Fright Night!

Our family has a fun little twist on movie night. I am fortunate to have much of my family living nearby with 2 sisters in the same neighborhood, making for 12 cousins within walking distance of each other and my parents a town over. Once a month we send out an e-vite invitation to get together for "Fright Night". Grammy and Papa come to my house and bring all the fixings for Fright Night. Supplies include bags of coins, movie tickets, soda, candy, popcorn, a flashlight and a semi-scary movie. The children get a bag of coins to purchase their ticket, soda, candy, and are led to their seats one at a time by their flashlight toting grandpa. Most of the movies are geared towards the 10ish year old boys who prefer semi-scary, sometimes sci fi, creepy monster type movies. Papa then welcomes them to the theater with same dialog every time "Welcome to the Giger Cinemaplex Theater, tonight we are featuring "______" (movie name) which is very, very scary. We ask that you all turn your cell phones and pagers off. There is no talking or chewing gum allowed in the theater. This movie is very scary so Danny might start crying or Simon might hide under the blanket - just cover your ears and close your eyes if you can't take it. (giggles from the boys)

Buy your tickets!

and your soda!

the most popular- candy booth

popcorn in movie bags

Some of our movies have been King Kong, Eight Legged Freaks, Lake Placid, Tremors (a favorite), The Blob, Wait Until Dark, Alien, Jurrasic Park, Critters, Terminator, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, Zathura. Frankenstein, Godzilla, Gremlins, Crocodile, The Swarm and we alternate a few family type movies geared toward the younger kids. It's a fun reason to get together and the kids love it!

My (rocky) road to finding a great web designer

Along with being a fruitful business, my website and blog are a source of great enjoyment and satisfaction for me. Getting to this point did not come easy. I started in 2000 with a very simple website that sold only my discount notecards. In 2006 I expanded on this and decided to sell online all of my products and for a brief time had a 2nd website designed. This ended up being a flop and a big waste of time and money (lots of both). Updates and changes were beyond my control and the simplest modification took weeks to accomplish. I was back at square one trying to find a good web designer that could meet my needs and budget. I remember the moment I came across Cathy at Cgonsa Web Design. I knew right away I had stumbled upon something special. I spent hours looking at all of the boutique websites she had designed and how each one offered different features that were hip, girly, had fun character illustration and just the feminine touch I was looking for. I contacted many of the other websites she designed to ask about their experience with her (I highly recommend this when picking a web designer) and every one of them vouched for her quality of work and professionalism. I contacted her immediately and got on the wait list. I was so excited and couldn't wait to start and when my turn came up and we started with the design process, I could tell I was dealing with a pro. The communication was quick, responsive, and I knew I had all of her attention until my site was complete. Within a few short weeks she (virtually) held my hand as I learned how to add my own products and work in the admin side of my site. Having complete control over my website felt so liberating and the end result was better than I imagined and search engine friendly. If you are looking for a hip web designer to design a website that you will learn to completely manage on your own, check her out and the other couture web designs she has done at http://www.cgonsa.com/.

Boatman Geller Giveaway

One of my favorite vendors- Boatman Geller is sponsoring a giveaway of their soon to be released new product- Carrie and Tuck. Simply go to the Boatman Geller Blog and comment on where you would bring this cute little note filled tote this summer and 3 lucky winners will receive a free one!

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Design-her Gals is giving away free notecards!

ORDER ANY PERSONALIZED DESIGN-HER GALS STATIONERY PRODUCT THIS WEEK AND GET A FREE PERSONALIZED SET OF FLAT NOTE CARDS OR RECIPE CARDS!!

USE PROMO CODE: NOTES

It's easy! Here's how to do it:
1. Go to the Design-her Gals website, Design your Gal and place an order for ANY printed stationery product (yes this includes stickers, invitations, the works!)
2. Then design ANY Gal and order a set of flat note or recipe cards.
3. Check out and enter Promo Code: NOTES
Your order will automatically deduct the cost of the note or recipe cards (one free set per order placed.)
This offer is worth up to $45!!

Promo code works at Design-her Gals website only and expires Midnight, July 15th.

Today's Paper Hits "Home"

As you can tell, my favorite color is pink, except when it is a pink slip! Up until yesterday, my husband and 3800 unlucky other people were employed by IndyMac Bank. While we knew it was coming, the reality of it still packs a punch. The uncertainty about the future is very unsettling but I have faith things will work out. Anyway-to soften the punch, my daughter and I have had plans today to redeem gift certificates we have had for over a year for massages at a swanky local Spa. Hmmmm....laying there having someone rub my back with my husband freshly out of a job seemed paradoxical. It wasn't as relaxing as it could have been but fun to be out with my daughter. Next up- selling the gas guzzling Suburban and the $125 per week fill-ups. I know the economy is tough right now for a lot of people and I look forward to more encouraging newspaper headlines for us all in the future.

Corn on the Cob Cupcakes

A baker I am not, but I was so impressed with this entry in the bake-off contest in our neighborhood's annual July 4th Family Picnic I had to share it (the entry is NOT mine! my favorite recipe book is the Takout Menu Organizer!) These little corn on the cobs are actually mini cupcakes and were so cute it is no wonder they got a prize for the most original entry. They are sitting on corn husks and dotted with yellow jelly beans.

We enjoyed a day complete with a bike parade, old fashioned fire engine rides, a dunk tank, a chili and baking contest, lots of food and games, fireworks, and a fun time with family and friends.

Have a great weekend!

Just In! Whitney English Designer File Folders

One of my goals at the National Stationery Show this year was to come home with a bigger selection of designer file folders. I loved these brand new designs by Whitney English and have been anxiously awaiting for them to arrive so I could offer them to my customers. They come in packages of 9 and have 6 designs to choose from. They are even cuter than what I remembered!

My Favorite Sales Story- The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder

I have been selling online for 8 years now, but my favorite sales story is within the last year. In October I launched my new and improved website and was so excited to be able to add all of my favorite products to my online customers thanks to an awesome web designer-Cgonsa. I held a sales contest for my 3 sales associates who consist of 2 sisters and a close friend and challenged them to come away from the 2007 National Stationery Show with a new product and offered an incentive to whichever product was most successful on my website by end the of 2007. Amy chose the personalized coasters, Mary Ann chose the designer file folders, and Lori chose what I thought was the oddest product ever. As you see here, it is the Driinn mobile phone holder.

It is a weird little plastic gadget that you lodge between your cell phone (or any small electrical device) and the wall socket. It serves as a little shelf for your device while it charges. I immediately ordered what I needed to sell the coasters and file folders and kept putting off the investment of the mobile phone holder display and 100 units that were required to be able to place my first order of this product. After telling myself that these things were sure to be a free gift with purchase during the next holiday season, I reluctantly placed the order and put all three products on my website. I admit that while I thought it was handy and cheap for my customers ( $9 and free shipping), I also felt it really wasn't a stationery product and thought it was out of place on my website. Well, immediately orders started coming in. Every day, more and more people were ordering this product. I was flabbergasted. I sold all of my initial 100 units before I had even received them in the mail! As it turns out, they were featured in Real Simple Magazine the week I put them online and savvy shoppers surfed the net to find the best price. Charming Cards was one of the few U.S. businesses selling them (they come from Europe) and with the free shipping it was the best deal out there (still is). A few weeks later they were featured on the HGTV Holiday Gift Show and........well you can say the rest is history. Charming Cards sold more mobile phone holders than I would have ever dreamed of and my sister Lori laughed all the way to the bank. Some people ordered 20 at time for stocking stuffers and those miscellaneous gifts for the person who has everything. We celebrated after the holidays and along with her incentive, Lori proudly brought home the following trophy which now will be passed on to the winner every year-

Taking the advice of my sister who was willing to go out on a limb and the unexpected free advertising really paid off!

Getting through midlife with a little rock and roll

One thing I have loved doing since my teenage days is attending concerts of the bands from my youth. I am a proud fan of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and look forward to seeing them every time they come to town. Last night a friend and I took our 14 year old sons to the Hollywood Bowl to see them play and we all had a blast! On a warm summer night under the stars of Hollywood we had not a care in the world and found ourselves dancing to tunes like "American Girl" and "Running Down a Dream." This special one on one time with our teenagers is so important and he can see firsthand that you are never too old to have fun! I hope you all enjoy some carefree time this summer.

Summer Chores

I know a lot of the country has been out of school for awhile now, but here in Newport Beach, California, we are finishing up this week. My son graduated from Junior High today who is pictured here with his sister who is now officially a senior in high school. Do you ever feel the years are just flying by?

While I want them to have a fun and enjoyable summer, I also plan on setting some rules and expecting more from them as far as chores. When I saw these chores charts at the National Stationery Show in NY, I jumped on them because they will benefit me personally.

There is space for up to 5 children and 5 chores per day. There are 50 weeks of tear off sheets and a handy magnet on the back if you want to post it on the fridge. They sell for $15.99.

New Item at Charming Cards- Takeout Menu Organizer

With one more week of school left for my 3 children I am looking ahead to getting organized this summer. During the summers I try to catch up on my photo albums and scrapbooks, clean out some junk drawers, and make my kids go through their closets and drawers to donate items they won't wear anymore. At the stationery show this year I selected quite a few products dealing with planning and organizing. The Takout Menu Organizer by Knock Knock is a handy new product to help you organize your takeout menus for those days you just don't feel like cooking. It has handy pouches to store restaurant menus, an ordering pad, tip chart, tabbed dividers to organize your menus and a place to log all those phone numbers and keep track of what you like. At $20 I am thinking ahead that this will make a great holiday gift exchange gift.

Project Runway Girls Night Out Party

Every girl loves fashion, food, friendship and fun. Put all of those into a 1 night event and you have a recipe for a memorable occassion. I have a girlfriend who is one of the most creative and fun people I know. She is a wonderful friend and is always extremely generous and thoughtful to her many girlfriends. She threw a girls night out party last weekend which turned out to be such a hoot, I had to share it. The theme and general idea was very clever and it could be adjusted to work great for a teenage party, a bachelorette party, or any special birthday ages 16-75! She was inspired by Heidi Klum's Project Runway, and my friend being a fashionista herself had a ball throwing a party with a fashion theme. We had no information about what the party would be about, but were told to dress trendy and we were picked up by a party bus.

Our first stop was a local strip mall that had a grocery store, pharmacy and few random shops. First she acknowleged 2 of the women's recent birthdays and presented them with a bag of supplies. They each got 2 partners and were told to use the items in the bag - $15 and supplies (scissors, velcro, safety pins, etc) to create a "fashionable and durable" birthday hat. They had 15 minutes while the bus drove the rest of us to a nearby restaurant where she had a table in the bar ready for us. While we ordered our cocktails, the bus left to retrieve the hat group. Our hostess solicited 3 guys from the bar (very good sports) to be the judges. The girls returned and presented their hats while the judges contemplated the contestants and gave a funny and descriptive presentation of the winner. They had to wear their hats all night.

While we enjoyed cocktails and appetizers, she passed around a bag of bracelets (1 each) and a name tag of a fashion designer we were to wear. I was Nanette Lapore. The rule was that if anyone used real names and not your fashion designer name, you took their bracelet. I lost mine right away, got one back a few times, but was not as clever as "Ralph Lauren" who captured many bracelets as you see here-

The bracelet contest went on all night. Our next stop on the party bus was a discount t-shirt store that sold all kinds of inexpensive clothing. The teams were given a bag of supplies again, including $30 and told to create an outfit they needed to modify in some way (cut, sew, pin together) as well as a list of criteria that must be kept in mind including a theme or inspiration. The assembly was to be done later. We had 15 minutes to do this, and when it wasn't your group's turn, you got to enjoy a little gourmet meal on the bus.

Our next stop was the local mall. We had an envelope with instructions to go into a specific department store to find 5 items (shoe, necklace, pj's, hat, dress) that she had printed a clear picture of each exact item. Your group needed to take a photo of the 5 items including all members of your group. This was a timed test and the team with the shortest time was the winner. Seeing us run through the parking lot you would have thought we were running from a fire! From there we went to a nice restaurant and sat in the piano bar. One by one, each of the 4 groups went into the bathroom and altered their outfits, then presented them to the rest of us. A few groups got the piano player to modify his tunes to go with the presentation. It was very funny to see how different the 4 outfits turned out, none of which would have made real designers proud!

We finished the night off there, enjoying the music and each other until the bus returned us home. She even had "Project Runway 2008" hats made for us! It was a blast and so cleverly planned which made it all the more fun. What a treat!

New Products to Organize Mom- momAgenda Dayplanners now available!

I am excited to post my first new product I found at the National Stationery Show last week. It is the momAgenda dayplanner geared towards busy moms who want to better organize their families and schedules. I have had my eye on this product for awhile now and feel confident my customers will love it. Along with calendar and scheduling features for mom and up to 4 kids, it includes a favorite websites section, space for notes on books, movies, fashion, and music, vacation and party planning pages. The momEssentials pamphlet (can be removed to transfer to future versions) comes with space not just for addresses, but also for adults' and kids' medical information, birthdays, websites, passwords, and more. It takes the typical corporate (boring) dayplanner and gears it towards busy moms. It is sylishly bound and comes in pink, brown, and lime. It runs from August 2008-December 2009, geared towards the typical school year.

The Gift of Personal Art

I had to share a little jewel in my neighborhood who has allowed me to give very personal gifts to a some special people in my life. Jennifer Mathews is a local artist who I have commissioned to do to a few paintings that I have been thrilled with.

I have remained close with a special group of high school girlfriends. For our 40th birthdays a few years ago, I had Jennifer paint each of them a picture of us planted on the beach at 44th street in Newport where we spent much of our high school summers.

This last March, Jennifer painted the following picture based on a photograph of my Dad biking with his training partner Ollie along Pacific Coast Highway when he was preparing to climb Mt Everest. It was a gift for his birthday from his children & turned out wonderful, complete with a beautiful frame at a very reasonable cost. Her work has appeared in several juried art shows, and is found in private collections across the country. She works with clients near and far. You can learn more about her at her website www.jmathewsfineart.com.

30% off on Design-her Gals Teacher Gifts

Graduation is almost here (can you believe it!?) and who deserves our thanks more than those who taught our children a thing or two? TEACHERS!!! So this weekend, in their honor - take 30% off all printed orders! Enter the promo code TEACHER for 30% off all printed orders at the Design-her Gals website. Offer ends at midnight on Monday, May 26th.

Have a great Memorial Day Weeekend!

Last Day in NYC

What a great time we have had in New York City at the National Stationery Show! I am so excited to come home with over 10 new product lines including new digital holiday cards, MomAgenda dayplanners, many new designer file folders, super cool paperweights and other fun gift items. I can't wait to put them up on my website for you to see. The last 4 days have flown by and we finished them by seeing the musical "Chicago" followed by a great Greek meal at Anthos and then purchased these awesome "Chanel" sunglasses off a street vendor on our way home. We are certain they are the real deal !

New Products! The College Survival Kit makes a great graduation gift-ON SALE!

Our first day at the National Stationery Show was both fun and productive (the blisters on my feet will attest to it!) The first day I like to spend perusing all the booths and try to refrain from making big decisions. But I did run across a very fun product I had to order on the spot. This fun College Survival Kit by ms. & mrs. was just too perfect and fun as a high school graduation gift that I wanted to offer it to my customers during the peak of graduation season. It contains 15 must haves for the future college freshman.

Another product that is crazy popular by this company is the Shemergency Survival Kit. This portable, silver mesh case comes packed with 24 compact solutions for life's little emergencies like beauty blunders, fashion faux pas, and personal care predicaments that we women seem to get ourselves into. From earring backs to a mending kit, this little bag is a must have for the girl on the go and makes a great girlfriend and bridesmaid gift.

The Countdown to the National Stationery Show

I have officially started counting down the days to the National Stationery Show which runs May 18th-21st at the Javits center in New York City. This is the show that got me started in this business 8 years ago. I feel like a kid in a candy shop every time I enter the huge floor room filled with fabulous stationery and gift products. My goal every year is to come home with new and unique products to offer my customers. It is also a great time to meet with my vendors in person and put faces to the many phone calls and emails that occur over the course of the year. This year I am traveling with my good friend Kim Vaughan who has a stationery business Belle Notes by Kim in Parker Colorado. We were college roommates and I will enjoy our time together catching up and laughing as well as comparing notes on what we think is hot at the show. Last time we did the show together we carefully planned our travel schedule so that our flights would arrive within an hour of each other so we could catch a cab together and quickly start our fun time in the Big Apple. We both landed on schedule, called each other, and then spent the next hour trying to find one another. I was on and off the skytrain at JFK Airport numerous times trying to find her at the mysterious "terminal A". We kept thinking we would turn a corner and bump into each other. After an hour of searching for each other my phone was almost out of battery and as frustration was setting in, the lightbulb turned on in my head and I blurted out "WHICH AIRPORT ARE YOU AT?".....you have probably figured out already that she was at La Guardia. We were reminded of a lesson we learned in college-- "ASSUME makes an ASS out of U & Me". We still laugh about it and blame each other. So wish us good luck as traveling companions. I will be posting photos from the show and offer a sneak peak of what's new.

New Digital Graduation Invitations & Announcements

Charming Cards has a fresh new selection of graduation invitations and announcements by Marmalade Ink. This new line has the unique feature of printing on both sides of all of their cards. They ship in only 2 days- check them out for your special Grad!

Happy Mothers Day!

I love Mothers Day. I love being honored by my husband & children (who just finished washing my car-yea!) and letting my Mom and Grandma know how much I love them. While I admire my Mom for many things, lately I am very proud of her dedication to her Jenny Craig diet and the workout guru she has become. She is proving it is never too late, and can kick my rear-end at the gym! Today I gave her a gift she was so excited about I had to share. I found these adorable beaded placetiles at The Merry Martini. She was thrilled at their stylish design and funtional use, particularly the little flower holder built into the stand since she has a garden to die for. They came gift wrapped in a pretty box. Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers out there!

Join the LIVESTRONG Army Petition

Today on my walk I stopped by the grave of my friend Danny Dougherty to remember this wonderful man whose life was tragically cut short by esophageal cancer in 2004 at the age of 35. Cancer will take the lives of 560,000 people this year and it seems we all know or hear of someone new diagnosed with this horrible disease. Yesterday I received an email from a friend who is recently in complete remission from Stage IV non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma asking her friends to gather support and find people to sign her LIVESTRONG Army petition urging the next leader of the U.S. to make fighting cancer a national priority. If you would like to be a part of this petition, reply with your name and the state you are from and I will add your name to the petition that needs to be returned by May 13th.

You can learn more about it at http://www.livestrong.org/.

Tuesday, May 13th is national Livestrong day. I will be wearing my yellow bracelet and remembering Danny.