Sharing the spotlight with “Hollywood’s Hottest Moms” may be one of the most flattering compliments WallCandy Arts has received this year. Thanks to Pregnancy & Newborn magazine for categorizing our funky Rococo chalkboard decals and our giant ice cream lamp as “Cravings.”

The issue is on newsstands now.

Our 28-inch ice cream lamps, which come in either vanilla or strawberry, were paired with Ben & Jerry’s recipes and pickle-flavored lip balm as items the editors “can’t get enough of.”  Hey, maybe we should branch out into pickle-themed wall decals and furnishings

Lastly, Pregnancy & Newborn gave a shoutout to our Smarts Bees & Trees collection, which was a special “Black and White and Cute All Over” pick. As the mag points out, studies show that simple black-and-white patterns stimulate babies to “learn, develop and grow in an optimal environment.”

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a newborn’s vision is most attracted to high-contrasted patterns such as checkerboards, bull’s eyes and stripes. And color recognition really doesn’t kick in until about four months. The Smarts collection was designed with this science in mind.

Do you have any decorative pregnancy cravings?  Let us know how your nursery walls are shaping up at hello@wallcandyarts.com. We’d love to share your creativity with other wall decal enthusiasts!

We’re absolutely flattered to be endorsed recently by two of the media’s most influential parenting venues, blush Magazine and MomFinds.com.

Blush Magazine just named WallCandy Arts CEO Allison Krongard one of its “Featured Mompreneurs,” and as a busy dad, I really appreciated how she tackled their question about the ongoing challenge of finding the right work-life balance:

Allison: “When I’m with the kids, I turn off my phone and computer. I try to give them quality mom time by being present. For example, I make it a point to talk to each of them privately every day. Instead of reading to them at night, I rub their feet before they nod off. It provides us with the same intimacy as reading in bed but they’ll talk in a relaxed state instead of just listening. It’s too hard to get any real scoop out of them after school before tennis or play dates. My pediatrician gave me the idea last year and it’s become a treasured ritual.”

“Also, since my husband has a flexible schedule, we often go out to breakfast together after dropping the kids off at school. This gives me the rest of the day to work but also the comfort of having made a connection with him.”

You can read the rest of Allison’s blush Magazine interview here!

And Momfinds.com, the popular parenting shopping guide, just named WallCandy Arts removable wall stickers their “Find of the Day.”

Momfinds expressed high regards for the latest offerings off the WallCandy press. They say that our Race Me car decals will “satisfy every little boy’s need for speed.” And they kindly recommend our Sweet Dreams Fairies as a “sweet deal.”

Check out the race cars, the candy fairies and dozens of other designs that will delight your children in our stylish Wall Sticker Gallery.

Sign up for our email newsletter and score an even sweeter 10 percent off your next order as well as upcoming scoops on subscriber-only coupons and sales!

It should come as no surprise that our removable wall decals and wall stickers are popular in many countries around the world. After all, most of our themes of wildlife, flowers, forest scenes, dinosaurs, automobiles and childhood fantasies are universally cherished.

We do a brisk business across the European continent and if you notice the wide variety of magazine genres above, our overseas press coverage reflects a diverse customer base and appeal across all ages. In this newsstand sampling, we have mags covering nature, parenting, celebrity gossip and women’s lifestyle/fashion.

WallCandy Arts is a natural magnet to parenting and childcare magazines, but it’s always a pleasant surprise to see where our instincts for interior decorating take us.  For example, take a glance at the shopping spread below where our retired “SophistiKit” sticker collection shares the spotlight with new bikini fashions, kitchen appliances, designer furniture, luxury skin care products and chicken or veal recipes (I can’t tell what kind of meat that is, but it looks absolutely dee-lish!).

For some reason, the SophistiKit design never really caught on.  Now, I’ve never been a teenage girl — or even come close to understanding their mindset, but I think these young sleek women walking their Paris Hilton-sized dogs look quite hip and fashionable.  If you’d like them to make a comeback, please start a petition drive.  We’d love to hear from you about this style or any other wall sticker design.

The thing that makes me the happiest about this magazine clip is seeing the words “Made in the USA” beam out of a paragraph in a foreign language.  All too often, it is the other way around, and it is personally important to me to support a company which supports American workers.

As with the teenage girls, I do not profess to have any special insights into the psychology of Jessica Simpson.  But from her facial expression above, it seems to me that she would much prefer to be holding some WallCandy stickers than yet another designer handbag.

We are flattered by the company in the above magazine layout, though.  But the reality is that you don’t have to be wearing gold jewelry or talk on a Giorgio Armani smartphone to afford our reasonably priced collections of adorable glow-in-the-dark owls or whimsical chalkboard animal wall stickers.

And our pediatrician and opthalmologist approved “Smarts Bees & Trees” nursery decoration set improves vision and gives babies a head start regardless of which language they may be cooing gurgling in.

Are you loving this cross-cultural wall decal experience? Please visit the media coverage section of our European distributor, Da Da Kids, for an afternoon’s worth of fun reading material!

WallCandy’s removable chalkboard decals were just endorsed by Bon Appetit magazine. But not for the dust-free taste of our special chalk!

The influential foodie publication just offered readers its Top 50 tips for “Easy Kitchen Updates” that make a dramatic impact. And our peelable, stickable chalkboards came in at #31, surrounded by trendy appliances and eco-friendly decor.

Here’s what the Bon Appetit editors wrote:

“CHALK IT UP: For playfulness and practicality in one, hang a chalkboard. These are intended for kids’ rooms, but our features editor put them in his kitchen and his family uses them everyday for menu ideas, shopping lists, doodles and reminders.”

Well, there you go… another testimonial about the versatility of our chalkboard decal collection, which features traditional rectangles in addition to shapes of a Big Apple, Safari Animals (elephants, giraffes and rhinos), Circles, Royal Palace Crests (Rococo), and a School Bus (Vroom!).

The Rococo style chalkboard was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show, with host Ann Curry giving it her personal blessing.  “I’m groovin’ on that!” she said.

Sure, kids love these chalkboard decals, but they also make great conversation pieces and practical message boards in teacher’s lounges, offices and artists’ lofts.  Please let us know where you love to hang ‘em!

The latest issue of Parents Magazine (March 2010) praises the style and science behind Smarts Bees & Trees

Q: What’s Black and White and Red all over?
A: A sunburned penguin.

Q: What’s Black and White and Red all over?
A: A newspaper covered with spilled strawberry syrup.

If you are decorating your first baby’s room, you likely have been spared from the onslaught of mundane jokes and riddles you’ll find on Popsicle sticks, cheese stick wrappers and Dixie cups. But rest assured, your time is coming.

In the meantime, black and white patterns should be especially relevant to you when you think about how to adorn the walls for your precious bundle.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a newborn’s vision is most attracted to high-contrasted patterns such as checkerboards, bull’s eyes and stripes. And color recognition really doesn’t kick in until about four months.

With pediatrician and ophthalmologist guidelines in mind, we designed the adorable Smarts Bees & Trees collection ideal for both girl and boy babies.  Bees are especially appropriate since it was the birds and the bees that got you in this situation in the first place!

Our removable Smarts decal set includes more than 30 inches of checkerboard, seven small bees, two large bees and six wall sticker photo frames.

We’re flattered to have the Smarts Bees & Trees decorations be endorsed in the latest issue of Parents Magazine (March 2010).  And as the magazine notes, our Bees & Trees can be enhanced with a splash of color at age four months (when your baby will appreciate it the most) and with photos of your family in our snazzy removable frames.

We’d love to see pictures of how you’ve incorporated WallCandy Arts into your children’s world. Become part of our Customer Inspiration Gallery!

(But please don’t send us any riddles.  Right now, WallCandy Dad is already feeling a bit overwhelmed).

WallCandy Arts is getting ready for Christmas, and we know you are, too! To celebrate the season, we’re offering 30% off selected wall decals. Don’t miss this fabulous sale!

And don’t forget – place your order by midnight, Dec. 15th for delivery before Christmas!

Happy holidays!

- Allison

WallCandy Arts appreciates our loyal customers and recognize that some of you were unable to make purchases on Monday due to the overwhelming demand on our site. We want to extend our Cyber Monday promotion to you for the next 24 hours.

Please enter the code cybercandy30 at check out and you will receive a 30 percent discount off your entire order of anything in our online store.

Happy Shopping!

- Allison

Wanna get 30% off everything in our store on Cyber Monday? All you need to do is sign up for our newsletter before Monday November 30. We’re sending out the promo code on Monday morning at 4am EST which you can use at checkout to save 30% off everything between 5am and midnight on Monday November 30.

Sign up for our newsletter here

- Allison

Kudos to all entrants, and to our voting readers, as well!

Time to announce a winner! Our polls are closed, the popular vote has been tabulated, and the people’s choice in our My Sweet Room Contest rings loud and clear! Drum roll, please ….

Congratulations to home decorator extraordinaire, Christy Snook, who decorated her daughter Delaney’s room to perfection with a happy combination of our wallsticker kits.

Christy ran away with the large majority of votes in our Contest, but we still must congratulate all the entrants, who each demonstrated marvelous creativity in his/her own unique way. And extra congratulations to Rick Joens and  Karen O’Campo, who both received special mention.

Allison Krongard, President of WallCandy Arts, remarked about Christy’s entry: “Delaney’s room is bursting with fun and intrigue. I love how Christy combined Candy Factory with the Seasons designs. I would have never thought of it but it looks fantastic. I really appreciate all the entries;it’s such a joy to see what people do with the product.”

To reward her excellent work, Christy will receive her choice of WallCandy wall sticker kits.

Thanks so much to all participants, and we hoping everyone is looking forward to our next Sweet Room Contest. We’re planning for it to be bigger and better than ever! Look for details soon.

- Allison