Paris Prints + Cake Prints

I’m excited to announce we are finally releasing the Paris prints that Paul painted last year. Every year Paul and I have worked on a series together where I get to choose the subjects and he paints the paintings. The first year we did cakes and the next year we did these Paris store fronts. It was really fun to choose these little stores for Paul to paint. I’ve been missing Paris a lot lately and seeing these pictures makes me feel nostalgic. To launch the store we are offering a sale on both the cake prints and the Paris prints just in time for Mother’s day. If you buy 3 you get 30% off with the code: 3ORMORE Go here to purchase.

Epic Playdate

Last weekend we went to Santa Barbara to participate in a big Hyundai Epic Playdate Event with a bunch of other bloggers: Oh Joy, Dooce, Mighty Girl, Yes to Hoboken, Girls Gone Child, and How to be a Dad. It was AWESOME. I am totally stealing a lot of these ideas for future activities. What I liked about them is it was all about participating. You didn’t watch stuff happen, you got to do it yourself. The kids went from one activity to the next and were so happy. Moses kept saying to me, “This is the best day ever!”  There was giant beachball volleyball, balloon sculptures, interactive sand art installation. One of my favorite activities is when they gave us a bunch of tin foil and made tin foil warrior costumes for a giant whipped cream battle. The kids loooooooved it. They also had paper rockets where you make a rocket out of paper and masking tape and then shot them off see here. I hosted a giant bubble activity where everyone made giant bubbles with hula hoops. It was really really amazing. The best part was the end of the day when we walked down to the beach and saw these amazing tents we were going to sleep in overlooking the ocean. They had real beds in them! Everyone gathered around the campfire and they brought in Brett Dennen to play some music. I sat there next to the fire and listened to music while Moses played night games nearby and Roman snuggled in my lap until he fell asleep. Definitely an Epic Playdate. Thank you to the team at FM and Hyundai for such a special day. It was perfect.

Photos by David Crowther for Hyundai

This post is brought to you by The New Santa Fe from Hyundai.

Alt for Everyone

I’m going to be teaching a class at Alt for Everyone about growing your blog traffic. It will be similar to the talk I gave at ALT SLC in 2012. Alt for Everyone is an online blogging conference so you can go to it in your pajamas! At the end of my talk I’m going to smash a cake in my face so if nothing I say is very interesting that might be worth watching. There are lots of great speakers! Sign up here.

photo by Aubrey Trinnaman for Oh Happy Day

Our Epic Playdate in the Redwood Trees

This post is brought to you by The New Santa Fe from Hyundai.

Last month we had such an amazing experience climbing redwood trees as part of Hyundai’s Epic Playdate Campaign. The idea behind it is you can get out and have really cool experiences with your family beyond your regular routine and comfort zone. It was actually Liz‘s idea to climb the redwood trees and I somehow got roped into it. Don’t get me wrong, I like nature and a little adventure. But I prefer a nice hike to adrenaline-heavy activities. Nonetheless I somehow found myself climbing up 75 feet up in the air and ziplining from tree to tree in the Redwood canopy. Before we started they suited up the kids and had them climb poles and ladders. Moses loved it and climbed all the way to the top. It was surprisingly satisfying to see him be so brave and feel proud. After the kids got their fill it was our turn.  The climb was my least favorite part. I was really shaking as I climbed and although logically I knew I was safe I was terrified and my instinct kept telling me to go back down. I finally got up to the platform and I tied into the zipline. From there I had to put my hands on the pully and step off the platform. I tried not to think about it too much and just go! It sounds like a simple thing to zipline but my adrenaline was pumping and I don’t often feel terrified like that. I felt so alive. After the first few times I started to get the hang of it and really enjoy it. Soon I was looking around and waving to people. It was so fun. I was a little relieved when I repelled down and my feet were firmly on the ground. It was such a cool and inspiring experience. On the drive back to San Francisco we made a list of a bunch of cool things we want to do this summer with our family. Things like: go whale watching, sleep in a treehouse, charter a sailboat and sail down the coast, go sea kayaking to the islands in the bay. There are so many cool things in our backyard that we’ve never experienced. We’re so motivated to get out and explore. They made this beautiful video of our experience (and show me looking terrified and exhilarated as I’m flying through the air.) I’m so glad to have this reminder of this experience.

A special thanks to FM and Hyundai and the video crew: David Crowther and Casey Peterson, it was such an amazing weekend. Thank you! Photos by Jordan Pay.

Epic Playdate in the Redwoods from Jordan Ferney on Vimeo.

Floral Happy Birthday Headbands DIY

Happy May Day! These fun headbands are the perfect accessory for a spring birthday party. With just a little wire and some mini silk flowers, you can spell out an unexpected birthday message for the guest of honor.

Materials: Wire, Glue Gun, Small Flowers, Headband

Step 1: Bend the wire into the shape of the words. We found that leaving space between the letters helps to distinguish them. Be sure to leave a length of wire before the first letter and after last letter for attaching it to the headband.
Step 2: Using a hot glue gun attach the flowers to the wire letters. Make sure to keep the flowers neat by keeping them from filling the centers of letters like ‘p’, ‘d’, and ‘a’.
Step 3: Once the letters are covered, bend to match the curve of the headband.
Step 4: Attach the word to the headband by wrapping the extra lengths of the first and last letters around the headband.

Photography by  Heather Zweig for Oh Happy Day
Art Direction by Jordan Ferney
Produced by Stacy Wichelhaus
Crafting and styling by Caitlin Barker
Assisted by Harper Casimiro