Two Cute Boutique

Have you heard of the Etsy shop Two Cute Boutique?

Last week she contacted me asking if I'd like to trade a couple of garlands for a crocheted hat ... and once I saw her shop I knew I had to say yes! It's just adorable!

She made up a cotton newborn size hat for Baby, including a detachable flower and headband so that I can mix and match with her different little outfits. So sweet!
If you'd like to get one (or more?) for your own little sweetheart you can find a gorgeous selection at this link here - enjoy!


<3

Buymodernbaby

something fun that I stumbled upon this afternoon - a website called Buymodernbaby.com featured the Thanksgiving Circles Garland on their blog today!

Thank you so much for the feature! It brought a smile to my day : )

pretties from the bloggy world

Have you seen my "featured on" page recently? I've just updated it with a few of the lovely blogs that have featured some of my items or events that used items from the shop (seriously gorgeous events!).

Here's a sampling:
Style Me Pretty has had a few different posts with things from the shop:

photo source

A gorgeous wedding that they featured last October where the bride requested some extra large hearts garlands in book pages to warm up the back wall of the church.

 photo source

A wedding in Ireland where the couple used  some of the Romantic Vintage Heart garlands in the backdrop for their cake table. So sweet!

A New York Valentine wedding. The event planner did a custom request for chair garlands, and they became so popular that I have since added them to the shop!

photo source

And an Australian engagement session where the couple used the Romantic Vintage Hearts garland as one of their props - their photos were stunning!

photo source

The baby blog On To Baby featured one of the sweetest baby showers I've seen, and it just so happened that the girl who threw it, Mona of Birds and Honey, had asked me to make her some custom "It's a Boy!" cupcake toppers for it (another item that has become so popular that I've added them to the shop!). They were just darling and really complemented the rest of the shower decor.

Anyway, those are just a few! Aren't they gorgeous? Every time I see photos of where people have used my products I am amazed at how sweet they turn out and how they fit into different settings so well. If you have photos of an event where you've used some of my creations, I'd love to see them! And if I'm able to use them here on the blog or on facebook, I'll send you a coupon for your next order!

Angel Cakes

Angel Cakes in San Francisco bought some of the cupcake toppers and now they're including them in their Valentine's special!

If you live in the San Francisco bay area and are looking for a new cupcakery, Angel Cakes looks pretty wonderful - I wish I lived close enough to visit (or that they delivered to Indiana - that would be nice, too)!

lovely limitations

Have any of you read The Nesting Place bog? If not, you might enjoy clicking over. Right now she is finishing up a series of blog posts titled 31 Days of Lovely Limitations. Her series is inspired by this quote from Henri Matisse:

Her version of that quote goes like this:

Now, isn't that true? We (or at least, I) want to make a lovely home for our families, but usually have a rather small (or tiny) budget to bring it to reality. So we improvise with what we have. : )

I've been finally getting pictures hung up around our new house (I didn't tell you that we had moved? Or that I might not be posting for a bit? No? Hmm. ... guess that post must still be in the "drafts" section) and came across this frame that had gotten some red wax splattered on it.
It used to sit next to a red candle that, well, splattered once when I was blowing it out and the stain stuck. The spots weren't too obvious where I had had it in our apartment, but when I hung it in our bedroom in the house the spots stood out to me like a sore thumb.
I thought about taking it down and putting it somewhere else, but it really completed the wall. So .... then I remembered the Nester talking about working within our limitations, almost celebrating them.
And I remembered that I had some lovely old lace that a customer had sent me. (can you see what is about to happen here?)

A bit of glue and a few minutes later and we had a solution!

 Ta da!

The problem was fixed and the frame is lovelier than it was before. Yay!

{I'm linking this up on a few of these blogs}

garlands

It's really fun to realize that some of the things in the shop are getting featured on websites and blogs (a huge thank you to all the wonderful people featuring them!!!). It brings a huge smile to my face. : )

I was so excited this afternoon to see that it had happened again last week! The blog that carried that post is called It's A Brides Life (here's the post). The author was writing about Etsy wedding decor and included the Romantic Vintage Hearts garland. :)

Scrolling through some of the posts reminded me of the hours I spent getting ideas from wedding blogs 4 years ago. *sigh* It was so much fun!

help me love Japan

Romantic Hearts Garland - white with a single red heart

Have you been watching the updates on t.v. and online about Japan? Every time they show images of the devastation my heart goes out to the Japanese, wanting to do something more tangible than pray (even though I know that prayer does help).

So, I decided to donate all the proceeds (that's right, 100%)  from my new garland - Romantic Hearts, white with a single red heart - to one of my favorite faith-based disaster relief organizations: Samaritan's Purse. They have a wonderful track record of not only providing relief and care to those most in need, but they also share Christ and His love with them.

If you'd like to donate directly through the website of Samaritan's Purse you can find all the info you'll need right here.


And, on a happier note, if you are itching to do some Spring-y projects you can find a ton of creative ideas over on these blogs. I'll be linking this at some of them. :)

just wanted to show you something

One of the things I really enjoy about my Etsy shop is when my happy customers post a photo of how they're using their purchase or leave a comment telling me how much they love it. It's so lovely to know that I've been able to bless them!

A few weeks ago one of my customers posted something in her own Etsy shop, ZigZagArts, that she had made using the jar she bought.

 Blue Jar Art Print 5x7

Susie makes lovely drawings, and she has been featuring the vintage jar she purchased in a few of them.

Blue Jar With Marbles Art Print 8x10

They're gorgeous Susie! I can't wait to see what you are going to do with them next!

And, remember, there's a giveaway going on here - scroll down the page and enter to win a CSN Stores gift card. :)


(the images are borrowed from ZigZagArts)

sweethearts

Sweethearts

(this garland was actually my husband's idea - one day he saw me making a Hearts By the Yard garland for a customer and suggested that I make one all in red but with one white heart - my Sweetheart has the best ideas!)


I love February. It's not my absolute favorite month, but I love it.

Partly because in California where I grew up, February was the start of Spring (now, in Indiana, Spring comes more toward the middle of April - still not used to that at all). The bulbs would bloom, the trees blossom, and you could start wearing t-shirts again - on some days.

But another reason that I love February is because it marks some important "firsts" for me: the first time John told me "I love you" (it was on the phone and I was so startled that I hung up on him - poor guy!), the first time John met my family, the birth of our first baby, and the day I opened my Etsy shop, to name a few. Plus it has Valentine's Day in it. :)

I can hardly believe that the shop has been open for a year now! I've had 45 sales so far, and it's been a wonderful year. Thank you all for joining me in it. You have all been so sweet and encouraging. :)

As a special thank you to all you darling readers, I've created a coupon code just for you to use during February. When you place an order just enter the code "1YEAR" to get 10% off of your order.


So, why do you love February? I love reading your comments!
Also, I'm linking this to a few of these fun blogs. You might love heading over and checking out some of their amazing Valentine's Day ideas - and I'd love it if you would spread the word about the coupon code for the shop. :)

1-1-11

2010 was a good year. A very, very good year. It was a full one, too!

 In January I got Emma's closet/my craft storage area organized.  It was so nice to see it all tidy. :)

 In February I opened my Etsy shop. I had high hopes but no real idea of how well it would do!

I made Emma a little blue skirt in March. 

I posted my first step-by-step tutorial in April, a flower pin.

May saw me in full nesting mode - wow, there were a lot of things getting done around here! There were the Chalkboard Storage Jars, the Hanging Votives, Moses Basket, made room for baby #2, and my February Sweater to name a few. And another highlight was that some of my projects were featured on other blogs - a fun first for me. :)

June had the biggest and best news of the year - our "little" Ian was born.

In July I added international shipping to my Esty shop (and have since mailed things to England, Spain, Singapore, Australia and Canada!), wrote a post about growing your own ginger, and posted photos of the blanket that I made for Ian.

One of the highlights of August was getting my flower pins featured on the front page of Etsy. :) I also posted a tutorial on how to make your own cushion covers, photos of the sweater I made for Ianhttp://path-less-traveled-market.blogspot.com/2010/08/bench-cushions.html, and about organizing my recipes.

September saw me sewing for Emma and a bunch of custom orders, winning a darling dress for her from Back Country Drive and joining the Kids Clothes Week Challenge to name a few things. That was a busy month!

 In October we took a family vacation and when we got home I got another custom order, this time for a fabric garland. It was so popular, both here on the blog and in the shop, that I ended up writing a tutorial on how to make your own.  :)

 In November I (finally) joined Twitter, hosted my first giveaway, finished Ian's hat and sweater and a bunch of other things that got jumbled together into one post.

And in December I posted about painting wall words,  making an ironing board cover, and my most popular post yet, making tea towels as Christmas gifts.


Yes, it's been a very good year. Thank you all for reading and joining me! I'm looking forward to what God has in store for us this next 12 months. :)

Handmade Christmas, part II

This project was actually a Christmas present for me. :)

A while ago I saw this tutorial for sewing your own ironing board cover and saved it in my "ideas" folder. It looked so easy, and my ironing board definitely needed a face-lift! Then a few days later I found some really cute material on the remnants table at the fabric store. And now, several months later, I finally took the time to make it into this:

It turns out that the hardest part was getting everything together and taking the time to make it - so glad I did! :)

The ironing board cover takes 2 yards of fabric and about an hour to complete (or longer if you get interrupted;)). Basically, if you have a sewing machine, iron and ironing board and some basic sewing skills, you can make this!

Hmm, maybe I'll make a few more as Mother's Day gifts?

I'm posting a link to this on a few of these blogs.

I got featured :)

Make and Takes just featured the Tea Towel project! Kind of fun :)




And Moms By Heart did, too!




Thank you ladies!

Free Shipping Day

the Path Less Traveled is participating in Free Shipping Day!

Today is the last day that you can place an order and still get it by Christmas Eve. I'll still be mailing out orders as they come in after today, though, just can't guarantee when they'll get there. :)

Christmas is coming...

...and it's just around the corner! Seriously, how did it come up so quickly?
Steph over at Somewhat Simple is having an amazing Christmas giveaway event - the 12 Giveaways of Christmas:

She is offering 78 prizes in 12 days - pretty amazing!!! (But not nearly as amazing as the Gift we celebrate on Christmas Day)
And if you enter on the 11th day you'll have a chance to win two custom 5x7 silhouettes from my etsy shop. :)

funky DIY silhouettes

 Design*Sponge featured an article yesterday with a tutorial on how to make your own framed (and funky) silhouettes. The ones they pictured were of birds and so on, but the same process would look great as a personalized gift for a loved one - maybe of your kids or of theirs?

image source

goody goody goody!

a little red ribbon was having a giveaway for one of her zippered pouches, and I won!

Thank you Gret - I'm so excited (grin!)!

(images from a little red ribbon)

Another Giveaway!

A Little Nick Nack is hostessing a giveaway of a few little things from the shop!

Head on over to her blog and enter to win a Sky Blue Flower set and a White Scallop Garland (there might be a coupon code in it, too ;D).

<3

My Advent Blessings (so far)

I really didn't mean to take a week off from the blog. Really. But life gets busy. Amazing how that happens. :)

Since I posted last:

• we had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving with John's family
• I got most of the Christmas shopping done on Black Friday
• we got (most of) the Christmas decorations up, including the tree
• I got my hair cut - 11" taken off and donated to Locks of Love
• and a bunch of other stuff that I really can't recall at the moment

 the new hair :)

In the last few days I've also had a bunch of blessings! There has been at least one each day, and it's been kind of like my own special Advent celebration. All of them have been unexpected and made me feel so loved.

• a fresh wreath arrived on our doorstep (thanks Mom!)
• we were given a turkey
• my haircut was free! (I guess that's normal when you donate your hair, but I had no idea when I walked in and was fully expecting to pay for it)
• I found a dozen white roses on clearance for $2. They were already a few days old (hence the clearance) but I really love how they are open and blowsy looking :)
• got this in the mail (okay, I kind of did know about it since I had ordered it, but I forgot about it completely! it was so nice to open the mail box and find it there!)

 source

•  And it snowed this morning.

I'm really loving this Advent season so far. I used to think it was fun when I was little, but it's even more fun when you're an adult! Looking forward to what the rest of December - and my Heavenly Father - holds in store.

I did it!

You know the "Ideas" page on the blog? And how it's getting rather, well, long?

Well, I finally made something from it!
I found the Heirloom Cut Chenille Baby Blanket on Aesthetic Nest a while ago and immediately knew that I needed to make one - or maybe more? - for my little ones.

It took me what seemed like forever (Ian has learned to sense when I'm sitting down at the machine and then decides that he needs to eat right NOW and that the blanket can wait!), but it's finally done!

 I used cotton seam binding instead of the satin blanket edging that she recommended since I wanted the whole thing to be 100% cotton, and I really, really love it. The "flat" side of the blanket is a light moss green with cream dots, and the chenille side is made of light green, yellow and cream. I've washed it a few times since it's been finished (it is getting used!) and it gets a little softer each time.

Can I say again that I just love this blanket?


I'm linking to a few of these great craft blogs - head over and check out the creative ideas!

an idea + bits of fabric + thread = something pretty

Well, hello there! It's been a few days since I've posted anything ...... but I have a good reason (I mean, other than being a mommy to two little ones, that is)! We took a week of vacation to visit family, and now are back. It was a good time of reconnecting with everyone,and my family especially enjoyed meeting Ian. His Grampa and aunts and uncles were completely smitten. :)

Things are settling into their routine again, the laundry is all washed and put away, and I am getting a few new things ready for the shop. One of the new items is something that I probably would never have made if it wasn't for someone else's idea.
A few days ago a woman over in England sent me a custom request for a garland that was similar to others that I have listed, but different - made out of fabric and white.

After a few emails back and forth, this is what we came up with:

I am so glad she contacted me - otherwise I might never have ventured into making something like this! It's really gorgeous, fluttery and delicate. It reminds me of snowflakes, dandelions, and almond blossoms. And mini marshmallows. :)
It would be sooooo pretty adorning a wedding. Or a nursery. A party. A Christmas tree. A mantle piece or doorway. Above a headboard. Pretty much anywhere!

There are more in the works for the shop, and I might just squeeze time in to photograph and post a tutorial. Maybe. :)

Once again, I'm posting a link to this on a few of these craft blogs - head on over and check out the amazing ideas other people are posting!