Categories Archive
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,...
Celebrate your little cutie’s first birthday with a fun invitation and lots of pink for her special day! Invitation, Cake Bunting, Party Hat, Drink Bottles, Goodie Bags, Macarons, Pom...
This weekend I was making some gluten/dairy free cookies. Often times they turn into a flat blob and Sunday was no exception. I wanted them to look decent not like pancakes since I was bringing them over to my sister’s for family movie night. My daughter and a couple of her cousins are gluten free but my daughter has the added issue of no dairy and no nuts (and many other things). Luckily my daughter had a brilliant idea that saved the day. We got out cupcake liners and put a small blob of cookie dough in the bottom then added a gluten free oreo type cookie (we used Trader Joes Joe Joes, tongue twister) then put another blob of cookie dough on top. We cooked them for around 15 minutes at 350 degrees and everyone loved them. Even the non-gluten free family members. You can use any cookie dough recipe you want, even peanut butter. I like using recipes, mixes and flour from Jules Gluten Free Flour it is the best and easiest to use, in my...
Last Friday, I moved my son to San Diego State for his first year in college and in the dorms. Yes, I’m really old and now really sad! San Diego is pretty far from us, 8 hours, so there probably won’t be too many weekend trips in our future. He’s having a great time so far (week one) but we all miss him – especially the cat, who sits in his room all day wondering when the heck he’ll be back! All in all it was a pretty good trip and move in but I do have some tips that may help for your move in. 1. Pack a cooler with water and snacks. It is a long day and you may not get breaks for food. Also wear shorts and tennis shoes, you get pretty sweaty walking up and down the stairs. 2. Pack Well. Once you unload the car you either have to make several small trips in the elevator or walk the stairs. If you can pack as many things into duffle bags or other easy to carry bags it will go faster. We made the mistake of bringing a suitcase, this was difficult to maneuver up crowded stairs. The line for the elevator was about an hour so we used the stairs. My son was luckily on the 2nd floor, not really a good option if you are on the 11th floor. 3. Don’t forget to pack hangers, drawer locks, hooks, tape for poster hanging and power strips. We forgot these items and had to make a Target run. 4. Essentials – pack deodorant, toothpaste,...
Another summer over so quickly. It feels like each year they get shorter and shorter! My kids started on Wednesday and they were not happy campers. Made me yearn for home schooling or no schooling. 😉 But… we are really excited about our newest collection for Back to School. Our Rainbow Chevron Collection is available on Frecklebox.com. It comes in lots of fun products for school, like lunch boxes, binders, note books, etc. If you haven’t picked up school supplies yet make your kid’s day with personalized products. Use code SHIPFREE and get free shipping through August...
Anyone that knows me well, knows that when I grow up I want to be a fairy. 🙂 I am still waiting for the magic spell to happen. Maybe in the meantime I can add some fairy magic to our garden, you know to encourage them to visit. I was at the garden center this weekend getting some veggies to plant and my daughter was busy picking some cute miniatures to use with a little plant she bought. She promises to take care of it and not let it die. She got a little bird bath and a couple of other items. So cute. Here are a few of my inspirations for my next garden project, it will keep me busy at least until I get my wish granted! I checked out Fairy gardens on Pinterest and Etsy and have often fantasized about splurging on some of the pricey lit up houses! When I am a grandma (many years from now) I am for sure going to rock a play house and fairy garden in the backyard. I’ll be the coolest grandma but don’t give away my secret – that it’s really all about...
We’ve been busy lately with getting ready for SURTEX and designing new collections, but we are always designing new stationery throughout the year. Here are a few of our new birth announcements that will be coming out shortly. These designs will be on SimplytoImpress.com. If you have not ordered from them yet you should try them out, the designs are great, the paper quality is fantastic, customer service is awesome and best of all they go the extra mile with their packaging and shipping. If you’ve ordered from them you know what I mean. I posted some pictures quite a while ago on our Facebook page if you want to check it...
We have a new collection available on Frecklebox. We designed it with tweens in mind. Sometimes tweens are like crows, they just want something shiny and colorful! We tried to pattern our design collection off of the old PeeChee folders that we used to carry around in the olden days. Because they had zero personality, us students had to go crazy and doodle and personalize them ourselves. Now a days you can buy folders with all sort of designs on them. But ordering personalized folders is pretty cool. Hope your kids like the designs and you get a warm fuzzy feeling as we bring you back to your junior high...
Our new collection, Multi-Modern Monograms is now available on Frecklebox.com. We got a lot of requests for a design that could be used with monograms and that could also be for both kids and adults. We thought this was a great collection for tweens and it also makes the perfect gift for your child’s teacher. We combined super hot colors and the always popular chevron in a design that is sure to please. What do you think? Next up for us in May, is the Stationery Show and Surtex where our agent has a booth and shows our design collections. We are working on a bunch of new stuff for that. We are hoping to have some new kitchen patterns, a home decor catalog and some coastal collections done by then. It’s always busy getting ready for shows. We will be posting sneak peeks along the way so keep an eye...
We are currently working on a new collection for Frecklebox.com. We are aiming at the tween and teen market with this one. It includes fun flowers, polka dots and chevrons in a mix of popular colors. It should be up on Frecklebox shortly and we’ve also submitted it as a possible fabric collection. I love the summery colors mixed with gray. We’ve added a monogram for personalization on items like journals, lunch boxes, folders, etc. It’s a lot simpler than most of our design collections but I can totally see this mix on bedding and room decor. Simon+Kabuki Multi-Modern Notebook Simon+Kabuki Multi-Modern...
I thought it might be interesting to show how we design our collections and then incorporate those designs into licensed artwork for manufacturers. We usually start with a main idea. We always design a focal or highlight pattern and then design 5-6 additional patterns to coordinate with the focal. Having coordinating patterns is especially important for fabric and some other manufacturers. We get requests from manufacturers that we work with for certain types of occasions or things they are looking for. In this case, the manufacturer was looking for baby shower ideas. I really love this Jungle theme and hope it gets picked up for fabric or party ware. We are working on some vinyl wall decals, for a new site right now using a version of this collection. We also have this collection in blues for a baby boy. Hope you like it as much as I...
We’ve recently finished designing a bunch of fun new journal books for Frecklebox.com. They should go live in the next week or so. One thing we love around here is any type of notebook or journal. We are the queens of list making. I think we may have passed on this wonderful trait/disease to our kids. My daughters don’t necessarily use them for “what to do” lists, but they do write stories, songs and draw pictures in the journals and notebooks that are scattered around our house and their rooms. My niece uses hers with a couple of friends, they take turns writing stories and drawing pictures than pass it on to the next friend for her turn. I thought this was a great idea and would be so fun to do, especially with grandparents or other relatives that don’t live nearby. I’ll post the link to the new journals as soon as they are live. Happy...
Last spring I went with my daughters to a fun fair/market at a farm in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was called the Goat Hill Fair. My girls loved looking at and buying the upcycled creations. Their favorite was jewelry made out of found and purchased objects. We bought some fun pieces, you can see more about our adventures at the fair here. I also told them it would be fun making our own. I bought a few supplies I found on Etsy and also scrounged around the house for broken bits and pieces, old keys and buttons, etc. We had our first round of jewelry making on Sunday and plan to do another set this weekend as well. Besides the jewelry bits and pieces, I also purchased a set of pliers from Michaels and some glue. Overall it was super easy to create cute little necklaces and rings. My daughters plan on giving some to their friends as well as keeping some. This could also be the perfect project for a birthday party. We are by no means pros but it was a fun, creative way to spend a couple of hours together! Perfect for an upcoming rainy day and a great gift idea for friends and...
Ready to throw one last shindig for the summer? It’s still hot out and most kids have not started fall sports weekends yet. Plan an easy get together for your kids friends by picking a Friday after school. You can throw hamburgers and hot dogs on the BBQ, along with fruit, chips and fruit sodas. If you are feeling really ambitious you can try your hand at the cute pool cake pops above but if not just buy undecorated store bought cupcakes with white frosting, add some blue sprinkles, a tropical umbrella and the teddy graham and you’re done! Buy plenty of beach balls for the pool and have each child take one home with them. Easy party, Super Mom status! Invite beach balls cake...
This summer I got most of my kids back to school supplies early. Lots of glues sticks, colored pencils, folders, binders and paper. I usually take them with me so they can pick some fun stuff out or we go online and order some personalized items. We have lots of school supplies on Frecklebox.com and they ship really fast so even if you are a bit late on ordering, like school starts today and they need folders by next Monday, you should be okay! The quality is great and they have a large variety of designs for boys and girls. Got older kids and teens? PotteryBarn Teen, above, has some really cute supplies. Everything coordinates so your backpack and other supplies can match. Or are you looking for greener school supplies, if so check out Naked Binder, below. They are green, long lasting, non-toxic and safe for the environment. You also can’t go wrong with the great assortment of supplies at Target or any office store like OfficeMax. Plus Target or OfficeMax will carry that really expensive calculator that the teacher requires! Always be on the lookout for coupons or free shipping, checking the company’s Website, Facebook or Twitter can usually score a discount. Good luck and may this year go by as fast as our summer...
We just couldn’t help ourselves. We had to do a collection with puppies and kittens and we threw some birds in there as well. We had our daughter’s and all of their stuffed animals in mind when designing this happy collection. We wanted to use a fun mix of colors so that the patterns would be easily adaptable to most kids rooms. You can find this collection on several items, cell phone cases, lunch boxes, canvas art, etc. We also used the collection just with the birds, it is called Cutie Birds. We hope you like it as much as we...
As you can probably tell from our lack of blog posts we’ve either been really busy or really lazy. I’m going with busy. Oddly we spend our time from May-July designing for Christmas. We’ve recently completed about 100 new Christmas cards for various stationery sites. I finally am taking a breather and enjoying the summer. I love summer when the kids are off of school, no more field trip forms, checks for yearbooks or geography projects. But sometimes it is hard to come up with something to do with the kids that does not involve lots of money. We love going to the beach, movies and amusement parks but between gas, parking, food and activities it is usually a $100 day. So until we win the lottery we have to fill most of our days with fun cheap activities. Here are a few of the things we like doing: 1. Swimming – my kids love swimming and want to swim everyday. Luckily my parents live down the street and have a pool. Bring some popsicles and let the kids swim for a couple of hours. Most cities have public pools that you can join for the summer for a reasonable cost. 2. Park – try a new park and bring lots of snacks, water and packed lunches. You can also bring your scooters or bikes for even more fun. 3. Go for a hike – we are lucky to live next to a beautiful park. Go early so it is not too hot. 4. Lemonade stand – My daughter and her friends decided to raise money to go see...
We’re doing a swim party at my house for Independence Day and here’s what’s going down: I’m making white chocolate dipped strawberries with blue sugar, it’s super easy! I found an easy recipe at barbarabakes.com. Barbara likes edible glitter but I’m using blue sugar from my local grocery store because I’m too lazy to make a trip to the baking supply store. My guests will think I’m so awesome and culinarily gifted… I’m also doing a pound cake with home made whipped cream with a dash of vanilla, strawberries and blue berries because there is no such thing as red-white-and-blue overkill on the 4th of July at my house. I’m serving Sam Adams beer because it’s more patriotic than Bud Light and little weenies in bbq sauce because we’re sort of white trash. The ultimate goal is to make it look like I went to a lot of effort without actually going to a lot of effort… The playlist will be Toby Keith’s most patriotic songs with some all american classic rock. The finishing touch will be white daisies in mason jars with red and blue ribbons tied around them. This is one of those details that makes a hostess look great without breaking the bank. And to help keep little kids busy, here’s a link to a free download of a personalized coloring page: frecklebox.com. There are a bunch to choose from, you can put in the kids’ names and print them at home, makes a great party...
Many years ago, I sat next to a cool grandma on a plane trip. She told me she was going to pick up her grandson and take him on his 13th birthday trip… to Africa for a safari. Grandma and Grandpa take each of their grandchildren for an adventure anywhere in the world for two weeks when they turn 13, no she wouldn’t adopt me. This kind of trip is outside of my reality but I thought maybe we could take our kids on a long weekend when they turned 13. The rules are: anywhere in the continental US for four days with one parent. So when our oldest turned 13, she did a bunch of research and finally chose 4 days on a dude ranch in the desert. It was an awesome trip that we’ll never forget. When my second one turned 13, he chose prime seats at the MLB All Star game where he and my hubby could watch his baseball heroes do their thing. Our youngest turned 13 and he wanted to go hunting and noodling. In Oklahoma. For those who don’t know what noodling is, it’s fishing without a pole. Stupid people stick their hands into holes under rocks and logs and wait for a meaner-than-shit catfish to bite them. Yeah, I did that. Because I am competitive (and not that smart) I convinced my son that taking me with him would be a great idea. I’m a decent shot (with a gun or a bow) but I’ve never hunted so we brought my dad, the ultimate outdoorsy-hunter guy. The three of us left San Jose...
Maurice Bernard Sendak – June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012 Growing up my favorite book was Where the Wild Things Are. I still have my original copy, slightly beaten, read many times and loved tremendously. I felt like I was Max or at least his tag-along friend on a fantastic journey. I loved the drawings and imagined myself as their queen. Max could be my boyfriend and we’d all live happily ever after. I know much has been said about the psychology behind Sendak’s books and illustrations but as a happy go lucky kid, I just saw them as pure fun and fantasy. There was never really a dark side for me. It’s funny how kids can read something or watch something over and over again but that is exactly what I did as a child. I can’t imagine reading any of the books I read now over and over. There is something about being a child and finding the perfect book that just can’t be repeated as we get older. I guess with bills to pay, jobs to go to, people to take care of – a little bit of happy go luck gets lost. Thank you Mr. Sendak for Max and the Wild Things! “We’ll eat you up, we love you so!”...
But he turned out okay. I love photo announcements with baby/senior pics… Whether you have a middle schooler graduating and you’re just having the fam over for a small celebration or you’re hosting a college grad party with a big crowd, there are easy ways to make it a memorable occasion. I have a high school senior and I’m teaming up with two other moms to host a grad party so my little brain is overflowing with ideas for a kickass party that my son surely will not appreciate. Here are some of my ideas: • Photo invitation instead of the classic school announcement, this way the faraway relatives get a senior portrait and all of the pertinent info in one card • Photo cake with baby picture/senior portrait • Slide show or collage showing my son starting out cute and morphing into a horrible teenager • School colors for linens and decor (duh) • Yellow & white flowers with a navy ribbon around a vase for centerpieces • Easy food, i.e., taco stand or heavy appetizers so it doesn’t matter what time guests arrive (this is important- guest might be party hopping) • If you have a large party, hire someone to work the party – refilling drinks, emptying trash cans, picking up used napkins, etc. so you won’t have a huge mess to clean up after the party. I use college kids, they need the money and can stay up late • Throw back a shot of the good stuff 15 minutes before the party starts so you can relax,...
It’s graduation time and I don’t care who you are, you know someone who is graduating from high school, college, kindergarten, or middle school. I’m lucky enough to have a kid graduating from high school on the very same day that I have another kid graduating from middle school. Just kill me. Needless to say, there will be lots of celebration and fanfare. Here are some ideas for grad gifts: • Cash is always good for older kids, but a check tucked into a sweatshirt from their new college is even better. Kids love to wear their emblems. • A gas card is a nice alternative to cash for high school grads, keeps them from spending all their college money on Natty Light and Red Solo Cups. • Personalized stuff: a phone cover with a photo of the kid with BFFs from Zazzle, personalized school supplies (for the younger set) from Frecklebox.com, monogrammed fleece or towels. • Emergency kit: sewing stuff, basic tools, first aid supplies and candy. • A gift card from their college bookstore. Stay tuned for grad party...
Graduation is just around the corner and now is the time to plan your grads announcements and party invitations. Whether your son or daughter is graduating from elementary school, middle school or high school, an announcement is the perfect way to spread the happy news. There are so many choices in cards these days. I love adding photos and if you pick a card with multiple photos you can do a current photo with a baby photo, cute idea! You can also find cards that match your school colors or even your party decor. This Hawaiian themed invitation from SimplytoImpress.com comes both with and without photo options (also in boy/girl versions). The Luau is always a popular party theme. And every party store carries plenty of luau party supplies year round. I love the classic black and white look and the invitation below, found here, is perfect for a more formal look. Add your son or daughters baby picture or even a sports picture, to jazz it up. School colors are always a great option. Blue and gold are very popular. The invitation below from Invitationbox.com comes in a variety of colors. Finding the card is pretty easy just make sure to do it in enough time so you are not rushing around the week before. Start ordering now and enjoy a stress free and exciting day with your graduate. Here are some previous post we did on the subject that you might find useful, Photo Books and Extended Senior...
Warm weather birthdays are the best. Period. Outdoor parties are my first choice for a wound up group of kids. They have space to expend their energy and messes can be hosed down. And the theme potential is enormous (you know how I love a good theme party): Baby Animals complete with petting zoo, Garden Party– each party goer gets to plant a little flower in a cute little pot that he/she painted, Woodland Fairies with magic wands, or Sports Camp. It’s all good. If I still had any cute little kids (which I don’t, mine are big and teenager-y now–ack) I would totally rock a Garden Party. Get it? I would rock a Garden Party… I love this custom invite, it’s adorable and affordable at InvitationBox.com. And for party favors I would pre-order personalized placemats from Frecklebox.com, they double as decorations! And because anything with a bird on it is instantly loved by all (watch this hysterical video to see what I mean– Put a Bird On It.) I’d continue the theme from my placemats to little nest cupcakes. Every great kid party has great kid activities. Just a couple though, I’ve seen uber-moms overdo the projects and the kids get all loaded on sugar and can’t sit still long enough to participate. Or they really just want to play and said uber-mom is now screaming “Sit down and have fun with your damn project! Now!” So my rockin’ Garden Party would include one game that involves big muscle movement, like a nature lover scavenger hunt. They might have to find a leaf, a bug, a long stick and a rock that...
We just got samples of our new CuddleBumps fabric line from Quilting Treasures. The colors are fun and bright and would look great as a quilt for any child’s room. We always loved stuffed animals as kids and even now it is hard to see my daughters’ beds sometimes with all of the stuffed animals on there. Growing up I loved my Raggedy Ann and Andy stuffed animals and was completely devastated when they were lost in a move. CuddleBumps, a line of charming critters, was inspired by the our love for animals and the knowledge that little ones can never have too many stuffed animals. We’ve created Cuddlebumps, NerdieBumps and MeenieBumps and each has an adorable name to match his or her adorable personality. I think the MeenieBumps are my favorite, but mostly because I am partial to black. You can also see our Cuddlebumps on a variety of products at Frecklebox.com. There you can find lunch boxes, folders notebooks,...
