Paper from Paperless Post

I've been receiving Paperless Post invites in my email for a few years now but had never actually used it myself to organize an event.  As we plan baby Will's baptism, I thought it was the perfect time to give it a shot.  I reviewed a ton of samples, chose an invite, put in my information, and then input email addresses.  Here's the preview Paperless Post gave me of my online invites:

I love the design and the chapel happens to look just like the little country church we're baptizing Will in.  Ninety-five percent of our guests have email access, so this online invitation works perfectly, but what about guests like my grandfather, who is one hundred percent not online?  I could obviously have just called him up and given him the details, but I liked the idea of him getting some mail for this special occasion for our family.

Luckily, Paperless Post has recently introduced paper versions of some online cards and I was able to order 10 paper invitations to send to my offline loved ones.  I was so excited when they showed up in my mailbox.

Looking just like the online invites and printed on beautiful, thick paper.

This worked out as the best of both worlds for me - all the conveniences of online invites paired with good, old fashioned snail mail.  I definitely will be pasting one of these paper invites into Will's baby book!

Baby Shower Love & Advice Letters

Here's a great baby shower "game" or idea for a new mom.  When my mother sent out invites to my baby shower back in February, she asked guests to bring a note for me that would be sent after the baby was born.  Many of my sweet guests brought letters to the shower and there was also extra stationery there for some last-minute notes.  My mom stamped and addressed the letters and, in the months following baby Will's birth, popped them in the mail periodically so I was receiving consistent letters of love, advice, and encouragement.

There was a period after Will was born where "leaving the house" meant "walking to the mailbox" and excitedly opening the wonderful letters that came every week or so.  Because new motherhood feels isolating to begin with (long nights, odd hours, crazy hormones) and my house in the sticks made me feel even more isolated, it was so great to open up handwritten words of encouragement that came via snail mail.

Words of advice and anecdotes from experienced moms, memories and jokes from old friends, and even a poem filled up my mailbox until a few weeks ago when I received one last handwritten note from my mom letting me know that we had reached the end.  I've saved all of the sweet notes and can't get over how much of a difference it made to read these kind words during one of the most hectic, tiring, and wonderful times of my life.

Thanks, Mom, for coordinating this and thanks, ladies, for all of your letters!

I Want to Love: NatureBox

I'd been hearing a lot about NatureBox around the blogosphere and decided to give it a try.  It's a subscription based box-a-month all natural snack company and I signed up back in March because I figured it would be perfect for us to always have new snacks on hand with the baby around.  

Six months later, I'm still a subscriber but there are some ups & downs I've experienced since starting.  I do love receiving a box each month with seasonal snacks (you can see that each NatureBox includes a sheet that outlines this month's treats):

Every NatureBox has 5 snacks a month.  Usually there's some sort of cnacker, a fruit or veggie based snack, something sweet, and almost always some granola.  I LOVED this month's chia seed crackers which were crunchy and almost buttery tasting (despite being vegan).

The back of the packages include nutrition facts, obviously (no wonder these tasted so good) and an idea on how to use the snacks (in this case, with hummus or guac).

Here's where the "I want to love NatureBox" comes in.  In each box, there's usually a snack I love and then a few that I don't.  NatureBox has been stating in the "My Account" section for months that I'll have the chance to personalize my box soon.  I check in on this often and I'm still not able to choose my own snacks.

I'm not ready to cancel yet since, like I said, I do usually like some of the snacks.  But unfortunately, I find some really bland.  These "salted caramel pretzel pops" below sound like something that I would LOVE but I found them dry and tasteless.  Definitely not worth the calories or the subscription price.

I do love the frequent granola, though.  Jesse & I eat a lot of granola with greek yogurt and it's nice to have new flavors monthly to try out.  This month's "cranberry macaroon granola" was perfect with fruity Chobani flavors and tasty enough to snack on solo.

So the jury is still out for me & NatureBox.  I'm waiting for them to let me customize some of my own snacks.  While I like the surprise of opening up the box each month, I'd like to make sure a few of my preferred items are in there along with the wildcards.

If you're interested in trying NatureBox, you can get 50% off of your first order here.  Let me know what you think and stay hungry!

Things We Love: Paper Source Address Stamps

There are a lot of things Jaisa and I don't see eye to eye on: politics, baseball teams, meat consumption, high heeled shoes.  Sometimes it's a wonder we get along so swimmingly.  Despite all that, here's something we DO agree on... Paper Source's Custom Address Stamps.

Jaisa's friend Lauren bought one for Jaisa and as soon as I saw a letter from Jaisa, I knew I had to have one myself.  I think it's a great gift for newlyweds or for a friend buying a home.  I think it's a great gift for yourself when you're looking for something to make snail mail more exciting.

A self-inking stamp that can be customized with your name and address, it adds a special touch to your letters.  Jaisa's stamp has cute lovebirds on it and I went with the Pearl Border, but here are a few more I love:

all photos via Paper-Source.com

Here's a seller on Etsy who makes custom address stamps that are super cute if you'd rather go the handmade route.

And speaking of snail mail, are you sending out Valentines this year?  I'm planning on making mine this weekend, but I saw this on the Paper Source's website and had to share.  Remember when I went crazy for the Christmas version of this festive little octopus?

source

I'm tempted to scrap my handmade Valentine plans and buy a bunch of these to send out as a followup to the ones that I sent out at Christmas!  Maybe all of my correspondance is moving in an eight-legged direction...

Stay homey, sweet friends!