You are cordially invited ...

You are cordially invited to ...

stop into our new shops. Yep, that's right, I did indeed say shops. :-)

Several months ago it became apparent that I needed to do something with my personalized pinwheels. They had begun taking over almost every facet of my Crossroads Cottage site which in turn created a huge organizational challenge. So, after many months of debating and postponing I made the decision to run two separate, but related, sister shops. Actually the decision was mostly made for me - I accidentally deleted party of my old shop, couldn't recover it and instead of crying my eyes out I took it as a sign that this was indeed the time to move forward with the change.

My Crossroads Cottage shop will continue to sell our home accessories (until they run out) and eventually, if my plans progress as hoped, evolve into a shop selling party accessories only. That is, when I find the time to actually create some unique and fun products.

My new pinwhirls site will sell my personalized party pinwheels only. Anything pinwheel related, including our newly created pinwheel party hats and pinwheel party invites, will also be sold from this site.

Feel free to pop into both shops. They do have the same feel - not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing and I may need to look at changing at least their color schemes in the future. Also, there are a few things that are annoying me at the moment. First off, I'm not sure that I totally love the header - I like the pinwheel and I do agree that a divider is needed but I'm not sure that I love the stick/leaf divider below the header text. And visually on the footer, the stick on the pinwheel is too long - either that or the actual pinwheel is too small. These are both things that I may need to work on. I also plan to make the home page photos rotate/change so my shops are more animated and capturing upon visiting. I think that will be my Holiday project. Anyhoo - I'd appreciate any honest opinions as I don't know if I'm just being too picky at this point. (Roger says that both look just great but he's my husband after all and I think he may just be saying that so I don't drive myself crazy with any more work/changes.) Thoughts, suggestions ....

Blog Browsing ...

While blog browsing last night, I stopped into my favorite event planning blog, Lemiga Events. My frequent followers have heard me mention Michelle's site and blog before as I am a huge fan of her work - her attention to detail is amazing. Because of the aforementioned, I wasn't surprised to learn that she was included not once but twice in the Atlantan Brides 1st Anniversary issue. I was however a bit surprised and excited to see that the blurp about her August Open House Soiree featured a photo of her wheatgrass cupcake display - and not because this display wasn't just darling but because some of my items also made an appearance.

As you can see from the photo above, my cupcake topper pinwheels were actually featured in the right photo. Although my business name was not mentioned this did not curtail my excitement; after all, someone out there must have thought the display, and quite possibly the pinwheels, were cute enough to be featured in this magazine. And how could they not considering the darling way Michelle propped the cupcakes into wheatgrass and integrated cupcake towers - she deserves all of the credit, as usual her details can make something ordinary look extrordinary.

So, that's been my excitement for the week. Now it's almost time for the weekend. Yippee!

Candy Cane Dreams

Christmas has arrived a bit early at the Dreher household this year.

While I was dreaming candy cane dreams last evening, I could have sworn that I heard some bells ringing in the distance. When I awoke this morning, guess what I found in my living room! A fully decorated Christmas tree complete with my favorite thing - pinwheels! And not only are those little elves great at creating creative toys, they even got super creative and made pinwheels into ornaments! Talk about thinking outside the Christmas box. And my those elves must have been busy bees working until the wee hours of the morn' as I know how long it takes to assemble pinwheels and Santa's right hand boys and girls assembled enough to fully cover an entire Christmas tree. And my are they good - they even coordinated the pinwheels with my living room colors perfectly. Santa must have been watching me closely this year and I'm supposing from the loot that he also feels I've been a good little girl this year!

They also inserted several of these gigantic candy canes into the whimsically decorated tree. These things probably weigh more than the elves themselves. I better start licking now or I'll never have this deliciousness finished before Santa slides down our chimney once again.

I've been thinking, that since I was given such a bounty of pinwheel ornaments that I should share them. Wouldn't want to be spoiled and keep these unique Christmas ornaments just to myself.

So, for a limited time, if you'd like to also fill your tree with candy cane dreams this holiday season, just visit my site and use the voucher 'elf' for 10% off your entire order. Now through November 30th only. This discount applies at my Crossroads Cottage site only. Discount not available at my Etsy shop.

Besides these pinwheels, we also have an abundance of other holiday decor and gift items on sale - most at wholesale prices!

To view more photos of the goodies the elves left last evening, please see below! And for more information on these candy cane themed ornaments, just click here.

Jackie O. Lantern

Here she is on Halloween night. (I actually put her out on Sat. and Sunday night as well as I just love the glow of Pumpkins!) I'm actually sad to see this Holiday go, as I do love pumpkins, and leaves, and the crisp (but not too cold air).

Above is the custom project I was working on last week. I designed custom paper and pinwheels for WishWrap, which is an online site which sells a gift for every wish. Their logo/icon is a dandelion so the pinwheels were made to resemble a dandelion.

I designed some of our mini pinwheels along with some larger pinwheels. Each also had a wish printed in a quadrant of the pinwheel. I thought they turned out pretty fabulous and hopefully they will love them too. :)

I also worked on another client for a birthday party order. This mom was so fun and clever to work with. Her daughter's third birthday is going to be bubble and pinwheel themed. So, we integrated dots into her pinwheel designs. She wanted everything from the party invites to party hats to be pinwheel themed so I had a blast designing her items.

Above is one of my pinwheel party hat kits, that was also sent off to her. The pinwheel toppers come fully assembled and the party hats are all cut-out and ready to be assembled when received. The kit also comes with elastic (for the chin straps) and of course complete assembly instructions. (The hats utilize a notch system so they are super easy to assemble - no messy gluing or stapling, etc.) We offer these pinwheel party hat in both kit format or pre-assembled, for a higher fee. We also offer custom party hat kits, without the pinwheel toppers.

And above is her custom pinwheel party invites. She was going to hand deliver the invites so I was able to clip on mini clothespin pinwheels - too cute. (For those who are mailing, I can also attach flattened pinwheels to the invite, although they would not spin, the general theme would still be achieved.)

I'm looking forward to seeing photos of the above mentioned birthday party. (It's going to be an outdoor garden party so I'm hoping they get great weather as after all this work, the Mom certainly deserves a great day for her daughter's party!).

Jack-O-Lanterns Burning Bright

May Jack-o-lanterns burning bright

Of soft and golden hue

Pierce through the future’s veil and show

What fate now holds for you.

~Author Unknown

Although our Jack-o-lantern isn't burning bright, just yet (we haven't even gotten around to carving her), she has been sitting pretty on our dining room table for the past couple of weeks.

Above is our Fall (October into November) tablescape featuring fabulous fall colors and the leaves and pumpkins of the season.

Love this ribbon I found a few years ago with its lime green, orange, and yellows.

And what a simple centerpiece, a pumpkin tied with ribbon set prettily in a basket filled with moss and leaves. I had debated either glittering pumpkins (which is the new big thing this season) or poking pumpkins with tons of little daises, but to be totally honest I just ran out of time. Maybe next season. :)

I love the sheer leaves pictured above. I also purchased these a few years ago (from Hobby Lobby) and have found that I can use them to decorate both formal and fun fall tablescapes.

Full view of the tablescape. It only took me about 10 minutes to throw together and believe it or not I didn't have to purchase anything for it. (That's my kind of decorating!) It was all stuff we already had lying around the house or stored, etc.

***

And in case anyone is wondering, no we never actually sit at our table. And although I would love to entertain more and show off the table creations to those besides my blog readers, I actually never have the time. Oh well - maybe some day. :)

"Knot" much going on ...

With not much going on in my life lately (besides work), I feel as if I haven't blogged about anything non-work related in some time. (About the only highlight in a long time was a camp out and camp fire in my sister's backyard this past weekend. We had a great time and so did my niece and nephews. They even slept through the entire night - in the tent. Amazing as it got quite cold and damp. Although my littlest nephew, who is 2, kept on pointing to and saying "house?" when it came time for bed - as if to say, why are we sleeping outside when we have a perfectly good house right over there?! Too cute.)

Anyhoo, with not much happening, now is the perfect time to highlight the photos from the recent "the knot" wedding network which took place in Philadelphia in early September. I was asked by Kendall with Eclatante Design to provide pinwheel party favors. The event was "green themed" and thus the color green was utilized in the pinwheel design. This custom design was also printed on recycled paper and our pinwheels sticks are already eco-friendly as they are made to deteriorate very quickly and are 100% biodegradable - unlike wooden dowel rods.

These handheld pinwheels were placed into wheat grass trays at the registration area. The knot logo was utilized on both the inside and outside of the pinwheels along with butterflies. I think they turned out pretty darn cute. For more photos (provided by Mike Kehr photography) see below. Although I wasn't able to attend this event in person, I vicariously attended this event through photos. It was certainly a "WOW" filled event. I've heard that photos will soon be posted on the knot website and there will also be a feature on this event in the next knot magazine - due out at news stands in early December. :)

August Tablescape - A bit (more like a lot) late!

Better late than never - here is our August Tablescape. Betcha can't guess what the theme is!!! Drum roll please ... pinwheels, but of course! The above whimsical centerpiece and tablescape would actually be perfect for an outdoor kid's birthday party as the pinwheels integrated into the decor can serve as party favors and they'll actually spin in the outdoor breezes!

I've taken a plain ol' glass cookie jar and filled it to the brim with pinwheels ...

tons of brightly colored mini pinwheels. So many that each child will find the particular design that they'll just fall-in love with. And these mini ones are just perfect for small hands.

In addition to sticking the pinwheels in the cookie jars, I've also propped a few into clear glass jars and vases.

And for seating cards I've attached one of our clothespin pinwheels to the rim of the place setting where I've just neatly slid both a place card (made of a plain old tag) and napkin under the pinwheel (great for a windy day as neither the place card or napkin will try to take flight!)

I've also stuck some of our mini pinwheels into wheat grass growing in baskets. A very unique way to display these cuties. (Even works great at larger events - just stick trays of wheat grass on your seating card tables and prop pinwheels, with the seating card flags, into the wheatgrass!)

All of the pinwheels pictured are available for purchase at both our esty shop and our website. We are also able to work with clients on finding the perfect paper to match their party theme. In addition to having papers in stock, for smaller orders, we can also order in paper, or custom design paper to match an event perfectly!