A few of my favorite things: weekending, crafting, and entertaining.  Combine all 3 and you pretty much have the recipe for my ideal day. Nothing makes my heart more happy than a warm house filled with crafty girls, yummy food, and amazing creative projects!  The weekend before Christmas, I had the honor of hosting a fabulous handmade gift-making party with my friend Amanda.  We spent the day chatting and creating with 20 amazing local girls–both old and new friends!  Methinks that whoever is on the receiving end of these fabulous projects will have one happy Christmas. Prepare for complete pretty pastel overload…
At the front door, we welcomed guests with sparkly nametags hanging on a tinsel tree. The happy hostesses (below)Peppermint cake pops & pistachio macarons(above right)from Cocoa & Fig–our favorite bakery! Finished projects: Vintage tin ornament (below left) & Stenciled doily canvas bag (below right)Lovely supplis to decorate our vintage tins from the Gilded Bee! Glittered clothespins (below left) & busy gift wrappers (below right)Pretty cupcake wrapper bows!  So addictive to make!And the best part of all: Sending each lovely lady home with a SWAG bag (Stuff We All Get)–goodies donated by our kind sponsors!  (See source list below!) Amanda designed the Be Crafty graphic on the bags–isn’t she wildly talented? We are already busy planning our next party in March 2012…NEST CRAFTY…where we will get busy making crafty things for our homes! Stay tuned for details & registration.
{My only regret was having not taken even more pics!  Not pictured: fabric paper clip book marks & pretty ribbon luggage tags.}

Okay, so by now I’m sure you’re probably dying to find out where we got all of these pretty supplies!  The overwhelming response & contributions from our sponsors pretty much rocked our world…We had almost as many sponsors as guests!! The next time you are shopping for crafty supplies, please pay them a visit!
xo.

—————–GIVE CRAFTY SOURCES——————
Annabel Gray – pretty packaging supplies
Berry & Rabbit – kraft envelopes, mini clothespins
California Craft – glassine bags, stickers, tags
From Soul – unique picnic boxes, wooden (glitter) spoons
JR Crown – paper goods & handmade stickers
Little Miss Moustache – bias tapes (for fabric bunting banner)
Mary Beth Hale – vintage rick rack, wooden spools of thread
Merrigoround & Me – bias tapes
Paper & Present – twine, doilies, heart stickers, twist ties
Run Ellie Run – pretty packaging materials
Sweet Kaity – pink striped treat bags, pink paper straws
Sugar B Supplies – pretty glassine bags
The Gilded Bee – beautiful emphemera, paper flowers, tags, etc.
The PathLess Traveled – star punch garland, twine
The Petite Package – pretty packaging supplies
The Twinery – twine
Wrap Works – pretty packaging supplies
Twine & Tape – glassine & kraft bags, twine, and more lovely materials

I nearly choked on my chocolate-covered-cherry this afternoon as I peeked at this post and read some super kind words from the sweet girls at A Northwoods Wedding blog. It was a huge honor to be a part of their “12 Days of Christmas” Series, and share some advice on wedding photography! These is just a little bit of the wisdom we try to impart to all of our couples. Check it out here!
Merry Christmas friends!!
xo.


and btw–that pretty picture of Jeff & I was photographed by the wonderful, amazing Emily Steffen…a girl we love and and who’s work we admire!

You know Dasher & Dancer, but did you know they were here in South Minneapolis  to help kick off the annual Spruce Christmas tree lot!?  We are huge fans of the floral design work of Amy, the owner of Spruce, and her shop is easily one of the most inspiring places around!  It was a huge pleasure for Jeff to help document this awesome neighborhood tradition and catch some of the families and reindeer in action as they rang in the Christmas season with trees, treats, and good cheer!  Hoping your holiday season is bright & beautiful!
xo.

Getting to work with genuinely amazing couples is precisely the reason we ADORE this job. Yesterday when this gushing message popped into our inbox from LeAnn about her recent e-session with fiance Will, we just couldn’t resist sharing it, along with a sneak peek of their photos. From the moment we first met with them, we knew these two were going to rock our world…And based on the awesome time we had with them at their engagement sesh, we just know their September wedding will completely blow us away! I mean, how cute are they?! We are blushing!!:

“I just wanted to express how absolutely thrilled we are with our photos. You wanna know how thrilled? Hmm, let’s see… This morning I got a call from Will at 5:15am as he was driving to his morning job at UPS. He was shouting, “We got the pictures! Website! Pictures! Pictures!” Luckily, I am fluent in Will-speak, and even in my groggy state, I made mental note to check out the site before work. Then…flash forward to 6:15…school is called late and I hit the snooze again. Yet, little did I know, as I dreamt of leaves and scarves and flannel, that William was flooding my cell inbox with schoolboy-on-a-Christmas-morning-like messages. Again at 9:15 he called to chat pictures, and I, in a hasty-wild attempt at multitasking, dressed for work, brushed my teeth, balanced a bowl of cereal on my laptop while walking around the house and graded papers all the while flipping through the pictures. AMAZING (the pictures, not me). I even missed an optional lunch meeting to sneak some face time with our photo album, ha ha.

Now, out of all the picture-related madness that happened today, I must say the best was coming home to check email and finding this gem of a message below from Will. I must also say that MY list of favorites is about twice the size of his.

Thank you both. We can’t wait to work with you again!

LeAnn

———- Forwarded message ———-

Date: Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 1:09 PM
Subject: favorite photos in order

These are my 47 favorites on my first go through. What do you think?

Love, Will