We make all our envelopes in our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Aurora, IL

Longtime Giftsin24 customers know our products shine above the competition’s. One reason is our color-matched, perfectly fitted, beautifully crafted envelopes. That’s because we make all our envelopes right here in our state-of-the art manufacturing plant in Aurora, IL. We have total control of the process, from start to finish. Plus, our sole focus is on creating a perfect product and delighting you, our customer.

Some other companies don’t make their envelopes. Telltale signs include…

• mismatched stationery and envelope papers.  Ivory stationery and white envelopes? Never from us !
• envelope proportions don’t match stationery. For example, there might be 1/2 inch extra space on the sides and 1 inch of extra space on the top and bottom. Yuck!
• too much room in the envelope. For example, the stationery rattles around inside the envelope–there’s no need for that !

Giftsin24 envelopes are always perfect

Here’s how we do it:

1. We order our stationery paper and envelope paper from the same mill. That ensures that all papers closely match in color. Plus, this mill creates high quality paper using the best sustainable practices. Check them out here: www.NeenahPaper.com

Here’s Raphael zipping around on one of our three-wheel bikes to carry freshly made envelopes

2. Our expert envelope makers have been making envelopes for decades. They work within tiny tolerances to ensure that each of your envelopes is absolutely perfect. In addition, we don’t give our envelope makers quotas. If one doesn’t turn out, it goes into the recycle bin, and the crafts person starts with new paper.

3. We cut and fold our envelopes to our highest quality standards. Consequently, when you insert the matching stationery, it fits like a glove.  It’s all in the details !

When should you use a comma when listing nouns or verbs?

Recently at Giftsin24.com, a bunch of us were talking about whether or not to use the comma before the “and” when you write a sentence that includes a series of nouns or verbs. That’s called a “serial comma.”

For example, do you write “Melanie, Anthony and Esther went to the store.”?

Or “Melanie, Anthony, and Esther went to the store.”?

When it comes down to it, it’s a matter of style. There are many style manuals out there, but the two most used in publishing are the AP Manual of Style (used in journalism and newspapers) and The Chicago Manual of Style (used in book publishing).

Leave serial comma out unless there’s confusion

The AP Manual of Style does not recommend routinely using the extra comma before the “and.”

Exceptions where you might use it are in situations where the meaning would be confusing, such as this:

“Last week I cooked my favorite recipes: pepperoni pizza, orange chicken and wild rice and seared steak.”

Is the rice part of the chicken dish or the steak dish? Hmmm. In this case the writer should help readers out by using a comma before the “and.”

Keep things simply by being consistent

Because we live in an imperfect world, The Chicago Manual of Style encourages the consistent use of the comma before the “and.” You don’t have to think about it; simply always use it and there will never be confusion.

So there you have it: serial commas made easy. Pick your style and stick with it. You’ll never go wrong!

Tweens (kids ages 9-12) are at a wonderful stage in life.

For the Tween girl or boy in your life, all the world’s a stage at this age. Tweens (roughly ages 9-12) are growing out of their stuffed animals, but not quite ready for The Hunger Games.

Kids this age still are drawn to the worlds of magic and imagination. They are developing their sense of self and self-esteem. As they explore who they are, they can be sensitive to how others perceive them. This is also the age when girls may turn away from sports or decide they don’t like math, due to peer pressure or other messages in the mainstream media.

Help the tween in your life be who he or she wants to be by encouraging him or her to follow their own star and not worry about what others think.

If you have a terrific tween in your life who is having a birthday or will make the transition to middle school this summer, we have some gifts for tweens that celebrate the young man or woman they are becoming. Check these out.

Great Gifts for Tweens

Sport Note  The perfect gift for an aspiring young athlete. Proclaim a love of sports with these fun, raised-ink illustrations. Five designs: crossed baseball bats, basketball, football, volleyball, and crossed hockey sticks. Offered in a choice of raised-ink colors, including fuchsia, navy and emerald, as well as 6 playful lettering styles.

Modern Dot Ensemble Stand out and get noticed with our dotted specialty ensemble. Choose white or ivory paper and their favorite raised-ink color.

Aviator Carnival Memo Square Reinvent your style with this colorful memo square. Add two lines at the top and the bottom for the ultimate customization in black ink. Colors come in Terra Green, Pulsar Pink and Lunar Blue.

Start kids out with simple chores, like hanging towels or clearing the table. Before long, they may be washing loads or making whole meals.

Getting kids to remember their chores is one thing. Motivating them to do them is quite another. Many parents give up and decide it’s not worth the fight. But other parents believe instilling a shared sense of responsibility and work ethic in children sets them up to be productive, hard-working adults.

Behavioral psychologists recommend creating a visual schedule for children so that they can see their tasks at a glance and gauge their progress.

When you’re just starting out, it’s important to keep tasks simple. Folding and putting away clothes, setting or clearing the table, and taking a dog for a walk are all good places to start. Gradually increase the complexity of the tasks as your child masters the easy ones.

Building in simple rewards is another key. These rewards can be stickers, experiences with you or the children’s friends, or a weekly allowance.

Before long, you may just find that kids will be cooking meals, cleaning bathrooms and mowing the lawn!

Tools for Raising Responsible Kids

Giftsin24 offers several products that can help you create a visual schedule. These three oversized slabs contain 250 sheets, offering up to 5 years of weekly chore sheets for your busy family.

The Family Organize by Day Slab  makes a great basis for a visual schedule. Simply tear off a page, write in the daily chores for each person and hang it on your refrigerator, pinboard or other central, convenient place. This is a useful tool to show that everyone in the family has responsibilities.

The Organize by Day Slab  is appropriate for making chore lists for individual children or family members. Each week, hang a new sheet in a child’s room so their list is always close at hand.

The Organize by Week Slab is another tool for creating a visual schedule for individual family members.

Helping your friends and family to celebrate a new home is like planting flowers and turning on the sun.

Are you going to a housewarming party? Candles and tea towels are traditional housewarming gifts. But we’ve got a better idea: personalized stationery.  It’s perfect for newlyweds, downsizers and upgraders. For those who have found their “forever home.” Or for those who have simply found a better place to rest and refresh after working all day.

Giving  stationery with a new return address acknowledges the specific home they’ve chosen. And with 50 pieces in a set, they’ll remember your gift every time they use it.

Plus, you can write a beautiful message on the first card. Something like: “I’m so excited that you found your new digs. May you have a comfortable, happy home filled with joy and beauty!”

Warm Their Home with Personalization

Here are our top three favorite housewarming party gifts. In the “Order and Preview” section, choose to have the optional return address printed on the included envelopes:

Anthony Family Pride Note. A beautiful gift for a young, close-knit family. Nothing beats the delicious feeling of family togetherness. The texture of the raised-ink names, bullets and border makes this note a delight to touch and hold. Choose an ink from among our 10 raised-ink options.

Double Thick Impression Note. Perfect for a couple embarking on their new life together. Our Impression Note features an oversized script typeface that gets attention. The raised ink lettering shines nicely against the smooth paper. Try it with sage lettering on ivory paper. Or, for a more formal look, use crisp black lettering on stark white paper. For even more luxury, add optional lined envelopes in your choice of pretty patterns and colors.

Bordered Classic Monogrammed Card. As appropriate for the city girl striking out on her own as it is for a mature singleton who is living life to the fullest. Fashions come and go, but this card is always in style. As with all our notes and cards, 50 matching envelopes are included. Optional lined envelopes make this stationery set even more yummy.

You may be years out of high school and don’t have a teacher grading your writing anymore, but do you know that work colleagues, business clients and even friends may be secretly judging you by your grammar? And while most friends won’t drop you because you make an occasional grammar slip, potential employers or clients just might toss your resume or sales letter.

One of the most common grammar mistakes is using “it’s” in place of “its.” Here is a quick run-down on how and when to use these commonly mixed-up words.

It’s a contraction

“It’s” is a contraction that means “it is.” The apostrophe replaces the space and the missing letter/s of the second word…just as the apostrophe replaces the missing letters in “can’t” (can not) and “don’t”  (do not).

Example: It is a fine day. It’s a fine day.

Its definition is easy to remember

On the other hand, “its” is the possessive form of the word “it.” We add an “s” to the ends of words to indicate that something belongs to someone or something else: hers, his, theirs, ours, etc.

Example: That shoe is hers. The cat licked its paws.

The confusion arises because we attach ” ‘s ” to names and nouns to make them possessive. “Deanne’s shoes are clean.” “The cat’s paws are dirty.”

It’s  (it is) so tempting to add an apostrophe to “Its paws are dirty.” But don’t!

So the next time you write the three little letters i-t-s, think before you add that apostrophe before the s.

If it’s a contraction, meaning “it is” or “it has,” include the apostrophe.

If its meaning is possessive, then leave it out.

Want more writing tips? Check out our other blogs on grammar, thank you note writing and more.

Looking for personalized stationery? Check out our best-selling personalized thank you notes.

Beat the winter blahs with new stationery.

When the skies are grey, temperatures plunge and daylight barely breaks ten hours, we all need a break from the drear. How about some happy stationery to perk you up and help you connect with friends?

With a good pen and a stamp, you can cheer yourself up by writing a friendly note to your old college roommate, favorite cousin or old next-door-neighbor. Won’t they be surprised to get your letter?

Three of our happiest cards and notes

Notable Note: One of our best selling notes! Your monogram appears in an ebullient, rounded script lettering style in one of ten luscious raised-ink colors. Choose fuchsia, red or purple for a pick-me-up vibe.

Blossom Note: Another exquisite design by America’s leader in social stationery! Our Blossom Note features superb embossed and creamy, triple-thick paper. Yo’u’ll enjoy writing a letter on this note. The Japanese-inspired motif features a spray of flowers deeply impressed into the paper. Below, your name appears in shiny raised ink. Choose from 6 pretty lettering styles and 10 ink colors.

Manhattan Card: This single panel card lights up an ordinary day with a ticker tape parade of polka dots, highlighted by your name in a curling script. For a real treat, choose lined envelopes in your choice of 5 patterns and 4 colors.

Sally Script typeface was developed by Embossed Graphics in the late 1980s.

Giftsin24’s parent company, Embossed Graphics, has designed many original lettering styles over the years. In a previous post, we profiled “Anthony.” Today, we highlight another original typeface: Sally Script.

Do you or someone you know have a distinctive handwriting style? That’s how Sally Script got its look and its name. Embossed Graphics CEO Richard Pauling helped develop this lettering style in the late 1980s.  He based it off the handwriting of a good friend.

Font Inspired by Handwriting

“At that time, we acquired new software that enabled us to branch into new looks with our own in-house designed typefaces,” explains Richard. “I had a friend named Sally Kopp Richardson who had an interesting handwriting style.  She provided us with all the letters in the alphabet, and all numerals, too.”

A smart college intern turned her paper and pen letters into digital files, using the new software. And a new lettering style was born.

“Sally Script has always been popular because of its folksy, slightly imperfect appearance,” says Richard.

Sally Script’s round O’s and other characters give it a generous, relaxed feel. Look for it on our Sally Script Embossed Card and other Giftsin24 products.

Our Early Spring Save the Date Card elegantly gives guests advance notice of your wedding.

Sending a wedding save-the-date card: when is it necessary and when is it not? These days, there are so many tasks associated with planning a wedding. It’s nice to know if they are all must-dos or might-be-nice-to-dos. Wedding save-the-date cards straddle both.

Yes, You Need a Save the Date Card

Sending a save-the-date card has become a necessity in certain situations. If you are planning a destination wedding, send one. Same goes for a three-day weekend extravaganza. They are also convenient for a holiday weekend wedding. Have a lot of out-of-town guests? Accommodate them by giving them advance notice.

In these situations, as a general rule, send a save-the-date card at least 6 months before the ceremony. For a destination wedding, send one 8 months ahead.

Giving your guests advance notice about your wedding date will give them adequate time to make travel arrangements. They may also need to rearrange work schedules and save for transportation or lodging.

No, You Don’t

If you are planning a simple wedding locally, you won’t need a save-the-date card. A typical two or three month notice is adequate. Plus, you can count of word of mouth helping to inform guests of your wedding date.

Assign a task to each day and you’ll get your new year’s resolution accomplished in no-time!

A new year. A fresh start. Turning over into a new year means turning a new leaf on old habits. And getting organized consistently ranks as one of the most popular new year’s resolutions.

Search “getting organized,” and you’ll find dozens of websites offering hundreds of tips. They cover such things as how to organize your home, your wardrobe, your kitchen cabinets or your day.

5 Tips

No matter what you’re organizing, here are five top ways to make good on your intention and keep the momentum going:

1. Write it down. Keep your goals up front with a good old-fashioned to-do list tacked to your bulletin board or taped to your bathroom mirror.

2. Break projects into steps. Is your goal to declutter your closets? Break it down by location (foyer, broom closet, hall, bath, pantry, etc.). And keep pen and paper nearby as you do them to write down any chores or projects that result from each of these, such as mending mittens, dropping off a box of outgrown clothes at your favorite charity or restocking toothpaste.

3. Assign dates. Schedule specific blocks of time into your calendar for each step. Be realistic. Break tasks into pieces and assign time frames to them, even down to the minutes.

4. Cut yourself some slack. There’s a psychological aspect to changing habits. If you begin to procrastinate or get off track, forgive yourself and start somewhere else. Maybe that first task is too large? Break it down into even smaller chunks, even if they are minuscule, like gathering boxes and trash bags near your closet. Small victories along the way help your momentum. Struggling? Call a super-organized family member or friend for help getting started.

5. Cross off your accomplishments. It feels great to watch your progress! Remember to celebrate your victories!

Looking for pretty and functional to-do lists? Giftsin24 offers a variety of personalized notepads, such as weekly slabs, daily slabs, and family slabs.