Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

My mother in law was in town this weekend to help out with the monkies while hubby was away. This meant a little more free time to myself and I got to tackle not only my inbox but also my feed reader (which I knocked out completely on Sunday, went back to check on it today and am yet again waaaaaaay behind. Blergh.) But while sifting through literally hundreds of updated feeds I found some little gems along the way that made my back straighten and my eyes perk up just a little bit more. So here ya go: Top Ten Pretty-To-Me Links.

1) Vintage Paper Parade I just love this etsy shop. Super simple but super cute stationery - I can not narrow down which is my favorite, love it all! (and Pepper Design Blog is doing a giveaway so head on over to score some adorable and f-r-e-e goods)

2) Red & Teal Wedding While perusing the archives of one of my favorite photography blogs, I found this little gem and it blew me away. I would love to say I have the cahoonah’s to do such a bright color scheme for my wedding but isn’t it gorgeous?! And the cake, did you see the cake? OhMyGoshIJustLoveIt. LOVE. IT. *swoon* *drool* *sigh*

3) Best Easter Baskets Easter is one of my favorite holidays but sometimes the “cutesyness” of it overwhelms me. However, I am always a sucker for a beautifully designed and executed Easter basket. My favorite? The dyed Easter basket. So incredibly simple but so lovely.

4) Beautiful Cherry Blossom Cookies Aren’t these cookies amazing?? I don’t think I could bring myself to eat one! Wait, who are we kidding - of course I could. But I would take tons of pictures first.

5) DIY Ruffles and Lace Tank Top Sewing can be such a fussy process, one that irritates and bores me but I think I will blow the dust off of my sewing machine to make one of these - pink puffy *heart* this.

6) Only the best cake ever Today. (cuz we all know I will change my mind when I find another one tomorrow) but still, so stunning (Brandi, I think you should have this cake for Bug’s 2nd birthday party. Just a thought *wink*).

7) Macaron pops Love me some macarons. Love me some lolli’s. Love me some Bakerella.

8) Shauna Younge I am a huge Amy Atlas fan and love seeing what her genius-mind comes up with but I found another pro in the dessert bar field and I can’t get enough of her stuff either! Her “LOVE” dessert table knocked my socks off - so sweet and I am totally digging the silhouette’s.

9) Pentunia Pickle Bottom Cosmopolitan Carryall I mean, the name is just fabulous on it’s own (Petunia…so lovely). But then the description makes my eyelids flutter “Sapphire blue and Ocean Mist vintage inspired floral European cut velvet with coordinating sapphire blue wool tweed and sapphire blue water resistant lining” What does it all mean? I don’t care. All I know is she takes my breath away.

10) Simple yet Adorable Cuppie Today kicked my butt, especially between the hours of 3pm to 7pm, so to stumble upon this little gem really brought a sense of peace and tranquility to my mind. Is it weird that food does that? No? Good. A little yummy topped with sweetness on a backdrop of happiness. I know it’s weird but I’m 10% auditory, 90% visual so it just happens that way. But man, isn’t it a beauty.

One of the things I am immensely thankful for in my life is the abundance of women that are in it. And not just women, but wives, mothers, close-as-sisters type relationships. This has only been something recent for me in the last five years of my life, but man is it nice! A little part of my heart always aches when I hear of women who are lacking in their female relationships.

On another note, a few months ago I felt the Lord calling me to live more simply. I did another house-purge, got rid of anything I didn’t need, didn’t want, didn’t want to hang on to, and began to look at other aspects of my life that needed simplifying. One place that I realized I was being so stingy with was my studio. I mean, you guys, I have a bonkers amount of crafts. And that’s just my studio, not counting what is in our attic. I can justify it with the thoughts of this is who I am, creating is such a big part of “me” that it make sense that my craft space reflect that, right? But when I stepped back and really took a hard look at everything I had I decided that the time had come. I was going to put my studio on a diet.

One of her trouble-spots? Paper crafts. The paper, oh the paper. The smooth, the patterned, the shimmery, the coordinating bundles of papery goodness. But not just the paper but everything that can be lumped in with the paper-crafting category: stamps, inks, embossing powders, ribbons, brads, fabric flowers, etc. etc. So I sent out an email to a few of my girlfriends who had expressed an interest in paper-crafting and told them to come over & let’s make some cards!

I totally nerded-out too. I precut lots of paper so all they had to do was assemble. Each person got their own little package of perfectly cut, scored and measured cardstock and embellishments. I will be honest that while I can share just about anything with these women (and I mean anything), the thought of leading them in the ways of the card-making made me nervous! Mainly because I wanted them to love it as much as I do. And at the end of the night when they asked to do it again, I think that spoke for it self: it was a success!

All the pretty ladies, working away.

More nerding-out with the party favors.

We had so much fun and I can’t wait to do it again. I’m already planning next months project-list and will start prepping as soon as it’s all finalized. I love my kids and I love being a stay-at-home-wife and mom but man alive is it good to have a hobby and one you can share with your girls!

*If you’re local and interested in joining me for a workshop, please email me at candacegrahl@gmail.com or leave a comment here

So I’m easing back into blogging & so far feeling really good about it! I do feel like I crack my knuckles more at my keyboard than I ever have, not because I’m typing that much but because it helps kill time as I’m debating what to type. Anyways, many of you I know, and obviously you know me but even those that I know I could always know more. And I if you’re like me, when it comes to blogging sometimes you draw a complete blank as to what to blog about. So in honor of Top Ten Tuesday I decided to throw some questions at you to get to know you since you take time out of your day to get to know me. Use this as a springboard to a post of your own, or just answer them here for my own amusement. And if you’re new to my blog & we have never met, please do it anyways - I love meeting new people! You can use the comment section of this post or answer them on your blog & link the post in the comment section so we can all get a little closer. C’mon friends, let’s get a little socially awkward!

Top Ten: Getting to know YOU!

1) What would you call yourself if you could choose your own name?

2) What was your worst date (as in going out on a date, not an actual calendar date…unless you have a really bad one to share)?

3) If you had to teach one subject in high school or college, what would it be?

4) When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?

5) What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

6) If money or skill-set was no issue, what would you love to do for a living?

7) What is one thing as an adult/parent/spouse you do that you swore you would never do?

8) If you could go back to one particular time in your life (not to live, not to change anything, just to visit) when would it be?

9) If your walls could talk, what would they say about you (good & bad)?

10) If you could fix or put an end to one problem in the world what would it be?

So my baby boy turned four last week. FOUR! How does that even happen? One minute he is this red-faced screechy little baby & the next he is my fun, smart, articulate, hilarious little man. For a few months before his birthday he kept telling me over & over that he wanted a pirate party. Just for jokes I would ask him randomly, “So Conner, you want a clown party?” or “You’ve been asking for an animal party, right?” and each time he takes a deep breath & says, “No, mom, a piiiirrrrraaaattttte party. Pirate.” Isn’t he adorable? I found a stamp set I wanted to use, gathered some paper & started planning. I definitely got into it - I mean, in the invitation I really used the term “come have a swash-buckling good time!” *insert eye roll* but it was a lot of fun, especially the cake!!

Isn’t it awesome? Beth at Taste Selects, a local bakery took my design & ran with it. Love how it turned out! I did the red cuppies to accompany it & our good friend Ryan Portnoy came to snap the pics.

cupcakes…..yummmmmmmm

This is the pennant I made, which was super easy - cut out triangles, hole punched the edges, slide cotton yarn through, hang, voila - pennant. Conner loved this thing. When hubby & I were hanging it his eyes lit up & he kept asking, “Is that for me? Is that for my party?” The concept of alllllllll of this being for him was blowing his mind.

I am such a fan of cookie favors. I highly highly recommend doing them for your next party. No annoying toys that fall out of that awkwardly small little bag, no more leaked thing of bubbles all over your car, no. Instead, you spend a fraction of the cost (even if you buy already made sugar cookies & let your kid decorate them) & your guaranteed that everyone will love & use your favors.

These are the thank you’s that I did & while they were time-consuming they were still fun. Any excuse to nerd out with paper crafts & I am there! Piecing the squares together took the most time, but after that they came together easily.

Overall the party was a blast. I got to see my little guy set loose with eleven of his most-loved peers & while it parted my hair quite a few times, they all had a great time.

Happy 4th birthday my sweet Conner!!!

WAIT! Nobody move just yet! I make no promises a post shall follow up this one in the next 30 days (or 6 months) but dang it I’m gonna try! Blogging is one of those things I wish I had more time for. And it’s not that I have no time, it’s just what free time I have I just can’t make myself do it. But I am giving into the siren’s call yet again so y’all pray for me cuz I really want it to work this time. Sometime I feel like this blog is just a bad boyfriend, yanno?

First, did I blow debris into anyone’s face as I dusted off this thing? Yeah? Sorry about that. I feel like we need an icebreaker game or something, get reacquainted again. Many of you are following me on twitter so you know what I’ve been up to. I thought about posting one of Amanda’s fun Top Ten Tuesday list of all the things I’ve been up to since we last spoke but man alive, I blacked out thinking about that. You would’ve been bored to tears. So instead I’m just gonna hit the ground running with what’s been on my mind-grapes. Oh, & for those of you who don’t know, I am slightly obsessed with the show 30Rock. Love it. LOVE. IT. I think my goal for last year was to work as many quotes from the show into every day conversation as I could & hubby can attest to that as I tried. He said, & I quote, “Please stop, you’re killing the magic”. So be ready to catch ‘em (Heather, so far you’re the only person who’s risen to the challenge of identifying them but I challenge others. Maybe I’ll start doing a contest or something).

Okay so this was a little painful! Easing back into blogging is definitely intimidating. I know I’ll get the feel for it again & don’t want to be scared away but geeeez I feel rusty! Okay wait someone wants to say hello:

Hey Conner, what’s up? You wanna tell them what? ‘kay, go ahead sweetie

Aww that’s so sweet, well…what…oh, sorry…

K, are you done? I don’t want to be rude…

….how ’bout now?

G’nite to you too.

Maybe not yours, but definitely mine! I hosted a baby shower for my dear friend Amanda last weekend, and while having a third child is (socially, unfortunately) not shower-worthy, she is having a baby girl after having two little boys so forget etiquette - throw some pink at the woman!

Pink and white was the theme, and please forgive the photo quality. I had to get photographer-friend-extraordinaire Kelly to show me how to use my external flash again (it had been almost two years since I had last used the thing and had forgotten how to use it *blush*) and then after, well, the difference it makes! But the before pictures were a nightmare to edit and I finally just gave up. You get the general idea, even if the color is a little wonky.

Anyways, cuppies are my favorite thing to do for a party or event. They are playful, adorable and so simple. And Michaels finally carries the larger icing tips now so the icing-to-cuppiecake ratio was split pretty even - just as much sweetness on top as cake on the bottom. Just how I like it!

More cookies from the fabulous Kelli Tripp (who will hopefully have a website soon if her designer would get her blog together. Wait…that’s me…oh right…)

Love Amanda’s excitement over my choice of plates and napkins. This woman is easy to please!

Amanda is a talker. When first meeting her, you never have to worry about awkward pauses with her - she can find any topic of conversation and go with it. This picture makes me laugh so hard because it looks like Amanda is sharing some salacious gossip (which Amanda never does) and her face shows her obvious feelings about it, and Jen is interested yet wary?

This is our good friend Keisha. She found out she was pregnant shortly after I did (with Max) and later found out she was having twin girls. After the initial congratulations and squeals, Tim says, “No fair, they get two!”.

Joy also has two little girls (not twins) who are the most precious, girly-girls you’ll ever meet. Amanda will not be lacking for moms in her life who know how to raise amazing little women.

This is Andrea and Meagan. I can post this picture of Andrea because one, it makes me laugh and two, she doesn’t read my blog and can’t get mad (heehee).

And we had a special guest at the shower - Sharon Obsorne! She heard Amanda was a fan and graciously made an appearance. (This is actually Kelly’s mom, Dawn, who is just as fabulous as Sharon herself).

I never understood all the gushing and babbling that happens at baby showers until I started having children, but to be with your closest girlfriends, celebrating another life that will be introduced into your life and your family’s as well, there’s something so special about it. Even more so when it’s a baby that you know has been hoped and prayed for for so long. Congratulations Amanda - we can’t wait to meet Addison Elizabeth!

So until the good Lord decides to bless our family with a little girl of our very own, I shall live vicariously through my friends who have them. Everyone tells me that in about ten years I’ll have all the little girls I can handle (following the boys with their tongues wagging!) but I’m holding out hope…and crossing fingers, toes, legs and anything else that our next addition will help balance out all the dude-ness in our house.

Max’s birthday party went off without a hitch. It’s amazing to me that when you decide to not stress about something, and stick to your guns, how much that can change your perspective.

We have a large circle of friends and family. Large. I feel so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love me and my children immensely, however planning events can be daunting, especially when over half those on the guest lists are kids who are coming to a swim birthday party and they are calling for a chance of rain and everyone may end up in our small-medium-sized home. Thankfully the rain stayed away and with my mom and mother-in-law to help with last-minute prep, my decision to not stress about his party was rewarded by everyone having a great time, myself included.

This is the banner that I made and will keep and use for their birthdays from now on. I read about a woman who made one for her children when they were babies and puts it up every year for the whole week of their birthday, and the kids gets so excited when they wake up and see the banner, signaling that their birthday week has begun. I found the paper at Michael’s and fell in love with the color pattern, which happened to match the plates and napkins. Again, something I decided not to stress about and it all just fell in place. Then I used my handy-dandy die-cutting machine, added some chipboard letters and voila.

And to everyone who may or may not have broken a tooth on the cuppie sprinkles, my apologies. I was obviously going for aesthetic appeal over comfort and those bad boys were hard. Next time, only the soft ones, pinky swear.

And true to my southern roots, tons and tons of food. Don’t know what I was thinking when I kept thinking over and over, “Will we have enough food?” And the answer is always yes. Take me by the shoulders next time, shake me and say, “yes, woman, YES!” Or bring tupperware so you can take some of it home because we still have spinach-artichoke dip sitting in our fridge.

Those are the cookies that the fabulous Kelli Tripp made, who has just started her own cookie company and as soon as her website is up and running I’ll post it so you guys can order from her. I’m pretty sure she’ll be offering to ship them, which is good for those of you not in the ‘burg. She does her own homemade fondant which is WORLDS better than the store bought. I give this chicka and her product two thumbs up!

Max didn’t quite know what to think of all twenty-something party guests singing at him. I’m actually surprised he didn’t start to cry because he is not a fan of loudness. Just ask his big brother.

And when it really came down to the cuppie, Max was way more intrigued by what it was, than what it tasted like. The icing ended up everywhere, in his hair, his eyelashes and his ears. But hey, it’s his birthday and I had to calm my OCD down by reminding it that these are the few moments in life where wearing your birthday dessert is perfectly acceptable.

All in all it was fun and made me realize that while I am so saddened by Max’s first year of life being over, it’s only going to get better and more fun as he gets older, birthday parties included. If you want to see the whole set of pictures from his party, head on over to my flickr.

Update: Some of you have expressed interest in purchasing a banner. I will custom-make one for you, but will not stock them in my esty shop just yet. So if you’re interested, email me or leave a comment and I’ll get back with you to work out the details.

Okay okay, I know I said I wouldn’t talk about my children on this blog, at least not to the extent that I did on the other one, but today is a special occasion since my baby boy was born one year ago today. *sniff* Those that know me know how much I absolutely adore this little guy. Maybe it’s his infectious personality. Maybe it’s the fact that he will smile and laugh all day and for no other reason that he’s just happy to be with you. Or maybe it’s just I love him so much more than I ever imagined I could love a second child. And while I will contain my super sappy sentiments for his baby book, I have to share a little because…well I just do.

So to my son on his first birthday. Max, you are, for a lack of better words, a breath of fresh air. Every day. Every day that it all seems to be too much, you smile at me and it suddenly gets better.

Every day I feel like a wonderful day couldn’t get any better than it is at that moment, you show up and somehow it does gets better. There is not a day that goes by that you do not make me laugh so loud, from my gut, because your humor is my humor and we just get one another.

Your countinence is inviting, your smile so warm and encouraging and your laugh, your contagious and amazing laugh - it stirs up every good emotion in me and there is nothing else like it. Some days I am convinced you are pure sugar, but each day I fall just a little bit more in love with you and wonder if my heart really will burst because of you.

You are amazing and wonderful and truly a gift from God. Your little being was created with such careful consideration and I can’t wait to see all the joy and happiness and goodness that you will bring to this world. Happy Birthday, my precious baby boy. I love you so, so much!

My creative endeavors were side-lined last week when our household was leveled with that nasty stomach bug. If you haven’t gotten this yet, count your lucky stars because it is ewwwwwwwwwww. Everyone is back to feeling tip-top just in time for the spring weather. I seriously hope we’re not just being teased - I’m so sick of being indoors.

Tim is on the internet all day with his job and finds some pretty cool things along the way. He passed this one to me last week and I have watched it quite a few times. It’s a talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Loveand she talks about a different way to look at your creative genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk that has really stirred me in a way that I haven’t been in awhile (when she gets to the part about seeing a glimpse of God, it gives me chills every time). If you are at all creative or enjoy the creative process and understand the pressures it sometimes carries, you must watch it. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on it when you’re done. Actually, I’m going to go watch it again - love it.