Baby Lifestyles Holiday 2012 Magazine
Baby Lifestyles LAUREN HALPERIN Publisher, Creative Director
TARA STEINLE Managing Editor
ELLEN FELDMAN, BETH MERAN Contributing Editors
LOLA STEEVENS Sales Director
AUSTIN “Mr. Z” RAPPAPORT Website Architect
MICHAEL GUSTMAN S.E.O. Management Visit Baby Lifestyles online at www.BabyLifestyles.com for inspiration, real baby showers, birthday parties, nursery reveals, hot products, news, updats, contests, giveaways, and more Would you like to contribute to Baby Lifestyles? Email our editorial staff at Editor@BabyLifestyles.com Submit your baby shower, birthday party or nursery to Baby Lifestyles at www.BabyLifestyles.com For information about advertising in Baby Lifestyles Magazine and online, contact Lola Steevens at advertise@babylifestyles.com Follow us on Twitter: @BabyLifestyles1 Baby Lifestyles is published bi-monthly by Baby Lifestyles, LLC. All contents ©2012 Baby Lifestyles, LLC. All rights reserved.
Baby Lifestyles
On the Cover Ho! Ho! Ho! This Little cutie caught our attention when Amber Wallace sent in this Santa Styled photo shoot. Check out the rest of her shots on page 94.
CONTENTS December 2012/ January 2013
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PAGE 18
PAGE 32
PAGE 54
PAGE 63
PAGE 79
PAGE 107
PAGE 115
PAGE 123
Little Miss Party Planner Seri and Michelle
Amber Wallace
Captured by JennaLynn Photography
Forget the awesome Hanukkah party these two put together, they made sure that all their guests gave to the Baby Buggy charity too.
Baby’s first Christmas photo of the little one sitting on Santa’s lap is a must. That’s why Amber shot our gorgeous cover shoot.
A little boy decked out in his holiday best hears the jingle bells in this Christmas shoot.
Candy Land Buffets Connie
Hello My Sweet Heather
Petite Social Katie
The only holiday to combine Forget traditional red and green. Finding inspiration in a children’s book, Katie put together a midnight feedings and Christmas parties take on a beautiful rainbow artist playdate celebrating, Connie put together jewel toned, peacock theme with party out of raindrops and this Milk Madness at Heather’s holiday variation. sunshine. Midnight party for us.
Mila Bridger Photography Santa visits children around the world, and some of them live in warm climates. Mila shot this sweetie for a visit from St. Nick on the beach.
Vintage Love Baby Shower Photography by Jason Webster
Anjule is a dear friend of Suzie Webster and who was pregnant with her third child. Suzie wanted to be able to shower Anjule while using her personal style. A big fan of Anthropology, the texture and colors of the baby welcoming party had to pop, yet remain neutral while Anjule and husband Derrick waited for baby's birth to discover gender.
Suzie called on Michelle, of "Sweet Sister's Bake Shoppe" to handle the design of the bakery items. "I asked that she try and make items that were unique and had a rustic feel to them. She came through with a beautiful mini cake, frosted with gold shimmer and topped with a beautiful pendant Happy Day and delicious cupcake flavors.�
“If anyone deserved a baby shower of their dreams it would be Anjule. Her second baby, Lydia was born extremely preterm and we were never able to shower baby Lydia and her mother the way they deserved. Lydia is such a beautiful little miracle and is very excited about being a big sister.�
Paint the Raindrops By Petite Social Katie of Petite Social, designed this oh-so-cute playdate party using inspiration from the children’s book, Raindrops: A Shower of Colors by Chiêu Anh Urban. Since the book introduces children to the colors of teh rainbow, a rainbow-themed party was an easy decision. Katie kicked off the party with a gorgeous wreath made out of colorful Crayola crayons. It definitely lets the little guests know they are entering a world of artistic rainbows! Going with a playful feel, Katie created a styled dessert table along with a kids crafty coloring area. To make the dessert table pop off the white wall, she created a dripping backdrop, mixing paper chains and streamers to add some texture. Across the front, she dangled colored raindrop shapes to make a banner. What did they spell out? Raindrops of course!
The dessert table was filled with some amazing creations. In addition to making rainbow jello cups and candy drizzled popcorn, Sugar High, Inc. created a fabulous cake, incorporating animals from the book; Lynlee’s Petite Cakes created the adorable fondant toppers, and Custom Cakebites provided a colorful collection of cake pops. Each child received a coloring worksheet and sat down at a craft station, which was filled with markers, paint, and crayons. Guests left the party with their very own copy of Raindrops and a rainbow goodie bag from the Paper Nook. Event Styling: Petite Social Book Inspiration: Raindrops: A Shower of Colors by Chiêu Anh Urban, Illustrated by Viviana Garofoli Photography: SweetBee Photography Printables: Libby Lane Press Custom Cake Designer: Sugar High, Inc. Fondant Cupcake Toppers: Lynlee’s Petite Cakes Cake Pops: Custom Cakebites Party Favor Bags: Paper Nook
Raindrops Author Chiêu Anh Urban
We were so excited when Raindrops A Shower of Colors author Chiêu Anh Urban saw Katie’s Raindrops inspired party on Baby Lifestyles website and contacted us to talk about how happy it made her. It brought a rainbow sized smile to us that we got to interview her about her book, how colors inspire children and how parties become better with color.
We love your book! Where did you find the inspiration for Raindrops: A Shower of Colors? When my girls were in preschool, I decided to design a hands-on book to teach them about colors. I didn’t want a book that simply talks about how the primary colors (red, blue and yellow) blend to make the secondary ones (purple, orange and green). I wanted to demonstrate this visually in a fun story with loveable creatures. I have a background in graphic design, and enjoy creating novelty formats. Color acetates (see-through film) are one of my favorite mediums
and I knew that by layering them in the pages of the book it would be a great way to really illustrate how colors blend. What feelings do you hope reading the book gives to little ones and to their parents? I love creating innovative books for the youngest readers. I design my novelty formats to provide playful exploration that is both fun and educational. When a child turns a page in RAINDROPS, the raindrop color windows magically blend to make new ones. I hope with this discovery, it sparks excitement and
discussions between the parent acetate made a great window to and child. demonstrate how primary colors blend to make secondary ones. What is your favorite color? ORANGE! I especially like the Was it always your dream to crespread in RAINDROPS with the ate a children’s book? RED Robin and YELLOW Yak. Yes, but I didn’t originally know it. When you turn the page, the die- I didn’t grow up with many toys cut raindrops and books, so I from the spread would create my blend, making own. I would orange for the make dolls, their ORANGE occlothing and topus. It’s my other playthings favorite. by cutting out my drawings from Your book paper, and drew teaches chilboard games and dren not only pieces. I made about colors many little books but also about animals and and stories from my drawings, inweather. How did you blend cluding comic strips. It must have these subjects so seamlessly? been predestined. I love working Animals, insects, and sea creatures with paper, and continue to do so are very colorful and make fun with my girls. characters for a story about colors and rainbows. And where there’s a How does it feel knowing your rainbow, there’s rain and sun, the book is now the inspiration for perfect, happy setting. Using rain- rainbow parties? If you could drops for the see-through die-cut create a party from your book,
what would it look like? I am delighted! It warms my heart to see RAINDROPS being a part of a child’s celebration in addition to story time. Their imagination comes to life and the party is incredible! The colors and backdrop are bright and festive. And the cake and cupcakes with the RAINDROPS’ characters - WOW! This party by Katie is pretty amazing and hard to top. I love balloons and would shower colorful balloons everywhere. And I always have to include lots of hands-on games and activities.
activities on my website, including paint and cupcake frosting projects. You can find the rainbow Jell-O recipe, too. I make them often for the school bake sales and they are usually the first to sell out. Kids love them because they look cool. There are also printable cut-and-paste and color pages for kids to explore colors and shapes, another one of my favorite early concepts for kids.
You have a new book coming out soon. What would you like to share about it? The new book is being released in 2013. I can tell you that it is about Speaking of games and activi- shapes and is another fun novelty. ties, you offer fun art and DIY projects on your site. How do For art projects and more informathey complement your book? tion about Chieu and Raindrops, It’s a fun way to extend color ex- please visit chieuurban.com. ploration. There are color mixing
Merry Christmas Baby Photos by Captured by JennaLynn Photography
Photography Showcase
Photo by Chi Photography
Photo by Branham Perceptions Photography
Photos by Jordan Brittley Photography
Photo by Amy Hedges
Photo by Green Tree Photography
Photo by Kesha Lambert Photography
Photo by Chasity Whittington of Savvy Images
Photo by Gronde Photography
Photo by Anna Pociask Photography
Photo by Kylie Chevalier
Photo by Michelle Johnson
Photo by Manalo Empire Photography
Photo by Leagcy Imagery
Photo by McGaffick Photography
Photos by Sarah Hinchey Photography
Beach Babe Photos by Mila Bridger
Autumn Full of Wonders
By Whimsical Printables
When Miranda thinks of things to give thanks for as Autum gives way to the holiday season, the birth of a new baby springs to mind. In the heart of the Autumn season, she has ideas of a baby shower in burlap and lace mixed with apples and pumpkins and then tea lights, with rustic aspects everywhere and lots of sweets! “I love burlap and love using it in my
parties. I don’t know how many times I see the rubber duck at a baby shower and think of how I wish I could take over!” For the paper elements of this rustic Autumn baby shower, Miranda decided on a double invitation, making plenty of room for all of the extra information can go onto the RSVP card. She gave shapes to the printables, creating character
to items more commonly seen in basic squares and rectangles. “I used my placement cards to not only label all food, but list vendor names below each treat. This is a great way for hostesses to also place names of the guest on for their place at a table or even as each guest enters they can find their card and make a “wish” for the baby to be. Afterwards, the mother can place this in a
scrapbook and keep for future reading!” The beautiful tassel bunting was fashioned with strips of burlap and lace, each piece tied with twine onto a one long string of twine. Smaller mason jars had a tea light placed inside each one and topped with a daisy mason lid. “The holes in the lid were perfect so that I could hang them with twin from the tree and
they brought an extra touch to it all. I even strung lights on the top and bottom of the table.� Burlap was placed as a table runner as well as the cover for the baskets and draped over the chair. “I love baskets and that was very simple since I wanted to incorporate baskets around the table.� Pumpkins and apples were also placed throughout and nothing quite says Fall
like colorful leaves spread throughout. “I especially love the dress hanging from the chair and the ruffle butts I placed in the set up as well! These are items I use lots with my daughter and she loves dressing up in them! I always create a basket of gifts for the mother to be so decided to bring that into the shoot as well. Old family photos placed in a shadow box for the baby’s room, a shabby chic doll, ruffle onesie, and even a beautiful necklace!” Vendors: Printables, Styling & Event Design- Whimsical Printables Photography- Sandra Bludau Photography Baby Clothing - Lacy Mae Design Necklace- K Chic Designs Necklaces Fondant Leaves, Bibs, Pumpkins, Acorns, OnesiesLynlee’s Petite Cakes Pumpkin Cake Pops- The Sweet Tooth Bar Pumpkin & Acorn Cake Pops- 'kCreative' Cake Pops Brigadeiro- Simply Brigadeiro Fall Cookies- Dandy Delights Fondant Topped Chocolate Covered Oreos-Love & Sugar Kisses
Shabby Chic Happy Space
Cassie wanted her daughter's nursery to be a happy space. It took a lot of planning to make such a small area into a dream come true nursery on a budget, but she was thrilled with how it turned out!
She used bright shades of yellow, pink and blue, and decorated with a shabby chic bird motif. Her husband installed beadboarding and molding around the room to give a cottage-like feel. The crib, changing table, shelf and book rack all matched the beadboarding around the room. “We made several old pieces of furniture look new again with a new coat of paint and new knobs.�
“The theme really came to life after I ordered the 3D wall birdhouses from Pottery Barn and repainted them in the room colors. I created the rest of the wall art myself with scrapbook paper to compliment the vintage fabric feel of the bedding. I used my Cricut machine, scrapbook paper and repainted 3D birdhouses to make a unique wall branch.�
“My favorite details are the birdhouse side table I commissioned from a local carpenter and painted, the shelves of children's books with corresponding stuffed animal characters and of course the DIY wall branch!�
Cassie added name blocks and drawer knobs that were painted to match the crib bedding. I decorated one wall space with beloved books displayed next to a stuffed animal of each title character. A comfy reading nook with glider sits across from the books.
Tight Spaces, Great Places By Lauren Halperin
Creating a nursery isn't just about designing a room, it's the first step in re-thinking how your whole place will function around your baby - especially if you live in a small New York apartment! Brandon and Maggie Walsh live in an old soap factory conversion loft here Brooklyn, New York, and had a bit of a hurdle when it came down to how to planning their daughter Wrenley’s nursery. Their apartment is one large open living space except for the bathroom and... the walk-in closet! Before this beautiful room belonged to Wren, it was a walk-in closet with concrete floors and white walls, completely utilitarian. Though Brandon is an architect, he typically does big projects. But since Maggie works in fashion and has a decorative style,
they went forward with creating an incredible room from almost nothing, making their less than 1,000sf apartment a highly efficient, flexible space as well as beautiful and functional. Like many other parents, they had no budget for this, so the Walsh’s patiently thought through every detail to make it work for around $500. Doing it themselves - including electrical and drywall work saved them enough money for Maggie to feel better about taking more time off work. And there's nothing more gratifying and fun than working together to make your baby's first room! A few weekends later, you would never know this nursery room was ever a closet - it's now their favorite room in the house. There were a number of challenges from the beginning: The first question -
where is the "stuff" going to go? “Part of the overall need list was to create a second bedroom area for all the family coming and going once baby was here. So we made a new freestanding, partially enclosed closet that ended up creating the walls needed to make a private second bedroom, while still filtering light to the other side of the apartment - another challenge of this design. Second, since we rent - we had to make this so that once our lease was up and if we decided to move we could easily change it right back to a closet. The placement of the new storage naturally created the second bedroom - and now the place functions like a true two bedroom apartment!” The Walshs wanted to avoid a traditional pink for Wren’s nursery, so they went to their local hard-
ware store and looked through paint chips to find a color combo they liked. They landed on a coral and turquoise combination with grey accents, to make it more neutral. “The coral color reads a little orange in the pictures but we love how bright and cheery it is! It adds such a playfulness and brightness to our whole space. And we think if we have a baby boy in the future we can use the turquoise pieces and grey furniture for his nursery as well.” Once inspired by choosing colors, they looked for the perfect wallpaper for the accent walls. They found it at Anthropologie, perfectly child-like without being too cutesy and worked perfectly in their colors! “We loved the wallpaper and let it lead us through the rest of the room. Where it's placed ac-
centuates the longer dimension of the space and the detail fits the scale of the room. My favorite part of the nursery is the wallpaper, because of the birds. Initially I wanted to sidestep any birds because we’ve seen so many in nurseries lately, but because we named her after a bird, we really grew to love all of the birds! We even nicknamed her “Birdie”!”
They also used wallpaper for the wainscoting, although visitors never know the difference. Painting the giant column in the corner of the nursery also made it less visually intrusive on the design. “Nothing "has" to be used the way it's supposed to so we got creative with anything we could find.” Baseboards and trim were scrap wood pieced together not normally used
as they were intended to be used. The door trim was used for the baseboard and simple band of bass wood for the chair rail was enough to add that extra level of detail they wanted. Storage is the name of the game in New York, and with such a small space they knew the really needed to (a) maximize the space they had (b) double function wherever possible and (c) avoid over indulging on things for Wren. They
stuck to getting things they absolutely needed and worked their way down. “We got the biggest dresser possible for the space in lieu of actual changing tables that seemed to be typically smaller, we put up open shelving to showcase special gifts and utilize wall space, then painted an old bookcase white to add a tiny bit more storage on a small wall by the entrance. We also figured out a way to make a mini “Wrenley-
sized-closet” by hanging a few industrial bars on the wall with loose metal hooks to hang things from. We carefully placed them behind the swing of entry door so that when opened, it closes off the hanging clothes. Every square inch of that room seemingly has a function and wherever possible, double function. And we love how everything is “within reach”.” As an amateur seamstress, Maggie made the banner from separate fabrics in her color palette. “I wanted to add a little bit of me in the room.” Brandon’s Peter Rabbit is in the nursery from his childhood. Maggie also gave Wren her favorite stuffed bear from childhood. They also love star shaped night light and how much the chandelier adds such a playful girliness to the nursery. Brandon’s favorite details were the flooring, base-
boards, trim and wainscoting. “We purchased the flooring from Home Depot and with simple installation, Brandon was able to do it in a few hours with an exacto knife. I didn’t think we needed it at first, but I should have trusted his architect’s eye because it really added a polish to the space. “ In the end, they can't imagine a nursery any bigger and everything has a perfect little place. It's very intimate and it fits Wren perfectly! Crib: Babyletto Hudson 3-in1 Convertible Crib Bedding: Etsy, AngelsWings Dresser: Ikea Hemnes 3 Drawer Chest Chair Target Glider Wall paint color: Lowe’s, Valspar Coral Reef 2004-4A Wallpaper - Anthropologie, “Lofty Larks Wallpaper Chandelier - Pottery Barn Kids, Olivia Mini Crystal Chandelier
Rhinestone Cowgirl By Dawn Hessel
Tea and Cookies with Santa Photography by Amber Wallace
Festival of Lights Baby’s First Hanukkah By Little Miss Party Planner
Seri Kertzner will be the first Jewish girl to admit that Hanukkah decorations are simply cheesyand there is never much variety. Holiday aisles in stores have a few shelves if any for Hanukkah within a sea of Christmas fare. The reality is a bit harsh but she has done her research, and chic, pretty decorations for Hanukkah just don’t exist. It was her goal to make the celebration for her son Luke’s first Hanukkah look sparkly and stylish. She got together with her Little Miss Party Plan-
ner partner Michelle Bachman and got creative. At Hanukkah gifts are exchanged and children are excited by eight days and nights of presents. In lieu of bringing gifts, Little Miss Party Planners decided to make donations to great charities, teaching their children the beautiful lesson of a mitzvah which is a good deed. Baby Buggy is an organization that takes new and gently used baby items for mothers in need who cannot afford to buy supplies for their babies.
“I had asked our guests for these donations long before Hurricane Sandy hit. After the destruction I touched base with Baby Buggy and found out sadly, over 2,100 families in the Baby Buggy network are in areas of Staten Island and the Rockaways, which were hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. So to help, Baby Buggy requested diapers and winter coats which were in high demand for helping these families out. We collected about almost a dozen boxes of diapers and bags full of winter jackets for children. It was so touching to see everyone walk through the door so eager to help and made for a selfless and very loving holiday!” Traditional Hanukkah colors are blue, white, silver and gold. They used this color combo and built in turquoise as the main shade of blue throughout. Using mercury glass vases, they combined smiple white, grey and black flowers to make
the décor look chic. “I think that the arrangements looked clean and fresh spread around the room without over doing it.”For the tables where the food was set, simple decorations were added. “Christmas ornaments are my favorite decoration. I’ve always wanted a Christmas tree for so many reasons. I love the smell, I love the idea of decorating it, I love how it provides storage for gifts…it’s just a cool tradition all around. So to fill the void I always buy ornaments that are in Hanukkah colors and build them into my party.” I strung all of these from the light fixture in my dining room above the table where we served up some lunch. For each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, we light a candle in commemoration of the miracle of light. A ninth candle called the Shammas acts as a “servant” to light the other candles. We had some fun with a DIY
Menorah this year. We used 9 empty clear glass wine bottles and sprayed each with gold paint. Incredibly easy, looks so great and made a nice impact on the windowsill. I also love the menorah that I got for my wedding from Michael Aram which I set up behind the bar. The star of the Hanukkah table is always potato latkes. To take to the next level, Seri decided to do a latke bar. When she and Michelle told personal chef Sue Park about
the idea she came back to us and suggested we serve the latke bar as savory and sweet. Savory: Mini Latkes-traditional flavor Toppings: Chives, crème fraiche, smoked salmon, Apple Sauce Sweet: Mini Sweet potato latkes sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon Since the guest list was made up of a bunch of kids and parents chasing them around, with this type of crowd
it is best to serve items easy to grab and nibble. Cubes of cheese, pitted olives, halved grapes, cruditĂŠs (they used all green veggies and an artichoke and parmesan dip), tomato and bocconcini and deviled eggs. Alongside the items we set out to eat we had found some adorable canapĂŠs plates with the Star of David emblazed on them, perfect for Hanukkah or any Jewish holiday.
Star shaped vanilla cake pops were dusted with gold glitter and sugar cookies were shaped in numbers for 8 days of Hanukkah and a few Jewish Stars of David. Sweet cupcakes were dusted with sparkling pearl drops and topped with adorable toppers in dreidel and Jewish star shapes. For entertainment the children I set out small turquoise paper bags with packs of
crayons and Hanukkah stickers. They each got to decorate a bag to fill with candy and a favor. We also set out a few dreidels filled with chocolate gelt coins. My son quickly stuffed into his piggy bank, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that they were edible not valuable.� Guests went home with a handmade tins created from speacialty bottles and filled with metallic gold gift shred.
Small bags of Hanukkah gelt were stuffed inside, so guests went home with a nice amount of chocolate money. Styling ::Little Miss Party Planner Photography :: Raquel Bianca Cake Pops :: Kreated by K Latke Bar :: Sue Park Garland :: Le Petite Fest Cupcake toppers :: Too Cute Invites
New Year’s Eve Milk Madness at Midnight By Candy Land Buffets
New Year’s Eve is a holiday celebrated at midnight. New moms know this time well because it’s one of their feeding times. What better way to celebrate welcoming 2013 in than with other Moms with midnight milk madness! The concept of this stylish candy buffet is for Moms to know being up at midnight with baby can be a fun way to celebrate baby’s first New Year’s Eve.
The Jewel of Christmas By Hello my Sweet
This is Heather of Hello my Sweet’s interpretation of a 1920’s style Glitz and Glam Peacock holiday party, perfect for baby’s first Christmas Holiday Season. Heather’s inspiration came from the beautiful jewel tone curtain panels and incorporated peacock feathers throughout the table.
Heather picked gold and teal jewel toned chargers and gold buckets to fill with sweets as well. Purple and teal sheer and gold/white grosgrain ribbon accented the gold paper wrapped gifts and gold boxes.
Gilded Fruit: Heather found fake fruit at her local Dollar Tree store and spray painted them shades of gold and teal to match the rest of her jewel colored holiday decorations. Rolo Tree: Using a styrofoam cone, toothpicks and Rolo’s, Heather created a beautiful gold candy tree. Her instructions: Place each Rolo onto the end of a toothpick, then insert into the styrofoam. Heather found it best to work from the top down. And if you want to make sure you don’t eat the candy, you can also use hot glue to affix it to the foam. Yard Sale Find: Heather spied a small brass birdcage. Bargain Price…$1.00 Sweets & Treats For this dessert table Heather decided upon three baked goods and one cocktail and then filled in the gaps with candy items that complimented the jewel color scheme. The golden wrappers of Werther’s Candy really shine.
Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. -- George Mathew Adams