For those of us who don’t have children, we often end up treating our pets as our kids. That’s why I love the idea of sending pet announcements when you welcome a new furry friend into your home.This past fall, we welcomed our puppy, Joey, into our home and shared his arrival with the Sassy Photo Dog Announcements. I thought my friends and family would think we were cheesy, but these were a hit! I also LOVE the matching Sassy Dog Thank You Cards.

By guest blogger Jeanette Martinez

When determining the wording for stationery, it’s important to keep in mind proper punctuation, grammar and sentence structure. One of the most difficult punctuation uses to grasp is the elusive apostrophe. However, if you can remember a few simple rules, mastering its usage will be a cinch.

Rule 1:

In the English language, the apostrophe is used in only two situations: to indicate the possessive form of a noun or pronoun, and to mark the omission of certain characters, as in a contraction. One of the most common mistakes is using the apostrophe to indicate a plural. This mistake is often seen in the signature line of a family greeting, such as in the case of “love, the Smith’s.” No matter how much you want to add that apostrophe, no matter how cute you think it looks, for the sake of the noble apostrophe and grammar gurus everywhere, just don’t do it!

Rule 2:

When using the apostrophe to indicate a contraction, the apostrophe should always mark the spot where the characters have been omitted. For example, “cannot,” becomes “can’t” with the apostrophe marking the location where the “no” has been removed.

Rule 3:

Where to place the apostrophe when indicating possessive forms of singular and plural nouns is another common misunderstanding. Singular words are the easiest to make possessive. For example, if a single cat possesses a mouse, you would say “the cat’s mouse.” The apostrophe follows the last letter in the noun, and the apostrophe is then followed by an “s.” This format works for any singular word, including what we call sibilant words that end in an s, sh, ch, z, or x. So, “the fox’s coat,” “the boss’s desk,” and “the quiz’s answers” are all correct.

Rule4:

Combination plural and possessive forms are slightly more complex. To use the cat example again, if you have two cats, and they share a bowl, this would be “the cats’ bowl.” The “s” indicates the multiple cats, and the apostrophe on the outside of the “s” indicates possession of the object by the multiple cats.

The sibilant form of this rule is even more complex. To make a sibilant word plural and possessive, add “es,” rather than just “s,” and then add the apostrophe at the end. For example, if there are three foxes, and they have found a den, you would say “the foxes’ den.”

Rule 5:

Pronouns such as “yours,” “theirs,” “his,” “hers,” and “ours” do not require apostrophes in any situation. They’re already possessive by their definitions.

Tip:

Remember, proper punctuation can be tricky, so keep these rules close at hand when addressing your invites or writing thank you notes. Your friends and family will never know you used a cheat sheet and eventually apostrophe usage will become second nature.

Resources:

The Economist’s Style Guide – Apostrophes

Bureau of Justice Statistics Style Guide – page 16: Punctuation, Apostrophes and Possessives

Your baby’s first and second birthdays are extra special events. Themes are a wonderful way to structure a party and can provide delightful, bold visuals for little guests. Make your invitations really shine with a unique photo, an illustration and even a quote from a favorite children’s book. Christine Petschauer, a Tiny Talk favorite, is a party planner in New Jersey. For her daughter Olivia’s second birthday she chose a fairy theme and gave us some divine suggestions.

1. For a feminine theme like fairies, invite only little girls with a personalized invitation that clearly shares your delight for the theme.

1. Choose your colors and coordinate them throughout your event. For Olivia’s party I kept it simple by opting for pink as the primary color and lavender for accents.

1. Rent bubble machines to fill your yard with joyful atmosphere as guests arrive.

1. Sometimes a little store-bought is best. I purchased pink tutus and pink wings.

1. Construct a clothes line across your yard and hang the tutus and wings with painted clothes pins.

1. Stamp each guest’s name and a butterfly on a tag and hang it off each tutu with some pretty, silk ribbon.

1. Make wands with tiny butterflies on the ends and place them in a cute, coordinating, pot filled with rice to help them stand up.

1. Stay with your theme when wrapping presents. I stamped my own fairy paper.

1. Make the guest of honor a matching, flower halo crown.

1. Purchase some simple tooth fairy boxes and wrap them in your theme color for table accents.

1. Get inexpensive bottles of bubbles and little fairy dolls in matching colors and hide them around the yard. Give each girl a card stamped with her name, color and a cute poem of clues to find them.

1. If you have friends who are artists or have a special talent ask them for help. My friend, Tammy Kenner, not only painted faces with different varieties of butterflies, she baked and decorated the fabulous cupcakes.

1. For lunch try serving a fruit platter and an assortment of sandwich favorites like peanut butter and jelly cut into quarters.

1. For dessert there’s nothing like homemade, oversized cupcakes with butter cream frosting tinted in pale shades of your theme colors topped with shimmery, white sugar butterflies.

“This party was so special and cute and wonderful fun to pull together!”