Thank you for being a friend

I know, I'm singing the Golden Girls theme tune in my head now too...sorry about that!

We just wanted to let everyone know that August 7th is Friendship day, and no, I haven't celebrated it before launching a Personalized Stationery business either, but thought it was a great excuse to say thank you to friends and family or even write a quick note to someone you haven't heard from in a while.  If you are reading this blog, let me say thank you for all the support so far since we have launched.  To celebrate friendship day, we are offering 20% off our thank you cards!  Just use the Code LALFR at checkout.

Here are a couple of my favorite designs which are folded cards that are blank inside for your own message.  You could also put a little message and photo on the back:

Confetti Girl Thank You can be personalized with either your name, your initials, or as a Thank You card.

Anyone who has ever bought my kids anything knows I love this card!  I bought big bunches of pink and blue for the kids because I find I'm much quicker getting my thank you notes out when I don't have to go out and by them...excuses, excuses, I know.

 I Heart You More Than Ice Cream was only featured a couple of weeks ago, but why not really tell your friends how much they mean with this card.  I gather most of our blog readers will be personalizing this card with "wine" instead of "ice cream"!

Remember to use your code LALFR at checkout before this offer ends on August 15th!

FUN-draising

A few years back, I ran the Boston Marathon.  When I ran my first (and at the time I thought only) marathon two years before Boston, I did not have a qualifying time to run Boston.  But when a good friend decided to run Boston raising money for Children's Hospital, I thought, what a great cause... I can do this again!  And after 4+ months of training, more hours than I can count of FUNdraising, and on a very HOT day in April, we did run and finish the Boston Marathon.  And we did reach our fundraising goal for Children's Hospital.  Since I had run one marathon before this experience, I knew the hours that would go into training leading up to the race.  But I wasn't really prepared for how much time and effort would go into fundraising in order to meet my donation goal.  Don't get me wrong... we had a lot of fun with various bake sales, games and fundraising events.  But in a sense, raising all that money was just as challenging as doing all the training for race day.  And in the end, it was just as rewarding.  Knowing that the money we raised would go to Children's Hospital and help to change the lives of many children and families was even more rewarding than having finished the 26.2.  My own friends and family were so kind and I was and am so grateful for their generosity.

In this summer season of charitable races and events, what better way to say thank you to those who so generously donated to your cause, than with a fun and personal thank you postcard like the one we created below?

[Pennant Thank You Postcard Front]

[Pennant Thank You Postcard Back]

And how cute is our good friend Janie depicted on the back?    

So... what are you doing or have you done in the past to raise money for your favorite charity?  Let us know!  And order our Love and Life thank you postcard to send to those who have been generous to your cause.  Be sure to order a few extras for yourself to have a keepsake of your event.  If all this isn't enough, for the rest of July 2011, Love and Life Cards will donate 10% of your order to your charity!  

What's the scoop?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

July is National Ice Cream Month in the US!  I might make it my own personal goal to have an ice cream every day this month... as if I need an excuse.  I do think I'm well on my way already!

Whether you are a year round ice cream lover like me, or just enjoy an occasional scoop in the summer months, now is definitely the time to check out our line of ice cream themed cards for your summer parties, personalized notes, or just a fun way to say hello.

Neapolitan makes a fabulous birthday invite for a child of any age and is available in two different designs—with and without a photo.

Green Mint Chip is simple and playful for some refreshing summer fun.

And my personal favorite—Ice Cream Social... why choose just one flavor when you can have five?

Do you have a favorite ice cream flavor?  Or is there something you love more than ice cream?  Leave a comment and let us know and we'll feature your "I heart you more than _____" card on our blog!

TO KIDS PARTY OR NOT TO KIDS PARTY

With my eldest turning 3, we finally had the great debate...should we have a kids party for her this year or not?  Her first birthday was easy, just a few friends, family and a bit of cake.  Year 2, we escaped the party thanks to the Chickenpox.  So this year we had quite a few of her friends parties to attend and she loved them (secretly so did I)!  The party games, the blowing out of the candles and her personal favourite, the party favour bags, all replayed over and over in the car on the way home.

Then finally it happened, she plain old just came out and asked if she could have her birthday party at the local soft play.  So looks like 3 is the year!

I decided the most important thing in organizing and not stressing about a party was to be honest with my own limitations.

Limitation 1:  My handwriting is absolutely attrocious.
Solution:  Personalized invitations ordered from Love and Life Cards.

Limitation 2:  My house isn't big enough to hold 19 of her little pals.
Solution:  Venue booked.

Limitation 3:  I cobbled together this Mickey Mouse cake for her birthday last year, but it wasn't really fit for public consumption.
Solution:  Proper cake ordered.

And on the Sunday night of a birthday weekend was it worth it?

Absolutely...
We'd love to hear about some of your party ideas and please let us know if we can help by designing some custom invitations for your celebrations!