If you live in an urban area or an old refurbished building, chances are you’re lucky enough to have exposed brick walls. While they can pose some challenges, we’re willing to look past them and admire their natural beauty and many design opportunities.
We found some amazing nurseries with exposed brick walls and were so in love with them that we had a hard time choosing which personalized growth chart to pair with them so we decided to show two for each!
Bursts of bright colors paired with a chic brick wall creates the perfect balance of whimsy and style for this baby’s space. We’re a little torn and not sure if we’d choose either the Doodle It Up or Animal Crackers personalized growth charts to accent this space. (Cush and Nooks)
Cheeky Dot or Picture Me. Which of these personalized growth charts would you add to this sweet and sophisticated nursery whose color scheme is inspired by its rustic brick walls? (Grey Likes Baby)
The faded brick wall adds a lovely rustic charm to this eclectic nursery design and the white background and various hues of the Balloon Party and Up Up Away personalized growth charts would nicely tie the room together. (HomeStilo)
This combo bedroom/nursery utilizes strong black and white graphics to pop against a dark brick wall so we would choose the Design for Minikind personalized growth chart or simple red Perfect Pennant to complement it. (via Pinterest)
Let us know which personalized growth charts are your favorite with each of these rooms.
Big Moments in Time
Did you see our post last week featuring all of the photos of the birthday infographics our readers sent to us? If not, check it out here – it’s so cool! Having our creations being used and appreciated and having an impact on the lives of little ones and their parents is truly the inspiration for designing our line of personalized baby gifts.
That collage got us thinking about other big moments in wee ones’ lives – birthdays, first steps, welcoming a new sibling, the first day of school – and how thrilled our personalized growth charts, big sister shirts, big brother shirts, and 1st birthday shirts have been there to help celebrate those times.
We love that baby June was wearing one of our personalized onesies when she took her first steps!!
Jake wore a big brother t shirt to the hospital to meet his sister Grayson.
Twins Graham and Eric celebrated their big day wearing their My 1st Birthday shirts.
Moving into a new house meant this little girl got her own room and the 1 To 10 personalized growth chart to accent it.
Have our personalized baby gifts been a part of your child’s big moment? If so, please share how our big sister shirts, big brother shirts, etc have had an impact, we’d love to hear from you!
Get Inspired: Water-themed Nursey & Kids Décor
From lakes to pools to rivers and beaches, summertime is all about being near the H2O. And for those due this time of the year, your little water baby will feel right at home in a space inspired by H2O.
To help give you some design ideas, we’ve found some gorgeous nurseries inspired by time spent by the water and paired them with our personalized growth charts.
Pretty in pink with accents of coral and seashells gives this nursery a sweet feeling of being by the sea. Either of the Under the Sea or Mermaid Delight personalized growth charts would add a nice touch of whimsy to this otherwise sophisticated space. (Cute and Company)
Adding boats and trucks to this blue, green, and red beach inspired nursery keep it from being too “theme-y,”which is why we’d add theOn the Go personalized growth chart to tie it all together. (The Sweet Life)
The Monkey Pals personalized growth chart nicely accents the watery hues and circular accents of this gender-neutral nursery. (Ok Dani)
A perfect mix of pink and blue brings this sailboat themed nursery together and the My Town personalized growth chart would round out the whole seaside setting. (Project Nursery)
Has a waterside spot inspired your nursery design? Which personalized growth chart would work best
Yellow Baby Shower Themes & Personalized Baby Gifts
When you don’t find out your baby’s gender ahead of time, people often assume you’ll go with yellow and can grumble about the “generic” hue. But boy (or girl), do we disagree! There are so many gorgeous shades of yellow, from soft and buttery to bright and cheery. And while yellow can easily stand alone, it also pairs well with a whole array of pretty colors or basic neutrals. So to get you inspired to create a gorgeous yellow baby shower, here are ideas for décor, favors, desserts, and personalized baby gifts.
We “heart” this yellow, gray, and white shower with a birdy & heart theme. The Heart 2 Heart Dad and Heart 2 Heart Mom personalized onesies would be ideal gifts! (Hostess with the Mostess)
Oh baby this shower’s neon yellow with cool green accents is adorable! We’d definitely give the Happy Hearts and Modern Monogram personalized onesies at a baby shower with this color scheme. (Project Nursery)
This black & white shower with yellow highlights feels so fresh and pretty, we want to head out to the garden right now! Perfect personalized baby gifts for this soiree? We’d say the equally color contrasting Playful Hello and Classic Monogram personalized onesies. (Style Milk)
Is a yellow baby shower theme on your horizon?
Kids Décor Trend: Chalkboard Walls
Customized décor is something we particularly love (hey, we don’t design personalized growth charts, alphabet posters and photo posters for no reason!), so the chalkboard wall trend we’re seeing in nurseries is right up our alley. We’re crazy about all of the opportunities for personalization it provides – parents can write sweet notes or favorite quotes every day if they want and eventually the little ones will grow up and get to play along.
Here are a few of our favorite nurseries with chalkboard walls and the personalized growth charts we’d love to see accenting those rooms.
Frames and animals and juicy hues give this nursery with chalkboard wall lots of impact and the similarly designed Animal Crackers personalized growth chart would fit right in. (HGTV.com)
We don’t think this woodland themed nursery with sweet chalkboard message could get any cuter – unless of course the Woodland Fun personalized growth chart was in it. (BearFoxChalk)
The welcoming chalkboard sign, aqua dresser, and world map give this nursery a happy, uplifting feel, so the Up Up Away personalized growth chart couldn’t be any more perfect for it. (Love Like Johnny + June)
The Design for Minikind personalized growth chart practically looks like it was made for this stylish nursery with a graphically influenced chalkboard wall. (Moms Best Network)
Did you incorporate a chalkboard into your nursery? Which of our personalized growth charts would go with it?
In the News: Like a Girl
Because we design personalized baby gifts, we like to keep things light and focus on fun freebies, décor, and fashion, but as parents we know there are weightier things in the world we need to talk to our children about. Like their self-confidence and self-worth.
The new #LikeaGirl commercial has brought attention to that subject. Have you seen it? We have and as mothers of little girls – and boys – we really love it! As strong, independent, working moms, we know that doing something “like a girl” is a very good thing, so we appreciate having this topic in the news as it gives us – and other moms and dads – the opportunity to discuss it with our kids.
If you haven’t seen the #LikeaGirl commercial, check it out here.
We know some girls prefer dolls while some boys prefer trucks, but often kids just like what they like! That’s why the designs of our personalized growth charts come in colors suited for both boys and girls, no matter what the theme is, and why our big sister shirts and big brother shirts share a lot of the same designs. We also customize our line of personalized baby gifts as requested because it’s all about what makes kids truly happy.
That’s why we do what we do.
Freebie: Summer Fun Sibling Interview
Summer vacation is in full swing, are the kiddos getting bored yet? For your sake, we hope not! But if you are looking for some fun activity, our fab designers took a short break from designing personalized baby gifts, big sister shirts, and big brother shirts to create another freebie for you.
Here’s a summer fun sibling interview that brothers and sisters can fill out and get them thinking (and giggling too!). Hopefully it will also allow them to learn a little more about each other because there’s really nothing like building a strong sibling bond, right? And how cute would it be if the kids were wearing a big brother t shirt or big sister tshirtwith coordinating little sibling personalized onesies or tees while completing the interview sheet?!
(download our sibling interview here)
(Here are some of our favorites: Stamped Style Big Sister Tshirtand Big Brother T shirt; Playful Doodles Big Sister Tshirt and Big Brother T shirt)
Petitle Lemon In Real Life – Twins Turn One!
Recording childhood milestones and memories is one of the main reasons we design personalized baby gifts. We love helping parents keep a tangible memento of those special times with personalized onesies, big sister shirts, big brother shirts, or 1st birthday shirts and we’re beyond thrilled when our customers let us in on those moments too. Read on for some insight into, Andria the mama of our darling twin’s In Real Life story:
What are your boys’ names & how old are they:
Graham Loren and Eric Jeffrey, age 1 year
What do you love about having twins?!
I love that they have each other. Watching them interact is awesome. They look at one another and just giggle.
What has been the most challenging?
Juggling two kids who are in the exact same stage. I don’t get to just sit and snuggle with one because then I am leaving the other one out. I try to be as fair as possible with my time and attention for each of them.
Most surprising?
Seeing their little personalities develop. I could tell they were different while they were in my belly, but it is fun to see they have maintained those same characteristics now. One is more mellow, while the other is more high strung.
What are your fav Petite Lemon products and why?
We loved the birthday shirts for their first birthday. We also used the free birthday printouts from your blog (click here) and people at the party loved those. The other item we love are the personalized growth charts. We bought each of the boys the Navy pennant chart for their room.
What is your favorite blog right now?
http://karenrussell.typepad.com/
Karen is amazing and real. And she teaches amazing photography classes. I just finished taking her class for the second time.
Your fav Instagram?
@sisterhoodofsecrets
Define motherhood in one word?
Enlightening.
Wonderful, Andria! Thanks for letting us be a part of your boys’ special day and for letting us share it with our readers!
If you own any of our personalized baby gifts, big brother shirtsor big sister shirts, please let us know, we’d love to share your kiddo’s story and photo. Contact us at buzz @ petitelemon (dot) com.
Our Fave Childhood Vacation Spots
When you were little did your family go to the same place for vacation each year or was each summer a new adventure? While there are so many wonderful places to visit and explore, there’s also something comforting about returning each year to a family cabin by the lake or grandma’s house in the woods.
We took a fun walk down memory lane thinking about some of our favorite childhood vacation spots. We picked a few and paired them with the big brother shirts and big sister shirts we’ll dress our wee ones in when we take them back to our fave childhood summer haunts.
Living in the Bay Area, a day trip to play tourists in San Francisco was a must and included clam chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf followed by big ice cream sundaes in Ghiradelli Square. (Shown: Skyline Big Brother T shirt and Big Sister Tshirt)
It was camping, definitely not glamping, that we did as kids at Lake Shasta and Burney Falls in Northern California, though nowadays we may lean more towards the glamping side. (Shown: Playful Owls and Kids Play big brother shirts and big sister shirts)
Disneyland was, and still is, an all-time favorite destination that takes us to our happy place. (Shown: Charming Castle and Looks Like Me Princess big sister shirts)
Vancouver BC is a gorgeous city and to visit it as well as the World’s Fair in 1986 was an amazing experience, so we’d love to take our kids to a future one – maybe the 2015 World’s Fair in Milan, Italy. (Around the World Big Brother T shirt and Big Sister Tshirt)
We still daydream about those relaxing, sunny days spent playing in the sand and splashing in the water in Laguna Beach. (Shown: Whale of Fun Big Brother Tshirt and Big Sister Tshirt)
Where did you spend your summer vacations? Which of our big sister shirtsand big brother shirts would be perfect for your kids to wear there?
Personalized Baby Gifts: Designer Picks with Muffin
Recently we highlighted some of our Creative Director Hillary’s favorite personalized baby gifts she’s designed and offered a bit of insight into her design process (read it here), and now we’re turning to Muffin, another one of our fantastic designers. Muffin takes a few minutes out of her busy day juggling being a mommy to two wee ones with designing personalized baby gifts, including the Merry Menagerie Big Brother T shirt and Big Sister Tshirt, as well as the Joyful Elephant, Sweet Fox, and Gentle Giraffe personalized onesies, to answer a few questions.
In general, where do you find design inspiration?
Most of my inspiration comes from raising my two kids. I have a 6 year old daughter and an 8 month old son. I like making designs that are vibrant and fresh and that I think they would like. I often have my daughter come into my office and tell me she likes what I’m drawing on my computer. I also find tons of inspiration from the world around me, the fresh florals and patterns of nature, as well as online from great places like Pinterest.
(Shown: Joyful Elephant, Sweet Fox, and Gentle Giraffe personalized onesies)
What was your inspiration for these particular designs or what do you like most about them?
What I like most about all of these are the simplicity of the shapes and the vibrant colors.
What’s a typical day like, how do you juggle designing, finding inspiration, and being a parent?
I try to have set office hours when I work, and my nanny comes in. But, really I’m always designing and I’m always a parent. I make time for both because both make me so happy. The best part about my job is that I do get to be home with the kids and see them throughout the day even though I’m in my office working. I love it!
What ideas/designs/fonts are you working on developing now?
Right now I’m trying to explore new ways to draw things and develop those into patterns or prints. I’m exploring techniques with different pencils, brushes and markers, and then scanning them in to see what I get. I’m also trying to get better at hand lettering. I love taking online classes to help me learn new skills.
Thanks Muffin, we appreciate this insight and can’t wait to see how your new skills and explorations translate into designs for our personalized baby gifts!
