Design Dazzle Readers Favorite Baby Nurseries 2010

Readers favorite baby nurseries was determined by the most viewed baby nursery blog posts for 2010 (traffic stats to the Design Dazzle blog post).  The rooms are in no particular order...just beautiful, well-designed and favorites of our readers! This adorable pink and navy baby room designed by our very own featured contributor, Autumn Clemons.

 Black, white and jalapeno green nursery

 

Modern boys nursery designed by Sara Murphy.

 

Baby girl's happy room by Little Crown Interiors

 

Fresh nursery with touches of pink by Nicole Balch

Boys argyle nursery by Madelyn Ridgeway

Twins nursery for a boy and girl designed by Mandy of Baby Stribling.

Owl inspired baby nursery by Belinda Nihill

There are many beautiful nurseries we featured on Design Dazzle in 2010. To view all of our baby nursery blog posts for 2010 go here.

Girls Christmas-Chic Bedroom

Posted by: Kelly Porter





Christmas Time Is Here, and there's no better season to be inspired by fairy tale spaces. So, today I'm featuring a colorful, uber-chic girls room designed by Italian furniture designer AltaModa.







Maybe it's just me, but this room definitely has a Holiday vibe. Perhaps it's the 'candy-coated' color palette or the life sized deer...What do you think?

Above, is my Christmas Chic color palette. You can use these hues as wall colors or accent colors to create your fairy tale space. Shown above: Thistle, Exuberant Pink, Poinsettia {very fitting!}, Partytime - all from Sherwin-Williams.





All of the furnishings are from AltaModa which combined modern fashion trends with fun colors to create this collection. Below, I've included a few other fabric choices that are readily available on-line:

{sources: housefabric.com; fabricguru.com}

I wasn't able to locate the exact deer in the photos, but I did find a few stuffed-toys that are more traditional -- just in case your little princess has been asking about having her own reindeer.

{sources: ivg stores; noah's animal figurines}

Merry Christmas!

Kelly Porter is the owner of Porter House Designs and publisher of Color Sizzle.

Capture a Photo Of Santa In Your Home!

Thrill your kids this Christmas! Catch Santa in YOUR house! How will your kids doubt Santa when they see a picture of him in their very own home?!! This is such a cool idea and very easy to do. I uploaded images of my family room to the company's website. I spent a few minutes choosing a Santa (there are hundreds to choose from). It took about 15 minutes to create - which includes a downloadable picture I printed instantly. Wow - I have PROOF of SANTA in my very own home!  Here's Santa in front of our fireplace. I love his facial expression of being caught in the act!

Santa in front of our Christmas tree. He's probably checking his list to find out if we've been naughty or nice ; ).  What a fun tradition to do every year and then look back on the different pictures!! Your kids will be talking about Santa visiting their home for years!

Here's my before picture.

This is how easy it is to do.....

 

How fun would it be to try and show Proof of Santa's Visit in your home?!? Just before bedtime on Christmas Eve - have your kids help you set up your camera on a tripod or on a desk/counter.  Mention to your kids if Santa appears the camera will automatically take his picture. Of course, if your child still believes...this will be easy to pass off. After the kids are sleeping, take the photo you really want to use and upload it to the company's website. Make sure to delete the camera image - just in case your child looks at the camera (you don't want an image of your family room on the camera without Santa in the pic). This site has several great features on this website - you can resize Santa, brighten, contrast, etc to make it look like he is really in your home. Print out the picture and show your family the next morning...what an awesome surprise. I wish my kids were young enough to pull this off.  For $9.95 you're able to do 3 different pictures. The account set-up will expire in one year - create 1 or 2 pictures this year and another next year. Great deal!

To all of our readers...Merry Christmas!! Our regular blog posts will be back on track after Christmas.

INSTA-SNOW 1LB BAG

Repost : )

My Christmas Card To You!

Sending you Christmas Greetings from my family to yours!! Wishing everyone a wonderful, happy  Christmas!!  After some grumbling from the kids (do we really have to somewhat match???), we took this family photo in Maui during the spring. We ended up using this as the front of our family Christmas card.

The inside of the Christmas card opens 14" wide.

The back of our card.

 From my home to yours at Christmas time.

Wishing all of our Design Dazzle readers and followers a magical and very special Christmas!

FREE Santa Video Message Personalized For Your Child

Oh my gosh - this is so COOL!! It's a personalized video message for your child from Santa and guess what? It's FREE. I filled out a simple check list form and made a silly version for my daughter Jamie. From that check list form, a short movie clip is made for your child with Santa personally speaking to your kid. Santa mentions he is in the North Pole.





Upload a photo of your child and when Santa opens a book to check his naughty or nice list your child's photo will appear in his book with also a few extra details.







On the form - you check what state you live in. As you can see, there is a map shown with your child's name and approximate location. It's helpful that Santa knows where you live : )





I checked a box that says my daughter is working on having less tantrums this year (she's 14 ; ) ) Here's what Santa said: "I see here that you've been trying really hard to stop *throwing tantrums* I'm very proud of you. You need to keep it up - as you know nothing gets past Santa". As I mentioned, this was a silly one I made. I'm having way too much fun with this!! Would you like to make a video for your spouse? There also is a version for adults. To make your own version - go here. This doesn't take more than 5 or 6 minutes to make - but you will have so much fun making one you'll want to make them for all your family and friends. So beware - this could take along time.



UPDATE:  This is a repost from last year. The video is still free...it is a different video from last year...it is still awesome!

Treats for Santa

(Photography by Naomi V Photography, styling by Sharnel Dollar Designs, Printables by Polkadot Prints)

As a little girl I used to get very excited about leaving out a snack and a drink for Santa and the Reindeer. We used to leave a fruit mince pie, milk, and a carrot for Rudolph.



Now that my son is old enough I have decided this year to start a family tradition of making something special and handmade with my son to teach him to be thankful and thoughtful by giving Santa something in return for delivering gifts to us.



Here are some sweet ideas I have spotted for preparing a treat for Santa and the Reindeers ...



1. These Cookie sacks - an adorable little muslin bag with an iron on transfer filled with mini cookies, would make a perfect midnight Snack !

(Image via The Finer Things)

2. Chocolate and Caramel Dipped Marshmallows would be something different for Santa to munch on, and simple and fun for the kids to make

(Ensparkle Ceramics Plate)

3. A Personalised Santa Plate for the treats to go on, the kids can write their own message on this one.

Image via Southern Living

4. Make special Reindeer food by combining oats and coloured sugar crystals / sprinkles, the kids can sprinkle a trail on the grass so Rudolph and friends can find their way to your house.



What do you leave out for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve ?





Sarah Thompson, of Style Me Gorgeous, is a featured contributor

Homemade and Semi-Homemade Food Gifts

Caramel in a Can

This is a super easy gift. The caramel sauce is made by boiling UNOPENED sweetened condensed milk. Easy, peasy! The trick is making sure the cans are completely covered with water at all times (the cans will burst if not covered in water). I’ve made caramel in a can many times. Michelle Underwood designed these adorable caramel sauce labels. The printable labels, instructions and ideas are found here. 

Thrill Your Kids-Capture a Photo of Santa In Your home!!

 Thrill your kids this Christmas! Catch Santa in YOUR house! How will your kids doubt Santa when they see a picture of him in their very own home?!! This is such a cool idea and very easy to do. I uploaded images of my family room to the company's website. I spent a few minutes choosing a Santa (there are hundreds to choose from). It took about 15 minutes to create - which includes a downloadable picture I printed instantly. Wow - I have PROOF of SANTA in my very own home!  Here's Santa in front of our fireplace. I love his facial expression of being caught in the act!

Santa in front of our Christmas tree. He's probably checking his list to find out if we've been naughty or nice ; ).  What a fun tradition to do every year and then look back on the different pictures!! Your kids will be talking about Santa visiting their home for years!

Here's my before picture.

This is how easy it is to do.....

 

How fun would it be to try and show Proof of Santa's Visit in your home?!? Just before bedtime on Christmas Eve - have your kids help you set up your camera on a tripod or on a desk/counter.  Mention to your kids if Santa appears the camera will automatically take his picture. Of course, if your child still believes...this will be easy to pass off. After the kids are sleeping, take the photo you really want to use and upload it to the company's website. Make sure to delete the camera image - just in case your child looks at the camera (you don't want an image of your family room on the camera without Santa in the pic). This site has several great features on this website - you can resize Santa, brighten, contrast, etc to make it look like he is really in your home. Print out the picture and show your family the next morning...what an awesome surprise. I wish my kids were young enough to pull this off.  For $9.95 you're able to do 3 different pictures. The account set-up will expire in one year - create 1 or 2 pictures this year and another next year. Great deal!

Fun items for Christmas...

 

Chase Prod. 499-0506 Spray Snow 

INSTA-SNOW 1LB BAG

 

Personalized Santa Key

Santa Clues - Proof of Santa's Visit