September 2014 {Let Spring Begin} "I Love You" Box

Let Spring Begin! The flowers are blooming, the temperature is rising and our chunky scarves and leather boots are slowly being replaced with colourful cardigans and pretty pumps. It’s a wonderful time to be outside smelling the beautiful perfumes of jasmine and honeysuckle, drinking tea in the afternoon sun and spending some quality time in your garden. We wanted to get our subscribers outside in the month of September, to quite literally, smell the roses! We went green this month and focused on recycling, DIY and kind gestures.

Let’s take a peek at what flourished from our September Let Spring Begin “I Love You” box:

• 1 x large hessian custom screen printed bag
• 7 x herb sticks
• 2 x "from my garden" growing paper tags
• 2 x "it’s a beautiful day" growing paper tags
• 2 x round stickers
• 1 x growing paper confetti bag

Is there anything better than cooking with fresh, bright and organic produce from a local market? We wanted to encourage our subscribers to venture beyond the usual grocery store and pay a visit to a lovely local market. Markets are great for finding wholesome, honest and great quality veggies, fruit, cheese, poultry – you name it! We’ve designed a stylish hessian bag to accompany you on your little trip. The bag also carries a sweet message, “It’s a beautiful day”, a lovely reminder to look for the best in each and every day. Take a sister, husband or friend along on a sunny weekend to get some fresh produce for the coming week’s menu and enjoy a glass of wine on the grass at a market near you. OR, if markets aren’t for you, just use it as a chic shopping bag and do your bit to recycle by ditching those pesky plastic bags. OR, pack some fresh veggies or anything homemade from your kitchen and take it along to a dinner party. Hey, you can even use it as this Summers beach bag.

Challenge yourself to grow some herbs in the coming months. Not only do they add great flavour and colour to your dishes, they also look great in your garden. Don’t have a garden? Not to worry! Herbs look fab in some terracotta pots too. To make your home-grown herbs just look that tad extra special why not pop a nifty herb stick in the soil? We designed and laser-engraved seven herb sticks for our subscribers to give their green yield a name in the spotlight.

GREEN TIPS for months ahead:

1.  Pop a sprig of rosemary in a cup of boiling water and drink it early in the morning to awaken your creativity!
2. Thyme leaves can be used in making a lovely homemade toner for your skin! 

Photo : Top Right - kindly taken by Lauren Kim for Lovilee

Here at Elephantshoe we love to celebrate spring and all things beautiful. When we think of beauty and spring together we think of growth, and we think of FLOWERS. A bunch of fresh blooms can go a long way. They can say “I’m sorry”, “You’re cute”, I’m thinking of you”, “Thank you”, “I Love You” and so much more. It’s not about a big bunch of the reddest roses or extravagant arrangements, it’s about the gesture. Picking a single stem from your garden (or even swiping a little flower from your neighbour’s garden – SHHHH your secret is safe with us!) and giving it to someone special, is a wonderful way of saying you care. When you’re next invited to a friend’s house for lunch or dinner think fast and think green! Grab a bunch of lavender, rosemary or coriander – you name it – from your garden before leaving home and attach a beautiful tag from your box.

Whether it’s a sweet little tag either saying “It’s a beautiful day” or “fresh from my garden” – it’s bound to make any bunch of herbs or flowers look wonderful! Want to know what makes these tags even more special? They’re completely recyclable as they’re made from growing paper – essentially, two gifts in one!

Take some time to make the simple things in life, delightful. A bunch of flowers from your impressive garden will look spectacular wrapped in some brown paper (our favourite!). Pop a cute sticker on that says “fresh from my garden” and give it to someone that needs a little pick-me-up. 

Spring calls for cool cocktails, floral dresses, flowers in your hair and garden parties. What better way to celebrate spring than to throw a little party (we do love parties!). To complete your soiree in the sunshine we’ve popped something extra in the September I Love You box for our subscribers. Something so wonderful that basically screams HOORAY! YIPPEE! and YAY! Look inside to find spring confetti! You have your own bag of confetti to sprinkle in your garden and take care of. Soon you’ll be looking out onto your colourful alyssums and poppies growing in your garden! 

We hope you’ve had a fantastic spring so far and that you’re taking the ‘thyme’ to be a little greener in your own lifestyle. We want to encourage everyone reading this to be GREEN – not green with envy but green with growth!

Stay tuned to see what made its way into our latest October “I Love You” Box this month.

Haven’t ordered your November “I Love You” box yet? What are you waiting for? Subscribe here to receive a happy monthly surprise!

August 2014 {Special Occasions} "I Love You" Box

Believe it, because it’s happened again. August is done, finished, finito and here we are mid September giving you a peek at what made its way into our SPECIAL OCCASIONS “I Love You” Box last month. It was really special for a number of reasons . . . one (and most importantly) our humble love box turned ONE, and two, it contained greeting cards for almost every occasion, three, tags and stickers should make anyone’s day a bit brighter :-) 

In light of celebrating our box’s FIRST birthday, we thought about what makes every present complete? The answer: a lovely card or tag with a personal message written specially for the recipient. So our present to you this month was complete with not just 1,2,3 or even 6 cards but a grand total of 12! And 11 tags too! Let’s take a closer look… 

This month’s {Special Occasions} “I Love You” Box included:

CARDS & ENVELOPES

• 1 x YAY A6 card with a shimmer blush C6 envelope
• 1 x HOORAY A6 card with shimmer silver C6 envelope - lined with grey polka dots
• 1 x YOU’RE SO LOVELY A6 card with a shimmer white C6 envelope - lined with a floral pattern
• 1 x botanical BELIEVE IN YOURSELF A6 card with a shimmer white C6 envelope - lined with a floral pattern
• 1 x MR & MRS kraft A6 card with a black C6 envelope
• 1 x MR & MRS white A6 card with a gold shimmer C6 envelope - lined with a black chevron pattern
• 1 x BIRTHDAY white small square card with a light silver envelope -  lined in diagonal stripes
• 1 x BIRTHDAY white shimmer small square card with a light silver envelope  - lined in a silver geometric pattern
• 1 x LETS EAT CAKE white small square card with a white envelope - lined in blush, black and coral geometric pattern
• 1 x SORRY white small square card with a silver shimmer envelope - lined in a teardrop pattern
• 1 x STITCHED HEART kraft small square card with a kraft envelope - lined in black polka dots
• 1 x LOVE blush square card with a blush envelope - lined in black hearts

PRINTED TAGS

• 2 x printed heart kraft tags
• 1 x happy birthday tag
• 1 x geometric pattern tag
• 1 x teardrop pattern tag
• 1 x blush love tag
• 1 x kraft love tag
• 1 x stitched heart blush tag
• 1 x stitched heart kraft tag
• 1 x floral blush tag
• 1 x floral mint tag

STICKERS

• 1 x round love sticker
• 1 x round stitched heart sticker
• 1 x round teardrop “to and from” sticker
• 1 x rectangle pop fizz clink sticker
• 1 x rectangle adventure sticker
• 1 x rectangle baby sticker
• 1 x rectangle “dear from” sticker with white hearts border
• 1 x rectangle “dear from” sticker with black hearts border 
• 1 x rectangle multi-colour triangle sticker
• 2 x rectangle “dear from” stickers with black chevron
• 2 x rectangle stickers with black stripes border
• 1 x rectangle thank you sticker

Any unexpected birthdays or baby showers that crop up, or a forgotten engagement party – we’ve got you covered! This month our subscribers received a special “go-to” box of quick-fixes. We’ve included a whole selection of cards, tags and stickers, the cherries on top of lovely parcels, as we like to call them, fit for all occasions! 

Birthdays are our favourite. They include the best things in life: cake, champagne and presents. Finish your parcel with a custom designed birthday card to add an extra special touch. We say YAY, HOORAY and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you! 

For words of encouragement let your beautiful BELIEVE IN YOURSELF or YOU’RE LOVELY cards help you out. Perfect for a family member or friend that is approaching exams, taking a leap of faith in their career or even having a bad day. A little card with a sweet message can do the world’s difference. Try it for yourself.

When it comes to love, even the world has dedicated a day to this thing we struggle to describe in a few words. Valentine’s day, February 14th, a day that people either celebrate or detest. Whether you’re complying with a love-filled day, or better yet, just sharing the love because you feel it! As we always say, laundry is for later, LOVE is for now. We’ve included LOVE and HEART STITCHED cards complete with adorable blush and kraft heart lined envelopes. They’re just too cute! TIP: Pop a card into a frame and you’ve got yourself a neat piece of art for a room in the house or a LOVEly gift for a LOVEd one.

Uh oh! If you’re sitting in the dog-box because of something silly, or even a little more serious we have the solution! When words fail you, leave it up to Elephantshoe to do the talking. Make it impossible not to forgive you with our cheeky SORRY card. Life is better spent in peace anyway.

We eat cake because it’s somebody’s birthday somewhere, and so should you. Tea parties are our favourite and cake, well don’t get us started on our love affair with cake – we’ll keep you here all day! It only made sense to design a card dedicated to CAKE and all the other nice things in the world. Invite a special friend to tea with our LET’S EAT CAKE card and talk about happy things. We all ought to make time to do that in our busy lives.

Weddings, another occasion we just can’t get enough of! Be prepared when weddings come around with our classic yet simple card design. Save time and spruce up your wedding gift with a touch of Elephantshoe.

When it comes to tags there’s not much more we can say except they’re wonderful. So simple in its shape and design, yet conveys a list of things. It adds instant attention to detail as well a meaningful touch. They’re perfect to attach to a little parcel, a big parcel, a jar full of goodies, a bunch of flowers (we love flowers with a quirky tag!) or even on its own. 

Stickers, well, they’re just lovley to add the final touch and label a special parcel. Use it in place of sticky tape or just pop it on top of a gift for some extra detail and colour. There’s bound to be some favourites in there fit for every occasion! Whether it’s a simple “DEAR… FROM” sticker you’re after or a more specific celebratory sticker – we’ve added them all!

We are so proud and happy that our “I Love You” box is one year old, our little LOVE baby that has grown so much in the last year thanks to YOU, our subscribers, followers and clients. We are so blessed and can’t thank you enough. We hope our subscribers enjoy their box of card treasures and put them to good use.

Stay tuned for the September “I Love You” Box sneak peeks. We are so, so excited to share our new and FRESH Spring surprises that left our studio for our subscribers early this month.

Don’t forget to visit out online shoppe and purchase our October box. Perfect to spoil yourself OR as a special gift too. 

JUNE 2014 {Winter Warmer} "I Love You" Box

The past two months have been so so WONDERFUL - we've had Kathleen back in our Elephantshoe studio once more to help us with a few very NB projects, (one of those being my brothers wedding - more of that coming to the blog later this month). Kat has helped James and I brainstorm a whole host of ideas including the goodies that went into our June "I Love You" box. She has become a part of our Ellieshoe way of life here and I will more than likely, {o.k I will} shed a few tears when she leaves in the middle of next month. But for now let me share her review on June's box of love. Thank you Kat!

JUNE 2014 {Winter Warmer} "I Love You" Box

Winter is officially here and it is CHILLY up in Joburg! When the temperature takes a dip, the first thing I do is grab my favourite mug and pop the kettle on. There’s nothing better than a cup of tea or coffee on a cold winter’s day. We've been inspired by our love for tea and coffee and decided to dedicate this month’s “I Love You” box to caffeine, friends, family and all-round goodness.

Here’s what we popped into the June [WINTER WARMER] “I Love You” box:

• 2 x ceramic chalkboard mugs with chalk
• 1 x box of custom paper coasters / 12 x custom paper coasters in kraft box
• 2 x custom “Thanks a latte” kraft tags
• 2 x custom kraft cards
• 2 x custom stripey lined square kraft and black envelopes
• 2 x custom stickers
• 1 x custom button fridge magnet

What better way to say “I love you” or “feel better” with a cup of tea, coffee or even hot chocolate. Simply write a sweet little message for your loved one or friend on the awesome chalkboard mug.

Who said tea parties are only meant to be held outside in the summer? Make room for a fabulous winter tea party with friends – complete with charming paper coasters! This month, our subscribers found a beautiful little brown box tied up with string in which they could find their own custom paper coasters. Get the kettle ready and bake the cake and your tea party is ready to go go go!

We love making people feel special – this month you could do it too. Our quirky kraft tags are the perfect little addition to any big or small parcel or bunch of flowers. Say “thanks a latte” to someone special this month. 

Who doesn’t love a quick coffee date with a friend that sometimes turns into lunch? Make him or her feel great with one of Elephantshoe’s custom kraft cards. Whether it is passed on as is in our elegant yet simple envelopes or given with a gift.  We say YAY to coffee, friends and hand-written cards! Take a look at our custom range of envelopes form the shoppe.

In the midst of winter we don’t always feel like our healthy selves. We’re saying save the germs and “seal it with a sticker” instead of a kiss. Each subscriber received two custom stickers to spruce up a parcel, hand-written note or envelope.

“We like big cups and we cannot lie” tra leee la la la – add some spunk to a gift for a friend, or pop the awesome button magnet to your fridge. Soon we will have these online for you to purchase but for now take a look at our May fridge magnets from the shoppe. 

Grab your blanket and your chalkboard mug filled with you choice of hot drink and get ready for the exciting JULY “I Love You” box which will be shipped next week. 

Love Kat