This post is sponsored by Skype. It’s time to say more and stay human. It’s time for Skype.


Tell me, friends, what’s your take on handwritten notes? Have you completely abandoned the practice? Can you remember the last time you gave or received one? As for me, I LOVE getting any sort of handwritten note in the mail — it feels like such a luxury, doesn’t it? And while I’ve never been amazing at sending birthday cards, I do keep a stash of gorgeous thank you cards on hand — either to drop off with a small gift, or to send in the mail.

This topic is on my mind as I try and figure out how to help my kids create deep personal connections with the people in their life — and do it in the age of texting and tweeting. When I was at Mom 2.0, I was given a book that recommended mothers should get rid of the tradition of their kids sending thank you notes after a birthday party. The idea is that it’s turned into a guilt thing for Moms, and the kids aren’t really learning anything from it. I was a little shocked! But then I remembered I’ve totally skipped the after-party-kid-thank-yous on at least a couple of birthdays — especially for my teens. It can definitely feel a bit old-fashioned. What about you? Do you still have your kids send handwritten thank yous? Should that practice be retired? And the real question: if we don’t send thank you cards any more, what should we do instead?

What I’d like to do is figure out a few traditions that will make sure my kids are still learning how to communicate well with others. For example, my sister Jordan uses Postagram. With a click of a button the service turns her instagram images into real live postcards and mails them to our Grandmothers. I love that! At our house, I’m thinking about instituting a Sunday once a month where each child writes and sends a hand written note or letter — not necessarily as an etiquette exercise, but more as a personal communication exercise.

If you’ve abandoned things like after-birthday-thank-you cards, are you doing anything to replace them? I’d love to hear your ideas!

Cards pictured: one, two, three, four, five, six. And if you forget a thank you card for too long, try number seven. It made me laugh.

P.S. — The National Stationery Show is happening right this minute. When I lived in New York it was one of my favorite weeks of the year. Have you ever been?

Brooke Fish and her family are moving — just a few streets away — because their current house was unable to grow with them, no matter how hard they tried to make it work or how often they battled city codes! So this tour of their just-sold home is a little less of a tour, and much more a love letter to the place where their earliest family memories were made. Enjoy it, Friends!

Q: Tell us who lives in this sweet home…for the next few weeks!

A: My little love, laughter, and grace filled home consists of a complete outnumbering of boys three to one: my amazing husband of nine years, photographer Adam Fish, and our two boys  Jude, who is nearly seven, and Liam, who is almost four. Due to allergies, we have no dogs or cats, but over the years there has been a Beta fish named Pinky Toe, a caterpillar named Herbert, and a turtle named Sherbet.

Q: How did it become yours?

A: Purchasing our first home was a grueling experience. We looked for months and months, knowing that we wanted to live in a little sub-division of Dallas called Lake Highlands. We had hoped to find a mid-century modern within our budget, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices knowing that your first home doesn’t necessarily mean your forever home. We didn’t fall in love with this house right away, but it did offer some great things, like a fully remodeled kitchen, original hardwoods, and walk-in closets. Over the years we made it ours with paint in every single room, a remodeled bookcase, and new doors in the rear entries. I’m so very blessed to have a skilled carpenter for a father-in-law!

Q: How would you describe your style? Has it changed since adding to your family?

A: Hmmm…my style. I guess I’d have to say bohemian-modern or vintage-modern. I love the clean lines of mid-century modern pieces, but I also have a weakness for all things vintage. I get bored with a room that is just modern; by adding other styles and periods, it creates something unique and personal. Since our littles came, I think a dose of whimsy has been added to the mix.  We don’t take ourselves too seriously and everything has to be kid-friendly. We want our boys to be able to touch and experience every bit of our home.

Q: What excites you most about decorating a space?

A: Oh gosh, I love everything about decorating a space…the endless possibilities, breathing new life into a space, putting my fingerprint on it, and change, change, change! I love change — but only in design. I pretty much have a hard time with change otherwise. I think I generally start with the function of the room, then color and scale. I tend to pack small spaces with furniture to create a homey, lived in feel. I look everywhere for inspiration: friends, art, the past, blogs, design mags, etc.

Q: Are you a DIYer? What’s your favorite thing you “did” yourself in this home? Would you do it again?

A: Oh, I am a total DIYer. I have convinced myself that I can do anything. Sadly it’s not true. Despite my love of a hammer, I can’t build furniture or any wood type item to save my life. That is such a gift that I wish I had been blessed with. My favorite thing we “did” in this house was our bookcase/kids desk in the playroom and the chalkboard wall in the kitchen. We will do the chalkboard wall again for sure. The boys love it.

Q: You’ve got such unique pieces that are stand-alone awesome. What’s your best advice for choosing and incorporating such vocal additions to a space without having them scream at each other?

A: I think you should live with what you love. As long as the scale and the colors work together…it’s magical and the different pieces tell an amazing story that’s unique to the owner. Does that even make sense? It does in my head but maybe not to others! I scour local estate sales and thrift stores for my treasures, but I love a good bulk trash find. Some of my favorite pieces in our home were rescued from an old abandoned house that was about to be demolished. We have very few “new” pieces. I should also confess here that my mother-in-law is an incredible scout with a great eye. She has found a lot of our furniture and decorative items, especially in the living and dining room. She may very well be my best treasure source.

Q: What’s your best advice for bargaining?

A: I absolutely stink at bargaining! So if you or your readers can give me advice, I’d welcome it with open arms! Regrets always come in the form of estate sales. I’ll think to myself, “What am I gonna do with that?” or “I don’t need it.” Recently I lost out on some amazing vintage windows and an old wooden shelf that would have brought such industrial, rustic charm to our living room and our garden. They were a steal, too, but it takes just the right pieces to marry modern and farmhouse-industrial well. At the time, I didn’t know if the items would work. Oh, well! There’s always the next sale. The hunt continues…

Q: A PEZ collection!

A: My husband has a great collection of PEZ dispensers that I adore. I would have never in a million years held onto stuff like that, but I’m glad he did. It’s such a conversation starter. I have to say, I wouldn’t mind if he got rid of some of his other collections though, like his Garbage Pail Kids cards. What in the world?

Q: What’s your basic philosophy to living with kids?

A: We are very much a team. If there’s a space in our home, it’s as much theirs as it is ours. The only thing we don’t allow is jumping on the “nice couch” and coloring on walls that aren’t black. The boys have a designated playroom that stores most of their toys. Their room has a few toys, too, but everything has its place. I love easy pull-out bins for their toys, games, and books. Their art supplies are tucked away by their desk in the playroom. And all of their stuff is within their reach. Funny, I don’t really remember any specific toy or clean up rules from when I was little!

Q: What’s written and drawn on your chalkboards?

A: We keep scripture, calendars, and smiley face rewards on the chalkboard in the kitchen. The smiley faces go up and down all the time! The other stuff gets changed monthly. The boys draw on the kitchen one a lot as well. Since it’s right by the table we use it all the time to explain stuff to them or do spelling words. It’s kind of like a white board in a brainstorming meeting!

There’s also one in our master bedroom that I use to write messages to the hubs. Sadly that doesn’t get changed as often as I’d hoped.

Q: If money wasn’t a factor, what would you add to your home tomorrow to make it more your perfect home?

A: Ha!  You have no idea how timely that question is. Although money is always a factor, we just purchased a new house and sold the one you see in the pics. We had hoped to build a photography studio above our garage, but due to city codes we were told we couldn’t. So, we found a mid-century modern fixer upper just a few streets away and will begin remodeling very soon.

We’re so excited, but will also miss our current house. Since it was our first home and our youngest was born here, it holds a ton of memories. Before we move, I hope to have the littles each do a journal about their favorite memories within this house and then turn it into a book for them.

Q: Finish the sentence:  I wish I had known…

A: that we couldn’t build above our detached garage! (Sniff, sniff.) Such a silly rule. We are going to miss our sweet neighborhood bunches and bunches.

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Thank you so much, Brooke! Promise you’ll show us your new home as soon as you’re all settled!

Friends, have you ever outgrown a home? Was it bittersweet? And where did you end up? Nearby, like the Fish family, or did you take the opportunity to try someplace completely new? I’d love to hear your experiences! (You already know what we did!)

P.S. — You can find all the homes in my Living With Kids series here. If you’d like to share your home with us, drop me a note! I’d love to hear from you!

I asked Amy of This Heart of Mine for a project that would be fun for kids or adults. I love that she thought of star-gazing! We’re so far into the countryside, that the stars here are outrageously bright. It’s awesome! — Gabrielle

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Star gazing is one of my favorite things. Ever since learning about them in junior high, I’ve loved looking upwards and pointing out the constellations I could remember and being in awe of their impressive sight. With summer right around the corner, I have hopes of spending a few late nights gazing at them again.

Because of my love of the stars, when my daughter was little, I purchased her a night light that shines stars all over her bedroom walls. After seeing a few light-filled jars on Pinterest, I had an idea to fill a jar with the constellations — and I was able to do it using items I had around the house!

What you’ll need:
- a wide mouth jar – The jar needs to be wide enough to fit the small click light inside. A pickle jar works great.
- a disposable cake pan
- small click light, like these
-an awl
- scissors

Cut a strip of the cake pan long enough to fit around inside the jar and tall enough to reach to the very top of the jar. Use a spoon to brandish out any writing or crinkled parts.

Use the awl to poke holes for the constellations. Mine are not accurately placed, it is only a small strip of aluminum after all. I included Hercules, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Draco, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Orion, Cancer and Gemini.

I connected the constellation dots with a silver Sharpie to make them easier to spot.

Fill in the other space with more holes. Make the holes smaller than the ones used to make the constellations because it will set the constellations apart.

Roll the aluminum sheet until it fits snug inside the jar. Hold the circle in place by cutting two tabs and folding them in opposite directions.

Put the encircled aluminum sheet inside the jar. Turn the click light on and place the it inside. Top with the lid. I spray painted my jar lid. It’s looks nicer and smells less like pickles.

Take into a dark room and enjoy.

The night sky in a holdable form. I connected the dots below so you can see them too. The Little Dipper, the Big Dipper, Draco and part of Orion.

Hello, Friends! I’m back from Berlin and thinking about travel. The crowd at The Hive was such an international mix, and everyone came from such interesting places, it made me want to keep my bags permanently packed and visit every last corner of the globe. Possibly it’s the season — am I the only one that gets a major case of wanderlust as the weather warms?

In case you’ve caught the bug too, here are two online travel magazines that recently caught my eye:

First up, Travel Jam. It’s described as somewhere between a magazine of childish fashion, a journey diary and a women’s luxury mag. Mostly, I noticed it because the photography is so good!

I also love Wayfare Magazine. It’s full of great tips, smart reviews, and inspiring images. Fun fact: I got to hang out with Anne, one of the Wayfare founders, while I was in Berlin.

P.S. — A couple of weekends ago, when I got off the plane from Miami to Paris, my feet were swollen to about twice the normal size. Yikes! Has that ever happened to you? Luckily, the flight from Berlin to Paris is very short, so no swollen feet today. : )

Hello, Friends. Greetings from Berlin! I arrived about an hour ago and checked in to this incredibly charming apartment (see above and below). It’s so lovely and peaceful here, that I thought it would be fun to sit down and write up a blog post. : )

This weekend trip to Germany is for a conference — tomorrow I’ll be speaking at The Hive. My topic is: The Business of Blogging, and I’m really looking forward to it! In fact, I need to work on my presentation right this minute. But while I do, here are a few things you might find interesting:

- Hah! To make art, change the dimensions.
- Paint dipped.
- Dreamy outdoor showers.
- What kids really want from their parents.
- Concrete business cards (on tiny wooden pallets!).
- Hey you Portuguese speakers, check out this article about Design Mom in a Brazilian magazine.
- Speaking of statement necklaces…

I also write for Babble. Here are this week’s posts:
- Burlap is awesome.
- Calling all bike lovers!
- A neat new line of baby products from Barcelona.
- Turn a mason jar into a travel mug.
- Found your summer bag yet? Here are 15 I love!

I hope you have an fabulous weekend. It’s supposed to be a warm and sunny 80 degrees here in Berlin. I hope you have lovely weather as well! I’ll meet you back here on Monday. I miss you already.

P.S. — Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the encouragement and enthusiasm for Olive Us. I can’t wait to share the next episode with you! And thank you also for the sincere and thoughtful comments in the discussion about spacing kids. You guys never cease to amaze me!

Oh man! You guys. You will love today’s giveaway. Method is offering a year’s supply of laundry detergent and fabric softener!!

You read that right: A YEAR’S SUPPLY! How awesome is that? Let’s see if I can figure out the math. The winner will receive 8 full-size bottles of detergent and 8 full-size bottles of fabric softener. Method’s products are so powerful and concentrated that each bottle is enough for 50 loads. Which means, the winner will have enough detergent and fabric softener for 400 loads!! Wow.

In addition to this giveaway, Method has all sorts of fun things going on right now to celebrate their awesome laundry products. Like the Chore No More photo contest on Facebook that goes till the end of May. And every Thursday this month, you’ll find a $2.00 off coupon for Method Laundry Detergent on their Facebook perks tab. (But you have to print it on Thursdays. Hey. Today is Thursday!) Lastly, they created another hilarious video — and this one’s laundry themed!

Visit Method and leave a comment below to enter. The winner will be announced on Monday. Good luck!

P.S. — One quick note: The contest is limited to US + Canada residents only and excludes Quebec. Darn! It’s due to pesky restrictions about international shipping of liquids.

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Louise is the lucky winner. Thanks for playing!

I’m a big fan of delicate, understated jewelry. But sometimes I crave the addition of an outrageously out-of-place piece to really make a bold statement. Neon and rhinestones with a worn tee, perhaps. Or a necklace that weighs more than Baby June!

Do you know any tricks to pulling off this sort of look effortlessly? Is it more about matching, or more about not matching?

Tom Binns beauty, as seen here.

P.S. — You’re going to laugh, but I get a ton of compliments whenever I wear a silver chain that was given to me at a conference to hold my credentials. Without the Hello! My Name Is Gabrielle tag, it really is quite lovely! Do you ever receive a compliment about something you’re wearing and find yourself embarrassed and answering “Oh! It cost only a few dollars!” Why do we do that?!

It’s here! Olive Us has officially launched. Tiger in a Jar — the amazing video crew who put this together — has been working round the clock to finish up the edits. And I’m crazy excited about how it turned out! I hope you are too. : ) I can’t wait to hear what you think of it.

Things you can do to join in the fun:

- Watch our pilot episode. It’s called Garden Day. It was made with love!

- Check out the new Olive Us website. You can find out more about the show there, including FAQs and bios of the kids. There’s even a video of Ben Blair talking about the aims of the series.

- Subscribe to Olive Us! We’ll be sharing new videos every week and we don’t want you to miss out.

- Tell your friends. We’d love help getting the word out about Olive Us. If you like what you see, feel free to share the videos on Facebook or your own blog or wherever you like to share things.

We hope you enjoy the first episode. A huge thanks to Pottery Barn Kids for being the sponsor — they’ve been so fun to work with, and their faith in the idea made the series a possibility.

P.S. — Oscar made up the song at the end on the video. Hah!

Source List

I worked hard on the props and styling for each shot. From glimpses of the series on Instagram and the teaser videos, I’ve already been getting questions about some of the objects and clothes in the videos. So I’ll plan on including a source list for every episode. Here’s the first one! Since Pottery Barn Kids is the awesome sponsor for this episode, we sourced as much as we could from them. Anything not on the list, is from our personal collection or belongs to the homeowners here at La Cressonnière.

Gardening Props & Equipment

Tiny wheelbarrow, gardening gloves, kid-size potting table, flower seed tins, birdhouse, red lantern, chalkboard plant labels, butterfly nets — all from Pottery Barn Kids.

Twine, red hand rake, kid size rake & shovel, and pale blue watering can are from Intermarché.

Wardrobe

June’s gingham dress is from Kayce Hughes.

Betty’s gingham skirt, Betty’s red sweater, and Oscar’s red polo are from Olive Juice Kids.

Betty’s boots, Oscar’s plaid button down, Maude’s red stripe hoodie and Olive’s navy print hoodie are from Polarn O. Pyret.

Ralph’s green jacket and June’s chambray jacket are from Zara Kids.

June’s heart print hoodie is from HEMA.

Red and yellow wellies by Hunter.

I love being a grown-up. It’s honestly one of the greatest jobs I’ve ever had. They let me drive a car, vote, buy an expensive piece of art or shoes if I so choose, and have six children! Total bonus. But sometimes I miss the carefree days of my childhood, when responsibilities were few and I didn’t have to drive a car or wear shoes! I’m curious: What’s the one thing you miss most about being a kid? A few friends were kind enough to reach into their memories and share their favorites with us. Let the conversation begin!

Kate at Explore with Twine:
The lack of responsibility. I miss being able to wander off and play whatever and wherever I wanted for long periods of time. As an adult with kids as my responsibility, my playtime is severely limited by the demands of my kid. I provide routine for him, but routine seems to squelch creativity so I have to be creative — and constantly aware of my time management — to squeeze in playtime for me. That awareness wasn’t present as a kid, which is one reason why the perception of time is different for adults!

Jen of Family Sponge:
Just being in the moment. I have to try extremely hard now to really stop and smell the roses, taste my food as I eat it, and just be in awe of my beautiful surroundings. When I was little, every day was an in-the-moment adventure and I just soaked it in. I would love to have that back.

Chris Ann of LoveFeast Table:
The freedom of laying in the grass and running barefoot through the poplars shaking out the sparrows on a warm summer evening.

Kristin, also of LoveFeast Table:
I want to remember the simplest of childhood pleasures – like jumping in mud puddles. The other day, there were sounds of screeching and giggling so I opened the curtain and peeked outside. Three of my kids sneaked out of the house during a rain shower and were jumping in all the grassy mud puddles. I don’t want to be so scheduled or disciplined or grown up to enjoy even the dirtiest of days that life brings my way!

Shelley of A Story About Faith:
I miss sitting on my father’s lap. When I was sad or having a problem, he would pat his leg as an invitation to climb up. He was a big man, and I would snuggle into the curve of his arm and listen to whatever wise advise he had to offer. Mostly he would say, “I love you, kid” and then remind me how special I was. I always left his lap feeling safe and loved and worthy. I miss that more than I can say now that he’s gone.

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Thank you so much for sharing the best of your childhoods with us! Shelley, you made me cry! And now it’s your turn, Friends: What’s the one thing you miss most about being a kid? Who’s up for a sweet trip down Memory Lane?

Glittery bare feet found via Bippity Boppity Boo.

P.S. — You can catch all of our Design Mom Asks conversations right here. If you’d like to participate in the next one, drop me a note. I’d love to hear from you!

Any time I want a wholly realistic dose of living with kids, I head over to Dos Family. I adore those two women and their cool broods! And they have the most genius and free ideas about designing kids’ spaces. There are IKEA rings on which to swing above beds and wallpaper to color on a whim and messes. Lots of messes.

Sometimes I wish I was a little better with the lots of messes part, don’t you?

P.S. — Running a lot late on this week’s Living With Kids tour, mostly due to an hour or so scrolling through past interviews! Remember this one? And this one? So many good ideas! Remember: If you’d like to share your home with us, drop me a note! I’d love to hear from you!

Anna sent me a link to this article about Shops in Trucks and I loved it! The topic reminded me of one of the panels at Mom 2.0, where we heard from Pilar Guzman, the Editor-in-Chief of Martha Stewart Living. She mentioned the magazine loved highlighting creative entrepreneurs who had left Corporate America and were pursuing their dreams on tiny farms, in small studios and backyard workshops. And that in the long-standing tradition of entrepreneurs, they had to know everything about their business — how to make the product, but also how to program the website and handle social media too. Very different from cubicle life!

I love stories of entrepreneurs and micro businesses and people pursuing their passion. And I love the idea of little shops on wheels! I’ve eaten at plenty of food trucks, but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered something like a mobile shoe store. Maybe on my next trip to the States! Have you ever seen one? Shopped from one? If you opened a shop on wheels, what would you sell?

P.S. — Pictured here: The Vintage Mobile (it used to be a school bus), Lodekka double decker dress shop, and Wanderlust mobile shop (made from a camper).

Question:
Hi Gabrielle! Could you please give me some advice? My baby is turning 3 this year and I’m thinking about getting pregnant again. How did you decide to space your kids? How do you know it’s time to have another one or if you’re done? I appreciate your thoughts. — Thanks, Jeannie.

Answer:
Wow. That’s a big question, Jeannie! But I’m game. As far as spacing goes, in my head, I always thought I’d have babies about two years apart until I was done. But that never happened. Here’s what did happen:

Ralph and Maude are 18 months apart.
Maude and Olive are 2 1/2 years apart.
Olive and Oscar are 3 1/2 years apart.
Oscar and Betty are 16 months apart.
Betty and June are 4 years apart.

It turns out, not everyone has control of when and if they’ll conceive (or adopt). Me included. So first off, even if you make a plan, know that you may or may not be able to stick with it. And that it will all work out either way.

Here are my thoughts on what I experienced. Sixteen months apart was definitely the trickiest. It’s not twins, but it’s still two babies. I won’t lie, it can be rough. But the nice thing is, if you have a hard time enjoying a certain stage — say the diaper years, or the preschool phase —  you move on to the next part of life really fast. Having kids close in age is efficient! Another nice thing is a built in playmate. Oscar and Betty have been inseparable for years. I’m sure that will change at some point, but it’s been wonderful as we’ve moved from New York to Colorado to France.

In contrast, 4 years apart was by far the easiest on me as a mother. By the time June was born, Betty could get herself dressed, get herself a snack and entertain herself pretty well. She was old enough to be comfortable at preschool and was good company when I was hanging out nursing Baby June — Betty was even old enough to be able to get me a drink of water. : ) But four years is a lot. Two years in and Betty and June definitely don’t have a buddy relationship. It’s much more of a big sister/baby sister thing. Who knows if they’ll ever be close friends. I hope so. But who knows?

And really, some of this is just luck of the draw. I’m sure we all know plenty of siblings who are close in age, but not close emotionally. Or the opposite. In our family, Ralph and Olive are 4 years apart but they’ve turned out to be great friends. They really enjoy hanging out together! So it seems like sibling spacing is really one of those no one-can-predict sort of things.

My advice: listen to those instincts of yours. If you feel like you would be completely overwhelmed to find yourself morning sick or caring for a newborn, perhaps it’s still time to wait. On the other hand, if you’re obsessed with babies and find yourself staring dreamily at maternity clothes, maybe it’s time for the next baby. And for those of you who pray (I’m one of you), this is the perfect sort of thing to pray about.

I’ll end with the “how do you know when you’re done” part. I’ve probably had this exact conversation with at least 100 women — and some men too! People approach the decision so differently. We knew we were done at 6. Earlier in our marriage, I might have guessed that we’d have 7 or 8 or even 9. But by the time we actually got to 6 we knew it was enough. Six just felt like our max.

But again, everyone approaches it differently. In Nie Nie’s book, she mentioned that she purchased a kitchen table that would seat 8 people — and she intended to fill it. Others assume they’ll have a certain number of children but then find they can’t conceive again after the first baby. Or they can’t conceive at all. Some people have a plan from the beginning, others kind of wing it and see what happens. And still others find themselves on the adoption trail and are bound by budgets and other people’s decisions. It’s tricky stuff!

Dear Readers, I know you have lots of great experience in this area. Please share! How did you decide to space your kids? When/how did you know you were done growing your family? How close in age are you to your own brothers and sisters?

P.S. — Want more? Here’s an earlier related post called Having Another Child.

When I send off the questions for my favorite authors to answer, I do so with my fingers crossed. Will he be as creative as I imagined? Will she be as whimsical as her words? Magical? Witty? One-of-a-kind wonderful? Oh, I have impossibly high hopes for all of them, and yet they somehow always turn out to be true! Children’s book authors are a very cool breed! So here is my latest revelation: Liz Garton Scanlon is just as open-hearted, just as joyous, and just as imaginative and charming as her books. More so. I know you’re going to enjoy her answers. Her response to where she’d choose to live for one year touched me so…and made me miss my sister even more. Please enjoy Liz!

Q: I always ask about childhoods. For some reason, we all half-believe that a creative mind like yours was inherited!

A: I grew up in Colorado with a lot of wild space and what we now call “unstructured time” at my disposal — both of which feed the creative imagination, I think. While neither of my parents are artists per se, my mother is a lover of the arts — she introduced us to music and dance and theater — and has a highly developed and enviable aesthetic. And, she could make anything — strawberry jam, candles, clothing, curtains. My dad is an adventurer, a risk-taker, a man of strong passions. I think some combination of those influences translated into art being a viable choice for me, which is a really lucky thing. I don’t know if they’ve been surprised by what I’ve chosen to do, but they’ve been immensely patient, supportive and proud.

As for my own kids…wow. Their creative chops far exceed my own. They’re both musicians (thanks to hard work and their dad’s genes), they both sew beautifully (and fearlessly), one knits, one is becoming a terrific photographer, they make these amazing stop-motion videos. And, I know I’m biased here, but they’re both becoming very fine writers. I’m totally inspired by my daughters.

Q: We’d love to hear about your studio and where you’re most creative. What’s your view while you work?

A: I work, mostly, in my closet-sized studio at an old library table. It’s not the most space-efficient piece of furniture but the wood is chinked and well-worn and it serves as a tangible connection to the outside world, and to my readers. I have to work in silence when I’m writing, but I listen to Pandora when I’m building PowerPoints or answering email. I have lots of little talismans on my shelves and desk — little bits of beauty or nostalgia — stones, seed pods, charms, baby pictures of my kids. I figure I need all the help I can get!

Q: When did you first realize that you were great at writing stories and making wildly popular books? When did the world realize this, too?

A: Ha! Trick question! I suffer from the all-too-common Imposter’s Syndrome. I’m constantly worried that “they” are going to find out that I don’t know what I’m doing! In the meantime, though, I am in the very lucky position of having a number of books in the pipeline — one almost ready to launch, a couple being illustrated, a couple more at the editorial stage still. And while this momentum doesn’t mean I’ve got it all figured out, it does make me feel legit enough to carry on.

Q: What was the first book that made you cry?

A: There may have been earlier ones, but the one I remember viscerally was Where the Red Fern Grows. I cry a lot when I read aloud. I just finished reading Moon Over Manifest to my girls and I was a sobbing mess at the end.

Q: The greatest honor you’ve ever been given…

A: I’ve received some truly generous public recognition of my work — from a children’s dance troupe adapting my first book (A Sock Is a Pocket for Your Toes), to Joanne Woodward narrating a video of my second book (All the World), to seeing my third book (Noodle & Lou) in boxes of Cheerios. Not to mention some highly flattering reviews and the Caldecott Honor! But I think it is when I receive letters — from children, parents, and librarians — that I feel most honored. I cannot believe my books are out there in the real world, being read by real people who find themselves moved enough to write to me. It’s mind boggling.

Q: What’s the best professional advice you’ve ever received?

A: Listen to your gut. Then go for it.

Q: And how about the best personal advice?

A: Same as above. The better I get at paying credence to my own intuition, the better my life and work seem to be.

Q: If you could live anywhere else in the world for one year, where would you choose? And why?

A: I have to pick one? There are so many places I’d love to experience more deeply than as a visitor, and so many people I’d like to connect with. (I don’t have a great shoe collection, or a nice car, but I’m always willing to spend all my extra pennies on travel.)

I’d love to live in Mexico or South or Latin America and get my Spanish back in shape; I’d love to live very rurally and become more self-resourceful; I’d love to live in a little apartment in a big European city and walk to the shops and the museums and the cafes. I’d love to live in a some place very, very foreign so that I was knocked off-kilter and had to find my footing again. I’d love to live right next door to my sister so that we could share pots of soup. I’m happy where I am, but there are lots of adventures I’d be open to.

Q: What has been the best, most memorable response to your work from a reader?

A: Besides the letters and emails I receive, the most exciting responses to my work come during school visits. The students I speak with ask the funniest questions and tell the most earnest, heartfelt stories. I think my favorite moments are when one of them will tip-toe up to me after a presentation and say softly, “I’m an author, too.”

Q: If we could only read one of your books, which one would tell us the most about you? How so?

A: Probably All the World. All of my other books are in that book, really. It sounds corny to say, but the love of nature and community, the joy of food and music, the understanding of ups and downs? Those things really are what I care about and believe in and what I hope will show up, in little and big ways, in all my work.

Q: What’s next for you?

A: My next book is called Think Big, and it’s about art — all kinds of art! Illustrator Vanessa Newton used a combination of digital imagery and collage — it’s really exciting. Then, after that, comes a book called Happy Birthday, Bunny, due out in early 2013. The illustrations are almost done on that book, too, and it’s some of the warmest, sweetest work I’ve ever seen (thanks to artist Stephanie Graegin). In the meantime, I’ve promised myself and my critique group that I would finish a draft of a middle grade novel that I’ve had in my head for a long time but can’t seem to get down on paper. Now’s the time…

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Thank you, Liz, for adding your warmth to Design Mom. I will miss our email exchanges! Please keep us posted on that young adult novel, will you?

Friends, what would your all-time favorite children’s book tell us about you? Have you ever thought about that?

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You can find the entire Author Interview Series here.

Let’s pretend you’re a NY fashion designer. You’ve been the Head Designer at Betsey Johnson, Heatherette, and currently act as a freelance designer for Anna Sui. You are, as they say, major. And then you have a daughter. What do you do then?

If you’re Pamela Thompson, you open up a resale clothing and accessory shop for Barbie dolls, and appoint your baby as CEO!

There’s so much to love about the Tiny Frock Shop. From this flutter-sleeve Angora sweater to a stylin’ surfing suit just in time for beach season, it’s all affordable (Vogue worthy fashion and accessories for 12” dolls for milk money prices!) and accompanied by such cute and real descriptions (“It’s hard to imagine your life before you owned this sweater…” Ha!).

The models are the best dolls in the business — read their awesome bios here — and the behind-the-scenes of the photo shoots are crazy-wonderful! All photographed by Ken, of course.

Whatever your opinions on or experiences with Barbie, doesn’t the Tiny Frock Shop make you smile and maybe even — gasp! — want your own Barbie? Me, too!

P.S. — Growing up, my mom wouldn’t let us play with Barbies! I was also hesitant with my own girls, but then I found super charming handmade clothes on Etsy and didn’t mind as much anymore. How do you feel about Barbie dolls?

Hello, Friends. How’s it going? Will you be doing anything special for Mother’s Day? Maybe a brunch? Breakfast in bed?

I know this can be a really emotional weekend for so many people — maybe you miss your mother, or wish you had a different relationship with your mother, or you’re aching to become a mother, or feeling overwhelmed or inadequate with your mothering duties, or maybe you’re not feeling recognized for your contributions as a mother. For all of you hurting, I feel for you! I’ve absolutely dreaded Mother’s Day on many years.

This year, to make sure I stay in good spirits, I’m keeping my expectations simple: we’ll call our moms, and hopefully I’ll work in a little extra sleep somewhere. That sounds like a perfect Mother’s Day to me!

In other news, do you know what I just did that felt so good? I cleaned up my Pinterest boards. Hah! My boards were looking kind of sad, so I went in and wiped out about half of them. For reals! I’ve consolidated to 18 and think I might get it down to 15 or 16. My kitchen could still use a spring cleaning, but hey, my Pinterest boards are sparkly and bright. : ) How do you like to Pinterest? Do you keep dozens of boards or are you a minimalist? Are you on daily, weekly — or not much at all?

And before I slip off to yet another tangent, here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
- Wind-up paper butterflies.
- Rainbow panorama.
- Did this make anyone else cry happy tears?
- White with accents of neutral.
- DIY plant labels. Love this idea!
- Kacy sent me The Night Circus – the visual descriptions are so compelling, I want it to be a movie! Have you read it?
- Also from Kacy, this made me laugh really hard.
- Peppermint lemon sticks.
- Gorgeous new site, Elizabeth Street, interviewed me. You can find it here if you’d like to read it.

I also write for Babble. Here are this week’s posts:
- Got bangs? 15 inspirations for your fringe.
- Introducing Mom, Inc. — a new book that will help you launch your business.
- Luxe Lego jewelry. For reals!
- Your go to source for hipster sunglasses.
- Have you ever wanted to put abstract art in your home? Try these.
- The coolest wallpapers for kids (adults love them too!).

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! And I hope you can find joy on Mother’s Day no matter what. If you’re feeling down, know that I’m rooting for you! I’ll see you back here on Monday. I miss you already.

kisses,
Gabrielle

P.S. — The grass is taller than she is! More from my instagram feed here.

Ready for another Olive Us update? Here’s the extended trailer! Are you still excited? I sure am. And I still have butterflies. You guys had lots of great questions on the last post and I didn’t get a chance to comment, so I’ll answer some of them here.

Q. Is it called Olive Us as in I Love Us? Or, as in All of Us?

A. The second one. It’s Olive Us as in All of Us. Cute, no?

Q. Why Olive? How come she’s so special?

A. Olive is our 3rd child. Third children are notorious for not getting enough attention. Seriously, there are all sorts of books written about birth order and 3rd kids have a hard time of it. So Ben Blair and I have been trying to come up with a project to highlight Olive’s talents. She’s great in front of a camera, so we thought it would be fun to create a little show where she’s the hostess. We knew the other kids would also want to be involved, so the name Olive Us was perfect!

The format of the show has changed since we first conceived it last summer — in fact, the episodes we’ve shot so far don’t feature a hostess at all. But we stuck with the name, and we still think of this as Olive’s project.

Q. How do you feel about kids and privacy on the web?

A. I get asked this question frequently, so I should probably put it in my FAQs. : ) I’m not sure how satisfying my answer will be to you. Basically, it’s never been a thing I’ve worried about. Before I even started blogging, I remember talking to a co-worker about privacy. She asked me: If the New York Times called and wanted to do a profile on you as a graphic designer, would you share your kids’ names? And I was like: Yes! For sure. (I love my kids names and like to tell them to anyone who wants to hear — Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar, Betty and Flora June. So great!) But my co-worker was adamant that she would never share her kids names in a public forum like that.

So I suppose it’s just one of those things. Either you’re comfortable with it. Or you’re not. No stress either way. As parents, Ben Blair and I continue to talk about this and so far, we feel good about our decisions.

Q. What is Olive Us about?

A. Ooooh. Good question. And challenging, because we’re still trying to figure out how to describe it. We’re trying lots of things and experimenting with different formats, so the description is still a moving target. But I’ll try: Olive Us will be a show that will appeal to both children and parents. It will be beautiful and inspiring. It will encourage your family to get up and do or make or move.

Episodes will be short — around 2 to 5 minutes. One was shot documentary style. Another is a cooking segment. And another will be a charming cultural peek at life here. What they’ll all share in common is beautifully shot footage, great music, and happy vibes.

Lastly, we aim to show healthy, happy relationships between siblings. We feel worn down by the super-sarcastic dialogue we hear on shows aimed at kids — especially between brothers and sisters. We want to share a more positive take.

Q. Bad mama! Why aren’t the kids wearing helmets during the bike riding scenes?

A. Ugh. So sorry! I should know better than to model a bad habit like that. Will you cut me some slack if I tell you it’s a cultural thing? The only riders I see wearing helmets here in the French countryside are serious road bikers who are prepping for the Tour de France. As for kids on scooters, bikes and skateboards, helmets are pretty much non-existent. So as I was pulling together props and equipment, it didn’t really cross my mind. But again, I should know better! Sorry about that.

Q. When does Olive Us launch?

Next week! The first episode is still being tightened up in editing, but it’s almost done. I hope you will love it! I can’t believe how nervous I am about the whole thing. That’s just the way it goes with a new project — the family has poured heart and soul into this and we want it to be so good!

We bought the url http://oliveus.tv and plan to have all the episodes live there. But something is wonky with the url registration and we seem to be stuck for a minute. I’ll let you know when the site is ready to go. It will have more FAQs, behind the scenes footage, and short bios about the kids. For now, you can watch both trailers here.

Thanks again for all your kind words last week. Such encouragement! I really, truly, sincerely appreciate it.

P.S. — Once again, the music is by Geoff Groberg. And the video was shot and edited by Tiger in a Jar.

Need a last minute gift for Mother’s Day? I can’t recommend Stephanie’s Nielson’s book, Heaven Is Here, highly enough. Her story is so compelling, you will devour it, I swear!

It’s hard for me to imagine that there’s anyone who hasn’t heard of Nie Nie Dialogues — Stephanie’s story or her wonderful blog — but in case it’s new to you, here’s a recap: Stephanie, a young mother of 4, kept a charming and beautiful blog celebrating the joys of being a mother. Then one day, she and her husband were in a devastating plane crash that left her with burns over 80% of her body. I’m sure you can imagine, it was heart-breaking for everyone who knew Stephanie — including her blog readers, and we all kept reading faithfully for any updates or news.

Since 2008, she has slowly and miraculously recovered — and even had baby number 5! She continues to keep up her blog and it is still charming, beautiful and a celebration of the joy of motherhood. It’s one of my daily reads. So inspiring!

Heaven Is Here, is Stephanie’s recently published memoir. And it is seriously gripping. It will make you laugh and cry and it will make you want to be better. I hope you get a chance to read it!

Side note: I met Stephanie for the first time when she was a teenager, because Ben Blair grew up around the corner from Steph’s family. Small world! Stephanie and her sister, Courtney, were even some of my first guest bloggers on Design Mom.

P.S. — Don’t you love giving books as last-minute gifts? What are you giving your mom for Mother’s Day?

Have you heard of The Global Poverty Project? They’ve issued a challenge to live on $1.50 worth of food a day for five days, which is the budget for the over 1.4 billion living in poverty worldwide. It’s shocking and seemingly impossible to imagine or accomplish without much suffering. Even more so when I remember that it’s not a challenge and an actual reality for a whole lot of people.

Heartbreaking.

There’s a video about the five-day challenge here. Would you ever take the dare? I don’t know if I could stick with it.

Blackberries photographed by Brian W. Ferry.

You are going to love today’s giveaway! The super hip shop, House 8810, is offering $150 gift certificate. Hooray!

House 8810 is one my favorite sources for really hip, cool house products. Their wares make fantastic, affordable gifts — perfect for housewarming parties and hostesses. And it’s always fun to browse their site!

$150 goes a long way at House 8810. If I won, I would fill my cart with cute party supplies — like Hello napkins or polkadot straws, new linens to freshen up my kitchen, something fun for the kids, and a wind-up robot for Ben Blair. And I still wouldn’t be anywhere near $150!

Visit House 8810 and leave a comment below to enter. The winner will be announced on Monday. Good luck!

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Wolfie is the lucky winner. Thanks for playing!

Bringing the outside in is a highly-used decorating concept and has been for ages, but designer Dorothee Schumacher takes it to a whole new and über cool level. It helps to have a sun room that looks more like a greenhouse. : )

Originally, I wanted to ask you about plants: how many you have in your home and which ones bring you the most happiness and which ones survive even the blackest of thumbs. But, honestly? I really want to talk about Dorothee’s miniature horse! Now that is bringing the outside in!

Do you have pets? Are they allowed in the house? On the furniture? Kitchen counter-tops? In your bed? Tell me everything! I’m so curious!

More of Dorothee’s home on The Selby.