Teacher Appreciation Cookies + Milk Printable.

I love teachers. Especially my children's teachers. I feel such comfort knowing that while they're at school they are not only being taught, but also cared for + loved. Teacher Appreciation Day is this Tuesday May 3rd so I thought a little cookies + milk treat would be a nice way to say thank you. 

To make the cookie sleeves I created a template and then traced it onto pretty patterns from Fresh Memories Studio. I'm not a scrapbooker but I loved Fresh Memories designs so much I knew I would find a use for them. For this project all I had to do was print out what patterns I liked and I was good to go. Plus, at only $3 for 12 patterns I couldn't go wrong.

To personalize the sleeves I designed four tags that stacked onto one another. Each with a different message.

To cover the milk carton I cut 4 strips (one for each side) of Fresh Memories pretty paper and secured them with adhesive squares.

You know, with a goof ball like Owen it's a good idea to butter up the teacher.

-Download the Teacher Appreciation Cookie Sleeve Template + Tags here.
-Purchase Fresh Memories Studio Lattice in Navy Blue for the same patterns I used in this project, or choose another color combo. They're all lovely.

Hello, Coco Penny.

I'm going to be honest here, friends. Hair accessories are fun + cute + sweet but I have never, EVER figured out how to keep the little flowers in my girls hair longer than 20 minutes before they slip out. Even the ones I made myself. My daughters have very fine hair and I've only been able to use bands to secure their hair successfully. Lucky for me, while at Alt this year I met Mary who was gearing up to launch an online boutique called Coco Penny with her dear friend Marianne.

Coco Penny has recently opened shop and their little blooms + embellished onesies are my new favorite. Both Abby + Audrey wore Coco Penny blooms on Easter and they didn't slip out all day. Abby even wore hers to school Monday and the bloom was perfectly in place when I picked her up that afternoon.

You should also know my Coco Penny blooms arrived in lightening fast speed in the most darling little packaging. Perfect for gift giving!

This is a sponsored post but this review is my honest to goodness opinion of Coco Penny. If you have a shop that you think would be a good fit for Dandee and are interested in sponsorship, I'd love to hear from you! Email me at dandeedesigns@gmail.com for more information.

Handmade Weddings.

Ryan and I have been married for 12 years and still, every time I find myself in a bookstore I always manage to sneak a peek at the bridal magazines and books. They're full of inspiring ideas that can be adapted to any kind of gathering, great or small.

It's been out for awhile but one of my latest faves is Handmade Weddings by Eunice Moyle, Sabrina Moyle + Shana Faust. I've been pouring over it's pages since I purchased it. Not only are the photographs by Joseph De Leo beautiful to look at but the projects are so simple + clever.

A lot of the projects in Handmade Weddings can be used for gift giving too. I'm thinking this embroidery hoop craft could be adapted for a Mother's Day gift.

And these chalkboard painted table numbers have me thinking teacher gifts.

What about you? Where do you find party/gift giving inspiration?

Weekending.

Saturday was the prettiest Spring day we've had so far this year. It was heavenly.

We celebrated the blue skies by having a family basketball game in the backyard.

The cozy brick house was full of blooming lilacs, one of my favorites.

Nana slipped a new book into Easton's Easter basket. He's already finished it.

Oliver charmed me all day Sunday wearing his new bow tie.

Our little ladies explored the back patio for the first time. It was too cold so they only lasted a few minutes before going back to their nice warm cardboard box.

Other highlights: We had our ward over for brunch and an egg hunt, Owen decided he didn't like soccer and basketball was "his sport", and Abby wore dangling earrings for the first time ever.

His Sacred Name.

 A video treat for all of you. Happy Easter, dear friends.

Inspired By: Link Love Edition.

Abby and I were pleased as punch to open our mailbox today and find two of Marta's mini diaries addressed to us. Marta stocked her shop full of them just this week and kindly sent us a couple to try out for ourselves. Abby and I decided-we love the diaries. And Marta for being so kind + inspiring. Check out The Mini Mart and snag a few. One for you + a couple more for your dearest friends. They should have one too.

Dear Susan has been inspiring me like crazy this week. She wrote a really great article about pricing handmade goods. If you're a handmade artist or support them by buying handmade, it's a must read. Also, Susan's having a sale on her famous moccasins this weekend in her shop. Read about it here and stock up. Oliver + I love his Freshly Picked moccs.

Melanie from You Are My Fave has has been posting the most amazing spring projects this week. Origami bunnies, flower cone invitations, candy favors, a fresh wreath. It's all wonderful. Let's all take a moment of silence on Melanie's behalf. Her doctor said no more chocolate, so she made this cake instead. Mmm...

Happy Easter weekend, friends. I'm looking forward to seeing my boys wear their fancy new bow ties to church on Sunday. Just the thought makes me smile.

Images: me// Susan Petersen for Freshly Picked// Melanie Blodgett for You Are My Fave.

This very moment. . .

Middle of the night ramblings from a sentimental (and emotional) mother. . . 

It doesn't happen very often, but one morning this week Oliver and I were home alone together. We took the big kids to school, dropped Audrey off at her cousins to play and came back to the cozy brick house.

He took a nice long bath. Not the rushed kind that he usually gets in the morning. This day he splashed with "his guys" (army men), "man-mals" (animals), and "dine-sars" (dinosaurs) until his fingers were nice and wrinkled. After I pulled him from the tub we q-tipped his ears, clipped his nails (fingers and toes), brushed his hair into a nice comb over (see photo above), and dressed him up in a handsome plaid shirt. For some reason I've been thinking about this simple sequence of events all week. I vividly remember repeating in my mind how grateful I was to have this boy. To love him. To mother him. To serve him.

All too often we're rushing around. Scratch that. All too often I'm rushing around and while I'm rushing I miss the beauty. The beauty of Oliver + Sam enjoying the morning sun. The beauty in a noisy house. The beauty in these fleeting days. The days when my babies are little. When I'm the one clipping their nails (fingers and toes), combing their hair and buttoning up their handsome shirts.

Petite Lemon.

On Tuesday when I shared Oliver's room, I mentioned that his darling canvas growth chart was from sponsor Petite Lemon. Petite Lemon is a boutique design studio created by moms who share a love of fresh, modern design. Along with their growth charts, Petite Lemon carries alphabet posters, photo posters and personalized stationery. 

When my order from Petite Lemon arrived I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of their great packaging. The colors and branding are really sweet, aren't they? Even before I opened the growth chart, I knew I was in for a treat.

I am so happy with Oliver's canvas growth chart. The quality of the canvas is amazing and I love how it's hanging right there on his wall, waiting for me to document every little bit he grows. It will be a cherished memento from his childhood for years + years.

      

Something fun: Petite Lemon would like to offer a discount to Dandee readers. Use promo code DANDEE15 for 15% off your purchase of decor, growth charts and posters. Valid until 4/30/11. I'm thinking a photo poster would make a great Mother's Day gift. Be sure to check out Petite Lemon's Facebook page too.

If you have a shop that you think would be a good fit for Dandee and are interested in sponsorship, I'd love to hear from you! Email me at dandeedesigns@gmail.com for more information.

Ruffled Cake Banner.

Sweet Kate asked if I would participate in her ruffle event and of course I said yes. I loved the challenge! It was fun brainstorming project ideas and putting together this tutorial. If you're visiting today from Kate's blog, welcome! If you're a regular, make sure you hop on over to See Kate Sew. She's got some fun projects I'm sure you'll enjoy.

I decided a ruffle cake banner would be a fun little project to share for two reasons. 1. Parties are fun 2. Cake is delicious. Win win.

To begin, sew a simple basting stitch down the center of your fabric strip. My strip was 1.5"x15".

Then, tie the thread at one end of the fabric strip into a knot.

Flip the fabric strip over (to the end that hasn't been knotted), hold one of the two threads in your hand and gently pull, gathering the fabric. When the fabric is gathered to the desired length, tie the two loose threads together.

Use the threads to tie your ruffled fabric banner to two wooden skewers.

Bake a pretty cake, then stick in the wooden skewers. Or, if you're like me and haven't mastered the art that is BUTTER CREAM, find a great local patisserie. My pretty cake came from my friends at The Sisters Patisserie.

You have to know, as soon as I finished snapping photos the children and I dug into this confection and enjoyed every bite.

You can also customize your ruffled cake banner by adding a simple letter banner just below. I strung cardstock rounds onto bakers twine to create the "happy" banner. If this were a birthday cake, you could add the birthday boy/girls name, or their age. The possibilities are endless.

Cozy Brick House Tour: Oliver's Room.

I've decided to do a little tour of the cozy brick house here on the blog. First up is Oliver's room.

Oliver's now two so I guess he's graduated from having a "nursery" to having his very own full fledged bedroom. I am a  v e r y  s l o w  decorator. It takes me ages to pull a room together. Not because I don't know what I want, it's because I know exactly what I want. Which can be a problem when you live in a town with extremely limited shopping resources.

A couple of years ago I posted about some of the pieces that had already been purchased for this space and I'm ashamed to say (head hung low) it was pretty much in that same condition until a month ago.

I recently ran across this image on Pinterest and knew it would be the perfect book storage solution for Ollie. We stuffed the shelves with his favorite books, he loves being able to grab them so easily and I love how inexpensive the set up was.

Oliver is in love with giraffes so when I came across Sharon Montrose's work, I snagged up the baby giraffe in a heartbeat. I followed Sharon's framing advice and purchased the white frame from West Elm. I'm so happy I did! The quality is fantastic, so much better than the white frames I have been purchasing from Target and only a few dollars more.

For the bedding, I ended up using the bedding my mother in law purchased for Owen a few years before Oliver was even a dream and freshened it up with this striped orange crib sheet.

The yellow canvas growth chart was given to me by sponsor Petite Lemon and it such a darling addition to the room. I love that's it's canvas, I love that it spells out "Oliver", I love the cheery yellow color and I ADORE that it's a pennant.

The Eames style chair is from Amazon. A friend and I went in on the set of two and I have to be honest,  I was pretty nervous about the quality. The price was so low I thought there surely had to be something amiss. I'm happy to tell you I was pleasantly surprised when the chair arrived. It's great quality, and comfy too. I snuggle with Oliver in it every night before he goes to bed.

Other resources:
-Animal Alphabet Print- Petite Collage.
-Crib + Dresser- IKEA.
-Large clock (on the dresser)- West Elm.
-I Am A Child Of God print- Persimmon and Pink.
-Butter yellow curtains- Pier 1.
-Orange lamp- IKEA.
-Little hanging owl (on the doorknob)-Whimsy Love.
-Wood Radio Flyer Trike-Amazon.
-Metal letter "O"- Anthropologie.
-Blue suitcases- Land of Nod.

Weekending.

Aren't spring weekends lovely?

We had two soccer games and a basketball game all before noon on Saturday.

Which was busy but also left us the entire afternoon to ourselves.

Sam helped me plant pansies in the pots by the front door.

We also did some much needed weeding, pruning + transplanting.

Perfect for breaking in my pretty Liberty of London gardening gloves.

Abby mowed the lawn while Owen ran around with sticks.

We added five little ladies to the family.

Ryan walked in the door Friday night with a box full of chirping chicks.

You should have seen the children's faces, we're all very excited.

Other highlights: Abby played her best friends soccer team, I finished up a really fun tutorial to share with you, and Easton's favorite team won. Yay!

Spring Break 2011-Part Two.

Hiking the Y. Isn't this something you sort of have to do while you're in Provo? I thought so.

When we started this adventure, everyone was excited. Especially Audrey and Oliver who got to rotate pony rides on Ryan's back.

And then. . .well, Owen decided he was too hot. Too tired. Too thirsty. The hike was too long. Too steep. Too boring.

It was tough, but he pushed through (with promises of ice cream and Jimmer paraphernalia from the bookstore.)

After we snapped a few pictures Ryan talked to the children about how overcoming hard experiences in life bring us the greatest rewards. The hike was hard. The view was indeed a great reward. I think Owen understood the lesson.

Then we texted Grandpa one last picture and headed back down the mountain.

Utah, I really do love you.