Long Weekend

Hello Friends. I'm taking tomorrow and Monday off. We've got cousins coming to town, and Labor Day to celebrate, and some back to school preparations to complete. I'll be back Tuesday, September 4th with the Lovely Kyran from Notes to Self visiting as Guest Mom. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few fun links:

Your Momma
A new company that features only products made by Moms. Moms are the best multi-taskers.

Mimi Lou Wall Art by Zoe B
I like this take on wall and furniture decals. You can see their ideas to get inspired here.

Glitz Design
A new line of scrapbooking papers and accessories that's getting a lot of attention. Extra bonus: the founder of Glitz is a friend of my friend: the super-cool Liz of Backward's Attraction.

Hey Peanut
An online shop with clothes just for baby and toddler boys.

Mama Merit Badges
Don't you know a mom who deserves a merit badge?

Street Mining
Love this mention by Swiss Miss about people getting together and exploring the streets of New York. (Thanks, Laurie!)

Six-Word-Memoirs
"He wore dresses. This caused messes." Read the six word memoirs at Smith Mag. Or even better, submit your own.

Lego Desk
Yep. Made entirely from Legos. Personally, I interact with Legos on a daily basis and can't help notice links like this.

Happy weekend, everybody!

Crispina

I've posted before about the potholder rugs made by Crispina. But I had never actually seen one in real life. Until the gift show. And I have to say, they are even more wonderful in person. In fact, the Crispina booth was possibly my favorite of the whole show. Crispina products are thick with color and texture and beauty.

The photo above shows 3 rugs folded and stacked, resting on a yellow rug that's covering the floor. I can't say "thick" enough when describing these cozy rugs. And apparently, with a quick phone call, they can make a rug in colors perfectly suited to your decor.



And it's clear that when they talk eco or earth friendly, they are the real deal. The materials in everything they make have had a previous life. Their products are literally, and visibly-to-the-naked-eye recycled. In the purest sense of the word.



I especially love the bed they had set up in the booth. It was impossibly welcoming. And not just because I was Gift-Show-tired. Can you see the orange and yellow pieced blanket with circles? I couldn't stop touching it. And all those cozy pillows.

There's something a bit untidy about the edges and construction that make Crispina products seem especially family friendly. Life with kids is, in fact, untidy. But with products like these, untidy looks pretty great.

Design Mom was Hatched in the Hive

There are three places in the country that I feel completely at home. New York. California. And most of all, Utah. It's where I grew up. It's where I went to college. It's where I met my husband and married. It's where my first two babies were born. The beehive state is a beautiful place.

If you're a Utah fan as well. (Who isn't?) You'll love the daily blog Your Heart Out — dedicated to all things cool in Salt Lake City, the hippest town in the Mountain West. My sister Jordan turned me on to the site when it was just born and I was an instant fan. The writing is excellent and the site design is flawless. Bonus: it gives me a Utah fix when I'm feeling homesick.



And today I was blushing as I checked in at Your Heart Out. Because they wrote up the nicest little interview featuring yours truly. So here's a big thank you to the ladies responsible for the lovely site. I'm honored. Especially considering the talented women that have already been featured, like Abby of Kate Spade fame and Rachel from beloved Darlybird. (You can click the "hatched in the hive" category to see all the interviews.)

Your Heart Out, you totally made my day.

Giveaway Winner — 3 Go Slings from Puj Baby

Hooray! Another great Giveaway completed. Such a satisfying feeling. And now the best part: announcing the three winners of the three Go Slings from Puj Baby!!

1) Korrin who said, "Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please pick me I would love one."

2) Kelly who said, "heavens that's a lot of competition. i hope i win... they are all so beautiful."

3) Lisa V. Clark who said, "I really need one of these. Did I mention this is my 5th baby? Don't I get special consideration?"

Thanks again to everyone who entered the Giveaway. Thanks to Puj Baby. And thanks for reading. I heart this lovely Design Mom community.

One more from Mélange

I don't remember seeing these at the show, but I just noticed them when I was linking to the Mélange site on the last post. Check out their hammocks. So pretty. I think I want to spend my last days of summer in one of these.

Giveaway Reminder — 3 Go Slings from Puj Baby

Don't forget! You have until tonight (Wednesday) at midnight to enter your name for one of three Go Slings from Puj Baby. Just leave a comment on that post.


And speaking of three, I forgot to tell you about the birthday celebration this weekend. The lovely and talented Erin (my sister-in-law) baked three cakes — that's right, three! — for the big party. Her son Colin, and my Olive and Ralph all share a birthday weekend and lucky for me, we live close enough to celebrate together.

The cakes were both delicious and beautiful. I loved how she used fondant for the Barbie dress. It drapes like fabric. And I especially loved that my assignment for the party was to simply show up with ice cream. Thank you Erin!

Mélange Knitted Creatures

Another company I loved chatting with at the Gift Show was Mélange. I had noticed and loved their knitted holiday items last year, so I spent a bit more time this year getting to know their products. I couldn't help myself and took lots of pictures of their pillows and these fantastic sea creatures. The red blowfish is too funny.

Blue Poppy Jewelry

Tracey, one of the super-talents I met at BlogHer, and an all around really wonderful person, just told me about a new jewelry line called Blue Poppy. Beautiful, subtle pieces that I'm just delighted to share with you.




These earrings — hand-tinted marble inlaid with drops of sterling — are my favorite. I can imagine wearing them everyday and never getting tired of them.

More School Supplies

Spotted these at Old Navy. Composition books, spiral notebooks, 2 pocket folders, journals. My kids don't need them, but I couldn't pass them up. I'll put them in the school-supplies bin and eventually they'll be used for something. (I was too hurried taking pictures and didn't remove the shrinkwrap, so they look a bit faded. Oops.)

Random Giveaway: 3 Go Slings by PUJ

Oh baby! I love this giveaway. Multiple winners. Three to be exact. Which means multiple happy people when they find out they've won. Which is great. Happy people are great. Enter your comment and be one of three happy people to win A GO SLING OF YOUR CHOICE FROM PUJ.



It's clear to me from the comments in the recent bouncer giveaway, that pretty much everyone who reads this blog is expecting. Or related to someone who is expecting. So you for sure want to get in on this Giveaway. Because these slings are gorgeous. And if you don't want to keep one for yourself, you'll give it as a gift and win yourself a friend for life.

Mothers-in-the-know have very strong opinions about slings. With good reason. If you love your sling, you'll use it like crazy. If you don't love your sling, it's just more baby gear to pile in the closet. Go Slings are pretty new to the sling scene. But clearly they're contenders. Check this short and helpful video to see how easy these slings are to use:



And even if I disregard the ease-of-use, I'm a Go-Sling fan just because of the gorgeous fabric and pattern combinations — machine washable, I should add.



But the thing I love the very most of all: having held a Go Sling in my hand, I can tell you that they fold up to practically nothing, and could easily keep your other handbag contents company without getting in the way.



Happy people, get commenting. Three chances to win is some good odds.

Thank you Puj!

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Random Giveaway Guidelines:
-You have until midnight PST on Wednesday, August 29th 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.
-The winner will be randomly picked and announced Thursday morning.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Fleurville

Another Gift Show find. I fell in love with the diaper bags offered by Fleurville. These are the kinds of bags to pick up for your friends who are ultra-stylish plus ultra-organized. Or who wish they were. There are convenient compartments for every conceivable thing you could carry in a diaper bag and features you don't even know you need until you have a baby.



Plus they totally get the diaper bag equation (as the baby grows, you carry less stuff). They offer their bags in smaller sizes too for when you no longer need a full-on diaper bag.


Fleurville's latest line, Re-Run, is made from recycled water bottles. How great is that? And extra bonus, the media pockets are lined with fleece, so you don't scratch the surface of your ipod or camera or phone. So smart. And the Re-Run is offered in a super-cool stroller bag option as well.


In addition to dozens of Mom bags, they also offer the DJ Bag — the preferred bag for Dad. Manly. But with all the requisite pockets.



Once you're hooked on the Fleurville lifestyle, you can continue loving their products as your kids move into school age — check out their very sturdy, well-designed backpacks/messenger bags and their lunch paks too. Great company. Great products.

Kids Factory

Design Mom Reader, Debra, mentioned in the comments of this post that she found lots of inspirational photos of childrens' rooms at this site. I checked it out and I'm so glad I did. Wonderful, wonderful photos. The site is in Dutch, but the pictures don't need translation. Note: click the "baby & kinderkamers" link near the bottom to find the most photos.

Thank you for the tip, Debra!

Readymech Paper Toys

Erin sent me a link to this genius site.

From the website: Readymechs are free, flatpack toys for you to print and build. They are designed to fit on an 8.5"x11" page and printed with any printer. You’ll need double-sided tape, thick matte paper, and 10-15 minutes for build time.

I predict my school-age kids will have hours and hours of fun with this.

Joslyn's Renewed Ranch

Hey Friends. It's been awhile, and I think it's time for another family friendly home tour. Over the weekend, Joslyn T. (author of the new-to-me and really pretty blog Simply Lovely) sent me a couple shots of her kids' rooms. The photos are fantastic. So I begged for more and she kindly obliged with a flickr slide show of her home. I'm including a few shots on this post, but I highly recommend you take the full tour here.




Joslyn seems to have a special talent for putting together compositions. On dressers, on side tables, on bookshelves — I love when my eyes have a pretty place to rest.



The decorating job is inspiring. It's a great example of a really seamless job of making the house feel true to it's mid-century roots while keeping it fresh and up-to-date. Beautiful, beautiful home. Thanks for sharing, Joslyn.

Modern Design Deck

I just received an email from Still Room Studio. They are offering these amazing prints from their Modern Design Deck in their etsy shop. Wouldn't you love to see a series of these lined up in your living room? Or maybe just one, framed with a heavy mat, hung over your nightstand. Having them in your home would be like giving your kids a history of design class.

Good Bye Debra

I loved having Debra of Twisted Silver with us last week as a Guest Mom. Her stories bring smiles and her generosity (read: sponsoring a $400 Giveaway) is clearly amazing. It was fun to get to know her and I look forward to keeping up with her at the Twisted Silver blog. Thank you Debra!!

Giveaway Winner — Twisted Silver Jewelry

So many entries! And I'm not surprised a bit. Who wouldn't want a major jewelry overhaul? Thank you for entering the $400 Twisted Silver Giveaway. Today's randomly picked winner is:

Robin K who said, "Wow! I'm definitely in!"

Congratulations, Robin K! Please email me from the link on my blog with your shipping address and I'll forward your info to Twisted Silver.

Thanks again to everyone who entered the Giveaway. Thanks to Twisted Silver. And thanks for reading. Stay tuned for another great Giveaway on Tuesday.

Giveaway Reminder — $400 at Twisted Jewelry

You have until midnight on Sunday 8/26 to enter your comment for $400 worth of Twisted Jewelry — a necklace, a necklace/belt, a bracelet, 2 pairs of earrings and a $100 gift certificate!!. Just leave your comment on that post. Good luck to all!

Baby Bear Shop

High design meets pure organic ingredients. This line of products for baby and mama look fantastic! I can't wait to try some. Developed by a designer-turned-mom-turned-skincare-guru.


I especially love the packing on the "All The Better To Kiss You With" organic lip balm.

From their website:
Our products are 99.9% organic, have 100% natural ingredients, contain no artificial anything and are free of common allergens. There are no artificial colors or fragrances, no synthetic preservatives, no genetically-modified ingredients, and have absolutely no parabens. Only the safest, highest-quality organic or wild-crafted essential oils are used, and therefore all of the products are safe for children and adults, and are helpful in soothing eczema and other allergy conditions.

Because our commitment to health and well-being extends beyond the skin, Baby Bear Shop only uses recyclable packaging for their products. We are 100% cruelty-free; never tested on animals. We believe that every day is a new chance to make the best choices for our children, their future and the world we live in.

Sounds like a great company.

Wonder Pets

Two year old Oscar's media diet is currently about 45% Wiggles, 5% Teletubbies and 50% WonderPets. Of the three, my far and away favorite is the WonderPets. I think it's charming. Go to the Noggin WonderPets page. Scroll down to the TV and click on the caterpillar. Then, prepare yourself to hear the greatest lyrics ever:

They grow a real snug pupa.
A pupa? Supa-Dupa!

You can't beat that my friends. You can't beat that.

Bonus Noggin trivia: Ralph attended tennis camp last week with the daughter of the Voice of Moose A Moose.

This Weekend and Last Weekend

August is a big month at our house. This weekend Olive and Ralph both have birthdays — no big parties this year, but lots of fun plans to celebrate. Then Ben starts his new job at New Paltz on Monday!



Last weekend was also super-festive. Friday night, High School Musical 2 premiered, which was the anticipated event of the summer by the elementary school faction at our house. We had the cousins over for a big party. Pizza, rootbeer floats, plus red and white snacks for movie watching. Red and white? East High Wildcat school colors, of course!



Then, Ben and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on Sunday. Actually. We celebrated Saturday night by visiting the Apple store and picking up one of these. Sadly it's still sitting in its box because I haven't set aside an evening to make the switch from old, sad, 6-year-old-dinosaur computer to new, super-fast, shiny one. It's hard to find a whole unscheduled evening.



Because Ben is a professor he got a discount on the new computer plus a free Ipod Nano. Which works out conveniently for this weekend. The Nano will be a perfect birthday gift for Ralph, who is turning 10. In fact, we picked out the green one just for him. We're going to pre-load it with some of his favorite songs before we wrap it up.

Yeah for Birthdays! Yeah for Anniversaries! Yeah for Apple! Yeah for Candy!