Halle Berry Releases Baby Daughter's Name

Photo: Flynet

Welcome to the world... Nahla Ariela Aubry!

The name is pronounced ["GNAW-lah ARE-ee-EL-uh"]

"We didn't have a name picked out until just before we left the hospital. For us it was hard to name the most important person in our life until we met her."
Halle told Access Hollywood's Nancy O'Dell.

Halle's rep confirmed that she is "doing great" and a source close to the Halle camp said that she had a long and natural birth.

Congratulations to Halle and Gabriel (a first baby for both) from Polka Dot Bumblebee!

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party!

*this is a sticky post - see below for new blog posts!*
Party Hats? CHECK! Dance shoes? CHECK! Music? CHECK! Guests? CHECK!
Welcome to my little corner of the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 minutes for Mom!
Take a look around and be sure to drop me a line! One lucky party guest will be winning 50 custom photo cards from Polka Dot Bumblebee Take the time to email me about your favorite design and you'll be entered in a second drawing for 50 4 x 6 custom photo cards!

My name is Veronica and I am the owner of Polka Dot Bumblebee custom photo cards & stationery. You can find out a little bit more about me here!

Check out our hundreds (over 500) of original designs here!

If you are looking to create a BUZZ with your next event - our custom photo card designs are perfect for you. With other 500 designs we are sure to have something to suit your style whether it's fresh&funky, cute&classic or sweet&simple!

Be sure to get a FREE sample as well!

Now on to the party!

No party in my house is complete without my famous salsa and guacamole.
Here's the recipe (that I rarely share with anyone):

4-5 roma tomatos
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 jalapeno peppers
½-3/4 white or red onion
Juice of 1 lime
(as you can see I just sort of wing it until it looks good!)
2 avacados

I use the Rick Bayless Salsa Chopper which saves me lots of time in chopping. You simply chop everything but the avacados in 1 inch pieces and throw it in! A few spins of the handle and you are done!

Now here's my dirty little guacamole secret.. I simply scoop half of the salsa out and then add the 2 avacados to the remaining salsa and VOILA (!) instant guacamole. Add the juice of a half a lime to both the salsa and guac and salt and pepper to taste. I prefer to serve my salsa and guac with blue corn chips because of their nuttiness!

Be prepared because your family will want this on a weekly basis! It's super simple and you'll feel like a domestic goddess whipping it up in a matter of minutes! If you really want to knock their socks off, serve it in a hulled out red or orange pepper. If you'll be serving it in warm weather, be sure to pop them in the freezer beforehand!

Thanks for stopping by, be sure to look around my blog and my site Polka Dot Bumblebee Be sure to leave a comment so that I can return the favor!

Please be sure to check out my slideshow in the post below - and scratch off the ticket to get a special offer for UBP guests!

BEE HAPPY!

Minnie Driver Confirms She Is Expecting

Photo: Getty Images

Rumors have been swirling for weeks and tonight Minnie Driver revealed to Jay Leno that she is indeed expecting her first child. Jay joked with her about taking one too many trips to the buffet table and Minnie playfully responded asking of Jay had noticed her tummy.

According to Page Six she was seen shoopping for baby girl duds in Los Angeles. They then reported that she was seen outside of a doctor's office sharing sonogram pictures with a friend and talking to the baby's daddy - a mysterious English man named 'Matthew'.

She is keeping mum about the identity of said Matthew.

Congratulations Minnie from Polka Dot Bumblebee!

Easter Ecard Designs Coming Soon

We will soon be adding custom photo ecards to our line and we are starting off with a few Easter Designs!

Show off your little ones in their Easter best by delivering an ecard to the inbox of all your friends and family! We will be offering several more designs so check back soon to Polka Dot Bumblebee!

Ecard designs are not suitable for printing because of resolution and size constraints and are intended to be delivered electronically as a jpeg file.

Get your own custom easter photo card design for just $5. This is a special introductory price for the Easter season and a portion of our proceeds will be going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Happy Easter!

Introducing one of my leap year babies

Polka Dot Bumblebee was delighted to extend an offer especially for babies born on February 29, 2008 of 50 free custom photo cards! We've had many families take us up on the offer and there are a few more spots left if you know of any leap year babies!

This custom design was so adorable that I had to share! The proud parents wanted to add a frog to their design so I added this little critter to the Polka Dot Bumblebee Family and dressed her up with a pink bow to match the darling scheme of the design!
The creative mommy came up with the line "leaped into our world".

Could this be any cuter?

P.S. I will be sharing many custom photo card designs in the future. I will always have parental permission before doing so and will never include personal info.

Toddler Activity #2 - Rice Sand Box

Check in to Polka Dot Bumblebee Buzz for weekly baby/toddler activities!

It's easy to create an indoor sandbox for hours of fun! Simply take a large container (with a lid is best - like an under the bed storage container) and fill it with a few large bags or boxes of rice! Add some scoops, plastic cookie cutters and funnels for instant fun!

For easy clean up place a plastic table cover or better yet a Splat Mat from our friends at Just Buzzin By!

Baby Bee loves her rice sandbox and especially loves to fill a plastic muffin tray with rice and build lanscapes for her royal Weeble court!

Have fun and don't be surprised if - like sand - you find rice everywhere - like between your toes! The best part, of this activity... easy clean up and if you get a storage box with a lid you can easily put it away for another day!

Play Date Cards

I am having a blast with the Ultimate Blog Party. It is so fun to blog-party hop and learn about so many other SAHMs who have turned a hobby or passion in to a business.

I love getting a peek into their lives and have met some incredible new friends! I'll be hosting a "virtual playdate" in a few weeks to get to know these gals and their kiddos better. There will be prizes and giveaways galore!

Here's another sneak peek at my stationery line...of course, it's a personalized play date card! You asked for it - and you got it!

Welcome

Scratch the ticket above like a lotto ticket to see a special offer for all of my guests!

South 'n France Bon Bon Mom of the Year Contest!

South 'n France is THE destination for the most decadent and delicious bon bons! Stop by in a few days for my in depth review of their treats!

This husband and wife team are so adorable and a match made in heaven. She: a product from the South and He: raised in the French countryside. A chance encounter and a long distance relationship ensued. Followed by a whirlwind engagement and the ultimate marriage and blending of two cultures.

South 'n France grew from their desire to create a company that offered the best of both Southern and French lifestyles. Read more about their union here.

Their signature product: hand dipped bon bons that feature southern ingredients with an old French family recipe. The result: heaven!

Check out the South n' France website to see adorable pictures of bon bons enjoying a bubble bath or a day at the beach. The pictures look so yummy - you could eat them!

South n' France is celebrating Mother's Day with a Bon Bon Mother Of The Year Contest. Enter yours today - or get your delightful family to nominate YOU! The prize package includes a bon bon studded tiara, feather boa, a gift basket and one year's worth of yummy bon bons! Good LUCK!

Sneak Peek Polka Dot Bumblebee's Stationery Line

I am getting so excited! I am busy designing a stationery line that will have many adorable original designs. You'll be able to select your bakground pattern, style (monogrammed, initial, full name) and font. They will be custom JUST for you and your little one!

You'll also find mommy calling cards, playdate cards and kid contact cards in our new line!

And to whet your appetite - we're sharing one of our favorite designs... and of course we picked the one with polka dots!

We would love to see a revival in letter writing, especially with our young children! With our new Polka Dot Bumblebee stationery line you're sure to want to put pen to paper!

What's in a name? Polka Dot Bumblebee

For 7 + years we were known as Secret Stork Surprise. We started out focused solely on baby gifts for expectant parents. We loved being part of welcoming a new baby and when our own baby bee came into the world, we searched for a perfect birth announcement to show our precious new little one off to the world. We also wanted something that wouldn't break the bank. We ended up creating something from scratch and a new business was born!


For a while now, we felt like Secret Stork Surprise didn't suit us. We worried about changing our name though because we had worked long and hard to build a solid reputation as the destination for adorable and affordable custom photo cards. Our turn around time and customer service became legendary and we found our business booming mostly from word of mouth and happy customer referrals. See our KUDOS page to see why! We haven't even added all of our testimonials from our hundreds of holiday orders!

So, with the new year came a new name! Polka Dot Bumblebee has many meanings for us.
Imagine a little bumblebee who isn't afraid to do his own thing... instead of stripes he wears his polka dots proudly and doesn't sting - but instead gives kisses (notice the heart shaped trail that he leaves?) and spreads a little love everywhere that he goes! A little cheesy, yeah - but we love him and we know that you will too!

Our new tagline: Create a BUZZ with your custom photo cards!
Our new motto: BEE original never cookie cutter.
Major Players in this Blog: Queen Bee, Veronica - Baby Bee (my child) and Hubbee (my hubbby)!

This post comes with a blanket apology for the corny puns that I will be using from here on in! :)

It's easy "beeing" green

We are proud to be a member of the Co2Stats Project that makes our website environmentally friendly. CO2Stats monitors how much electricity is being used to power this site and you as you browse it, and then it "offsets" the emissions by investing in renewable energy projects that help to counteract global warming.

What are you waiting for, go get your button and do the same! GO GREEN!

Going Green: Our Business

Polka Dot Bumblebee is proud to announce that in '08 we'll be making even MORE strides to become a greener biz! For starters, we are buying more recycled office products and we use a recycled envelope manufacturer.

We've also partnered with a new printing company that is powered with wind generated electricity. And we're happy to announce a new monthly tree planting initiative that we'll be kicking off later this month.

With every decision for this business, I'm reminded of the Native American proverb: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

Quite simply, It's easy being green!

Going Green - Customer's Favorite Photo Card Designs

I don't know if it's that Spring is right around the corner or the influence of St. Patty's Day. We all have a little irish in us, I suppose, when March rolls around! I've been seeing a BIG increase in our custom photo cards that highlight one of my favorite colors - spring green!

Above you will find 3 of our most popular designs. The third one is an oldie but goodie that is one of the first that I designed but continues to be a popular choice!

If you are getting in on the green action - don't be limited by our gallery choices - we can change the patterns on all of our designs. Click here to see your countless choices! We can also work with you to create a custom photo card design from scratch to announce your little leprechaun!

J LO releases baby names

Photo by: INF

Be sure to stop by to Polka Dot Bumblebee Buzz Blog for the latest in celebrity baby buzz!

You have probably heard that JLO has finally released the names of her twin babies, and it's being widely reported that they are Max & Emme. But did you know, according to an insider, Jennifer and Marc have been overheard calling them Maximiano and Emelina? We'll have to wait for more details and the highly anticipated (and big ticket) photos of the little ones in People!

Here at Polka Dot Bumblebee Buzz, we're happy that someboy bucked the celebrity trend of weird & wacky names and went with something sweet&simple (Max & Emme). Even the longer versions get our approval.

Hmmm, with both versions rattling around the internet, maybe you should hold off on getting those baby gifts embroidered just yet!

Join me at The Ultimate Blog Party

You're invited to the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by the gals at 5 Minutes for Mom! Stop by and leave a few comments, blog hop and enjoy the festivities. Not to mention you have a chance to win from a list of fantastic prizes! One lucky winner will win 50 custom photo cards from Polka Dot Bumblebee - custom photo cards.

I'll be joing in the fun in cyberspace and sharing with you my famous homemade salsa and guac recipes along with other fun goodies! Be sure to stop in and say 'HI'!

Click on the pink link to the left to learn more!

Happy LEAP Day - special offer for leap year babies

Happy Leap Day to everybody! I hope that you are enjoying this extra day that only comes around every 4 years. Take some time to do something special to mark this unique day.

To celebrate any leap year babies born today, February 29, 2008. Polka Dot Bumblebee - Custom Photo Cards will be giving away 500 free birth announcement to leap year babies, also known as "leaplings".

The first 10 families to contact us. with leap year babies will receive 50 free custom 4 x 6 photo birth announcements with a design of their choice.

According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day, the chances of being born on leap day are 1 in 1,461. It is estimated that there are 200,000 American leaplings who share in this special birthday ... and will ultimately stay forever young!

Fun Activity for you and your Baby Bee

I may be an entrepreneur and designer. But my favorite role is that of mommy. I take that job very seriously. The benefits are long lasting and my pay is in lots of big hugs and sticky kisses. Not to mention soggy cheerios and goldfish crackers!

My charge is my adorable Baby Bee - (a happy, bubbly, funny, energetic and oh-so-sweet toddler) and every single day is an adventure with her. To keep things fun and fresh - we've decided to try one brand new activity or project a day. Just last week we made puzzles, a matching game, friendship bracelets like Dora, decorated love notes that we sent to special people in our lives, made a personalized book of Baby Bee on an adventure with Dora, made a sandbox out of rice and made homemade play dough!

More on the other activities later! We are sharing with you today the perfect play dough recipe. Get the cookie cutters and rolling pins out! You are sure to love this surefire old favorite!

http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11543

P.S. We chose to do yellow play dough because it minimizes the "stain" factor! We also left out the veggie oil. We'll add a few drops as it starts to dry out. Enjoy!

Grand Bee-Opening Offer

We are delighted to announce the Grand "Bee"-Opening of our site! We were formerly known as Secret Stork Surprise and have become known for our one on one customer service, affordable prices and adorable designs.

We thank all of our customers who knew us as Secret Stork Surprise and invite you to take a look around the new site. You'll find it has a fresh new look and feel. Bee sure to check out our galleries to see brand new designs. We'll be updating them every few days so check back often.

To thank our old friends and welcome our new ones... we are offering a new promo code. Use the promo code BUZZ for 5 FREE cards on orders over 50 photo cards and 10 FREE cards on orders over 100 photo cards!

We look forward to working with you soon and creating a BUZZ with your friends and family about your oh-so-original-never-cookie-cutter custom photo card design!

Be sure to leave a comment or email us on the new name, website or designs. I'll be selecting one comment randomly to win 50 free custom photo cards from Polka Dot Bumblebee! The deadline for entry is March 17 2008 11 pm EST.

BEE HAPPY!