Confession: Tate is often shoeless. He has two very cute pairs, but he doesn’t often wear them. My husband thinks this is why he’s not walking yet, and admittedly he slips around on our hardwood floors in his stocking feet. Even when we leave the house, I rarely put on his shoes. He was barefoot all last summer. My friend jokes about Tate’s “sans shoes” fashion statement. 

Maybe if I had a girl it would be different- my niece has bazillions of pairs of shoes, and always has just the right pair for every outfit. Okay, that may also be a reflection of her stylish momma. But I think little girls do lend themselves a bit more to accessorization.

It could be that I’m getting my “girl fix” in other ways. Confession #2: I love to dress up my envelopes. Both Tate’s birth announcements and our Christmas cards had return address labels and envelope seals that matched the enclosure. The addresses are written with a matching pen for the finishing touch.

I’ll admit to being pretty sad that the United States Postal Service chose a primary-color nutcracker design for this year’s holiday stamps, which completely threw off my aqua and lime green palette. Don’t even get me started on the pink monstrosities I had to use on my green and black wedding invitations…

Anyone else out there love a pretty envelope? There are so few occasions for which real mail is sent nowadays, it seems a shame not to make them all they can be. Check out these adorable options for envelope seals and return address labels:

There are lots more designs online to match your birth announcements, shower invitations, holiday cards and thank you notes. Have fun playing dress-up!

Photo Courtesy:
USPS

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New parents and grandparents are known for being camera-happy, and I’m certainly no exception. Especially in the first few weeks, every expression, every new outfit, every visitor holding the new babe created a must-have photo opportunity. I started carrying the camera with me wherever I went in the house, in fear of missing something amazing. I’ve scaled back on that a bit, but we certainly never leave the house without the camera in the diaper bag. Usually I remember extra diapers and a change of clothes, but I always have the camera!

Even before our son’s arrival, my husband often mentioned that he’s glad I’m on top of the family memory-keeping. Now, he comments how thankful he is that we live in the age of digital cameras, rather than an era in which the cost of film and developing would deplete Tate’s college fund before he’s a year old! (okay, truthfully, my husband doesn’t think we should pay for college anyway, but that’s a topic for a different day’s blog).

I got to share some of those first-week shots on our birth announcements from MagnetStreet. Being a former employee there, I was able to have a designer tweak the design for me. I’m excited to see the new Design Online functions launching soon, which will allow any customer to do their own tweaking!

We ordered matching return address labels and seals, and thank you notes (an opportunity to show off another photo!). I loved how the same look was coordinated through all the pieces. If someone had already sent a gift, I just put the thank you note and the announcement in the same envelope.

Tip: Those first few weeks and months were so busy, and writing thank you notes was not often at the top of my to-do list. As presents came in the mail, or were dropped off by friends, it was really helpful to keep a written record. I just jotted them down in my pregnancy journal, but many baby books have a page just for this, or any small book would work. Before putting the gift away, I simply listed what it was and who it was from. Then after I sent a thank you note, I checked it off in the list…no worries about forgetting to thank someone!

Birth announcements - did you make them or order them?

• Made them from scratch
• Assembled from a kit
• Ordered them ready-made

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