Categories Archive
I had a crazy busy weekend, one that included going to the mall. I suggest you stay far away, but since Macys left the sensor on my sister-in-laws gift, I had no choice. 🙁 It was scary, lots of honking! People need to take a chill pill before going. It’s going to be busy, someone will take your parking spot, and some of the things you want to buy will be sold out, deal with it. I also had two soccer games to go to and an annual -not to miss- cookie exchange. I squeezed in a few minutes to make these super cute Christmas Tree in a mason jar decorations. They are super easy and anyone can do them, plus you get to skip paying $40 for them at stores like Anthropologie. What you need: Jars with lids – any kind will do, we keep and clean spaghetti sauce jars Snow – I bought a bag of snowflakes at Home Depot, you can also use epsom salts Glitter – any color Bottle Brush Trees – Multiple sizes are good, I found mine at Hobby Lobby Glue Gun Other embellishments – Small figurines, Glittery houses, other ornaments You can glue the little trees either at the bottom of the glass jar or on the lid. I think I prefer the bottom of the jar. I tried it both ways. Then I just added fake snow and some glitter. The next one I make I think I will spray the tree with adhesive and roll it in glitter. You can decorate the lid, mine has fabric on it, or paint...
It’s crunch time. If you’re still shopping you may want to hit the internet to avoid the long lines and crowded parking lots at malls. If you can’t avoid the mall than make sure to hit them early in the morning or later at night. I think toys R Us stays open until midnight and I’m sure several others do as well. Here are a few fun online options that I found. 1. Love this little Ballerina Mouse in a box, to purchase click here. 2. Super pretty bath salt sachet. Perfect for any woman on your list, to purchase click here. 3. Most guys hate wallets, get them a cool money clip, to purchase click here. 4. Yum, Italian Cheese Making Kit, to purchase click here. 5. Super fun game for the family, to purchase click here. 6. Love these fingerless gloves, to purchase click here. 7. Perfect for the aspiring student, to purchase click here. 7. Not much time left to order personalized gifts, better hurry. Lots of fun stuff at Frecklebox plus everything is on sale right now (use code Merry20), to purchase click...
We are always busy designing for holidays a year or two in advance. Here are some dishes that we designed and hope to get picked up for the next holiday season. We are also working on holiday dishes similar to our Eat at Mom’s set. It was very popular at retail and they’ve asked us to come up with something similar but in holiday sayings and colors. Hope your Christmas shopping and decorating is going great. I know I plan on doing some wrapping tomorrow. I will have some free printable gift tags on the blog this week, so keep an eye out! Happy...
Check out our personalized products that were featured on the Today Show. Our Frecklebox products are at the very beginning of the clip right after the ad. You can purchase the Rainbow Chevron collection, Multi-Monogram collection, Garden Party Coin Bank and Owl Friends Journal at Frecklebox.com. So fun to see our stuff on...
Each year I struggle to get my kids to cooperate and take great photos for our Christmas card. I love candid photos with a slight blur. To me those seem magical, but I can hear my mom bitching when she gets the card that the photos are blurry! 🙂 So there must be a little of both and some fun thrown in. Collage or multi-photo cards are great for that or if you lucked out and got the best picture ever go with the single stunning photo card option. Here are a few tips to get you on your way and a few of ours that were captured this year.. 1. Location, location, location – If you have a nearby stream, park or forest even the Christmas Tree farm use that as your backdrop. 2. Get in close, especially if you don’t have a great background. Close ups, especially of young kids are adorable. 3. Take action pictures, like jumping, kicking through leaves, swinging one child between parents. 4. Sharing a moment like reading, hugging or kissing makes a sweet image. 5. Use non-standard posing – take a shot of everyone laying head to head on the ground or a photo from below with your kids looking down at you. 6. Be Spirited – Are you the family with all the sports nuts? Dress everyone in sports gear. Love pets? Make sure the photo reflects your furry friends. 7. Take individual and group shots. That way at least you have something to use no matter what. And take lots of pictures, you can always toss later but getting everyone...
What kind of Christmas tree do you have? Is it classic/traditional, filled with lots of red and green, or vintage, filled with lots of glitter and retro ornaments, maybe whimsical, with bright fun colors and lots of white, or maybe a specific theme like coastal, filled with ornaments from the sea? I think mine is vintage random. I love all the old glittery glass ornaments but I also put up the ones the kids made or ones with sentimental value. I wish my house was big enough for several trees, it would be fun to have different themes. I’d love a wild and whimsical white tree, like something out of Dr. Seuss! Here are a few to get you started thinking!...
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I usually bring a gluten, dairy and nut free dessert to family gatherings for my daughter. Coming up with something new is sometimes difficult and often I need time to test out the recipe first to make sure it is presentable once I use substitutes for everything. I think this year I will be making this gluten free Buche de Noel again. I made it for Christmas last year but I think it would work for Thanksgiving also. It was pretty easy to make and as my daughters would say “it looks fancy!” CLICK HERE to go to the original post with recipe and directions. Here are a few other good recipes I may try. Click on the titles to get to the recipes. Just use substitutes if necessary. Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread just add a powdered sugar glaze to dress it up. Flourless Chocolate Cake Gluten Free Apple...
Are you trying to get some early holiday shopping done? It seems like each year the shopping gets earlier and earlier! Soon we will be shopping in the summer for Christmas. I know we start thinking about Christmas the day after it’s over and most of our online retailers need all holiday inventory from us by June. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around we are pretty much over the holidays at Simon+Kabuki! Most of our partners have big sales going on right now so if you are looking for the perfect gift or holiday cards get shopping from the comfort of your home! Below are just a few of our online retailers, check out their sites for discount codes. Check our Where to Buy page for additional links. Lot’s of fun personalized gifts to be had at Frecklebox.com. I know kids love seeing their name in print. I love the Rainbow Chevron Collection, above, perfect for tweens. Also love these Metallic holiday cards from Frecklebox.com. Totally unique and one of a kind! Love this iPad case from MyCustomCase.com. Check our where to buy page for additional case designs. Check out these fun book plate labels for the avid reader and the rest of our designs on Expressionery.com. You can order note cards, invitations, calendars and other fun stuff! If you are at all crafty you could make a quilt for a super special gift. Or if you are like me and mostly use iron on fusing you could purchase the fabric and quilt patterns as a great gift for the sewer in your family. Check out Quilting Treasures for...
Holiday parties are right around the corner. Time to start preparing! Look to silver and aqua for an elegant color palette. Invitation, Joy, Table Decor, Cookies, Mercury Trees, Christmas...
If you celebrate Hanukkah then this year you get a special treat because it will start on Thanksgiving. This hasn’t happened in over 100 years! If you’re looking for that special combo holiday card (come on, I know you are!) then check out our Thanksgivukkah card from SimplytoImpress.com. I read a really good description about Thanksgivukkah on Kickstarter. It was for a Menurkey, you know a combo menorah + turkey, duh! You must check it out because who doesn’t need one of those, and the kid who invented it is pretty cute and they raised $48,000 already. I think I need to give my kids a kick in the pants and get them inventing some weird stuff we can sell for millions. Anyway here is what all the hoopla is about (the math gives me a headache!): “The reason Hanukkah and Thanksgiving will overlap this year is because the Jewish calendar repeats on a 19 year cycle, and Thanksgiving repeats on a 7 year cycle. You would therefore expect them to coincide roughly every 19×7 = 133 years. Which is correct – the last time it would have happened is 1861. But Thanksgiving was only formally established by President Lincoln in 1863 (which is why it has never happened before). It may not happen again because the Jewish calendar is very slowly getting out of sync with the solar calendar, at a rate of 4 days per 1000 years. This means that while presently Hanukkah can be as early as 11/28, over the years the calendar will drift forward, such that the earliest Hanukkah can be is 11/29. The...
First a little history lesson about Veteran’s Day. In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” November 11th was originally a day of celebration with parades and business closures for the end of World War I. In 1938, Armistice day became a legal holiday. Then on June 1st, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars and the word Veteran replaced Armistice. Veterans Day is observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. I would like to add that we are all thankful to the families of our Veteran’s for their support as well, sometimes they are the unsung heroes at...
Looking for some cute options for Custom Gift Wrap? We’ve got you covered. We have 4 new wrapping papers launching this week at Frecklebox.com. You can enter to win a roll by going to Frecklebox’s Facebook page and entering your personal message. I can’t decide which roll I’m going to use this year. I’m kind of going the kraft route so it might be the top right design, what about...
A couple of weeks back I gave you a sneak peek of some new cards we were launching. Well today is the big day. We are super excited to launch Metallic Holiday Cards with Frecklebox.com. These beauties are printed on double thick silver metallic paper and come with rounded corners. The white that you see on the cards is actual white ink printed on metallic. Get your camera out and start shooting your perfect holiday photo. Your family and friends will be super jealous when they get one of these in the mail! Check out this link, Frecklebox.com, for the full selection and to personalize and order. Use code SHINY35 (through 11/15) to get a super deal, 35% off! This will be the best deal of the season so hurry up and order. Which one is your...
This year Thanksgiving is really late so Christmas is going to sneak up on us. I’ve already started purchasing some small items to get a head start. Here are a few of my favorites things this year. Links for purchasing are below. 1. Old Fashioned Dolls 2. Doily Coasters 3. Perpetual Calendar 4. Pillow 5. Shabby Chic Frame Set 6. Custom Cell Phone Case 7. Custom Rainbow Chevron Gifts 8. Travel...
This weekend we were on the soccer field at a Halloween tournament. So fun to see all the costumes. My daughter’s team went as Where’s Waldo and came in second place. My younger daughter got super inspired and decided to go home and make herself into a sugar skull. I thought she looked great! It’s also time to start carving pumpkins. You don’t want to do it to far in advance unless you want a moldy pumpkin on Friday. We plan on carving on Wednesday. I looked at Ray Villafane’s website for some ideas. What an amazing artist! Check out some of my favorites below. Looking for something easier or less messy. How about spray painting on letters or designs? Or use an old lacy stocking to cover the pumpkins. You can even cover them in fabric like we did last year. Check out the directions here. Pinterest is also full of some great ideas. Have fun and don’t forget to cook your pumpkin...
If you are looking to get a jump start on the holidays, there are plenty of photo cards on sale right now. We have a lot of cards through SimplytoImpress.com. If you use the code Winter13 you can get 30% off right now (I think the sale lasts a week). I love all of the custom shapes and paper selections they offer. If you’ve not ordered through them I highly recommend trying them out. They have great customer service and attention to detail. Here are a few of my favorites from SimpytoImpress.com, click the link to see all of these cards and more. Did you know that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are on the same day this year? Check out our combo card above. Quick Tip: When buying a square card order 5 x 7 envelopes to save on postage. Double check to make sure they will fit before ordering. We are eagerly awaiting the launch of our new metallic cards for the holidays and I hope to unveil those next...
Every year my girls jump from one costume idea to the next until a few days before Halloween, while my son usually throws it together the day before. Here are a few ideas to get you started just in case the princess costume is unavailable! They can all be thrown together with items you have on hand or a quick trip to Goodwill or the Halloween store. 1. Scooby and the gang. This is great for a family of 5 or 5 friends. We did this one year and found all of the clothing except Scooby at Goodwill. 2. Cruella Deville and Dalmations – My daughter’s soccer team dressed as this for a tournament. They won best costume. White shirts with black fabric paint, facepaint and pigtail ears. 3. Life Guards – If you can’t find a red lifeguard shirt just buy iron on letters at Michaels. Add a blow up tube around your waist. 4. Sugar Skull (I found this great tutorial by Jessica Harlow). You can also check Pinterest for lots of other ideas and color schemes. Pair with all black clothing or get colorful either way works. 5. Wind-up Doll – Use a toilet paper roll and some cardboard to make the wind up key. Any fancy dress will do, just attach the wind up key to their back. 6. High Tech T-Shirt (perfect for a teen) You must watch the video, it was started by an ex-Nasa scientist! Click on the title to see lots of other options all using a smartphone and apps. 7. Energizer Bunny – Just wear all pink, add pink ears,...
Time to start planning the perfect Holiday Party! Using elegant black as a backdrop just add pops of blue and red and throw in some glitter to set the holiday tone. Invitation Table Setting Decor Cookies Glitter Banner Cocktail...
Time to start thinking about holiday cards for clients and customers. We always try to come up with something fun for our clients. We’ve sent out bags of coal with cute hang tags, coasters with funny jokes, custom labeled chocolate bars and a lot more. Not sure what we will come up with this year. But if you don’t have the time or the creative resources you can easily order custom holiday cards online. We’ve designed a bunch and I am sure one of them will be perfect! You can check them out here. If you are looking for some custom ideas give us a...
Halloween is right around the corner. Are you ready to party?! Whether you are hosting a party at your house or helping organize the school party, we’ve got you covered. Check out our personalized placemats and stickers over at Frecklebox.com. Another fun project is to print out free personalized coloring pages for everyone in your class or party, super easy just click here to get started. And don’t forget our FREE printable Halloween labels, great for goody bags. You can print them on 4×2 Avery label paper. Just click on the label below for the PDF...
Last week I mentioned that we were working on an exciting new project. I decided to give you a sneak peek today. We are creating one of a kind metallic holiday cards. They are not live yet but will be soon. They are printed on metallic double thick paper and are beautiful! As soon as they go live you will be the first to know about it! I know some people have already started ordering and may not want to wait for these fabulous beauties, if so head on over to SimplytoImpress.com to get a jump on the holidays. They have amazing customer service and a great sale right now (sale ends...
Time to get spooky with our Halloween Party inspiration board. Start with our scary invitation that you can find on SimplytoImpress.com and use a color palette of black and white, with pops of orange and sparkly glitter accents. We’ve also created this FREE Halloween Label download. It prints on standard 4 x 2 Avery style label sheets. You can use them for water bottles, favor bags, labeling food, etc. Use a white sharpie on the label to write in your info or leave them as is. Just click on the label below to download and print. Have a spooktacular time! Invitation, Spooky Eyeball Lollipops, Paper Plates, Bottle Labels, Cocktails, Pumpkin Crafts, Brain...
I bet ye didn’t know it was Talk Like a Pirate Day tomorrow?! What a freakin’ awesome holiday, way better than secretaries day (sorry hard working secretaries!). I challenge you to only speak and sing in Pirate lingo. To help you out there is an entire website dedicated to this very holiday, www.talklikeapirate.com and a pirate translator now you have no excuse! Below are some fun definitions to get you started. Ahoy! – “Hello!” Avast! – Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, “Whoa! Get a load of that!” which today makes it more of a “Check it out” or “No way!” or “Get off!” Aye! – “Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did.” Aye aye! – “I’ll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over.” Arrr! – This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. “Arrr!” can mean, variously, “yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is going to win it all,” “I saw that television show, it sucked!” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.” And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr! Beauty – The best possible pirate address for a woman. Always preceded by “me,” as in, “C’mere, me beauty,” or even, “me buxom beauty,” to one particularly well endowed. You’ll be surprised how effective this is. Bilge rat – The bilge is the lowest level of the ship. It’s loaded with ballast...
I know it is still summer and school barely started, but at Simon+Kabuki it’s holiday time! Most of our holiday cards have been turned in and launched or they are about to be launched. Here are a few I thought I would share. I love that you can now get custom die cut cards fairly easily. These cards can all be found on SimplytoImpress.com. If you are like some of my friends you will have holiday cards ordered stamped and ready to go by October 31st, if you’re like me you will send them the week before Christmas! Enjoy! Sparkly Be Merry Merry Dot Frame Rosy Round Ornament Snow Dash Curved...
