Our Favorite Mother's Day Gifts

If you're looking for a unique gift for the moms in your life OR you want to put a bug in someone's ear about what they can get YOU for Mother's Day then listen up!

There are 2 great online resources that we highly recommend.  They both have TONS of awesome ideas for Mother's Day gifts from our line "This Thing Called Family."

Check them out:

Clevershoppers.com 

Here you'll find all of the new mom rules (above) - even one for Dad and Grandma!  You'll even be able to preorder a few pieces from our new Christmas collection, which will ship next month!

Gabby's Gifts

Here you'll find LOADS of cool home decor from TTCF (below) like the word blocks, a weekly chalkboard to help Mom stay organized, our magnetic family tree for all her favorite photos, and the family mobile.

We love, love, love BOTH of these fine retailers - can't say enough good things about them - and are so thankful that they believe in what we're doing!

*Up until Mother's Day, we'll be pinning all of our favorite Mother's Day ideas, (gifts, cards, homemade projects for the kids, family activities and quotes) from anywhere and everywhere, and all over the internet!  (It's not all about us - I promise!)  Come join us on Pinterest and get inspired! 

(But do feel free to pin these collages if you see something here you like! :-)     

What Does Our Silence Mean? and Something Good is Coming Up!

Wondering if we're still alive?

Our blogging silence only means that good things are in the works!

We've been hard at work designing for DEMDACO's 2014 release of LOTS of wonderful new products for "This Thing Called Family."   I know we always say this, but these really are going to be the best yet!

We have some new adventures in the works as well that we can't wait to tell you about, but it's still just a little bit too early to say just what!

Unsettled by all of the terrible, weird and sad things happening lately all over the world, it makes us hug each other tighter, be a little more patient, and appreciate each other just a little bit more.  Despite it all, we still believe in the goodness of people and that Love will always, ALWAYS win.  We hope you still feel that way too.

This time of year is also busy with all of the end of the year school stuff that the Powers That Be always insist on cramming into a short time period: field trips, projects, concerts, programs, conferences.... makes us almost long for summer vacation!

Plus, me (Jill) and my family are nearing the end of our house building experience (right down the street!) and got an offer on our current house the first day it was on the market!  Preparing to move the end of May --yikes!  It has been a totally life-consuming experience: decisions, de-cluttering, negotiating, keeping the house clean and more decisions!  Here's a little peek into one of my favorite parts of the new house!!!

I could go on and on about house stuff- but it would get obnoxious!

So anyway, we hope you haven't given up on us, because we've got something exciting coming up and it's going to last a whole WEEK!!!  It involves you and our new mom rules and a certain holiday that's coming up soon that honors the most under-appreciated, overworked, misunderstood, but yet gorgeous group of people.... ok I might be biased.  But you see where I'm going with this?!   So keep coming back and hanging in there!

It's An Ol' Fashioned "This Thing Called Family" CHRISTMAS!!!

Here is our new Christmas line for "This Thing Called Family!"  We are thrilled with it - We love the color schemes and how everything looks together - and hope you do too!  The collection has pieces of wall art, a garland, ornaments, a count down calendar, nativity and lazy susan!  STILL can't get over it! 

Our Christmas collection debuted at the January gift markets and is already available for retailers to order!  Through March 31st DEMDACO offers special holiday volume pricing!  Just follow the link!

As always, we welcome your feedback.  Is there something here that's calling your name?  :-)

CUSTOMERS: DEMDACO retailers are usually quite happy to place orders, so let your favorite local shops know what you'd like in your stocking this Christmas!  

You can order this collection online from Clevershoppers.com - they've got just about everything!!!

Is your "go-to" gift shop on Facebook?  Share this post with them!

And RETAILERS!  Do you already carry TTCF's Christmas collection?  (And/or do you already have the newest everyday pieces like the mom rules?)  We'd love to know all your deets so we can pass the word along!  We always welcome posts and/or display pictures on our Things With Wings Facebook page!  It's a joy to promote you in any ways we can!

This cute countdown calendar comes with a little polka dotted peg to mark the day!

wall art

wall art

wall art

Lazy Susan!

Nativity

ornament

ornament

ornament

ornament

ornament

ornament

Make your own unique Christmas village with our houses and trees!

garland

Mom Rules - New TTCF for 2013

Here's the thing we love about "family"-  it's crazy and loud, fun and happy, messy and real, with good days and bad days.  At least our families are that way! That's why in our own homes we surround ourselves with fun and encouraging messages to help us grow.  We know we're not the only families who aren't perfect, so we created "This Thing Called Family" for all of the other real families out there: as encouraging reminders, good conversation starters and smile-makers!  Our new Mom Rules feature universal themes that will turn life's important rules into a fun and colorful way to decorate, while still getting your point across!  We hope you will find something unique that will help your family stay close, keep track of life and have fun along the way!

From our Things With Wings family to Yours,

Connie, Jill and Laura

So here the Mom Rules! Do you have a favorite?

Three new picture frames!

And six of these dimensional adorable little houses!

We're also super excited about our new Christmas collection!  You can see the entire collection of "This Thing Called Family" by visiting here.

Happy V-Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

God loves you - in all the big and little ways that only He can - no matter what - today and every day.

To celebrate my honey,  I've been posting this picture everywhere I can think of today that we took of ourselves in Seattle.   He's not a big social media person, but his co-workers always know what he and his family are up to because his wife IS!  So he does have to occasionally check in on the ol' Facebook, just to see if there's anything important/embarrassing/life changing/funny/mundane that he needs to know!

If you want to show your Valentine some xtra love today, consider a social-media love bomb! Post, text, tag and share a pic of you and your honey thru all of the social media avenues you both use, and they'll get likes and comments all day - which will (hopefully) make them only fall more and more in love with you!!! (...and not annoy or embarrass the heck out of them...) You could doctor it up with effects and a quote using PicMonkey - they have a ton of special Valentine effects that are fun to play around with!

Despite having our luggage stolen out of the trunk of our rental, a race against the clock trip to Target to get me through the next 4 days, and all of the hassle with insurance and replacement afterwards, we had a great time in Washington.  Damon was in Seattle for about a month for a work project and since he couldn't get home, I came to him for my birthday weekend! This picture was taken at Deception Pass on Whidbey Island.

And now he's home and all is well!  Busy, but well!

Just to be silly, I decided to take it up yet another notch and see what the photo would look like in our new "I Love Us" frame from This Thing Called Family.  Hee, hee!   :-)

ABC Table

Momma Winger here! I just delivered another ABC childrens table that I painted and sold.  I had it sitting in my living room for 2 weeks after it was finished.  WHY? 
a) the customer was not ready for it yet.
b) It was snowy and icy out, couldn't get it delivered by myself without falling or dropping it!
c) I wasn't finished admiring my work yet.
d) I felt tempted to keep it!
e) It needed to go through my special "be still" waiting period where I pray over it & for the kids who will be using it while it sits still and the finish gets hard and durable.

All of these answers are true.  Here is a photo of the top.  The side edges are dark gray with white polka-dots and the legs are an antiqued mustard color.  So adorable if I do say so myself.

"This Thing Called Family" Tour, DEMDACO Showroom, Atlanta Market

We love how "This Thing Called Family" was displayed in the DEMDACO Showroom!  

Can we take you on a little tour?

 What a fun job --  to go shopping for all of the furniture, props, and repurposed items and then arrange them in a way that they become a part of the scene in a fun but not distracting way, and help convey the look and feel of the line. Cory and the team that display the showroom are very talented and creative!  It must take a lot of work to make it all come together!

The "I love us" picture frame (above, bottom right) is one of several new ones - the first time frames have been added to the collection!

And don't you love the old projector screens?! 

The new mom rules looked so great mixed in with everything else! (There's even a "Grandma" rule, they do play by their own set, you know!)

Also new are some small sitting houses. (Above, bottom left.)  The dimension on these are really cool- the bases have a bit of decorative wood trim for "grass" and the words, heart and starburst are bumped out.

 Notice the one "DAD" rule pretty much covers all the bases.

Then there are some laundry and bathroom rule signs too!  The display was quite entertaining - a rotating sign perched in a basket of laundry, and a whole vintage-looking bathroom scene in one of the showroom windows!   Notice the soap flowers?!

Laundry signs:
"It's ok to say your prayers {even if it's in your underwears.}"
and
"Do laundry today (or go naked tomorrow.)"

Bathroom signs:
"Wash your hands.  {Use soap}"
...Because that's not always a given.
and
"You don't have to brush all your teeth (just the ones you want to keep.)"

Here's the new Christmas line!  It's the cutest stuff and even though Christmas just happened, we can't wait to decorate our homes for the 2013 holidays!

Also in the window - this giant green tree-shaped book shelf and a lit wreath displaying ornaments and the 'Believe' garland.  The three trees would look great with the Christmas houses - you could make your own Christmas village!

We're pretty excited about the new nativity and countdown to Christmas calendar!  They're pretty cool - and totally family friendly!  Wall art says, "Meet me under the mistletoe" and "Don't get your tinsel in a tangle."

A Christmas Lazy Susan! And "Fa la la" bird art (which also turned into a similar ornament!)

Christmas houses and lots of ornaments!

The view from the hallway.  We sat in this little outside corner for a meeting and it was kinda fun to peek over and 'spy' on sales executives and retailers as they looked everything over! :-)

Connie, Jill, Laura

So that's what our little corner of the DEMDACO showroom looked like in Atlanta!  Thanks for coming on the tour and indulging us!  Be sure to check out our last post for more market goodness - we met and/or reconnected with some of our favorite DEMDACO artists and we showed off their fabulous collections!  So super proud of them all and glad to see their faces!

Also while at market, we found out that DEMDACO had a full page ad right inside the front cover of Gift & Decorative Home Accessories Magazine that featured TTCF!  (The cover image of the magazine overlaps with a little half-flap cover and our ad was right inside that front flap! A very good place to be!)  This monthly magazine serves retailers and manufacturers in the gift industry and provides industry news, trends, trade show news and product intros.  We are so excited and grateful that DEMDACO has that kind of confidence in our line!

You should start to see the newest TTCF pieces showing up in stores in the next few weeks!  To find a retailer in your area who sells "This Thing Called Family," you can use the store locator on the DEMDACO site by entering our line name and your zip code.  Don't be afraid to ask your favorite gift and home decor shops to order our line, your word of mouth is amazing!

Retailers interested in ordering these new pieces can find out how and who to contact (and see the rest of the line!) by visiting our TTCF page, or the DEMDACO Retailers website.