Category: Filing Cabinet

Gifts for the Hard to Buy For
I presented a gift guide in partnership with American Express last week, featuring items that could be purchased through their Membership Rewards program. I also asked if you needed help finding gifts for anyone, and today I’m going to follow up and help out with some ideas for the hard to buy for people in your life.
- Brothers
  
  Emily said: “I always struggle with new gift ideas for my brothers in their mid-late twenties. I always go with t-shirts or something boring like undies or socks.” And Valerie said: “I’m trying to figure out what to get my brothers (18 and 19) that isn’t in the video game/dvd/gift card oeuvre. But I’m pretty broke this year, so I have a $40 limit for both of them. Everything I’ve looked at so far that I thought would be good goes way over that!”
  There were a lot of requests for brotherly gifts! This Cards Against Humanity game (4) looks awesome, and you can’t go wrong with a Jon Ronson book (Brandon and I both like him). Lost at Sea (5) is Ronson’s newest. You can pay for these with points through Amazon’s checkout.
- Sisters
- Parents (Yours or Hers/His)
  
  Marie said: “I could use gift ideas for my boyfriend’s parents!! We’ve been dating for 1.5 years and although I’m not very close with them (distance makes it tough), I’d like to give something thoughtful.”
  Give tickets to a show. I cashed in a bunch of my Amex points recently to get tickets to The Book of Mormon (1) (Brandon and I will be going on our anniversary in May). You can pay with points through TicketMaster, so there are tons of options for shows and concerts that they’ll like.
- For Those Who Don’t Need Another Thing
  
  Hillary said: “Would love advice about what to get my dad and stepmom. They are retired, don’t really need any “stuff” and are just plain hard to shop for. I usually default to restaurant gift cards but would like to give something more thoughtful. Help!”
  Give to charity. Donate your points to Hurricane Sandy Relief (6), or to another charity on behalf of your gift recipient.
- The Wild Card
  
  Sarah said: “I’m having a tough time coming up with something for a family gift exchange. It could go to anyone in my family from my 12 year old niece to my 50+ uncles. I seem to only be able to come up with girly or adult ideas.”
  My best bet for one-gift-fits-all is How Music Works by David Byrne (7) (pay with points on Amazon). It will appeal to book-lovers, music-lovers (young and old — doesn’t everyone agree that David Byrne is awesome?), and it has a technology/science bent.
I was selected by American Express to help educate consumers about how to use Membership Rewards points. As such I was paid for my services as an ambassador, but all gift choices selected and opinions about the gifts and American Express are my own.
December 10, 2012
Points for Presents
I’m working with American Express to share ideas for holiday gift giving. All of the gifts below can be purchased with points from their Membership Rewards program. Some of the items (numbers 1, 6, and 7) can be purchased directly with points, and the others can be had by redeeming points for gift cards.
1. KitchenAid Artisan Series Stand Mixer
2. Alphabet Needlepoint Pillow (via gift card)
3. Torpedo Sconce (via gift card)
4. Newgate Bubble Wall Clock (via gift card)
5. Squirrel Cookie Jar (via gift card)
6. Dooney and Bourke Florentine Domed Buckle Satchel
7. Michael Kors Acrylic Tortoiseshell Watch
I’ll be sharing more gift ideas next week too. Are you having trouble coming up with ideas for someone in your life? Let me know in the comments and I’ll help out with some ideas. Glorious ideas.

I was selected by American Express to help educate consumers about how to use Membership Rewards points. As such I was paid for my services as an ambassador, but all gift choices selected and opinions about the gifts and American Express are my own.
December 6, 2012
Monogram Place Cards (Free Printable)

These holiday printables are brought to you by HP. Make other easy printable projects at HP’s Holiday HQ.

Last week, I shared my printable monogram Christmas gift tags with you. This week, I thought it would be fun to design and share matching place cards.

My sister-in-law always has a beautifully set table for special occasions and holidays. She includes place cards, even when it’s just close family coming over, so I’m taking a cue from her entertaining style here.

You might notice that I’ve swapped out the foxes in the dining room hutch for ornaments. I haven’t completely finished decorating for Christmas yet, but I’ll be sure to share more photos of the house when I’m done. The pink Christmas tree is up but not completely trimmed, as I was focusing on the dining room first.

(I do miss my little foxes though! I’ll be putting them back up after the holidays.)

If you’d like to, you can download the place cards and print them out for yourself too. Just cut them down to size (a paper cutter or a ruler and a razor will give you the cleanest lines), then fold each card in half. A bone folder will give you the cleanest result, but it’s not necessary.

(p.s. These will work as gift tags too — just cut them in half. They won’t have the “Merry and Bright” message, but that means you could use them year-round!)

December 3, 2012
Put a Tree on it
I hereby declare 2012 the year of Christmas Trees on the Roofs of Adorable Vintage Cars.™
I’m going to credit this photo from The Pink Couch last year with the honor of kicking it off.
November 29, 2012
Young House Love

The Day John and Sherry Showed Up at My House

I’ve ‘known’ John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love since 2007. We started our blogs around the same time and we’ve chatted plenty of times via email over the years, but we had never met before. When I read that they were going to be in Chicago for their book tour, I sent them an email hoping to find a little time to meet up. Sherry wrote back and said that they were down for one of their infamous house crashes, and so we set a date.

Do you know how weird it is to meet someone you’ve known for five years by them coming to your house? I mean, it was awesome, but it was also a little surreal to see John and Sherry walking up to my front door.

They came in, we all hugged, and then they house crashed. Brandon and August were home the whole time, and John and Sherry met Eleanor for a few minutes too after Brandon picked her up from preschool. Clara was back at home with her grandma, but we all agreed that she and Eleanor would have been toddler besties.

I drove John and Sherry to their hotel when they were done taking photos of the house, and on the way I tried to point out interesting things around Chicago. “There’s the Sears/Willis Tower, over there is the Trump Tower” and so on. And of course I blurted out “here’s where R. Kelly shot Trapped in the Closet!” I’m not sure if they were into that (but man, “En Vogue… with a new lead singer” had me and Brandon cracking up in the latest installment). Later that night, Sherry and I realized that we (professional bloggers that we are) forgot to take a picture of “Young House Love and Making it Lovely” together with a decent camera. We made sure to get one with the three of us the next day, but of course I only had my phone with me. Behold!

(Pics or it didn’t happen.)

See all those people behind us there? The line for them at their book signing was crazy long, with people wrapped around the store and waiting out in the rain. It was a dedicated (and really sweet) group of people. I’ve worked and attended a lot of book readings, but this was a particularly good one. A few people in the crowd even recognized me and had me sign my page in the book (I contributed project #199), which felt really cool.

John and Sherry are now New York Times best selling authors for their book, Young House Love, and I couldn’t be happier for them. (Congrats, guys, and thanks again for coming over.)

November 27, 2012
Free Printable Monogram Christmas Gift Tags

These holiday printables are brought to you by HP. Make other easy printable projects at HP’s Holiday HQ.

I like to come up with a cohesive wrapping scheme each year for Christmas. That sounds fancier and more complicated than it is though; I just like for all of the presents to look nice together under our tree. This year’s wrapping paper will be in rich shades of brown, punctuated by minty green (because I think mint will look fantastic under our pink tree!).

I designed these gift tags to use for our presents, and you’re welcome to download and print them for your gifts as well. I’ve done monogram gift tags before, but those were hand-drawn and I wanted to do a new twist on them this year.

My years as a stationer have taught me a few tips about working with paper. If you have a paper cutter, you can cut the tags into three strips vertically to start. You could also use a ruler and an x-acto knife (or a box cutter, sharp razor, or rotary cutter). Then, keeping the tags in their strips, use an x-acto knife to cut slits along the tops and bottoms for ribbon to slide through. Doing so while they’re still in strips will make the paper a little easier to work with. Then use scissors to finish cutting out each tag. You could also use a hole punch at the top and bottom to thread thin ribbon through, or just punch a hole at the top to use these like more traditional gift tags.

And here’s another tip: When I have gifts for multiple people with the same initial (like August and Ashley), I write their name on the back of the present with a marker. I can usually remember which gift is which by the shape of the box, but it’s good to have the name on there too.

May your days be merry and bright!

November 26, 2012