Bright and Cheerful Nursery

I finally got around to taking some photos of Luke's nursery. We originally had that room painted blue and were going to keep it blue regardless of if we had a girl or a boy. I wanted his room to be bright, cheerful, and fun. Gino had a lot of input and in the end it turned out just right!

View from the doorway.

Wall Decal from Etsy.

Lots of books to read in a bookshelf from Ikea.

I made the curtains from Ikea fabric. Fast, easy, and no-sew required.

I made this mobile from scrapbook paper.
There are endless color and pattern combinations for any nursery. 

One of the various designs I created for the room.

Changing station and more personalized designs.
I used fabric left over from the curtains to cover the small drawer to the side of the dresser.

These Sesame Street Car toys were Gino's when he was a little boy. 

My talented sister knit this puff mama foot stool that matches with the room colors perfectly.

She followed this tutorial. 

Our nursery wasn't complete without Giants gear.

Luke already has a lot of stuffed animals and the teddy bear is actually Gino's childhood teddy bear, so sweet. 

We originally were going to get Gino's Mom's rocking chair but it was too big for the room so we went with a non-traditional style chair instead from Target (I don't think they have it anymore). 

The Cabbage Patch is an original from the 1980's that my Grandma saved.
I just love the old school toys. 

'Tis The Season....For Minted

Many of you know that I worked at Minted last December (in addition to my full-time job) as a design associate doing design and layout of their immensely popular holiday greeting cards. Minted challenges their community of designers each year to come up with fresh, modern, and creative designs for each new season. It might seem a bit early to start thinking about the holidays and holiday greeting cards but in order to gear up for their busiest time of year, they just finished the 2010 Holiday Challenge. The stakes are high and the prizes are even higher so of course I had to submit something! This was the first time I submitted designs in an official challenge and there are many prizes up for grabs, including submission from a "Best New Entrant" so maybe I have a chance!

Right now all the 1370 designs are in a first round voting period. They will be narrowed down to a second round after that for more voting and then the awards will be announced. If a design is selected, then the designer gets a 5% commission on all net sales, which is huge when you consider the amount of orders they went through last year and I can imagine they will only be more popular this year.

Check out some of the designs I have submitted, and vote for them if you like them along with other beautiful cards you like. There are some really, really beautiful and creative cards in the running so the competition is stiff but I enjoy the exposure to such talented designers that inspire me to keep improving my design skills. Feel free to share this with friends or anyone else who would be interested in voting. Thanks for your help and support!

Minted T-shirt Design Challenge

I submitted a few t-shirt designs for the Minted T-shirt Design Challenge on Facebook. Check them out and if you like any of them, click the "like" button on the photo in Minted's photo album or leave a comment. There is  $500 dollar prize and the final t-shirt selection will be printed as Minted's first t-shirt. Spread the word and vote!   Thanks =)

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