CBK Update :: 10% off Coupon Code

I've decided taht I need to start sharing my note card specials on my blog.  I LOVE making & selling note cards, and each month I have specials & deals for my customers.  My cards are sweet & simple...and best of all, affordable.

I have a great special in mind for August, but because of my preparations for the Bachelorette Bash tomorrow night (which I am SUPER excited about), I have not finished getting my NEW designs together for this sale.  I will let you know when the new card designs are finished and when the August Special begins.

In the meantime...if you love snail mail and need some note cards, please visit the Cards by Katie Etsy shop and use this awesome coupon code to get 10% off your order!  And remember, if you live in the Cincy/Nky area I will refund your shipping charges.  Just use the code :: CBK10 when checking out at Etsy.  Happy Shopping!

Halloween Inspiration & a Spooky Giveaway (CLOSED)

Thanks for all those who entered to win the spooky cards!  I used Random.org to draw a winner, and it is:
Michelle Meiners, who said...

Our favorite tradition is hosting an annual pumpkin carving party every year. The whole family and friends come over a week or so before Halloween and enjoy food, carving and great memories. B.Y.O.P. bring your own pumpkin :)
Michelle, Email me at:  Katie@Cards-by-Katie.com
And stay tuned, more great recipes, crafts, pictures and prizes coming your way!

One of my favorite holidays is fast approaching!  I'm trying not to let halloween sneak up on me this year, I'm trying to plan ahead to make it more fun.  I have four costumes to put together, decorations to unearth from the basement, and lots of other fun stuff to do.  I've been searching the world wide web today for halloween inspiration, thought I'd share some links with you!

Halloween Baking Supplies
Halloween Crafts
Spooky Shopping
Cake Balls!  (oh how i would love to make these, just afraid i would eat them all!)
A cute halloween toy for babes
Our favorite spooky story
Last year's costumes - I'm not ready to share this year's costumes yet, but I will say that Etsy.com is a great place to browse for costumes!
Pumpkin Muffins

And because I'm in the Halloween spirit, I'm going to have a giveaway! 

A Set of Ten Spooky Note Cards!

I made these spooky little cards and think they would be fun to share some Halloween spirit with friends & family.  They could be used as invitations, put in your child's lunchbox as a "hello from mummy", mailed to a friend you haven't seen in a while, or even as a thank you note!
Entering the contest is quite simple...just leave a comment below sharing your favorite Halloween tradition.  And for a bonus entry, you can share this contest with friends (via email, twitter, facebook, etc) and leave a second comment telling me you did so.  Be sure to leave contact information so I can try to reach you.  The winner will be chosen on Monday, September 19th at 2pm, and will be announced here on the blog.

here i am!

Is anyone out there in my blogosphere wondering about my sporadic posts lately?  I was doing so good at posting on a regular basis, and then POOF, lost my mojo!  I've been a bit pre-occupied with all our summer happenings.  We're on the go quite a bit with art classes, cooking classes, swimming, hiking, and general adventuring. 

And I've spent quite a bit of time working on note card jobs (thank you dear customers!).  For anyone who is interested, I'm having a Christmas in July sale right now, all of my seasonal cards are $3 a pack.  Just email me at: Katie(at)Cards-by-Katie(dot)com if you are interested in ordering!

I've also designed a few new sweet & simple note cards:

the lily pad photo note

and the butterfly "just a note" card

you can find both of these at my Etsy shop

Sorry for the shameless business plugs folks...just trying to find all the snail mail lovin' people I can!  So whenever we are not at play, and that is quite often, you can find me working on cards at the dining room table, surrounded by legos, arts & crafts, and other random activites the kids are working on.  We've spent most of our time adventuring though, exploring our area and just having fun.  I really try to make the kids' vacations from school fun for them (and maybe a bit educational at the same time).  Here's just a couple examples of our adventures...

We've been on a pirate ship where the kids had to walk the plank.

And we made very cool glass art at Brazee Art Studio in Oakley.

please note, these pics were taken before our people were fired in the kiln, they look much cooler now!

You can read more about these adventures on http://www.familyfriendlycincinnati.com/ (another shameless plug!)

I'm also determined to get more organized this summer, so I try to fit in some work on that when I can.  This week I've got a great discount on the blog for CleanMama printables, check out my post about her Etsy shop and take advantage of the deal, it ends this Sunday, 7/24.  I'm going to be ordering a few things myself tonight!

So what have you been doing on these hot summer days?  And feel free to give your small business endeavors a shout out in the comments, you all know I've been doing it for most of this post ;)

Making Christmas Cards with Kids Part TWO

In November I wrote about how I like to involve the kids in making our Christmas cards.  It's fun to collaborate with them on this creative endeavor.  This year the kids decided they wanted to decorate ornaments to put on our cards.  So I used my beloved Cricut to cut out a bunch of paper ornaments and let them decide how to decorate each and every one.  It was a long, fun process.  It was interesting to see how each child approached the activity.  As you can see from the pictures below, most of Sam's painted ornaments were brown.  He loved that brown paint.   And Max was all about the stripes. 

The first approach we took was to paint the ornaments with watercolors.

 After that they tried other methods...Ella's favorite seemed to be just coloring with crayons, which ended up being beautiful like a stained glass window when put on a black card.

And then there was the glitter glue...oh how they loved the glitter glue!

What kind of card does your family mail out?

green things

a gift for myself, from me with love.  

a brand new card for the shop

making christmas cards with children PART ONE

Almost every year I try to get our kids involved in the making of our Christmas cards.  It's a HUGE job, but it ends up being less stressful when we all work on them together.  Does that make sense at all?  How can it be less stressful with young hands assisting?  Well it is.  And here is why, for one thing, making the cards keeps them occupied for long stretches of time.  Also, the more work they do the less there is for me to do.  We are all pitching in together and it just seems more like fun and less like work.  As an added bonus, you get to encourage their creativity and their confidence.  The kids are always so proud of their work, and excited to mail their art to all of our loved ones.  There are so many different approaches you can take to having your kids be involved.  The way I go about it is to think of a simple design that they can all contribute to in a fun way.  
One year (see pictures) I cut out a bunch of snowman shapes, then Ella glued them to the cards and decorated them.  Last year I cut out Christmas trees and the kids went to town with glue, glitter and sequins.  Oh the mess, but they had so much fun, and the cards were adorable!  This year we are doing kind of the same thing, one design that they can all decorate, but we are branching out and letting them decorate however they would like...markers, paint, glue/glitter, etc.  Could be very very interesting.  I will share pictures after we mail them out (it's top secret stuff right now). Another approach you could take is to have your child draw a picture and then print it on to cards.  Or design each card seperately, and as creatively as they would like (this hasn't happened in our house yet because we send so many cards, I think they would get bored with it).  There are so many ways you can involve kids, even though it can be messy it is fun in the end. 

Do you have a holiday card tradition with your kids?  Or other traditions you'd like to share?  Tell me!

Tis the Season for Gift Giving: Note Card GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

For those of you who abhor the celebration of Christmas before Thanksgiving I apologize in advance.  I don't break out the decorations until after Turkey Day BUT I do start shopping months before, to avoid stress during the month of December. 

So in order to help my readers out with their gift giving needs I will be doing several fun giveaways in the coming weeks!  Stay tuned! 

The first "Tis the Season" Gift Giveaway is a Cards by Katie Note Card Prize!  The winners of this contest will receive a smorgasbord of note cards of my choosing.  I call it a "Mystery Pack".  So you are basically entering a contest for which you have no idea what the actual prize will be.  :)  I like to keep it interesting! 

Here are the details:
Two winners will be chosen on Friday, November 19th at 1pm. 
The winners will receive a pack of 10 random note cards of my choosing. 
Each person can enter the contest 2 times! 
~~ Entry #1:  Leave a comment below telling me which one of my note card designs is your favorite
~~Entry #2:  Share this contest, either via facebook, twitter, or email and leave a comment below telling me all about it.

Best of luck!  And just so you know, all note card orders placed between now and Black Friday (11/26/2010) will receive a FREE pack of mini photo notes with their order.  Email me at:  Katie@Cards-by-Katie.com if you would like to be added to my mailing list.

Note Card Giveaway Winners!

Happy Monday & thanks to all of you who entered the note card giveaway this past weekend.  If you didn't win, not to worry, I'll be giving away more note cards in the coming months.  Until then, feel free to do some shopping on my website: http://www.cards-by-katie.com/ or in my Etsy Shop!

The Winners are:
Cindy Reaper & Not Blessesd Mama
Let me know which design you would like and I'll get right to work on them!

note card giveaway ~ winner's choice!

I took a poll this week on the Cards by Katie facebook page to see what cards my customers thought I should give away on the blog.  Two choices seemed to be the most popular:  Personalized cards or Miscellaneous notes were what many of you were asking for.  So instead of picking just one or the other I have decided to spice things up and let the winners choose.  That's right, I said "winnerS", plural!

On Monday I will pick two lucky readers & they will get to choose a FREE pack of Cards by Katie Notes!  They can either choose the lovely new Personalized Gingham Notes (set of 5) or a Miscellaneous Pack of Christmas Notes (set of 5 - designs chosen by Moi). 

Entering is quite easy, and you can enter twice!  Double the fun all around during this giveaway! 

Entry #1 - Leave a comment below telling me your favorite way to use snail mail (I know it isn't paying bills!), and while you are at it, I would love for you to "follow" my blog there on the right-hand side of the page, either via google or facebook!

Entry #2 - Leave a comment below telling me how you spread the word about this contest, whether it be facebook, twitter, email, or your own blog, just shout about it from some venue and let me know you did.  I appreciate you getting the word out about my cards!

On Monday October 11th at 2pm I will randomly choose 2 winners, and notify them on this blog (and through email if you leave contact info).  Winners can choose either personalized or misc. holiday notes.

Good Luck!

a special offer from my etsy shop

I have spent quite a bit of time lately updating my Etsy shop with some new designs, and some old favorites.  Right now I have a special going on.  With every order placed in my Etsy shop you will receive a FREE pack of Mystery Note Cards.  What are Mystery Notes, you ask?  It's a pack of four cards of my choosing, always fun, always cute & always handy to have around when you need to send a note!

I'm working tirelessly to bring snail mail back into style!  So if you or someone you know needs some cute notes please take a moment to peruse my Etsy shop.  I have cards for every occasion.  And if you don't find what you need there you can check out my website:

http://www.cards-by-katie.com/

Note cards make perfect holiday gifts for teachers, friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, long lost cousins, best friends, secretaries, bosses, co-workers, or even children.  And most of my notes can be personalized with someone's name!

drumroll please....

there you have it folks...thanks for visiting our little blog & entering the giveaway. there will be more giveaways here in the future, because you all seem to like them so much! and in the meantime, please check back often for fun crafts, tasty recipes, and pictures galore of my little things.

what's that you say?! you're sad because you didn't win these note cards? have no fear! there is another giveaway going on RIGHT NOW for FREE notes from Cards by Katie! Mosey on over to my dear friend amy's blog: in a galaxy far far away for your chance to win personalized bumblebee cards. the bumblebee notes just adorable, and make perfect little notes for thank yous, saying happy birthday, or even to say hello to a friend you haven't seen in ages. or, if you don't need any note cards right now, you could enter to win them and then give them away as a gift! so head on over and enter her giveaway! free note cards rock! thanks amy for extending the giveaway madness!

note card giveaway!

it's time for another giveaway here at the little things! this weekend you can enter to win a pack of personalized owl note cards made by yours truly (as seen on my website: http://www.cards-by-katie.com/). isn't this owl card just adorable?!? envision it with your name on it! i will be giving away a set of 5 personalized owl note cards to TWO LUCKY PEOPLE!

entering is easy! between now and monday (7/12/2010) at noon you can enter up to 3 times and here's how:

1. leave a comment below telling me your favorite thing about "snail mail"

2. visit my website: http://www.cards-by-katie.com/ and come back here and leave a comment telling me which one of my cards is your favorite.

3. share this giveaway with your friends, via twitter, facebook, your own personal blog or email ~ then come back here and leave a comment telling me how you helped spread the word.

contest ends monday july 12th at noon. two winners will be chosen.

you can enter up to THREE times. be sure to leave contact information so i can reach you if you win!

and while you are here, meander around the little things blog, see what we've been up to! and please feel free to leave comments on other posts!

the perfect job

most of you know that i have a side job (on the side of my full-time job of being "mom") -- i create & sell note cards and invitations. http://www.cards-by-katie.com/

here are the reasons i love my job:
1. i can work in my pajamas
2. it's not a 9-5 job, i can work on it here and there, when babes are sleeping
3. while i toil away on my cards at the dining room table i often have one or more of my children working alongside of me on their own creations and projects (or just hanging out in their bouncie seat -- see above)
4. i adore snail mail and want to re-popularize the notion of sending people letters in the mail!
5. this little bit of extra money i make from this job go to support my scrapbooking addiction, as well as provide fun for the family (going to the movie theater, weekend trips, baseball games, dinners out & more!)

so see, card making is a pretty cool job!