Online Shopping

Tired of the same old boring, cookie-cutter Valentine's Day cards? Create and order custom cards online! As readers here know, one of our favorite places to order cards and invitations online is Tiny Prints.

Tiny Prints' cards feature sophisticated, modern designs, and of course they have a wide selection of Valentine's Day cards, including custom photo cards and really cool kids' Valentine's Day cards to hand out to friends and family. Their selection of kids' cards features cute original illustration as well as popular characters like the Backyardigans, Kai Lan, Spongebob Squarepants, and Dora the Explorer.

They also have Valentine's Day party invitations and stickers, so check them out. They also have quick turnaround and delivery times—we're always amazed at how fast our cards arrive. Take 15% off your order of $75 or more through January 28, 2010 with coupon code JAN2DAY.

These heart-shaped crayons called Lil Scribblers and sold by Lil Boo & Co. on Etsy are so cute and perfect for Valentine’s Day or for gift giving. Developed by a stay-at-home mom and former preschool teacher, Lil Scribblers are Crayola crayons that are melted down and swirled together. Then these redesigned crayons are formed into fun shapes that are perfect for little ones and big kids too! The swirled colors make for some fun artistic possibilities.

This heart set ($9.95) includes nine heart crayons in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, brown, and black. Lil Boo also has a variety of other Lil Scribbler shapes and sizes, including LEGO-style bricks, ladybugs, mice, alphabet letters, flowers, and more, as well as other offerings for Valentine’s Day and many other holidays.

One of our favorite indulgences is personalized cards and other paper products from Tiny Prints. Tiny Prints offers cute and really nicely designed birth announcements, thank-you cards, party invitations, holiday cards, gift tags, and more, all of which you can personalize with your own photos and text. This year they offer a selection of really cool Halloween party invitations and kids' Halloween greeting cards. There are 30 invitation designs and 22 card designs in all with in a wide variety of styles. They're perfect handing out to your favorite little ghosts and goblins or for inviting the gang to your neighborhood haunted house or trick-or-treat get-together.

There are quite a few invitations that are perfect for more grown-up Halloween oriented events, too, so check them out. read more »

There's still plenty of time to order your family's personalized holiday photo cards. Cardstore.com, an online store where you can create your own custom photo cards and invitations, is offering Marin Mommies readers 20% off their total purchase with the coupon code NEWCS. This coupon code can be used as many times as you want, in case you need to re-order cards (I don't know about you, but we never seem to order enough and end up rationing the things like they were printed on gold foil or something).

We haven't used them yet, but they've been around since 1999 (forever in InterWeb years, so they're probably doing something right) and offer plenty of really spiffy looking cards. Here's the link: www.cardstore.com

I love taking photos--lots of photos--of my kids. I never really get a chance to show off my photos, because they are all stored on the computer in iPhoto. When my son was born, I, like a lot of new moms, got sucked in to the world of scrapbooking… Hundreds of dollars and two years later I was still trying to put my son’s first-year book together. My closet had become a veritable scrapbooking arsenal, full of paper of every color and pattern, ribbons, embellishments such as labels and metal tags, stamps, ink, and  cutting devices. I felt a little overwhelmed with the whole process. My husband, web designer that he is, suggested that I put together a digital scrapbook. A friend of mine also had shown me a digital scrapbook she put together online at Shutterfly, and I have to say that I was really impressed. read more »

One ideal tactic for savvy mompreneurs is to start on online business such as an e-commerce website. We asked mompreneur Kim Root, who runs the online Cottage Coastal Store, to tell us a little bit about her background and her business.
I am originally from the Boston area. I attended Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts and received my Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. I lived in Marblehead, Massachusetts (North Shore) for a number of years after college and have always loved the coast and its offerings. I spent many summers as a child at Nauset Beach on the Cape which lead me to want to open a small online coastal décor shop in 2006.

Ever since she started learning to talk, my little girl has always had her own distinctive vocabulary. Of course, most babies and toddlers have their own words for things they can't quite pronounce. Now there is a great way to show off your child’s unique words and phrases and preserve them on a shirt. Translation Tees is a local mom-owned business that offers one-of-a-kind shirts for the little ones who have their own unique takes on common words. Translation Tees combine your child’s own cute mispronounced words with fresh, colorful, and bold graphics. Over 100 designs are available, printed on high-quality 100% cotton interlock shirts that will last for years. read more »