SHIM + SONS

package #1 :: wrapping an odd shaped box

J's classmate had a birthday party last weekend and J picked out a set of legos for him. It was packaged in a box with a plastic car lid on one side. Due to its odd shape I was originally planning to make a drawstring bag to put it in, but I ran out of time. So instead I whipped out some wrapping paper (from Ikea) and folded the paper around the perimeter of the odd end and covered the plastic binding running down the center with a piece of twill tape.

I've been wrapping lots of gifts lately so I'll be sharing throughout the week.

a little giveaway

I have been wanting to host a little giveaway since I returned from Korea but finally got around to it. I put together a set of packaging supplies--clear red grid tape from Korea, rolls of washi tape from Japan, a mish-mash of SHIM + SONS packaging goodies--tags, labels, twine, and other little goodies not photographed.

These supplies will be perfect for holiday gift packaging. Just leave your name below and I will randomly pick one name the morning of Friday, November 6.

valentine's day cards

Last weekend I asked Big J what kind of Valentine's day cards he wanted to make for his friends. I suggested doing a repeat of last year since we're dealing with a new group of friends, but he was set on using some fabric from my stash. So we decided to go with some simple fabric heart cards. And unbeknownst to us 5000+ miles away our dear friends were working on the same project!

I printed out cards with "Happy Valentine's Day" on the front and "From:_______" on the back. Big J got to work writing his name on 32 cards [19 for classmates and 13 for other friends]. Baby J even got in on the action.

We then cut out a bunch of hearts out of fabric scraps. Actually after cutting out half a dozen hearts, Big J asked me to finish them up so he could focus on gluing the hearts to the cards.

It was cute to see how Big J really thought about which fabric heart he wanted to give to each of his friends.

Big J would say things like, "A really likes pink. I'll give her a pink heart" or "I'll give A + C the same hearts since they are friends."

Big J's favorite part was putting the candy inside the clear bags.

I actually wanted to include a non-candy treat for the kids, but we ran out of time. I'm thinking homemade kettle corn for next year.

The cards and candy were placed into clear resealable bags.

And we placed little personalized stickers on each bag.

Big J helped me make some fabric + cards for his teachers.

And then he wrote a little message on the back of each card.

All the cards were delivered today and it seems like they were a big hit. I have to say it really is fun seeing your child enjoy doing something you yourself love doing.

sayonara!

We're back from our trip to Tokyo and I just have one word to describe the trip --> AWESOME!! I'm still sifting through all the photographs, but I'll put together a little post really soon. Like I mentioned before, this was our first time traveling without the boys and even though I knew they were going to be in good hands [my mother and great aunt], I couldn't help but feel anxious the week leading up to our departure. I called Melissa for a little pep talk and as always she was full of reassuring words and good advice. So in an effort to make myself feel better about leaving our boys I printed out schedules, itineraries, emergency contact information, arranged for someone to walk Big J off/on to the bus and laid out school clothes for Big J with corresponding day of the week stickers [so he would not forget to wear his P.E. uniform on the correct days].

I also refilled their toolboxes with some random goodies [paperclips, rubberbands, googly eyes, carabiners, scotch tape, colored masking tape, paper] the boys could use for building little contraptions or creating craft projects. But my favorite thing was putting together little gifts for the boys to open up each day while we were away. Many of the items were either laying around in my studio, brought with me from Oregon or were purchased at our local bookstore [which sells craft supplies].

Monday | Two little rubber s-s-s-s-snakes.

Tuesday | Small lego sets.

Wednesday | Notecard ring + multi-colored pen.

Thursday | Old school dymo label makers.

Friday | Notebook + stickers.

 

Saturday | Shark fabric appliqued t-shirts.

As always, I had the most fun wrapping everything up. I could do this all day long.

 

Once everything was packaged I stashed the goodies in one of our drawers. No big surprise that the little gifts were a big hit with the boys. They had a great time with my mom and great aunt and although we missed them SO much, it was really wonderful to be able to spend six full days with Appah all to myself!! 

christmas cookies

It is hard to believe Christmas is one week away! We've been in Busan for two months now and although we have fallen into a nice daily routine, I feel like I lose track of time really easily. Since Christmas is not celebrated over here [although you'll find a small section of Christmas decorations at some of the stores], it is definitely not the same "in-your-face-the-day-after-Thanksgiving" marketing we experience in the States.

This year I decided to let myself off the hook when it came to Christmas decorations. I actually didn't ship any decorations over to Busan so I would have had to buy some gawdy decorations at the store or make everything from scratch. And although the latter wasn't a far fetched option, I decided by the time I would have finished them it would have been time to take them right back down. Oh, and it doesn't help that we're not even going to be here for Christmas.

I was feeling a bit guilty that the boys were not going to enjoy a traditional Christmas this year, but Big J's main concern was that Santa would be able to find us in Thailand [I reassured him that I already called Santa and arranged for a special delivery to our hotel room...he was quite impressed that I knew Santa's phone number]. Plus he already had a visit from Santa at school and also celebrated St. Lucia with his classmates and Norwegian friends.
 
 

The one thing I wanted to accomplish before the holidays was to bake Christmas cookies for some friends. There are so many people here in Busan that have helped make our move very smooth and I wanted to thank them with some holiday treats. I baked some sugar cookies using Molly's family recipe [by the way I love her baking with kids recipe idea...brilliant!], glazed lemon cookies [inspired by Martha's husband] and chocolate oatmeal coconut cookies [I used this recipe]. This was my first time using these three recipes and I have to say they are all really yummy!

I designed and printed some labels + cookie cards [I figured people might be interested in what they are eating] and packaged everything up in the nifty bakery boxes Appah picked up from Japan earlier this year. I think I could spend all day working on packaging, I love it so much! All the cookies were hand delivered by me and the boys this morning. I think native Koreans don't do a lot of baking so homebaked goods are well received.

I'm feeling a bit more of the holiday spirit. And now it is time for our family to fly down to sunny Thailand to enjoy our Christmas with some of our dear friends from Oregon. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!

birthday bash no. 4

We've been living in Busan for less than 2 months and we'll be going to our fourth birthday party this week! It seems like the majority of parents here opt to not host birthday parties at their home and given that many of the children invite their entire class I can understand why. Most of the birthday parties we've attended have been at Poong Poongi Land, which is like a Chuck E Cheese for the 2-6 year old crowd [minus the greasy pizza]. Last week it was our friend S's 4th birthday. When her family was over at our place last weekend her mother commented how she liked the craft toolboxes I put together for the boys last Easter. Since the toolbox is one of my favorite gifts to give I was happy to find an excuse to put together another one.

The toolbox and goodies are from Kyobo. Kyobo is a bookstore but it has a nice selection of paper, craft, art and office supplies. It was fun to pick out all the goodies for S's toolbox. We found tape, a piggy pencil sharpener, colored pencils, origami paper, plain labels, alphabet stickers, a stapler, mini hole punch, colored paper clips, glue sticks, scissors, fruit erasers, notebook and envelopes of various sizes.

I repackaged some of the goodies and added "S" and "4" stickers here and there to give it a more personal touch. Lastly I designed a little personalized sticker for the outside of the toolbox as well as a "happy birthday" tag for the birthday girl. The gift was well-received and since Big J has requested that his toolbox be replenished I plan to re-stock the boys' toolboxes for Christmas.

P.S. Thank you so much for all your kind "welcome back" words. It was refreshing to be offline for a few months, but it feels really good to be back.

hello, my name is sally...

...and I'm so lucky to know a super talented designer named Jenny [of Wiksten fame]. She sent me this beautiful Haeshu dress and I'm in love. It is ok to be in love with a dress, right? The dress is made out of this amazing bamboo fabric and is so comfortable! I can see myself wearing this in the winter with some tights and a cardigan, although it came just in time for this outrageous weather we've been having here in Portland. Man, it is H-O-T here. The cool cuff was a present from the lovely Martha.

...and my favorite thing to wear in the summer is a dress. Nothing could be simpler than pulling on a dress, putting my hair up in a ponytail and slipping on some sandals or flats.

...and I shop in the girls' section. These are all from Target. I removed the ties, took in the sides and redid the sleeves a bit.

...and I secretly have a fear that I will run into a pre-teen wearing the same outfit.

...and even though I love summer dresses I'm looking forward to jeans + sweater weather.

baby gifts

One of my favorite things to do is make gifts for friends + family. But there is something about making a gift for someone I know that turns me into the world's biggest procrastinator. I hem and haw over what to make, then change my mind a million times and then in many cases the birthday or holiday passes. And although the gifts eventually make it to their recipient, I really need to start planning ahead [uh, right after I finish + send off the big pile of gifts sitting in my studio.] There are so many new babies in my life [and five more will be making their debut later this year], so I have baby gifts on my mind. I decided to make some simple burp cloths using soft terry cloth on one side and cotton flannel on the other side as well as my some simple embellished onesies [which I forgot to photograph].   

I'm also including a few sets of personalized stationery...

...since having a new baby means stacks of thank you cards to write.

  

gifts are always nice

One of the things I want to do over the next few weeks is finish [and publish] all my half-written journal posts. I usually start writing my posts in the evening and often my brain is too tired to finish them. So if you're wondering why I'm talking about Mother's Day, now you know why.

Mother's Day was a quiet affair in our house since Appah was overseas. This year I was responsible for coming up with a handmade gift for Big J's Sunday School class to give to their mothers. So in a way I was picking out my own gift, which I don't mind at all. I bought inexpensive [$0.50] white pots from trusty ol' Ikea and some porcelain paint markers [fine point] from our local art store. I had the children draw pictures on the pot [it is a bit of a slippery surface so the "quality" of drawing is a bit different than when children draw on paper, but cute nonetheless]. Some children wrote "MOM" or their own names while others drew dinosaurs and suns and flowers [that would be Big J].

I was originally going to have them put a little potted flower inside their ceramic pot, but later opted to have them fill it with some office supplies. They made some paper flower pencils [look familiar?] and stuffed the pots with sticky pads, binder clips and mini pens. On the backside of the gift tag I printed out instructions on how to "set the paint" [wait 24 hours :: 35 minutes in a 300 degree F oven]. I think the mothers liked their new little plant pot/pencil cup.

a little more yellow

What a fun and full weekend! The weather was beautiful and I was able to spend time with family + friends. I'm a little pooped out from all the activity, but it is a good kind of tired.

On Saturday night I met up with Hannah, Melissa and Amy at Cava. [Dinner was delicious and this cookie club offered by their pastry chef is so tempting!]. We had a leisurely dinner sans kiddos and it was SO nice. Good food, good friends + good conversation, can't beat it!

I put together a little bag of yellow goodies for Hannah, since I know that girl loves her yellow! And I was so happy that I was able to spend more time with her this time around [we hung out again on Sunday evening]. 

In between the socializing over the weekend, I was able to print out a few new everyday + flats that I designed last month. I always have fun playing around with new color combinations [I'm loving peacock blue lately].

And I also made some prints for the boys' playroom which I am in the process of redecorating now that the boys are older. More on that later.

P.S. #275 is the winner of the 300th post give-away. Megan, I'll send you an email today. Thank you again for all the funny stories + jokes + kind words, you all know how to make a girl laugh.