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!!

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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.