Cooler weather and crisp leaves can only mean one thing: Halloween is on its way! A little bit of creativity and some uncommon goods can go a long way in crafting a creative costume – here are a few ideas for your best Halloween yet.
UncommonGoods joined up with Million Trees NYC again this week to plant trees in Marine Bay Park.
Here’s Luis, posing with his very own sapling:
According to our HR assistant Melanie, the UncommonGoods team helped plant 1,400 trees!
If you haven’t heard yet, we’re hosting a holiday card challenge this year! Entries are due November 11, and you lucky shoppers, will be able to pick up fabulous handmade holiday cards this December to go along with your holiday orders.
Why handmade?
Today, everything’s going digital, but in the world of cards and print, we’re seeing a resurgence in traditional print techniques like letterpress, offset lithography and screen printing.
We want to celebrate this revival of one-of-a-kind handmade cards, and offer you the chance to send a really special season’s greetings to the folks you love. Printing cards on a letterpress, or using any traditional printmaking technique, is labor intensive. But when you hold a one-of-a-kind card in your hands, you know the work has paid off.
Toronto based Trip Print Press was featured on NOTCOT last week. Here’s a bit more about what they do.
Trip Print Press & The Making Of FreshSox from Brought To You By … on Vimeo.
Know a printmaking enthusiast? Spread the word, and tell everyone you know: holiday card entries are due November 11!
Retired Wine Barrel Lazy Susan designer Lisa Johnson shared this funny photo with us!
She says the little green hummingbird was just enjoying the sugar left on a wine barrel that was waiting to be cleaned and repurposed into one of her clever designs. We wonder if the little fellow would like a fine cheese to go with that robust red? Perhaps he’d like to see the cocktail menu next!
Do you love wine as much as this happy hummingbird? Check out more retired wine barrel goods.
Boss’ Day is coming up, but there’s still time to find the perfect gift for the excellent executive in your life.
Before the proclamation of this special day you could only show your boss how much you cared on his or her birthday, during the holidays, and at mandatory company events. Then in 1958 Patricia Bays Haroski, an employee of State Farm Insurance Company, decided that bosses should have their very own day each year.
Aiming to not only create a day to show bosses that they are appreciated, but also to improve employer-employee relations, she registered Boss’ Day with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to her admiration for her great boss, we’ve been celebrating this annual national holiday for more than 50 years!
Mark your Perpetual Calendar
Usually, Boss’ Day is on October 16, which Patricia chose because it was her Boss’ (who was also her dad) birthday. Since that happens to be a Sunday this year, you can show your boss they’re a superb supervisor by celebrating on Monday the 17th.
In honor of this managerial Monday, we’ve created a collection of our favorite gifts for bosses inspired by our fantastic boss, UncommonGoods Founder Dave Bolotsky.
Dave is a great boss because he values our opinions, puts employees first, and makes UncommonGoods a fun place to work.
Do you have a great boss? We’d love to hear why!
ETA October 10, 2011: Congratulations to our Fall Giveaway winner, Joanna Z!
Joanna said, “I love the smell of ripe apples on the trees, the crisp, cool mornings, and pumpkins showing up at every grocery store, every produce stand, and on just about every front porch.”
Thanks to all who entered for your fabulous fall stories!
Colorful leaves, warm beverages, new fashion, and Halloween. What’s not to love about fall? To celebrate our admiration for autumn, we’re giving away some of our favorite fall goods! Read on to find out how you can win.
Vawn and Mike Gray aren’t novices when it comes to creating kiln-formed glass art. In fact, they developed their own process to turn old glass bottles into fused-glass masterpieces using an energy efficient, computer-controlled oven.
We love Vawn and Mike’s recycled glass nightlights. Their Recycled Pelican Nightlight and Recycled Sandpiper Night Light are so popular, we added another bird to the lineup, just in time for fall!
Continue Reading…
My friend Whitney over at Throwing Cake got to visit The Martha Stewart Show this week. She took some inspiring photos on her behind the scenes tour– seriously I just want to sit down and craft something right now!– and generously let me share a few with you:
Shana Tovah! Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. We blow the shofar (ram’s horn), eat apples and honey as well as a ton of other food (like on all other Jewish holidays). Copywriter Nina Mozes offers tips for how to celebrate the first day of the new year with a thoughtful card.
Turns out, it’s pretty impossible to write a Jewish card without being stereotypically Jewish.
For example:
Happy New Year. May this year make you feel like complaining only a little bit.
That’s the card I’ll be giving my parents. Here’s the one I expect from them:
Happy New Year. Maybe this year will be a good year and you’ll make lots of money. And then you can move out of the house, marry a nice doctor and give us grandchildren.
If that’s too over-the-top for you, try a punny joke:
A congregation member walks into synagogue and asks the rabbi, “How is your New Year going?” The rabbi replies, “Shofar, sho good.
Thanks. That one’s all me.
(Look, I admit it’s not Torah-fic. I know better than to gefilte fish for a compliment.)
Have a happy and a healthy!
Have your apples and honey with a twist:
Giro Apple Slicer
If you get the clip, the money will come:
Yiddish Proverb Money Clip
No one says no to a little spiritual bling:
Shalom Necklace