My Weeds or Wishes print has been one of the most popular pieces I’ve done in some time, so I thought it might make a cool t-shirt design. We’re offering it on green, indigo, and banana colored shirts.

But not for long.

We like making stuff way more than we like managing inventory, so every once in a while, we create something we think is cool, take orders for a week or so, and then buy the exact number of goodies we need to fill those orders. So whether it’s two or two thousand, we get to make cool things, you get a chance to own them, and we don’t waste any money on stuff that takes up space in our basement.

We call it the “One Chance Only Sale.”

Now, does this mean we will never, ever, EVER offer this product again? Not necessarily. But if you see something you like, your best bet is to snag it while you can. Chances are it won’t be available anytime soon because we’ll be busy creating the next thing.

This premium fitted 100% ring-spun combed cotton crew neck, weighing in at 4.3oz, has an incredibly soft touch. It provides a super fit on both guys AND gals.

If you dig this shirt, get it now, because your chance to own it goes *POOF* on Tuesday, October 6th!

So we’ve come up with something we’re calling The One Chance Only Sale. Here’s how it works:

We offer something we think is cool, take orders for a week, and then buy the exact number of goodies that we need to fill those orders. So whether it’s two or two thousand, I get to make cool things, you get a chance to own them, and we don’t waste any money on stuff that takes up space in our basement.

Now, does this mean we will never EVER offer this product again? Not necessarily. But there are no guarantees, so if you see something you like, your best bet is to snag it while you can. Chances are it won’t be available anytime soon because I’ll be busy creating the next thing.

Our first offering is a t-shirt that serves as a whimsical tribute to the venerable Dr. Seuss and his bestselling children’s book, Green Eggs & Ham. As one of the greatest duos of all time, is there any question that green eggs and ham are best friends forever? I came up with this idea over a year ago, and eventually made it into a print, but I always thought it would make a great t-shirt. So here it is.

Printed on a Gildan Soft-Style 4.5 oz, 100% cotton pre-shrunk jersey knit with tapered neck and shoulders for a better fit. It’s SUPER soft and destined to become your favorite t-shirt :)

Your chance to order this item goes “poof!” on Monday, November 26, 2012. Get yours right now.

NOTE: Since we work with a great local printer with a pretty fast turnaround, we are planning to have shirts in people’s hands by Christmas.

This shirt will come to you in a box. You can wear this shirt with a fox!

Not everything was great — most wasn’t — but I thought it was time to release some of the good stuff into the world. Here you’ll find the first new prints we’ve offered in several years. Perhaps one or two would look great in your home or office.

I drew this one long ago, and it’s still one of our best sellers.

Available at your friendly neighborhood Lemonade Stand.

Here’s to moms, the everyday superheroes.

If your family is already having more fun than you can handle, please disregard this message.

But if Adultitis has become a permanent (and unwelcome) member of your family, you can’t afford to miss this offer.

Think about your last week – how much of it was so memorable you’ll still be talking about it ten years from now?

Don’t let Adultitis and the busyness it brings with it trick you into missing out on the best parts of life! The Kim & Jason Guide to Cheap Family Fun has 52 short and entertaining videos that’ll give you a year’s worth of inexpensive and easy ideas for having big fun. The Escape Plan is jammed with 40 challenges and hundreds of awesome ideas guaranteed to annihilate Adultitis.

For a limited time, if you buy the Cheap Family Fun DVD set, you get The Escape Plan book for FREE – a $25 savings! (And yes, if you buy 2 DVD sets, you get 2 books free.) No coupon codes needed – just add the items to your shopping cart and the discount happens automatically.

It’s the offer – and gift idea – that Adultitis doesn’t want you to know about.

I know people who swear by their Kindles and other who swear at them. I for one still like the feel and smell of real books, but also appreciate the convenience and space savings that ebooks bring.

For those of you in the “Hooray for ebooks!” camp, I am happy to report that both Escape Adulthood and There’s An Adult In My Soup are now available for the Kindle, the Nook* and your favorite Apple device (iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch). Both books sell for just $9.99 and make for some excellent summer reading if you’re looking for something to tickle your funny bone while making you think.

Escape Adulthood: Kindle | Apple iBooks | Nook*
There’s An Adult In My Soup: Kindle | Apple iBooks | Nook*

[*Yeah, we’re trying to get on the Nook, but their software has been a pain in the boot and tech support won’t return my emails and I’m about to give up. We’ll keep trying, especially if we get lots of requests…do you have a Nook? Do you care?]

For those of you in the “To Heck with Ebooks!” camp, you can still buy paper versions right here.

We love both camps. Thanks for reading.

Is your relationship missing some of its magic?

You can probably blame Adultitis for that. It likes it when things are bland, boring, and firmly entrenched in a rut. Fortunately, the appropriately named Adultitis First Aid Kit is designed to tackle this problem head on! Just imagine, you and your sweetheart getting back to the days when you first met, when things were fresh and exciting and giddy.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

My thought is that we try to stock it with really cool stuff.

If people see something and they like it and want to buy it, sweet. If not, no biggie. But people wiser than me have said that it helps if you actually let people know you have stuff for sale.

Yeah.

So here are a few things I’m pretty proud of; things that you won’t actually find at any mall. If you’re looking for a unique Christmas gift, one of these just might fit the bill.

WOW Greeting Card Box Set
This is a set of 48 greeting cards spanning all of life’s big moments. The thing most people miss is that the box lid features a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork from yours truly. Meaning I customize it based on your own interests with my own two little hands. Indeed, it is a true collectible, as no box is ever the same. I don’t do any commissioned artwork these days, so if you’re into that sort of thing, here you go.

I Am Not a Paper Cup (Adulthood Stinks Edition)
These reusable, environmentally friendly porcelain cups are all the rage these days. But nowhere else can you get them with a special edition label that lets you show off how you feel about this whole adulthood thing. You get to choose between the “Adulthood Stinks” or the “Escape Adulthood” versions and you also get to pick the lid color. (get coffee for free.)

There’s An Adult In My Soup
This may be my favorite book that Kim and I have written. I think the cover rocks, but the inside really delivers. It’s kind of like Chicken Soup for the Soul in that there are short little chapters and you can pick it up and start reading from anywhere. And of course it has pictures (the best books always do!) If you want some food for thought when it comes to managing life balance and cooking up the life of your dreams, this is a good one. And if you want the iPad/iPhone version, you can get that here.

Root Beer Float Candle
I’ve always loved scented candles. I think it goes back to my scratch-n-sniff sticker collecting days. I’m always left amazed as I wonder: how did they get this paper/wax to smell just like the real thing?! The advancement of science knows no bounds, I tell ya! So we sell candles, but not the normal foo-foo kinds that smell like old ladies’ perfume. We have ones that smell like the good parts of your childhood, like the root beer float candle pictured here. We also have Clean Underpants, Dirt, Sawdust, Buttered Popcorn, and more.

Rock Paper Scissors T-Shirt
Sometimes (most of the time) you create a product and you think it will be a hit. Then it bombs. Other times it actually does sell quite well. I’ve always loved this Rock Paper Scissors shirt design, and judging by sales, others do as well. Interestingly, at a recent speaking program, my brother had to actually explain to someone the concept of Rock Paper Scissors. And I still don’t think she got it. But I think most people know that it’s the globally accepted best way to peacefully resolve any dispute.

Red Rover T-Shirt
Another t-shirt. I am not too humble to say that I love how clever this one is. (Mostly because a majority of my ideas are so bad they never see the light of day, and the majority of the ones that do end up flopping.) Most of the time I see a clever t-shirt and wish that I had thought of it, and kick myself because I didn’t. This one makes me happy to say that I did. This t-shirt for folks who may still be nursing clothesline injuries from childhood.

Adultitis First Aid Kit
Pretty much anyone who’s seen one of my speaking programs knows what an Adultitis First Aid Kit is. Which is basically an Adultitis-fighting shock-and-awe campaign in a cute red box. It includes a copy of Escape Adulthood, the ultimate resource on Adultitis along with The Escape Plan Journal, the 40-day guide to eliminate Adultitis. Rounding out the kit is a box of Jelly Belly Beanboozled gourmet jelly beans, a box of food coloring for making Ugly Cookies or green eggs, a bendable toy Pokey, and a set of Inanimate Object Stickers to remind you not to take yourself so dang seriously. Adios Adultitis.

Mom Print
There are a TON of prints featured at the Lemonade Stand. So many that people who have a hard time making decisions will have fits. But this one is still one of my favorites. Being a Mom is one of the most difficult and challenging jobs around and I feel like this is a classic tribute. Show your Mom (or someone else’s) that she’s one of the best with this heartwarming Weekend Print.

Mixed Fruit Jelly Bean Card Set
In an age where everything seems to be digital, virtual, and anonymous, we’re slowly losing the art of the handwritten note. This product marries the nostalgia of the old Mom and Pop candy store with the old school charm of real, heartfelt, honest-to-goodness greeting cards. Hand-packaged in a manner fit for a classic candy spinner, each set contains 16 greeting cards and a rainbow’s assortment of 16 envelopes. The insides have been left blank for adding your own personal, handwritten touch — the kind you just can’t get with an email or text message. Oh, and we’ve also thrown in a bag of delicious gourmet Jelly Belly jelly beans to satisfy your sweet tooth. Greeting cards are meant to be sent to friends, but we won’t tell if you decide to keep the beans to yourself :)

Stupid Swimming Lessons: Kim & Jason Annual #3
So I used to do a comic strip. For like seven years. This is the complete 3rd year of the Kim & Jason Comic smashed into one awesome book. One of these days, I have to get around to finishing the last few annuals, especially since those are some of the best strips. Although not as good as Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbes, if you or someone you know like those classic comics, they’ll probably dig Kim & Jason as well.

Does it make me any less of a man if I say that I love scented candles (especially fruity ones)?

Don’t answer that.

It’s true, though. I really DO like scented candles. But only certain kinds. I’ll pass on vanilla and anything that’s supposed to smell like flowers but actually smells more like an old lady who wears fake nails and applies makeup with a trowel.

And sometimes I get turned off by the names that try too hard, especially the ones that remind me of farts, like Subtle Breeze or Broken Wind.

Most of all, I like the ones that smell like my childhood.

Our line of Kim & Jason candles reflect the notion that smell is the sense most connected to our memories. (I guarantee that one sniff of your old elementary school would instantly get you thinking about multiplication tables and whether or not Casey “liked you liked you.”) That being said, we have some pretty interesting aromas that Martha Stewart might find shocking and inappropriate. Dirt, Fresh Cut Grass, and Clean Underpants, to name a few.

This fall, we’ve added four new scents to our lineup. Hand-poured in Montana, our soy candles feature labels that are designed and illustrated by yours truly and boast a long lasting fresh scent, with a burn time of 160 hours. All in a nifty 16-ounce steel paint can for a classically retro feel. Here’s a rundown of the new arrivals:

Sawdust
If you spent any time as a “little helper” in a woodworking shop (or if you have a shop to call your own), you’ll love this sawdust scented candle. Get your foo foo flowery melonfruit candle elsewhere – this one is for the hard core fans of fresh cut wood.

Root Beer Float
This candle is just like a creamy root beer float in a tall frosty mug – without the calories. (Score!) It’s a rich and smooth scent guaranteed to get you back to childhood.

Candy Corn
This little number candle harkens back to Halloween past, when you dressed up in cool costumes and gorged on candy. The subtle aroma of candy corn might just have you itching to grab the pillow case for another run around the neighborhood.

Pipe Tobacco
Back in the day, the man of the house often relaxed by smoking a pipe. This candle allows you to bask in the awesome aroma of pipe tobacco without having to actually pollute the house. (And it features Stinky.) Now that’s cool.

So if candles float your boat, be sure the check out our full selection. These tiny time machines make great gifts.

By the way, what smell most reminds YOU of childhood?

So we recently unveiled a new way to buy Kim & Jason greeting cards and get your hands on some original art. The WOW Greeting Card Box Set is packed with 48 cards spanning all of life’s big moments, and the box top features a little drawing by moi.

I have to say that I am loving the opportunity to get back into drawing and inking the characters I grew to know so well while doing the daily comic strip from 2000-2007. Since every box is different (customized based on the information specified by each customer), I thought it would be cool to give you a look at some recent creations.

The box above is the first one I did. It was for Brenda, who said she enjoyed reading and that turtles were her favorite animal. First I sketch things out in pencil, and then finish them with india ink, applied with a brush, just like the comic strip. I love the variety of line weights you can get with a brush, and I was delighted to discover that I wasn’t too rusty with my inking skills.

Marci is a superfan who goes WAY back. Anybody who has Kim & Jason Annual #1 will find a mention of her near the end of the book. She upgraded to color, which meant I had to break out my trusty colored pencils. She left things pretty open-ended for me, but noted that she loved the outdoors and eating anything chocolate.

Lea also wanted a colored one. She explained that she enjoyed kayaking with her husband, so I knew I wanted to use that as my main theme. Notice that Jason is ill-prepared for such an excursion. Her favorite animal was a tie between a snow leopard and a sea otter. The sea otter won out in this case. You know how cats feel about the water.

And this one I had to show off because I LOVE how the panda turned out. It was Jamie from Vermont’s favorite animal. A love for martial arts also allowed me to mix in a little nod to Karate Kid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I got some neat e-mails back from some of the recipients, so it’s cool to know that the work is appreciated. My Dad says these are way underpriced, but we’ll stick with the introductory price for little while longer. If you’d like to commission your own custom box of greeting cards, go for it. First come, first served!

The Golden Birthday. The First Kiss. The New Job. The Milestone Anniversary. Life is filled with big deals. The stuff that sweeps us off our feet and the moments we remember forever. We often mark these occasions with greeting cards, because emails and text messages just won’t do.

But the worst is being stuck without a card and having to make a last-minute trek to find the right one in a rush. Blechh. Talk about a major downer and an epic pain in the butt. Life is busy enough without this extra hassle.

Enter the awesomely useful W.O.W. Card Box Set. A collection of 48 premium quality 5×7 greeting cards spanning all of life’s big moments, both the happy congratulatory ones and the sad ones, too. We’ve thrown in thank you cards, anniversary cards, sympathy cards, as well as cards for friends and sweethearts. Each colorful card is illustrated, written, and designed by yours truly, and printed right here in the U.S.A. Of course, we’ve included 48 nifty envelopes as well. (View all 48 cards here.)

But we didn’t just stop with cards. Oh, no. That’s not how we roll.

We took things to a whole new level.

The cards come in a handsome kraft box — not unlike the shoebox you used to hide under your bed — and the lid features a real live one-of-a-kind piece of artwork from me. Hand-drawn characters from the Kim & Jason comicare inked with the very same brush and India ink that I used for each and every strip. You can choose the classic ink version or upgrade to full color, in which I’ll will enhance the drawing with my trusty smooth and buttery colored pencils. I’ll even customize what Kim and Jason are up to based on your own unique likes and interests

A true collectible, no box is ever the same.

This is pretty much the only way to get your hands on some original artwork from me. So if you’re an art collector, this item is a real steal and you get a whole set of greeting cards as a bonus. If you’re an avid greeting card sender, you’ll not only be stocked up for quite some time, but you’ll also get something pretty to hang on your wall.

It’s form, it’s function, it’s one-of-a-kind.

WOW, right?

Available now at the Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand.

P.S. As usual, Kim & Jason Insiders knew about this development days ago. And they got a super secret password good for 11% off their order. (Why 11%, you ask? Why not, asks we.) If you’re not an Insider, now might be a good time to sign up. It’s fun. It’s free. It’s wonderful.

It was the classic dilemma of childhood. You walk into a candy store, greeted by the jingling bell tied to the front door. Your feet shuffle across the black and white tiled floor to the glass case showing off its colorful assortment of sugary goodness. Holding everything from fudge to to gumdrops to saltwater taffy, it was willing to part with its carefully guarded yummy treasures — at a price. You’d plunk your handful of pennies down on the counter and begin the thoughtful deliberation.

Sadly, the days of being able to buy candy for a penny are behind us, and the old fashioned corner confectionery stores have been overrun by the generic big box behemoths. Perhaps equally distressing is that in an age where everything seems to be digital, virtual, and anonymous, we’re slowly losing the art of the handwritten note.

It is with that yearning for yesteryear that I am happy to announce the release of some pretty sweet greeting card sets. The die-hard fans who’ve been with us from the beginning will remember these babies. Back in the day, we sold them to gift shops and as part of a fundraising program. Back then, they only had 8 cards in a set.

Not anymore.

This creative little number marries the nostalgia of the old Mom and Pop candy store with the old school charm of real, heartfelt, honest-to-goodness greeting cards. Hand-packaged in a manner fit for a classic candy spinner, each set contains 16 greeting cards and a rainbow’s assortment of 16 envelopes. The cards feature warm and vibrant Kim & Jason artwork paired with various sentiments on the front. The insides have been left blank for adding your own personal, handwritten touch — the kind you just can’t get with an email or text message. Made in the good ol’ US of A, we also donate 3% of every sale to charities that help children.

Oh, and we’ve also thrown in a bag of delicious gourmet Jelly Belly jelly beans to satisfy your sweet tooth. Greeting cards are meant to be sent to friends, but we won’t tell if you decide to keep the beans to yourself :)

We’re launching with four delicious “flavors” (although a set of Christmas cards is already in the works):

• Berry Happy Birthday: 16 cards to sweeten any birthday.
• Perfect Pear: A bunch of cards for friends and sweethearts.
• Orangespiration: A nice mix for encouraging and uplifting the dreamers in your life.
• Mixed Fruit: All-occasion cards, including sympathy, get well, thank you, and more!

You get 16 cards and envelopes — plus the Jelly Belly jelly beans! — for just $20. They’re available now, but only at The Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand.

P.S. Kim & Jason Insiders knew about this recent development days ago. And they got a super secret password good for $2 off each set they order. If you’re not an Insider, now might be a good time to sign up. It’s fun. It’s free. It’s wonderful.

I have nothing against ties, I just don’t want them strangling my neck on a regular basis.

As a graphic artist, one of my favorite things to do is design t-shirts. It’s one thing for an artist to have someone point out how much they appreciate a particular work, but it’s another thing entirely to have them like it enough to actually wear it.

Like, in public.

We’ve featured a lot of t-shirts over the years at The Kim & Jason Lemonade Stand, and we currently have a crop that I’m pretty proud of. They’ve been a hot commodity at our recent speaking gigs, and for a few more days, we’re running a sale in which every shirt is $6 off. Some designs have limited quantities, and a few may not be reprinted in order to make room for some new ones. (I just can’t help myself! Must. Create.)

By the way, if you’re stumped by the Red Rover reference in the t-shirt above, it refers to an outdoor game played by children that originated in England in the 19th century, before spreading to Australia, Canada, and the U.S. According to Wikipedia:

The game is played between two imaginary lines, usually around thirty feet apart. Each team lines up along one of these lines, and the game starts when the first team calls out, “Red rover, red rover, send [name of player on opposite team] right over.”

The immediate goal for the person called is to run to the other line and break the chain (formed by the linking of hands). If the person called fails to break the chain, this player joins the team which called “Red rover”. However, if the player successfully breaks the chain, this player may select either of the two “links” broken by the successful run, and send them to join the team that had been called out. The other team then calls out “Red rover” for a player on the first team, and play continues.

When only one player is left on a team, they must try and break through a link. If they do not succeed, the opposing team wins. Otherwise, they are able to get a player back for their team.

So there you go, the skinny on Red Rover. The Adults Who Are Ruining Everything have banned it on many school playgrounds, so you know it must be fun.

First this schoolyard classic was top of the Daytee voting two weeks ago, and now it receives some bloglove from a cool t-shirt-loving blogger, Coty Gonzales.

I’ll confess I was never a huge hopscotchist (hopscotchianado? hopscotcher?). Maybe it the gravel driveway we had growing up or maybe it was my clumsiness that doomed me to skinned knees with all that hopping about, either way I certainly don’t have the fond memories Coty has of hopscotching in Hawaii:

I have to admit, in elementary school I had some mad Hopscotch skills. I remember this popular recess time game being very intricate and competitive. It was much more than just hopping from square to square. There were certain levels that required you to start by launching from a certain start distance and let’s not forget the difficult “washing machine” level that required you to spin 360 degrees block to block.

Thanks for the sharing your story Coty! Keep up the fun blogging!

Read the complete review on his cool blog and be sure to check out Co-Tee TV. Now why don’t you hop up like Coty and share your old school hopscotch story in the comments?

That’s what we do here.

And then I wonder that even if we did, would I be crazy enough to spend it in such a gratuitous manner?

We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I suppose. Until then, we’ll continue to operate with a shoestring marketing budget that is short on cabbage and long on weird ideas. Which is actually a good thing.

And very childlike, indeed.

When I was a kid, afternoons often evaporated in a whirlwind of exciting adventure fueled by little more than a unique garage sale find and oodles of imagination. And that’s how most small businesses start: with some great, crazy ideas and a mishmash of borrowed things, like time, office space, and computers.

In any enterprise, the ideas make the difference. Many wise established companies will tell you that too much money is a bad thing, as it can often serve as a poor substitute for insightful, creative, and weird ideas. Weird ideas seem to be something we at Kim & Jason have in abundance. Such as…

What if you washed your face with a fudgesicle?

That was the premise for our latest commercial. Now, it’s not nearly as pretty as some of those fancy car commercials you see on the Super Bowl. But then again, it didn’t cost all that much, either. (One box of fudgesicles and lunch at Subway for the production crew.) But what it lacks in budget it makes up for in unadulterated fun. And besides, how else are you supposed to advertise soaps that look like popsicles? Go ahead, watch it below. If you think it’s stupid, you’re probably not alone. But if you like it, please send it on to a friend or two. (Just click on the YouTube logo, and then on “Share.”) That’s how we little guys get the word out — via people like you.

At least until we have enough money to do some sort of big budget Super Bowl commercial with Justin Timberlake.

We can help. But you gotta act fast.

P.S. Would it surprise you to know that Doug is a big Carlie Chaplin fan?