Quick School Party Favors

Our daughter is having her school party today, she turns 5! The kids have a very informal snack consisting of cupcakes and juice. Last minute, I went to our local drug store and found Crayola markers on sale, so I picked up 20 sets and added our 9SpotMonk Colour in Cards and made a little package. Hopefully, this will start kids into writing (or colouring) cards and letters and sending them to family and friends!

Happy Birthday Kasie!!

[Spotlight: Eco-Friendly] Gift Wrapping without Paper

I first met Jenn a few years ago at the National Stationery Show in NYC. She was our booth neighbor across the aisle. Instantly I was smitten with her illustrations. They were bold and gentle and beautiful all at the same time. It was also the first time I've seen her product launch Furochic(TM) What is this? Furochic is a modern take on the traditional Japanese wrapping cloth idea furoshiki. It's a great idea because it promotes caring for the environment and reducing waste (each year millions of tons of paper and plastic gift wrap are dumped into landfills). I'm talking about furoshiki for wrapping gifts, it can also be used to create handbags, little baby slings for your child's stuffed animal, or even used as a hankie. Check out Jenn's reuse page on her site for more ways to reuse her awesome and stylish Furochic gift wrap.

Wrapagami by Jenn Playford

Check out Wrapagami for more fun and great ways to wrap all sorts of things. For those of you who are not in Canada, the book is available in most book stores in the US. Be sure to support your local booksellers! Below are more images from Jenn's book:

Wrapping up baby bottles in this fashion and then putting it in the diaper bag is stylish and would probably keep warm formula warm for a while.

Great way to wrap up flowers for a hostess gift at your next dinner party.

This one is my favorite. Kasie, who is 4, is very much into taking care of her little stuffed animals and this is perfect for her to tote along her little 'babies'. Come September when Kasie starts Pre-K4, I'll be sending her off to class with furoshiki wrapped snacks. Maybe this will inspire her friends to do the same.

Order yourself some Furochic and check out the techniques page on the site and you can instantly learn how to wrap Furochic style.

[photos: Jenn Playford, Furochic]

A wonderful gift for a new baby - books!

Welcome, Little One Gift Set by Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon

Browsing through a favorite book shop of ours, Powell's Books, I found this great gift set perfect for a new baby or one that's a few months old ;). The selection of books is thoughtfully hand-picked by the Kids' Team at the City of Books. My personal mantra has always been to read to children often and start young, instill a love of the written word with beautiful illustrations and you'll have a good learning foundation to build upon.

This set from Powell's Books comes with
- Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt
- Here's a Little Poem edited by Jane Yolen & Andrew Fusek Peters
- Mother Goose's Little Treasures by Iona Opie
- Won't You Be My Kisaroo? by Joanne Ryder
- All Around the Land Alphabet Wall Cards from eeBoo
- Baby Booties from Rich Frog

The collection is housed in a brown hand stamped box and wrapped with red raffia. Price for the set is $100.00 USD. It is available at Powell's Books flagship store in Portland, OR or you can order it online and receive free shipping.

[photo: powells.com]