By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
If you are like me, you keep a drawer or file folder full of cards for every occasion – because you never know when you will need a good card at the last minute. The last time I went through my cards, I  realized that there were some that I no longer found funny, appropriate or even nice looking and really wondered why I bought them in the first place (see the not-so-pretty evidence at right).
I gave a bunch to my daughters to use for their art projects and realized I just gave them over [...]

The Gift Giving Advisory Board is pleased to present the first edition of its Hostess Gift Guide, a carefully edited guide presented by our expert members which include the women of WickedlyChic.com, TheGiftInsider.com, MissMalaprop.com and us, here at TheSucculentWife.com. What do you really need to know about us? It’s that we KNOW gifts.

We all like Evite. We really do. They coined the term. But us creative souls often need more choices, flexibility and functionality. And sometimes, we want to go ad-free.
So, with the party season just around the corner, I thought that you’d like to know of some other choices…
 

 
pingg Online Invitations and Announcements
 
This company will send digital invites as well as postal cards (like, with real stamps!). It offers stylish, designer-created invitations and announcements. Part of the service is free, but upgrading to the paid service, called pingg Plus, allows for your events to be ad-free, plus it offers LOTS of [...]

That’s what I said! When I met Jacque Egnatic, the inventor of Jeweler in the Dishwasher, at a recent trade show, I’m sure that I had this dumb, questioning look on my face. What? Clean my fine jewels in the… dishwasher? With my…dirty dishes? Well, Jacque was quick to present enough evidence to have me wipe that look off my face in just a few moments.
Turns out that Jacque is a second generation jeweler with 37 years of experience making, repairing and designing fine jewelry. She KNOWS jewelry and all the tricks to maintain it. Cleaning is one of them. [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
When I was over for dinner at my friend Jill’s home, she used this great bottle called the Blender Bottle to make her salad dressing. Although it was a simple oil, vinegar, garlic, lemon juice and salt dressing, the Blender Bottle emulsified all the ingredients perfectly and made the salad dressing light and airy. Simply add all the ingredients in the bottle, drop in the wire whisk ball that comes with the bottle, and it all blends together as you shake it.
Jill’s son Sean is the one who introduced the Blender Bottle to his mom [...]

Much to my chagrin, we are now in that time of year when days are getting noticeably shorter (I almost feel the vitamin D leaving my body as I type…). The lights in the house will indubitably get turned on earlier in the morning and earlier in the evening. I never used to think about how much energy a light bulb consumed but now, in trying to conserve resources, I do think about it every time I turn on a light.
It’s a good time of year to let you know about a product that I just learned about: a dimmer [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I consider myself a pretty savvy shopper. When I am heading to the store, I always first check online for coupons. For instance, when I need to buy dog food at a major pet store, I’ll usually find a printable coupon that saves me at least $10.00 on each purchase. Plus, if I need staples like  laundry soap or toilet paper, I always look to see what coupons I can print before I head to the store. With my computer in my kitchen, it just takes me a few minutes to search and print them [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I will admit that I do not have much use for an eco-friendly leaf pick up and biodegradable bag as I live in Southern California, but I do remember that while growing up in Canada, raking the leaves before the first snowfall was a task for the entire family.
Dsolv bags makes this chore a little bit easier and far more eco-friendly than the traditional paper leaf bags. The compostable dsolv lawn bags are easy to fill, can hold more leaves and debris than paper bags and are more cost efficient. The dsolv bags are made [...]

I love kitchen gadgets, such specialized little contraptions, most invented to gracefully accomplish a single tricky task. And I love sushi. LOVE sushi. Even took a class to learn to make my own to fix my constant cravings. That was a mess.
So imagine the extent of my adoration for this invention: the Rice Cube. It’s an fool-proof sushi-making aid. Without the mats, the fancy sushi rice… And it only takes seconds. And, and, AND it will also make stylish presentation cubes out of any ingredient that will stick to itself such as potatoes, cheese, brownies, polenta…There are some great recipes [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Last year Anne-Marie wrote about attending local art fairs in Chicago and she shared where to find some of those artists after the fair season in a two part series here and here. This is one of many passions that Anne-Marie and I share. We love and appreciate artists that are not only creative and talented but also have such a devotion to what they do. When Anne-Marie and her family came to visit us at our cottage in Muskoka, Ontario, I wanted to introduce her to one of our local art fairs. The Muskoka [...]