A stylish baby gate. I kid you not.
I'm not a big fan of baby gates. Sure, I appreciate the protection they offer, don't get me wrong. But more often than not, they're ugly. Now, I'm no interior decorator, but I do like my home to look good. And bland wooden baby gates simply do not look good. Instead...
The Handmade Olympics – Let the voting begin!
A couple of weeks ago, we invited you to nominate yourselves or your favorite handmade artisans for the Handmade Olympics, a fun, entirely unathletic competition featuring amazing handmade creations. Cool Mom Picks was invited to be the official judges of Event 2,...
Talking parenting with Katie Couric
Yesterday, Cool Mom Picks editor-in-chief and publisher Liz Gumbinner joined NurtureShock co-author Ashley Merryman to talk with Katie Couric about some of today's hot parenting topics on Katie's excellent CBS News webshow, @katiecouric. If you haven't had a chance to...
Peeled organic fruit snacks – Paradise found.
"Snack" is no longer a bad word in my house. Once upon a time in my mind, one box of baked veggie sticks used to cause a downward spiral straight to childhood obesity and school drop-outs. Welcome to my neurotic brain.Of course my rational brain knows that healthy...
Hollywood Renaissance, emphasis on the naissance
We drop the word "cute" a lot, mainly because it's so versatile. Teeny tiny onesies? Cute. Gorgeous handmade jewelry? Cute. Sweet stationary? Cute. The guy who washed my hair this morning at the salon? Cute.But it's also refreshing when we find objets de baby that...
Let’s just pretend spring is here, shall we?
I have one word for this time of year and it's not nice. Stores are featuring spring clothes and outdoor toys, but outside my front door there are still the last vestiges of frozen snow, and I'm sure it's not the last of it for the season.So, for now, I'm going to do...
Wrap your gift in artwork.
These days, I'm lucky if I remember to get gifts in time at all these days, let alone have the wrapping paper on hand to wrap them up. But with an unbelievable number of birthday parties and special events crammed in my calendar, I'm determined to be prepared. And...
Celebrity style loot bags, without the celebrity-only prices
I love throwing birthday parties for my kids. Love it. But I'm a bit of an over-achiever when it comes to loot bags, generally insisting that there should be something handmade -or at least really, really cool- inside. And that means I spend precious hours (that I...
Flowery, beautiful, non-hurty hair accessories
Lately, my daughter is looking pretty sheepdoggy -- how is it that bangs grow five times as fast on an almost-4-year-old? -- and, occasionally, she will concede to wearing a hairband or ponytail so that she can actually see things before she, you know... trips over...
A parenting book you might be surprised to love
My dad died when I was 22 -- long before I met my husband, or had my son -- and my mom is very much alive. So you wouldn't necessarily think that the book Parentless Parents, by my friend Allison Gilbert, would resonate with someone like me. And yet it is one of the...