Their motto is "We find it, you flaunt it."  We love a woman (two women in this case) who gets that motherhood is teamwork--we're all in this together and usually (at least personally speaking) need all the help we can get.  That's where Cool Mom Picks comes in, founded by two savvy, stylish, and sympathetic mothers who understand that this crazy juggling act of having children might benefit from a fun, helpful, and insightful online guide to good stuff along the way.  

Along with their contributors, Kristen Chase and Liz Gumbinner combine their talents, skills, and experiences to cull, curate, and collect tips, helpful hints, great products, noteworthy sales, and unique opportunities that make a mama's busy life that much, well, cooler.  ("Cool" as in hip and stylish AND calm and collected, we think.)  Whether suggesting the perfect baby shower gift in a pinch, a sale on a clothing brand I didn't even know existed but is now a go-to favorite, simplified tech-related suggestions (for the resolutely un-tech), or a book that will answer all the questions you've been asking about raising a toddler, Cool Mom Picks has saved us time, money, energy, and stress, and though they will not come to your house and change a diaper for you, they just might change the course of your day if you can sneak a few minutes to browse the site.  (Hint: sign up for their newsletter...all the info you need in one tiny package straight to your in-box!) 

Clearly, we're fans.  Which is why we were thrilled when Kristen and Liz agreed to be our April Leading Ladies--quite the Dynamic Duo, indeed!   We started out by getting a feel for each of their personal styles, and after browsing the Pinterest board that each of them created, we began pulling various materials from our in-house collections of vintage finds and bead stashes.    

Liz's Style Inspiration: we especially noted the black and white patterns, hints of blue, and the mixed metals necklace at lower right...

Kristen's Style Inspiration: we immediately noticed her love of bright colors, graphic patterns, and bold colorblocking.

What we pulled for Liz's initial materials proposal:

And the two proposed designs we assembled from which she could choose (a tiebreaker!):

The materials we selected for Kristen's necklace:

And first and second rounds of the design evolution:

Both Kristen and Liz were right-on when they made suggestions on how to proceed--true to their editorial eye, each of them knew exactly what would look best on them and what small changes would work well to suit their individual style.  Ultimately, Liz's necklace was created of an assemblage of strands, incorporating faceted silver crystal, silvery pearls, vintage gunmetal and silvertone chains, and even an antique crystal chandelier component.  (We love it against her New York City skyline!)

For Kristen's necklace, we chose vibrant vinyl disc beads (repurposed in Ghana from vintage records) mixed haphazardly with 1940s blue glass, yellow wood, black mesh, Kenyan bone, and a hint at glam with golden chalcedony nuggets.  A fun gathering of color and right at home in her southern setting!  (But we feel sure it'll see some sights outside of the sunny south, too!)

We had a wonderful time working with Liz and Kristen on this project--a giant thank-you to the hard-working, fabulous femmes behind Cool Mom Picks!  (Stay tuned for a fun interview with the CMP ladies in a bit...we just had to ask them a few questions about life, love, and jewels.)