Just a note...

Great gifts come from personalization. I’m not talking about finger painting someone’s name on a jewelry box (although, paint from the right tiny fingers could be quite the treasure!). I like to make things for people. I’m not necessarily crafty, but I am resourceful (and budget-minded!).

Yes, emails from a hundred online companies are annoying. But I have a special email set up just for companies that I want to know what’s going on with. Snapfish, Mpix, Shutterfly and Inkubook are all a few of the printing companies I have used – and I often pit them against each other. Not long ago, I saw that Snapfish was having a pretty awesome sale – 50% off plus free shipping during a limited time frame. Now, I didn’t necessarily need anything at that point…but I thought towards the future. Mother’s Day was coming up on May 8 (there’s still time!) and my best friend’s birthday was coming up on the 14^th. Hmmmm.

I got back from a 10 day Caribbean cruise in March (go ahead, throw something at me, I can take it!). My in-laws bought me an incredibly nice camera for Christmas so I took some amazing pictures while we were in the Caribbean. I decided to turn some of those pictures into notecards for both my mom and my bff (since yes, they DO still write notecards!).

I finished my mom’s gift up yesterday. I got a small plastic bin at Dollar General ($1), a few packs of her favorite spearmint gum and a small bag of Tootsie Rolls (wrapped in a plastic bag JUST in case it gets crazy hot in the mail – don’t want chocolate smudging my notecards!). I’m really happy how it all came out!

I haven't filled my bff's box yet, but I still have some time to find some fun candies or accessory. This is also a really good idea for showers - you know the recipient is going to be writing thank-you notes so take pictures of the happy couple or have a baby-themed photo shoot. You don't have to be a professional photographer to take pretty pictures!

Oh, and a week after I received the notecards, my mom called and asked if I would turn some of my pictures into notecards for her. Talk about knowing someone J

Amazon

I've mentioned before that I love Amazon for buying gifts. There's just so much selection, so much randomness and so much STUFF! Now they've gone and made it even better.

Now I can make gift lists for anyone I buy gifts for - all the better to remember what I meant to buy them!

One thing I love about Amazon is it keeps track of all your previous purchases. Now, they let you go back through those purchases and make lists based on that. The two-person bicycle ornament? That was for Cinnamon. The book on how to tie your shoes in crazy ways? That was Beth! Based on these previous orders and any other items you add to that person - Amazon will then recommend other gifts! I don't always agree, but it's really nice to just surf around sometimes, find a gift that would be *perfect* for _____. All I have to do is just click and it's saved until birthday/anniversary/Christmas!

Gift giving just became a whole lot easier.

PS. Even if you don't want to actually buy from Amazon, it could be helpful to set up the account anyway. You can always buy the stuff from another company - although in my experience, Amazon typically is the cheapest!

Um...

Today's blog is a reversal of my regular blogs. Today's blog is a gift that I am begging you NOT to buy anyone.

I like to think that my array of friends and family are quite diverse. I have some conservatives, some liberals, Christians, athiests, fairly normal and fairly not...but this one. I just can't imagine one person on my lists...no, I take that back. I can't imagine anyone, PERIOD that I would ever buy this for. Or anyone that I can imagine buying for me.

A belly cast??

Really???

I'm not sure I'm going to want to remember that forever. Don't get me wrong, I think baby bumps are adorable. But I'm pretty sure pictures will suffice. Where would you put your belly cast? On your kitchen table? In the foyer? How would you store it???

For $20, I can take a TON of pictures from every angle. I'm good.

So note to everyone, don't buy this for me. 'Kay?

Thanks.