"share your toys" by john w. golden on etsy. we have this print. i think you probably should, too.

this year i'm starting a new tradition with the kids. i'm going to have each of them (perhaps with a little bit of my help) choose some of their toys to donate. since evan's three, he'll get to choose three. emily will choose one since she's alllllmost one. and then we'll take them and drop them off somewhere.

and then we'll go shopping together and each kid will get to choose one (moderately priced) brand new toy to give to the kids at the hospital (the idea that kids are at the hospital and can't go home for christmas almost broke evan's poor, sweet little heart yesterday morning over breakfast).

i really like the idea of starting new traditions with my budding little family, and i particularly like this one. (it's nice to do nice, but man oh man do i also really love the idea of purging even a little bit of stuff before christmas brings in new stuff to crowd the toy bins.) evan is a little skeptical about the choosing three of his toys part, i think because he's afraid he's going to have to give away three of his mostfavoriteever toys. it's like he doesn't even realize how many ihaven'tplayedwiththisinmonthsandidon'tcare toys he actually has. i bet once we start looking through things together, he'll find more than three things he can bear to part with.

:: eco weakness ::

i'm being interviewed by liz from cosa verde (i'll post when it goes live so you can run on over there and read it) and so i've got eco-friendliness on the brain right now. all that thinking brought up a strange question:

what's my eco-weakness?

for sure mine's the peanut butter jar. yes, it's recyclable. yes, it's empty. yes, i could wash it and recycle it. but i hate the smell of wet peanut butter. so i throw it away. i recycle every other bit of stuff that's allowed in the curbside recycling bin. i save electronics for the town's electronic recycling day. i stockpile bottles and cans and return them to the grocery store when there are just enough to fill up my entire station wagon. but the peanut butter jar gets tossed.

with the amount of water it takes to properly clean a peanut butter jar i might actually be doing the more ecologically responsible thing anyway. but that's an issue for someone else to sort out.

but now i'm curious:

what's your eco-weakness?

:: :: events :: ::

i'm excited to share two things with you:

1. i have just released my first wedding stationery line. this represents a big step for me and the shop. i'll be offering printable designs but i'll also be doing in-house printing. i bought the most gorgeous papers to use - cotton papers, recycled felt-finish papers. oh, i was swooning. i hope that this next big move will be rewarding and will also help me grow my business.

2. you can win top-of-the-line royal treatment wedding stationery design by up up creative in the beautiful ripple event charity auction. i donated a complete custom design package that includes custom design of invitations, save the dates, response cards, menus, favor packaging, the works. it also includes forty percent off printing. 100% of proceeds from the auction will benefit carolyn's compassionate children, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of young adult cancer survivors.

:: :: special delivery from etsy :: ::

this is so cool. this year, etsy is teaming up with citymeals-on-wheels to provide a little love to elderly new yorkers on valentine's day. most fun, they are providing cards to each meal recipient. that means there'll be a whole lot of folks on valentine's day this year who will get a special love note who might not otherwise have gotten any.

the best part is that we (yes, you and me) get to provide the valentines cards. citymeals-on-wheels serves over 18,000 people, so they need as many cards as they can get. so etsy has asked all of its members (buyers and sellers alike) to spread the word and to share one or more cards. you can make your own card(s) or buy something on etsy (i know a few cute valentines for sale over there, wink, wink), add a special message to each card (something appropriate for your grandma, let's say (so my "crazy love" cards probably aren't the best choice!)), and then send them to the etsy folks so that they are received by february 2.

etsy's going to have a special page to highlight all those who participate (find out more here) and there's also a flickr group set up so you can show off your wares.

i'm sending mine this weekend. won't you join me?