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We are anxiously awaiting our baby girl’s arrival, and less than half way to go we are busy searching for the perfect name and nursery to welcome her into the world!
It’s been quite some time since I’ve put my girlie-girl hat on. Converting our “boys-boy” nursery into a special nook for a baby girl takes a total mindset shift. But, a challenge I’m up for any day. I love the classics, not overly frilly, but there is something so feminine about a truly vintage and glamorous setting. I decided the theme for our baby girls nursery will be gilded. With washes of worn white, touches of gold, a bit of whimsy and touches of blush.
And so, I hope you enjoy the style board of pieces I’ve collected for inspiration. Would love your input on favorite finds that might be a perfect fit in a golden and gilded newborn nursery!
Gilded styleboard finds :
Malibu Chandelier / ABC gilt wood letters / Vine carved oval mirror / Jellycat goat / Metallic gold brush pillow / Personalized crown rocking chair / Millbrook Iron Crib / Wild Things knit crown / Metallic suede & hemp rug
Did you know that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month? Most people “go pink” each October to support Breast Cancer Awareness, a wonderful cause, but I find that few people know much about “going gold” in September.
Less than 2% of federal funding supports cancers affecting children – this is a staggering statistic. And, more so than past years since having my own little kiddo last November, it truly puts things into even greater perspective than before. Wyatt has been sick with a cold or had a fever in the last 9-months, and as a parent you do feel that all you want to do is make them feel better. I truly can’t even imagine how helpless a feeling it must be for your own child to have cancer. We must help to find a cure so others don’t have to experience this terrible disease.
I’d like to take a minute to help spread awareness for the kids this month to support one of my favorite non-profit organizations, CURE Childhood Cancer. The team at CURE is simply amazing and passionate as can be, and I have had the pleasure of working with them over the last six years. Take a minute today to click over to their site and read the stories of their CURE Kids, each affected by childhood cancer. Read their stories, donate to a child, or donate to CURE.
Another way you can help this month is by making a purchase at IceMilk Aprons. Enter CUREChildhoodCancer as the promo code at checkout and we will donate 25% of the proceeds to CURE Childhood Cancer. Another way to help is by helping to tweet awareness, such as “I’m spreading awareness for @CUREChildCancer during #ChildhoodCancer Awareness Month http://bit.ly/1iDIm8 ” or do a post on your own blog to support childhood cancer awareness.
Cheers to spreading awareness this month for the kids!
like commemorating any special event, our first child is one we will do just as meaningfully as any other. i was on the hunt for the perfect gift for my mother & mother-in-law who threw a baby shower for me this past weekend. our parents have been doing so much for us to prepare, in all the excitement as we await our little boy.
i adore the simple, classic, Southern tradition of the silhouette, but of course we will have to wait on that one for a bit {hard to do before he’s born, you know ..}. the stackable 1,2,3 and a,b,c rings i am just obsessed with – simple and easy to add to as your family grows, but i decided that i loved this more as a gift idea for a new mom {ie: me!} than as grandma gifts. and so, i settled on the vintage-inspired initial charms that each grandma can use however they please to commemorate their grandson and his new name. i think they are just darling and i’m so happy with the find.
i wanted to find a gift that would be as special and memorable as the shower itself, and also one that would play to a little surprise we were planning for the shower. we have been working to find the perfect name for our little guy, and 8 months later we have finally found it. and so, we used the shower as the perfect time to surprise our parents, family & friends by revealing his name. but, more on that tomorrow!
what other gift ideas have you seen or given as a baby shower thank you, or for grandparents to be?
images via: catbird jewelry / charm & chain / gibson lane studio / layla grayce
it’s never too early for your first heirloom! the very first baby gift i received came from my mom { besides the actual gift of our baby-to-be of course! } and was this absolutely adorable little piggy pewter spoon.
this was the perfect little gift for our little guy, one he’ll cherish for years to come i am certain. being that i am a huge lover of pewter, instead of registering for china for our wedding { i am lucky to have a set of grandma’s and nana’s china } we registered instead for pewter serving pieces. and the little pig on the spoon was just too cute for a feeding spoon, don’t you think?
and, ironically i was fortunate to have met the folks at beehive at the last gift show in Atlanta too. i simply love their matching pewter cup as well, how darling? i have several tiny sterling cups that were passed down from both sides of my family, which i can only assume were baby heirlooms at one point in time as well.
and, so i got on a little piggy kick, because really they are just too cute. another heirloom option that i’m loving is the piggy bank. making a perfect gift for baby, or for a 1st birthday, encouraging good fortune and good habits early on. i adore these two twists on a traditional bank, the glass and the gold make for quite a statement, even for the littlest of people.
what was your first heirloom?
images via: beehive kitchenware co. / viva terra / areawear
at this point, i’m 11 short weeks away from welcoming our new baby boy into the world and you can say the nesting has certainly set in.
we were fortunate to have a slow weekend and spent some time in the nursery, getting a few things hung and prepared. as you know by now, i’m a lover of all things neutral and have a certain affinity for things with a storied past. i’ve been working from this styleboard for some time now to transform his tiny room into something a little throwback, but something that was filled with all things a little boy would love. not just one theme, but a haven of little boy activities – from football to baseball, hunting & fishing, animals to music, wood & iron and all things in between. if he is anything like his mommy & daddy, he will certainly try his hand at a variety of activities and i am hopeful that this will be the perfect place to start him off!
i am simply swooning over the collection from rh baby & child {and don’t even get me started on the great big design book that Restoration Hardware so graciously filled my mailbox with …}. we chose to go with a few pieces from the tate collection, because really who can resist “dove grey?” but my favorite piece of all is the oh-so-vintage crib that we found, you would swear i was made from the pieces of my own iron bed i had growing up! i am also absolutely in love with the matteo bedding at Layla Grace { which i do believe happens to be 20% off currently } – the loomstate vintage linen bedding simply cannot be beat.
more to come as more is done …. but be sure to send any finds or ideas my way!
images via : Layla Grayce / rh baby & child / west elm
Did you know that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month?
One of my clients is CURE Childhood Cancer, an amazing non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for childhood cancer in our lifetime. They are a tireless team dedicated to the cause and have done so many amazing things over the years to make this dream more and more a reality than ever before. This year I am thrilled to be actively participating as a blogger in the CURE Community, helping to raise awareness and get others involved in helping CURE.
And, with our little baby boy on the way, it has an even deeper and more personal meaning that it ever has before. One thing I’d like to pass down to him is the gift of doing good for others in the world when you have the opportunity to do so.
This month, CURE is sharing stories and honoring children who have been touched by childhood cancer each day in September as part of their 3rd annual CURE’s Kids Conquer Cancer One Day at a Time. In their first two years of the program, CURE has honored over 150 children and raised nearly $400,000 to help fight childhood cancer.
I hope you’ll take a minute to pop over and read some of these truly amazing stories. This year myself, my husband and our little-boy-to-be are teaming up to raise $1,000 to support one of the CURE Kids – Kylie Seiz. You can click over to read more about why we’re getting involved and learn more about her personal story too.
What is “I Support CURE’s Kids?”
The idea for “I Support CURE’s Kids” began as a way for friends in the blogging community (do I count as a “mommy blogger” yet?) to help show their support for CURE Childhood Cancer during the month of September.
An amazing group of bloggers has agreed to “donate” a blog post during the month of September to help spread awareness for CURE Childhood Cancer, as well as a spot on their blog for the “I Support CURE’s Kids” blog badge. Some of my amazing friends (Wendy at Layla Grayce, Laura at Scholz Communications, Stacy at InkSpot Workshop, Courtney at Pizzazzerie, Kelly & Amy at Swoozie’s, Joni at Lay Baby Lay, and Pam & Melissa at Project Nursery … the list goes on … THANK YOU!) have generously agreed to take part. I hope you will consider doing so on your own blog, too!
Click here to view our current list of blogger friends in the CURE Community, or to learn more about getting involved.
I Support CURE’s Kids Blogger Raffle
And, as a little extra fun, some of these amazing folks, among many other bloggers, business owners & companies have donated some FABULOUS products and services that moms & kids will simple ADORE for CURE’s “I Support CURE’s Kids Blogger Raffle.” You can get in on the goods for as little as $10 (which all goes directly to support CURE) – click here to view the list of raffle items that you could win! You will even see a little something special in there from my own IceMilk Aprons – so be sure to get a ticket or two for your shot at our new Mother & Daughter gift package!
Thank you for your support this month, more to come! You can join in to raise awareness by joining CURE Childhood Cancer on Facebook and Twitter (@curechildcancer) too!
Yes, as you may have noticed I’ve been a bit absent from my blogging duties as of late, but I assure you it’s not for lack of actually focusing on the blog. A slight lack of time, perhaps, but nonetheless my hiatus has been due in part to some new things I have brewing.
Taking a slight side-step from “preserves” the blog, being the perpetual marketer that I am at heart, I am so thrilled to introduce you to my newly refreshed site – Heirloomed. In keeping with the same concept of curating wonderful things from the past to be preserved for future generations to enjoy, Heirloomed still includes the same kitchen, entertaining, traditions & Heirloom Recipe Series that preserves did, but allows me a bit more room to explore some of my other passions in life that fall within the realm of heirlooms. Now expanded to home and interiors, fashion and style, soirees and weddings, travel and exploration, and of course, baby and child.
Which really is the perfect segway, isn’t it? We are excitedly expecting our very first child this December, a little boy, and couldn’t be more thrilled to have him in our lives. Continuing on for generations, it’s kind of my sweet spot anyways. More to come on him, of that you can be sure.
And thus, lots of changes but all wonderful in my book. I do hope you enjoy Heirloomed as much as I have enjoyed bringing the concept to life. Would love your feedback on the new, but still old-inspired, site! You can also join Heirloomed on Facebook and Twitter too!
A very cherished heirloom from my childhood is a simple black & white silhouette of myself framed by a delicate black-lined oval. It is so lovely and just amazes me how distinctly you can capture someone simply by their profile.
A wonderful post today featuring an amazing new line of silhouettes that I am simply in love with – Gibson Lane Studio.
Designer Mary Davenport Williams has done a beautiful job of capturing the tradition of the silhouette in combination with the art, design & personalization of her unique designs. Williams’ background is in textile design, having created designs for such stores as Target & Z-Gallerie.
Each silhouette is customized to your liking, as you are able to choose everything right down to the color, background design and font for each special piece.
Last but not least, Gibson Lane Studio puts even more wonderful twists on the classic silhouette with two unique new options – a pet version featuring your favorite little family member, and also a maternity version being a creative & artful twist on the maternity photo.
What a wonderful heirloom to have to capture the innocence of childhood.
Just about the highest form of flattery is having someone name their child after you. And when selecting baby names, the best place to start is by taking a look at your own family tree for some inspiration. Even last names can sometimes be an unexpectedly wonderful new baby name!
I was named after my Great Aunt Ashley (on my Dad’s side) who must have been great if I was worthy of being named after her! It is a wonderful tradition for your family, and a great way to carry on a legacy of relatives past. And by all means, if you’re a Junior or “the III” keep the tradition alive! What a wonderful way to pass down the stories of this person & their life to a younger generation.
Even though my name was family-inspired, it was also very popular growing up. From 1999 – 2005, my name was in the top 10 female baby names 7 times! Check out this fun little tool to see how popular your name is!
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