Blueprint Baby Challenge Results

The Blueprint Baby Challenge came to an end on Monday, and I'm happy to report that I won 2nd place!  Not as good as first, but I'm still happy for all of the votes for my nursery, especially from so many of my loyal readers.  Thank you!

I'm most grateful for being invited to participate in the challenge, and of course to have redone a room that most likely would have been another hand-me-down from Soren.  One other bonus: my stats went through the roof on the days the challenge began.

Thanks to all of you who stumbled and shared the room on various social media sites.  You really helped get the word out about Jude's nursery, and I appreciate it!

Last Day to Vote for Jude's Nursery

Lucky for you, this will be the last time I'm begging for votes for Jude's Whimsical Nursery.

August 15th (today!) marks the end of the Blueprint Baby Challenge, which was a wonderful experience for me and my family. We're enjoying the room, and getting Jude used to sleeping in his crib, a task that seems to be working well so far (yay for the 6 hour stretch he did in it last night!).

So if you're feeling generous today, or want a chance at winning the randomly-drawn $500 prize at the end for voters, VOTE FOR KATHLEEN'S NURSERY.  Even if you've voted already, you can do it again since it's a daily entry.

Thanks so much for your support, excitement and encouragement throughout this whole challenge!

Gifts for Modern Babies from BINTH {Giveaway}

Now that the nursery is complete and in use by Jude (by the way, you can still cast a daily VOTE FOR OUR NURSERY, pretty please! You can even win $500), I've been spending time in the room changing diapers, nursing, and on occasion, getting the baby down for a successful nap in his crib.  When I'm in the room, I often find myself admiring the artwork in the space, including this gorgeous and sophisticated Numbers poster from BINTH, which is one of the highlights in the room.

It hangs over the changing table, so it's been a focal point in the room.  I love the colors and the simplicity of its modern design, and of course the stylized animals that accompany each number in the print.

BINTH creates so many unique and appealing print items for baby, including wall artwork like prints and posters, as well as the most gorgeous baby book I've come across.

Note to friends and family: Jude needs this! :)

I love the pages in the book too, which leave plenty of space for writing thoughts and info about your baby.

I love BINTH's artistic style, and if you're looking for something truly original for a special baby's nursery, look no further than BINTH.  They have all letters covered!

WIN IT!

BINTH is very generously sponsoring a giveaway, offering one lucky reader a choice of

a BINTH Numbers poster, a BINTH Baby Book, OR 5 single matted ABC letters (WOW!!)

To Enter
Visit BINTH, sign up for their mailing list (leave me the email you used, unless it's part of your Blogger profile) and leave a comment here about your favorite item AND which item you'd like to win out of the three.
Extra Entries (you must complete the first mandatory entry before doing the extras.  Also, leave a separate comment for each one):

• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link (2 entries)
• Subscribe to my updates
• Follow my blog publicly via Google Friend Connect
• If you're a Fan of Katydid and Kid on Facebook leave a comment letting me know
• If you're a Fan of BINTH on Facebook, leave a comment letting me know
• Share this post on your Facebook page and leave the link (I'd love it if you tagged me or the sponsor in your post)
• Follow @BINTH on Twitter (leave your Twitter handle)
• Follow @katydidandkid and tweet this giveaway, leaving a link to your tweet in the comments. You can tweet once per day (leave a comment each day). You can copy and paste my tweet if you'd like: #Win a modern poster, alphabet prints, or a unique baby book from @BINTH http://goo.gl/fb/bF11J @KatydidandKid #Giveaway

US and Canadian mailing addresses only. One entry per household.
You must do the first entry in order to enter ("I want to win, thanks!" comments will NOT be considered). You will have until Wednesday August 24th at 11:59pmEST to enter. The winner will be chosen via random number generator the next day and notified by email.I'll also post the winners on my blog HERE. If I don't hear back from the winner within 72 hours, I'll pick another. Disclosure: I received a Numbers poster from BINTH for review purposes.

I Am So Not Camera Ready (But Please Vote for My Nursery!)

Most people hate the sound of their recorded voice, but videos---yikes!! They're worse, especially when you're already large and VERY pregnant.

Anyway, in May, the folks at Parents magazine came to my house to film a segment for the Blueprint Baby Challenge with that super-friendly and perky Jill Cordes as the host.

Here's the video they shot at my house, including before shots of the nursery. I think they did a great job with this video; I don't even sound half bad.

So please, please, please

VOTE FOR KATHLEEN'S NURSERY.  

I really love how Jude's room came out, and have been enjoying it, even during the 2am diaper changes, and would really love it if this room actually won the challenge.  Plus you can win prizes too by entering, and you can enter/vote every day until August 15th.  Thanks!

A Whimsical and Modern Space: Our Nursery Reveal

During the past few weeks, I’ve felt like I’ve been growing two things—the baby, of course, as well the nursery.  It’s been so much fun decorating the space and daydreaming about the experiences my family and I will have in this room.

In case you’ve missed my last few posts about The Blueprint Baby Challenge, I’ll fill you in: I was given $2000 from Chase to makeover my nursery, as well as participating in a competition with 2 other expecting bloggers to win additional prizes of at least $500. Hopefully you’ll love what I’ve done with the room, and vote for mine as your favorite.

Now that the room is complete, I find myself frequently reflecting on what I’ve accomplished, and enjoying how visually pleasing the space is.  I know I’ll relish much of my time in here, nursing, changing diapers, and tending to an infant again, at least during those rare moments when I’m not running on lack of sleep and stuck in the fog of new motherhood.

While it’s been great reveling in the finished room, I also really enjoyed the process of transforming it. From choosing and paying for the furnishings using my Slate card with Blueprint, to painting the room with my brother and sister-in-law, to the fun times hanging wallpaper with my husband, the journey of creating a space for the newest member of my family has been memorable.  Rather than continue to wax poetic, I’ll give you a run-down of the transformation.

Here are the goals I focused on while creating the nursery:

• Eco-friendly, with both green and repurposed items (like the crib)
• Funky, handmade touches
• Furniture that would grow with my child
• Gender neutral
• Not matchy-matchy
• Modern and not too cluttered
• Plenty of storage for our closet-less room

Overall, I think I did quite well with meeting my objectives.  The furniture, area rug, wall paper and paint are all eco-friendly, and I added many handmade accents throughout the room, starting with artwork from independent artists and sprinkling in items of my own making.

My sewing machine definitely got a workout these past few weeks with the creation of a quilted wall hanging, a coordinating pillow, and a liner for the room’s toy basket.

I also enjoyed covering a roller shade with fabric as well as making a felted mobile, which I think is the cherry on top of this whimsical room.  I hope my baby enjoys watching its gentle swaying as he is falling asleep.

And did you notice the monogrammed artwork above the crib? Can you guess what the letter is made from? If you said “broken crayons” you’re right. I arranged and glued them into a "J" for Jude onto colored paper and tucked the artwork into a shadow box frame.

The focal point of the space is the fanciful swallow and cloud wallpaper, which I fell in love with when first scouring the internet for nursery ideas. Despite never having hung wallpaper before, it was actually a memorable afternoon with my husband, trying to hang it evenly and smooth out bubbles.

I love how it looks behind the crib, with the birds sprinkling sweet dreams over a sleeping babe.  Cheesy,yes, but I can’t help but like that image.

The amount of storage that the furniture provides in the room will be very helpful with all the baby clothes, gear, diapers and other things.

Since our 100+ year old home lacks closet space, the dresser and armoire will keep us organized while still being pieces that will transcend our baby’s childhood.

Rather than decking out the crib with fussy bedding, something I never found to be practical with my eldest child, I just bought a few funky crib sheets.  I think they add just enough interest to the crib area without being too confining.

Throughout this entire project, my Slate card with Blueprint has made the shopping process simple. I bought all the items for the nursery, both those online and in brick-and-mortar stores, using my Slate card and was able to easily view and manage purchases with the free Blueprint features.

One of my largest purchases was my $700 dresser. The great thing about the Split Plan is you can set a goal date –like three months from now –to pay off your purchases. In my case I wanted to pay off my large furniture by the time my baby arrived.  It’s great that we can track our payment progress at any time by logging onto Chase.com/Blueprint and make changes to our plan without penalty or charge, like increasing the amount we’d like to pay on the furniture for each month.

I can see the Split option being extremely helpful in the future, say when a major appliance breaks on us and we aren’t able to pay for it up front with cash.  Blueprint helps us to pay off purchases faster and save money on interest, and we can log on to Blueprint to check our progress at any time and change our plan, whether to reduce the number of payments or change the monthly payment amount.   And Blueprint does all the calculating for us, which is really helpful for the months when our minds are occupied with the daily chaos of family life with two small children.

I’ve had such a wonderful time participating in the Blueprint Baby Challenge and using the Blueprint features to help me through the often overwhelming experience of transforming a nursery.  I’m anticipating many wonderful memories in this room, and will reflect fondly on this time in my life, preparing and dreaming about our newest arrival.

As a reminder, the Blueprint Baby Challenge is also a contest, running from 7/15 through 8/15, so head on over to the website and please vote for my room as your favorite!  You can vote once per day, and you can also win weekly prizes just for voting.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Chase. All opinions are my own.

Our Green Nursery Makeover: Final Touches

My nursery makeover for the Blueprint Baby Challenge is progressing nicely, now that the furniture has been put together and is in place, the walls are painted, and the wallpaper is up.

My husband and I had an amusing time hanging up the paper, especially that it was our first time wallpapering and we were learning as we went. By the last sheet of paper, we really felt like semi-professionals; though don’t ask us if we’ll be wallpapering again anytime soon. We did well on keeping the mess to a minimum, and the results of our efforts look great and add distinction to the room.

At this point, most of my purchases for the nursery have been made, including the bedding, changing pad cover, a rocking chair, artwork and lighting. It’s been easy using my Chase Slate card with Blueprint to buy what I need. Blueprint has continued to help me manage my purchases, and has made it simple to track my spending. It’s great that Blueprint handles all the calculations of my purchases, especially with keeping track of all the little finishing touches and items for the room. I can log onto Chase.com and go to Blueprint and review my spending while making sure that I’m on target with meeting my spending. Now that I’m just a few weeks away from the birth of my baby, it’s reassuring knowing that at least the financial part of my life is under control.

My artistic touches on the room are also nearly complete. I finished sewing a quilted wall-hanging and covered a roller shade with fabric to dress up a boring window covering. Since I’m a proficient sewer, I used some of my fabric stash to add some other handmade touches to the room, like a round pillow for the chair and a liner for the laundry basket. The felted mobile I started still needs some attention, and I have plans to make an artwork with the baby’s initial to hang above the crib. I’m keeping the details of the artwork secret until the nursery is finished, but I will say I’m using an unexpected material to create the letter.

I’m keeping the baby bedding to a minimum and had purchased just a few crib sheets with interesting patterns to add some attention to the crib. When my son was a baby, I went all out and got a nice bedding set, complete with bumpers, a skirt, and a quilt, but looking back, I really didn’t need all of that. Many infant safety experts suggest that bumpers can cause suffocation in infants, and of course soft bedding like quilts and blankets is a no-no in the crib until the child is older. Despite the appealing designs and patterns of a coordinated bedding set (which can also be expensive), I’ll rely on crib sheets both the baby’s safety and the nursery’s simple design.

I’m excited to see nearly everything in place now in the room. It’s amazing and rewarding to watch the results of my vision and work come to fruition. It’s hard to imagine that in just a few short days, I’ll be enjoying the room along with the newest addition to my family.

In case you may have missed it from my previous posts, I wanted to remind you that the Blueprint Baby Challenge is also a contest, where I’m competing with two other bloggers, for additional prizes of at least $500. As part of the Blueprint Baby Challenge, Chase gave each of us $2000 to create an amazing nursery for our upcoming arrivals.

You’ll get to vote for your favorite room starting July 15th by visiting the Blueprint Baby Challenge website; hopefully your vote will be for mine! Stay tuned for more updates on the voting, as well as my final post, where you’ll get to see the completed room. I’m really eager to reveal photos of the finished nursery and share my final thoughts on the project.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Chase. All opinions are my own.

Big Plans, Big Changes in Our Baby's Nursery

Over the past two weeks, I’ve started purchasing items for the nursery using my Slate credit card and keeping track of my purchases with Blueprint. As a participant in the Blueprint Baby Challenge, I was given $2000 from Chase to use toward decorating a nursery for my upcoming baby. I’m competing with 2 other bloggers who are also expecting babies for additional prizes, specifically $3000, $1500, and $500, depending on which room is voted most creative. I’m really hoping you like my room transformation once it’s complete, and that you vote for my nursery when the contest begins on 7/15/11.

Like with most nurseries, the major purchases for the room are the furniture, and Blueprint has continued to be helpful with managing these large items like the dresser and wardrobe. Using the Split plan, I can choose to set up a monthly payment amount or the number of payments I’d like to make to pay down large purchases like furniture or renovations. Rather than paying the entire total at once, I can pay about $275 a month and have my purchases paid by Christmas. I can log on to Chase.com and go to Blueprint at any time to track my progress and make any changes to my plan without penalty.Blueprint  handles the math, which is helpful with so many preparations going on in preparing for a new baby and keeping up with a 3 year old. Blueprint helps me stay on target for meeting my financial goals, and gives me one less thing to worry about.

As for the nursery furniture, I chose a matching wardrobe and dresser set, which are of modern design and eco-friendly. These pieces will provide much-needed storage in the room, since bedrooms in our old house lack closets. The furniture is from an American company which makes sustainable, environmentally-friendly products using birch wood with low emissions. The ebony wood also pairs well with the dark crib we are reusing from my son’s infancy.

I also found a sophisticated area rug made of 100% wool, which keeps with my green theme. My ideas for the room were to keep it simple and modern, with creative touches throughout via crafts and artwork. I’ve been successful in repurposing items (like the crib) and choosing furnishings that will grow with my child, rather than be items that will be replaced as he/she leaves the nursery years behind.

With the arrival of the furniture, my efforts have turned to the walls. We finished sanding and painting the moldings around the window and doors, and will soon put some color on the walls via eco-friendly paint and wallpaper. I’ve also started sewing a quilted wall-hanging for the room, using lively fabrics that will add some color to the neutral walls, and am also working on a felted mobile to hang above the changing area or crib.

I’m eager to continue working on the room, and still have some items to buy. The Blueprint Baby Challenge has been such a fun and creative experience, and I can’t wait to see how my room progresses. You’ll be able to vote for your favorite nursery very soon, so stay tuned for updates. I’m eager to see the unique designs that the two other bloggers have come up with too!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Chase.  All opinions are my own.

Nursery Makeover Challenge: We’re Going Green

I'm tremendously excited to share some news that I've been sitting on for quite a few weeks.  As many of you know (and regular readers of my blog are probably tired of hearing), I am expecting my second child in early July.  While my husband and I cannot be more thrilled to be adding to our family, we were given an additional, unexpectedly wonderful surprise--$2000 to be used toward a makeover our baby's nursery, courtesy of Chase, as a participant in the Blueprint Baby Challenge.

Above: A "Before" photo of the space

As many parents of more than one child know, additional children often begin life with hand-me-downs, and in our case, our eldest child's nursery would have been just fine for the next baby.  But thanks to Chase, we are able to give this baby a fresh welcome into the world.  My son's room, while charming and efficient, was itself a collection of hand-me-downs too, save for the crib, so it is especially nice to be able to outfit the room with "real" furniture and items that will be essential for keeping both baby and parents happy and comfortable.

 Above and below: The remnants of my son's nursery, waiting to be transformed.

When shopping for the nursery, I used my Slate card, including the free Blueprint features which have been helpful in keeping track of purchases.  Blueprint is a first-of-its-kind set of free features offered by Chase that is built into many of their credit cards and which helps you manage your expenses while saving money on interest on certain purchases.  Those of you who have been pregnant probably understand the term "pregnant brain" and can recall how important it is to have someone or something else remembering and calculating things for you.  What's great about Blueprint is that I can use the features in so many ways to pay off purchases faster and save money on interest.  For example, with Blueprint, when charging a large purchase, like the nursery furniture, I have the option of designating a set amount to pay each month toward a larger purchase, or I can decide how many payments I’d like to make.  Blueprint does all the math for me, and I can design a plan to pay down my balance faster and save money on  interest, as well as track the progress I'm making toward paying off my larger purchases.

As for my ideas for the nursery, I really want to focus on items that will grow with my child and that are eco-friendly.  Rather than buy a changing table that will only be used for a short time, I want to invest in furniture that my son or daughter might even take with him/her when she leaves our home.

Some ideas for the space

Because babies and children are so sensitive to chemicals and smells, I've chosen paints with low VOCs, environmentally-friendly, formaldehyde-free wooden furniture, organic crib sheets and a natural fiber area rug.  I plan on reusing my son's crib as well as creating some handmade items like a mobile and textiles for the room.  Decor will most likely be repurposed from other areas of our home and will include things like toys and objects that can be admired and played with.  As a former art teacher and artist, I'd love to include prints and artworks by artists and craftspeople in the space too, and hopefully convey a sense of both calm and whimsy in the decor.

I'm really looking forward to sharing the experience with you, both with outfitting the nursery and using the Slate card with Blueprint.  The Blueprint Baby Challenge nursery makeover is also a contest, where I’m competing with two other bloggers, Trisha of MomDot and Sarah of Minnesota Mama’s Must Haves, for additional prizes.  The blogger whose nursery is deemed the most creative by voters will win the top prize, $3000 while the second and third place bloggers will each win $1500 and $500, respectively.  Starting July 15, you’ll be able to vote for your favorite nursery (hopefully mine!) so stay tuned for updates.

This is such a special time in my family's life, and I'm happy and grateful to be marking the occasion of my child's birth with the Blueprint Baby Challenge.  I hope you enjoy following my progress and seeing the results of my nursery makeover.  Head on over to the Blueprint Baby Challenge website for more information, as well as to check out the other two bloggers' nursery ideas.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post from Chase. All opinions are my own.