SHIM + SONS

hello, fall!

[And Happy Chuseok to all my friends in Korea!]

my 411

The boys are at a new school this year so we are all in the process of making new friends. I've been meeting a lot of parents at school while volunteering or attending various school meetings. After jotting down my contact information several times I made a mental note to design some calling cards. 

Although I have business cards for some reason I feel a bit silly passing them out to mums at school. I'm so glad I finally made time to design + print my very own calling cards. I whipped these out in less than an hour and even managed to make a case for the calling cards out of my favorite industrial wool.

lunch bag version 2.0

A new school year means new lunch bags for the boys. You might remember last year's lunch bags which held up nicely all year long. We're still using the same bento jars since they work well for carrying hot soup + rice. 

I decided to use my favorite navy + white twill since it has the perfect selvedge for a front pocket. The tags are made from kraft cardstock + a dymo label. I wish I could say the lunch bags came together really quickly but I was sewing while watching korean dramas on my computer and after three attempts [what can I say I'm a slow learner] I finally got it right. The good news is I now have a stack of six drawstring bags that will come in handy for packaging birthday gifts throughout the school year.

first day of school // gifts for my boys

I wanted to prepare a little gift for the boys on their first day of school. Since they are always raiding my office supply stash I decided to add a few new favorites to their stash.

Oh how I love passing on my love for office supplies to my boys! I picked up some cute animal paperclips, dog stapler, black pencils [for some reason the boys thought these were "so cool"], pencil grip, erasers and dinosaur rubber bands.

I made little zipper pouches out of my favorite navy + white striped twill. Each pouch is lined with cotton fabric from my stash and a green or red zipper.

Lastly I attached a little personalized tag + note for the boys based on an old SHIM + SONS gift tag design.

The boys loved their gifts and have been using the supplies on a daily basis which makes me so happy!

first day of school // gifts for the teachers

I wanted to make first day of school gifts for the boys' teachers. Since I didn't know the teachers I opted not to give anything edible [didn't want to give chocolate to a non-chocolate loving teacher]. Instead I made them each a pencil cup [fabric covered paint can] with a set of fine tip sharpies [c'mon, who doesn't love sharpies?]. The little flag is made from a painted wood skewer, cardstock + hole punch. I love simple + practical gifts.

first day of school

mr. second grader

mr. kindergartner 

Last week we said goodbye to summer and hello to the first day of school. This school year is quite different than past years because the boys are finally at the same school and j is going to school for the entire day. I cannot tell you how excited they are about having the same lunch + recess. [I've been told they hug each other when they see each other at school.] Their new school is closer to our new home so instead of being in the car 2.5 hours a day I am only in there for less than 25 minutes. Of course being at a new school means we are all in the process of making new friends and getting familiar with our new surroundings. I think I took for granted how comfortable I was at their old schools last year, especially at J's school where I knew every child + parent in his class. The past few weeks I've been reflecting on how my own childhood experiences have shaped the person I am today. For someone who was born and raised in the same town for the first fifteen years of her life I can honestly say change was not something I embraced as an adult. But over the years, particularly the past two years, I've become more open to change. Planning is great but sometimes you miss out on wonderful opportunities if you are not open to the idea of something outside of your "plan". Anyways, lately I've been spending a lot of time volunteering at the new school, getting to know the staff, teachers and parents. The boys are excited to have a few of their new classmates over today for a play date. And on my "to do" list this week is to design + print personal calling cards. I've been exchanging contact information with many parents lately and I keep thinking it would be so much easier [and prettier] to have spiffy calling cards to pass out.

Hope all you mothers [and your children] are having a wonderful beginning of the school year! 

P.S. I'm so glad I finally remembered to print out first day of school signs this year. I've been wanting to do it ever since I saw the idea over at Blonde Designs. [Ha, and don't mind my quickie Photoshop job on them!]

anthology

I am so excited to spread the news about Anthology, a new quarterly shelter + lifestyle print magazine created by Anh-Minh Le + Meg Mateo Ilasco. Although I find a great deal of inspiration online I miss good ol' quality print magazines [MS Kids, Domino, Cookie, feel free to make a comeback]. I have a feeling Anthology will be filling a huge void in the print magazine world. Last fall I chatted with Anh-Minh when she was kicking around the idea of publishing a magazine and I cannot believe how quickly it took her [and Meg] to whip out the first issue! Speaking of which, I cannot wait to get my hands on the first issue! 

[photographs from Anthology] 

40 - 1 = appah

This week we celebrated Appah's birthday. We usually host a birthday party for Appah every year but this year we had a simple gathering with family. Don't worry next year Appah will be celebrating a BIG birthday with a fun shindig and an overseas birthday vacation with several friends. Lucky guy!  

I dropped the ball when it came to ordering his favorite tres leches cake from Pambiche [oops!] so we settled for a simple mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from B&R. J helped me make a simple cake banner out of paper, toothpicks and ribbon. The boys were quite excited to eat the cake.

Happy [belated] birthday, Appah!