I think one of my illustrated characters must have whispered into Julianna’s ear, “I want to be real,” because, I left Julianna sculpting fish, and when I returned to the project area, she was holding Baby Bot’s big sister in the palm of her hand.

Above are the drawings from the Visitors page in the Baby Bot baby book we created for C.R. Gibson. Once Jules created BabyBot’s big sister 3D, she decided to keep on going, because you can’t bring a gal into the world without some friends.

Photos above from top clockwise: (1) Julianna starts sculpting head-first. (2) Jules painting Baby Bot. (3) One of Baby Bot’s buddies tucked into a box across from his 2D-self. (4) Bot Buddies® sunning on a paper plate to make sure they are completely dry before packing them up for their first trade show.

Above, Bot Buddies® are all packed and ready to fly to Atlanta where they are hoping to meet some new friends and enjoy some southern cyber-cuisine.

For those of you who will be in Atlanta for the big gift show, come see us. We will be at AmericasMart, Building 2, West Wing, in the License and Design Showroom, #774. And for those of you who will not be there, we’ll be sure to report back so you will be in the know for gift-giving 2012.

Emma’s brother collection, Alex, just arrived in the studio, and it is such a handsome group … perfect for the little man.  We are so pleased with the final outcome that we are giving away a group of three Alex keepsake products to one lucky winner at the end of this post.

Just as planned, the soft blues blend perfectly with the muted khakis. The navy accents are spot on.  We are imagining that someday, the recipient of this group will be pictured inside his baby book wearing his first navy blazer and khaki pants … and we’re pretty sure there will be some snips and snails in the pockets, so be sure to check before you throw them in the laundry.

Above is one of the illustrations from inside the baby book … This dapper gator cracks me up with his little top hat perched on his knobby noggin.  He’s all dressed up for the Alex Collection debut.  (Well, really he is dressed up for the Baby’s Celebrations page, but he’s multi-tasking today.)

Below are some of our favorite embellishments. From top left clockwise: 1. We are loving this embroidered argyle elephant on the brag book.  2. Another favorite is the embroidered zebra on the cloth frame, especially his broomstick tail.  3. The striped gros-grain ribbon and the herringbone giraffe dress up one of the photo albums. 4. The lettering for the baby books turned out great.  We always hold our breath about embroidered lettering until we see the samples … so now we can breathe … it’s readable and it feels great to the touch.

A favorite of mine is the First Year Calendar with Stickers.  It’s the best way to keep up with important milestones while juggling the little ones making the milestones.  I found that I could at least fill in one little square a day, and then record them later in the baby book.  And sometimes, when you don’t have time to write, just pop on one of these cool stickers.

So there you go … the Alex Collection!  We think it is appealing to two different kinds of parents … those who like to surround themselves with classic and traditional design and those who prefer modern and contemporary fashion.  Or if you are like me, a little bit of both!  You can find the Alex and Emma collections at specialty retailers around the US, as well as right here from our friends at C.R. Gibson.

This week, to celebrate the exciting debut of Alex, we are giving away the three handsome pieces above: a Keepsake Baby Book (and you can choose whether you prefer the tightbound or 3-ring version), a First Year Calendar with Stickers and a Brag Book.  Just add your comment in the comment-box below and we will pick a lucky winner randomly on Friday, March 18.   Good luck!

What is pink and green and cute all over? Emma is here! We just received the samples for our new Emma Collection by C.R. Gibson, and we are brimming in all-girl excitement, so we are having another giveaway to celebrate our new baby girl products. (Be sure to see the end of this post to sign up to win.)

Emma and her brother collection, Alex, were created from patterns and characters by Ellen, co-writer of this blog, studio designer, and daughter of mine, who spent many childhood years wearing pink tutus. Both new collections have an appeal for parents who gravitate toward traditional and classic designs, but at the same time, Alex and Emma offer patterns and characters with a new and modern twist.

The embellishments for all the pieces turned out beautifully.  Above from top left clockwise:   1. The baby books’ embroidered titles are the perfect amount of feminine.  2. The embroidered cloth frame is going to be a great gift the minute you know, “It’s a girl!” 3. The small photo album features the sweetest snail ever.  4. And, the interiors are pretty and easy to fill in, plus they have been printed on a new paper stock that is pen-friendly (no smudges on your milestones or first footprints…unless you have some wiggly toes!)

One of our favorite items is the First Year Calendar with Stickers (above).  This is a perfect way to quickly jot down the important events so that a new mom can copy them to the baby book later … like when her babies go to college!

And, we were feeling pretty sassy when Pantone revealed the Color of the Year to be 18-2120 Honeysuckle … which we had used as accents throughout Emma’s fashionable covers.  So when new babies of 2011 look back on their Emma baby books, they will say, “Wow, my mom was so hip, stylish, and in the know!

This week, to celebrate the exciting debut of Emma, we are giving away the three pretty pieces below: a Keepsake Baby Book (and you can choose whether you prefer the tightbound or 3-ring version), a First Year Calendar with Stickers and a an embroidered Brag Book.  Just add your comment in the comment-box below and we will pick a lucky winner randomly on Friday, March 11.   Good luck and we hope you are in the pink on Friday!

Roborapture!  Our Baby Bot samples have arrived … and the studio is full of beautiful new products manufactured by the wonderful folks at C.R. Gibson.  We are celebrating with a giveaway of three hot-off-the-press pieces to one lucky winner next Friday.  (See photos and learn more at the end of the post.)  This collection is for a hip new baby boy (and his cool parents!)  The color palette hints of primary colors, but we’ve added a retro twist, so, it will be as comfortable on the shelf with classic Tinker Toys as with modern LEGO blocks.

All of the pieces are printed on a soft matte paper that has a smooth feel to the touch and the embellishments turned out perfectly.  Fun square buttons and gros-grain ribbons add to the keepsake quality of the photo albums.  And the baby books include muted turquoise metal name-plates which can be customized with baby’s own name.

We fell in love with the baby bot bank at the trade shows, but it was reassuring to actually receive our sample with nary a broken limb because of his sturdy, protective (and attractive) packaging.  It almost looks like he is beaming down into our world. Star Trek with a bow.

If you like the cyber cute covers of the baby books, wait until you see the interior pages.  You will want to start filling in the nesting news right away.  We like to illustrate every page, so that it’s not just a record book, it’s a storybook.  And, each baby is the main character.

And, surprise!  We were able to have a coupon tucked inside the box of every single baby book, for 20% off an entire set of nursery art from our fun new “Create Your Own Personalized Nursery Art” website.  You can spell your child’s name with individual letters or all together, AND, you can choose from your favorite little robot borders. Your little fella will be able to spell his name before he starts walking!

So, this week, to celebrate the exciting first steps of Baby Bot and all of his bot buddies, we are giving away a gift bag filled with three new Baby Bots products.  The winner will receive a tightbound baby book signed by the artist (me), a first-year calendar with stickers, and a brag book titled “Just Braggin,” because, as you know, you will have some braggin’ to do.  Just add your comment to the comment box below, and we will pick a lucky winner randomly on Friday, March 4.  And, as robots say, “Pito loki wikute tuji!”  (which actually means “I like fruit,” … I couldn’t find the robot words for what I really wanted to say, which is “Good luck and have a very nice day.”

p.s. Don’t worry if your comment does not show up right away.  We will be checking the comment inbox throughout the day.

I wish I could share more about the city of Atlanta with you, but we really only saw it from the inside of the Rube Goldberg-like halls and tunnels that connected the complex that is AmericasMart.  So, here’s a view of Atlanta, Georgia from the perspective of two artists inside trade show land.

Due to record snowfalls and closed airports, there was some worry among the gift companies that the weather might affect sales, but by the time we arrived, sales were soaring, the halls were packed and buzzing, and showrooms were selling until midnight!  Little Robot, who is the main character of our new Baby Bots collection, was delighted to be featured in the front window of C.R. Gibson.  Normally, I would have worried that he would get a big head, but fortunately, he is humble and spent most of his time playing with puppybot and birdywhisk … and wooing customers.

Photos clockwise from below left:  1. Cathy with Sherrie McCulloch, Director of Infant Products for C.R. Gibson, who made it possible for our three new collections to make it from drawing board to showroom in a few short months. 2. Close-up of the front of the new baby book (you can place your baby’s name in the nifty nameplate).  3. The keepsake box with alphabet cards for personalizing.  We love this product.  4. Cathy signing brag books. It was fun to meet so many retailers, many of whom were moms and grandmoms with their own babies to brag about!  5. The Baby Bot Ceramic Coin Bank, which was definitely the hit product of the day. We just wanted to fill his tummy with coins and give him a hug.

Little Robot’s favorite part of Atlanta was that he was joining two more collections born in the studio, Alex and Emma.  Ellen masterminded these two great groups and the final pieces were gorgeous.  They appeal to parents who enjoy both contemporary and traditional styles. Here is Ellen in front of our twin collections.

The Alex and Emma products are printed on cloth with embroidered embellishments and ribbons, which add to the keepsake quality of the collections.  Alex, for boys, features traditional patterns in crisp blues and whites with accents of navy.  Dimensional insets add a high-end feel to the group, which we like to describe as handsome (in a baby way).  Below are photos showing the baby book and its interior, and two of our favorite pieces, the natty brag book and precious embroidered frame.

Emma, the sister collection, is all about tradition – with a twist.  The colors for this group bloom in preppy pinks and greens.  We wanted it to feel fresh and clean and fun, and it really does. Below is a photo of the book with its sweet interior, as well as photos of two of our favorite Emma pieces: the embroidered frame and the very popular photo clutch, which was a favorite new item at the show.

So, that is what we saw in Atlanta, Georgia.  If you are welcoming some precious new babies to your families, we hope you see some perfect ways to celebrate them in our new collections. We have also created coordinating nursery art for all three new collections (which you can find right here) so that you can spell your babies’ names or place their monograms right above their cribs.  It’s never too early to start learning the ABCs, especially when A is for An Adorable new baby.

Next stop on the magical baby collection tour:  Dallas Gift Show.  We’ll be at the C.R. Gibson showroom signing books on Friday, January 21 at 1:00.  See you there!

We thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane and see how styles have changed over 25 years.  Whoa, this memory lane was a long one, we’ll just have to share a little sampling!

We have been happily working with C.R. Gibson for 25 years this year.  Happy Anniversary to all of us!  We just returned from a visit in Nashville with our wonderful C.R. Gibson friends, and we couldn’t wait to get back to the drawing board to get started on the next 25 years.

Photos: Top left, a welcoming sign when we arrived.  Bottom left, our newest collection, Welcome Home Noah. Right, Cathy with Sherrie McCulloch, Director of Infant Products, after a lively discussion of new designs for 2011.

We thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane and see how styles have changed over 25 years.  Whoa, this memory lane was a long one, we’ll just have to share a little sampling!

1986, Share A Hug Paper Dinnerware; 1994 Woodcut Santa Christmas Collection; 1988 Village Square Kitchen Collection (I created this during the country-country-everywhere trend–I still miss my cool Ralph Lauren prairie boots!)

My first collection with C.R. Gibson was Share-A-Hug®, which was a group of characters built from this festive fella (above), J. Randolph Reindeer, who was based on a Christmas card (below) that I made when we lived in New York City, (note antlers) while I was veeeery pregnant with my first baby, Ellen. As you know, Ellen is the co-blogger of this blog, so, I guess you could say Ellen has been collaborating longer than she is old.

After Share-A-Hug, I continued to produce several everyday collections, Christmas groups, and eventually my first baby collection. And, then another and another … as you can see below, we love to make artwork for C.R. Gibson products!

Above top left clockwise: 1996, Little Noah Collection (best selling baby book at Babies R Us for 7 years straight! … and, I am having memories of all these borders painted by hand before computers … approximately 100 feet o’ flowers, whew!); 2003, Little Carousel Collection; 2004, Baby Princess Collection (more parents were learning if they were having a girl or boy, so we could now make an all-girl book … it was a pinkapalooza for us!);  2004, Baby All Star (boys-only, too!); 2004, Zoophabet® (These ABCs have found themselves decorating over 70 products); 2006, Little Pond (four years later and still a favorite). Photo below: 2010, our newest collection, Welcome Home Noah.

So that was a smattering of our collaborations with C.R. Gibson, and happily in 2009, we were able to say that over 2 million babies have a Cathy Heck baby book. We love to think of all the babies learning about their first milestones with our little characters.

So, we better get back to work for the next batch of babies.  Ellen and I are working on a bundle of fun new surprises coming your way soon.  Thank you to everyone at C.R. Gibson for giving us the opportunity to make lots of beautiful books for lots of adorable babies!

Tadah!  Our new collection is born:  we are proud to introduce Welcome Home Noah, published by the wonderful folks at C.R. Gibson.  I just received my samples, and they are beautiful!  We want to celebrate with a giveaway of three brand new pieces to one lucky winner next Friday.  (See photos and learn more at end of the post.)  The photo above shows our samples piled around the studio.  The baby books and several other pieces are covered in soft fabric and embellished with silky embroidery thread, which matches the artwork perfectly.  This is my fifth Noah’s Ark themed baby book collection.  I think the reason I receive so many requests for Noah’s Ark designs for babies is that the giver can feel as though he or she is giving a little blessing to a precious new child.

We designed this group to work perfectly for both boys and girls.  And, if you think the covers are pretty, wait until you peek inside.  The interior pages are so inviting that you will want to fill in every page … but lucky for you, a few wonderful years will need to pass before you record the First Day of Kindergarten page.  The picture below shows one of my favorite pages, the Family Tree.  New parents can fill it in before the new baby even arrives, which is a very good idea, since very soon their time will not be their own … for about the next 20 years!

We created unique patterns for each bordered page and lots of illustrations to help you tell the new story that is about to unfold.

One of my favorite coordinating products is the One-Year Calendar with Stickers.  I loved this product when I had new babies and I was trying to juggle work and motherhood, because the important happenings of each day were limited to one little square.  I could handle one square of info a day and I actually had a fairly thorough record of all those important milestones.  My idea was that later I could refer to it when I had a bit more time to fill in the baby book … I’m still waiting for that bit more time, but, at least I know I have all the info ready to go, one little square at a time.  And until you get around to finalizing that baby book, the Calendar is an excellent story-telling venue … when Julianna was little, she used to ask me to read to her right out of her calendar.  It’s usually a pretty satisfying read, with passages like, “Today, you were amazing.” and “Wow, you said your first word.  You are brilliant.”  I recommend this for an excellent self-esteem builder. Hey, I wonder if there is a calendar about me?

We hope you enjoy our new baby collection with your new baby or a special little one you are about to know.  You can find Welcome Home Noah online at C.R. Gibson.

To celebrate the birth of our new baby collection, we are giving away three new Welcome Home Noah products this week.  The winner will receive a bound Baby Book signed by the artist (that would be me), a First-Year Calendar with Stickers and a Grandma’s Brag Book!  Just add your comment to the comment box below, and we will pick a random winner on Friday, March 12.

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We just received our samples for the new Scrapbook Complete kits we designed for C.R. Gibson for Sam’s Club. They will be in the stores this month. They feature our Little Pond characters in two different color themes–one for girls and one for boys. Each kit includes a 12 x 12 album, stickers and great 3-d embellishments using jewels and glitter and even some metal charms. The pre-formatted pages include 3-d frames and characters, as well. (I love the pages shown here with the little duckies sporting real feathers on their little heads.) You will have so much fun just popping in your pictures, curling up with your favorite little one and turning the pages together.

One of our favorite products out right now is the Our Special Recipes scrapbook collection. It inlcudes a binder and coordinating craft papers and 3D stickers. It’s a great way to save favorite family recipes and combine them with pictures from some of the family events where they are served, like Thanksgiving or Fourth of July! I can’t wait to give one of these all-filled-out to each of my three girls when they get married. Oops, one already got married. Sorry, Ellen, maybe for your first anniversary!

You can buy this collection online from Tapestry by C.R. Gibson.