Jenny's blog

It’s time for another “best of the blogosphere” round-up from the Out of Office Team. This time I thought I’d share some of the cool things we’ve seen from other sites on home décor. Hope you find their ideas and projects as inspiring as I did!  

• I love the Better Homes and Gardens online decorating archives – check it out here. They’ve got hundreds of projects big and small, plus photos to get you thinking. Their DIY site is also loaded with easy-to-do projects, templates and instructions.
• A home blog on AZCentral.com has a great tip on turning old family photos into something visually stunning on a big, blank wall.
• Room Envy is a fabulous site with amazing room design photos to fit everyone’s tastes – from sleek modernism to retro 60’s designs. Definitely give it a look if you’re in the market for a change.

 How’s this for an easy and creative table-setting idea that also keeps your kids occupied? Give each of your children some construction paper and art supplies (stamps, markers, and paint all work well, but don’t use crayons) and let them create some holiday-themed artwork to use as placemats. They can even create designs specific for each guest, and the placemat can double as a seating assignment as well. (Or if you’re really short on time and don’t want the mess of an art project, just dig out some of their old artwork from past holidays and use that instead.)

You can take the artwork down to your nearest FedEx Office location and laminate it yourself. The laminating machine has very specific instructions next to it, making it easy to do it yourself. It took me less than five minutes to do eight pieces of artwork and it was pretty inexpensive. Each 8.5x11 sheet cost less than $2.

The finished placemats make adorable keepsakes and are sure to be conversation-starters  Just try to find any placemats that unique anywhere else... ...read more

I’m going to go ahead and declare it: What you are about to read is the best gift idea for the person who has everything. And by “person,” I mean your mother.  

Christmas is sneaking up on me this year, and I was just about to decide I wasn't doing cards. Between e-mail and Facebook, I keep my family and friends up to speed, so who needs printed cards, right? But let's face it: nothing beats getting real mail. And how hard is it really to mail something once a year?

Fellow procrastinators, take heart! It's not too late to order your holiday cards or photo calendars. You can place an order at fedex.com/gifts all the way up until December 20 to get free rush shipping of your items in time for Christmas. Whew!

So I snapped some pictures of my son, and I dropped them in the template and ordered my cards today. FedEx Office has a new online ordering system, and I was really happy with how easy it was. With the free rush shipping, I will have them in time to get them out before Christmas. No need to do “Happy New Year” cards because I waited too long again this year! ...read more

Guest blogger Renee Lauriano – a Pack and Ship expert from the FedEx Office center in Manhattan – shares some of her advice for getting through the busiest shopping and shipping time of the year. Don’t miss her colorful and creative shipping tip at the bottom!

The holidays are an incredibly busy time of year for everyone. From family get-togethers and office Christmas parties to marathon shopping expeditions, there’s always something going on. Things at my center are round-the-clock busy too. ...read more

My son has been coming home from pre-school for the last few weeks laden down with arts and crafts projects – everything from Thanksgiving handprint-turkeys to Christmas count-down calendars.  I saw this great article on the Examiner Web site I just had to share for all the parents out there battling this issue too!  Check it out here. She’s got five great ideas, and I have at least one more to share. ...read more

Welcome to Out of Office, a blog designed to help you with your creative projects. We at FedEx Office started this blog to inspire and enable our customers to bring their ideas to life. We have the tools and resources, you have the ideas and projects. Here, we can bring them together to make things happen.

Watch the blog for topics and contests related to home organization, event planning, and time management, along with ideas for gifts and art projects. Our contributors come from a variety of backgrounds, and we understand many of life’s situations.

More importantly, we want to hear from you – what fun project have you done that you want to share with others? What tip can you provide to help someone else? Please leave comments or, better yet, submit your own ideas via the “Talk to Us” link. We may feature you here!

Like the name suggests, we have a lot of ideas that come out of FedEx Office, and we know you have a life out of the office. At the Out of Office blog, we can create some fun together!

So bookmark us, come back often and share your ideas. We’re ready to make your ideas happen!