Twitter Pretty

We just changed our Twitter background. We love green, but are feeling a bit more earthy brown these days. Ok, we're feeling more chocolate these days (mmm...chocolate...), but nevertheless, wanted to change things up. What do you think?

Don't follow us yet on Twitter? We're under @designmama, and you can also follow Alain @hipod.

Gearing Up for Austin

Marlynn & Alain will be speaking at SXSW Interactive on March 15th, leading one of the Core Conversations: Your Personal Blog is Dead. With the growing popularity of Twitter, Facebook and other social media, is the personal blog a dying breed? Come join us for this lively debate! Click here to read more.

Personally, both of us couldn't be more excited for this opportunity. SXSW Interactive is part of the larger SXSW triad of festivals: Film, Music, Interactive. The Interactive section is from March 13-17 in Austin, TX and is packed with informative panels, tons of networking opportunities, and of course, the big sponsored parties at night. We'll be going to a few of those too. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our little world of designing for our clients and it's amazing (and necessary!) to step out, meet other folks who are doing the same thing, converse, share, commiserate, brainstorm. Then we always come back so refreshed and energized, ready to take on even more exciting design projects for YOU!

If you're going to SXSW Interactive, let us know! We'd love to meet you in person while we're in Austin.

Press: Calling Cards

Thanks to the lovelies at Tutus and Turtles for featuring our Mama Calling Cards on their lovely blog! We appreciate it! If you haven't checked out Tutus and Turtles and you've got little ones at home, you simply must go check out the site now. I found myself getting lost for way too long checking out all of the awesome kid and mom products on their site!

Who's Your Mama Valentine's Day Giveaway!

rban Bliss is giving away one set of 100 of our popular Mama Calling Cards to one lucky Urban Bliss Facebook Fan in honor of Valentine's Day! Husbands, this is a GREAT gift for your amazing wife! Mamas, what better way to send love to the best mama pal you know than a set of hip calling cards she can give out to friends, teachers, doctors, sitters...

Urban Bliss Mama Calling Cards have been featured in Parents magazine, Tot Trends Weekly,Chic Blvd, Portland Picks, Seattle Picks, Mommies with Style, Clever Parents, Outblush, Cool Mom Picks and much more! See the collection online here: http://www.urbanblissdesign.com/collections/mama-calling-cards

Enter before January 16th so we can get one deserving mom some cool calling cards in time for Valentine's Day!

Here's how to enter:
*post a short note to our Facebook page in reply to the Who's Your Mama topic nominating a mom you know to receive our Mama Calling Cards (self-nominations are not only welcome, they are encouraged!)
* be sure to state a little more about the mom you are nominating. What makes her unique? Why is she so deserving? Why would she enjoy receiving Urban Bliss Mama Calling Cards?

Giveaway Rules:
*You must be signed up as a Facebook Fan of Urban Bliss to be eligible to win (note: the person you are nominating to receive the cards does NOT need to be a fan, unless you are, of course, nominating yourself)
*You must post your entry as a reply to this topic no later than midnight, EST, Friday January 16, 2009.
*The winner must respond to Urban Bliss via email with the recipient's information and card design no later than 24 hours after being contacted by Urban Bliss.
*This giveaway applies only to existing Mama Calling Card designs shown on our website (http://www.urbanblissdesign.com/collections/mama-calling-cards) and does not apply to custom designs
*You may enter as many times as you wish, as long as you nominate a different person each time

Urban Bliss on Facebook!

Please join Urban Bliss on Facebook!

We'll be having special contests and promotions just for our Facebook fans, so be sure to sign up as a fan in order to get the updates! We'll be having one special Valentine's Day promotion so stay tuned!

PR Client: Color Me House

Urban Bliss was asked to help out with blog and social media outreach for Color Me House, a Portland, Oregon-based and family-owned business that creates fun, cool recyclable cardboard play houses. These products are awesome. We LOVE them! With two kids, and another business that focuses on supporting mom-owned businesses, we found the Color Me House to be a huge hit with kids who come to the Urban Bliss Studio for meetings, and we have the Color Me Rocket at home. What's great about both products is that they fold up easily, so we actually keep the Color Me Rocket folded up and stored behind our couch at home and then our kids get the fun of putting it back together to play with for their playdates. The blank walls invite kids to tap into their huge imaginations and go wild. They are sturdy, so believe me when I say that after having dozens upon dozens of kids color, draw on, paint, run in and out of, use as indoor forts, we were totally impressed that the products are still standing strong! Check them out and order them online at www.ColorMeHouse.com.

PR Client: Metro Parent's 2nd Annual FREE Education & Enrichment Fair

Metro Parent's 2nd Annual FREE Education & Enrichment Fair
If you’re a parent, you know that navigating the halls of educational and enrichment programs for your child can be a daunting task in today’s world. There are more options than ever before, making it difficult and time-consuming to choose the right one for your children. Waldorf or Montessori? Language immersion or after-school language program? Music and movement or classical piano?

Metro Parent is helping parents make the research process easier by hosting its second annual Education & Enrichment Fair, on Wednesday, Nov. 19 from 3 to 7:30pm at the World Forestry Center's Miller and Cheatham Halls (4033 SW Canyon Road). Parents of children ages newborn through high school age will benefit from attending the fair. They can visit with approximately 40 local private and public schools, as well as businesses offering enrichment opportunities, such as music, language, athletics, tutoring and other programs. Attendees are also eligible to win a $500 “scholarship” to one of the exhibitors or a basket of toys, books and games.

The event is FREE to the public.

Felt Obsession

I have a bit of an obsession with felt. I love its versatility, especially its ability to completely transform apparel. I've been playing around with adding felt appliques to kids clothing, but right now I'm just enjoying combining my felt obsession with my Etsy obsession. My latest favorite? Friendly Banter, a fun Etsy shop based in Houston.




I especially love this grey flower brooch and the little birds because they are similar to some new designs I'm working on for Urban Bliss.

2008 Holiday Cards are here!

Check out the 2008 holiday cards on the Urban Bliss site! Now is the time to place your order! We'll be taking holiday orders through December 6th.

Above are just a few of the new designs we're excited to offer! All cards are 5 x 7, glossy cover, matte blank inside, with white envelopes. You can choose from custom photo holiday cards, non-photo custom holiday cards, and boxed sets of standard holiday cards. We also have matching round address labels! More label designs and card designs to be added over the next two weeks!

New Decor Bliss & Blogging for THE Ms. Martha

The blog has been quiet for yet another month. Sssh. Do you hear that? That's the sound of Urban Bliss hard at work, but sadly neglecting the blog (again).

What have we been up to? We've been super busy lately getting our 4 yo prepped for back-to-school time, getting a new nanny for our youngest, moving into the new office, getting books from publishers and creating a calendar for the next few months for Mama Lit, starting groundwork for a PR launch for a FABULOUS new mama-made product (can't wait to share with everyone! stay tuned!) and prepping for the Makings of a Mamapreneur Conference (which is Sept 23 & 24!).

I've also had a lot of amazing media and writing opportunities lately, including the opportunity to guest blog for Martha Stewart Everyday Food blog as part of their Everyday Moms guest blog series. Can I just tell you how wonderful the ladies at Everyday Food are? I'd have them all over for dinner and cocktails, except that would be too much pressure, trying to entertain those who work for THE Ms. Martha, and my head would probably explode. It almost did when the incredibly sweet and talented Deb Puchalla asked me to guest blog. Please check it out and leave some comment love on my post if you wish! And be sure to add the Dinner Tonight blog to your feed reader. If you're a busy mama(preneur) like I am, you'll find it to be welcome sanity to what is likely your insane inbox. What an honor that experience has been, to be included among the ranks of some incredible mom bloggers .


During this past hectic month, I've also been working on some new designs for the Urban Bliss Online Boutique. Check out some of the new Decor Bliss designs I just added. Up next: the 2008 Holiday Bliss collection! Stay tuned!

Win Mama Calling Cards!

Thanks to Peekaboo Picks for including Urban Bliss in their fabulous Summer of Swag giveaways! This week, you can enter to win 100 of our Mama Calling Cards! Click here and leave a comment on their blog stating which design you like the best, and you could win 100 FREE custom calling cards!

We've got to admit: we've been fans of Peekaboo Picks magazine for a while now. They always manage to choose the coolest baby/toddler/kid items. Products that we covet for our own little family and for our friends. If you haven't yet subscribed to Peekaboo Picks, do so today! They're also run by a mom and dad team :-) Go family-owned businesses!

Design on the Move

Apologies for the long lag in blog land. It's been quite the crazy busy ride this summer, and we've been especially busy the last two weeks turning this:


Into this (meeting area):


And this (kids play space):


That's right, Urban Bliss has a NEW studio space in NW Portland!

Our new digs:
1500 NW 18th Avenue, Suite 115
Portland, Oregon 97209
(corner of NW 17th & Quimby)
New phone: 503.219.9467

We share space with Mamapreneurs, Inc., a resource, support & networking organization for mom business owners. We just relaunched the new Mamapreneurs, Inc. website to allow for global membership as the organization expands beyond the great NW. Check it out, and join a great group of mamapreneurs!

So in addition to the usual workload, we've been busy schlepping furniture, putting together furniture, painting, painting, more painting, moving files and inventory, shopping, shopping, shopping (which normally we LOVE, but after a while, it really does become work!), and trying to set up the office while juggling the two little kiddos, who have had their own issues adjusting to mommy starting to work outside of the home office.

There's still more work to be done, but for now, we're getting used to calling the new space our second home. We love it! If you live in or are visiting the Portland area, give us a call and stop by. We'd love to share the new studio with you!