squeezes lemons and limes with ease; juice gushes out while seeds stay in.


Bonne Maman jam jars. We reuse these jars for everything. We drink juice from them, collect grease in them, store food in them (microwavable, unlike your plastic storage containers). Salad dressing is a snap: just add your ingredients, close the lid tightly, shake vigorously, and pour. The jam isn’t bad, either.


Box grater. I’ve tried just about every cheese grater out there and this is my favorite. The cut edges enable you to work with gravity. Meanwhile, the box holds all the grated cheese in. Unless you have room for an electric grater (and I don’t), there is simply no substitute for the box grater.


Little scrubby friend. One of my Swiss friends gave me this for Christmas. It’s for scrubbing veggies, but I use it for scrubbing dishes. He’s just adorable, isn’t he? When I’m not using this fellow I’m using another great dishwashing tool, the flat scraper (Pampered Chef). And I feel like the most glamorous lunch lady ever with my pink dishwashing gloves.


Cast iron pot with skillet lid. I love my All-Clad and Le Cruset, but this old lady really delivers. The pot is deep enough for chili, roasts, and even baking bread. The lid doubles as a skillet, perfect for scrambled eggs.


Mr. Happy cold/heat pack. This isn’t exactly a kitchen item, but it does live in our refrigerator. These little guys help soothe the many boo boos an active, boundary-pushing kid collects throughout the day. You can heat it in hot water as well.


Danby countertop dishwasher. This will give you an idea of how small our apartment is. It hooks up to the sink. I can’t imagine life without it.

Say Hello to Adriana!

How delightful to welcome Adriana Velez as a Guest Mom this week. Adriana is another blogging friend I've never actually met — but all signs (and some mutual friends) point to the fact that she is quite a lovely person and makes extra-wonderful enchiladas.

Adriana lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Lane Twitchell and three-year-old son, Jasper. She spent several years as an editor in educational publishing but her longtime dream was to be a food writer… and a mom. She is currently living both dreams, more or less, home full time with her son and blogging about food at What I Made for Dinner. Adriana is a self-taught cook who has never been to cooking school or worked at a restaurant. Nevertheless she has not, to date, poisoned her family and is rumored to be a pretty decent cook despite her inability to follow a recipe exactly.

We're glad you're here, Adriana!

Cariboo Bassinet Custom Inserts

Two Design Mom readers sent in links to companies that make good-looking custom inserts for the Cariboo Bassinets I featured yesterday. See BabyStar for something a little mod and graphic. See Petunia Pickle Bottom if you favor a more traditional, understated style.

Book of the Week: Little Bear

Last night we were reading Little Bear, by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. This is a well-known book series and will probably not be new to many of you. But if you don't have tis in your child's library, make an excuse to add it.

Little Bear has a very simple life. He lives with Mother Bear and Father Bear. He visits Grandfather Bear and Grandmother Bear. He has several Animal Friends, like Duck and Cat and Owl. He has small adventures. The whole thing is pretty straightforward, but there are 3 things that I think put this series in my top 10 favorites:

1) Every story and every word that is spoken to Little Bear comes from an atmosphere of total love and acceptance. As a mother, I find I study the books — using them as models of more patient parenting.
2) The black and white drawings, by Maurice Sendak, are perfect. Someone told me that beyond the books Sendak did, there are more stories in the Little Bear series by the same author, but with different illustrations. I haven't seen them. It's hard to imagine improving on Sendak's drawings in any way.
3) Minarik's writing is a work of art. The stories are engaging enough to read to kids from 2 to 6, but are actually written as books for beginning readers, so the language is simple and children can read the book themselves as they get older. I read these stories over and over and never tire of them.

From what I understand there are 5 original Little Bear books, each containing 4 stories. You can also find compiliations of several books under one cover. I should note: in addition to the books, there is a well-done TV series featuring the Little Bear stories and based on Sendak's illustrations. I love it. In the same way I study the books, I use the way Mother Bear speaks as an example of how my voice could (and should) be more gentle with my own kids.

Here is one source on Little Bear.

Another Amazing Brush Tool

For all you lovely Photoshop users:

New (free) brush tools from Designfruit, called Japanese Foliage™. My favorite so far.

Thanks for the tip, Laurie!

Binth Baby Book

For any of you with a rich uncle that likes to send extravagant gifts, drop a hint about this amazing baby book.

Instant heirloom. Limited edition. Truly stunning. The whole thing is screen printed and built by hand. Takes you from birth through age 3.

Best baby book ever. From the talented hands at Binth. I am deeply in love. Think of someone really wonderful to give this to.

Ikea Hacker

When I was examining the bassinets I featured below — thinking about how I would probably end up dying the fabric or possibly having a seamstress replace the white with a patterned fabric — I remembered that I hadn't posted on Ikea Hacker yet.

Ikea Hacker is a super cool blog that collects images and ideas from anyone who has ever altered and customized their Ikea furniture. Some of the ideas are really, really smart.


My all-time favorite hack (and I'm not the only one) is these room dividers.


Very lovely cupboards turned sideboard.


Really grand bookshelves.

Perfect Bassinets

I'm loving, loving these bassinets from Cariboo. So simple and elegant, they have a small footprint and are collapsible (read: easy to store). The one with ties even rocks and you can elevate baby's head when she has a cold by adjusting the ties. I'm very impressed. The veil option is so simple but makes the bassinet feel so super special.

Made from sustainable wood in mahogany or teak finish. For a list of retailers see here.

Boxed Sets of Labels

I desperately need to organize my office and I think labels like these would come in handy in the process of putting things in their place. But mostly I just want an excuse to buy a box.

Oh, they are pretty. And lovely. Which box would I pick first?

Find them at See Jane Work.

Apartment Tour

I was just remembering a great photo tour of a San Francisco apartment that I had seen through a post on Jordan's blog. (BTW: Happy Birthday Jordan.)

The direct link to the tour is here.

It's a great apartment. And it reminds me that there are several people I should encourage to send in photos of their own homes, so the rest of us can get inspired.

Who do you know that has a home that inspires?

Internet 101

It just came to my attention that all Design Mom readers don't necessarily have brothers like mine. Brothers that keep me in the know and tell me all about the new and cool sites available to make my internet time extra-super-productive.

Here are some of my favorites — and I should mention, these are all absolutely free:



1) del.icio.us
Sign up at del.icio.us and you'll get instructions on how to add their bookmarking buttons to your web browser (I use Firefox). When you see any webpage you like you'll hit your tag button. A window will come up where you can add a note about why you're tagging the page. For example, I might find some new baby shoes I want to blog about. So I'll tag the page and write a note — something like: cool baby shoes to blog about, I especially like the pirate ones.

Whenever you like you can hit your del.icio.us page (the icon with the black and blue squares) and every page you've tagged will come up. You can search your del.icio.us page with standard search functions or organize it by key words.

I use del.icio.us every single day.


2) Stumble Upon
Stumble Upon also adds some icons to your web brower navigation bar. And the whole concept is genius. Bascially,it helps you discover new sites that you'll love. When you sign up, Stumble Upon asks you to indicate your interests and hobbies, then when you're bored and looking for something new and cool on the web you'll hit the Stumble icon. Using your interests as direction, Stumble Upon will introduce you to pages you might like. You can then hit thumbs up or thumbs down icons, and Stumble Upon will be better able to narrow down to just the pages you'll like best.

I can always find something interesting using Stumble Upon.


3) Digg
I don't actually use this much, but my husband does and my brothers use it religiously. Digg is geared to a male techie audience, but the idea behind it is incredible. If you've heard of web 2.0, Digg is a good example. There is no single "author" behind it. Anyone can add to the content. At Digg, users sign-up (for free of course) and can then post a link and description of anything on the web they find interesting. Other users can then "Digg" the post (sort of like voting for it).

If the item gets enough Diggs then it will be moved to the front page. This ensures there is always new and really good content on the front page. You can also post comments on an item, like you do on a blog. The picture shows a Digg entry with 119 "Diggs" and 11 comments. (I'm looking into doing something like this but for a Design Mom kind of audience — but more on that later.)

If there was a Digg featuring topics I'm interested in, I would go there first when I sat down at the computer.

4) StatCounter or Tracksy.
For you bloggers, if you're not using some sort of tracking software you might want to give it a try. There are several available. I use StatCounter and Tracksy. They help you see all kinds of things about your readers: how often they come, how long they stay, which part of the world they live in, if they're using a mac or pc, if they found your blog through another site. All kinds of things.

When you sign up, they will give you directions on how to add a line of html to your template, and the tracking starts immediately. It might sound intimidating to add the html, but it's actually very easy.

I love checking in to see how many visitors I've had that day or to see how the readership is growing.

Please enjoy these suggestions and let me know what you use to make the internet a little smaller.

top pic via getty images

Candy Wrapper Handbags

I've been seeing recycled candy wrapper goods and recycled juice pouch goods all over the place, but I think these are my favorite. Every one is one of a kind and apparently, every time you buy one, the company plants a tree. Nice.

You can find them at Unica Home.

Ask Design Mom: Orbit Baby

Hi Gabrielle, I’m 14 weeks pregnant with my first child and am overwhelmed with all the baby stuff to choose from. I’m also married to a product designer who’s very concerned that our stroller, car seat, etc. look as cool as they function. He discovered a new product called Orbit Baby that is a stroller/car seat in one. We live and work in San Francisco so having a very mobile system is a big deal for us (we also love to travel). I’ll be taking the baby on public buses, metro/subway, taxis, airplanes, etc. on a pretty regular basis in its first year. We also own a car so a car seat is important too. Anyway, if you could take a look at the website and product and give me an honest review, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks so much! Michelle Aller

Design Mom Answer:
Congrats on your pregnancy, Michelle! And thank you for introducing me to Orbit Baby. I checked it out online and am very curious to see one in person. I admit I was very skeptical going in. Another stroller? But after I watched the demo movie I was changing my tune and could easily see how your product designer husband was impressed.

Things I like:
-Rotatable seat while on the stroller
-You can dock from any angle before you turn the seat rear-facing in a vehicle. Putting the car seat into the car narrow side first makes good sense and a much less awkward entry.
-The soft carry handle sounds interesting. I'm curious to see if it really is more comfortable, because infant carseat/carriers are notoriously awkward to carry.
-Of course it needs to be one-hand manuverable, lightweight, and easily collapsible — especially in the city — and it seems to be.
-I like that the fabric is removable for washing without undoing the seatbelt straps. You will need this.
-I like the extendable handles on the stroller.
-I like the removable cargo pod. I wonder if it's convenient enough to use as the diaper bag — simplifying your gear a bit. Or maybe it's one of those nice option that you'll never make use of.
-I like that the car seat and base accommodate future seats as your child grows.
-I like the built in stretchy enclosure.
-I like the turn-handle installation.

Things I'm wondering about:
-Carseat/carriers are traditionally replaced when the baby is about a year and can now face forward in the car. Then parents usually transition into a more substantial carseat that remains in the car and a stand-alone stroller. That first year there can be a lot of random napping and it's nice to be able to move the baby from stroller to house or stroller to car without removing them from their seat and waking them up — thus the carrier option. But this is less important after the baby's first birthday. And although the base and stroller accomodate future seats for bigger babies, I personally wouldn't take advantage of it, I would prefer a stationary car seat and a seperate stroller. Which means this would be a one-year use product for me. And that's a lot of money for something I'm going to use for one year.
-Between 6 and 12 months, many babies would prefer to be sitting up while in a stroller so they can see better and easily reach a food tray or sippy cup. This system offers no option for this. (This of course isn't an option while in a car until they reach certain age and weight requirements.)
-I'm not sure how I feel about tires that require air and a pump. This is true of our jogger stroller — but we only use it close to home. If I was in the middle of errands and the wheels need air, I'd be irritated.
-If you go with the Orbit, don't get the added bassinet. It will only be usuable for a couple of months and it defeats the purpose of being able to go from stroller to car or vice versa without disturbing the baby.

Overall it seems like an awesome, well-thought out product. It's just so darn hard to guess what kind of system will work best for you until you're in the middle of using it. This doesn't seem to get easier: if you add more kids down the line, you have to discover each time what works for you again. My husband and I loved having an all-in-one system for our first baby and we used it like crazy. But it was pretty much useless after that first year.

One last thing: well-used baby equipment doesn't look good forever. It's nice to replace shabby looking products as the baby grows. I don't think of baby equipment as long-term investments. Most baby products will only be used for a few months or a year. Babies aren't babies for long.

I hope that helps. I'm also hoping some of my readers have seen or used this product and can give you a response. Best of luck! And we'd love to hear your final decision.

Thank you Laurie!

It has been really wonderful to have Laurie Smithwick here over the last week. Her posts were fantastic. She's clearly smart and clever and funny and has great taste. I hope she'll be back again soon.

When you're homesick for Laurie, remember you can find her blogging at Upside Up. Or even hire her at Leap Design.

Thank you, Laurie!!!

Mahar Dry Goods — by Guest Mom Laurie Smithwick

Mahar Dry Goods is one of those one-of-a-kind shops that only sells things that make you go green with envy. Lots of the gorgeously hand-sewn/crocheted/felted toys I referenced in my last post, vintage toys and other ephemera (but not the ones you've ever seen before), and, in general, lots of things I have no choice but to call precious. All of it.

Here are some samples, but they are not enough to give you the full scope of MHD wonderfulness. You just have to go see for yourself.


Big Black Boots - Baby Booties

Everyone who grew up in the 80s, raise your hands!


Lilly Bean Play Food - Bento Box

Felt play sushi? In a wooden bento box? Yes please.


The Toy Box - A Twink Mini CD Set

From Northeast Performer Magazine:
"Picture your stuffed animal collection at a late-night rave in an enchanted forest...Twink is the music they are dancing to."

Plinky, twinky toy piano music created by an illustrator/designer named Mike. Beautiful packaging, swell music. Again, yes please.

Letterpress Resumé

My fab sister Jordan just finished her resumé — she printed it on a letterpress. It turned out really wonderfully. I would hire her in a minute. The best part is, she's going for corporate positions, not design-based positions. I'm sure her resumé will stand out beautifully.

You can check it out here.

Random Giveaway Winner: $150 Giftcard to Sears/Kmart

The winner of five $30 giftcards to Sears/Kmart is:

{Karla} who commented: "where would I even begin... blessings, Karla" at 3:11 pm on Thursday.
{Karla}, please email me from the link of my blog with your shipping address.

Thanks to everyone who entered the Giveaway. Thanks to Ready Set Holiday. And thanks for reading. Keep your fingers crossed — more Giveaways ahead.

What's a Design Mom Random Giveaway? Find out here.

Happy Birthday to Martin Luther King, Jr.

No work today. No school today. We are remembering the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

You can read a mini biography about him at nobelprize.org.

Ask Design Mom: Housewarming Party

Hey DM Friends, I just received an email from JaredandColleen and I need your best ideas:

We just moved and I want to throw a housewarming party that is simple and that I can invite a large number of people to. I would like to provide simple foods, have some kind of theme, figure out a cute invite, and make it memorable and fun. Any insight you might have would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Design Mom answer:

First of all, Congratulations on the new digs! I've got a few ideas for your party, maybe just seeds of ideas, but hopefully they can get the conversation going. The first theme-ish thought that comes to mind is something along the lines of Real Estate.

Maybe a sign outside that looks like a For Sale sign or Open House sign but has more of a welcome-to-the-housewarming-party message. The invitation could look like one of those flyers that hang in the bins on the actual real estate signs. Maybe give out good looking or interesting or funny key chains as a party favor — as in for new house keys. Key lime pie?

Other ideas to think about:
-Definitely have a beautiful Guest Book. Use it at the party, but then keep it around for future events and houseguests. The gorgeous ones pictured above are by Kolo.
-Everyone will want a house tour. Since you're thinking of lots of guests and may be busy hostessing, you could provide a do-it-yourself tour — a pretty card for each guest that includes the house plan and helpful or interesting notes about the rooms or the architecture.
-If you've done lots of home improvements to your new place, showcasing before and after shots would be awesome. You could have before and after photos in each room. Or maybe a corkboard collage with photos and fabrics swatches and paint samples and inspiration photos you've collected from magazines.
-Put home related coffee table books in key spots. Books about remodeling or decorating. Or books about the town you just moved to.
-A mini-size measuring tape (think handbag size) would be another good favor. Homeowners have to measure as they shop. Will this couch fit? Are these window shades long enough?
-Invites could have a blueprint feel, or be made with scans of actual blueprints in the background.
-I haven't completely formed the idea yet but something with cardboard boxes and packing tape. . .

That's a start. I hope the comments overflow with ideas.

Giveaway Reminder — Enter Before Midnight

Hey me hearties. Don't fret. You have TWO DAYS to enter a Design Mom Random Giveaway. Yesterday (Thursday) was day one. So, you have until midnight tonight (Friday) to enter the $150 Giftcard to Sears/Kmart Giveaway.

Good luck!

kisses, Design Mom

Britax, Redux — by Guest Mom Laurie Smithwick

My kids have recently outgrown their Britax Roundabout car seats, and I was perusing eBay the other day to see what the going rate was for used seats. Lo and behold, I came across this gem on eBay (it's a regular auction but it restarts itself each time it ends).

You send this woman (code name: stumblecurls) material of your choosing and she'll make seat covers for your Britax Roundabouts. I was so excited about it that I emailed her just to tell her how amazing I thought they were. I told her she should create an Etsy store!


Pink and black and lime pizzazz! With a ruffle!


Chenille! With pink and green bloopy circles!

It's not just the custom covers, it's the fact that YOU get to pick the fabric(s), that's what would appeal to me. Although I have to say, I think her samples are wonderful. A bit of digging revealed others doing this same sort of thing, but hers were far and away the best samples. One of the eBay pages started playing Stevie Wonder, "I Just Called to Say I Love You." And while it is nice to be loved on eBay, thanks, but Stumblecurls wins.

I brokered something of this nature a couple of years ago. We have a 4-ft-square glass square dining room table that I couldn't find tablecloths for. Even my mother searched and was unable to find any. So my good friend Jennifer (who is a whiz with a sewing machine. I am not.) went with me to the fabric store and we picked out fabrics for tablecloths. Two weeks later we had two tablecloths that not only fit, but which I had designed myself. All for the price of the fabric and telling Jennifer how much I love her.


It doesn't look as cute in the picture thanks to my cold flash, but it's covered with little fingertip-size orange flowers outlined in white, against a burgundy background. With a pale sage-y colored trim.

Crafty people are doing amazing things with fabric these days. All those wonky stuffed animals/monsters that are so popular, pillows, diaper bags, Britax seat covers. If you sew, what do you daydream about making for yourself? Or, if you don't sew, what would you want to have customized if Stumblecurls was your friend?

Retro Meets Modern

Loving the P*Phone by Hulger. In black, pink, white or red. So clever. Plus I giggle when I see it.

Colobockle — by Guest Mom Laurie Smithwick

Back when I was compiling material for my Design Mom gig, I came upon this wonderful site, Colobockle full of playful illustrations that I hope will make you smile. As the week draws to a close, I wanted to make sure I got to share it with you, in case I don't find another reason to write about it.

These images are all from the illustration section, but please explore. It's all delightful.

Random Giveaway — $150 Gift Card to Sears/Kmart

It's Giveaway time. Leave a comment today or tomorrow and you'll be entered to win FIVE $30 GIFTCARDS FROM SEARS/KMART sponsored by READY SET HOLIDAY. That's right, $150 to be used as you please, online or in the stores.

$150? That would have nicely covered the Land's End Parka and snow pants I picked up for Maude from Sears. Or a set of Emeco knockoff chairs you can find at Big K. Or maybe a leaf blower from the trusty Sears appliance department. Or be a kind soul and use a card for you and 4 other friends to pick up a little something from Martha's Everyday Collection.


Teapot Clock from Martha Stewart Everyday.


Girls Squall Parka from Land's End.

But while you're considering how and where to spend the $150, check out the Ready Set Holiday site that Kmart and Sears and Land's End teamed up to build before it goes into hibernation. Check out the mom-to-mom section where you can find and share ideas and the Get Prepared section that will keep you organized. Can I say I so appreciate anything that simplifies my online shopping? Ready Set Holiday goes offline in a few days, but will be back in the fall — stocked full of everything holiday delightful.

I love a little retail therapy to lift the January blahs. Spread the love. I'm sure you've got a friend that could put these giftcards to good use.

Thank you, Ready Set Holiday!!

-------------

Random Giveaway Guidelines:
-You have until midnight EST on Friday, January 12th to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment on this post to enter — any comment.
-Anonymous comments will be ignored/removed.
-One entry per person, please.
-Winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday morning.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

The Huddled Masses — by Guest Mom Laurie Smithwick

(photo from pottery barn)

When I was growing up, the stairway at my parents' house was lined with pictures. Generations of photos, framed and fit together in a jigsaw family tree. The photos didn't change, but the collage was occasionally added to over the years. Crowds of cousins all grown up; wedding photos, first my brother's, then mine; and now portraits of my parents' grandchildren looking suspiciously like photos that are already hanging.

I'm going to jump on ahead and tell you that I believe my family's photo wall is directly responsible for my love of masses of pictures. I've been at it since I was a kid. It started with bulletin boards, layered photo essays of Laurie, age 9, age 14, age 18. In high school, my car's rear end was diapered in bumper stickers and the inside ceiling upholstery was a polka-dotted array of buttons. In college, it was posters, which I tended to assemble edge-to-edge, until the room was wallpapered, including the ceiling. Often the posters turned the corners of the room. In my first New York apartment, I translated my postcard collection into a ring around my room. In later homes, the postcards were grouped into themes and hung in clusters, hands on a door, pulp fiction in the kitchen, chinese flash cards in the office.

We have recently moved into a new house and my husband and I seem to have an unspoken agreement that we're starting from scratch here, which is exciting. All our old wall art is being scrutinized for relevance, interest and other unspoken criteria. In our dining area we have a very very big wall (about 15' wide by 10' high) that I was concerned about. Where would we find something so very large that I also liked? Enter Sister Mary Corita. I inherited from my parents a set of prints of a serigraph series of hers called "Damn Everything But The Circus," which is all the letters of the alphabet, plus the title, silkscreened on individual 11" squares with quotes, photos, vintage labels, collages arranged artfully. A quick trip to Michael's uncovered scrapbooking frames — 12" squares in black frames, with glass. I mounted the prints on black scrapbooking paper, framed them and turned the job over to my helpful husband and his handy dandy laser level.




I love it so much. Maybe more than anything I've ever hung on any of my walls. We were thrilled to have it up in time for our annual New Year's Day party and we got some very nice comments on it.

Another thing I'm excited about in our new house is my postcard rack. A friend sent it to us a few years ago as a "thanks for letting me stay at your house" gift, but then Zoe and Lucy were born and it stayed in the attic, unused, despite my now rather substantial postcard collection. This Christmas, we pulled it out to display our holiday cards. And the other day, I sat down with my postcards and swapped them out. It's a fun display since it really IS a postcard rack. And I've already established how I love the way lots of postcards look together.



And the best part? If you're sitting in the living room, you can see the postcards AND the alphabet wall.

Don't you just love the way lots of things look when they're all grouped together?

Pretty Sink Drains

My sister Jordan posted about these sink drains and I can't stop thinking about them.

Channeling Mary Poppins

Ben is really good at keeping the kids from getting bored. Over the past few rainy days, he's had Ralph and Maude do their best to replace the sounds in supercalafragilisticexpialidocious, with real words that have similar sounds. They love the idea and have kind of become obsessed. Here I present their best efforts:

Supper-camel-friend-elastic-expert-Alan-doe-thus

Psycho-caved in-fragile-lipstick-extend-Alan-ocean

Superb-caramel-friend-delicious-ex-out-Amy-throw-mush

Go ahead. Give it a try.

This Just In. . .

I was just checking some of my favorite blogs and discovered lovely stuff from Darlybird being given away at Blog con Queso.

You know you can't pass up Darlybird.

Plus, you'll get the added treat of getting to laugh your pants off when you read anything Girl con Queso has ever posted. She's an excellent writer and super, super funny.

Congratulations on 6 months, GcQ!!!

Hammock for Baby

This picture is beautiful. And I like the idea of a hanging crib. I think I would like it even more without the tripod — just a simple bassinet hanging in the corner near a window. (Except that my older kids would treat it as a swing.) This crib available at La Redoute.

via style hive

Mr. Gumpy's Outing — by Guest Mom Laurie Smithwick

Back when I was first falling in love with Design Mom, I got all starry eyed over her showcasing wonderfully illustrated children's books. I do so appreciate a beautiful picture book, and I daydream about lounging around her fabulous home sipping tea with her while we lovingly thumb through her collection of Caldecott Medal winners.

So while I've got your attention, I'm going to share with you my absolute favorite picture book. Mr. Gumpy's Outing, by John Burningham.



It is a quiet, sweet, rhythmic book about a man who owned a boat and his house was by a river. The illustrations alternate between delicate pen-and-ink drawings so scratchy you can almost hear the etching, and lush, layered, color vignettes so evocative I sometimes get teary-eyed looking at them.




One of my fantasies is to hire an artist to reproduce all of the animal pieces on the walls of a nursery. Some watercolors, some pastels, some color ink. Each one more poignant than the next. And I would just sit in the lamplit room and cry and cry and cry with joy. Sigh.



First published in 1971, Mr. Gumpy's Outing won the Kate Greenaway medal, which is the United Kingdom's award for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. Essentially, the UK's Caldecott. And alongside the illustrations the story is just as precious. It has a no-nonsense gentleness I readily associate with the UK.

"May I come, please, Mr. Gumpy?" said the pig.
"Very well, but don't muck about."

And it conveys its lesson with humor and not one trace of irritation. We can all learn something from kind, patient Mr. Gumpy. Especially as parents. If he can maintain his good humor in a small boat full of kids and animals, surely I can make it through dinner tonight!

Give yourself and your kids a treat this week and go find this book. If you want to own it, try your local independent bookseller, or, of course, you can buy it here.

Carrot Soup

Have you received your autographed, hand-colored bookplate from John Segal yet?

Mine came in a copy of Carrot Soup. Just in time to put under the Christmas tree. Both book and bookplate are beautiful. And now Carrot Soup happens to be 2-year-old Oscar's latest and greatest favorite book.

Mr. Segal included one of his award-winning Christmas cards designed for MOMA. Also very, very cool.

It was a fun package to open. Ralph couldn't believe it was signed by the actual author/illustrator. He was very impressed.

Westchester Parent Article

Remember the article about Design Mom Blog I mentioned here?

Well, I just got my copy of Westchester Parent in the mail — and how fun to read about this blog in print. Thanks to Blair Briody for writing the wonderful article and thanks again to Travis Stratford at studioCase for providing the photography.

You can find the article online here.

Nice — by Guest Mom Laurie Smithwick

In the design world, we have co-opted a wonderfully bland word: "Nice."

In the real world, it is milquetoast. Nondescript, inoffensive, and somewhat of a backhanded compliment. In the design world, it's a very technical, somewhat undefinable, yet very specific term. And it has terrific nuance. Saying the word with a drawn out emphasis on the "n" means something utterly different from the word said with a short sharp deepness. Adding "oh, that's" to the front of it means another thing altogether. I used to share an office with a wonderful designer who has an amazing eye for good design. I don't think I've ever heard her use another word in describing the work she loves best. Understand, she has a full art-school background, and she's on the board of the NY AIGA, so she knows how to talk the talk. But if you really want to pulse her for the good work? Listen out for her "nice." Then you know you've hit the ball out of the proverbial park.

What I've found, also, is that "nice" follows the trends. Back in the day, for example, when websites first started being animated, the technical whizzbangery of motion graphics was "nice." A few years later we found ourselves clucking over the resurgence of letterpress as we lovingly grazed our fingertips over so many note cards and posters. Today, there's a beautiful design element being used across design borders -- websites, music packaging, textiles, art. We're still in the middle of it, and although "nice" is still the best word to describe it, "lovely" is the other that springs to mind.

It's the nature silhouette.

I know you've seen them everywhere. Birds silhouetted on branches, on tshirts. Flowers silhouetted against lime, red, black skies, on pillows. Falling leaves, on stationery. It's everywhere. And it's lovely. And so so nice.

What I'm going to show you today is a crazy-easy way for you to create YOUR VERY OWN nature silhouettes!

Jason Gaylor, a web designer at Blacksuits Creative has created gorgeous Photoshop brushes of all different kinds of nature. He calls them Fresh Foliage, he has created two large batches of them, and they are all available for free at his blog, here, and here.

Here are 4 quick examples (including the one pictured above) of some foliage-scapes I made in about 10 minutes just for you.





To use these brushes, follow these instructions:

1. Download the brushes, save them somewhere where you can find them again.
2. Select the paint brush in the Photoshop tools.
3. From the brushes palette choose “Load brushes…”
4. Navigate to your brand new brushes and happy times begin.

And wala! Beautiful nature silhouettes spring forth from your very own fingertips.

(One note: the brushes are big big big, so unless you're designing a high-resolution poster or something, you will need to reduce the brush size. You can do that in the brush palette — just select the number of pixels that fits your canvas.)

Jason has also created other "nice" brushes you can use. Three sets of distressed brushes (one, two, three) for making anything look old and distressed, like a sticker on a road sign in Forgottenville, USA.


Graffiti Brushes, so your work can look like the NY Subway circa 1978.


And tasty tattoo brushes, to make your life just that much more tribal.


I think they're all terrific, and I'm so grateful to Jason for creating these and making them available. But if you ask me, those fresh foliage brushes are so right-on. So au courant. I can't help but say "Oh that is nice." My highest compliment.

The Yellow Man — Page 1

In a little corner of the desert
there was a little town,
with a red hill, a black hill
and a Yellow Man.

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Note: I forgot to send the text for The Yellow Man to Paul until last night. Oops. So as a placeholder until Paul's sketch is done, I'm posting a picture Ralph drew when I read him the text.

Big Day

Lots of celebrations at our house today:

Betty is 8 months old today.
This requires no formal festivities, but lots of hugs and kisses, and exclamations of how fast time flies.

Oscar is 2 years old today.
This requires cupcakes and balloons and about 50 rounds of Happy-Birthday-to-Oscar sung throughout the day. We'll also celebrate with friends at Singing Time this morning at Laura's house, where her daughter Abby is turning 1 today.

Design Mom Blog is 6 months old today.
This requires nothing formal but is a great excuse to take inventory. A few stats as of this minute:
-According to Technorati, there are 145 links from 77 blogs to Design Mom.
-According to Tracksy, the highest number of unique hits Design Mom has received in one day is: 675
-According to BlogTopSites, Design Mom Blog is ranked number 33 out of 336 registered Parenting Blogs.
-According to Blogger, I have published 386 entries.
-According to Me, this continues to be a really happy thing in my life.

Thank you to everyone who reads Design Mom, to everyone who has linked to me, to everyone who has asked a Design Mom Question, to everyone who has left a comment. I look forward to the next 6 months — I hope you'll stick with me!

Looking Ahead

I confess. When I see spring clothes in the stores in January, I can't get excited about them. Spring still feels too far away. But the warm weather in New York this year has me feeling more open-minded.

When I saw this skirt from Garnet Hill Kids, my heart warmed. Love the crinoline. Love the atypical-for-children's-clothing embroidery.

Maybe I'll just skip winter this year.

Hello! The amazing Kim Family Auction — by Guest Mom Laurie Smithwick

First I'd like to thank the Academy... Oh no. Wait. Crap. Not that speech. Aaaah, where is it where is it. Ugh, this freakin desk is so Aha! Here it is.

Thank you thank you Gabrielle. I can't tell you how honored and thrilled I was when you asked me to to guest mom here at Design Mom. Even though I've been in the blogging business for a year, I still feel like a newcomer to the party and your invitation made me feel warm like curried carrot soup. Even though it isn't cold enough here in North Carolina for any kind of warm soup this winter. Just yesterday, a blustery 70 degree day here, my daughter Lucy asked me when it was going to snow. I hate that I couldn't offer her any kind of definitive answer. Will it snow here this year? Who knows. Will it ever snow here again? Who knows.

The very idea -- a dawning awareness -- that it may never snow here again is, for me, one of the things that makes the Kim family story all the more unsettling. In these greenhouse times, when most of us (on the East coast at least) are lamenting our balmy Thanksgivings and our Wet Christmases, there's the James Kim tragedy to keep us scratching our heads in disbelief and dismay. Where did all that snow even come from? Why couldn't we send the Kims some of our 65 degree Thanksgiving?

Moving on to a more positive aspect of the story, I assume you've all heard about the Kim Family Benefit Art + Craft Auction? And if you haven't, holy cow, please do yourself a favor and go see it right away.

To quote the website, it is An auction of fine art + craft to benefit the family of James Kim organized by sisters Lisa Congdon and Stephanie Barnes and their mother Gerrie Congdon. 100% of the auction proceeds will go to the The James Kim Memorial Fund.

And let me tell you, the things here are beautiful. Actually, let me rephrase that. Individually, the things here are beautiful. But viewed as a group, as a mission, as a manifestation of massive collective good will, they are magnificent. Here are some samples, to whet your appetite.

I'm sorry I wasn't here to tell you about this before the auction ended, but hopefully most of you design mavens already knew about it.

I'll have more upbeat posts to follow, but I can't promise any better design than what you see here.


fairy tale suitcase, by meg rooks


"the songs we love by", by amy ruppel


ginger and charlie. a little mohair kitty and her friend. by lynn roberts


machine patchwork quilted pillow, by lisa congdon

Welcome Laurie Smithwick!!

Hooray for Laurie! I'm so glad she's visiting Design Mom Blog this week. Laurie is another friend I know exclusively through blogging, which I get a big kick out of. I mean I get a kick out of the whole meeting friends through blogging thing. She's witty, an excellent designer, mother of double-darling twins and she has her radar tuned to all that is cool. And now that I've seen her cute pic, I'll even recognize her if our paths ever cross. I requested a bio from Laurie and she graciously sent the excellent one below. You can also fill your Laurie cravings at Upside Up, her terrific blog and Leap Design, her super-cool company website. I highly recommend a visit to both sites.

From Laurie:
Once upon a time, 12 yr old Laurie-who-had-always-loved-to-draw ran an errand with her father. His company had just changed its name and new business cards were in the works. He had to stop by the art director's studio to approve some proofs. Alas, the proofs were not approvable and a longer visit ensued, forcing 12 yr old Laurie to entertain herself. The assistant art director intuitively stepped in and showed Laurie-who-had-always-loved-to-write-in-different-styles how to use the IBM Selectric typewriter with interchangeable typeface balls. He gave her slick paper and showed her how to feed it through the waxer. He set her up at an enormous drafting table with a straightedge and an X-Acto knife. A lot of time passed quickly for Laurie-who-had-always-loved-to-draw-with-rulers, and from that day hence, the path forward was clear.

The career progression went well: Big fishness in small pondness at college; great heaps of likemindedness at design school in NYC; better-on-paper-than-in-reality jobs gave way to jobs that really actually were great; and eventually Laurie hatched LEAP Design, her own vanity design shop. Life was fun.

Then one day, Laurie found out she was pregnant with twins. She presumed, incorrectly, that once the twins were born her design life would continue as before. Ha ha, she now laughs, as she spends her days performing her version of that great balancing act we 3rd generation feminists get to perform in order to "have it all." I am woman. I am mother. I am career. I am designer.

Also, I've got this amazing husband who is tolerant of my not-always-successful balancing act, incredibly creative, sweeter than a sugar tree, and the best father I could ever have dreamed up for my twin 4-yr-olds, Zoe and Lucy, those lucky dogs.

Also, I've just moved back to my hometown, which I left 19 years ago without looking back. Now I'm back.

Also, in no particular order, I love music, movies, books, cooking, tv on dvd, french fries, and snowboarding. I love to be amazed by things. I love to laugh. I love my old friends. I love meeting new friends. I love my family. I love the first step outside into the heat of a n.c. summer. And I love to jump into cold water without feeling it first.

From Gabrielle:
Wonderful, Laurie!! Welcome! We look forward to reading you have to say.

Random Giveaway Winner: 2 T-shirts from Mode

The winner of 2 Custom T-shirts from Mode Boutique is:

Chantal who wrote, "Being the 67th commentor isn't so bad is it?!"

Thanks to everyone who entered the Giveaway. Thanks to Mode Boutique. And thanks for reading. Keep your fingers crossed — more Giveaways ahead.

What's a Design Mom Random Giveaway? Find out here.

Weekend Report

Friday Night: Last-minute dinner reservations at Bread Bar at Tabla with friends visiting from Japan, Élan and Aaron Eddington. Really yummy and really good to be with old friends. Also lovely to be out for the night in January without the need for any sort of jacket.

Saturday: The kids pooled their Christmas money from Grandma and bought a trampoline. I haven't seen them since we set it up Saturday afternoon. If I can just keep the fridge stocked with yogurt and apples, my job as a mother is basically done.

Saturday Night: Beauty Parlor with Olive and Maude. This was Olive's first sponge curler experience.

Sunday: After the girls debuted their curls at Church, we made chicken pot pie and berry pie.

I love a good weekend.

The Yellow Man & a 10-Year Anniversary

Feeling thoughtful today because tomorrow, January 6th, marks 10 years since my Father died. He was young. Only 52. He was also. . . quirky. And very fond of yellow.

In fact he loved yellow so much, that my sister Sara thought of a little bedtime story to tell her kids about him. She says something like: There was once a man who liked yellow. He would put on his yellow pants. Then he would put on his yellow shirt. Then he would put on his yellow socks. Then he would put on his yellow shoes. Then he would put on his yellow watch. Then he would put on his yellow jacket. And that man, was your Grandfather.

At our sisters weekend last August, Sara asked me and brother-in-law/artist Paul, to make her little story into a book for the grandkids. We liked the idea and have been working on the text ever since.

So on Tuesday, January 9th, to commemorate another anniversary — 6 Months of Design Mom — I'm launching The Yellow Man Book Project. (I mentioned it briefly here.) Paul and I will be posting sketches, text and finished pages every week until the book is done. Readers will be able to chime in with comments or suggestions and see the project created from beginning to end.

Another part of the book project is kind of an experiment/challenge. I want to see if I can generate enough interest in The Yellow Man that we have a publisher in place by the time it's finished. In fact, as you get aquainted with The Yellow Man over the next few weeks, if you like it and know anyone in the publishing business, I hope you'll send them a link. And of course, if the story just stinks, I hope you'll act as kindly editors and offer suggestions for improvement.

Hooray for The Yellow Man! I miss you, Dad.

Mark Rothko "Yellow and Gold" print available here.

A quick reminder: you have until midnight tonight (Friday) to enter the Custom T-shirt Random Giveaway. Good luck!

Kids at the Whitney Museum

This evening my husband is taking the 3 older kids to the Whitney Museum of American Art to see a Picasso exhibit with an accompanying kid-tuned tour. This is something their school organized and it's the kind of thing that makes me love where I live.

Ask Design Mom: Children's School Work

Another great Ask-Design-Mom Question:

I would love to know what you and your readers do with the myriad of papers/schoolwork that comes home with your kids. As you well know with more than one in school, the amount of stuff coming home is a bit daunting. What is your criteria for saving/throwing it out? And how do you store what you save? Much love, Jenni Mouritsen

Design Mom Answer:

Great question, Jenni. This is a daily challenge and every family I know handles it differently. I'll tell you how I do it and I'll tell you how another family I admire does it. Then, hopefully, readers will chime in with their own excellent ideas.

This is my solution — please keep in mind I have a huge unsentimental streak in me and that my kids use a ream of paper in drawings and projects about every 2 weeks — basically 90% goes directly into the trash. We clean out backpacks after school each day. I examine homework and art projects. Give lots of positive feedback and then throw everything away. Exceptions to this are as follows:

1) If they've created something without any direction, meaning it wasn't an assignment or a follow-these-steps art project, something really out of their own head, then it will stay around — at least for awhile. Large or 3D Artwork will usually end up on our huge kids-artwork bullitin board in the family room and eventually replaced by newer artwork. Anything in the 8.5x11 range will end up in a folder (a different folder for each child). Then, when the folder is full, I take it to Staples/Kinkos to get all the work bound into one book.

2) If they really love it and are proud of it and it required substantial work, then it can stay. It will end up in one of their desk drawers to eventually be thrown-away when they're not feeling so attached to it.

The Brad and Karen Perkins family keeps a schoolwork dresser. As I understand it, they have a drawer for each child and the child can put any work in it that they want over the whole year. So they might put in bigger projects like artwork and book reports mixed with random math worksheets or even misc party invitations.

At the end of the school year, they each clean out their drawer and are allowed to keep 3 things, which go into a sort-of keepsake box that will eventually represent their whole childhood.

I love this solution. I especially love the idea of systematically editing the collection down to one childhood box full of photo albums and schoolwork and birthday cards and projects.

No matter what kind of management you implement, I recommend keeping this in mind: how much stuff-from-their-childhood are they going to want when they grow up and start their own family and home. If my mom or my mother-in-law had handed me 10 milk crates of albums and schoolwork as I entered adulthood, I don't know that I would have been very pleased. Of course, when Olive ends up President of the United States, we'll be glad we kept as much as we did, so her museum will be well stocked.

Pic via Getty Images.

Random Giveaway: 2 Custom Tees from Mode Boutique

I'm thinking Thursday, January 4, 2007 sounds like the ideal time for a random Giveaway. Yes. Definitely.

And it's a totally rad prize today. Mode Boutique, that I blogged about earlier here has offered up 2 CUSTOM TEES to the winner of today's Giveaway — ONE FOR MOM & ONE FOR BABY/CHILD!!! How cool is that?

You can pick from any of the graphics in any category found here. I'm especially digging the Travel Images and the Say What Icons. You can pick your size and t-shirt color. And there are child-size tees/tanks for your little one — even onsies! Plus, the tees themselves are really good ones from American Apparel and Fairline, a fair step above your standard Beefy Tee.




I have to say I am dying to visit Mode Boutique. The pics of the space look so rad. If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Mode, I urge you to check it out and report so I can get more details. And for those readers that live far, far away. Like myself. Beccy, the owner, promises she'll order us up anything we like, if we just contact the store — almost as good as being there.

Mode offers fab lines of clothing for Men & Women & Baby. Super-cool items for your home or for gifts. Luxe accessories. Check out some of their wares:







Those baby leg warmers are for sure on my covet list. Argyle? Are you kidding me? So cute. Do your friends a favor: give them a head's up that they've got till Friday night to get in on the action. As usual, I'm totally wishing I could enter the Giveaway. . .

Thank you, Mode Boutique!!

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Random Giveaway Guidelines:
-You have until midnight EST on Friday, January 5th to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment on this post to enter — any comment.
-Anonymous comments will be ignored/removed.
-One entry per person, please.
-Winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday morning.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Book of the Week: Munschworks Grand Treasury

The stories of Robert Munsch were introduced to me by my sister-in-law Erin. And they're great. He's written dozens, but the one most people seem to be familiar with is Paper Bag Princess — which is no surprise because it's awesome.

His stories are really silly and really appealing to kids. He is absolutely in tune with what kids think is hilarious. There tends to be a lot of giggling when we read Robert Munsch. And the stories lend themselves to an animated reading style, which adds to the giggling. The stories are a hit with kids as young as 3 and still entertain my 9 year old if he's listening in.

The vast majority of Munsch's stories are illustrated by Michael Martchenko who has a bright and happy and kind-of cartooney style. and my kids love, love the illustrations.

You can get most of his stories as individual books, or there are several collections. The collection we own is Munschworks Grand Treasury, a compilation of the first 3 Munschworks collections. The Treasury includes 15 different stories, including Paper Bag Princess and my favorite, Mortimer — enough stories so that we never get bored with it.

Bound to be a hit in any children's book collection. You can find it here.

Design Mom Random Giveaways

Let's just get it out there. Giveaways have become a bit of an obsession for me.

It started here. Then got a little crazy here. And then I promised Random Giveaways here.

So for the benefit of my newest readers, here's the story on Random Giveaways:

-Because it's fun to show some love and find cool products/companies at the same time, I started Giveaways — really great free stuff that anyone can win.
-It's totally free to enter and super easy too. You just have to make a comment on the Giveaway post — any comment. The winner is randomly picked.
-Random Giveaways will happen 3 or 4 times a month. Random meaning you won't know when to expect them.
-Why random? I'm always looking for ways to thank loyal and consistent readers.
-One thing you can expect is that the prizes will be fab. I don't put just anything up for grabs. All prizes are hand picked or approved by me with an eye toward design and quality.

Keep the good karma flowing — tell your friends and family when you see a Giveaway you know they'll love. Just hit the envelope icon at the bottom of any post to email it to a friend.

That's the story. Keep your eyes peeled — the next Giveaway could be right around the corner.

Women & Friendships

My friend Hailey sent a link to an article about a UCLA study on Women and Friendships.

Apparently, stress tests have traditionally been performed on men, who typically respond to stress with a fight-or-flight mechanism. But at UCLA researchers found women are different. Women respond to stress by "tending or befriending," or in other words, mothering and talking with friends.

You can find the (pretty short) article here. I thought it was interesting. As if I needed more reason to be on the phone all day. . .

Image from Getty.

Tinkers Bedroom Design Question

Design Mom reader Tink asked if I could offer some interior design ideas for her master bedroom. She actually posted the question on her blog and sent me the link. I'm posting the text below:

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Our entire upstairs is basically this taupey-mushroom colour trimmed with white. I love it, but am really bad about finding colours to go with it; particularly since we ended up with this orange-toned bedroom furniture. We only saw a swatch of the wood stain when we ordered it (thinking it would be more neutral) and didn't realize it would be this colour! In hindsight, I think something in a mocha or chocolate would have looked great, but we're stuck now.

So I'm looking for suggestions and decorating ideas.

The lamps need to be replaced as they're just desk lamps from our respective old homes before we moved in here together. I'm thinking something simple in brushed nickel with a textured white paper shade.

And what about bedding? We keep it simple with a fitted sheet, a pillow apiece, and separate duvets for each of us (who needs a big cover when you're snuggling anyhow?). The question is whether there is a good colour that could make the wood look less orange. Or maybe tie the wood and the wall colour together? I don't know. This is where I get really stuck.

I'll tell you now that I hate to dust, so I don't like to have lots of chachkis to collect it for me. But somehow, the room needs more decoration.

Any ideas? Please?
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Let's help her out! Leave your best ideas in the comment section.

Bracebridge Hall

Another super-special gift I have to share:

Among my 8 siblings, we have a name rotation at Christmas. The Rodgers Family (my sister Rachel), had the Blairs this year. And they spoiled us. Rachel knows I collect books that have won the Caldecott Award and she sent a bunch for the whole family. Very cool.

But even cooler than that. And totally unexpected. She sent an antique book illustrated by Randolph Caldecott himself--the illustrator the award was named after.

Bracebridge Hall by Washington Irving
Illustrated by Randolph Caldecott

I love how it looks. I love how it smells. I love the story. I love the illustrations — all engravings. I especially love that it's inscribed: William Kay Waterson, with J.W. White's very kind [word I can't make out], Christmas 1876.

Thank you, Rachel!

My New Bowl

I have to show you my new pretty bowl. This was my Christmas present and I admire it daily. I saw it at the boutique, crossed my fingers it wouldn't sell right away, then suggested to Ben it might make a great gift. It's huge: 19 inches across and 4 inches deep. It looks especially good full of clementines or anything orange. It also looks especially good empty. I need to figure out a way to hang it on the wall so it's not destroyed by the general chaos of my home.

The bowl is made by Studio B by Magenta. It's called the Large Gourmet Bowl and comes in 6 finishes. Mine is the green/blue one at the front called Peacock Florentine — the picture of course does it no justice. The texture is fantastic. It's hard not to touch.

How does Ben find such perfect gifts?

Holiday Journal

Most of Christmas I packed away on December 27th. But there are a few items that didn't make it back into the Holiday Closet until today. One is our Christmas journal. I have no memory where the idea came from, but Ben and I started it our first Christmas and we use it each year to write a couple of pages of summary about Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. If I have any ideas for next year, like a new Christmas book I'd like to add to our collection, I'll include those as well. Sometimes the kids add drawings or their own notes. As with all my grand ideas, I'm not always consistent — last year the Christmas journal never even made it out of the box.

Anyway. Writing my notes this year made me think about how I measure and evaluate Christmas:

-Stress level
-Success of the Recital
-How Christmasy the house smelled
-Christmas tree decorations
-Quantity of peppermint bark & wassail consumed
-Kids faces on Christmas morning

This year will go down as happy on all measures. I especially loved our tree — knowing I had lots of vintage wrapping at my disposal, Kathryn C hooked me up with boxes and boxes of vintage glass balls from Denise's newly acquired, very old house. The pure vintageness was totally awesome.

How do you measure the Holidays?

2007 Fitness Goals

I love my friend Lisa's new blog for the new year: GET FIT IN 2007! Go there today and put words to that fitness goal you're dreaming of.

What a great idea! It creates an instant support group — and making your goal public is huge motivation.

Lisa is a mother of 3 and super in-shape. She's the one that looked so hot in this swimsuit. Whatever she's doing works, so I highly suggest jumping on her fitness bandwagon.

Ask Design Mom: Accessorizing the Fabulous Mom

Here's an Ask Design Mom Question that was emailed in early November:
Carol and I got talking last week and decided we need fashion advice, particularly in the accessorizing arena. We thought you could help. We of course don't want to look too trendy, cause then you look like you're trying too hard. We want to just reek of class and have it look [mostly] effortless. Thanks in advance, Kaila

Design Mom Answer:
Excellent question, Kaila! My apologies for leaving you hanging for so long. Accessories for me seem to be a phase. I'm like six months on, six months off — and currently it's six months off. But, from what I observe, more seems to be more right now. You can wear it all and you can wear it all at the same time. Dangly exotic earrings. A statement necklace. A watch or big bracelet or both. And a cocktail ring or 3. Still want more — finish everything off with an enormous belt.

More of a minimalist? The happy news is that there are so many awesome pieces out there, that even just one item — to add some visual interest and texture to an outfit — can be enough.

Let's pull some samples from Anthropologie (too many to choose from!) and discuss:


Sipping Stars Necklace. Pretty with your wrap dress. Enough of a statement you don't have to wear anything else. But maybe a ring.


Jumble Necklace. Wear it with a graphic tee under your fitted jacket. Jeans. Heels. A great belt.


Snowflake Pendant. With your delicate little blouse that opens at the neckline. Add a bracelet too.


Oakleaf Cuff. Make your 3/4 sleeve turtleneck twice as interesting with a fab cuff. And great earrings.


Thick and Thin Bangles. With pretty much anything. Plus provide endless entertainment for the baby.


Isthmus Bracelet. Not sure what I would wear it with. But am loving the delicate features.


Melissae Ring. Wear this and you probably don't need much else. Remember things like this for days when you're in a hurry. Too cool.


Lotus Flower Ring. Super feminine. Pretty on it's own and pretty with lots of other gold too.


Seahorse Cresent Earrings. Um. So pretty. With everything.


Binocular Drop Earrings. So delicate. Also with everything.


Flowering Vine Earrings. Spice up that button-down. Or contrast these fancy, fancies with cargos.

It's no secret that jewelry is expensive. So if you're looking for the most bang for your buck, don't even pretend to get fine jewelry. Go for beads and texture at places like H&M or Forever 21. Or raid your grandma's costume jewelry.

Going for simple and refined? The women I notice as impeccably groomed never seem to leave the house without all 4 accessory elements in place. Small, understated, very high quality pieces they wear almost every day. Small diamond studs, a simple tennis bracelet, wedding ring and a good chain with something sparkly dangling from it. They also always have their nails done. They also always look just right. This is a kind of country club look that I will personally never be able to pull off — but I would recommend it to my Politician's Wife sister and my Army Major's Wife sister.

I hope that helps, Kaila. It occurs to me that accessories can include scarves and handbags and headbands and a dozen other things. Was I wrong to focus on jewelry?

Hey readers! How do you accessorize? How much? How little? Favorite pieces? Speak up!!

Holiday Recap

A few Holiday Highlights so I don't forget:

1) A live goldfish being swallowed whole at the Christmas Recital.

2) A Nutcracker Play on Christmas Eve by the Blair and Stanley kids.
It was written, cast and costumed days before the big event. And the whole thing was staged and practiced a dozen times on Christmas Eve. Then performed flawlessly and without any dialogue. I've come to expect a play any time the Blair and Stanley kids are together, but I think this was their best performance yet.

3) Kid's opening the presents they'd made for each other.
Neither Ralph nor Maude knew the other had made a hat and mitten set. Both were equally amazed and delighted. And even though Maude had made a set for Ralph said, "Wow, Ralph! How did you make them?"

4) Walking at Rockwood Hall on Christmas Day.
Rockwood Hall is a walking park along the Hudson River. If you ever took an Art History class that discussed the Hudson River School, being at Rockwood Hall will make you think of those paintings. The light is exactly the same. Rockwood Hall is the name of a Rockefeller Estate that was once on the property. The buildings are gone now, but some of the grounds remain and it is peaceful and wonderful and really easy to imagine a horse-drawn carriage approaching on one of the cobblestone paths.

The picture above, taken by the talented Jeff Taylor, is Ralph and Maude at Rockwood Hall — sporting their new hats and mittens.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy 2007!!!

Once a month, Ben and I hold interviews with each of the kids — well, right now, it's really just the older 3. We try to get a sense of how they're feeling about life in 4 areas: physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. We have a journal set aside where we keep notes from the interviews. As the year changes, we use the same notebook to record our kids resolutions.

Yesterday was resolution day. To help my kids get started thinking about the coming year, they get a short reminder (read: lecture) about what resolutions are for — to become better people. Then, I offer them prompter questions to get them started:

This year, I want to learn: __________
I want to read: __________
I want to make: __________
I want to visit: __________
I want to change: __________
(The change prompt is supposed to help you think of something like a bad habit you'd like to get rid of.)
I want to be better at: __________
Most of all I want: __________

The notebook is also wonderful for the kids to see how much they're growing and changing. Olive who is 5, was laughing at how unsophisticated she was at age 3. See for yourself:

Olive's 2005 resolutions:
I want to learn: ballet
I want to read: Aurora coloring book
I want to make: Snow White or Aurora out of clay
I want to change: my pink nightgown to purple
I want to visit: Grandma
Most of all I want: a Belle dress with a headband, gloves and slippers

Olive's 2007 resolutions:
I want to learn: ballet, again
I want to read: all kinds of books
I want to make: a playdough horse
I want to change: (she couldn't think of anything she wanted to change)
I want to visit: Emily Dowdle (a neighbor)
Most of all I want: an Ariel barbie

As I was looking through the notebook yesterday, I was embarrassed how few interviews we managed in 2006. Which leads me to my first resolution . . .

Pic from Getty Images.