We're a Five Minutes For Mom Best Site

Polka Dot Bumblebee is so honored to be recognized as one of the best mom-owned business sites on the web by the much respected Five Minutes For Mom website.

Congrats Laura!!

Thanks to all of you that buzzed on over to Sweet Pea Cakes Etc. Blog and left a comment about their favorite design!

Congrats to Laura for winning the big prize! I look forward to working with you soon to create your Polka Dot Bumblebee custom photo cards!

Reintroducing our custom candy bar wrappers!

How sweet it is! Our custom candy bar wrappers have always been a huge hit! We mail you a high res digital file and you can print them at home or have them printed at a local printer. Trim, wrap and stick and you will have the perfect addition to your celebration.

Whether it's a birth announcement, first birthday favor or a memorable save the date - Polka Dot Bumblebee will be delighted to create your perfect custom candy bar wrapper!

Choose from our countless pattern and font choices or have us create a custom announcement to match your theme and colors.

Sweet Pea Cakes Etc. Reviews us

Hop on over to the adorable Sweet Pea Cakes Etc. site to check out our review!

Please stop by and be sure to leave a comment on your favorite design so that you will be elegible for the contest!

They expecially loved that we are a green business!

From using recycled office products to working with a printer that utilizes wind powered electricity we are happy to do our part in keeping this earth a better and greener place!

Stop back soon for a blog all about our monthly tree planting initiative!

Ice Cream Social Birthday Invitation

I've enjoyed working with this particular family for several of their custom photo card designs!

This particular one is now one of my all time favorites and I'll soon be adding it to my gallery! Her custom request was simple and I enjoyed creating this darling, whimsical invitation for a darling little girl's 3rd birthday!

Happy Birthday!

New promotion on custom photo cards

The free shipping promo is over! We hope that you enjoyed it and we wanted to extend a new promotion in honor of our anniversary which is coming up!

4 x 6 Custom photo cards are now just $.80 a piece with matching white envelopes.
5 x 7 Custom photo cards are now just $1.05 with matching white envelopes.

You do not need a promo code to take advantage of this offer - you simply use our add to cart buttons on our order page!

Click here to order!

Thanks too to all of the leap year families! We enjoyed working with each and every one of you and we ended up giving away close to 1000 custom photo cards instead of the original 500! Congrats again!

Check in often because we will be having lots of promos, sales, specials, giveaways and contests!

An Old Favorite - Pretty in Pink

This pretty in pink custom photo card announcement continues to be one of my favorites and it's become one of our most popular designs! We love the complimentary pink, green combo and the simple beauty where your photo takes center stage!

Play a Simple Game to Donate Mosquito Nets/Combat Malaria

Grammy Bee introduced me to a great site tonight that I knew I wanted to share with you all!

Please visit the site Nothing But Nets and play a quick game of "Deliver The Net" and a mosquito bed net will be delivered in your name. They usually sell for $10. You can play up until April 25th and you are not limited to how many times.

Be sure to send this link to friends and family too!

Here's a little more on the program from the site:

"In the poorest parts of the world, where effective window screens are lacking, insecticide-treated bed nets are arguably the most cost-effective way to prevent malaria transmission. One bed net costs just $10 to buy and deliver to individuals in need. One bed net can safely last a family for about four years, thanks to a long-lasting insecticide woven into the net fabric."

Studies show that use of insecticide-treated bed nets can reduce transmission as much as 90% in areas with high coverage rates.

Currently, nets are treated with pyrethroid insecticides. These insecticides have very low levels of toxicity to humans, but are highly toxic to insects. By repelling the mosquitoes, a bed net can protect other people in the room outside the net. When enough nets are used in an area, the insecticide used in the net fabric makes entire communities safer even for those individuals who don’t have nets.

Please leave me a comment on this campaign after you have played or email me and I will choose one winner at random to win 25 custom photo cards.

Interview at the WAHM Spot

Stop on over to The WAHM Spot for inspiration and resources for work at home moms. My favorite feature is the WAHM mom interviews!

We were delighted to be featured in their interview column last week.

Get to know the Queen Bee behind Polka Dot Bumblebee by clicking HERE!

Check out our review on This Full House

During the Ultimate Blog Party I met so many wonderful WAHMs and Liz from This Full House is one of them. I love, love, love her tagline, "Don't make me have to use UPPERCASE". How cute is that?

You'll love this busy mom's take on life and we are happy to call her one of our new blogging friends. Check in for recipes, photos, reviews and funny blog posts that will have you coming back for more!

One of her "freshed brewed reviews" was us! See what Liz had to say about Polka Dot Bumblebee

And leave a comment and tell her we sent ya!

Product Review: Fanci Free Diaper Bags

I consider myself to be somewhat of a diaper bag afficianado. I have small ones, big ones and in-between ones. I have a striped Mothership bag, a camo inspired Wendy Bellisimo one, an asian brocade one, one for short trips (handmade by a WAHM) an industrial-not-too-cutesy-one for daddy to carry and finally a Fanci Free All In Motion bag in the Circles In Motion pattern.

It is my new favorite and here is why:

2 side pockets for sippie cups or bottled water

one large pocket in center and two on either side

made of durable light weight water resistant nylon

included bag for wet/dirty items

protective metal feet

and my two favorite details:

secure cell phone holder that is attached to the top of the bag *brilliant*

long strap stay put strap and they include a stroller strap attachment too.

This gets my Polka Dot Bumblebee
stamp of approval!

Get yours here!

Could this be any cuter?

We had to share this adorable custom first birthday design that couldn't be any cuter! We love the color combo and fresh look! Tooooo adorable!

Beautiful Birth Announcement

This custom birth announcement design is becoming very popular!

We love the classic simplicity of it!

Font Options

Did we mention that we have hundreds of fonts? No Kidding! And you are welcome to change them and/or the patterns to create your perfect announcement! Check out our favorite fonts and patterns!

This family happened to substitute with one of my favorite fonts! It's the one that I used on my precious nephews announcements and has a special place in my heart.

A new friend

I wanted to share with you the adorable custom birth announcement that we did for a wonderful family! Welcome precious little one to the world! That is one adorable baby girl!

We love that the proud parents chose to go with a fresh spring green in place of the usual pink.

Another Leap Year Baby

I wanted to share this other adorable leap year baby custom photo card! We have had a tremendous response to our promotion of 500 free custom photo birth announcements. We've reached our fill of 10 families, but we have a great deal for other famillies interested. Simply email us for the details.

Congratulations ERICA! our UBP winner

A big ol' congrats to Erica of Butterfly Kisses winner of 50 custom photo cards from Polka Dot Bumblebee! We see that Erica welcomed a little one on Easter morning. Congratulations Erica!

We look forward to working with you to create a boy photo birth announcement sometime soon!

Stay tuned...we'll be choosing a winner from our comments by the end of this week that will 50 more custom photo cards!

Good luck!

Who is Expecting?

Of course you know about the big name celebs who are expecting - but did you know that Marissa Jaret Winkur (actress and current DWTS contestant) and Judah Miller (television writer) are expecting their first bundle of joy? Marissa is a seven year cervical cancer survivor and had her uterus removed as part of treatment. The couple is using a surrogate mommy (with their biological child) who is five months along.


And Matt Hoover and Suzy Preston of Biggest Loser 2 fame will be adding to their bunch! They are busy with 9 month old Rex and will be even busier with 2 under 2 in a matter of months!

Congratulations from Polka Dot Bumblebee to both couples!

Happy Spring! Toddler Activity #3 Coffee Filter Flowers

This is a super simple activity. You need 3 things in the way of supplies!

Coffee filters
markers
spray bottle full of water

You'll want to lay a box or a plastic sheet under the project area. Simply color in the center of the coffee filter with one color. Then let toddlers go to town coloring the outside with different vibrant colors. Spray with a water bottle and watch the magic! It's like instant tie dye!

You then let them dry. Once they are dry stack a few, gather them in the center and use a green pipe cleaner as a stem... or simply twist tightly as we did! These look darling gathered in a vase or pitcher and will last forever! Perfect for a Mother's Day or May Day gift.

A big thanks to Auntie L who gave us this idea!