My Right Brain

Guest Blogger: Nod to Nursery Wallpapers

Hi, I'm Susi, a writer for Design Shuffle, a fantastic place online for design lovers to share their projects and find inspiration for the next project.  I'm so happy to be guest blogging here at My Right Brain today.   I loved the recent post on baby gifts. (Adorable!)  Thanks for letting me & Design Shuffle visit!

My guest post is all about wallpaper and decorating ideas for the nursery. Yes, the wallpaper trend has extended to the nursery and there are some really charming patterns that are perfect for little ones.  Here are some of my nods to nursery wallpapers - enjoy!
Wallpaper in the nursery can add so much color and patternóperfect for curious young eyes.   Look for a wallpaper with a wipe-able surface to keep it looking neat and clean around little ones.

This bird and sky wallpaper has a nostalgic style to it.  The sweet aqua colored birds and stylized clouds make for charming nursery wallpaper.

Love the graphic pattern created by pairs of blue birds on this wallpaper.  This could work for either a girl's or boy's nursery and bedroom.

Traditional patterned wallpaper can work for even a modern style baby's bedroom design.  In fact, the mix of traditional and modern makes for great style.

Not every wallpaper needs to be nursery specific or gender specific.  Pretty foliate pattern wallpaper is lovely for a nursery and can age as the child does.

Not only is this wallpaper a bold black and white, great for young eyes, its charming animals are actually hand shadows.  So clever!

Camo pattern is an unexpected choice for wallpaper in any interior design, especially a nursery, but it works beautifully here.  Love it in grey tones, paired with bright colors - it creates an interesting neutral for a nursery wall.

Love these charming animals made from wallpaper!  Cute cutouts can be made from your favorite wallpaper or ordered precut from sources online.
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This post was provided by Design Shuffle, a social-networking site filled with amazing inspiration from talented designers including San Francisco interior designers and Boston interior designers.

GUEST BLOGGER: Rachel Teichman - Creative Fun at Home with the New Big Sib

Whenever anyone asks what they can do when they spend all day with their child, I declare: art projects! And when they wonder how I have time to bake so much, I tell them it’s something fun to do with my daughter! When there is a new baby in the house, it is especially important to know how to spend time with, and entertain your older child at home. Because you will be spending more time than usual in the house. Until you are ready to brave the playground. With two kids. Alone. 

Here are some favorite ways that my daughter Tiny and I spend time creatively at home, while my Little Guy naps and crawls the day away. Aprons are optional, but encouraged!

CRAFTING
Tiny will paint on anything and stick stickers on anything. However, here are five real projects we enjoy doing together!  Anything other than drawing, painting, gluing or ripping paper, should be done by an adult or with supervision. Always remember to “sign” and date the works as well.

Collage Containers: Any container with a lid has the potential to become part of an art project. Decorate it now, and decide what to do with it later! A cylindrical container such as one for sour cream or bread crumbs, can be painted or covered with stickers. Cut a slit in the top and it’s a piggy bank! We recently covered a small Twinings tea bag box with white paper and stickers, and it became a gift box for cupcake baking cups for Mother’s Day!

Cupcake Flowers: Paper baking cups used for muffins and cupcakes make great crafting supplies themselves. Flatten a couple out and glue them on to a piece of construction paper. Glue a smaller circle of paper in the center of each baking cup circle, and draw on stems and leaves. Now you have a nice picture for a birthday, Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.

Egg Carton Caterpillars: This is a favorite idea we learned from Tiny’s friend whose grandma is a retired preschool teacher. Cut an egg carton in half down the middle. Then you can decorate the whole body with whatever materials you like: stickers, paint, markers or crayons. Draw two eyes on the head, and poke in two straws or pipe cleaners as antennae.

Plastic Top Animals: We get good ideas from the back of “Wild Animal Baby” and “Your Big Backyard” magazines. Collage animals on plastic lids are one of their projects that we have made many times. Use the lid from a restaurant kids’ cup or any empty food such as a large yogurt or sour cream. Rip or cut different pieces of magazine pages to be the arms, legs and other body parts for whatever animal you choose, and tape them in place. You can tape them, or you can let your child do it and the result will have a nice Picasso feel to it. We have made a turtle, duck and a rabbit complete with a real cotton ball tail.

Melissa and Doug: I have to give a shout-out here to Melissa and Doug products for all of the fun we have had with their stickers and kits. The big sticker pads were great for when we first brought home the baby. I could hold or feed the baby and play with stickers with Tiny on the couch next to me. We also enjoy the princess stamps, kits for decorating a jewelry box and mirror, and the butterfly bead set. These have all been much appreciated gifts!


BAKING
What paint and stickers are to crafting, frosting and sprinkles are to baking! Here are five recipes that are great with or without sprinkles! Kids can help with all mixing and decorating.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins:  I grew up making the Banana Chocolate Chip Bread recipe from the Elsa Landing restaurant in Grafton, IL. Recently I was introduced to a similar recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip muffins, a friend’s family favorite. Tiny had fun mixing up a batch of this new recipe.

Blondies: Since “Tangled” was Tiny’s favorite movie before she even saw it, we’ve gotten into making Blondies. It’s a fun play on words for me, and a sweet treat for everyone else! Basically it is chocolate chip cookie dough baked into bars. We love this chewy recipe from Twin Chefs.

Kissy Cookies: These are great for when you want a quick and easy recipe for kids, especially when baking with a novice. They only contain three ingredients, plus the Hershey’s Kisses. They are an easy batch to mix up, and top off with kisses. It is also an easy recipe to memorize and whip up wherever you may be.

Purple Sprinkle Pancakes: Though not actually a baked good, this is an original Tiny recipe! She had been wanting to make purple pancakes, so I bought one Bisquick packet for this purpose. After you mix in the water, you can add a few drops of food coloring at a time until you get the desired color. Once you drop the batter on to the pan, sprinkle the sprinkles (we used rainbow jimmies) on top, and then flip the pancake over when ready. The sprinkles melt and do look pretty! 

Snickerdoodles: This is a recipe we came across when looking through our Big, Soft, Chewy Cookies cookbook . It was one of the recipes we had all of the ingredients for, and it has become a favorite. We have made them for a Fairyland overnight trip, and also to share at a preschool Friday night dinner. They’re really good even though they contain no chocolate!

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Rachel Teichman is the mother of an eight-month-old boy, and a three-year-old girl. She cooks and crafts with her daughter while her son naps, and blogs about it at www.totsandplans.com.

GUEST BLOGGER: Cyndi Finkle - Practical and Meaningful Guide to Parenting

I am a big fan of Rachel's and am honored to be a guest blogger for My Right Brain!  My daughter is ten years old and wanted to offer up some practical and meaningful insight into parenthood.

• Take photos of everything.
• Write down the things she says and the way she makes you feel.
• Realize that nothing is too precious and use your grandmother's good china to throw her and her friends a tea party. 
• Sleep is overrated.
• They will eat when they are hungry.
• They will sleep through the night.
• Sleep training is good for all of you - in whatever form you do it.
• Constantly offer healthy snacks every couple of hours and they will learn to be life long good eaters.
• Being a working mom make you a good role model for them.
• Send photos to the grandparents regularly.  Hard copies - not just digital via email.
• Your relationship with your partner needs to come first, and then you both can be there for your child.
• Give yourself time when you can, to think your own thoughts.
• You will get used to the Wonderpets/Wiggles/Raffi/Little Einstein music and then despise it once you can.
• Tell your daughter stories about you and your childhood. They want to know everything.
• Let your kids use your stuff. Pull down your box of treasures and have fun.
• Teach them about money.
• Let them play dress up in your clothes - pretty shirts make great dresses.
• When they are in pain, you will feel helpless.
• Give them choices - it is a way to control the options, but empower them to make decisions.
• Teach them that credibility is built up over a lifetime of doing the right thing.
• Credibility takes time to build and can be lost with one bad decision.
• Motivate them through praise and example.
• Exercise with them.
• You will get used to changing diapers and then despise it once you no longer have to do it.
• A good way to get them to sleep is to "fake yawn" when you lie down with them.
• A good way to wake them up is to bring them breakfast in bed and let the smell wake them up.
• Monster go away spray (water in a bottle) is a great way to guard off fear of monsters.  
• Spend as much time as possible with them.
• Tell them you love them every single day.
• Teach them to be affectionate and loving and respectful people.
• No experience is necessary, you will know what to do when you need to do it.
• When they ask about sex, tell them everything.
• Give them blank canvases to paint on.
• Teach them to cook.
• Do not let them ride in the front seat, until they are old enough.
• Teach them your cell phone number.
• Do not let them ride their bike or scooter without a helmet.
• Let them make a mess in the kitchen.
• Inform them that if they are ever in a situation where they feel in danger - that the regular rules DO NOT APPLY and that they should make as much noise and cause as much distraction as possible.
• Choose your battles.
• When you do say NO, mean it and own it.
• Make rules for your family and realize that other families will have their own rules. Respect both.
• Love them.
• Respect them.

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Cyndi is the creative mind behind Art Works Studio, a fabulous creative resource that offers classes, camps, and worshops for both kids and adults (located in Hollywood and Culver City).  To learn more about Art Works Studio be sure to visit their blog, and to see why Cyndi is AMAZING visit her at Practical and Meaningful.

GUEST BLOGGER: Tasha Nita Adams - Local Baby Finds, From Venice to The Rose Bowl Flea Market

Clockwise from left: Eggy's storefront window; terribly cute gray checked top and gray bloomer-esque bottoms, with baby Bloch flats; soft, felt barrettes.

Writing this post, I am closing in on 27 weeks pregnant, which feels pretty amazing. Words like "joy" don't usually spring into my emotional vocabulary, but it is a joyous time in my life. I haven't written about the pregnancy on my site, Mondette.com—call it privacy, or not wanting to jinx it—but I was very pleased when Rachel, the helmer of one of my daily reads online, asked that I contribute a baby-related post for My Right Brain. I wanted to write about local baby shops (or shops that have baby offerings) since we're all about hyper-local living at Mondette, and it turned out to be wonderful motivation to start seeing what's out there is the realm of adorable—from little crochet ponchos, knit teddies, chubby eating utensils, unique toys, and decorative nursery items.
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Clockwise from top left: Eggy exterior; personalized prints you can order from local artist; lunch boxes with a retro vibe.

My first stop was Eggy at 8365 West 3rd Street. Given that it's right smack-dab in Blackburn+Sweetzer territory, I've covered the boutique ever since it opened a year ago, and am so excited for the opportunity to go in there thinking of my baby on the way. This is a stylish shop—one which I would go to for special wardrobe additions for the little one, cool toys, accessories, and decorative items, a wonderful place for baby gifts. I also totally lucked out while I was there and scored a Danzo diaper bag at 60% off (regularly $308, I got it for $135 with tax)! If you're lucky, there may just be a few left, really fantastic looking and practical.
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From top: Crocheted ponchos, sweaters, dresses and more; too-cute teddies; nightie-night time for baby girls and boys.

I stumbled upon After the Rain Gifts at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. I couldn't get over the quality, cute-factor, and great prices! The company specializes in overstock, samples, and incomplete size runs, which explains the amazing deals—there was much under $20. Next time you're at the Rose Bowl, definitely seek this stand out, marked by pretty chandeliers (which they also sell) and luxe organic fabrications.
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Clockwise from left: Shop exterior; clutch-friendly toddler cutlery, $42; Shapemaker Wood Blocks are imaginative and fun, $74; chalkboard wall sticker, $28; you'll only find these limited edition pets by Andreas Linzner in-store, made from vintage terry and created on historical looms in the Textile and Industrial Museum TIM in Augsburg Bavaria, $78.

A+R at 1121 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice is a go-to lifestyle shop for modern design, which garners shoppers worldwide from the stellar press it receives, as well as a great online shop. Amidst the sleek furniture and high-form high-function home accessories, there's always a solid selection of merch for babies and kids. I, for one, am definitely getting the toddler cutlery, shown above, when the time comes for solid foods.
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Vintage Oshkosh in sizes from newborn to toddler.

This was another baby find I happened upon while covering new men's shop General Quarters at 153 South La Brea Avenue—iconic blue-and-white striped vintage baby and toddler Oshkosh overalls, $25! I couldn't resist, I bought a pair. General Quarters also offers bitty, super-soft deadstock baby and kids tees.
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Yolk exterior; sheep mobile, $55

Yolk at 1626 Silver Lake Boulevard is another favorite lifestyle shop of mine—housewares, jewelry, gifts, select apparel with a bohemian vibe. For baby and kids, there are loads of toys and books, Stokke highchairs, cribs and strollers, Marimekko bibs, and more. I absolutely fell in love with the sheep mobile, shown above, it couldn't be sweeter.

After a stint in production at NBC Network News in Washington, DC, Tasha Nita Adams moved to Los Angeles and cut her teeth in print journalism as a Senior Editor covering lifestyle at magazines Angeleno and Movieline. Online, she created all content for Variety’s The Stylephile, then moved on to become Associate Retail and Events Editor, West Coast for fashion forecasting company Worth Global Style Network. From there, she launched and was the Editor of retail and fashion blog Racked LA. It was in 2007 while writing for The Stylephile that she created and launched neighborhood style blog Blackburn+Sweetzer. Based on the blog’s continued growth, she founded and teamed up with colleagues Lilliam Rivera and Christina von Messling to form Mondette, an expansion in both geographical and editorial scope.
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When I found out Tasha was expecting, I was over the moon.  I have been a long time fan, and since there is not much that this mulit-talented wonder can't do, it's seems that motherhood should be no exception.

GUEST BLOGGER: Alexis Ortega - Motherhood & Creativity

Hi, I'm Alexis, and I blog at Quilts of Mimi Park. I live in Seattle, have two amazing daughters, teach preschool and love making quilts. I know Rachel from the lovely little college where we spent a couple of years together.

When she asked me to write a guest post for her while she welcomes her new baby, I started thinking about Rachel's creativity, and her becoming a mother, and the intrinsic connection between motherhood and creativity.

Really, having a baby is about as big of an opus as you can get. And the daily tasks of raising children requires endless creativity…but craft gives you the intentional practice of creativity that I find energizes and enriches everything we do as moms.

Many women discover their creative passions through their children. I was one of the many moms who had the urge to learn or revive a craft to make things for my children- first it was crochet, then knitting, making baby clothes and eventually quilts.

Babies are wonderful people to make things for. They are inherently special, and they are small, so if you are a beginner at your craft, a baby-sized item is an achievable goal. Baby quilts are one of my favorite things to create- they can be soft and nurturing, fun and playful, grounding and serene.

I think that motherhood also fosters creativity. You tend to slow down, notice small things, be more comfortable with imperfection, see the world in different perspectives- through your child's eyes. You notice your kids' fearlessness, their joy of process- it's not about creating a masterpiece, it's just about how good the paint feels in your fingers.

Moms of young children also tend to spend more time at home, which makes it easier to tend to a creative practice. If you are a mom, or might be one someday, or love someone who is, carve out a little space and spend a quiet moment making something, whether a sock, a song, a quilt, a painting or a poem. It will feed all the souls you care for.
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Alexis has always been creative, and since the first time I met her, you could see it oozing from her soul.  As you can see from the beautiful examples she shared  above, channeling this energy into quilting suits her perfectly.  All images link up to the actual blog entry about the specific quilt, so if you are interested in learning more about her process be sure to click through.  And if you just feel like browsing, be sure to visit her flickr page, it's beyond inspiring!