Here at Project Nursery, we recently named our top “Books for Baby’s 1st Year” and I See Me! of course tops that list. Just like all parents, we have our favorite children’s books, and nothing wins your child over more than a book that features him or herself! I See Me! allows you to personalize their books so your child is the star of the story. Now you have the chance to win all five of our favorite I See Me! Books for a special child in your life!

It’s never too early to start reading to your child, and I See Me! has a great selection of books perfect for baby’s first year. Entertain your baby with the story of animals bringing in each letter of her name or learn about all the people in his life that love him. Even before your baby truly understands the words, he or she will love being cuddled up with Mommy or Daddy and looking at the beautiful illustrations.

These special books are sure to become favorites. Don’t worry though, the books are well-made with glossy pages, which will withstand the many repeat readings that your child will surely request.

PERK ALERT! Readers can get 15% off their I See Me! order with the coupon code: projectnursery (through June 15, 2012)

WIN IT! One lucky Project Nursery reader will win our five (5) favorite I See Me! Books, a $165 value.

HOW TO ENTER: To enter, visit I See Me!, and let us know which book you love most with a comment below. Contest ends Friday, May 4th, 2012 at 11:59pm PST.

EXTRA ENTRIES
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4. Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter or let us know you are already a subscriber with a comment below.

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This is one good-looking letter pillow from Jonathan Adler. Wish you could get it in other colors? Use Jonathan Adler’s custom design tool for rugs, pillows and totes on the site, and knock yourself out.

Personalized diaper covers are always sweet.

My daughter received this Karen Katz personalized book with her name on the front and throughout the story. It is one of my all-time favorite baby gifts.

I adore this personalized ceramic plate set and cannot wait to buy it for my sister-in-law.

This personalized shift dress is perfect for tea parties and playdates.

Do you have a favorite site for personalized gifts? I bet our readers would love to hear your suggestions.

Photo Books: Take pictures of their art to include in a photo book. This one comes from Pinhole Press. I wrote a post a few months ago about about my favorite photo books. Not into digital? Scrapbook it.Frame: Kids just love seeing their masterpiece framed and hung with pride. You don’t have to pay a fortune for frames. Pick up vintage frames at a secondhand stores and just paint—super easy and super crafty.

Image from Pottery Barn Kids

Hang: You can get creative displaying your art with a DIY banner or clip ropes.

Magnetic Paint: Paint a large square on the wall using magnetic paint. You and your child can switch up the art monthly, so it’s always fresh and new.

Image from Better Homes and Gardens

Three-Ring Binders: A no-brainer—buy a binder, some page protectors and label them with the age of your child and the date.

Wall Decals: I love the decals at Butch and Harold. You can get the look of a frame without hammers, and it won’t hurt your walls. Genius!

Wallpaper: I’m crazy about this wallpaper filled with blank picture frames that your kids can draw on.

How do you store/display your child’s artwork?

1. Hug: Every time my daughter and I read the word “hug,” we actually hug. Yup, pretty darn cute, if I do say so. 2. Mommy Hugs: I love the illustrations of all Karen Katz’s books. 3. My First Word Book: Excellent for building baby’s vocabulary.

4. Goodnight Moon: A must-have for everyone’s library. 5. Corduroy: A childhood classic!

6. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: My 6-year-old will quote this book when he is having a bad day. Sometimes I think he really means it when he says he wants to move to Australia. Eeek! 7. The Giving Tree: This book is geared towards older children. My 3- and 6-year old enjoy it. Prepare to cry.

This type of bookshelf creates a convenient way to keep books facing outwards.

How fun are these peel and stick storage cubes?

Oeuf’s classic Mini-Library is perfect for storing books and toys, not to mention, one good looking piece of furniture. Snap!

The Revolving Bookcase by PBTeen provides a unique book tower.

What do you you think of these options? Have you seen any other great bookshelves? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

By Color:
My favorite is to arrange them by color. This makes quite a design statement. The floor-to-ceiling bookshelf below is a great example of how this can be done.

image from ohdeedoh

By Size:
This is done by dividing the book collection into groups of small, medium and large books; you then arrange them on the bookshelf according to group. Don’t stress if the books don’t all fit vertically. The taller or larger books may have to be set horizontally or a smaller collection of books can be used as bookends.

image from Land of Nod

By Topic, Author or Series:
This is a great way to ensure you read all the Dr. Seuss stories in your collection! What about using something like these animal dividers to keep things organized and add visual interest to the bookshelf? Looks like a fun DIY project to me!

Animal Index by Hiroshi Sasagawa

Be Creative:
Why not use your child’s books as part of the wall decor in the room? There are lots of creative ways to display books that not only allow your child to easily pick out the book he is looking for but also put that beautiful cover art to work in the room!

image from weeDECOR

 How do you organize your kids’ books?

As a photographer, I’ve made professional photo books of my work in Paris from Blurb, and let me tell you, they do not disappoint. They make beautiful books fit for any level of dollars you’re willing to pay. The downloadable software is easy to use and you don’t have to be tech savvy to do so. I’m a huge fan of  Pinhole Press. I can’t wait to get started with my annual “recap of the year” family book that I make for my mother-in-law (I’ve got my eye on the large purple one), and I also just received my photo holiday cards I ordered from them—two thumbs up!

Shutterfly is an easy and foolproof site. You can choose various layouts and background themes and knock out a book in no time. Plus, they always seem to have a discount code on their site, which is an added bonus if you want to save a few dollars. My mom loves Kodakgallery. She creates photo books and puts together the greatest collages of our family. With a click here and there, you really can’t go wrong creating a terrific looking album. If you own a Mac computer, the iPhoto program is already installed. Lovely. Lovely. Joy. Joy. Fabulous professional looking books—my go-to book when I make an album for myself.

What photo books have you tried? I’d love to hear them.

The book explains that the elves keep an eye on the children, and then each night they magically report to Santa. And if you think the threat of a little elf (who, by the way, the children can’t touch, name themselves, and he mischievously relocates himself every morning) doesn’t affect your children’s behavior, oh, you are soooooo wrong. It’s brilliant.

Since first being introduced to this little elf last year (ours is named Alvin), I’ve learned that there’s an entire community surrounding him—parents, who go above and beyond the boring moving of shelf to shelf and actually create adorable scenes for the Elf. Thankfully, I’m not the only parent dying to bring him out the day after Halloween, too. (Gotta get the full benefits of this little guy!)

image from dearchrissy.com

And let me tell you, it’s hard to remember to move that little guy every morning, especially when “Alvin” had two glasses of wine last night. Apparently, this year I need to up my elf game. Here’s some of my favorites…

1. A creative elf by beatrice.killam (he drew mustaches & glasses on the family photo)! 2. An elf making smores by Jen McKen 3. An elf snow angel by rubyandmyrtle 4. An elf with his new girlfriend by Jen McKen (my 3 year old daughter would LOVE this)

And, if you are still looking for more ideas, check out my “Elf on the Shelf Ideas” board on Pinterest. Now, if they would only come up with an elf for every other month of the year, I’d be one happy mommy.

The books created by I See Me! integrate your child’s name into a variety of story options. For some books, you even have the option to put in other pertinent details, like a birth date, sibling’s name, grandparents or aunts and uncles. I only wish we had a name picked out for our little bun in the oven because I would have definitely picked up a copy of The Super, Incredible Big Brother for my two-year-old.

Husband and wife team, Maia and Allan Haag, created I See Me! books to help increase self-esteem in children. The books have won many awards from different parenting organizations, and it’s easy to see why. The books are nicely crafted with rich illustrations that jump from the page—each illustration was originally created from a hand-painted canvas. These books are sure to become treasured items in your child’s library.

WIN IT! I See Me! is giving away $50 gift certificates to FIVE lucky Project Nursery readers! You can pick out a book for that special child in your life just in time for the holidays (deadline for holiday shipping is December 12, 2011).

To enter, visit I See Me!, and let us know which book you love. Don’t forget to check out their awesome book tours to get a closer look at each book. Contest ends Monday, November 14, 2011 at 11:59pm PST.

EXTRA ENTRIES
1. “Like” Project Nursery and I See Me! on Facebook, give a shout out on our walls and tell us you did with a comment below.

2. Follow Project Nursery and I See Me! on Twitter, tweet about it and tell us you did with a comment below.

3. Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter or let us know you are already a subscriber with a comment below.

 CONTEST CLOSED

To ensure this product fit our readers’ needs,
Project Nursery received a sample for review.

We received our first issue just last week, and my son loves it! It’s a small, square magazine that’s made of high-quality, sturdy paper that can withstand the turning and bending of a toddler. Advertised as appropriate for children 6 months to 3 years, the magazine is printed with non-toxic ink—important if your 6-month-old is a book chewer—and the binding is staple free. With twenty-two pages of short stories, rhymes and poems, it’s the perfect addition to your daily reading material.

The illustrations are sweet and child-pleasing, and because they are created by a number of different artists, there is plenty of variety.

I must admit I’m biased to like this magazine because I was a subscriber of Cricket Magazine, the original magazine from the parent company, when I was in elementary school, and I loved reading the stories. Cricket is a literary magazine for kids aged 9 to 14, Spider for kids 6 to 9 and Ladybug is for kids aged 3 to 6.

Do your little ones have any magazine subscriptions? I’d love to hear about what else is out there.