Yes, I still want words like “rad” to be in my vocabulary. “Gnarly,” too. And “Dope!”
First, some housekeeping: Some of our links are affiliate coded, which sends a portion of your purchase price back to us at no extra cost to you.
Second, if you’re curious about the Rakuten shopping portal, which gives you cash back for many purchases at different retailers, they’ve got an offer for new folks: Rakuten is offering $50 back if you join and make a purchase +$50 within 90 days.
This week: fun and games and swag and suggestions from all of you! You’ve been sending me some lovely links, stores, and suggestions for the gift guides – thank you!
Now, how many of you like puzzles? We love puzzles at Chez Wendell. May I introduce Completing the Puzzle, a puzzle subscription service?
Yes, like Netflix DVDs (remember those?) but in this case, it’s puzzles.
Completing the Puzzle offers multiple tiers for puzzle subscriptions, and different skill and challenge levels, too. And yes, they offer gift cards!
You can choose one puzzle per month, or two per month, and the subscription service can be purchased a month at a time, for three months, six months, or a year.
The Starter tier is $30 per month and the price goes down if you book for more months. The Puzzler tier, which offers 2 puzzles at a time, starts at $40 per month, and the Pro Puzzler tier, which gets you 3 puzzles at a time, starts at $46.
I think this is my favorite part of their marketing: “Love puzzles. Hate the clutter. Finish it. Send it Back. Get another.” You tempt me with LESS CLUTTER and MORE HOBBY? I am very susceptible! They were kind enough to offer me a 3 month trial subscription to try it out.
The puzzles we received are very good quality, and they come in a zip top bag with a larger bag that’s re-usable for shipping. Now we’re working on a 1000 piece puzzle of VW Buses in all different colors, and we’re so serious about our puzzling that I bought a puzzle tray with drawers secondhand off FB Marketplace. SRS BSNS!
May I introduce Muntantur Labs? Who have offered us a DISCOUNT CODE?
Use code SMARTBITCH for $5 off your order! (Thank you!)
Mutantur has a terrific collection of All Things Nerdy, Fandomy, and Bookish. For example:
My Therapist is a 900-Page Fantasy Novel tshirt, $29
Plot Twit Survivor mug, $28Laurel wanted y’all to know about some recommended stores that she and her college-aged daughter love – apparently they are Champion Gift Givers. Her daughter’s passion is marine biology, so these are nifty for science folks! Take it away, Laurel:
- Anything from the Squid Facts shop. Sarah is a force of nature and supports her amazing non-profit with merch. She designs some of it and gets (paid) guest designers. My kiddos have so many tshirts, calendars and totes.Purchases support the Skype a Scientist program!
Snail Facts Advent Calendar? SNAIL FACTS ADVENT CALENDAR!
Snail Facts Advent Calendar, $25
They also have Frog Facts and Eel Facts!
Plant Native Plants t-shirt, $30- Sticker advent calendars by Stickii – Note that this is the second round and won’t ship until January.
Stickii Adventu Calendar, $42The advent calendar is an A6 binder in one of three styles (Cute, Vintage, and Pop), and each contains a foil numbered envelope containing a sticker sheet. Each one is designed by an artist, including the envelopes.
- Pegushi: beautiful washi tape and post cards that look like tickets. And enamel pins!
Deep Sea Creature Washi Tape, 15
…
- Fossil Forager – we particularly love her enamel pins!
Y’all there’s a fungi collection.
Set of tiny fungi pins, $70 – also available individually!
Thank you, Laurel!
- North Ave Candles makes book themed scented candles. They smell good but not too overwhelming and most of them have labels that look like library cards! They’ll have some more specifically Christmas-themed candles probably starting in November if that’s something you’re looking for.
Their candle library has many classics and newer books, from Jane Eyre to From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler to Braiding Sweetgrass to Their Eyes Were Watching God.
And, of course:
Pride and Prejudice ‘Gardens of Pemberley” candle, $22
- Hello Bargello has some cute, easy, retro-ish craft kits — I like this trinket tray (and it’s about the cheapest thing they have).
That trinket tray set is cuuute:
Starburst Trinket Tray craft set, $36
And apparently this craft set went viral. Can’t imagine why:
Vintage Christmas Diorama Ornament Set, $108
They also have adorable kits to make bag charms!
Kikkerland has some CUTE stuff, and thank you to Thomas for alerting me to this fact!
A Dachshund pillow that transforms into a travel neck pillow?
Dachshund Zip & Flip Travel Pillow, $40
A cat scratcher that looks like an LP record?
Kiko Cat Record Scratcher, $15
Retro Game Console (3.74″ wide) $15
There’s also one that looks kind of like a GameBoy, also $15.
This would make a terrific hostess gift:
Pasta Bud Vases, $20Do you need to remove the pet hair from your clothes? (Yes.)
Kiko Hair Remover Mitt, $12HAT recommends Svaha USA:
- I love Svaha dresses! Book themes, nerd themed, STEM themed, etc. I pretty much live my life in them now. The pockets are HUGE and the cotton is comfortable. I demonstrate to people in real life that one pocket will hold a kitten while the other pocket will hold a puppy. Or a water bottle.
Oh, come on. Look at some of these fabrics. This isn’t fair.
Winter dragon garden?
Phonetics???
So many options with cats.
Their dresses come in a range of lengths and neck and sleeve styles, and sizes, too.
This link to Svaha USA should get you 20% off your first purchase of $50 or more!
Heather has a stationery store to recommend:
- [I] wanted to share the stationary store Simply Gilded for the gift guides. It’s a minority woman-owned store and the owner, Irene, is the sweetest. It’s one of my favorite stationary stores and will be the last subscription I hold on to if things get tight.All her stuff is fun, but she has a line of bookshelf washi tape that are really cute. They’re also very popular, so you’ll see some of them are sold out.
These are unspeakably pretty:
Evergreen Bookshelf Washi, $15
Light purple twinkle garland set, $10
Blushbaby Bookshelf Washi, $20
Twilight Blush Washi Tape, $5.50
This is a dangerous place for me to know about. Gosh golly. If you’re shopping at Simply Gilded use this link for $5 off $15 or more.
We’ll be back next week! If you have suggestions, please email me!
My thanks to Heather for suggesting “Simply Guilded “. Of course I had to check it out and filled a cart full of the washi tape. Lots of washi tape! My washi tape bin overfloweth. LOL