The Intersection of Design & Motherhood
From the monthly archives:
Happy Halloween, Friends!
Did I tell you how I lucked out with making Halloween costumes this year? The kids had such simple requests. I’ll tell you all about it after the jump.
Click here to read more about our Halloween costumes — and to see pics of Baby June!
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What a fun day! This morning I helped with the Kindergarten Halloween Party — I helped at the stick-the-face-on-the-ghost game table. In a few minutes, I’m off to get Maude’s hair done for the Middle School Halloween Dance. She’s going as Mrs. Frankenstein. (It’s her first dance. Eeeek!)
Then tonight, our church is hosting a Chili Cookoff and Trunk-or-Treat. Ben Blair is concocting a new chili recipe, which I’m sure will be super yummy. We’ll work on the trunk when the kids get home from school.
I haven’t had a chance to get all the kids in costume at once yet, but it will happen this evening, so I’ll be sure to take lots of photos and post them this weekend. In the meantime, here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
- Some of the coolest wallpapers for kids I’ve come across.
- Remember that amazing felt wall globe? Well, now you can get a kit to make your own.
- An eyechart pillow.
- Mr. MadMen.
- Wow! These toys.
I write a daily post for Babble’s Family Style blog. Here are this week’s posts:
- When I was growing up, we had a You Are Special Today plate tradition.
- It’s not a costume, but it is a gorgeous Little Red Riding Hood dress.
- Still dying over this Rhinoceros Lightbox.
- What do you think of new baby gear inventions?
- I want a baby pod! Seriously cute stuff.
I hope you have a wonderful Halloween! We’ll be carving our pumpkins on Sunday afternoon. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll see you back here on Monday. I miss you already.
kisses,
Gabrielle
P.S. — The images are of some of our Halloween decorations around the house. So festive!
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All images by Ben Blair.
Last night, Ben Blair and I went to The Beauty Bar to watch the Project Runway Finale with Mondo. It was just us, Mondo and 500 other people. We had an amazing time!
The crowd was fantastic. Lots of people dressed like Mondo in solidarity — short shorts, suspenders, mustaches and knee socks. The entire building was completely shocked when Running Through Thunder won. (What???)
But Mondo comforted us at the end with some sweet words. Which Ben Blair recorded. And which we’re trying to figure out how to get uploaded… [Hooray! Ben Blair and Ralph made a movie so you can hear Mondo's speech.]
The picture above shows Mondo’s mother wearing a sparkly Team Mondo tee. Isn’t it cute? Mondo was a total sweetheart and let me get a photo with him. Can we talk about how photogenic he is? He absolutely glows:
Click here to find out more about our evening…
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You’ll love today’s giveaway! My Retro Baby is offering two $100 gift cards. Sweet!
My Retro Baby is full of fresh ideas inspired by the past. They offer a fun collection of super-cool, hip products for your favorite baby. So many pretty things. I’m loving the Nest Necklace, the cozy aviary blanket and the blue elephant bib (did I tell you I have a thing for elephants?).
Visit My Retro Baby and leave a comment below to enter. The two winners will be announced on Monday. Good luck!
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Congratulations to Faith and Maleen! You are the lucky winners.
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I just found this charming shop called Little Korboose. I love the star garland and the owl pillows.
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Hello, Friends! My site has had a bit of roadwork done in the last couple of weeks and the updates are making me happy:
1) You may or may not have noticed, but when my site was switched from Blogger to WordPress, 145,000 of your brilliant comments dropped off because of a Blogger/Google glitch. Boo! But last week, Bob of Leap Design restored every single one of the 145,000 missing comments. Yay!
2) If you like to access Design Mom on your phone, you might notice there’s a mobile version of the site that pops up. It’s designed to be easy to read from a phone. I feel so 2010!
I hope you enjoy the new updates. As always, thank you for reading.
P.S. — This construction dishware made me smile.
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Did you hear? Children’s clothing line, Oilily, is back in the hands of the original family owners, and I think they’ve put out their most charming collection yet. They don’t offer bargain prices, but I find their use of pattern and color so inspiring. The polka dot dress is my favorite.
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Ever been curious about adopting a child from another country? Sara recently grew her family from four people to six, when she adopted two beautiful babies from Ethiopia. She made a video about the experience here.
From Sara of Enter From the Exit.
P.S. — Here’s a sweet gender surprise story from A Chow Life.
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Note from Design Mom: throughout my 6th pregnancy, I posted advice, memories and stories about pregnancy, childbirth, adoption and growing a family on Wednesdays. My baby has now arrived — here’s her birth story and her newborn photos — but the series has been so popular that I’m continuing it indefinitely. You can find all the stories in this series by clicking here. Have a story you’d like to share? I’d love to read it. You can send it to me at gabrielle@designmom.com.
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Last month, Ben Blair and his siblings gathered at his parents’ house to celebrate the 80th birthday of his father, Robert Wallace Blair.
Ben’s sister, Carol, had the brilliant idea to hire Justin Hackworth to hang out during the gathering and get candid shots of the event. So smart! — it’s so hard to be both photographer and attendee of a gathering. I love that Justin was there, recording everything with his lens, so that the Blair siblings could relax and enjoy each other’s company.
My favorite shots are the ones of the family singing. I wish I could have been there!
Justin also happened to be at our home this morning. Ben Blair and I had our 15th anniversary in August and one of the ways I wanted to celebrate was to have our portrait taken. When I heard Justin was going to be in Denver, I reserved some of his time right away. I can’t wait to see how this morning’s photos turned out.
Click here to see more photos of the 80th birthday gathering.
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Yesterday was Family Night. We made granola and evaluated our winter outerwear. The kids tried on their ski bibs, parkas, snow boots and gloves. We made lists of what still worked and what needed to be replaced. Olive and Ben Blair are good to go. The rest of the kids need one or two items. Not bad.
I don’t have any winter gear at all, except a new down jacket from Eddie Bauer that I’m loving. It’s called the Yukon Classic. It’s super cozy, but lightweight. I have the lipstick red version. (I love red coats, don’t you?)
This is what we like to have for Colorado winters:
- Jacket or fleece
- Parka
- Snow bibs or snow pants
- Snow boots
- Ski mittens or gloves
- Ski hat
- Knit mittens or gloves
- Knit hat
- If possible, dressy coats — especially for the girls
That’s a lot of gear for five kids (Baby June won’t be doing much skiing this year), so you can imagine, I’m a big fan of hand me downs. : ) I’m hoping to get everything on our list ordered this week. The temperatures are dropping fast and I want to be prepared.
How about you? What do you like to have on hand for winter outerwear?
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New to Design Mom? Here are 10 posts to get you started:
What to Wear To Middle School
Napoleon Dynamite
Our Birth Announcements
Potato Print Clothing
Having Another Child
Young Einstein Birthday Party
Little Red LightHouse Outing
Porch Makeover
Waving Goodbye To The Atlantic Ocean
Build Two Toddler Beds for $75
Pimp My Ride: Family Edition
We love coming up with fun valentines to make and give. Here are some of our favorites (many are candy free!):
3-D Lollipop Valentines - Easy! And a big hit.
Wild Animal Valentines - Family Fun Magazine requested my idea for their latest issue.
Mad Lib Valentines - Family Fun requested this idea too!
Friendship Bracelet Valentines
And here are a few more ideas I've featured over the years that I bet you'll love:
- Fresh Fruit Valentines
- Color Theory Valentines
- DIY Scratch Off Valentines
- Shaving Cream Valentines
- Mini Valentine Boxes
Here's something fun. Our family was featured in an episode of House Hunters International! Spoiler: we choose the gorgeous French Farmhouse. It's called La Cressonnière and we take pictures of it all the time. If you're curious, try these links:
The Kitchen
Summer at La Cressonnière
The Halfbath
The Stairwell
The Neighbors
Ralph's Bedroom
The Studio
Springtime at La Cressonnière
The Living Room
Maude's Bedroom
The Artists
Oscar & Betty's Bedroom
The Exterior
The Floors
Olive's Bedroom
The Treehouse
The House: La Cressonnière
I hope you enjoy the house tour! Oh. And if you'd like to see the episode, you can find it on Youtube here (it's in four parts).
I write a weekly column called Inspiration Scout on Cafémom. Find new posts on Thursdays.
I write a daily post (Monday through Friday) for Babble's Family Style blog.
