Maude’s Young Einstein party was on Saturday. It was a hit! Maybe the favorite birthday party we’ve ever hosted. Decorations were simple — green balloons hung upside down and circles featuring portraits of Einstein that coordinated with the invitations we’d designed. (They matched the party favors as well.) The first part of the party was filled with experiments showcased by Kiasa from Science Explorers of NY (they were wonderful — you can see my post about them by scrolling down or clicking here). And afterwards, it was time for lunch: pizza (delivered mid-party by our favorite local pizza shop) plus strawberries and bananas. But to keep it science-y, we started the meal with a blind-folded taste test between two different chocolate milks. By the time the taste tests were done, Kiasa and her talented assistant Emily had already cleaned up all their equipment and were packed and ready to go. So efficient! When lunch was finished, it was time for cupcakes and candles. Brain-y cupcakes of course. (I know. I know. The cupcakes are a little too gross/creepy/cheesy, but you can not believe how awesome they were with the 4th grade crowd.) Edit: for everyone that’s loving the brain cupcakes, take a look at this full on brain cake I found at Cookie. Hooray for Maude turning 10 years old! Hooray for successful parties! Lots more Young Einstein party photos here.

Kiasa, from Science Explorers of New York came to our home with her trusty assistant Emily. We had the decorations and food ready to go and they did all the rest. They came 30 minutes before the party started and had things set up in a snap. As soon as the guests arrived, everyone circled the table, put on their safety goggles and the experiments began. First, all the kids made their own cup full of fake snow. Spongy and fascinating. I was too busy taking pictures to listen to Kiasa explain what it was made of and how it was formed, but the kids were all paying rapt attention. Second, everyone made their own batch of green slime. Stretchy. Gooey. Everything green slime should be. Third, it was time to make gooey worms in 3 different colors.< Fourth, on to the liquid nitrogen demonstrations. Kiasa showed what happened to a balloon placed in liquid nitrogen. Then, froze a bag of marshmellows — and let us sample their crunchiness. And that was followed by mixing and freezing a batch of ice cream almost instantly. And the whole time, Kiasa was engaging the kids with interesting questions and just enough info that it didn’t feel like a lecture. It was really fun, and really fast moving. Time just flew by. And I could concentrate on taking photos. Which is exactly as it should be. The guests seemed to love it and my own kids did for sure. They’ve been talking about it nonstop since Saturday morning. An ideal party for any child in grade school. I would have this party again in a heartbeat. More photos of the Young Einstein party here. Invitations here. Party food and decorations here. Party favors here.

For party favors, the guests were able to take home samples of all the experiments they’d made (green slime, fake snow, etc.), so we didn’t really need to come up with anything else. But because Maude is a maker, we decoupaged mini-clipboards as well, filled them with graph paper and tied on a green pen. [Edit: I heard about this cute idea from my friend Megan. Thanks for the inspiration, Megan!] Kiasa brought white favor bags as part of the Science Explorers of NY party package. We added these green circles — attached with double-sided tape — to tie them into our party theme. They say: Thank you for coming to Maude’s Young Einstein party. Yay for cool science! Here’s a link to a post about the party activities. Here’s a link to a post about the party food and decorations. Here’s a link to the invitations. Lots (lots!) more Young Einstein party photos here.

I spent my college career mainly studying Art History; and while that was long ago, I still appreciate the visual power of a work of art. Over the past several years I’ve slowly discovered a few artists that not only speak to me in a creative way, but appear to be quite affordable as well. This aspect makes the art even easier to love! And with the idea of “affordable art” being more popular now than it’s been in a long time, I couldn’t help but present you with a few options for your viewing pleasure. Some you may be familiar with, and some may be new to you. Either way I hope you enjoy how lovely they are… 1. Chad Wys…a thrilling discovery last year on Etsy; his modern landscapes are what I like to look at every day. He is also really, really nice :) 2. Labokoff…Fabienne mixes photography and painting in a such a beautiful, dreamy way. After visiting France I wanted something to remind me of that unique part of the world, but didn’t want it to be a touristy tchotchke. I imagined something I could display in my home, something that wouldn’t look out-of-place. These prints fit the bill! And even if you haven’t visited France, they are still beautiful prints to have on display. 3. Kelly Neidig…a Blurb bookstore discovery (you must check it out!); there is something about the boldness of those lines and that color combined that plays on my mind in just the right way. 4. Blancucha…I can’t get enough of these whimsical child-like-yet-still-grownup prints from Spanish designer Blanca Gomez. They are perfect for a playroom but I’ve seen them in a living room space as well and both look equally as fabulous. One more tip: You can easily obtain a custom-framing look without the hefty price tag, by using the Wood Gallery Frames from Pottery Barn and then having a custom mat created by a professional framer. These frames are good quality and are often on sale! While you are at the framer, ask him/her to attach wire to the back of your store-bought frame. This will make hanging it 10 times easier and only costs about $2.  

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Credits: Written by Stephanie of Stephmodo

Back from Houston and thinking about what’s coming up. We’re having a birthday party for Maude next Saturday. A woman from Science Explorers NY is coming to teach the party guests some fun experiments — they’ll be making fake snow, green slime, gooey worms and liquid nitrogen ice cream. Maude is super excited. We were coming up with a name for the theme and Maude was hesitant to use anything that mentioned science. So I suggested the name Young Einstein Party and she thought that was awesome. Didn’t the invitations turn out cute? ——– Want more info about this party? Decorations and food here. Party activities here. Party favors here. More photos here.

On Interior Design & Sources:

1) Tell us about your new book. How did it come together? What was your favorite part of the experience? Do you have a chapter that you love the most? The book was an amazing experience which journals our first 10 years of designing and creating homes. All the chapters were fun because each photo and story brings back memories (good and bad!), but I think the home in Great Barrington, Mass. will be a lot of reader’s favorite project. Looking back, we have learned so much, yet we are inspired and learning constantly. It keeps us humble and sharp. 2) The pictures filling the staircase wall in your Great Barrington Home are inspiring. Do you have any practical picture hanging and picture arranging advice? Like, what height should pictures be from the rising stairs? What about working with a variety of frames? The photo wall is an on going process. We are not perfectionists; the frames are different sizes, high and low end, custom and store bought. A couple of tips are to lay the frames out on a floor area first, put the largest photos on top and toward the center, and play around with it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. There is nothing a little spackling paste, paint or even another picture can’t hide! Have fun and let it grow. We have only family on the wall from cousins to great grandparents. It is cool to see the family tree and resemblances. All our photos are black and white. With digital cameras, it is easy to convert your color photos. 3) Rumor has it that your family moves into a house, makes it fabulous, and sells it. If this is true (and I hope it is!), I’d love to know how you pick the area to move to and how you pick the house to buy — how do you spot the “diamond in the rough?” When looking for a “diamond in the ruff,” look to where the creative community is moving to in your area. They are always the first ones in. 4) Where do you go for inspiration? And what inspires you? Big Cities inspire us. 5) Spill, please. Where are your favorite flea markets? Good fleas are hard to find these days. The Paris Flea Market is a place everyone should go at least once in his/her life. 6) Will you please share the source on the amazing rug under those 2 turquoise chairs in your Great Barrington house? How about the source of the turquoise chairs themselves? And also, the source on that amazing Union Jack? The turquoise chairs were 25 dollars at a tag sale that we refurbished for cheap. The Union Jack is by an amazing artist out of London named Anne Carrington. 7) I love the way you use natural light in your projects. Do you have any advice on bringing natural light into a space that’s lacking in it? Add high hats for more light. 8) What are your strategies for keeping a home both child and adult friendly? Reducing clutter is the key to an adult and child friendly house. Be organized and ask yourself if certain things are essential. Keep valuables and art out of reach of the children. Relax, home making should be fun. A well designed and functional house should be just that. Next time your child breaks something, remind yourself that “it’s just stuff.” 9) How about tips for decorating a nursery or child’s room in particular? Childrens’ rooms and nurseries don’t have to be decorated in a theme. Again, keep the clutter to a minimum: a desk, a bed and a place to play. Children, like adults, don’t need that much. Less is more. 10) Once you’re moved in and settled in a home, how often do you change your decor? We seem to move before we change our décor. Certain pieces will travel from home-to-home with us and it is fun to incorporate those pieces within a new space or a different aesthetic.

On Work/Life Balance & Parenting:

11) Obviously, you have a busy and full life. What is one thing that you do with your kids that you would not stop doing — no matter what? Travel. 12) If the “moving often” rumors are true, how do you create continuity for your family amidst all the change? We try to create a fun life and solid foundation for our children. Happy parents equal happy children. 13) How do you handle education? Public school? Home school? Tutor? Private school? A combo? Great question. Our children are all very different; strong students, weak students, both confident and shy, great athletes and weak athletes. With seven, we truly see both ends of the spectrum in many regards. Our children attend private school. My feeling on private is it helps the weaker students or mediocre ones get over the hump. Good public schools work well for stronger students, but my experience has been some students can get lost in the pack at a public school and not receive the attention they deserve. Robert and I are both liberal thinkers. We feel each child learns differently. The key is to keep your children humble and hungry. I would urge all of your readers to watch the Ted Talks on tedtalks.com (check out the one on education by Sir Ken Robinson). 14) I’ve read you’re big on world travel. How many trips do you take a year and to where? Is every trip a family trip? Do you have a favorite vacation spot to take your kids? We go to Brazil every year to our home. The kids love the beach and the outdoors which they don’t get as much of living in New York City. 15) I am amazed and inspired by you. How do you manage/juggle the business and the kids? By running our own company we are able to make our own schedule. It enables us the luxury to schedule our meetings around our children and our family time. 16) Which parts of the day to day (of both the business AND the kids) do you manage yourselves and which parts do you prefer to hire out? Nanny, housekeeper, bookkeeper? Chauffer, stylist, assistant? We always have at least one baby sitter with us. When Robert and I do get a little time to just the two of us, we need two sitters. We have yet to find anyone to watch all seven. Even Mary Poppins and Nanny Mcphee would not take on that task! Besides that, we have coaches, tutors, sewing teachers, etc. always helping. We are firm believers that it takes a village to raise a child. 17) Many moms seem to be born with “guilt” feelings. Is there any aspect of being a working mother that brings out the guilt for you? Guilt is a wasted emotion. I have always tried to make and live with my choices. Also, it’s very important that all mothers treat themselves well, no matter how many children they have. What great responses. A big thanks to Robert & Cortney Novogratz for joining us today. Don’t miss their excellent book.

Let’s make friendship bracelet valentines! My daughter Maude is a maker. Last year, she made origami hearts filled with treats for her classmates. This year, she is way into friendship bracelets, so she decided to make enough to give as valentines to her whole class. It took her about 3 hours total. An evening, a morning and an afternoon work session. She used an especially simple pattern so she could work quickly. Also, she kept a specific classmate in mind as she picked the colors for each bracelet — so, for a boy who’s a big Yankee fan, Maude would choose white and blue. They turned out wonderfully and Maude felt great about them. I was wishing I had a copywriter at my side while we came up with Valentine messages. Mostly we used the words “friend” and “knot.” We printed the messages on cardstock, trimmed them out, punched two holes and threaded the bracelets through, ready to be tied on to wrists and ankles. Here’s a pdf of the 6 friendship bracelet messages if you’d like to download and print them. Not sure how to make a friendship bracelet? Here’s friendship bracelet tutorial from Maude. P.S. — DIY MadLib Valentines.

For classmates valentines this year, Olive made DIY Valentine Bookmarks. First, we cut some heavy cardstock (green/blue and red) to 2.25″ x 6″ strips. That’s a good, comfortable bookmark size, with plenty of space for decoration. On the back, Olive wrote a to/from note. Then she went to work glueing, glittering and stickering the fronts. On some she made a decorative border with an edger hole punch. Velvet ribbons were attached when the glue was dry. Since our stickers were little word bubbles, on some of the bookmarks, we used the glue to make faces so that they could speak the little Valentine’s messages. So cute! DIY Valentine bookmarks are sweet and personalized. They make a really good no-candy option, while encouraging reading at the same time.

I love a pretty calendar in my office, but for the last 7 years or so, our main family calendar has been built each month on the kitchen bulletin board. We use post-its if we have them. Or cut squares from colored paper if we don’t. We staple the squares directly to the bulletin board. I created the first one when Ralph was very young and couldn’t comprehend how many days it was until Halloween. The distinct squares helped him understand — and we crossed out each day as we went along. But it ended up being so functional and helpful, that we’ve made it a permanent fixture in our dining area. Thumbs up: It’s a nice monthly ritual. My kids help. Maude likes to remove last month’s staples. Ralph likes to pick out colors for the new month — typically based on any applicable holidays (Red or Green during December, Orange during October. On the calendar above the colors aren’t significant of anything in particular. Ralph just collected an assortment of post-its that he said “felt like January”). It helps everyone understand the different number of days in each month. Also, it’s big. So we have plenty of room to write our daily activities. In fact, on the months I cut out my own squares, we can even go bigger or smaller as we see fit. I like that kind of flexibility and control. Thumbs down: There’s only room for one month at time on our board. So thinking ahead to next month gets tricky. I’m considering moving away from this method and keeping a family binder instead. Maybe something with a calendar, sections for each child, and pockets for invitations or notes from school. But I’m afraid I would miss the big visual reminder. How do you handle the family calendar? Want to see more of my favorites? Amanda posted some of them here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hC3-_EXyro]

In lieu of the usual live Nativity Pageant at my church Christmas party this year, our congregation tried something new. The kids put on the nativity one Sunday with no audience and with staging happening in rooms all over our church building. A few parents with good photography skills followed the kids around and took lots of stills. Then, the amazing Travis S. put the pics together into a video.

The video debuted during the Christmas party and it’s just about the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen. Costumes, props and general direction are by the incomparable Jennifer Darger. Narration is by Travis’s talented daughter Scout.

Many readers have asked for more concrete directions on how to make the no-sew tutu, so here’s a more detailed post with photo directions. Cut elastic to waist size and pin together with a safety pin or a few stitches. Cut lengths of tulle from a 6-inch-wide tulle ribbon roll. Fold the tulle piece in half and then thread the ends through itself around the elastic. To demonstrate, I’m using a spare piece of elastic and a spare piece of ribbon, but this is the exact same technique you would use with a strip of tulle. Start with your band of elastic and piece of ribbon or tulle. Fold your piece of ribbon in half, place the loop end under the elastic. Pick up the loose ends of the ribbon. Pull them over the elastic and through the loop end of the ribbon. Pull the loose ends of the ribbon to tighten it around the elastic. And then repeat with additional pieces of ribbon and tulle until the tutu is as full as you’d like. Yay! For the tutu pictured at the top, we used an entire roll of champagne colored shimmer tulle (25 yards). It provided 33 lengths (about 2 feet long each) to tie to the waist band. We also used 3 rolls of ribbon in peach, cream and sage green. They provided 11 lengths each and were attached between the tulle pieces for accents. The materials were under $5 total. Another note about this project. You can make the tutu any length you like, by using longer or shorter pieces of tulle. Also. If I’d had another roll of the tulle, I would have used it and made the tutu twice as full.

Olive has been working on gifts for her siblings over the weekend. She’s especially happy with the headbands she made for Maude and Betty. We think the creamy-colored one will coordinate perfectly with the tutu Ralph made. I’m super happy with them too. And already have plans to borrow them.




Materials: we bought a 3-pack of black headbands at Target for about $3. We bought fake flowers, for $3 to $4 per stem, and coordinating ribbon for $1 per roll from Michaels. Each headband will use between 1 and 2 yards of ribbon. Total materials for 3 headbands was less than $20. Just for comparison, a similar headband, like this darling one at CrewCuts is $16.50.



To make: wrap the head band in ribbon using a hot glue gun to attach. We had the best luck keeping the ribbon smooth by starting it at each end of the headband and meeting where the flower would be placed. Once the headband is completely covered in ribbon, it’s time to add the flower.



Pull the flower off of it’s stem, and trim the remaining plastic so that the bottom of the flower is flat. In front of a mirror, put on the headband and move the flower around until you’re happy with placement. Mark where your want to place the flower with a pencil (the pencil mark will be covered by the flower). Attach the flower with hot glue. Done.



This is an incredibly fast project. And the headbands turned out beautifully. The fake flowers we bought each came with a large bloom and a small bloom. We didn’t want the small blooms to go to waste, so as an afterthought, we glued them to small barrettes. Cute.



For Ralph, Olive made chocolate-chip-cookies-in-a-jar. For Oscar, Olive is going to do something cool with pencils — I’ll try to post pics soon. To see more gifts my kids made, you can go here.

This is the third year that my kids are making gifts for each other. It’s turned into one of our best family traditions — requiring more thinking and time than is ideal, but my kids LOVE it. As I’ve mentioned in years past, I prefer the gifts to be usable and practical.

For 2 year old Betty, who has lately become obsessed with all things ballerina, Ralph made a tutu. My friend Jill gave me this idea and it is such a great project (thank you Jill)! It’s virtually no-sew.

Cut elastic to waist size and stitch together — that’s the only needle and thread required. Then cut lengths of tulle from a 6-inch-wide tulle ribbon roll. Fold the tulle piece in half and then thread the ends through itself around the elastic. And that’s it. You just keep repeating till the elastic is covered.



We used an entire roll of champagne colored shimmer tulle (25 yards). It was on sale for $3 at Michaels and provided 33 lengths (about 2 feet long each) to tie to the waist band. We also used 3 rolls of ribbon in peach, cream and sage green. They were .50 cents, also from Michaels. They provided 11 lengths each and were attached between the tulle pieces for accents. We already had elastic, so the whole cost for the tutu was $4.50. And it turned out beautifully. I think Betty is going to be beside herself with joy when she opens this.

Another note about this great project. You can make the tutu any length you like, by using longer or shorter pieces of tulle. So this same idea could work for an older girl as well. Also. If I’d had another roll of the tulle, I would have used it and made the tutu twice as full. (I’ve posted more specific directions and photos here.)




For Oscar, Ralph decoupaged a bucket to corral his matchbox cars. We used a bucket we already had, plus modge podge and sponge brushes in our art supply stock. So the only cost on this one was .69 cents for a piece of car-themed scrapbook paper. I heart decoupaging. It breathes new life into all sorts of things.

A super simple project. We first cut wide strips of the paper the same height as the bucket. We put a layer of modge podge on the bucket, added the paper strips, and coated the tops with more modge podge. We did 3 top layers of modge podge, waiting between each for the last coat to mostly dry.

I have it on good authority that Santa is putting a pack of cars into Oscar’s stocking, so he’ll be excited to put this bucket to use immediately.




Ralph used fabric markers and stencils to customize knapsacks for Maude and Olive. They’ll use the knapsacks to carry their shoes/clothes to dance class and gymnastics class. Very straightforward. Just place the template on the fabric, color in with fabric markers, and set with a hot iron. We had all the supplies for this project, so it was a freebie. Ralph was the most happy about and proud of this particular gift.



For her sibling gifts, Maude made tie-dye t-shirts. A project that doesn’t take much time and provides really satisfying results. We adapted instructions from here and here with t-shirts found for about $5 each at Old Navy and Target.

Tie-dying is addictive. If we hadn’t run out of dye, I think we would have started coloring boxers and undershirts next. Maude is so pleased with how the shirts turned out she can hardly stand to keep them a secret.

Olive will put together her gifts this weekend. We’re not sure exactly what she’s making, but some of the ideas on the list are: ribbon belts, embellished headbands, baseball caps with vintage scout patches found on ebay, decoupaged wood blocks, and homemade hair conditioner. She also likes the idea of taking a photo portrait of each sibling and then framing it to display on their nightstand.

You can see more of what we made this year here. You can see what we made in past years here and here and here and here. What do you like to do for sibling gifts?

Ask Design Mom Question:
Dear Designmom, I was wondering if you had any fun ideas of where and how to hang up stockings. I have no fireplace or cute mantel. (sigh.) Do you have any suggestions? — Allison

Design Mom Answer:
I feel your pain, Allison. I too have a fireplace-less home. In fact, over the last decade, I’ve lived in a series of 3 fireplace-less homes, and I’ve solved the where-to-hang-the-stockings-question a few different ways.



1) Right now, our stocking are hung in a row over the piano — using very small nails. They look great! And if you don’t have a piano, this would work just as well over an entry table.

2) In years past, I’ve used the banister on the stairs for a stocking display. If you have an open stair case, this is a wonderful solution. Just use pretty ribbon to tie the stockings along the length of the hand rail. Bonus: it’s easy to the the spacing nice and even by using every other opening in the banister.

3) My friend uses the side of a tall bookcase to hang her stockings in a vertical row and it looks fantastic.

4) I think Christmas Stockings hung from the footboard of a bed are just about the most charming things ever.

5) Last idea: when I was about 5 years old, my family was living in a small apartment while we built a home. I remember watching my mom hang our stockings from the ceiling. And thought is was wonderful.

What about you Design Mom Readers? Where do you hang your stockings?

I’ve been looking for a new heavy coat and found this beautiful red one at TJ Maxx the other day. I’m loving the shape, loving the details, and loving that it was a bargain for an overcoat at $60. Plus, it’s from Esprit which made me happy — I don’t think I’ve worn anything from the Esprit line since junior high. : )

Only problem, it’s a size too big (and they didn’t have a smaller size). Other only problem, will I like it less after Christmas when I’ve had my fill of red?

Do I keep it? Or return it? Feeling so indecisive…

Big news! Huggies has officially named me, and some of my favorite peeps, a “celebrity mom.” It feels good. But honestly, I always thought “celebrity” involved more limos/Escalades. In my case, it means Huggies posted a video of me being interviewed by Ralph. Hot! You can view the video under the Celeb Mom Spotlight tab at Generation Huggies.

Bonus. At The Motherhood you can also see the video Huggies chose NOT to use. It features Maude interviewing me — plus Betty crawling all over me — plus a glimpse of Oscar’s bare bottom. And it’s filmed by Ralph.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYcwGNQxoSQ]

I feel like this “not picked” video is pretty representative of what goes down at my house on any given evening. Watch for this highlight: I ask Oscar where his pants are. He looks down and says, “I don’t see them.” Fabulous.

Hey. Also. Tomorrow — that’s Thursday, November 20th — is your very last chance to submit your own video to Huggies. You should totally do it. It’s free. It’s fun. And you could win fame and fortune — you know how I’m all about celebrity.

Nathalie, from the Australian paper company Imprintables, sent me photos from the super-charming apple-themed party she had for her son, Travis. So cute! And I love that’s it’s totally unisex. And totally adaptable to pretty much any fruit.

Refreshments were child-sized apples, apple lemonade and of course, apple pie with ice-cream. Games were traditional — bobbing for apples, sack races and tug-of-war.

Curious about Apple Lemonade? Me too. So Nathalie graciously shared her simple recipe:

1 bottle of apple juice
1 bottle of pear juice
1 2L bottle of lemonade
Combine; watch the children and mums alike devour this tasty concoction

Sounds delish!

I voted.

Then. To commemorate the event, I called in a voice recording at The Motherhood telling all about my experience at the polls. And then I embedded the message here on Design Mom (click the triangle “play” button to hear what I said):



You can call in and record your voting experience too — right from your cell phone. Go here to try it out. And find simple instructions here. It’s so great to hear everyone’s voices.

Happy Election Day!

PS — is the patriotic pin-up girl (found here) too sexy? You know how hard I try to keep it G-rated around here. . .

Two apple pies baked before noon. From apples we picked ourselves.

It’s hard to improve on that sort of day. Did the kids ransack the house during the making/baking process? Yes. Am I still in my pajamas? You bet. Is my foot covered in powdered sugar? Oddly, yes. But I have a whole pie to eat and a whole pie to give away. So who really cares about the rest?

Also, I just tried this circle thing instead of my usual slits in the crust — I’ll stare at it for awhile longer, but I think I love it. If I was ever going to have a pie signature, I’m pretty sure this would be it.

One more thing. In case you’re wondering, while the first pie is baking, there is just enough time to make a second pie, clean the kitchen, and make fresh whipped cream — and if the kids help, you can even get the family room whipped into shape. So you might as well make two. I’m just saying.

The kids had school off yesterday. We spent the morning working on Halloween costumes and we spent the evening apple picking at Stuart’s Farm. Stuart’s Farm is exactly what I want in an apple-picking adventure. No bounce house. No hayride. No carnival. No paid parking. Just a beautiful, walkable orchard (with great apples) and a small shop where you can buy local jams and gourds and mums. We are notoriously bad about forgetting our camera when we go on outings, but we didn’t forget yesterday. So I posted a million photos of our adventure on flickr. To share with the Grandmas. And any curious blog readers.