Seeing I’ve been intense in the couponning department, I was laughing when I saw this infographic about the profiles of a coupon user. I have to admit, I’ve gone through pretty much every stage …

after 6 months of intense couponning, I’d like to consider myself a perfect blend of all 3 (clearly not a newbie anymore). Let’s just say I adapt myself to the current weekly sales with my binder in hand. What profile are you?

Via | CouponCabin.com

When Sienna was born, I knew I wanted to get a newborn shoot done earlier than I did with Mavrick, but unfortunately baby girl got sick 7 days after being home so mama had to wait until her nose was no longer stuffy. Since Sienna was smaller than her brother at birth and she loved being in a little ball, I was certain it wouldn’t be an issue this time around.

I put on my thinking cap and starting thinking of themed shoots. I hadn’t done a themed shoot with Mavrick which was fine, but I wanted to opt for something a little more original this time around. Sienna, since birth has been a big drinker. She LOVES milk (well all newborns do – right?). So I decided to have a vintage milk shoot as one of the themes.

I had all these props at home alread: wire basket, milk bottles of various sizes and a wooden wine rack, that I decided to use for the milk instead. So when my photographer friend saw me arrive with all my props and milk (oh yes, I brought my own milk), she couldn’t help but chuckle. She said she expected nothing less of me. I even designed a milk sign.

The other theme I decided to do was a vintage bath theme. I’m a little intense with the vintage – what can I say, I’m a fan! So I grabbed what I had in my house and staged the studio. I used blue mason jars to put cotton balls and Q-tips, rolled up face cloths, books for reading during bath time and some tin containers I purchased from Target years ago. The bath shoot was a little less successful then the milk one, but I was able to get a few good shots.

Usually once the themed shoots are done, I like to take a few shots with baby, but unlike her brother she did the ugliest faces haha. Maybe it was the flash, but she was making the biggest eyes ever! We were only able to capture 2 pictures that were worth saving. At least I was able to get one with my baby girl!

I find she looks so different now, which is why it’s so important to take newborn pictures. It’s great to capture those first weeks. Sienna was about 20 days here (so not really newborn) but still, it’s a great memory to have and you’ll enjoy looking at them when your little one is even bigger.

Have you ever considered an original themed shoot?

Who said pumpkins needed to stay orange? There are so many ways to reinvent them and designer extraordinaire Genevieve Ghaleb did just that for the efashionista baking in high heels event which took place tonight. How fabulous do these pumpkins look. Talk about an amazing centerpiece or outdoor decor your neighbors will surely notice.

Don’t get overwhelmed with the term designer, because you too can create these pretty pumpkins yourself. All you need is the following & a little imagination.

• Pumpkins of various sizes
• Hot Glue Gun
• Glitter – Lots of glitter
• Paint
• Fake Flowers
• Beading of choice (this case pearls)
• Rhinestones

This color palette was a pretty classic one, but one I love. Whites, Golds, Bronze, Copper… you can’t go wrong with that. But the possibilities are endless. Maybe opt for a monochromatic scheme, or even an neon filled one. It really depends on how you feel at the moment. Have fun… that’s all that counts (and make your kids/friends participate too!)

Thank you Genevieve Ghaleb for sharing your awesome creation! Happy Fall / Halloween everyone!

In less than two weeks Mavrick will turn 2 (craziness!). Last year, for his first birthday I went all out with a vintage newspaper boy theme and told my family & friends that next year would be a very basic party. I told them not to expect much actually and I would only make big parties every 5 years. (seeing I have Sienna now, that makes a big party every 2 years – pretty good )

Well the designer in me is dying. I can’t just have a blah party… it’s against designer code. (ha … totally made that up) So, I decided to do two things to stay somewhat true to the idea of a “basic party”. Last year, I went all out with food and it wasn’t friendly on the wallet. Even if I basically made everything myself (with the help of family/friends) it was rather time consuming (and who has time now, with 2 kids) So this year I decided to do two things : #1 Opt for a dessert only party (which is more manageable than cold/hot food then sweets) not to meaning less expensive and #2 Seeing I’m on a budget I decided to go to the dollar store for party decor.

I don’t have a specific theme, just colors and patterns….can you believe the whole party is designed around red, turquoise and lime green bunting I found for 2$?! I designed the invitation last night – simply nothing spectacular, but it give guests a little hint on what to expect.

I will use pretty much the most inexpensive decor items you can find and make this party amazing for very little. There will be crepe streamers, balloons, bunting and colored plates, glasses and napkins for that much needed punch of color. Now the easy part is done, now to figure out the desserts.

Anyone have suggestions?

When I was told I would be having a girl, the first thought that came to my mind was ruffles!!! (no joke!) and it’s no wonder that my first purchase for the nursery was a ruffled curtain. I decided I wanted to have a little more ruffle in the room and went ahead and make my own ruffle lamp shade. I thought I would share the easy step by step with you so you can go ahead and make your own!

Materials

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Thread and Needle
• Glue Gun
• Lampshade

Instructions

Let me start off by saying that I don’t sew. Do I own a sewing machine, yes! Do I know how to use a thread and needle? Yes, but very limited so trust me when I say that if I was able to make this work… so you can too.

1. Grab the fabric of your choice and cut in strips. I cut them about 1.5 inch (it’s hard to say how much you will need because it all depends on the lampshade you choose) but for mine I used a little under half a yard of fabric. Another suggestion, if you want a more condense ruffle (which means more fabric) you can use a flat bed sheet in the color of your choice. It’s a cheaper option for yards of fabric.

2. Using a thread and needle, hand stitch each strip of fabric in the center while gathering the fabric to create a ruffled look. Repeat until you have at least 10 stripes of ruffles (you may need to have more depending on your lamp shade)

3. Cover your lampshade with pale muslin. (In my case, I simply had to remove the current fabric)

4. Using your hot glue gun, dab some glue on the lamp shade, starting at the top and glue your stripes of ruffles. Repeat until your shade is covered in ruffles.Put the shade back on the base and admire your piece of art.

I absolutely adore how the lampshade came out… and it’s even prettier when it’s lit. Just the perfect dim lighting for baby girl. Hope you will attempt this little project. Happy ruffling!

Nope, Sienna hasn’t decided to show us her face yet, but her nursery has been featured in the “Nurseries and Parties we love this week” on Project nursery. It’s actually a viewers vote to the best design and ours has fallen a little behind on the votes.

If you don’t mind taking a second, I would love it you can go to the gallery of Sienna’s Nursery and simply click on the “LIKE” button. (on top of the gallery) There are only a few hours left to vote and fingers crossed we win viewers choice. Thank you!!!

When I found out I was having a girl… you can only begin to imagine my excitement. I would have my boy and now my girl, how perfect! Then my mind started going in a million directions as to what I would do for the nursery. Would I go with a theme (nah, seeing nursery themes are too babyish for my liking) or just a great color combo. Then I remembered I had purchased a pair of Handmade Joyfolie shoes and that sparked great color combos and ideas. I have to admit I did go back and forth on the color combo, and even 1 month before we started working on the nursery I dropped my original color combo of Coral, Mint, Pink, Gray, Navy and went towards Coral, Mint, Blush Pink and Gold.

My talented designer friend, Genevieve Ghaleb wanted to participate in making my dream baby girl nursery come true, and well with her great design flare combined with my DIY ideas, I don’t think we could of been a better “design” match. But then came the “crazy ideas” according to my husband. The first one… “We should paint the wood floors!”  This one was a tough one for him to swallow and he literally tried to make me change my mind a good 200 times, but when I told him it was what I wanted and there were no way I’d change my mind (blamed it on the pregnancy hormones)… he just followed along (and boy was I hoping it would look fabulous, otherwise I would have to live it down for the next 25 years!) The floors, as my friend Gen tried to explain to him, was the core to the nursery… I wanted to do something you didn’t really see in nurseries and painted floors was just that. I don’t think they could have been more perfect! The perfect shade of mint with some white and coral stripes…

Seeing the shoes were an important element to the room design, I wanted to make sure to highlight them and what better way then to frame them on the wall. I purchased some small frames at a thrift store, painted them gold and framed the fabric found in the crib and a quote I found to fit perfectly “Cinderella is proof that a pair of shoes can change your life”

The first thing I purchased (apart from the shoes) was the blush pink waterfall curtain. I absolutely loved the ruffles and wanted that to be in the nursery. At that moment I hadn’t decided on the color scheme, but we made it work (yay!) Seeing it was the only ruffle element I had in the room, I decided to make my own coral ruffle lamp shade. (I will post a tutorial shortly)

You can say that this nursery is all about colours and textures. Ruffles, Bows and Doilies. I had blogged 2 years ago about a great wall feature with cupcake liners. I liked the texture part of it and figured we could probably make something similar with paper doilies. The outcome was better than I could of imagined! I love the white on white and putting the importance on the shapes and textures! I also framed some doilies in a mint colour backed frame to tie in with the feature wall.

I wanted to make my own mobile for baby girl. I’m not a fan of the ones out there and I knew I wanted to add more bows in the room. I had seen on Pinterest great use of embroidery hoops for some table decor and thought it would work really well for a mobile as well! So I painted the hoops gold, added fabric bows and hung it from the ceiling. I think it’s one of my favorite pieces of all in the nursery. So simple, yet so perfect!

I decided to print out fake book jackets that matched the nursery colors to put in the night table beside the glider. Sure they are fake (I mean there’s no way A Very Hungry Catepillar would be 300 pages long) but I think it looks adorable and eventually I will swap them with the real books.

I wanted to have a piece that would grow well with Sienna and I think the mirror is perfect for just that! Even though I’m not a fan of animals in nurseries, the coral elephant bank was just the perfect addition to the vintage dresser we found at a thrift store…. but the best part of all, I was able to put a vintage teacup my stepmother gave me a few years ago (that belonged to her mother) in the room. I think once she sees it, it will make her happy. I love when there’s a little history attached to a room decor.

I think I can go on and on… but you get the point!
So, what do you think? What’s your favorite part of the room?

Thank you Genevieve Ghaleb for following me and my over the top ideas! Working with you is not even work. (hope we get to do it again) Thank you Anne-Emilie Sayegh for taking pictures of Sienna’s nursery!

+ + +

Room Details :

For those interested here is the cost break-down of the nursery decor, you should be able to find all the details below. I will be posting tutorials on some of the DIY projects I did for this room shortly.

Furniture & Lighting

• Vintage Crib : $50 // refurbished
• Vintage 5 drawer dresser : $20 // Thrift find Village des Valeur
• Vintage 6 drawer dresser (changing table ) : $75 // refurbished
• Night Table : already owned // Hemnes Ikea
• Upholstered Glider : already owned //  Dutalier
• Chandelier with pink crystals : $70 (got a new one onKijiji for a steal) // Pottery Barn
• Ruffled Table Lamp (DIY) :  already owned //  Base Bouclair,  Shade (Arstid) Ikea
• Pink Glass Knobs : $30 // Look In The Attic
  =======================
  Furniture & Lighting : $245
  

Bedding & Linens

• Crib Bumper (Punch Basics) :  $115 // Serena & Lily 
• Crib Mattress Cover : $36 // Serena & Lily
• Ruffled Crib Skirt : $84 // Carousel Designs
• Pink Waterfall Ruffled Curtain : $64  (had discount code) // Urban Outfitters
• Vintage Knob Curtain Tie Back : $12.50 (had discount code) // Urban Outfitters
• White Throw : $25 // HomeSense
• Coral Pillow : $20 // HomeSense
  =======================
  Bedding & Linens : $358.50

Paint colors :

• Wainscotting & Floors : CIL Cascading Water 30GY 75/105 W/B
• Walls / Ceilings / Stripe (floor) : Plain White
• Coral stripe (floor) : CIL Pink Chablis 30YR 68/127 W/B
  =======================
  Paint & Painting supplies : $325

Seeing we painted our wood floors, we needed to prep, sand, prime, paint and varnish, a big bulk of the nursery costs would have to be the paint. Sure bedding isn’t cheap either(especially for the little time we will be using it) but to compensate we made sure to choose furniture pieces (with the exception of the crib) that would grow well with Sienna. The total nursery cost $1061 a little over budget (I was aiming for $750) but considering everything we’ve done, I have no regrets!

Design & Concept : Me! aka Blushink & Genevieve Ghaleb
Images courtesy of : Anne-Emilie Sayegh

It’s no secret I am sold to all Apple products. I’ve been using apple since I could use a mouse and it was my first computer ever. Being a graphic designer, I was able to see the evolution of Apple products thought out the years as well as their logo. Yesterday, the hype was all about “The New iPad” yup, they actually called the new iPad “The New iPad” but at the end of their presentation, there was a colored version of the apple logo (a new updated one from the classic rainbow version we all knew to love from 1976-1998) and I’m really hoping that this is their new logo.

I love how they incorporated all the colors in a watercolor meshed design and brings you back to the Apple roots! I think with all their innovative products, having a colored logo makes it all less “technically and snobby” and definitely makes it more accessible to everyone. Plus, you need to think about how children today play an important role in choosing brands (at an early age) and clearly a colorful apple will grasp any child’s attention then a “sleek grayish” one. I think it would be a smart move. Going color means they are open to diversity, to change, and seeing color is their strong suit when developing products it only makes sense.

What do you think? Should they opt for a colored logo? Do you like it?

[ Gizmodo ]