About

Well hello. It’s nice to meet you.

My name is Gabrielle Stanley Blair, but lots of people call me Gabby. I like really good ideas, pear Jelly Bellies and cities. I dislike pain, cilantro, and poorly executed pedicures.

I’m married to Ben Blair. I usually refer to him with both names. Ben’s terrific. The best sort of person. We were married in 1995 when he was 22 and I was 21. He majored in philosophy at BYU and got a Masters and PhD from Columbia in Educational Philosophy. He directs the foreign language curriculum at K12. He started blogging long before I did. But took a break when it was time to write his dissertation and hasn’t quite started up again. Ben Blair is the happiest part of my life. This is what he looks like in a hat:

We have six kids. Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar, Betty and June. Flora June Blair was born on May 7th, 2010. (Here are some photos of me pregnant. Here is June’s birth story. And here are June’s newborn photos.) Our kids are as fantastic as they come. You can see photos of our family here. And a little commercial featuring all but Ben Blair here.

I’m a graphic designer and art director by profession. I earned my BFA in graphic design from BYU. Since our first child was born, I’ve gone back and forth between full-time and freelance work in advertising and design depending on what my family needed. And then. I started Design Mom in 2006, 2 months after my 5th baby was born. I was 31. The site grew quickly and I found myself with an accidental new career. S0metimes I’m sad that I no longer take design clients, but I’m able to get my creative fix every single day via social media. So I’ve survived. If I get bored with this, I’d really like to try my hand at designing textiles.

Six months or so into starting this blog, I was getting introduced to all kinds of new media. Delicious. Stumble Upon. Digg. My brother Josh suggested I start a Digg for females. Which was a brilliant idea. So I did. With the help of two women I had yet to meet in person, Laura Mayes and Laurie Smithwick. The site is called Kirtsy and it’s grown into much more than “Digg for Chicks.” There’s now a book. A conference. Another conference. Social media classes. 30 excellent editors. And all sorts of parties and events. You can find the most interesting stuff on Kirtsy.

After eight years in New York, we moved to Colorado in May 2009. We love the mountains. The gorgeous skies. Parking for less than $40. And access to good Mexican food. But we also miss New York.

I really enjoy blogging. (I think I love it.) And I try hard to think of ways to keep it fresh. Some things haven’t worked, like my Yellow Man project. But other things have caught on. For example, I’ve been credited with inventing blog giveaways, blog button exchanges and blog fund-raising auctions.

Thanks for coming to my site. You can reach me at gabrielle@designmom.com.

Want to know more?

Here are some press links, interviews and the articles I’ve written. And here is a link to my FAQs page.

First time at Design Mom?

Here are 10 links to get you started. They’re some of my favorites and will give you a good idea of the kind of content you’ll find here:

What to Wear To Middle School
Napoleon Dynamite
Our Birth Announcements
Potato Print Clothing
Having Another Child
Young Einstein Birthday Party
Little Red LightHouse Outing
Porch Makeover
Waving Goodbye To The Atlantic Ocean
Build Two Toddler Beds for $75
Pimp My Ride: Family Edition