Here’s what you should know about me: I’m a closet interior design freak. I mean, the moment I could form the words, I was asking my Dad to push my dresser from one side of my room to the other, and by the time I was a teenager, I was demanding hot pink on the walls, frilly curtains on the windows, and all manner of dressy pillows and bedspreads to set it off up in my room.

Now that I’m in my own house, I really get to play—and play, I do. I love earthy colors—oranges and browns and greens—and I never pass up an opportunity to add an ethnic touch to a room, whether it’s a beautiful piece of artwork by an artist of color (my latest obsession is THIS ROMARE BEARDEN at one of my favorite galleries, Avisca Fine Arts, which I can not afford but dream about nightly), or a beautiful tribal mask, or a textured vase, mirror, or picture frame to make a tabletop stand out.

I carry on this same philosophy in my daughters’ rooms, which are adorned with hand-crafted pictures of smoochie little brown girls and lots of beautiful brown dolls and pictures of our family—all that stand alongside pretty, kid-friendly pieces that shout out Mari and Lila’s funky, girly sides. And I’m always on the look out for great pieces that speak to this aesthetic. In today’s MyBrownBaby Happy For the Holidays Giveaway, I’m hipping you to some awesome artists who specialize in beautiful home décor pieces that’ll make your rooms stand out from the rest. Witness:

KISHA’S KIDS
“See yourself, be yourself” is the guiding philosophy behind this online boutique for décor products featuring African-American babies, children, and moms, and Kisha’s Kids works double time to bring its vision to fruition. The boutique’s founder, Kisha Holt, created her business after she went on an exhaustive-but-unsuccessful search for décor and accessories reflective of her brown babies. Now, she manufactures rugs, growth charts, picture frames and more with images of brown-skinned children; the products are high-quality, vintage-inspired pieces that are all-at-once joyful and inspiring. For the MyBrownBaby Happy For the Holidays Giveaway, Kisha’s Kids is giving away one item of the winner’s choice from the boutique’s personally manufactured line of original African-American children’s canvas wall art, area rugs, picture frames, growth charts and clocks—the latter of which was featured on Oprah’s “The ‘O’ List!” Value of up to $125.

LUCKY + LOVELY
Go ahead—take a look at the Lucky + Lovely blog and ETSY site try not to drool! I’ve known the proprietor, Melanie, since our days together at Honey magazine, where, as a top designer, she made my words look super fresh. These days, she owns her own custom letterpress and makes all kinds of lovely stationery, invitations, creative prints, and more, plus she designs logos and websites and, when she has time, posts perfectly delicious links to beautiful things she finds in her daily e-travels. For the
MyBrownBaby Happy For the Holidays Giveway, Lucky + Lovely is graciously giving away this whimsical Kid’s Alphabet Print, printed with high-quality inks on artist’s matte non-glare heavyweight stock. A $35 value.

RWANDA PATH TO PEACE BASKET
I can’t say enough about these breath-taking handcrafted baskets! These one-of-a-kind pieces, woven with sisal leaves by Rwandan artisans practicing this ancient craft, are not only beautiful, but changing lives. Indeed, proceeds from every sale of these baskets, available exclusively at Macys.com, go toward life-changing projects in this African country, which is still recovering from the brutal 1994 Rwanda genocide that killed more than 1 million people in just 100 days. The women who weave the baskets use their earnings to set up clean water supplies, purchase mosquito nets, pay school fees for local children, and buy life-saving medication for HIV-infected villagers, plus much more. My red and white fruit bowl is absolutely stunning; it sits in my living room, on a time-worn iron and wood coffee table from India, next to my collection of art books. It’s simply perfect there. Thanks my friends over at The BlogRollers and Macys.com, one lucky reader will get a basket of her/his own through the MyBrownBaby Happy For the Holiday’s Giveaway, a $46 value.

ONE LUCKY READER WILL WIN ONE OF EACH OF THESE BEAUTIFUL GIFTS—A MORE THAN $200 VALUE! Here’s how:

MANDATORY

• Visit Kisha’s Kids, Lucky + Lovely and the Rwanda Path to Peace sites and leave one comment telling me about your favorite products on each of them.

• Be/Become a MyBrownBaby follower.

FOR EXTRA ENTRIES (please leave separate comments for each)

• TWEET “I just entered the @MyBrownBaby Happy for the Holidays giveaway for over $200 in home décor products http://shar.es/aEKsk”

• BLOG about this giveaway

• BUY a product from one of the featured stores in this giveaway, and email a copy of your confirmation order to mybrownbabycontests@gmail.com (2 entries!)

• BECOME a MyBrownBaby email subscriber (you MUST verify your email subscription to qualify) OR get the MyBrownBaby RSS feed HERE (leave a comment letting me know you’ve done so, and include an email address so that I can contact you if you win).

• ADD my button to your blog

• Become a follower on Lucky + Lovely or Kisha’s Kids blogs—or both!

THIS CONTEST ENDS AT 11:59 P.M. on MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009. THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10th, 2009. It is open to residents in the continental U.S. and Canada. Prize fulfillment will be handled by each individual shop.