Kids like instant gratification, especially if it's fun and requires a little mucking about in dirt. At Under the Sun, an outdoor decor store, all three kiddie delights (plus a little painless education) will be combined in a Silly Salad Day.

Children 5 and up will plant vegetables in a container and learn about gardens, bugs, dirt, crafts and other topics.

“It's just a fun kind of thing,” said owner Sandra Lee, “It's not just teaching kids about lettuce, but why caterpillars like to eat lettuce and other interesting facts.”

Kids will paint a “little wooden round scalloped-edge planter” in whatever design they choose and then plant a variety of vegetable plants – not seeds that require delayed gratification. Lee supplies the paint, planter, dirt, plants and cookies after class for the $20 class fee.

Adults, especially parents, aren't invited. “It makes it easier,” Lee said. “If the parents are there, the kids end up wanting them to do it. This way, they get to surprise their parents with their own creation.”

Lee's kid credentials include supervising the planting program in Bay Park Elementary School's garden for four years, and the composting program.

Silly Salad Day is 10 a.m. to noon Saturday in Under the Sun, 2365 30th St., South Park. To register, call Sandra Lee at (619) 281-8481. “Kids are so funny when you get them together and they start telling their little stories. The class is a joy,” Lee said.

– CATHY LUBENSKI

Sassy signs = successful sales

Yard-sale signs: They blow away, curl in the sun, the printing is so bad they can't be read – can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em if you're selling something from your yard. But how many people drive past without ever noticing them?

Sixty million people go to more than 9 million yard/garage sales each year and spend approximately $4 billion. But it's a wonder sellers and buyers ever connect given the shape of many unreadable signs.

Sassy Signs is offering a solution to the problem with their aptly named sassy signs. “My sister and I were spending so much time making signs for our own sales, we thought 'why aren't there any cool signs on the markets?' So we had one of those 'duh' moments, and came up with the idea for Sassy Signs,” said Tammy Nelson, founder of the company along with her sister Nycole. The 26-by-16-inch signs are made of rollable heavy plastic, making them easy to transport, in vibrant colors and attention-grabbing pinwheels. Stakes that stick in the ground keep them from blowing away in the wind. “Funky fonts, designer arrows, and sassy sayings such as 'Upscale Resale,' 'Your Treasure Awaits,' and 'One of a Kind Find'” will attract buyers. There are additional signs for graduation parties, baby showers and other events. Some signs are blank (except for the eye-catching graphics) so they can be personalized.

Before launching your own yard sale, the sisters advise checking with local authorities and neighbors to make sure it's OK to put signs up. Another tip: Start placing signs at the end of your driveway so potential customers don't have to look for your house number.

Sassy Signs are $7; with a marker, $8. The sisters hope to go nationwide with their signs, but until then try www.sassysigns.com.

– CATHY LUBENSKI

Postcard art

Colorful scenes of simpler times that once graced penny postcards can now grace the walls of your home, thanks to Sarasota, Fla.-based American Postcard Art.

The company, run by veteran postcard collector Liz Coursen and her husband Phil Neigh, sells vintage postcards in wall-filling dimensions. The couple got the idea after Coursen, reluctant to part with a 1908 postcard she knew a friend would appreciate, enlarged the image at a photo-processing kiosk and sent the enlargement to her friend.

Her friend loved the gift, but Coursen was dissatisfied with the quality of the image. Once-unnoticeable imperfections had been blown up to become “large and obnoxious,” she said.

So Coursen and Neigh invested in equipment that would allow them to scan, restore and print postcards in easy-to-display sizes ranging from 8-by-12 inches to about 3-by-5 feet.

Custom sizes can be made up to 60-by-90 inches, and by piecing together sections, custom sizes can be made as large as one desires.

Coursen's collection boasts more than 100,000 images of people, places and things. They have been scanned and are ready to be printed and sent, usually within 24 hours. Prices range from $54 to about $2,000 for the largest standard sizes. For more information, visit www.americanpostcardart.com.

– LINDA PESCATORE, COPLEY NEWS SERVICE