A Girl Named PJ

Creative ways to display holiday cards

December 6, 2012

We just received in the mail our first two holiday cards of the season. I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed — it’s only December 6th! I’m still waiting on the proofs from our family photo session and deciding on a card design; however, our tradition of sending out New Year cards does buy me a little bit more time. I’d be in a bit of a panic if I were trying to get out Chanukah or Christmas cards! (Note to procrastinators: Send New Year cards!)

When will you send out your holiday cards?

Pretty soon the floodgates will open and holiday cards from family and friends will come pouring in. (Just kidding. We’re not that popular.) But we will have to figure out how to display the dozen or so beautiful cards we do receive, especially the photo cards of our faraway loved ones. In the past, we’ve simply stuck them on the fridge, but our refrigerator is cluttered enough with baby announcements, Stickygram magnets, and to-do lists. Plus, I really hate the look of a busy fridge.

Searching for inspiration, I found several creative ways to display holiday cards that range from hanging them on clothespins to casually collecting them in baskets. I especially like the idea of a festive bulletin board solely for greeting cards, but first I’d need to buy a bulletin board and then I’d need to figure out where in the house to put it. Hmm…

What do you do with the Christmas, Chanukah or New Year cards you receive?

Six Tricks to Beat Writer’s Block

December 5, 2012

I’m over on the Alt Design Summit blog this week sharing my six tricks to beat writer’s block. Go check it out and leave a comment with how you motivate yourself when you’re struggling to put words on paper (or in a blog post!).

{photography by Lantern Hill}

A lil’ giveaway from BlaBla!

December 5, 2012

Today’s giveaway is from a favorite Bunny & Dolly brand, Blabla. Their Socks the Fox knit doll has been Levi’s companion since birth and has appeared in all of his monthly photos. Levi also has two Blabla rattles, a boy and a girl monkey that we’ve (cleverly) named ourselves.

Blabla is generously offering one Bunny & Dolly reader their very own knit rattle! Wouldn’t it make a lovely stocking stuffer? If you don’t have baby of your own, enter to win a rattle for your favorite mom-to-be.

Here’s how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner will be notified by email and announced on the blog after the giveaway has closed.

PS: Did you know that Blabla now makes cloth dolls? I think that Socks may need a friend… Perhaps Wooly or Pierre?

{image via Blabla}

Pick your favorite new year card!

December 4, 2012

Sometime in the past four years, it has become a tradition for JB and I to send out New Year cards rather than Christmas or Chanukah cards. Perhaps it started because we procrastinated one year and missed the post office deadline. Maybe it was because Chanukah came unusually early and caught us off-guard. Or it could have been because the all-encompassing holiday cards available still felt too Christmas-y to us. (We send cards to both Jewish and non-Jewish family and friends.)

Last year we sent a New Year card from Minted featuring a black-and-white family photo taken by Alyson Sword Photography. I had a hard time choosing because there were so many Minted cards that I loved, but I decided on Jennifer Postorino’s Graceful design because its simple, modern style complemented our photo so beautifully. (My mom still has the card hanging on the wall above her desk!)

We met with Alyson again on Sunday to take a family photo for this year’s card. I’m hoping that my smile successfully hid the stress I was feeling at the shoot because Levi cried nearly the entire time! He was perfectly happy until we entered studio and then–wham!–giant tears. My only guess is that he thought we were going to leave him with a woman he didn’t recognize, so we tried our best to reassure him that we weren’t going anywhere…which is tough to do with a 16 month old.

When he wasn’t crying, Levi had his hand in his mouth (to pacify himself, I suppose), but Alyson assured us that she got some good shots when we managed to pull it away from his face. Although she hasn’t shown them to us yet, I’ve already visited Minted‘s website to start narrowing down my choices from their 244 options of New Year cards. I won’t be able to make a final decision until we pick the family photo we plan to use (because of orientation, color, etc.), but these are my top 6 choices.

Which is your favorite New Year card of these six?

Wait a minute, Mister Postman!

Before you sign any names on your family’s holiday or New Year cards, PLEASE remember that…

The wife’s name is written first, followed by the husband’s name, and then the children’s names (from oldest to youngest).
When signing with just your last name, do not use an apostrophe-s to make it plural. For example, we’d be “The Feinsteins,” not “The Feinstein’s.”

This post was written in partnership with Minted; however, the content, ideas and recommendations are all my own.

Snapshots from the weekend

December 3, 2012

Like all of our weekends now, this past weekend was a busy one: pancakes at IHOP, a class at Gymboree, shopping the Target + Neiman Marcus collection, and brunch with friends at a new-to-us restaurant, Tommy Colina’s Kitchen.

(Did anybody else check out the Target + Neiman Marcus collection? What did you think? I was slightly disappointed.)

It was also a milestone weekend for Levi, who got his first big boy haircut! I have to say, he looks pretty darn adorable with shorter hair. Thankfully, the experience was not as traumatic for either of us as I had imagined; neither Levi nor I cried in the salon. We were able to once again distract him with the stylist’s combs, only this time it was my hair that he played with because JB was attending a work function. He didn’t sit perfectly still in the red salon chair, but Levi did much better than I expected.

Surprisingly (and frustratingly!), Levi was much less cooperative at our family photo session Sunday evening…

PS: I kind of regret not buying Levi this faux fur animal hat. Yeah, I know it’s meant for a girl with its hot pink lining, but it’s so much fun!