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-40% off!

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. Regularly $49.99, now only $29,99!!

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.

Last Minute Mothers Day Gifts from Design-her Gals

It is not too late to order Mom a unique Mother's Day Gift! Design-her Gals is offering expedited shipping at no extra charge if you place your order by midnight on Tuesday, May 6th. They will ensure your order is printed and shipped to be received in time for Mothers Day. Mom will love her personalized stationery that you design to look like her! Go to the Design-her Gals website, place your order and choose 3 day shipping at check out and use the promo code LOVEMOM- the extra fee will be deducted from your order so you pay for ground but receive 3 day shipping at no extra charge.