Even though it’s not first in the month, let’s start with Cinco de Mayo t-shirts and party gear.

First grab these stickers and slap them on everyone when they do a shot of tequila with you.

Tequila made me do it stickers.

You can grab this shirt so everyone know how to do a tequila shot. Trust me, I used to bartend, not everyone does.

Tequila instructions t-shirt.

If you’re going out drinking with your friends, you can all grab one of these. There are also slightly different versions (designated drunk, team captain, etc.)

Cinco de Mayo drinking team tees.

This one I think is my favorite. If you’ve been out on Cinco de Mayo, you know what the next day is going to be like…

Seis de Mayo funny t-shirts.

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This year surprise mom with a gift she wants and a card she’ll love all on time!

Here are a few of my customers’ favorites:

Mom look t-shirt.

Mom's favorite sayings greeting card.

Make sure mom’s coffee is just how she likes it with this great coffee mug. And here’s a hint, grab a travel mug for those moms on the go.

Mom's coffee travel mug.

Or customize it with your mom’s name or nickname. These are also perfect for grandmother nicknames, like nana, or nanny, or granny.

Customized travel coffee mug.

Here are a few funny gifts with mom sayings on them. There is a whole series, but here are two of my favorite mom-isms.

M is for mom, not maid mousepad.

Mom's worldly advice magnet.

There will be more to come close to May, but for now enjoy.

Oh, and my husband and I have this discussion every year, I’d like your thoughts: Should a husband buy his wife (and mother of his children) a card and/or gift for Mothers’ Day?

Here are few articles you may also enjoy:

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I asked if I had forgotten anything and boy was I told what I forgot!

Here are few more things that will come in handy for your perfect wedding day.

I covered Save the date postcards, but those can get lost. Especially if your big day is months away! Solution? Magnets. Here are some great ones.

Beach save the date magnet.

Cartoon save the date magnet.

Save the date personalized magnet with photo.

I also forgot RSVP cards… which you can use business cards for as well!

Business card as wedding RSVP cards.

Double sided business card as RSVP for wedding.

I really like these double sided ones. This side is white with pink lettering, the other is pink with white lettering for regrets. LOVE the idea!

What can you do with stickers? Seal your invitations and thank you cards of course. But if you have your names and the dates printed on, you can also use them as save the date stickers! (Best if your wedding is within the year.)

Envelope seals and save the date stickers.

Finally, you can get amazing custom postage to match your wedding invitations, save the date cards, thank you cards, etc.

Married couple postage stamps.

Save the date postage stamps.

Monogram postage stamps with first names.

Thank you postage stamps.

RSVP postage stamps.

Now, did I forget anything this time?

Here are a few articles you might enjoy:

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In honor of the little tykes’ baseball sesason, here are a few great gifts for parent of Little League players.

Baseball keychain.

Doesn’t it look real? Awesome!

Baseball mom baseball hat.

Embroidered baseball mom hat perfect for the proud mama.

Dad’s don’t be upset, there’s one for you too. And a softball one as well:

Softball dad hat.

And little sister or brother can wear this cute little outfit:

Daddy's little slugger baby outfit.

Stay warm those chilly evenings in the bleachers with coffee or hot cocoa in this great softball mom travel coffee mug.

Softball mom travel coffee mug.

Pack all your gear in this great (and huge!) canvas tote bag.

Baseball mom tote bag.

Baseball playing family Christmas card.

Great holiday card for a baseball playing family.

And finally, for the baseball player that just wants to his (or her) game on…

Shut up and pitch t-shirt.

** update… when I’m writing a post, I get little boxes of suggested tags. Usually they are helpful, but not always. Cheerleaders popped up… someone needs to tell the little guy in the computer that there aren’t any cheerleaders in baseball! **

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Previously, I wrote about wedding planners and invitations.

And I promised to discuss wedding favors, thank you cards and stuff for your bridal party / bachelorette party.

First off, bridal shower invitations:

Elegant bridal shower invitations.

Whimsical bridal shower invitations.

If you’d like invitations for a bachelorette party, here ya go:

Bachelorette party invitation.

Bachelorette party invitation.

** update** I was told I was being sexist by not offering Bachelor party invitations. So, here ya go:

Golf bachelor party invitation.

Vega bachelor party invitation.

Wedding thank you postcard: personalized.

Thank you cards can be as unique as your wedding also.

Wedding thank you cards.

Wedding cartoon thank you cards.

Finally, I want to offer a few suggestions for bridal party favors (you know, gifts for the best man and maid of honor, etc.).

First, I’d suggest t-shirts or buttons for everyone to wear on the day of the rehearsal dinner. It can get a little crazy for everyone involved, so it’s easier on the professionals involved if they can easily identify important people (like the mother of the bride, the bridesmaid or the bride herself!).

Mother of the bride t-shirt.

Funny mother of the bride t-shirt.

Single maid of honor apron.

Best man hat.

Future Mrs. (blank) t-shirt: personalized.

These sneakers are adorable for your flower girls and ring bearer (or ring barrel as my young brother-in-law kept referring to it).

Ring bearer sneakers (Keds).

Flower girl sneakers (Keds).

I think between the wedding invitations and planners (as well as all the other stuff covered in that article) and this one, I’ve got everything. Can you think of anything I missed?

Apparently I did: More wedding stuff! Save the date magnets and stickers, custom postage stamps and more.

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There is a lot of controversy surrounding Tea Parties, and I’m not going to go there… but I think there are some people going to the Tea Parties have reasonable concerns (high taxes, government spending, etc.) and are simply fed up with our government … often on both sides.

Plus, I found some really unique gear for these Tea Party activists.

We're steamed! Tea Party bumper sticker.

Cleaning house in November. Tea party t-shirt.

Atlanta Tea Party t-shirt.

Tea party time buttons.

Whether you’ve been a conservative for a while now or if you’re a reformed Democrat (like myself), grab your Tea Party swag and head out to the next Tea Party rally (well, you probably can’t get these in time for the Tax Day rally, but I’m sure there will be more!).

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I, like many other couples, chose a spring wedding. Unfortunately, the mid-Atlantic spring weather did not cooperate (it was 40F the day of our wedding). Hopefully, that won’t happen for you.

If you are just planning your spring wedding (next spring or at least late spring, I hope!), take a look at these great products you can use to help you plan your wedding.

One thing I found almost a necessity was a wedding planner. However, I found the ones in the stores didn’t always have what I wanted. Or had way too many other pages that I didn’t need. Weddings should be customized for each couple and now you can get a wedding planner customized for your wedding too!

There are tons of free printable wedding worksheets (budget worksheets, honeymoon checklists, guests lists, etc.). First, take a look at these beautiful and customizable wedding binders (which can also be used as a photo album for your wedding or as a scrapbook of your wedding preparations). Then cruise on over to Google to find, download and print the papers you need.

Wedding planner / journal custom binder.

Penguin wedding planner - customized.

Personalized wedding planner album binder.

If your wedding is a little ways off, save the date postcards are a great idea:

Personalized 'Save the date' postcard.

Customized 'Save the date' postcard calendar.

Customized 'Save the date' postcard with photo.

You can use business cards as Save the date cards as well. . . even if you’re running off to Vegas!

Save the date wedding cards: Las Vegas style.

Or you can use business cards as table place cards:

Wedding place cards.

As a favor tag:

Business card as wedding favor tag.

Or in place of traditional wedding favors:

Wedding donation favor.

As for actual wedding invitations, you can go with simple:

Simple monogram wedding invitations.

Elegant:

Elegant wedding invitations.

Or cute and whimsical:

Whimsical wedding invitations.

That’s all for now, but look forward to our Wedding Thank You cards, Bridal shower / bachelorette  party invitations and thank you gifts for your wedding party.

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So, whether you’re headed to Earth Day birthday (next weekend) or another Earth Day celebration,  I wanted to offer you some amazing t-shirts, buttons and stickers focused on going green and cleaning up our planet.

First, what’s more eco-conscious than a canvas grocery bag that inspires others to not only think green, but to act green as well?

Think green reusable canvas bag.

In your gorgeous reusable bag, you could carry some of these to give out:

Buttons –

Awesome recycle pin / button.

Stickers –

Earth day every day stickers.

And finally my favorite: Turtles for Earth day keychains! Aren’t they simply adorable? Who could refuse to go green with this little guy as an inspiration? (You can also grab these on stickers or buttons as well.)

Adorable turtles for Earth Day keychains.

Here are a couple of organic t-shirts for you to wear at your Earth Day rally:

Think green organic t-shirt.

Retro Go Green organic t-shirt.

So, grab your organic t-shirt, your reusable canvas bag and some great Earth Day swag to hand out. Then head on out to your favorite celebration of Mother Earth.

Here are some contests going on in celebration of Earth Day. Check ‘em out and let me know if you win.

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In the last two years, I have taken several small steps to become more environmentally friendly. I will be honest, it started as a economic thing. Yes, I’m a bit shallow when it comes to saving money and I’m okay with that.

It started with a digital thermostat in the fall of 2007 I do believe (I suck at keeping track of time, so it could have been summer or winter or even early 2008). We found one at a local hardware store for a decent price. At that time, they were pretty pricey (usually $50+). This one was $20. We figured what the heck.

Hubby is quite the handy man and installed it quickly. After a week or two of playing with the scheduled times, we got it pretty much perfect for us and forgot all about it. Till our next propane bill came. Though we’d only had the thermostat installed for a few weeks of the bill, and for most of the time during the bill we were still adjusting the thermostat, we saw a decrease of $30. The next month we saw a decrease of over $50.

Tickled with the success of the thermostat, I decided to look around at what other green steps I could take to save money. Around that time (probably early 2008 by now), I got a coupon for a free pack of CFLs… compact fluorescent lightbulbs… so I figured, hey what the heck. They were free and if they are better for the environment and save me money, I’ll try them.

I replaced the three most used lights in the house and, once again, forgot all about them. Till the electric bill came out. We saved over $20. Hmm, then I started thinking, we replace lightbulbs a lot in my house. I mean we used to replace light bulbs at least once a month in the majority of the lights we use. And guess what I had replaced all of the other lights already at least once since I put in the new CFLs… hmm, could I save money on lightbulbs AND electric? Let’s see.

So I found some cheap ones (yes, I’m a tightwad and I’m okay with that) and replaced the next most frequently used lights. Sure enough, down came our electric bill some more and no more out of pocket expenses for light bulbs.

Since then I have replaced almost all of our lights with CFLs. The ones that aren’t the energy saving ones are hardly used (closet lights, for example) and haven’t needed to be replaced yet.

Oh and the only CFLs I’ve replaced are two that got broken by accident. None have blown out.

So by now I’m happy with my savings, but I’m also on a roll. What else can I save money on… I mean help save the environment… I decided to take a look at what our family uses. We use a lot of paper products. And I mean a lot. I can’t go eco-friendly on the toilet paper (other than buying eco-friendly versions of it), but what if we used less paper napkins and paper towels?

I started small and bought some clearance cloth napkins. At first the kids were like, “What are we trying to be fancy?”… now I have enough cloth napkins to go through almost an entire week of meals (all bought on clearance thank you) and I do not buy paper napkins unless we are planning on a large party. We used to go through two or three large packs of napkins a month. I’m saving probably $10 a month or more on napkins alone.

But what about paper towels? That’s not as easy… or is it? I started buying bar towels (dish towels that aren’t as fancy, but are better at absorption). They can be re-used until they wear out or get too badly stained. Then guess what? They turn into rags for my cleaning and my hubby’s mechanical work. We used paper towels twice as much as we used napkins, so I don’t want to think about the savings there!

But even with my shallow, tightwadness, I can see that I am doing a lot more than just helping my wallet. I’m helping my planet. So, whether you do it for your own selfishness or because you are trying to save your planet, take some steps to go green.

Here are a few t-shirts and buttons to help motivate you. Or if you are already eco-friendly, you can pass them along to help motivate some friends.

Reducing my carbon footprint reusable grocery tote.

This is an organic one, there is a non-organic one that is a bit cheaper. Either way, you are saving the planet by reusing bags rather than using plastic or paper bags. Plus some stores give you a discount for bringing your own bag.

Reducing my carbon footprint reusable mug.

In the same line, you can use your own mug when you go to get your coffee… or really save money and bring your actual coffee from home! (Egads, what a concept!)

This is one of my favorites. My hubby thought of the idea and he’s a genius. Really, he is. Grab a mouse pad or magnet so you can see this inspiration daily.

Green the way to go mousepad.

Okay, one more (though there are plenty more available at my store EFTees (that’s Earth Friendly Tees).

Earth day Kenyan proverb magnet.

If you have kids (or may want to have kids one day), grab one of these to remind you of why you are making these choices. It’s not for us, we’ll not live to see the benefit. But our children will. And our grandchildren will. If not for the planet, or your wallet, do it for them.

If you really, really want to be eco-conscious, visit my EFTees at Skreened instead. They are very eco-friendly, even their packaging. The selection isn’t as big, but that’s ’cause they are super picky about who their suppliers are.

Oh, and the steps I told you about earlier, those aren’t the only ones I’ve taken. They are just the first steps, which are usually the most difficult. If you can take those steps, you’ll start seeing the difference and start thinking with a new mindset.

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I’ll wait while you browse some of his photo tweets. *Sips tea and waits patiently*

Gorgeous, huh? I’m not sure which I’m more jealous of his talent or his scenery. Perhaps both equally.

I have only taken a small selection of his amazing landscape gifts, but here are some of his stores if you’d like to see more: NiftyMorning at Zazzle, NiftyWares at Cafepress, his fine prints at Imagekind and his blog: Rumblings from Nifty Galoot.

Without any further ado, I give you….

I started with this pretty river shot because his dog, Raven, looks just like my dog, Gutter.

Dog by Mississippi River note cards.

Pine trees in the dawn mousepad.

Wouldn’t you love to sit on your porch and sip your morning coffee (or tea in my case) as you watch the sun come up through the trees. *sigh*

Pine trees over the Mississippi mousepad.

I saw a lot of snow this winter. And I mean A LOT! But this shot makes me long to see snow covered pines once again.

Snow covered pine trees greeting cards.

If I could wake up to this every morning, my 6 am workouts would be a lot easier!

Beautiful red dawn postcard.

This one too.

Beautiful morning sun rise post card.

Last one, and trust me, I had a hard time picking out my favorites, but this one is just awesome! As I said, I have a dog that looks very much like his and this one is just adorable.

Dog on a Hay Bale 612 by Kent Lorentzen

Now go figure out which print or gift of his you’d like to buy. I won’t even be offended if you don’t buy one with Raven.

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