Sally & Dominic - The Perfect English Wedding

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of working with Sally & Dominic (actually, mostly Sally) on creating pinwheels for her perfect English wedding. When the original color palette was forwarded I must admit that I was a little concerned, but the more I began working to create these papers, the more I fell in love. How could one not? The color palette is just so fresh and fun! And I must admit that these are probably one of my favorite custom pinwheel creations ever! I did do some major sweating over the shipment of these fragile items all the way to England - I tend to worry about shipments arriving safely, and thankfully these did!

I was super ecstatic when I received a message from Sally (pictured above with her new hubby Dominic) earlier this October with links to her wedding and specific links to the pinwheels. Not only do I love seeing how my pinwheels are used, call me nosey, but after working for brides for such great lengths of time, I also love to see how all of their other wedding details. And of course, finally getting to put a face to a name is also nice. :)

Sally chose to use the pinwheels as place cards as well. I love her silver tins and it appears that the sand filler worked perfectly.

Pinwheels spin, spin, spinning away. Love it!

And also loving the building in the background. So reminiscent of the English countryside.

Thanks so much Sally for sharing your pinwheels and wedding day with me.

It was a wonderful pleasure working with you.

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Photos courtesy of Helen Maybanks Photography.

Sarah & Kevin - Wedding Pinwheels Featured on Snippet & Ink

Earlier this spring, I had the pleasure of working with Sarah & Kevin to create custom pinwheel place cards for their end of May wedding. They are pictured above - aren't they the cutest? I'm referring to the couple, not my pinwheels, of course.

I worked with them to create custom papers in their color palette and personalized the upper right hand corner of their pinwheels with their names and wedding date. They had our place card flags hand lettered with their guests' names and table numbers and stuck them into containers of sand. I love this photo as it captures some of the pinwheels spinning in the wind.

And this shot, what can I say? Also very clever. It turns out that their wedding was really spectacular - enough so that it was featured on Snippet & Ink (one of my favorite blogs). Click here to see all of their fabulous details.

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Photos courtesy of Josef Isayo.
A special thanks to Sarah and Kevin for forwarding photos.

I hope you are enjoying being newlyweds. :)

Do-It-Yourselfer Creations - Carnival Themed Party

There is only one thing I like more than creating my own pinwheels and that is seeing photos of how others, who've purchased my DIY Pinwheel Assembly Guide and DIY Products, have used these items to make pinwheels for their very own parties.

While browsing the web recently I ran across a blog that featured the most fun and festive Carnival Themed Party utilizing pinwheels (my favorite just in case you didn't know)! As it turns out, the pinwheels were assembled by one of my former Australian clients, Prue of GiGi & LuLu. I couldn't wait to contact her and was thrilled when she graciously agreed to allow me to highlight her party on my blog and was even more overjoyed when she forwarded these photos. (I have the best customers!)

Aren't they gorgeous? And in this photo I'm actually talking about the cupcakes and not the pinwheels. You don't see cupcakes like these in the US - or at least not in Indianapolis. They just look so gourmet. :) My almost 17 week pregnant stomach, which craves everything food related these days, now wants one of these so badly. (At only 9:40 am, is is too early for dessert?)

Okay, mind off food, not only do I love the fun and festive papers she's used to create her pinwheel creations, I love every single little detail about her daughter's third birthday party. It's carnival themed perfection.

To view additional details of this party, just visit Pru's blog post here. Also be sure to stop by her blog and leave a comment for sharing her party details. I'm sure others in blog land will be borrowing her ideas for years to come. (I know I will when I throw a little party for my little bean, or beanette, in the future!)

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Thanks Prue! Thanks as well for all of the Australian customers you've sent my way.

Much appreciation ....

Pinwheel Parties w/ a Girly Flair

Earlier this summer, I ran across the above pinwheel invites. Aren't they the cutest? I think I squealed in delight (outloud) as I'd been searching for fun, yet affordable pinwheel (or as I like to call them pinwhirls) invites for months. Prices are as low as $1.04 each (as of Oct. 2009) so they are quite the steal. They are available here at Tiny Prints.
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Within hours of finding the above I received an email from a client who referenced finding the cutest pinwheel invites - she loved them so much that she wanted her daughter's entire party to be pinwheel themed. Of course I found the pinwheels she loved to be the exact same pinwheel invites I'd found only hours earlier. And no, I am not even making this up! It's the complete truth. In fact, I loved the invites so much that I decided to design an entire paper line around them - and my client was able to debut this line at her daughter's party. (More on that below.)


In addition to the invites, Tiny Prints also offers matching pinwheel address labels. Now I usually don't 'do' address labels, but this one makes me want to tear the envelope open. Can't you almost tell from the outside of an envelope when the contents are going to be exciting?!

And these custom pinwheel gift tags; I can see these plastered on goody bags, water bottles, or favor boxes.

And just when you thought I was finished; I'm not. Coordinating pinwheel thank you cards are also available. Don't you just love it when you are able to carry through a theme with so little effort? I know I do!
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Speaking of carrying through a theme, as mentioned earlier, we've already created the perfect papers to coordinate with this pinwheel invite line.

Pinwheel Girl - Pink Stripe

Pinwheel Girl - Mini Dots

Pinwheel Girl - Green Stripes

Pinwheel Girl - Multi Thin Stripes

Pinwheel Girl - Thick Stripes

Pinwheel Girl - Large Dots

Pinwheel Girl - Diamonds

Above, and below, are just some of the samples of the assembled pinwheels. I think they are just too darling - these pinwhirls have just the perfect amount of girly flair.

Throughout the summer, I had at least 5 other clients mention the same exact invites so I was happy to create similar pinwheels using the above paper designs. I can mix and match a combination of the above papers to create the perfect pinwheels for your party.

Our personalized birthday party pinwheels are available in several sizes to meet all budgets.

Cupcake toppers on 4" handles begin at $2.00 each.

Small handheld pinwheels on 5" handles begin at $2.00 each.

Handheld pinwheels on 8" handles begin at $3.00 each.

Large Handheld pinwheels on 12" handles begin at $3.50 each.

Yard pinwheels on 16" handles begin at $5.75 each.

We are also able to make coordinating party hats, banners, and pennants to complete your personalized pinwheel party.

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To place a custom order, just drop me a line at shana@crossroadscottage.biz and I'll be sure to respond with a quote in a timely manner.

If you aren't quite in love with these paper designs, custom papers are our specialty. Just email me at shana@crossroadscottage.biz and we can begin working on custom papers and custom personalized pinwheels for you. And since all papers are printed in house this allows us much flexibility to match your needs perfectly.

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And many of you may be thinking, this is pinwheel birthday party is such a great idea, but I don't have a sweet little girl in my life. No problem, Tiny Prints also offers boy themed pinwheel invites. And although I haven't quite found the time to create coordinating boy themed pinwheel papers, if requested, I can certainly move these designs right up to the top of my priority list. :)Who knows, check back soon as I may even decide to surprise everyone with some designs!

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And for those of you who think that pinwheels are just for spring and summer days, so not true. There isn't a better way to celebrate than turning a gloomy/cold day outside into a perfect summer day inside. And you, and your guests, will be sure to thank you for bringing some of that summer sunshine into their lives, if only for a few hours. :)

Easter Tablescape

So, my Easter tablescape is complete. Yay! To view photos, etc. click here. To be totally honest I had no idea what I was going to do with the wheatgrass as it's height peaked a bit before I was ready. I spent most of the weekend printing papers and assembling the pinwheels. Spent most of Sunday creating the tablescape and taking pictures of the pinwheels - both as part of the tablescape and also separately for use in selling the pinwheels. Then spent the past two evenings importing these items into Etsy. Now, I'm finally finding time to post the pictures.
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Funny story about the tablescape, I created it while Roger was working outside in the yard. By the time he came back inside for a break, I'd taken all of the photos and disassembled the tablescape. I guess I should have had him come look, but I was so rushed it didn't even occur to me. Just knew that I wouldn't have time to deal with rotting wheat grass this week so I trashed it at the height of it's prettiness. Kind of sad, I know. Although, I just volunteered to host Easter this year so I really wish that wheat grass would last weeks instead of days. As I'm a gluten for punishment, it looks like I'll be growing another round of wheat grass for my actual Easter centerpieces. :)
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Spring has Sprung

Spring has Sprung. {Yay!} And, so has my Wheat Grass. {Double Yay!} Nope, I don't eat or drink the stuff. I know, I know it's supposed to be super nutritious but the thought of ingesting anything grass related just doesn't sound appetizing to me - at all.
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So, bet you are wondering why I'm growing trays of wheatgrass. For my Easter tablescape, of course. My goal is to complete one this weekend. One thing is for sure - I need to do this soon as this grass is at the exact perfect height and green-ness. {Another Yay!}
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Years ago I attempted growing wheatgrass on my own and I failed miserably as I purchased seed and directions specifically for wheat grass that one juices. This time I purchased kits from Dogwood Farms as they actually have centerpiece kits available. I purchased their 8" round centerpiece kits. The kits come with perfect instructions on how to grow wheat grass for centerpieces - it needs to be grown thicker than wheatgrass for juicing. I was a little pessimistic, I must admit - as by day 4 I barely had any growth. But, here we are at day 7 at it's just perfect. Will definitely be using them again.
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Anyhoo, stay tuned for my Easter tablescape photos utilizing this lovely spring grass. :)

Breath of Fresh Air ...

Our tulips - not sure when they poked through. I swear they weren't there Saturday!
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Yesterday morning, I awoke to a breath of fresh air ... literally ... as we got to sleep with our bedroom window cracked. (We had lovely weather in Indiana this weekend - lovely as in highs in the 70s). The room smelled like spring and it was so wonderful to just lay in bed listening to the birds chirp. It was wonderfully relaxing experience until I looked at the clock and realized that we 'sprung forward' while we were slumbering and with lots and lots to do, I had to rise and get to work. Bummer indeed.
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Anyhoo, since I've been so busy working, I thought I'd post some photos of some of my recent projects. These are only some of them as the rest of the photos were saved on my narcoleptic laptop that I still haven't had a chance to bring in for repairs. I've been so swamped that my older sister (the stay at home mom) and my youngest sister (the nursing student) have been helping me with some orders. Both of them have gotten a crash course in pinwheel assembly and both are now pros. They've been a huge help - think I'd go crazy without being able to fall back on them. Yay for sisters! Hopefully I can continue to hire them on as more orders come into the shop. :) Oh yes, I should also mention Roger. Although he's not home much this season, he tries to help out when he can. He's my tech support and handle hole driller. And he also helps out with the cooking and grocery shopping when he can since I haven't had much time for these type of tasks lately. (Now if only he noticed or even cared when the house started to look messy!)

Some new table sign designs ...


Another new design - the above and the below are my favorite!

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The weekend before last I also spent a large amount of time designing some new baby shower and spring themed scrapbook papers to add to my pinwheel papers collection. Although I haven't had time to officially count, I think I now have over 300 exclusive designs posted. I've also begun selling these papers by the sheet - and I've already gotten some orders. :)

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