Petite Lemon wishes all moms a wonderful Mother’s Day!
TRENDY BABY NAMES
Being all about personalization, we are fascinated by names and what inspires trends in baby names. What makes a name so popular one year and then out the next or a classic that never seems to go out of style?
A down economy can create a sense of nostalgia for “the good old days,” which is probably why old school names like Mabel, Hattie, Gus, and Oscar are making a comeback. But right now it seems like musicians, celebs, and characters from popular movies, TV shows and books are the biggest major influencers for today’s trendy names.
And since it’s Friday, we thought we’d have a little fun and create a few of our personalized shirts for kids using some of today’s most popular baby names.
1. Jessica Simpson just gave birth to baby girl Maxwell Drew, but someday she may be wearing a Whale of Fun Big Sister Tshirt. Could A Boy Named Sue be next?
2. Rumor Has It the amazing voice of singer Adele is the inspiration for the increase in popularity of this name and will be showing up on many a baby girls’ personalized onesies, like this feminine Flower Power one.
3. If one day Christina Applegate gave daughter Sadie a Colorful Big Sister Tshirt, it could be a hint mama may soon be staying Up All Night again.
4. Good looking, sweet, and just a little goofy describes our Playful Doodles Big Brother Tshirt, as well as the hunks that play characters named Grayson on “Drop Dead Diva” and “Cougar Town.”
5. Like Maxwell, is Arlo posed to become a girl’s name? Johnny Knoxville may have named his daughter that, but we think Toni Collette’s son is among a slew of Arlos who’ll be wearing a Little or Big Brother Tshirt, instead of a sister T.
6. Was it a love of Westerns that spurred Jenna Fischer to choose the name Weston for her lil guy? Whatever it was we think it’ll create a stampede of dudes in need of a Little or Big Brother Tshirt.
We have a lot of fun coming up with names for our personalized growth charts, alphabet posters, and of course personalized shirts for kids.
What names do you love most right now?
SWEET DREAMS AND DREAM BIG ART – FREE DOWNLOAD
“If you can dream it, you can make it so.” – Belva Davis, Award Winning Journalist
These are great words to live by and a wonderful message to pass on to your little ones, which is why we created these adorable 8×10 downloadable prints to hang in a nursery or kid’s room. We hope they help inspire your kids to dream the impossible dream.
To download a high resolution PDF of these designs, click here.
And if you want to add in some complementary décor, these are some great choices for personalized growth charts and alphabet posters:
For the owl prints, we’d choose the Hoot! Hoot! or Woodland Fun personalized growth charts
For the transportation print, we’d accent it with the On the Go personalized growth chart and On the Go alphabet poster.
Dream on!
SIP ‘N SEE
photo by Allyson Wiley
When you’re pregnant with your first baby, there are showers and gifts galore, but along comes baby number two, three or more and having a shower is usually considered unnecessary. But that doesn’t mean people don’t want to see the new bundle of joy and celebrate his or her arrival with a glass of something sparkling and a few treats.
Because you already know the sex and name of the baby, what better time than a Sip ‘n See to gift baby with their first personalized onesies, as well as present a Big Sister Tshirt or Big Brother Tshirt to the new sis or bro so they can celebrate their sibling status too.
In addition to personalized shirts for kids, other unique gifts with baby’s name, like a personalized growth chart or alphabet poster, are also ideal.
We think these Cheeky Dot personalized growth charts would go great with a Welcome to the World theme, don’t you?
* Watch CBS Eye on the Bay on May 22 to see this over-the-top adorable birthday party
CHEVRON PRINT NURSERY ART – FREE DOWNLOAD
We love a classic Chevron print in fashion and home décor, but we think it looks especially good in a nursery for a sophisticated, yet fun design. Which is why we created these free – yes, free! – downloadable 8×10 prints. And to add a little wit and whimsy, we used the sweet “you are my sunshine” with the silly “crying is for babies.”
Download this high resolution PDF by clicking here.
Here’s how we used them to decorate baby Lily’s room. Wouldn’t the Picture Me personalized growth chart in Soft Pink and All Mixed Up alphabet poster in Chill Blue complement these free downloadable prints perfectly?
Or why not place one or two on a floating shelf or mantel in mama and daddy’s room as a lovely reminder to each other.
Which alphabet posters or personalized growth charts would you use to accent these Chevron prints?
A WINNING STORY
Last week we asked our blog readers (and Facebook fans) to tell us the sweet, funny, surprising stories that came about when their firstborn met their brand new baby brother or sister for the first time. And we heard some really heartwarming stories, like this one from Allyson H:
“My oldest is six, and her sister was born 12 days ago. She was so excited when she came in to meet her – she sat in the hospital rocking chair, held her sister on a pillow and made up a song she still sings to her today, and her sister is mesmerized by the song – so precious!”
For sharing this lovely story with us*, Allyson won her choice of two of our personalized shirts for kids, so her eldest daughter will get her very own Big Sister Tshirt and baby sister will also get one of our personalized onesies. We picked a couple of our favorites below, but we can’t wait to hear from Allyson which designs she’ll choose for her lil girls.
If your firstborn deserves their own Big Sister Tshirt or Big Brother Tshirt, check out our collection of personalized shirts for kids here.
* Winner was chosen at random using Random.org
FLAG THIS DIY PENNANT TUTORIAL
Pennant flags are so popular right now and look absolutely adorable in a nursery or kid’s bedroom. And luckily, they’re fairly easy to make as well. Below is a step by step tutorial with pictures, as well as a great shot of the finished product we made for a nursery.
Here are the necessary supplies:
-fabric scraps (any shape or size)
-pinking shears (the scissors with the jagged edges)
-bias tape (any color or width will work)
-sewing machine or needle and thread
How-to directions:
1– Using pinking shears, cut out triangles. The triangles don’t need to all be the same shape or size (though they could be if you wanted a more uniform pennant). We cut out 2 of each triangle so the pennant would be double-sided.
2– Sew along the edges of your triangles. We sewed about 1/4″ in from the edge.
3– Pile up all of your cute triangles and admire them. We love the mix of fabrics and patterns.
4– Iron your bias tape
5– Open up your bias tape and nestle each pennant in between the tape. Pin your triangles inside the bias tape.
6– Sew along the edge of the bias tape making sure you are catching the edge of your pennants while sewing.
7– Hang up your pennant
How cute does this pennant look draped over the crib, alongside the colorful School Days alphabet poster? A personalized growth chart would also look sweet, like the cheery, multi-colored Balloon Party or Color Me wall growth charts.
MEMORABLE GIFTS
We’ve done some fun roundups of great gift ideas for babies and kids before, because honestly, who doesn’t love surfing around on the interwebs looking for cool stuff, but we’ve been thinking more about the meaning behind gift giving. What is it that makes a gift truly memorable?
Is it special because it came from someone special or because it was homemade? Is it because it was pretty or just plain useful? There can be many reasons, but thoughtfulness is at the top of the list.
Of course we think personalization makes an ideal gift as it definitely fits the recipient to a tee (no, we won’t make a Big Sister Tshirt or Big Brother Tshirt pun here, though we kind of want to!).
We wanted our personalized growth charts, alphabet posters, and personalized shirts for kids to be individualized not just by name, but also by a child’s favorite color(s), interests (cars, animals, etc), personality or sibling status.
If Emmy was an animal lover who also liked the colors blue and purple, we’d choose our Zoo Friends personalized growth chart, Animal Crackers alphabet poster in Tutti Frutti, or Playful Doodles Little or Big Sister Tshirt to proudly declare her sibling status.
For Joshua, who likes trucks and tractors, as well as the colors blue and orange, we’d pick the Let’s Get to Work personalized growth chart, A To Z alphabet poster, or Modern Fun Little or Big Brother Tshirt (depending on his place in the family line up).
These gifts would be memorable ones because it shows we know the recipient and put some thought into what it is they like most.
What was your most memorable gift?
Looking for personal gifts? Click here for all of our growth charts for kids or here for personalized shirts for kids.
T-Up to DIY
As much as we love the idea of our little ones staying sweet and little, they grow up so fast and outgrow their clothes too quickly. There are certain articles of clothing though, like their personalized Big Sister Tshirt or Big Brother Tshirt, which you won’t want to toss. To avoid too much clutter in the house (no hoarders here, thank you very much!), we found these DIY tutorials for upcycling treasured personalized shirts for kids into useful items that will allow them to live on. And help teach kids a new skill, like sewing or cooking, while showing them to be resourceful and eco-friendly. Win-win!
TShirt Bag – This adorable, reusable DIY grocery shopping bag tutorial from Martha Stewart also features a how-to video.
Tshirt Pillow – A cute way to decorate big brother or sister’s bedroom is to turn their old T into a throw pillow using this DIY tutorial from the Maiden Jane blog. Doesn’t our Under Construction Big Brother Tshirt look great as a pillow too?
Tshirt Apron – Use this DIY tutorial from the Ruffles and Stuff blog to get kids into the kitchen by turning their personalized Tshirts for kids into aprons.
Which of these DIY projects would you choose when your little one outgrows (sniff sniff) their Big Sister Tshirt or Big Brother Tshirt?
VROOM VROOM
We adore the exciting tale of Pixar’s Cars 2. Star racecar Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater set out on a journey overseas to compete in the first ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest racecar. Although the road to the championship is packed with bumps and potholes, the journey is filled with inspirational messages and valuable life lessons. It’s no wonder little boys and girls alike (ok, and us parents too), get caught up in the crazy detours and hilarious surprises in this film.
Based on the style of a few of our personalized growth charts, it’s safe to say our team of Mommy and Daddy designers loves things that go vroom vroom too! That’s right, the On the Go personalized growth chart (and coordinating alphabet poster) and Finish Line personalized growth chart feature cool car inspired designs, which fans of Lightning McQueen and his friends are sure to love as much as we do!
Check out our entire collection of personalize growth charts for kids by clicking here.
