Holiday Boutique

Over this past weekend, I participated in my very first craft selling boutique. It was also the weekend of an amazing block birthday party that included a whole roasted pig, jump house, and beer on tap. Annnnnd the stomach flu for the boys. Seriously, never a dull moment.

I had several reinforcements throughout the weekend to help: my mom, dad, and neighbor {who sold some cards too}. W stopped by throughout the weekend to bring me things I had forgotten at home, feed me, or take/bring back V. I'm so glad it happened so close to home.

My table neighbors were fabulous and sweet. Of course, Juju was the highlight for everyone. If I came without her, everyone would ask where she was. I was never short of arms to hold her while I ran to the bathroom, ate lunch, or needed to sit. It really was a blessing to have so many sweet and gracious women around. 

Another highlight was meeting and exceeding my costs for the experience. Meeting cost was the goal I set out for myself since I had no clue what to expect. I was so excited to get two custom orders while there too. One for a bridal shower that was happening Sunday afternoon. I made it over the night and she picked it up on Sunday morning. 

On the flip side, I seemed to have brought the majority of my traffic. Most of those that purchased from me, I already knew. So I'm not sure if I really needed the boutique other than to have a place to set up shop. I also had plenty of inquiries from strangers on whether I had an online shop. Still have my work cut out for me.  I had a blast, loved trying it out, but with a full weekend away from my family, I'm not sure if I'll do it again. Perhaps, I'll do a virtual store-front first?! 

A GIANT thank you for everyone who encouraged from both near and far. And to my family who supported me through time and energy! This was certainly NOT a one-woman show. ;)

Handmade Holidays

Don't have the time or the energy to make something and add some newness to your holiday decorations this year?! Pop over to Newlywife to see my latest post on a few of my favorite holiday homemade items to make your place more merry + bright!

Thankful Tree

Thanks to the amazing crafty search engine known as pinterest, I found this idea last year and knew I wanted to start it this year.

First thing, I rolled into my girlfriend's classroom with my roll of kraft paper to create the trunk base. An overhead projector, printed tree clip-art, and a pencil, I set to work outlining and cutting out my tree...while E looted some poor girl's desk and played with her pencil sharpener shavings and T ate random bits off the floor. Family effort involved here. Once home, I taped it up to our small wall space between our kitchen and eating area. It fit just perfectly. 

Then I added the "W+J" carving and thought I was done. E protested, asking, "Where's my letter?" so instead I added his and T's hand prints. Now, it was our family's Thankful Tree.

Next stop was my parents' house to make the leaves. I printed 60 leaves on my mom's cricut, using various colored and printed card stock. I added a piece of tape to the back of each and added the leaves to the bottom. My thinking was that W and I would share one leaf while E would have the other. Thus, having enough room to fit everyone's thanks for the entire 30 days in November. 

 Each dinner time this month, we'll take two leaves, add our gratitude, and put them among the branches of the tree. 

Even though this is such a simple exercise and really one I should be doing every day all year long, I already notice a change in perspective and attitude. I'm looking out for the blessings of every day. I'm appreciating the roles I have, the people I love, and things I already possess. It's been a great reminder that we already have more than enough. 

Best of My Days {Grown Up Place Cards}

I saw this fabulous gift idea on one of my most favorite blogs, Under the Sycamore Tree, the week before Thanksgiving. It went perfectly with my hopes of having meaningful favors. The little notepad was the perfect size for our plates..

Her idea was simple: write down the best part of the day...every day. I loved that its something we can do every day at dinner then at the year's end have a whole collection of wonderful, thankful memories.

I simply printed out her pdf file and followed her directions, which included a bit of decorative accents to 'wrap it'. I added a name and the directions with ric rack, lace or tulle and a upcycled coffee sleeve.

And I actually got a cousin picture of {almost} all the cousins there and with their adorable head dresses. Totally shocked and totally pleased that I was able to capture their cuteness. This was after a full day of fun, food, and play {and short naps}...

Hope you all had a wonderfully stuffed Thanksgiving Day!

xoxo,

The Swensons

Head Dress {The Kids' Table Favors}

 You just never know where inspiration will hit ya. I've been trying to come up with a more meaningful place card/favor for our Thanksgiving. But also one that didn't have me running out buying supplies either. What a tall order! 

Then over the weekend, E and W were playing with this felt head dress that I had picked up at JoAnn's in the $1 section a while back. It was too big for E but it was too cute not to pass up. While they were playing, it hit me: I could make one for each cousin that will be there. And I'll personalize each to make it more memorable!

I don't think I've shared my love affair with felt yet with this blog. It's really one of greatest and awesome-est {yeah, i know...not a real word...} fabrics to work with. So I immediately got to work by pulling out all my scraps. I used the JoAnn's headband as my template.

First, I cut out my front and back headband strips from brown {times seven}. Then I embroidered all seven cousins' names.

Next, I traced the four different templates for the layered leaves on to green, red, orange and brown felt. {which I wish I could show you my four pretty little stacks, but that picture somehow got deleted. bleh.}  Here's the back of the one I purchased to give you an idea of the templates I used.

I then cut little slits into the leaves, to make them more leaf-like. That was done by folding each leaf in half and making little downward cuts starting from the top of the leaf.

Now came the tricky part: assembly. 

I glue-gunned all my layers together. My first run-in with a problem. I came up with this finished product:

 Um, yeah. Not going to cut it for a warrior-like head dress, yo. I consulted with my other half who is THE problem-solver. And he suggested I do this:

I glued the rest of the overlaying parts of the leaves together to try to reinforce them. Viola! We're back in business!

I also glued a small extra piece in back to good measure.

I laid them all out to make sure I put the velcro pieces on the right sides.

Funny thing about velcro...when I only had three head dresses left to make, they suddenly disappeared. W and I started going through the downstairs wondering where we could have put them. Since I do my crafting on our dining table, it's not uncommon for materials to be re-located for meal times. W suddenly started laughing because he saw the velcro had totally done its job...to my butt!

It was hilarious; partly because a minor crisis had been adverted and I didn't need to re-do them.

Last steps were to pin and sew those puppies up!

I had some issues getting my machine to go through the parts that were heavily hot-glued. I tried to get close enough to the center orange leaf on both sides and called it good.

And then they were done!

 

They are all packed up and ready for our long drive! I hope they like them! Now, how in the world will I be able to get all seven wearing them and smiling for the camera?!

Stay tuned for the adult favors!

Place Cards {the details}

I'm VERY excited for Thanksgiving this year for multiple reasons. My top two favorite ones are: 1) my hubby gets the whole week off and 2) it will be my first Swenson Thanksgiving! That's right, I've been a Swenson now for almost four years and have yet to celebrate this wonderful holiday with my hubby's side of the family. And I love them dearly and am so thankful to have awesome, amazing in-laws so you can see how I'd be excited. The only trade-off for this great experience is the six hour car drive with a 2 year old and 2.5 month old. No free lunch, huh? Heh.

Anyway, I stumbled across some cute place cards in my recent Real Simple and blog-hopping. I e-mailed my sister-in-law {the one hosting} to see if I could help in some way since we aren't local. Thought I'd try to add some festive elements that aren't too bulky or time-consuming. Although, with such a large family like this, place cards could potentially be time-consuming! ;)

Monogram Glided Pear

Faux Wood

Leaf + Gold pen= genius!

"We're Thankful For" Pine cones

Mini pumpkin + Gold spray paint= genius again!

Fabric and Colored Paper