Eliana's Chef Party

Better late then never right?  Well yes her birthday was in Decemeber... lol... I have been meaning to blog about it since then and give credit to the awesome vendors that came together for the event.  And well... I just haven't got it done.  Now Owen has had his birthday and I would like to blog about that as well but first thing is first :)

Eliana has always had fun birthday parties, not because I feel like she needs something over the top and elaborate, or its my duty to provide something fantastic, but simply because I LOVE to do it! I love everything that goes into throwing an event.  Deciding a theme, a decor scheme, the games, food, etc, etc... I love putting together an event that the guests will enjoy and leave feeling really special!  And this party was no different. 

For this party I collaborated with one of my favorite party throwing friends Amelia from Amelia Marie Designs, she is just like me in that she enjoys all things that go into creating a party.  We brainstormed a theme and a unique color scheme and then set out to have some others help us! Gayle Driver Photography is amazing to work with and she agreed to join or fun! As well as Tina made our beautiful cookies and cupcakes and A Cherry On Top made our custom aprons and Eliana's chef hat, of course we (Crafted in Grace) made the hair accessories.

Lastly all we needed was to make some decor and invite some friends! Amelia and I spent some time crafting up our decor of paper pinwheels, wood utensil chandelier, chair sashes, and oh so much more.  Brigette Turner Design drew up beautiful invites, recipe cards, and patterned paper for our event. 

I am so pleased with how the event came together and how much fun the girls had.  Their is nothing better then little girl giggles and fun!  Enjoy the pictures and please check out our vendors and LIKE their pages :)

This party has been featured on:

restylesource

gayle driver blog

pretty my party

the frosted petticoat

Hope in Handmade

Over the last few months we have been praying about a project over at Crafted in Grace. We are calling our new project Hope in Handmade.  I just wanted to take a few minutes to explain the heart behind this project and the logistics :)

In the last few months Alissa and I have been talking about doing some "Kingdom Work" with our little craft business.  For the most part our little side business is not much more then a fun hobby. We really enjoy making gifts and treasures for other mommas and friends.  We have been blessed by this hobby and are not looking to make it into a full time career.  At the same point we don't want to miss an opportunity to do something for the Lord in our little corner of the world.  We feel the Lord has blessed us with a bit of talent and we want to be a blessing to his people with our work.

A lot of times we think "well I can't make a difference, I'm just one person, so why try... "  To that I think Dr. Suess had the best reply  -

So here we are caring a WHOLE lot :)  We have several projects on our hearts. Projects that we know are moving in God's Kingdom.  The truth is... God doesn't NEED our little shop to do this work... He doesn't NEED us to do anything.  But the desire of our heart should be to serve the Lord with gladness, to thank Him for all He has done and to do what we can to make a difference. 

Now for the logistics:  We have decided that we will choose a project for each month to focus on, and during that month we will offer an exclusive product where the proceeds will go to that project.  This will give us a chance to do good in different projects that have our hearts.  Some projects you will see repeated and others may just be a one time adventure.  All in all we are giving this Hope in Handmade project over to the Lord.  We are placing it in His hands, and any success in our eyes and the Lords will be His doing and will be for His Glory!  

Lastly for the FUN part!!!  We are starting our first project today!!!!  We have decided to start it off with an "internal project"... lol. Our first project is an adoption fundraiser.  It is such an odd thing to do "self fundraising" but we KNOW that this adoption is of the Lord and the logistics of it are that it cost money$$$.   We have about $2,000 left for this installment payment and believe some crafty work will help us meet that goal.  We have come up with a fun spring project to bring to you and your littles!  All proceeds from this project will go to adoption funds.  So are you wondering what we are selling?? ;)

Well (drum roll... )  we have adorable applique shirts for you!  4 different patterns for little boys or girls.  Shirts can be made for your newborn all the way up to Youth XLarge.  Below are the pics of our shirts available and all purchases can be made on our Etsy page! 

Thank you so so much for joining us in our Hope in Handmade project!  We are so excited about the future of this monthly project!  And we hope that the goodies we are offering bless you and your littles and bring smiles on your faces :)  

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn 

Our Favorite Christmas Gift

So I have to share about our favorite Christmas Gift - that we gave, that is... Of coarse every year we think about what we would like and what the kids might want. We all end up spoiled and with way more then we need. But for this girl who has the love language of gifts, its a great time for me. I enjoy getting fun little gifts and really really enjoy giving gifts! This year we wanted to give the kids something that would be long lasting and they would really love. I suggested to the hubby that we should make the kids a play kitchen??  This seemed kind of silly since we have no garage, no workshop, and really no good building tools... but we have some really really really sweet friends who do ;)  So we did some research, asked our friends for help, and got started.

With the help of our friends we found these building plans that we based our build on. We gathered supplies, I day dreamed about design ideas, and Daddy went to work.  It took some late nights and sneaking away a few afternoons, but in the end it turned out awesome!!! Best of all we made it!!! Well mostly Todd made it ;) I was just the demanding designer behind the construction, and I helped with the painting.. ha ha...  but who is keeping track? lol

Here it is -

Isn't it so cute?! The kids love it and play with it daily.

They love to tell their friends "Come play in the kitchen my daddy made me!"

We used a dog bowl for the sink (it is a perfect size), got a faucet from a local salvation army store for $10, 

the shelves were the perfect scale and came from Michael's, and the window we printed off a scenic 

Shenandoah Valley picture and framed it out and gave it a curtain. 

The oven on the left turned out great with the plexi glass, and the little fridge on the right we would have taken taller if we did it over. 

We found fun food from Ikea along with the stainless steel pots and pans, utensils, and coasters for burners.

The blender and toaster were a fun Christmas gift from Pottery Barn

and the kids got lots of fun play food as well. My favorite of the play food is the wooden play Sushi set :)

They serve their food on a little set up Ikea table, and of coarse every little girl needs

 a tea party set, and got the idea for some simple little tea bags from Pinterest (of coarse)

The kitchen is a fun place to play for our current kids and can't

 wait for future kids and even grand kids to play with it!

Yay for fun DIY projects!!! If you have any questions about our project as you embark on your own feel free to comment or email me!

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn

CIG Giveaway!

Hey everyone just wanted to share about a giveaway we are doing at Crafted In Grace. We have some new pieces and more fall stuff to come! Head on over and check it out, tell us what you like, and what you would like to see!!!  The Giveaway ends Sunday, so enter ASAP!!!

some new fun goodies -

As always Prayers and Blessings - Dawn

My sister's "new" room!

I recently took a trip with our kiddos back to the Midwest to visit family and friends. We enjoyed a lot of adventures (more to come on that soon) - but one thing I did while visiting was fixing up my little sister's room. She had been wanting to move her room from upstairs to down stairs where she could have more space, her own bathroom, and a walk in closet. So that's what we did! 

My mom wasn't too sure about the colors when we suggested this, but she was happy with the results. My sister worked hard and painted her little life away with me for two days!

I think she was very happy with the results (my mom and sister)!

This was the finished product of her room!

and then her own bathroom -

and lastly... every girls' dream - 

A personal dressing room! 

with a couch and all!!!!

Overall it was a fun project to help with and hope my sister enjoys her new space.

More blogging on our cross country adventure soon!

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn