Happy Blogiversary

Be on the lookout for a new series called "Best of our Blogs" to highlight favorite posts of the Designing Mom's personal blogs and sites. And I invite you to share your blogs as well by sending in a link to your favorite posts ever (send to designingmoms@gmail.com)!

Speaking of blogs...I wanted to wish Designing Mom Lori of Fin + Roe a very happy Blogiversary! Her blog is five years in the running and she's doing a GREAT giveaway of one of her photographic prints, 5 Marzipan greeting cards, and a set of alphabet magnets (below)! Click here to enter.  

Giveaway: The Well-Dressed Home

I am so excited to be kicking off the week here with the amazingly talented Annette Tatum! There is so much to Annette that it's hard to know where to begin... She has wowed us over the years with textile, home and children's designs through House and Little House (her children's collection). And it certainly doesn't hurt to have celebrity devotees like Maria Shriver, Marcia Cross and Minnie Driver ask Annette to decorate their nurseries and homes as well. Oh, and on top of all that she's a mother of four too...

But first up, I wanted to do a giveaway of her gorgeous book published by Random House, "The Well-Dressed Home." When I received it in the mail I went nuts over each and every one of the pages...if you are into inspiration boards, patterns, decor and fashion, then this is your book. By tapping in your personal aesthetic and fashion style Annette shows how to decorate your interiors (including kid's rooms!).

To enter for a copy of her book, please leave a comment below and tell me what your personal style is (eco, modern, classic, bohemian etc?)! Tweet or put it on your FB and you can enter a second and third time. This giveaway ends Friday and is open to all Designing Moms and readers.

Giveaway: Mix Tape Zine

by Designing Mom Tori


I was thrilled to be able to contribute an illustration...more specifically, a paper doll kit...to the popular zine, Mix Tape . This maga(ZINE) is full of indie goodness and they have started to put out a kids issue (aimed at parents and carers) once a year. I just received my zine in the mail today and was very impressed with the 48 pages of content and high quality full color printing. I think it's exactly the type of thing that Designing Moms would love which is why I want to give away a copy to one lucky reader.

Just leave a comment below and I will happily send the winner a copy!

Giveaway: Comfort Knitting and Crochet

Elizabeth at To Be Charmed wrote to let us know she's doing a giveaway of a great book, "Comfort Knitting and Crochet, Afghans." I'm loving the preview of colors and patterns in this! Click here to enter.

Giveaway: Mila's First Birthday of Pies

Ok everyone, let's vote. And we all win because Designing Mom Shinmin of I Dream of Cake will let us in on one of her coveted pie recipes. Read below and leave a comment on the pie of your desire...



by Designing Mom Shinmin

As Cat mentioned in a previous post, Mila turned one last month.

As horribly depressed as I was that she would be no longer under one year, I wanted to throw her a fun yet casual party to mark this important milestone. Because I work in the event industry, people were really cranking up the pressure and expectations by asking almost daily, "what will you do for your daughter' first birthday?" And especially since I'm a pastry chef specializing in cakes I got this all the time, "Oh she's going to have the most spectacular cake. What will her very first cake be?" Oh the pressure!!!



Then as the first days of spring appeared, through the fresh scent of clean air, warmed by the sun's friendly touch, tulips and daffodils made their presence known. I immediately pictured a picnic. The vision became clear. Grass, picnic tables, taupe linen table cloth, flowers, sun..... and.... yes I think I see them..... Pies!!! Mila's First Birthday of Pies. All kinds of pies. Because Mila never had sweets up until then, I didn't know what she would like. So I decided to make nine kinds of pies and hoped something would please her.


My common sense was temporarily out of commission as I gave in to this pie fantasy and stayed up till 1:30 am baking the night before the picnic. Luckily I had the help of two amazing friends, Leticia and Ariel, who baked into the wee hours with me. With little sleep, I appeared at the Crissy Field picnic site at 6am to reserve the tables. Since I've fully committed to this picnic of pies, and had about 60 pie-hungry guests coming, I had to be sure to secure the tables. In case anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area is interested in a picnic at Crissy Field, I highly recommend it. The view of the Golden Gate bridge and water is breath taking. But the tables are first come first serve. Hence I appeared at 6am to claim my territory. I draped my table clothes on the tables, left a few nonvaluable items (all were stolen by the way) and went home to prep.


Here is a list of the pies I made.

1. Mila's Temper Tantrum Strawberry Rhubarb Explosion
2. Mila's Gone Bananas! - a caramelized banana tarte tatin
3. Mila's Peachy Keen - a tart of peaches poached in a brandy orange reduction
4. Mila's Sweet & Tart Apple Pie - a blend of Gala and Granny Smith pie
5. Mila's Blueberry Madness - a lattice topped Blueberry pie
6. Mila's First Coconut Cream Pie - Coconut custard dream, topped with coconut whipped cream and toasted coconut flakes
7. Mila's Tutti Fruit - a fruit flan tart with strawberies, raspberries, kiwis, mangos, and blueberries, all sitting on a spread of lemon Creme patisserie
8. Pretty Pumpkin Milana - a traditional pumpkin pie with short bread flowers as decoration
9. Milana's Prim & Proper Linzer Torte - an Austrian traditional almond torte with raspberry puree

I'm happy to share one of my recipes. Please leave a comment and vote on the pie you would like to bake!

Giveaway: Handmade Soirees

It's time for a fun little giveaway and this one is about creating special, affordable, one-of-a-kind parties. This Chronicle Books title, French General: Handmade Soirees by Kaarie Meng contains over 24 table and decorating projects (just take a look at those adorable eggs wearing 'staches on the cover!) that are "simple projects for special occasions."

It's a beautiful hardcover and can be yours if you comment below! You can comment twice or thrice if you tweet, FB or post it as well. The giveaway ends this Friday and is open to all readers and Designing Moms!

Giveaway: International Sanctuary

This is a good one for you all, just in time for the week of Thanksgiving. International Sanctuary is an amazing non-profit organization created to help fight human trafficking. I am definitely going to be keeping them in mind for my holiday gift giving this year. Their pieces are all made by survivors and Designing Mom Tori and the organization are offering one lucky winner the chance to win:
Your choice of one bracelet or pair of earrings and three thank you cards.
Pretty special right? To enter: visit their online shop and site here and comment below on your favorite piece of jewelry and card.

This giveaway ends Friday and is open to all Designing Moms and readers alike. Help spread the word about this special organization!

by Designing Mom Tori

International Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that is near and dear to my heart. My good friend from college, Wendy Hicks, co-founded the organization with Stephanie Pollaro to help survivors of human trafficking get a fresh start in life through healing and positive opportunities. One of the best forms of both healing and opportunity is through their "Purchase With Purpose" program. Each survivor is trained in the art of jewelry making, which any crafter knows is a very therapeutic act in and of itself. Once the jewelry is made, it is sold in select stores throughout the US as well as holiday boutiques, home parties, craft shows, and online. I have had the exciting opportunity to sell my handmade greeting cards to benefit the brave survivors in the program. My handmade cards are currently sold through wholesale markets, but iSanctuary has recently added a select number of designs to be sold on their website.


To learn more about International Sanctuary, please visit the iSanctuary website and to browse their collection of jewelry and cards, please visit their online boutique, shopsanctuary.org. (I think their jewelry makes perfect little holiday gifts - they offer such great prices, too!)

Giveaway: Cardstore.com Holiday Cards

The holidays are just around the corner and this Cardstore.com giveaway will help get your seasons greetings underway.

2 Lucky winners will each receive a 20 card pack of february 13 creative Holiday and New Year Designs from their Cardstore.com collection. Click here to visit their designs and comment on which pack you'd like if you win!

The giveaways ends Wednesday, November 25th and is open to all Designing Moms and readers alike. Happy picking!

above: these are just a few of their favorite
holiday Cardstore.com picks

Giveaway: Earthy Beginnings

You are all in for a treat this week. We have two giveaways, the first of which is from very talented Designing Mom Guissell and her Earthy Beginnings collection.

To enter, click here to visit Earthy Beginnings and comment back here on which pieces you love the most from her collection. One winner will get to choose any two tees from her Spring and Fall collection!

The giveaways ends this Friday and is open to all Designing Moms and readers alike.
Guissell is also offering 10% off any purchases via her eboutique until December 1. Just use the code DM10 to shop.

Giveaway: February 13 Creative

I'm here to start the week with another great giveaway! This one is for a beautiful modern art print for your home or kid's room from Designing Moms Betsy, Pamela and Amy at February 13 Creative.

To enter: choose the art print you'd select from February 13 creative's Etsy shop.
Leave a comment on this post on which print you'd choose and why and it will be entered in a random drawing to win. The giveaway ends this Friday and is open to all Designing Moms and readers alike. Good luck everyone!


About: February 13 Creative is a collective of three happy Aquarians specializing in graphic design and illustration for celebration! We're delighted to offer a great selection of our illustrations as limited edition prints through Etsy. Gift a friend or gift yourself... our prints are sure to deliver an upbeat pop of color and style to any home!

Giveaway: LavishGiving.com

Happy Monday! I am so excited about this giveaway from LavishGiving.com not only because the holidays are around the corner but because I love their concept of the "Good Card" (read below to see what I'm talking about).

Enter to be one of two lucky winners for a $50 gift certificate to LavishGiving.com! In addition, they are offering all readers a 10% discount on any purchase over $50 between now and Nov 8. Just use the code: Designingmoms10. Have a look and you'll see they have a fantastic selection of goodies ranging from Designers Guild products, Jonathan Adler ceramics, Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags and more.

To enter: all you have to do is visit the LavishGiving.com site and comment on this post on what you'd love spending that gift certificate on. Remember to leave your email address for me to contact you if you win. And as always, this is open to all Designing Moms and readers. The giveaway ends this Friday. Good luck everyone!




Some additional info from Jane at LavishGiving.com:
"The BEST thing about shopping at LavishGiving.com is that we give 10% of the total purchase back to our customers who spend $100 or more, in the form of a Good Card that they can donate to any non-profit in the US. It's a win-win!

We also just added our Pledge Program - whereby any NPO can set up their own page and have a unique URL. Through this program, we donate 10% of the total purchases of customers who enter the site through that page, so it's ideal for school PTA's and any smaller grass roots organization - so any Moms who are fed up with selling cookie dough and magazine subscriptions to raise money for their kids' school might be interested in this too!"

*The gift certificate must be used in the month of November.

Giveaway: Binth

I'm sooo excited because it's a happy Monday for everyone... Today's giveaway is a special offer to all Designing Mom readers from the talented designers at Binth! We just *heart* Binth (remember Kira's post about their adorable posters in her nursery?). They're here today to share their latest products and later this week I will be posting up a little look inside their gorgeous studio.

And the special offer you ask? Just go to their site and order any of their stationery in the next two weeks and you will recieve FREE imprinting/personalization (see an example below). Just submit your oder and then send them info via: info@binth.com. Their cards are so great for parties, baby showers, announcements, even personalized stationery from your little one, don't miss out on this opportunity!

Tell us a little about Binth:

Binth is a design studio based in Chicago, IL. The principals are: Peter Dunham, Linnea Gits and Suzanna Bierwirth. We have created award winning work for large corporations and design companies. We came together as a group in 2005 to establish the company based on our mutual respect and enjoyment of each other’s work.

Tell us about the popular baby line at Binth:

This is the fastest growing division of our company and one we all thoroughly enjoy designing for. Our children’s division began with our designing what was to become the Binth Baby Book and has gone on to include our posters (Binth Alphabet & Numbers) , our Binth Matching Game as well as a full line of children’s cards and art prints. We are creating an ABC book for the spring of 2010 as well as reprinting (for the 4^th time – yeah!), our Binth Baby Book, and due to popular request, we will be releasing the 4^th Edition of this book with a new color cover as well as the classic green bunny. Our goal with all our products, but especially our children’s products, is to create original design with quality, integrity and an eye for longevity – both our Binth Baby Book and our posters have already been called “classics” by Cookie Magazine, Blueprint Magazine and many of the parenting design blogs – a great compliment!

Any new exciting products you're coming out with?

For the spring of 2010 we are introducing a small line of limited edition white & black porcelain figurines. We have a series of birds, poodles, rabbits and chickens – attached are two clay models (these are not the final figurines, but working models for the cast) to give an idea of what the figurines will look like.

We also introduced our Ready-To-Hang, single letter prints in June of this year and have had a great response from our customers as well as press. Look for them to be featured in the October issue of Parenting Magazine.

Thanks for sharing Linnea! We'll be back this week with a tour of their studio...

Giveaway Winner: My April Snow

Hope all of you had a great weekend! I wanted to announce the two winners of the My April Snow earring giveaway:

The Howe Family and
Marzi

Please email me at designingmoms@gmail.com so I can get your mailing info!

Giveaway: My April Snow earrings!

This is such a great giveaway because it's just for us (or a dear friend) ! To launch her new jewelry line, April from My April Snow is giving away these beautiful earrings to two winners. They're made of natural stones, Swarovski crystals and silver findings. So go ahead, indulge yourself and enter by commenting below. Don't we all deserve to pamper ourselves now and then with something nice and sparkly? To view her entire line of My April Snow click here.

The giveaway ends this Friday and is open to all Designing moms and readers. Please include your email so that I can contact you if you win.

What inspired you to create My April Snow?

I have always been interested in fashion and when I left the garment industry I knew that somehow I still needed and wanted to be connected to the fashion world. So I started to handcraft my own jewelry line and thus, My April Snow was born...

What have learned along the way?

Being in the fashion industry gave me the resources that I needed to create my own handmade jewelry line. I use quality materials for my line and have many people/friends to thank who allows me to have access to these materials. And of course they are all people/friends whom I have met through the many years O have been in the industry.

What's a day-in-your-life like?

I have two college aged kids who are my biggest inspirations. They support me a hundred and ten percent and are always an encouragement to me...

Because my kids are grown up, I have the luxury of having the whole day to myself and able to concentrate on designing/handcrafting each piece with love...

Giveaway: Reprodepot Stationery Set!

As you know, we are mad about stationery around here...designing it, using it, dreaming about it. Well, Designing Mom Aya is offering a great giveaway here that made me drool: a set of Reprodepot stationery and books from Chronicle! The set includes a Reprodepot Journal (my favorite), Notecard Book, Hot type (with iron-on transfer sheets) and Mix and Match Stationery. You'll be getting it hot off the press because it won't officially launch to the public until this Fall.

To enter, just leave your comment and email (so that I can contact you if you win).
The giveaway ends Friday and is open to all Designing Moms and readers. Goodluck!

Fin + Roe Giveaway!

I ooohed and aaaahed when I saw these. Such a sentimental and stylish product! This week's giveaway comes from Designing Mom Lori of Fin + Roe. Her chic magnet mementos allow you to submit a photo of your choice and customize with your choice of color and pattern. And guess what...Lori is giving a lucky recipient a set of 12 customized magnet mementos!

To enter, just comment on which magnet memento you love the most (click here to visit). The giveaway ends Friday and readers and Designing Moms are welcome to enter. Goodluck!

Libby Dibby Skirt Winner!

It's time to announce the winner of the Libby Dibby Spinny Skirt!
Congrats go to:
Shawnalee

Please email me at Designingmoms@gmail.com so we can send it out to you.
And stay tuned as I post up our next fun giveaway in a couple of minutes...

Giveaway: Libby Dibby Skirt

It's Monday, and we're kicking off another awesome giveaway. This GORGEOUS spinny skirt is from the Libby Dibby collection by Designing Mom Liberty. Any little girl (or mom) would be thrilled to wear her work!

To enter for your chance to win the skirt below, just visit the Libby Dibby site (click here to visit) and comment on which skirt you love the most. The giveaways ends Friday at midnight and is open to readers and Designing Moms. Good luck everyone!

Cardstore.com Giveaway!

If you don't know already, Designing Mom Erika of Delphine Press designs beautiful letterpress work. Her work is also featured at Cardstore.com and I am more than excited to start off the week with an awesome giveaway from them! If you haven't indulged yourself with some custom stationery, here's your chance.

Two winners will receive a set of thank you notes of your choosing personalized with your or your little one's name. To see Erika's full collection at Cardstore.com click here!

To enter, just pick one (or one from her collection at Cardstore.com) Erika's designs below and tell us why it's your favorite! The giveaway will run all week and is open to readers and Designing Moms alike. Happy Picking!