In the past week (where I have been woefully absent), the following things have happened:
*We hosted 8 extra people at our house for a toddler filled weekend of fun.
*I made dinner for 12 on Saturday night.
*I had the flu.
*My husband had the flu.
*Niko had the flu.
*Niko had Croup (not recommended)
*Our beloved babysitter got a great job and is off for greener pastures.
*We had to track down new long term daycare for Niko.
SO. For this reason, I am posting about caramels, because this is about all I can wrap my brain around right now. To be fair, they do look exceptional. From Fusion Sweets. Taro Butter Caramel? Rose Orange Blossom Vanilla Butter Caramels? Come on! I'm not sure candy could melt away a bad week but this something else entirely!

Oooooo. Succulents! Sold in collections of 100, 18 or 6, these are perfect for favors or centerpieces! From Succulents Galore.

Fantastic favor idea from All Jarred Up - single serving pies in a jar! YUM!
Have a great weekend everyone!

So (as you may have guessed), it turns out that I am not allowed to share my news. Suffice to say that I was very busy last week traveling for some exciting press coming out on Kenzie Kate this fall. I know, that was such a tease. You'll be the first to know when it hits the news stands.
In the mean time, please allow me to make it up to you with some Monday morning eye candy, perfect little treats to beat these summer heats.
Peruvian Chocolate Caramellows
Nutty French Nougat
Vanilla Fleur de Sel Caramels
and Assorted Macarons

Are you especially bookish? Are you in need of wedding favors? This idea's for you! These adorable little buttons are made from an old dictionary, all featuring a different romantic word. Such an awesome idea, from Button Empire.

They're magnets! What a cute idea for favors for a garden wedding! From The Poetic Life.

My sister (the super-crafter) told me about this amazing website, Save on Crafts, and the DIY'er in me just peed myself a little from joy! They have anything you could possibly want for DIY decor projects. Bulk feathers? Yes. Branches? Sure. Solar powered lanterns? Yup. Moss? In large quantites. Beautiful vases for cheap? Ok. Cake Stands? That, and so much more. If you are trying to do your own wedding decor, or are looking to score some craft supplies I would highly recommend checking this place out.
Have a great weekend everyone!

In keeping with yesterday's dessert theme, I spotted these adorable cookie cutters yesterday over on Ohdeedoh. I thought they could work beautifully for cookie favors i.e. "Ann and Bill 1.29.10". OR! place cards/seating cards that double as favors! I realize this would involve resetting the type for each cookie then stamping a different name on each, but wouldn't that be cool? No doubt it would be kind of tedious for a large wedding (I wouldn't recommend it if you were expecting say... 400 people) but it wouldn't be expensive, and in my opinion, the best seating cards are edible seating cards! Message Cookie Cutters from Williams Sonoma.

Christmas shipping (not shopping, shipping)! Arg. I'm signing off for the week to go battle it out at the Post Office to get my presents to Cananda ahead of Santa.
In the mean time, wouldn't these make adorable favors? From Alliebeans.

The most fantastic idea for an outdoorsy-type wedding favor. S'mores kits. Yup. Can't believe I've never seen this before. From Twig and Thistle.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm elbow deep in ribbon this afternoon, so I thought I'd post a great source for trimmings and such. Nice Package (don't you love the name?) sells gift tags, twine, ribbon, pendants, and all sorts of creative paraphenalia for making... a nice package! Check them out and have a great weekend!

I'm back from a very productive weekend of Ikea shopping and house cleaning. With my due date about a week away, I realize that my days of solo shopping trips to Ikea on lazy Saturday afternoons may be limited, (which is really too bad, because solo shopping is one of my favorite sports, I'm very good). Hopefully this next chapter in our lives will be just as much fun as solo shopping, and I will not miss it one iota! Speaking of which, I should warn you that it's possible that sometime this week or the next (hopefully not the week after that) I may be mysteriously absent for a few days (maybe not that mysteriously absent, but absent none the less). Rest assured, I will be back with photos of the little one and updates just as soon as I am able. In the mean time, I will just keep on bloggin about pretty things. Keeping busy keeps me patient!
Speaking of patience... I found these amazingly detailed cookies on Sweet Ambs. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out! They are just so... perfect! I made lemon cookies the other day and got so sick of scooping batter after about 20 cookies, I started making them HUGE so I could be done. I can't imagine having the patience to create these little wonders by the dozens.

Amy from Sweet Designs just sent me these amazing pics of a poolside dessert table she styled for a Hampton's birthday party. Aside from the amazing table scape, I LOVE the idea of popcorn in little boxes! I'm a huge popcorn lover and I love it when people fancy it up, it really is the perfect party food - an inexpensive crowd pleaser every single time. I would be delighted to see boxes of caramel corn on the dessert table at any wedding, and the boxes are such an adorable way to display your monogram or your wedding colors. These would even be great as favors, if you added a little wax bag to keep the popcorn fresh. Everyone loves a late night salty snack after a few drinks!
Photography by Dawn Giarrizzo.

What is this, you ask? Ribbon? A candle? What? Nothing less than masking tape, my dears! Japanese masking tape to be exact. I can think of about 9 million creative and handy ways to use this pretty tape; from gift wrapping, to invitation making, to favor packaging, to book binding, to flower arranging... I could keep going, seriously - on and on. Available at Ginko Papers, via Black Eiffel, my newest blog crush.

I used to think that no one, (above the age of 11) could have serious feelings about marshmallows (unless they were accompanied by graham crackers and a chocolate bar). This was before I tried the NEW marshmallows. Not the Jet Puff variety, not the kind that you take camping, I'm talking about the fancy ones you get at Whole Foods, or The City Bakery. These marshmallows are a completely different story, and completely worthy of your serious feelings. While I've had them dipped in chocolate and rolled in toasted coconut, I've never had a lemon, cherry, or blueberry flavored one. This will soon be rectified thanks to Mia Mallows.

Happy Monday all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I've been sick as a dog, with some sort of killer cold. I'm on the mend though, and happy to be back!
How cute are these? I thought they would make fantastic favors, for the wedding or the shower. Handmade in India, available thru the National Geographic website.

Gumdrop Cookie Shop has created a ton of new designs for their adorable cookies, including a bunch of different varieties for monograms and a specialty cookies for showers and engagement parties. The good folks at Gumdrop will also package these up for you to use as favors. Who wouldn't like a cookie?

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and welcome to March! Only one month stands between me and springtime, and I cannot wait! In the mean time, we have 8 new inches of snow on the ground! Yippee.
I suppose I will bide my time searching for adorable handmade products on Etsy! Lucky for me I could distract myself for quite awhile over there... Among the many distractions are these handmade favors from Littleput. There's something so nice about a handmade favor (even if it isn't made by you), it just seems personal, you know? I love the rainbow of tiny boxes!

Wouldn't these make an amazing favor display? Japanese chiyogami tins from Gamiworks seller on Etsy. I'd fill them with jelly beans or something small and sweet, and line them up exactly like this on a table for guests to take.

I laughed out loud when I saw that first set of buttons. I had just settled down to blog after carving a pumpkin and sketching out my dog's homemade Halloween costume, Dell was sitting next to me crankin out PHP on his laptop. I'm pretty sure these buttons were made for us. The others would be adorable as an engagement gift! Button Empire also has some other adorable and/or hilarious button options that might work well for favors. Check 'em out!