Relax on Thanksgiving, go crazy on Small Business Saturday!
Nov.24
We like to shop as much as the next gal or guy, but there’s something a bit unsettling about the mad “Black Friday” stampedes — which have started to creep into “Black Thursday.”
At the risk of undercutting our own sales, I’m going to beg you: PUT YOUR CREDIT CARDS AWAY ON THANKSGIVING DAY and chill out with your family.
Go to your local high school football game. Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with those oversized cartoon hot air balloons. Tell your Mom you love her cooking or go toss a Frisbee with Dad. Or tell your Dad you love his cooking and go play Frisbee with Mom.
There’s a reason why Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest travel times of the year, and it isn’t about going to the mall.
Now with that sermon out of the way, let me make it clear that I am neither anti-holiday shopping nor anti-credit card. Small Business Saturday, sponsored by American Express, is the ultimate blend of the two.
Amex is encouraging Americans to devote some of their gift budget to local businesses, a badly needed boost for Main Street — especially in this economy. It almost sounds too good to be true, but the company is also giving $25 in free spending money to its cardholders who spend $25 or more at a local business which takes American Express. What a deal! (Click here for details).
If you want to spend that “play money” on WallCandy removable chalkboard wall stickers, wall decals or temporary peel-and-stick wallpaper, we wouldn’t protest. Your best bet is to go to the WallCandy Small Business Saturday page!
You can enjoy four days of HUGE savings on WallCandy from Friday, Nov. 25 through Monday, Nov. 28!
No matter which credit card you use, you’re eligible for our four day Thanksgiving special: Buy One and Get One for Half Price. This deal applies to all our easy-to-apply stickers with the exception of the Occasions collection and gift certificates.
With all our stickers and decorations made in America, WallCandy certainly fits the spirit of Small Business Saturday. Listen to WallCandy CEO Allison Krongard explain why she refused to manufacture her products in China on the Fox Business Network.
And closer to home, here’s Allison celebrating more than 225,000 WallCandy kits decorating rooms around the world!
WallCandy Profile for American Express from Allison Krongard on Vimeo.
A 9/11 Memorial Poster
Sep.11
Nursery Notations brought this image to our attention via their blog. The poster was designed by Brian Niemann and adopted by the Library of Congress as part of their 9/11 exhibition:
According to the description on Niemann Design’s website, proceeds from print sales will benefit the Salvation Army.
Surprise Wall Decals and Other Inexpensive Ideas to Boost Bunk Décor and Sleepaway Camp Experiences
Mar.31
Photo credit: Cammy Ambrosini
We weren’t Girl Scouts, but my sisters and I once found ourselves 50 miles from our home in Smyrna, Tennessee, at an official Girl Scout sleepaway camp. We were outsiders unfamiliar with the creeds, songs, and preexisting friendships. (The cookies, we knew.) Our father, bless his little pea-pickin’ heart, would’ve been fine with only his toothbrush and a pair of sweatshorts, so he wasn’t much help regarding what to bring to summer camp as we were packing only one tiny bag between the three of us the night before. Since children typically aren’t interested in what-to-pack lists and have a limited idea of exactly what they need in order to feel comfortable outside of food, shelter, bear, and blanket, we’d packed only leftover Easter candy and summer clothing. What would’ve been perfect for one night at Grandma’s was a bag of horrors for a week at sleepaway camp – the candy and clothing melted together, as candy and clothing tend to do in severe humidity according to the laws of childhood physics.
Even if your child has been to sleepaway camp before and found it to be a fantastic experience, night-before nerves are as natural as a walk in the woods. If packed carefully and correctly, the suitcase or backpack can be an antidote to that anxiety, especially if it contains little surprises for the child to look forward to once you’ve driven away. Presents make everything a little more bearable, as does the ability to claim a space and personalize it for the week ahead. This year, try the Christmas-in-July approach and include these five pieces of bunk accessories for your child to discover at that crucial moment just after arrival:
1. Bath accoutrements that fit easily into a mildew-proof, easy-to-carry shower caddy can counter the stress taking a shower at camp will likely muster. Bathing is a huge part of everyone’s comfort level, including the folks in our near vicinities, so giving a child a few unexpected grooming luxuries is a must. Pack a travel-sized sample of Mom’s favorite summer-scented shampoo, a soft loofah (even if your child doesn’t typically use a loofah, the gesture is sweetly memorable), and a couple of extra character toothbrushes. I personally recommend some method of marking the outside of a shower curtain to let outsiders know it’s occupied, such as a laminated sign equipped with a hook for a standard shower rod. Camp showers are typically noisy and other campers may not realize that the stall is in use. A moment of exposure can be devastating for a child – trust me.
2. Open up a pack of peel-and-stick chalkboard tiles and use smudge-proof chalkboard ink markers to write a lovely encouraging message on the package’s top tile. Your child can stick the decals to a bit of blank wall space near the bed and use the remaining two to doodle or write little reminders (such as, “Next year, pack all chocolate in a sealed plastic baggie.”) Don’t forget to include the chalk! Once your child meets a few pals, he or she might just decide to move the wall decals to a more common area so everyone can scribble silly messages.
A collection of souvenirs from home.
3. Scan three special photographs and print them as 8″x10″ copies perfect for fitting inside our Polaroid-style frames wall decals. Kids can fill any remaining wall space with comforting, familiar images and decorate each frame with the included tack and tape accent decals. If your child is worried about losing a cherished bear or blankie, perhaps a safe photograph would temporarily replace the real thing while he’s away. Since all of our wall decals are removable and reusable, it’ll be a cinch to bring them back home without upsetting the camp counselors by tearing up the bunk walls.
4. Handmade satchels of dried lavender, peppermint, and honeysuckle can be fantastic mood boosters and effective suitcase fresheners. Since scent is an essential part of human comfort (just ask brain doctor extraordinaire Dr. Daniel Amen) and campsites can quickly become stinky once dozens of children are in their playtime zones, a sweet-smelling gesture for a better night’s sleep might be in order.
"Dear Mom and Dad: Camp smells delicious!"
5. It might sound silly, but seed packets can provide your child with a unique activity for sharing with any would-be camp buddies during free time. Leave a note suggesting she make the campground a prettier place, the way she’s made your life extra beautiful.
The trick to packing a soothing suitcase is to combine new surprises with familiar comforts. Don’t forget to include something special from home that could stand to be soiled or even lost, such as an extra pillowcase in a recognizable pattern from Mom and Dad’s bedspread, or a cozy sweatshirt from Big Brother’s stash for those few uncomfortable minutes after exiting the lake or swimming pool. Oh, and make sure any edible treats you pack have a super high melting point.
WallCandy® Arts Celebrity Rescue Series: A Few Fairies Wall Decals Would Sweeten Natalie Portman’s Wicked Swan Dreams
Jan.31
If Black Swan paints an accurate picture of what it’s like to be a professional ballerina, the number of worried ballet mothers and sleepless company members must be growing with every passing box office day. If you haven’t seen the five-time-Oscar-nominated film, don’t worry – there are no spoilers here. Just know that you may need to cover your eyes a few times, take up jazz dancing instead, and re-classify a complex relationship with your mother as healthier than you thought.
All of the relationships in Black Swan are disturbing, but one of the most troubling is between Natalie Portman’s character, Nina, and her mother, a failed ballerina played by Barbara Hershey. Their worrysome interactions are mostly limited to their shared Manhattan apartment and Nina’s heavily mirrored childhood bedroom, where the young starlet is tormented by an unclear handheld-camera monster. If Nina’s psyche is a stage, this nebulous ghoul is an aggressive tap dancer with a wide range of motions.
In fact, the film opens with a teaser sequence that turns out to be a selection from what I imagine is Nina’s constant parade of ballet-inspired night terrors. The worst part about having a horrible dream is how it can follow the dreamer around all morning, ruining those first few sips of coffee and causing mismatched trouser socks, until its hold is severed by something human and silly, like catching the baby eating out of the dog food bowl. Unfortunately, Nina doesn’t have a baby, a dog, or a sense of humor developed enough to help her escape the night.
During one television interview, Natalie Portman said she needed some time to recover both physically and mentally from her performance in Black Swan. Only she knows how her dreams were affected, but if she’s seen the film and shares any qualities with at least one member of her audience, she had more than a few awful nightmares about compulsive scratching and red-eyed swans with anger management problems.
Black Swan‘s contribution to the art and film world aside, moviegoers, Natalie Portman, Nina, and her frantic mother could all could use a bit of decorative relief from sleep tainted with evil swans. Enter the Sweet Dreams Fairies wall decals, a twinkly-toed trio whose nightmare-fighting arsenal includes magic dust sprinkled with candy hearts, macaroons, cupcakes, stars, jellybeans, and ice cream pops. It’s a little-known fact that the Confection Protection these lovely ladies spread is like kryptonite to a nightmare’s lead dancers, including big-headed trolls, boogeymen, wicked birds, and underbed critters.
I couldn’t help but notice that the wall above poor Nina’s bed was blank – no poster of Baryshnikov, no bronzed baby ballet slippers, and no sweet respite from her nightmares, even though WallCandy’s fairies wall decals would’ve fit in fabulously with her preexisting bedroom motif. The film’s outcome might have been totally different had she been able to get a better night’s sleep and wake up in time for ballet practice without any swans to shake. ♥
Next week, WallCandy’s Celebrity Rescue Series puts a foolproof plan together for Facebook creator and young zillionaire Mark Zuckerberg.
WallCandy® Arts Celebrity Rescue Series: The Kardashians Need a Growth Chart Wall Decal to Maintain Status as Stiletto Superstars
Jan.20
Remember those now-defunct record clubs that offered 12 CDs for a penny, provided members were willing to pay outrageous prices for three new releases over the next year? My sister and I thought we were geniuses, the way we’d both sign up and fulfill our contracts, then cancel and start the whole process over again under slightly altered names. I remember having a contest we called “How High Can We Stack Our CD Collection?” Building a wavering tower of cases with sharp corners never got old, even when they fell and cracked, leaving pieces of vacuum-unfriendly plastic hidden in our bedroom carpet.
I recently learned that Kim Kardashian is the co-founder of a shoe club, ShoeDazzle. Members buy an introductory pair of shoes, then pay $39.99 monthly for a new pair each month. I did some research and went as far as the sign-up process would let me go without entering my credit card info. Truthfully, I wanted to know if the shoes were used. Ew. It turns out they aren’t, but some of the photos in the style-finder quiz showed stilettos I haven’t seen anyone wear outside of Us Weekly. The Frequently Asked Questions section of ShoeDazzle’s website claims that the club does offer flats and sanely stacked heels, but a healthy chunk of the featured shoes are definitely not for wobblers.
The Kardashian sisters make five-inch heels look effortless, and that’s no easy feat. Frankly, I’m a bit jealous, because I picture them hanging out together and playing their own sisterly game, “Whose Head is Closest to the Ceiling, Thanks to Some Fierce Heels?”
As if that kind of contest weren’t pressure enough, the Kardashians have to worry about maintaining their images as glamorous stiletto queens over the next several years. What if one of them went too far and fell in love with a rebellious pair of eight-inchers? She could sustain an injury that would put her in Keds on the red carpet, a fashion misstep so unbecoming of a Kardashian, the tabloid press would be merciless and the offending sister as powerless as Wonder Woman without her accessories. Even though Wonder Woman could get her job done in a pair of red Chucks, they wouldn’t complete her look the way those red boots do.
If Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe want to keep their friendly competition challenging and their ankles always in the Stiletto Safety Zone, they each need WallCandy’s gorgeous growth chart wall decal on the bedroom wall. Before public appearances or sorority sessions, they can make sure the heights of their heels are shorter than a fire hydrant, yet still at regulation Hollywood stature well above the yellow zinnia. If a pair of sky-high pumps puts one of their heads too far past horse status, she’ll know she’s at risk should she choose to victoriously dance above her sisters using anything more involved than an arms-only Cabbage Patch move.
It’s possible the Kardashians don’t hold such contests, but I strongly suggest they start. What’s more fun than a healthy competition between sisters to see who can cram the most marshmallows into her mouth, who can do the most somersaults to the end of a hallway, or whose shoes require taking the tiniest baby steps? As long as everyone gets a chance to win at something, there’s potential for growth. ★
Next week, WallCandy’s Celebrity Rescue Series shares the secret to sweet swan-free dreams with Natalie Portman.
Handy Wall Stickers Support a Manageable 2011 To-Do List
Jan.7
Today, I finally finalized my list of five New Year’s resolutions. (Stop procrastinating? Not on the list. Never, ever on the list.) I know what you’re thinking – ugh, more resolutions – but this list is a bit different. It took so long to come up with a final draft because I wanted it to be realistic instead of gut-wrenching, fun instead of dull and self-deprecating, and succinct instead of obscure and complicated.
Like most of my better life improvement projects, my list requires some light shopping. In fact, I designed it that way because I know that spending what little extra cash I have on cool new things is what pumps me up for a future job well done. For example, when I decided to run the 2010 NYC marathon, a trip to the sports store for some swanky new socks was what kept me from choosing to spend my afternoon running a Mad Men marathon instead. Those socks weren’t going to sweat in themselves.
This year, I’m going to use a few of WallCandy’s handy home helpers to give me the boost I’ll need to carry out my 2011 to-do list:
1. Send more thank-you cards. On my kitchen wall sticks three new removable whiteboard panels, one of which holds a running list of loved ones I’d like to thank for various things. I’ll thank Grandma and Grandpa for the Christmas cash, which I spent on a secondhand wooden desk. I’ll thank my mother for being such a treat and helping me wrap gifts during my visit home. I’ll also thank a number of hosts and hostesses for inviting me over for wine, cheese, and Scattergories. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!
2. Use less electricity after I’ve fallen asleep. My beau often asks me if I have stock in Con-Ed, to which I reply, “What’s with your Nicholas Cage obsession?” Truth be told, I don’t care for the darkness and all the toe-stubbing, what’s-this-fuzzy-thing-next-to-me action it brings. My environmentally responsible remedy is to install a set of glow-in-the-dark night lights along the border of my ceiling and bedroom walls, cabana-style.
3. Take more baths. I love a good soak, but it’s hard to relax when the ceiling is boring and all I can visualize is how my upstairs neighbor might look crashing through it. Dragging the television or my computer into the bathroom is a recipe for disaster, so instead I’m going to cluster a batch of mesmerizing focal points on the ceiling above the tub with WallCandy’s Dottilicious kit.
4. Make my desserts the healthier, homemade kind. What was once a foray into the dark world of miniature Hershey bars fished from a crinkly plastic bag will now be a few weekend hours spent making fudgy brownies from scratch – with applesauce. A cupcake chalkboard on my pantry door will help me plan recipes ahead of time and avoid crinkly plastic guilt.
5. Take and display more photographs. Because I’m truly out of spare space for stand-up picture frames, the wall will have to incorporate a few of my favorite faces. I refuse to poke holes through my ocean-blue paint job, so I’ll use removable, reusable, captionable Polaroid-style frames and display them anywhere and everywhere I could use a better view. After all, a gal needs the option to revise now and again.
Chalkboard Wall Decals: A Great Emergency Gift for Surprise Guests
Dec.28
It’s amazing how many dear old friends my mother has. The moment I’ve recovered from my plane ride home and settled on her couch with a mug of hot chocolate and a DVR loaded with holiday specials, the doorbell inevitably rings.
Mom titters from the kitchen, “Oh, that’s probably so-and-so. You remember so-and-so, right? She stopped in to watch five minutes of your fourth grade school play? She waved to you from the back row? Red sweater? No?”
“No.” I always say. “A thousand times no.”
Don’t get me wrong – I’m happy to meet someone new for the second time, and it’s easy to remember that recorded television and hot chocolate will always wait. Once my mother’s special guest has a cookie in her hand and a few holiday stories under her belt, I start to conjure a semi-accurate memory of that red sweater in the far shadows of my elementary school’s auditorium. We chat, we laugh… and I remember why my mother is such a gem. When it comes to picking her pals, she has fantastic taste.
I learn that our guest is a teacher for a fledgling Head Start program. She likes to grow lavender, and she admires my mother’s flawless driving record. She no longer wears red because it makes her look flushed. She likes cookies and aerobics, two things that simply must go together but almost never do.
An hour or so into our visit, it happens. Our guest puts down a butterscotch haystack and gets up to rummage through her things in the coat closet, promising to return to the living room with a gift she picked out just for me. Under normal circumstances, I’d feel the instant guilt that comes with accepting a holiday gift without offering one in return. I’m sure that most people know what I mean; even though giving doesn’t have to be reciprocal, it’s quite satisfying when it is.
While our guest is digging through her bag, I take a moment to savor the absence of this unnecessary holiday guilt. I’d planned ahead. In my suitcase was an emergency stockpile of what I consider inexpensive, unique-but-universal gifts: two bottles of espresso-flavored spirits, two embellished NYC-themed holiday ornaments, two reclaimed-wood picture frames, and four sets of peel-and-stick chalkboard tiles.
Once I open her gift to me – the fancy coffee grinder I’d included on a wish list specifically for my mother – I produce from my emergency inventory a festively wrapped pack of foolproof chalkboard decals for decorating her classroom, her home office, her kitchen, and all spaces in between, as many times as she can remove and reuse them.
She’s thrilled. I’m relaxed. We each share plans for our new prizes. I’m going to finally enjoy some exotic new whole bean blends, and she’s going to position the chalkboard decals at the heart of her classroom’s reading center. When the doorbell rings again a few hours later, halfway through Santa Claus is Coming to Town, I press pause and answer it with enviable holiday cheer.
Take a Break, Rudolph – These Festive Wall Decals Glow Year-Round
Dec.11
As children, my sister and I hated the standard plastic one-bulb nightlight our well-meaning mother planted in one corner of our shared bedroom. If one of us woke up in the middle of the night to a quiet house, we were spooked and no dot of illumination could comfort us. (It probably didn’t help that we liked to fall asleep to the Thriller cassette in our Fisher-Price tape deck, but that one monster-laden song wasn’t completely responsible for our nighttime fright.)
One year, after spending a wonderful day decorating our Christmas tree as a happy little family, we began a campaign to “accidentally” fall asleep in the living room every evening after dinner. The twinkling lights and sounds of our dishwasher were so comforting we didn’t need Michael Jackson’s crooning to fall asleep.
Our scheme interrupted my mother’s alone-time rituals. It was too difficult to watch Cheers and eat chocolate pudding with two snoozing children camped out on the living room couch, so she hung a few extra strands of Christmas lights in our room and placed a tiny tree, also lit, on our dresser. My sister and I were suddenly delighted to greet our beds every night, and the month of December was a well-rested one for all.
Once Christmas was over, our mother worried that the strands of lights would cause the electric bill to skyrocket, or that someone would forget to turn them off and something volatile would float past and catch fire. Granted, both of those concerns were probably exaggerated, but a mother’s sense of order shouldn’t go ignored for too long. The lights came down and we went back to relying on our one-bulb beacon of safety to keep the boogeyman away.
If removable, reusable strands of glow-in-the-dark lightbulb decals had existed back then, our family harmony would never have been slightly interrupted. They’re don’t use a lick of electricity and won’t tear up any paint job, so my mother would’ve been thrilled. They spread a subtle, buttery glow throughout the bedroom, so Vincent Price’s baritone would never have gotten the best of us, even in the spookiest pocket of night.
The major flaw of the traditional nightlight is that it illuminates one corner of the room and manages to make more scary shapes than it prevents. Even if your kids aren’t afraid of the dark, per se, they probably prefer more than a hint of light in their rooms, just to keep the shadows jolly.
Classroom Decorating Ideas – 5 Tips For Budget-Savvy Schools
Nov.23
Even if you’re not completely certain how your child’s school operates within its district’s budget (dedicated PTA participants, we salute you), you can be sure that most schools, public and private, have just as much trouble as Johnny C. Taxpayer when it comes to balancing the books between educational necessities, the usual wear and tear on campus buildings, and other fiscal flowings-on.
Regular maintenance issues aside, kids need colorful aesthetics in their learning environments. They need functional, interactive décor to stimulate their natural visual learning abilities and solidify balanced intellects in their developing brains. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or lifelong supporter of a budding scholar, local schools need your bright ideas to help them create engaging classrooms for less money. If you’re having trouble coming up with your own, let a few of our favorites inspire you:
• Instead of convincing the powers-that-be to spend money repainting institutional-drab walls, tell administrators that they can spend significantly less on manpower and supplies by applying decal kits to brighten the learning environment in a way that will prompt kids to ask questions about how seasons change or why race cars go “vrooooom.” WallCandy decals are removable and reusable, so teachers won’t ruin the existing paint job as they’re demonstrating leaves falling off the trees and what stop signs signal.
• Teachers pulling afterschool duty can use chalkboard decals to create moveable stations that serve different purposes across multiple age groups. A chalkboard bus can announce dismissal directions for first-graders, while a baby elephant chalkboard can serve as a great place for nursery schoolers to scribble without a cause.
• Lower what we imagine is a devastating electric bill and facilitate a more comfortable rest hour for cranky kindergarteners by installing a few strands of glow-in-the-dark night light decals above their pillows. For an even quicker conk-out, put on a sophisticated collection of lullabies to chase away naptime anxieties.
• Let parents know that decorations aren’t simply to fill blank space. Smarts decals are scientifically proven to strengthen gross motor skills and promote healthy eyesight development in newborns, infants, and toddlers. The kit includes a few reusable frames, so parents might want to include a family photo or two when they drop off the diaper bag.
• Luv Letters can help teachers keep their classrooms manageable during cooperative learning sessions or daily periods of transition, such as the walk to the cafeteria or the recess lineup. Teachers can designate play, rest, and lineup areas without tape, staples, or wasted prep time. Plus, they’re less tempting to tear than traditional construction paper letters.
Multifunctional, easy-to-reuse classroom decorations are a must for stretched schools. Everyone – kids, teachers, and classroom mascot Harry the Hamster – craves an updated environment every so often, but it’s tough to reinvigorate a space on a limited budget. As the school year progresses and available funds dwindle, education truly becomes a community-wide responsibility. More likely than not, your community wants to spend its time and money on modern functional classroom decorations that can be moved and re-purposed if necessary.
Sticker Survival 101: How to Use Wall Decals in a Bathroom Emergency
Sep.19
Wall stickers might not be one of life’s barebones necessities. It is very unlikely that they will ever be one of the personal luxury items brought into the wilderness by a contestant on “Survivor.”
But nonetheless, WallCandy removable wall decals can be used to solve some urgent real world problems outside of the home decorating universe.
I found these funny “How-To” instructions on Facebook. As you can see, they suggest a simple way for women to instantly transform a men’s room into their turf if the lines are too long at the women’s bathrooms — as they always inevitably are.
As the New York Times eloquently puts it, long lines at public restrooms “have plagued women since the dawn of the porcelain age.”
Some enlightened places, such as New York City, require restaurants, sports stadiums and other areas of public gathering to have two women’s bathroom stalls for every men’s toilet — reflecting the reality of how much longer it takes to sit 100 percent of the time (and presumably, cover the disgusto toilet seats with 17 layers of protective paper).
But let’s say you are in a backwards place where officials don’t recognize the problem of bathroom inequity. Then it’s time for some guerrilla stickering to get those extra toilets by any means necessary. Since an early age we are conditioned to stay out of the opposite gender’s restrooms, though I will admit to sneaking into the one-person Women’s Room at gas stations when the Men’s Room is out of soap. Women’s bathrooms never run out of soap, because women are smart enough to demand it.
This tactic wouldn’t work for a huge multi-stall bathroom unless you are the first to get there in the morning and make the transformation believable to the first bladder-strained patron.
So where do you get YOUR WallCandy sticker-skirt and do they come in different sizes?
Well, most of the sticker sheets you order have plenty of blank scraps left over (the negative space between the stickers). You can cut these into any shapes you want and use permanent marker to add color.
The great thing about using WallCandy products in these situations is that you can do it with a clear conscience. Unlike those pesky bumper stickers that activists plaster all over street signs and newspaper boxes, our removable wall decals leave absolutely no sticky residue when you pry them off the door. You can pull off this practical joke (or genuinely save yourself embarrassment in a potty emergency) without feeling like a vandal.
Humor aside, it is probably not a great idea to commandeer any public men’s room even for emergency women’s use. Believe me, you will be horrified at the condition of the floor and the ratio of flushed-to-unflushed toilets.
Take my advice: Choose the long lines!
