Happy Mothers Day!

I love Mothers Day. I love being honored by my husband & children (who just finished washing my car-yea!) and letting my Mom and Grandma know how much I love them. While I admire my Mom for many things, lately I am very proud of her dedication to her Jenny Craig diet and the workout guru she has become. She is proving it is never too late, and can kick by rear-end at the gym! Today I gave her a gift she was so excited about I had to share. I found these adorable beaded placetiles at The Merry Martini. She was thrilled at their stylish design and funtional use, particularly the little flower holder built into the stand since she has a garden to die for. They came gift wrapped in a pretty box. Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers out there!

Join the LIVESTRONG Army Petition

Today on my walk I stopped by the grave of my friend Danny Dougherty to remember this wonderful man whose life was tragically cut short by esophageal cancer in 2004 at the age of 35. Cancer will take the lives of 560,000 people this year and it seems we all know or hear of someone new diagnosed with this horrible disease. Yesterday I received an email from a friend who is recently in complete remission from Stage IV non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma asking her friends to gather support and find people to sign her LIVESTRONG Army petition urging the next leader of the U.S. to make fighting cancer a national priority. If you would like to be a part of this petition, reply with your name and the state you are from and I will add your name to the petition that needs to be returned by May 13th.

You can learn more about it at http://www.livestrong.org/.

Tuesday, May 13th is national Livestrong day. I will be wearing my yellow bracelet and remembering Danny.

Last Minute Mothers Day Gifts from Design-her Gals

It is not too late to order Mom a unique Mother's Day Gift! Design-her Gals is offering expedited shipping at no extra charge if you place your order by midnight on Tuesday, May 6th. They will ensure your order is printed and shipped to be received in time for Mothers Day. Mom will love her personalized stationery that you design to look like her! Go to the Design-her Gals website, place your order and choose 3 day shipping at check out and use the promo code LOVEMOM- the extra fee will be deducted from your order so you pay for ground but receive 3 day shipping at no extra charge.

A puppy has been adopted and a reader has won a personalized paperweight!

Please meet "Annie" the newest member of my brother's family who recently lost their almost 17 year old beagle Scout. Annie is an Australian cattle dog mix and was rescued from a shelter in Modesto. She is named after one of the dogs in "Where The Red Fern Grows". (Scout, was named after the little girl in "To Kill a Mockingbird") They are thrilled with their new puppy.

Congratulations to reader Sandyludwick, the winner of our blog contest to help them pick a puppy. Sandy wrote "I think this family should go to an animal shelter to adopt their new family member. I believe if they really look for the signs, their beloved Scout will stear them towards the right dog for her family." While they appreciated and enjoyed all the comments, they chose this heartwarming and relevant comment as the winner of a personalized paperweight by Stacy Claire Boyd. Congratulations Sandy and Welcome Annie!

Charming Cards donates $500 to Angelman Syndrome Foundation

Thank you to all of our customers who have placed orders recognizing Angelman Syndrome Foundation or bought Everest Hats. As promised, a portion of these proceeds (100% of the hats) would be donated to the Angelman Syndrome Foundation. Thanks to your purchases, Charming Cards was able to make a recent donation of $500 in honor of my nephew Oliver Dillon. Thank you to my Dad, Bill Burke for supplying the hats. There are 2 large size hats left and many small. Here are Ollie's twin sisters modeling the small size for you!

Win a personalized paperweight by helping a family pick a puppy!

As mentioned in my post last week (Farewell Scout), I ordered a personalized paperweight for my brother's family as a gift to remember their 16 year old beagle. They are a family of animal lovers and are now in the process of deciding what kind of dog to get to fill this empty part of their family. Charming Cards is offering a personalized paperweight by Stacy Claire Boyd to the reader who submits the best suggestion on choosing another dog. Simply reply with your comment here with your idea for a breed of dog good for a family with 2 young children (8 & 11). Winner will be announced April 30th!

(ad layout by www.hostesswiththemostess.com)

Driinn cell phone charger holder now available in white!

The Driinn cell phone holder has been a best seller since we introduced it. It has been featured in many magazines including Real Simple and was a top gift on HGTV's 2007 Holiday Gift Show. The sleek plastic holder is lodged between your electrical outlet and the plug for your charger, creating a little shelf to hold your phone, ipod, or portable game players. We have had repeated requests for the color white and finally have a shipment of white on it's way! It also comes in red, orange, black, green and pink. At $9 each with free shipping, it makes a practical, inexpensive gift!

The mountain can wait- 3 times a charm

As promised I said I would have a few postings here and there regarding the progress of my Dad during his second attempt to be possibly the oldest American to summit Mt Everest. I won't have many more because a virus got the best of him before he was able to reach basecamp, resulting in HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema). Last night a rescue helicopter had to rush him to a hospital in Kathmandu where he is currently recovering before he will return home with my sisters who were trekking with him to basecamp. I know he must be very disappointed but all I feel is relieved that he is going to be ok and has two of his daughters there to help. As the 1839 Elizabeth Barrett Browning phrase reads "The luck of the third adventure is proverbial", he has already mentioned his intention of going back in 2009 for a third try. I will still be hoping he might take a second look at those golf clubs as a retirement activity. You can read more about his travels at http://www.eightsummits.com/

And the winner is.............

Melissa Rodriquez of Melissa Rodriguez Photography! This is the lucky winner of my giveaway contest at The Hostess with the Mostess. Melissa Rodriguez Photography provides modern maternity, newborn, baby, child and family portraiture based out of Weslaco, TX and serves the Rio Grande Valley area. Her website and photography are so impressive I would book a session with her today if she were closer to me! Melissa got to pick a custom stamp, a personalized paperweight, and a table topics game. These were the ones she chose:

Congratulations Melissa!

Farewell Scout

This week I was very excited to be featured in a blog giveaway with The Hostess with the Mostess (a great site). Several of my products were featured including our personalized paperweights, and readers were encouraged to leave a comment about their favorite product with hopes of winning it. Of almost 400 comments the one commentor I personally knew (and possibly only male comment) came from my ever supportive brother who left his comment anonymously-"It's hard to choose, but I like the Dogwood paperweight. My dog is almost 17 and this would be a great way to remember her after she is gone...." Two days later their beloved beagle Scout died suddenly after a long and happy life with a family that adored her. I was saddened to hear this and contemplated what to send their grieving family and remembered the paperweight. So little does he know, but they will soon receive a personalized paperweight with Scout's photo and name on it. I thought it a unique condolence gift for the loss of a pet. A great idea from and for my brother.

The BIG GIVE from Design-her Gals!

Charming Cards is an authorized dealer of Design-her Gals.
Your will love their look-alike products! Offer ends at

midnight April 6th. BIGGIVE promo code works only

on Design-her Gals website.

Caps for Sale!- Everest Hats

Today my Dad leaves for Nepal to start his journey to the top of the world- Mt. Everest! He will be gone until June and I will probably post a few more times about this until he gets home as my thoughts will be with him a lot until his safe return. He designed and had some Everest hats made for his family and climbing team as you see here. We are selling the extras on my website with 100% of the proceeds to be donated to the Angelman Syndrome Foundation in support of his grandson and training partner Ollie who has yet to be officially diagnosed with Angelman's, but is severly disabled and has many symptoms of Angelman's. Two of my sisters, including Ollie's mom are traveling to Nepal with my Dad to make the 30 mile trek to basecamp and will be visiting some orphanages with bags of clothing, toys, and medicine donated from the generous community we are blessed to live in. You can read more about his trip at http://www.eightsummits.com/tsummits.com/.


Dad and Ollie

Design Your Look-alike Gal to put on Stationery

Create a gal that looks like you to put on stationery, to-do lists, pads, thank you notes, and invitations. These darling pads were featured on EXTRA TV as one of the best gifts ever this year! The little pads are so cute you will start making excuses just to leave notes! At the Design-her Gal website, go to "get started" to create your gal then select which stationery to put her on. They donate 5% of every order to the Gal to Gal foundation supporting women with stage 4 breast cancer.

Cheers To The First Day of Spring and More Birthdays!

Not only is it the first day of spring, my baby turns 11 and my Mom officially becomes a senior citizen today. She is celebrating by taking a deserved day off from Jenny Craig and having a martini and lunch with her bff Janet. I found these fun martini glasses from a darling new website www.themerrymartini.com. They offer unique gift items, tabletop accessories, gifts for the entertainer, swanky martini glasses, stylish pet gifts and online assistance with event planning. Cheers to spring and Cheers to Mom and Danny :)

Next Stop- Mt. Everest!

Happy Birthday Dad! Today my Dad turns 66 and is preparing to leave March 30th for his 2nd attempt to become the oldest American to summit Mt. Everest. If you want a good read, go to his website http://www.eightsummits.com/ and find out more about him, his trips up the other 7 summits of the world, his training partner Ollie, and his trip reports from his 2007 trip to Mt Everest. He has inspired so many people, most of all his family who has always known he is something special.

46 New Stampers at Charming Cards

As spring is approaching I am starting to think about teacher appreciation, Mother's Day, Easter, and birthday gifts for some special people in my life. Everyone loves a gift with their name on it. It shows that you took the time to special order it. Custom stampers have always been a hot item here at Charming Cards and we were excited to hear about a new line by Noteworthy coming out with unique fun designs as well as a 3-5 day turnaround time. Their suggested retail price is $40, but we are offering them for $34.99. The self inking pad is estimated to have 10,000-14,000 impressions. What a great lasting gift!

Love Notepads For The Gals You Love

We just love our new Valentine inspired chunky hearts pad! This fun chunky pad is 7" x 7" and contains 300 sheets that are perforated just below the bow for a clean easy tear every time. A great gift for all the gals you love on Valentines day- your mom, daughter, grandma, girlfriends, teachers.... Who says Valentines Day is just for lovers!

Win Free Christmas Cards or Birth Announcements

Our vendor Sweet Pea is hosting a contest that runs through January 31st where you could win 150 Sweet Pea photo cards or birth announcements. They are looking for super photographs to help showcase their latest birth announcements and photo cards. If you have a fun photograph for either, submit the bmp or jpeg file to customerservice@charmingcards.com and we will enter it in the contest. Here is a recent birth announcement entry from a Charming Card customer- is he adorable or what?!

What to do with your holiday cards

With the holidays ending, I used to wonder what I should do with all of the holiday cards I received. I hated tossing them, but was anxious to clean up for the new year. I found the perfect sized decorator bucket that styishly holds my cards and I keep it set out all year. Guests in my home always enjoy sorting through my cards and admiring the wonderful pictures of family and friends I received. Even in the summer your holiday cards can be a source of conversation. Make a family activity out of it by pulling a card every week and vowing to call, write, or pray for the lucky winner!

The Unlikely Photo Just Might Work!

Oh the agony of getting that perfect photo for your holiday cards! I am usually well prepared with my own holiday cards by October to be ready for my busy holiday card season, but this year I was still unprepared when Thanksgiving arrived. So before we sat down to eat our turkey dinner I gathered my family on the front porch of my sister's house and had Papa take a few shots. I was not thrilled that our 14 year old wore a t-shirt with a big blue triangle design as I thought it would probably clash with any card I might like. But lo and behold one of my favorite cards from the Devonshire line pulled all our colors together, especially the blue triangle on my son's shirt! I photo-shopped a few unnecessary items out of the picture (a mailbox off the left and an empty plant urn from the right) and was actually pretty happy with how it turned out. It goes to show that even impractical colors might have a perfect card! If you email me a photo you are thinking about, I will email you back a few card choices that I think match best with your photo. It is almost December, so if you haven't purchased your holiday cards yet, it is time to start shopping- your first ones are sure to arrive in your mailbox any day!

Get The Party Started

Whether the "party" is your family at the dinner table, an adult dinner party, a girls night out, or friends over a glass of wine, these great conversation starters are a new hot item at Charming Cards. This clever product -"Table Topics" contains 135 questions per acrylic container. They come in 3 different versions: Red-The Original for adult gatherings, Green-Family, and Pink- Girls Night Out. They are a fixture at my dinner table and even my cranky 14 year old couldn't resist aswering "if you could live in a tv show for 1 week, which one would it be?" These are a great unique gift and have been featured in Daily Candy, Real Simple Magazine, Parents Magazine and in the current Pottery Barn Catalog. They are currently 10% off at Charmingcards.com.