5 Perfect Bridal Shower Gifts

In exactly ten weeks I get the privilege to stand up with one of my best friends on her wedding day.  I'm so thrilled to be one of her bridesmaids and am so looking forward to her big day!  She was one of my bridesmaids when I got married (5 long years ago, lol!) and I just can't wait to make her feel as special as she made me feel when I was a blushing bride.

Shannon - girl, I love you so much and wish you every happiness in the world.  You are one of the kindest people I know on this Earth and you are going to make a wonderful wife to your very lucky man.  I CAN NOT WAIT for your stagette next weekend...bring it on!! :)

So, before the wedding there are the obvious events to get through first.  First on our schedule is the stagette (have I mentioned I can't wait for it?!) and then, later, the bridal shower.  I especially love bridal showers - I love anything traditional that requires baking and pretty gifts!!

Many of you may be approaching bridal shower and wedding season yourselves.  Personally, I always like to give a physical gift (rather than a gift card - although, I do love getting giftcards myself!) because as I mentioned I like tradition!  I have also said this several times in my blog, but, I also love a personalized gift. Therefore, I thought I would share with you a few gifts that I have up my sleeve for a show-stopping, perfect bridal shower gift.

Door Country Woodworks is without a doubt one of my all time favorite Etsy shops.  Just take a look in his shop for about a millisecond and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.  Now, this birdhouse would literally bring the show down at a bridal shower.  It works as a card collector at the wedding (and you can custom colour it so that it matches the wedding colours) and then, when the wedding is over, converts to a birdhouse for the newlywed's backyard.  Notice in the picture that there is even space for the couples name and date of the wedding.  This one is $125USD and there are many different to chose from.  The "Just Married" bunting on it is just spectacular!

Oh.my.lord. I am obsessed with calligraphy. My ONEday Wishlist (my version of a bucket list - only I dont' use bucket list because I hate that term)includes to become a skilled calligrapher. Ink Blot Calligraphy is the proud owner of this wonderful skill and this listing for some custom calligraphy art is right up my alley. So beautiful and there is so much talent that goes into this. I believe that it would be a perfect gift for a bride, especially if she's a close friend, because what set of girlfriends don't have a special quotation, funny inside joke, or just something special shared between them? For a $10USD deposit you can get started with your ink colours, font and flourish preferences, sizes, etc. I can totally picture "to have and to hold from this day forward" in beautiful calligraphy and then framed in something lovely.

This listing from Black Scrap Cat is a favorite of mine for several reasons.  First, this shop originates from Canada and I love supporting local artists (we are in the same province even).  Second, just think of the wedding pictures, what a wonderful photo prop!  And third, this amazing gift doesn't have to just stop here - you can get one for mother of the bride, bridesmaids, flower girl, etc.  It makes such a special memento to use on the wedding day and to keep forever.  For $27 USD you can really create some wow!

Define your Space Vinyl is an Etsy shop you should become familiar with.  I love it.  There are so many amazing pieces to chose from I really don't even know where to start.  I love this one, in particular, because of the coordinating fonts and the flourished design along the bottom.  It would look so lovely on the wall and I know when I was a bride (with a newly acquired last name) I loved seeing it and displaying it with pride.  This one is 18 inches in diameter, a good healthy size, and can be done in your bride's custom colours for $42 USD. 

This I love because it is so unique.  I'm guessing that most of us do not know the coordinates of where we got married (or another special occasions in our lives) but what a cool thing to find out; and don't let the wedding place be your only option - first date, first home, where they met, etc.  AND, what a conversation piece this would be.  You can pick one of these up at The Drifting Bear for $48USD.

I wish I could get all of these for my special lady.  She certainly deserves them!! :)  BUT, who knows, maybe on her bridal shower day she'll unwrap a little something special.... ;)

(and no I can't tell you...she might be reading this right now!!!)

If you know of any special bridal shower gifts you'd like to share, please list them below in the comments section!! :)

Milk and Cookies First Birthday

In a few short days, my baby is turning one!  I can't believe it.  This past year has gone by with alarming quickness and now, before I know it, my baby isn't so much of a baby anymore!
We ended up having to have her birthday party this past weekend because my mother-in-law would be away during her real birthday.  Also, since I will be going back to work next week (boo-urns), it was nice to get the big festivities out of the way before my first day back - cut down on the chaos!

I, as most pinners do, have a crazy obsession with Pinterest and therefore started there to chose a birthday party theme.  There are so many great ideas on this amazing website but as soon as I saw some Milk & Cookies party pics I knew this was the winner!

So started a few weeks in advance and made nine different types of cookies; my goal was to make ten different batches but by the ninth one I was done!  Sugar cookies (family recipe), gingersnaps (family recipe), coconut macaroons (Joy of Baking), chocolate chip (family recipe), oatmeal raisin (Aristocrafty), Oreo pops (Hip Hip Horray Blog), minty s'more cookies (Tip Junky), pinwheels (from Schnitzel and boo), and chocolate chip cookiedough cheesecake bars (Brady's Baking) were on the menu.  I also prepared a milk bar that offered skim, 1%, 2%, and homogenized milk, along with chocolate, rolo, and strawberry syrups for flavoring.

For decor I tried to keep things as INEXPENSIVE as possible!  For the table I used a tablecloth I already had and then went to the Dollar Store and got the thin pink and white plastic table covers , which I taped to the front and laid along the back of the table.  I bought the pink sparkly O,N,E from Walmart for $2 each.  I used different platters I already owned and then for the Oreo pops, I bought some foam and covered it with paper and ribbon.  I place it on top of a coffee cup and voila - a cake pop stand!  I also went to Home Depot and bought some ceramic tiles (the edge pieces) and made them into my cookie markers - they work perfectly with a dry erase marker!

For the milk bar I went to IKEA and bought six large glass bottles for $2.99 each.  I used some ribbon and chalk decals from Uppercase Living to decorate.  The smaller milk bottles I purchased on-line and simply added a ribbon to make them pop.  The amazing paper straws (they did not get mushy at all in the milk) were purchased from an Etsy shop called Hey Yo Yo.  I also used a large chalk decal for the milk bar sign, which I put on board I bought from Home Depot for $6.

Here's a picture of me with the birthday girl!  We ended up just have one cupcake for her to smash into, rather than a full cake.  There were so many cookies I'm glad I decided not to add more sweets in the end.  She had an awesome time and we were so happy to spend the afternoon with family that we do not always get to see. 

Happy birthday Miss Kate, I love you more than I can say.  You are such a sweetie and I'm so very proud to call myself your mom.  xxoo

Christmas Mantel-a-go-go

I have the world's most boring fireplace mantel. My fireplace is conveniently located in a corner of my home but, while convenient, it's a pain to decorate. Since it's a corner piece, the top of it isn't your traditional long rectangular shape but, rather, a very large triangle. It's meant to have a t.v. on top of it but our t.v. hangson the wall instead, leaving a very large space to fill.

I came across a wonderfully decorated mantel on Positively Splendid (a fantabulous blog) that featured a whimsical Seuss-like Christmas mantel. It absolutely inspired me to do something with my boring old triangle.

I decided to go with gold and purple as my colour scheme and, like Positively Splendid's mantel, feature everything around some beautiful silhouette art of my two bébés! Below is what I came up with and I'm so happy every time I happen to catch a glance over at my new Christmas corner.

I started out by going to Zellers and picking out some gold Christmas balls. I also found some bright purple birds and some giant wrapped Christmas candy ornaments. All the Christmas décor was already on 40% off so I picked up a few other coordinating items such as the curly purple Christmas tree and a gold snow flake.

The tall wispy gold balls in the large vase were from Fabric Land, who was also having a 50% off sale! I was originally going to put them outside in my cast-iron urn with some shrubbery but liked them on the mantel instead, giving the décor some much needed height! I am still going to put in some more height, by placing in a cedar behind all the decorations you currently see. Like I said, it's a very large space so I have a lot of room to still work with.

I have always been in absolute love with silhouettes. I am thrilled to have finally been able to make some of my girls! Positively Splendid provided an awesome tutorial on how to make these pieces using PhotoShop (click HERE for the link). I had never used Photoshop before and I can tell you - it's a bit challenging!! This tutorial, however, makes it very easy to create your own silhouette masterpiece! I printed mine off at home and adhered them to some purple polka-dotted paper; I then used some plain black frames and some easels I bought at the good old dollar store to display my art!

There are two of these gorgeous flourished reindeer on each side of the mantel. I love them because they are a combination of antique gold and silver in colour and have a beautiful detailing on them. I used a 40% off coupon at Michaels and got them for $12 each!
This little mister is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. I have had him for a few years now but every Christmas when I pull him out from the depths of the basement's bowels I am always delighted. I went to a large warehouse that sells greenware and bisque items and bought him for around $15. I then brought my snowman into one of those coffee shops where you paint ceramics (SOOO much cheaper when you buy your own bisque, however, not all places will let you bring in your own pieces) and paid the $10 studio fee. So, for $25 I consider this guy to be a steal of a deal!

And finally, seeing that I had downloaded a free 30 day trial of the Photoshop program (here) I decided that I should play around with it a bit. This program, for me anyways, is very confusing but I did manage to make this cute cut-out of my kids with Old Saint Nick! I used the magnetic lasso tool to highlight what I wanted in my picture (when we got our Santa pictures we paid for the digital image only, rather than buying their expensive prints!) and then whited out the background. I then used my trusted super sharp Stampin' Up craft scissors to cut around the top part of the picture. I folded back the top and made a pop up tent backing. I then adhered some purple polka dot paper on the base so it would go with my décor!

So however you decide to decorate this year, I hope you have fun with it and maybe try something new! It's fun to add each year to your Christmas stock and maybe even add in some new traditions along the way! I would love to hear what new things you may have tried and if you've posted some pics to your own blog, post your link in the comments so I can check it out!! :)