Karen Smallbone

While surfing the web recently I came across a great site www.finestationery.com that specializes in stationery. They carry the usual stationery items but what caught my eye was the cool stuff that you can get personalized.

Who wouldn’t love a set of plates with their name on it. I love the one that reminds the kids to “put the napkin on their lap”.
These plates would make a great gift for the couple who has everything.

Another one of my favorites is this giftwrap featuring a photo of your little one. How cute is that? It would make a nice keepsake in addition to whatever the gift was you wrapped it in.

If you are looking for a unique and personal gift to give for any occasion, check out these pretty paperweights. They would make a great gift for your bridesmaids. There are tons of cute designs to choose from.

Shirley. Shirley,Shirley bo burley, banana fana fo furley, fee fi mo mirley, Shirley. No just kidding. My kids love that song, but just don’t try to rhyme the name Chuck. You just don’t want to go down that road.

I saw this fun thing called the Name game on the Weddingchannel.com. You put in your first and last name and your grooms names and it blends them together to make new and exciting names. If you didn’t want to take your groom’s last name, this helpful tool will combine your names to make a new last name for you.

I wish this was around when I was getting married. Perhaps I would have become.. Karen Daveyallbone ,Dasmallbone, Smallbonavey, or Davellbone. These are just a few of the options you get when you mix my madien name, Davey, with Smallbone. I’m thinking perhaps Smallbone wasn’t so bad after all.

Try it out here.

Hello. Remember me? I know it’s been too long. I’ve been pretty busy lately and sick on top of that. But I’m back now and ready to add lots of great ideas.

The boys and I had a great time on our March Break trip to Disney. They didn’t know we were going so they were pretty surprised when we got up and went to the airport. It took them until we were actually in Orlando and on our way to our hotel to realize that we were going to Disney. It was fun to keep it a surprise for them.

Here are the boys in front of Cinderella’s Castle.

The boys at the Mad Hatters tea party. One of the few pictures where they are both looking in the same direction.

At the beach. This is the first time the boys have ever been to the ocean. They loved the salt water.

We had a really fun time.

I will be away from the office starting Feb. 1 and returning on Monday Feb. 11.

I am off to Cuba again. This time I am going with the girls to Cayo Coco. I’m sure we will have a great time. Who doesn’t love warm weather and unlimited drinks?

I’m leaving Richard in charge of things while I’m gone. He will do his best to answer emails and any questions you might have. He won’t be shipping any orders or sending proofs while I’m gone.

See you in a week!

This picture was taken in Varadero, Cuba when we were there in November.

Last weekend we had the pleasure to participate in The Wedding Show. It was held at the gorgeous Carlu.

It was wonderful to meet everyone who stopped by. I hope that you found lots of good ideas to help you with your wedding planning.

Here are some photos of our booth that we built for the show.

I have lots of great stuff to share with you. Beautiful gowns, flowers, gorgeous cakes, invitations.. all the good stuff. I’m hoping to get those posted this week. Check back soon.

They are here! Our beautiful old-fashioned hand pulled lollipops are up in the shop. I think you will agree with me that they are beautiful. I’m having a hard time not eating all of the samples.

Thank you to Emma of Barebonephoto for taking the very cool photos of all of the lollipops. I thought I would add some of the shots we took here so you could see. As soon as I saw some of these photos, I wanted to have a lollipop. Great job Emma. You are too good.

I just wanted to give everyone lots of notice that Karensmallbone.com will be closed November 9-19. Richard and I are going on a much needed vacation to Cuba to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. We will still be accepting orders through the site during this time, but we will not be answering emails, sending proofs or shipping packages. If you think you will need something around that time, please contact us and we will do our best to answer your questions, or complete your order before we go.

I will be back in the office on Tuesday, November 19 and will answer any emails at that time.

If you are looking for a fun favour to give your guests, these lovely Lollipops would be a great idea. They are handmade the old fashioned way and have a wooden stick with a co-ordinating satin bow included. They come in 6 different flavours, Tangerine, Cotton Candy, Bubblegum, Pink Lemonaide, Wild Cherry and Sour grape. They are available in two sizes of round, a very cool square, barber pole and, whirly stick shapes. You can customize your Lollipops by adding a custom label from our collection or a customized hang tag which we will soon be offering.

We are very excited to be carrying these luxury lollipops. They will be up on the site soon but if you would like to purchase some before then, please let me know.

I let the boys choose one lollipop each so we could see what they tasted like. They are delicious! Here are some photos of them enjoying their small round swirl lollipops in Tangerine and Cotton Candy.

Megan had a fun and original idea for her favours. Instead of filling these cute little tins ahead of time, she decided to let her guests fill them up at the table. She filled a clear round vase full of assorted Jelly Bellys and used it as a centrepiece. The colourful beans added a punch of colour to the all white table. I love this idea! The guests loved it too and I heard that at least one table ate all of the beans!

We designed 5 different coloured labels and added different coloured ribbons to coordinate with the labels. We put everything together for Megan and Levi, but you can purchase all of the elements in our store.

Thanks again to Emma of barebonephoto for these amazing photos.

Congratulations Megan and Levi! It was a pleasure working with you. All the best!

Nadia and Andrew asked me to create some wrappers for the chocolate bars they were giving as favours. I thought I would share some photos with you.

Nadia and Andrew’s Chocolate bars

Nadia and Andrew

Congratulations to Nadia and Andrew. We hope your guests enjoyed their sweet favours and the cute story you included on the back of the wrapper.

Thank you to Emma of barebonephoto for sharing these lovely photos with me.

If you are interested in having custom designed chocolate bar wrappers, please let me know. I love designing them.