Holidays

Monday, November 11, 2019

GIFT GUIDE FOR THE LITTLE GIRL

It’s time to start thinking about all of the magical moments this holiday season and holiday gift giving. Lexi’s birthday is also in December which makes her one of the hardest people for me to shop for. Last year she didn’t start to really say what she wanted for Christmas until after her birthday which makes shopping early for her hard. This year she’s given a few ideas (and has said them more than once so I’m confident they are things she actually wants and will use). Here are a few things currently on my radar for Lexi for Christmas or her birthday. I hope it helps give you ideas for the little girls in your life.

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and make a purchase from the site, I will earn a small commission from the sale.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Lexi has been asking for a piggy bank. I think she would really like this star bank. Plus it’s neutral enough that it can grow with her and her room for a number of years.
Lexi really loves her dolls. I know we are growing near the end of this phase of her childhood (someone pass the tissues) I think she would love this one. Although she did just find a couple of dolls in stores that she really liked so we will see which one makes it under the tree.
She’s been asking for an anywhere chair for a long time now. She really wants a reading nook in her room, how can you say no to that?
She really loves jewelry and accessories. I picked these up on major sale awhile back and have them stashed for either her birthday or Christmas.
She loves doing puzzles and needs some that are a bit harder than what we have. I think she would really like this one.
Her friend got this karaoke microphone for her birthday recently and Lexi loved it and asked for one as well.
Lexi has outgrown her bike and asked for a new one. I think this one is super cute.
Another thing she’s outgrown and has been asking to have replaced, rain boots.

I hope this was helpful for your holiday shopping!

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Monday, December 10, 2018

PURPLE TRAIL STATIONERY

This post has been sponsored by PurpleTrail. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s no secret, I LOVE stationery! So when PurpleTrail asked if I would like to try out their new stationery sets, I couldn’t have been more excited; except when I saw they had holiday stationery sets!

If we’re being honest, having this stationery set is the only thing helping me feel like I have at least some of it together this holiday season. That and our Elf has moved every day so far. Who else has been know to forget to move that guy?!?

Their holiday stationery sets are perfect to have on hand this time of year. Each set comes with a 50 page notepad, 10 folded cards, 10 flat cards and 20 envelopes packaged in a cloth gift bag. It’s nice to have everything you might need on hand instead of running out at the last minute to pick up cards when the stores are crazy busy and picked over. I also really like that you can customize each paper style within the set to fit your needs.

Before I set out to customize our stationery set, I thought about how we will use each product. I originally was going to leave the text on the folded cards as “Thank You” but decided to change them to “Happy Holidays” instead. I plan to use the folded cards to hold gift cards this holiday season.

I decided to customize them with “The W family” (except it has our whole last name spelled out and covered for privacy) for both the flat cards and the note pad. The flat cards are perfect to accompany a hostess gift, to use as a recipe card for a cookie exchange or as a traditional thank you note. I love that the back is printed as well. PurpleTrail really thinks of everything!

I LOVE a cute notepad. Having a holiday note pad makes my never ending to do list a little more festive. The note pad has nice, thick paper; I almost feel guilty for using it daily. The paper quality throughout the set is something you would expect to pay a whole lot more for.

In addition to stationery sets, PurpleTrail has custom invitations, holiday cards, planners and more.

Being prepared this time of year is half the battle. Anything I can do to make the December chaos a little more festive and enjoyable is a win in my book. Having our PurpleTrail stationery on hand does just that. I’ve really enjoyed having this holiday set and will likely order one that is less seasonal to have on hand year round.

PurpleTrail’s processing and shipping time is incredibly fast so you have plenty of time to order yourself a set to use this holiday season.

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Sunday, November 4, 2018

FAVORITE HOLIDAY PAJAMAS FOR SIBLINGS

Since the internet has pretty much decided to skip over November and head straight into Christmas I thought I’d follow suit and share my favorite holiday pajamas for siblings today. The best holiday pajamas sell out pretty quickly, so it’s best to be prepared especially if you want them for something specific like holiday card photos or The Polar Express train ride.

My love for matching holiday pajamas runs deep. This picture is from our Christmas card photos a few years ago and still one of my favorites. You can see more of them here.

Dylan has officially outgrown the toddler department which makes finding coordinating pajamas a little bit harder but a couple of my favorites for matching or coordinating pajamas didn’t disappoint and brought them back again this year.1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

If you want to do family pajamas, I really like 2-5 because they tend to be staple prints brought back year after year. You can hand down the kids pajamas to younger siblings and not have to buy new adult pajamas every year. I keep saying we will do family pajamas and never have, maybe this year…

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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

ALICE AND THE HOCKEY PLAYER

Happy Halloween! This year Dylan wanted to be a hockey player and Lexi chose to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland thanks to the cutest dress around. She chose her costume based on the dress and the tea cup ride at Disneyland, true story. I’ll admit that I wasn’t sold on Dylan dressing as a hockey player and wearing his actual hockey uniform until they were both dressed and as soon as they were; my mama heart exploded. They couldn’t have chosen more perfect costumes. Happy Halloween from Alice and the hockey player!

All photos were taken by Melissa Carlson.

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Friday, September 21, 2018

NOT SO BASIC BUSINESS CARDS WITH BASIC INVITE

This post has been sponsored by Basic Invite. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As a lover of stationary and paper products, when Basic Invite reached out and asked if I wanted to work with them I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Contrary to their name, Basic Invite is anything but basic! From business cards to holiday cards and everything in between, Basic Invite has you covered!

Basic Invite has fully customizable traditional business cards to the coolest clear business cards. With Basic Invite you have the ability to order a sample of your actual card so you can see exactly how it will print as well as the paper quality before committing to an order. They are so unique I had to get my hands on one. They are just as pretty in person and the printing is impeccable. They look and feel really special.

photo courtesy of Basic Invite

Speaking of business cards, I used their business card template to design some cards for Sequins and Sandcastles. It could not have been an easier experience and I am so happy with how they turned out. Since they have almost unlimited color options with instant online previews I was able to play with my cards to make them just right before ordering. I was really impressed with being able to change the text to suit my wants and needs on my card. There were fields I chose to eliminate (for privacy reasons) and it didn’t impact the design at all. In case you’re wondering, I chose the Modern Hello design and printed them on smooth coated paper. I really like the semi gloss look and feel of the cards and the color is vibrant and rich, just what I was looking for. I love them!

photo courtesy of Basic Invite

While playing around on their website I stumbled onto the cutest Halloween invitations; how cute are they for a Halloween party? I know my kids would be SO excited to hand these out to their friends. We might have to throw a Halloween party now. With their fast shipping, I know I would receive them in plenty of time to get them out to all of the kids’ friends.

photo courtesy of Basic Invite

With the holidays on the horizon, I had to check out their vintage holiday cards. Basic Invite has so many great options for holiday cards that it’s going to be hard to choose just one. I spent a lot longer than I care to admit going through their holiday card options. I love sending a unique card and with Basic Invite’s customization ability I know I can do just that. In addition to being able to customize your card, you can also choose from over 40 different colors of envelopes that are peel and stick!

photo courtesy of Basic Invite

They also have an address capturing service that allows you to simply share a link on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other form of social media to request addresses from friends and family which will then be stored in your account and can be selected during the design process. Basic Invite offers recipient address printing at no cost on all Christmas card orders. How great is that?

Right now Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51

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