Felt Food Finds & More

I've been pretty busy, but things have cleared up, and now I get to share some fun finds with all of you!

My niece, Giuliana (aka Princess), is turning 3 this week! Her birthday party was yesterday, and it was fabulous. So, what do you get a 3 yr old princess for her birthday? Turns out this particular princess enjoys serving up hot meals from her kitchen set. Odd, for a princess, but oh so easy gift-wise! I found so many great felt food shops on Etsy that It was hard to control my spending. How do you choose between chocolate covered strawberries and swiss cake rolls? or a t-bone steak dinner and a spaghetti and meatballs dinner? what about the sushi? what about all of the breakfast options? There were so many choices! And who thought of felt food anyways? It's brilliant!

I went with:
　
+ Chocolate chip cookies and pancakes topped with blueberries and bananas from bugnikdesigns. These came super quick in the mail, and I was ecstatic when I opened them up. They were SO incredibly adorable and looked delicious! The cookies were a hit at the birthday party as Giuliana was happy to "nom nom nom" on them over and over again for pictures.

+ T-bone steak dinner, with a baked potato (with sour cream and butter) and a side salad (with cucumber, onion and tomato) from LittleMissSewNSew. TOO CUTE! The baked potato comes apart and can be two servings of mashed potatoes...and...my favorite part...the steak is raw on one side and grilled on the other! Genius! I love it! LittleMissSewNSew was delightful to order from. She was super friendly, and I got the package in the mail in just 3 days! The dinner came packaged in a to-go container - ready to be gifted. I like that the package included lots of information about the shop. I love to spread the word about the wonderful shops I find, so it is really helpful when sellers send business cards, profile cards, etc.

+ Veggies from PickleThings. I ordered these at the last minute, so I haven't gotten them yet, but I'm extremely excited. So far all of the felt food has been adorable and really well made, so I know these will be great, too.

To complete the package, I found a little silver tray and a big scarf perfect for a play table cloth while thrifting.

Packaging: I love old suitcases, but I never know what to do with them. I've had a little blue one sitting in the basement for years. It's in pretty good condition, and the inside screams "princess" with a mirror and everything. I think it's from the late 50's/early 60's. It's the perfect size for little ones, and I thought it'd be great for Giuliana to use for sleepovers. I packed all of her gifts in the suitcase and stuffed the little inside pouches with pearly bracelets and necklaces.

Now, how about a keepsake? I turned back to Kjrsten's fabric banner how-to and put together a banner for Giuliana. I changed it up a bit from my first banner - I used pom-pom ribbon instead of ruffles, I used a different color for the letters, and I added buttons. Since this was my second banner, it went much more smoothly than the first. I kept all my letter and flag templates from before, so that saved a lot of time. All of the cutting was done at home, and all of the assembling was done during our drive to and from Chicago last Saturday. The next morning all it needed was some cosmetic work to finalize everything and I was done! The first banner I made took me three nights. I think I could've done this one in one Saturday or Sunday. So, I'm getting better, and this time around it was actually kind of relaxing!

Sinatra Love

Another friend tied the knot - CONGRATULATIONS SAMANTHA AND ALEX! I don't think I've ever seen a happier, cuter couple. These two goofballs were giggling through the whole ceremony and reception. Their obvious crazy-in-loveness gave me goosebumps. I took my camera with me with every intention of coming home with a memory card full of great pictures, but I chickened out at the ceremony and kept my camera in my wristlet. Then, I forgot I even had my camera until close to the last hour of the reception. So...at the end of the day I walked away with just two pictures.

Me, Jenna and Nicole. Friends since grade school : ) We've missed Nicole since she moved up to Grand Rapids, Michigan, but it makes us appreciate the time we get to spend with her when she's in town.

.

Jenna snapped this picture of Matt and me dancing - I LOVE IT! The rest of the world disappears when I'm dancing with Matt, and I don't care if I can't keep a beat because I'm in my happy place. We danced to Frank that night...Matt's arms around me, Frank's voice surrounding us...could it get any better?!

The little things...

It's the little things that make me grin ear to ear...

This weekend I got a fantastic surprise from my fabulous cousins in Chicago. I was completely shocked when I stopped by my parents' house on Sunday and found a package waiting for me. How odd! I cautiously opened it up and found another tiny package and a 10x magnifying glass. What could possibly be in this tiny little package?!

A letter!!!! How adorable!

I was speechless! This was such a creative and sweet way to send happy get well wishes (and what a creative way to describe what happened). There are no words to describe how happy I was to hear from my cousins. They are two of the coolest people I know. Thank you, Jim and Cheryl!!! I love you!!!

Check out World’s Smallest Postal Service. The story of what it is all about is really great. I hope to see them in my area sometime!

...In the crafting world…my handmade CD sleeves/envelopes have been keeping me busy. I'm working on two orders right now, both for incredibly talented photographers. I can't wait to ship out their pretty packages!

CD Envelopes

As promised, CD envelopes similar to the ones I made for Tiffany's Mix CD Swap are now available in my shop. I love making these CD envelopes {envelopes, sleeves, cases, whatever you want to call them}. Part of what makes them fun is their customizability. I've been having a really good time working with wonderful people to make just the right CD envelopes for their desired use. My first order was for CD envelopes to be used for three different graduation gifts.

I'm currently working with a couple different photographers to create custom packaging for their photo discs. Such a great idea! I'm thoroughly enjoying every second of this - I love collaborating with all of you!!

xo

Inspire Me

Nicolette, my itty bitty baby sister, turned 18 yesterday. I can't believe it! For her special day I dropped by a great little local shop, Inspire Me, to find a gift for her.

Inspire Me has 3 shops. The largest one is in Granger (Indiana) and has mostly clothes - men's and women's. The other two are downtown South Bend (Indiana) and are separated by just one shop, Circa Arts. They are smaller, one being full of upcycled and vintage accessories, home decor and furniture, and the other being stuffed with fabulous women's clothes, shoes and jewelry. I love the unique styles that Inspire Me carries, but I have to be careful because I could accidentally fall in love with a $125 scarf. Things can get pretty pricey in this boutique.

I found the prettiest, sparkliest tank ever and had to get it for Nikki (don’t worry, it was on sale). It screamed "I am fabulous!"...perfect for Nik's personality : )

The tank was from Free People, which, after browsing through the catalog, I found to be a pretty cool, very unique, brand. Of course, to get Nikki into the local gem that is Inspire Me, I threw in a gift card.

I have to say, my favorite part of special occasions is the card. Matt and I have discovered a few card companies that suit our personalities perfectly. Spark carries them all, and here is the one we chose for Nikki:

It went down perfectly. At dinner yesterday, we handed her the card. She opened it, read a little, and started cracking up. It got the attention of everyone at the table, and they were itching to read the wonderful message we must have written in her card. The card was then passed around, and, judging by the giggles, I’m confident everyone enjoyed it.

My other {equally fabulous} sister's birthday was last month. I wrote about finding her gift at Urban Lily, but didn't get pictures of her goodies. However, I do have images of the card Matt and I picked out for her. She had just had a baby, so it was somewhat appropriate:

Ahh...I love the unusual : )

{ Australia }

Matt went to Chicago yesterday to send his brother off to Costa Rica for a mission trip. It's always odd when Matt's not there when I get home...leaves me with a sort of empty feeling. Although wonderful, Daisy's hugs and kisses aren't quite the same as Matt's, and when I don't get a proper greeting, I don't know what to do with myself. It just throws me off a little bit, and I end up pacing, or cleaning/moving random things.

Just for kicks, here are a couple pictures of our precious Daisy Buchanan who greeted me yesterday:

When Matt got home he had a surprise for me - a book:


I'm always bugging him about moving to Australia, and I was just recently telling my new friend, Ann (from Australia), that Matt played along with me for a while, until he realized I was serious. So...is this like getting a puppy from your husband when you say you want to have a baby? "Why do we need to move to Australia, Baby, when it's all right here in this book?" Moving or staying, either way, I thought it was incredibly sweet of him to see this book and think of me. I love his surprises. I can't wait to sit down and learn a little bit about my dream home...or vacation - as long as I'm with Matt it doesn't matter which ; )

Hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday!

peace & love