all play {no work}

This is me.  Today.  At work.  They said I wouldn't do it.  I did.  But I couldn't sit.  :(

weekend greeting giveaway {fourteen}

Who doesn't love Parker Posey? This awesome card is from La Familia Green.

Do you know someone that thinks Parker Posey is the greatest? 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 Jenny {from the awesome LobotoME ... fun blog too}. Yay, new wall art for Sam! :) Jenny, I know where to find you ... no need to email me your mailing address. Thank you everyone for playing ... I do love to read your comments.

Happy Halloween!!

awesome ad

December's issue of domino was fabulous as always. I particularly enjoyed the article and photos of Jenna Lyons {creative director for j.crew} home. The colors are inspiring, closet worth coveting {excuse me ... it's a whole room!} ... and well, she just couldn't be any cuter.

So there's all this inspiration and color and great ideas going on throughout the mag, but what did I enjoy most? This awesome ad from Motrin ...

more new products

Just added ... I'm so excited to have madebygirl at bwp!  I've only got some Holiday offerings in the store right now, but stay tuned for everyday goods in the future.

Jennifer's designs are printed on materials that are good for the earth.  I love this quote from her website, "All my cards will be printed on recycled or post consumer paper, with the hopes of creating a positive change in others."

Check out her inspiring blog and if you're in the market for some fun prints, take a look at her etsy site.

new product availability

I am super proud to announce that emilee rose products are now available in our webstore.  She's also got a pretty cute blog you should check out.

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' ...