Today’s post is about thinking outside the box. I’m featuring customers that took one of our standard designs and changed it to suit their needs. I’m not just talking about picking your favorite colors and fonts – that’s fairly standard and expected. These people took it to the next level…

Ella’s mom Liz started with a birth announcement and ended up with an adorable first birthday party magnet:

These wild and crazy folks (okay, it’s my brother) took a wedding photo card and imagined it into a fabulous family photo Christmas card!

You’ve read about Melinda before, as she prepared her daughter for a new arrival. She creatively turned this baptism invitation into a birth announcement for baby Kaylin. Then for big sister Zaylee’s second birthday, a birth announcement became a party invitation. I love how the monogram was switched to a number “2″.

So if you see a product you love, but it’s not quite right for your announcement or invitation, fear not! MagnetStreet Baby is all about customization, wherever your imagination takes you.

Do a little browsing through the birth announcements, party invitations, baptism invitations and holiday cards. Remember, it’s okay to be out of the box!

Are you expecting a baby girl in the next couple of weeks? Look at these beautiful Valentine’s theme birth announcements!

Not that you can’t welcome your baby boy with a Valentine, but you should probably switch the pinks for red. He’ll thank you later!

The other great possibility would be sending out a personal or family Valentine. It could be just for fun, or in lieu of traditional holiday cards if you never got around to sending them out. 

Simply replace the birth details with a personal greeting or a list of your kids’ names and ages. How cute, as either a magnet or a card! View more options online.

Do you usually send Valentines to family and friends? I bet you like to receive them – think about it.

Thanksgiving is almost here! What are you thankful for this year?

If your list includes a brand-new baby, consider this adorable announcement. I love the rich autumn colors!

Or look at this one with a simple fall theme.

View all of the Thanksgiving birth announcements online. Even if you don’t have a “thanksgiving” baby, keep in mind that the text and colors can be changed on any of our announcements.

Whew – I made it through the whole post without any Thanksgiving cliches – you can also be thankful for that! Last year, I didn’t do so well.

Today most people are putting the finishing touches on their costumes for trick-or-treating or a fun halloween party…

You may, however, know someone who is putting the finishing touches on growing a baby! If so, share this post with them. But go ahead and wait until they’ve brought the new baby home from the hospital…

All of our adorable halloween-themed birth announcements are available online. Here are a few of my favorites:

Or, if your baby isn’t quite due yet, you may need a last-minute costume idea for your pregnant belly – check out this post.

What’s your favorite preggers costume or baby costume?

Maybe it’s because I’ve lived most of my life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but I think the best way to enjoy a hot summer day is out on a boat. The breeze is cooling and the water below begs for my toes to be dipped in.

My boat of choice is a canoe, but paddleboats, motorboats, pontoons or big fancy yachts are all acceptable. I think the connection to the water is what makes me love this little boy birth announcement. The crisp blue and white lines are anchored by the blue band at the bottom, with a cute little duck to finish off the look.

Or how about this sweet one, with your baby’s name and birth details riding along the waves.

As summer nears its end, I hope you’re able to get out on the water a few more times. Even if it’s just in the inflatable kiddie pool out back!

I’m kind of on a roll with Minnesota-loyalty lately, so I thought I’d stick with it…this week my lovely state is hosting the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

If you already knew that, you’re probably a fan of golf. Perhaps you really hope your new son or daughter loves golf too. And maybe you’d even go so far as to plant a seed in his/her mind with a golf-themed birth announcement!

As with all of our birth announcements, you can choose either magnets or linen cardstock, and you can customize the colors and fonts.

You could also be a little more subtle, using just plaid to hint at your affinity for golf and its Scottish roots:

And don’t worry, we have lots of other sports-themed announcements if golf isn’t your favorite. 

Please do share this post with the golf-lovers in your life. And ask them how things are going at Hazeltine- they’ll be impressed!

This is the 101st post for Notes on the Nest! The milestone kind of snuck up on me, in the midst of a busy month. Thanks for your patience in my lack of posting. After a week of family camp, the BlogHer conference, and a family reunion, I’m now unpacking, doing laundry (okay, I’m only thinking about the laundry) and deep-cleaning most of the house.

Not because I’m that much of a clean freak, but because the whole main floor had a thin layer of sheetrock dust. Due to a plumbing fix upstairs, we’ve had a gaping hole in our dining room ceiling since I was pregnant with Tate. We finally decided to have it patched up while all three of us were out of town for the conference. So the ceiling looks better, and now we’re doing cleanup…

In celebration of my repaired ceiling, an almost-clean house, and 101 posts, I’d like to offer you (and anyone with whom you’d like to share) a 20% discount off of any product at MagnetStreet Baby. You’ll find birth announcements, shower invitations, baptism announcements, birthday invitations and more. Just enter the promotional code NEST20 when you place your order - it’s valid until October 31, 2009.

And because posts are always more fun with photos, here’s Tate signing “more”. He’s telling you that there will be more posts coming soon: our travel adventures, a BlogHer recap and new voices in the Pregnancy Decisions series – stay tuned!

Most birth announcements feature a photo of the newborn baby, right? But there could be many reasons to want an announcement without a photo, such as:

• You’ve won a million free prints from Snapfish/Shutterfly/Kodak and just need the announcement to show the baby’s name, stats, etc.
• You’re a famous musician/actor/politician and want to protect your child’s privacy while still sharing the news of his/her birth
• Your kid just isn’t that cute (Okay, that would be the lie if we were playing Two Truths and a Lie. Of course your kid is cute!)

Whatever your reason might be for wanting a birth announcement without a photo, rest assured that MagnetStreet Baby has something for you! Here’s a sampling of the designs, featuring beautiful graphics and fonts to make your big announcement in style.

Your friends and family would rather meet your baby in person anyway, right? You can’t snuggle a birth announcement after all…

Check out all of our non-photo birth announcements online.

Another great sale this week at MagnetStreet Baby! Starting today, June 15th, through the 22nd, our top ten 5″ x 7″ magnet designs are 20% off!

Within the ten most popular designs, there are birth announcements, birthday invitations, and baptism/christening invitations.

Scroll over any of the designs on the sale page to see an example of customizing the colors and fonts in our Design Studio. This sale only lasts one week, so spread the news to your friends and family who are celebrating big events in their baby’s life!

I just bought matching flag t-shirts for the three of us at Old Navy (men’s are 50% off right now – just $2.50!). So even though we’re not even halfway through June, I’m in the mood to talk about 4th of July birth announcements…

Yes, I can appreciate the irony in celebrating independence when a new baby’s arrival means less of it, at least for awhile. Don’t worry- they’re well worth it!

If your little one is due in early July, any of these announcements would be perfect. Check out all the styles online. Remember too, that the colors can be changed on any birth announcement on our site. So if you find another design that you like, it could be customized with red, white and blue for a non-traditional 4th of July look.

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