Paper Source Calendar

It's not too late to get your 2009 calendar. Heck. It's still January. Sort of. Here's a gorgeous one from Paper Source. On the back of each calendar page are templates to make things like pillow boxes, hang tags, gift tags, bookmarks, and file folders.

It's also not too late to enter the Seven Smooches Giveaway — featuring a $150 gift certificate, plus a lavender filled cashmere dove.You have until Sunday night at Midnight PST. Click here or scroll down for details.

Thanks for the link, Jackie.

Sarah Waldo

Do have a hard time finding pjs/nightgowns for your girls? Me too. Sarah Waldo offers two styles that I love — one's a pj set in seersucker check, one's a nightie with cap sleeves. In addition to the sleepwear, I'm digging the Abigail sweatsuit and the Sylvie pant.

Also. How am I just now finding Sarah Waldo? What a great line — and everything they make is organic.

Oras Clocks

Aren't these clocks beautiful? Made from natural walnut. The hands are available in four colors. Blue, pink, orange and yellow.

Generation Huggies Interviews

So much fun! On Wednesday, I had the chance to interview two of the lucky Generation Huggies Video Winners. It was such a treat. Both were so surprised to have their video chosen. I wrote a post about their experiences over at The Motherhood. Check it out! (By the way, I can't embed the videos here, but you can see all 30 winning entries on the Generation Huggies website.)

Random Giveaway — $150+ at Seven Smooches

Oh my goodness, I am craving a Giveaway. A really good Giveaway. And I've got one. The ladies at the handmade heaven, Seven Smooches, are the sponsors. They're putting up a $150 Gift Certificate for their shop! Plus. A gorgeous Lavender Filled Dove — to calm and comfort you during this troubled winter.



Don't those doves look endlessly cozy? As I've mentioned before, the products coming out of the Seven Smooches shop are gorgeous. And because of the nature of the source materials, every single item is one of a kind. One of a kind. The fall/winter line is made from recycled sweaters. The spring/summer line is made from recycled sheets and feedsacks. Everything is super soft and full of tiny delicate details. All while remaining fully machine washable.

If I had $150 to spend on Seven Smooches products, I don't think I would stop smiling for a week. And I'd have quite the time deciding what to buy. Because each item is prettier than the next. Since it's so chilly this month, the Fall/Winter collection of mittens and sweaters and cozies seem the most tempting.

But maybe I'd pick up something from the Spring/Summer collection instead (the skimmers! the pillow slip! the bonnet!) and stare at it until I willed an early arrival of warm weather.




I want to note, the little dove is accompanied by a little message:

May each day of this year be lovely and kind, full of peace and joy, greeting you like a smile from a child. And my our little dove made of cozy cashmere & calming lavender bring you a bit of comfort, a moment of peace, & a needed smile.

I'm comforted already. Thank you for the generous prize, Seven Smooches!

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Guidelines:
-You have until Midnight PST on Sunday, February 1st to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment ON THIS POST to enter — any comment. One entry per person, please.
-The winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday, February 2nd.
-What are Random Giveaways? Read about them here.

Soiree Dress

My blogging friend, Crabmommy, is a Guest Curator at Etsy this week. She has all sorts of great picks. Go take a peek. I think my favorite is this Soiree dress by Rockerbaby.

More Print Your Own Valentines

From Three Wheels Design. Print your own valentines. Cute robots, smitten pirates, sweet lovebirds, and hearts overflowing. For $3 per design, you get a PDF file and can print as many as you like. It's like DIY but with a little help.

Nesting

Lots of great stuff over at Cookie Magazine's Nesting blog lately. I mean, it's always good stuff. But January has been especially lovely. Here are links to my two most recent posts:

1) An ingenious dishwasher button
2) Gorgeous Animal Counting Prints from Milk Moon Kids

Mexico Peace Prints

I'm no doubt influenced by my recent trip, but these exclusive, limited edition prints by Print*Pattern*Paper are super appealing to me. Half of the artist's proceeds from these posters help fund PEACE's ongoing community programs.

The Fruit Company

Look at the surprise that arrived on our porch. Is there a more perfect package to receive on a snowy, rainy day? Mmmmm. It totally cheered us. And even more important: allowed me to postpone my much needed trip to the grocery store that I've been avoiding because of the ridiculous weather.

Compliments of The Fruit Company — a homegrown company that sources all their pears, apples and stone fruit from neighboring orchards in Oregon. Want to send your own surprise fruit basket to make someone's day? Use the code: designmom to get 15% off.

CPSIA Blogging Day - Save Handmade!

Today is CPSIA Blogging Day. Another big push to get the laws changed and prevent thousands of small business owners — artists and crafters making beautiful handmade items for children — from going under. I wrote about the CPSIA a few weeks ago, you can see the post here.

Some progress has been made since then. Yay! But the effort isn't even close to over yet. Sarah Jane has an excellent post on her blog detailing the situation and what you can do.

Here's a short list:
1) Find out more. Here or here are good places to start.

2) Make your voice heard. USE THE ACTION KIT made by ETSY administration with sample letters to be used to contact all the pertinent representatives.

3) Help spread the word! Put up a post today about CPSIA Blogging Day. Send an email to your friends. Tell your sister about it when she calls. Put a link on kirtsy. Tweet your heart out about it.

I'm guessing that 90% of the products I feature and link to on this blog will be affected by this new law. In most of the cases, the testing fees required will put these micro-businesses in bankruptcy. Can you imagine a world without etsy? That's a sad, sad picture.

Pig + Love

This card by Linda & Harriett has me feeling all Valentine-sy.

Sixx Design

Jordan first introduced me to Sixx Design. The super-fabulous husband-wife team of builder/interior designers, Robert and Cortney Novogratz. When they named their company, they had six children. Thus: Sixx Design. Cute! And now, number 7 — named Major Robert Novogratz — arrived on January 20th. Even cuter!

I can't believe how happy it makes me to know about this family. Lots of kids, and they're not letting that stop them from doing interesting things. Inspiring in every way.




I want their book, Downtown Chic: Designing Your Dream Home: from Wreck to Ravishing, It covers all the Sixx Design projects to date — including the completion of their latest house, a six story glass residence on West street facing the Hudson River.

While I wait for the book release, I'll just covet their home in Great Barrington (pics above). Or their home in Brazil:



Oh. Also. Because I find this family endlessly fascinating, I asked their PR rep if I could send them some email questions. And the answer was yes. So if there's anything in particular you'd like me to ask, let me know.

Blue Lily Photography

Here's some good news: the talented Wendy Whitacre of Blue Lily Photography is coming to New York for a weekend of family portrait sessions. She'll be here May 15th to 18th.

I've already grabbed an appointment with Wendy for Saturday, May 16th. But I asked, and she said she still has few more spots available. So quick, go ahead and grab one. You'll be so glad you did. Not going to be in New York in May? Well. Wendy is based in California. So if you're a West Coaster, you're also in luck.

By the way, you may recognize Wendy's work already — she took the now-famous portraits of Stephanie Nielsen's family.

photo from the Blue Lily children's gallery

Trailer Park Upgrade

This is a mobile home? Hawt. I'm thinking it's the best looking mobile home ever. By architect and furniture designer Christopher C. Deam. Need a guest space — just have one of these delivered to your backyard. : )

Thanks for the link, Eliza!

Winborg Sisters

Colorful, friendly artwork for children's rooms by Winborg Sisters Design.

Twig & Thistle Blog

This morning, on new-to-me blog Twig and Thistle (it's a great one!), I saw two pretty things I wanted to share:

A calendar/book designed by Yoshie Watanabe — with real ribbon worked into each illustration. So beautiful. It's no longer in print, but if anyone finds a source on an existing copy, please let me know. I would love to own one.



And these yummy stamps showcasing Mexican imports. See more examples from the series on the Twig and Thistle post.

Mini Moderns

I love this photo from Mini Moderns featuring their collection of wallpaper designs. Such a great display. Makes me want to find scraps of good-looking fabrics and papers and frame them up.

While I was visiting Mini Moderns' site, I noticed they are offering their designs on canvas bags now too — available by the end of this month. Nice.

Paper Toy Bi-Plane

I know I've mentioned The Toymaker a couple of times in past posts, but whenever someone sends me an email re-introducing me to it, I'm always glad. So I assume you'll be glad too. The 411: FREE patterns for paper toys. From designs that are beautifully hand-painted by artist, Marilyn Scott-Waters.



The talented Chelsea of Frolic wrote to me the other day and said, "My sis (mother of 4) printed these bi-planes for stocking stuffers for her little kiddies at Christmas and I couldn't believe how gorgeous they were. Plus, it was free and the kids went mad over it."

January is probably the perfect time to try these out. It's too cold to be outside so good indoor activities are necessary. And the toy designs are colorful and cheery in contrast with the gray winter weather.

Pinhole Camera Photos

This is interesting. Ever heard of a pinhole camera? Me too. Like maybe in 3rd or 4th grade. My fuzzy memory says we built and used them in a school project. My memory could totally be making that up. Anyway. Sheila Bocchine has built her photography business using only her pinhole camera. She travels the country doing pinhole weddings and portraits.

Says Sheila:
"The pinhole camera is a type of Camera Obscura, the first camera invented in the 1850's. Before it was used as a camera with film, it was a tool to help artists learn to paint and draw with more detail, a tool devised to help tell time and a tool used by scientists for observing a solar eclipse.

My pinhole camera is lensless, uses medium format (120) film, is made from teak wood and produces square images. The exposures are longer to compensate for the pinhole, which is why you will see subtle blur and motion in all of my images. Since the world rarely stands still, my pinhole camera captures all the beautiful motion and energy onto the negative, thus resulting with dreamscape-like qualities. I feel like each pinhole photograph is a marvelous dream… a surreal and whimsical moment in time that has swirled around my daydreams before coming out as the perfect pinhole photograph."

I love finding out about things like this.

Pretty Things

Pretty things in my house that made me smile today:

A flock of cranes above the kitchen table. Our friend Audrey, who took wonderful care of our kids while we were in Mexico, filled the house with their art projects while we were away. We took her to the airport this morning (sad) but the cranes are still with us.



My new handbag. By Casselini. The exact perfect shade of gray. Super-soft leather. Found on sale at Anthropologie. I'm in love with the oversize clasp. (No longer in stores, but I just found one on ebay here.)



Olive. And her new hat. We picked it up during the holiday boutique at Grand Central. From the Little Mis-Matched booth. So cute.



Good-looking boxes by Dorset Cereals. I spotted these at our local Stop and Shop. Uncommonly pretty for single-serve boxes of cereal. I haven't tried them yet, but I hope they're as yummy as their boxes.

What's pretty in your house today?

London on a Shoestring

I know none of us have travel budgets these days, but I saw this offer from British Airways and would love to take advantage of it. $312 roundtrip plus two free nights in a 3 or 4 star hotel. That's pretty darn good, right? I've seen much of Europe. But never England. Maybe 2009 is the year to make it happen.

image from here

Milk Carton Wallet

I think this milk carton wallet project is clever. It would be just right for my 9-yr-old, Maude. In fact, I'm thinking this will be the perfect thing for her to make as Valentines for her classmates. You can see a how-to video here.

Now the question is: which milk/juice company is making the best looking cartons? Maybe something covered in an Amy Butler print...

Thanks for the link, Ann!

Book of the Week: An Awesome Book

Dallas Clayton emailed me the other day and introduced me to his book. It's called An Awesome Book. You can see the insides here.




I think the illustrations are delightful. Delightful! I'd like to buy a copy, but I have to be patient — the first edition sold out in two weeks. The 2nd edition will be ready to sometime this month. You can pre-order your copy here.

100 Dresses Project

Did you hear what Kirsten of Tollipop is doing?

Using the classic children's story, The Hundred Dresses, as a starting point, she's created a Hundred Dresses Project. She is drawing her own series of one hundred dresses and has challenged others to make one hundred “somethings” as well. It's especially sweet to read the stories she conjures up about each dress-wearing-girl. And I love seeing the names she picks. (For anyone needing to name a daughter, I'm betting Kirsten's list of 100 names will be pretty fantastic.)

You can follow Kirsten's progress by clicking the "hundred dresses project" link in her sidebar. What hundred things would you make?

Your Very Own Hermes Bag

The Hermes Corporate site (different from their shopping site) is pretty amazing. Lots of eye candy and inspiration. One of my favorite parts is the make-your-own-Kelly-bag.

In nine different patterns.



Thanks for the tip, Lauren!