construction update

As you can see from the photos, progress has been made {and it's also been a long time since I've posted about it}.

Construction should be done in two weeks.  Honestly, I don't think you'd guess that by walking through ... but I'm all about trust!  :)

I tried some fancy numbering on my photos:

#1 - where the girls beds will be placed ... one by each window

#2 - a view of their playroom

#3 - another view of their playroom

#4 - the fireplace in my office!!!!  {giddy? just a little}

#5 - an alcove {the color is actually fuchsia} above each girl's closet, where a personalized illustration of each of my girls will hang. {emilee rose is hard at work on them}

awesome idea

{found via cool mom picks}

This is the most awesomest idea ever!  As I may have mentioned {ahem}, I do love personalized things ... and what is more personal than a doll made from your child's art work?!?

Do I hear Christmas idea?

Want a chance to win one?  Check it out here.

creative thank you 'note'

Remember this party invitation?  Well ... this {above} is the thank you note.  My-oh-my Miss Heather, I do think you've outdone yourself {and everyone else}!  :)

This is the most awesome thank you 'deck' I've ever seen!  What I didn't catch on to at the party, was why Heather was asking all the kids what their fav recipe was, and then writing them down.  Here's an example of my daughter's favorite:

Recipe for:  Cheese

By:  Wynter

Ingredients:  cheese, bread

Oven temp:  3 degrees

Cook time:  4 minutes

Directions:  Put it on a sandwich

Heather put together all the kids recipes on separate cards.  Then put a stack of photos together, with a photo of the guest behind their particular recipe.  Brilliant!!

weekend greeting giveaway {thirteen}

This weekend greeting is a subtle beauty from a fairly new designer of ours ... Sweetbeets.  I love using these cards for simple hello, or thank you.  They're too sweet to pass up!

Can you think of someone who needs a subtle hello? If you'd like to send them this card, just leave me a comment saying who you would send it to and why {by next Friday}. I'll pick my favorite comment and you'll get the card. You can find more rules here.

Last week's winner is Nancy!  Come on ... it involved a trip to the store! :)  Nancy, please email me with your mailing address and I'll get the card out to you.  Thank you everyone for playing ... I do love to read your comments.

Happy weekend everyone!  We're forecasting snow in Milwaukee {it's too soon, it's too soon!}.

more personalized fun!

Did you know you can personalize stamps too?  The site also offers a free download to Mac users, which allows you to customize border colors and give a bit more control to the final design.

Along with creating stamps for my personal correspondence, I've given them as gifts and always use them to personalize my children's invites and thank you notes.

it's a cookie swap party

Member the awesome designer I touted in this morning's post? This. is the awesome project she was working on.

We feature different design tips on our website and Nellie's latest creation is a Cookie Swap party. Everyone here was ooogling over this party invite and idea ... we wouldn't leave her alone. I love everything about it!

Thank you Nellie ...

winter wedding favors

I love {in a strictly professional way of course} my graphic designer and her intern {Nellie & Katie, respectively}.

Brides.com contacted us for some winter wedding favor ideas they could feature.  We didn't have any in the store, so Katie started whipping some up {while Nellie was working hard on a project I will share later today}.  Nellie joined in when the other project was complete.

I love these favor ideas!  And I love how these creative minds work ... seems they can pull creative ideas out of their booties {can I say that?} and put something awesome together.  If it were me, I'd still be sitting at the drawing board.

Or ... I would've given the project to Nellie.  :)

personalized kleenex

Did you know you can personalize a box of Kleenex?  I am so giddy right now!  I love, love, love all things personalized ... love!

The first time I made personalized tissue boxes was last year ... made lots for gifts and lots for myself.

So when I recently received our new family photos, the first two things I did was order my new personalized purse {which I'll post about when I receive it}, and new Kleenex boxes.

Shouldn't everyone have personalized Kleenex?

Thank you Christine for taking a Kleenex-box-worthy photo!  :)

trick or treat

My kids love Halloween.  They love spiders, snakes, insects ... so a few ghosts, skeletons and evil looking birds are nothing!

I thought it'd be fun to show you how our house is decorated for the holiday.  Thanks to Pottery Barn Kids for offering up some great decorations!

i'm feelin' creative!

We at bwp, received this ...

saw this ...

and made this ...

Do you love the Snow & Graham wrap we used?  And look very carefully, you'll see a little mug 'tag.'  In looking at the photo, the bag may appear larger than it really is.  It measures about 5ish inches tall, by 4ish wide ... and it's absolutely cute as a button!

I'm lovin' all these designs too!  My creative juices are flowin' ...

blessing from the nienie auction

You all remember the Nielson story? I had mentioned that I bid on a couple of items on other blogs.

One was personalized stationery from Susann at Simplesong and I just received the second from Bethany, who also writes a fun blog.

From Bethany, I bid on a personalized quilt. I sent her about 20 old baby items {actually, a couple current ones were in there too} and she put together this amazing quilt. Could it be any more awesome?

I cried when she sent me a teaser photo. Each square holds a special memory or moment. There are a couple items from my 13 year old {she wore as a baby}. They were my favorites, so I saved them and all 3 other girls wore them. Then there's the hospital gown baby Hunter wore when she had her ear tube surgery. Some personalized t-shirts they got from daycare with their photos. Monogrammed sweaters, hooded towels, a pair of training 'undiEwears' {as my 'baby' calls them}. Big sigh ...

And what I love the most is the attention to detail. Bethany kept buttons & snaps visible, and cut out just the right detail of the clothing piece. Thank you, thank you, thank you Bethany.

The best part is that we were able to participate and help out the Nielson family in their time of need.

Just a reminder you can stay updated on the Nielson's here.

this is sophie

My daughter loves Sophie.  So does our puppy {but that's another post ...}.

I spotted Sophie over here and thought I'd give her a little shout out too.  A couple of months ago, I was in our local children's boutique {Freckle Face} looking for some cute baby gifts, when the lovely Deanna clued me in that Sophie's where it's at.

I took her advice and picked up a couple for baby gifts ... but not without grabbing an extra for my two year old 'baby' ... like she needs a teether, right?

And as I'm writing this, I remembered that Sophie made a recent appearance in our yearly photoshoot.  {exhibit's below}

{photo courtesy of christine plamann}

Ya see how the puppy is eyeing up Sophie?

{photo courtesy of christine plamann}

Note in this photo ... Sophie was causing a bit of distraction to Hunter, so we needed to give Sophie a little nap.

Anyhoo ... Deanna was totally right ... if you're looking for baby gift {or possibly trying to extend the timeline of your own 'baby'} ... Sophie's where it's at!

weekend greeting giveaway {twelve}

This weekend greeting is from one of my favorite designers ... Linda & Harriett.

Do you know someone who is the best? If you'd like to send them this card, just leave me a comment saying who you would send it to and why {by next Friday}. I'll pick my favorite comment and you'll get the card. You can find more rules here.

Last week's winner is a tough one for me! 89 year old woman vs. friendship? I think I'm going to have to go with cheering up the elderly. I hope I'm still celebrating when I'm 89! Amymarie, please email me your mailing address and I'll send you the card and candybar.

Happy weekend everyone!

new products & blog

I found a new blog to love.  emilee rose also happens to make some pretty cool paper delights {which will be in the store soon}.

Should I also mention that Emily is pretty cool herself?  How do I know?  She's a manager at bwp and keeps things flowin' smoothly for me.

Enjoy!  And I'll let you know when we have her stuff in the store.

neighborhood fun

Our neighborhood, the Historic Third Ward {in Milwaukee} is hosting a trick-or-treat event on Halloween.

Broadway Paper is handing out candy to the little ones and will offer at 10% discount to any adults in costume. Fun?

Find more information here.