Amanda's holiday decor

My good friend Amanda has such a cute, quirky style and she has been putting that style to great use! She has been crafting like a mad woman lately! All her hard work has paid off because isn't her house adorable?

Amanda just opened her Etsy shop (wooohooo!), Koolots. Be sure to check it out! Great job girl. I'll take 1 of everything!

My Little Jedi

We are so excited to be a part of the new issue of the online magazine, My Little Jedi. This is our first advertising venture and we are just tickled pink to be a part of such an adorable magazine. Be sure to check our ad out on page 175.

Please check it out here! In case you missed the September issue, you can find it here on My Little Jedi's website. Plenty of eye candy for you this Friday! Have a lovely weekend!

Glitter Reindeer

Hello December!!!! This Christmas, I wanted to jazz up my mantle a bit. I knew I wanted a reindeer and I knew I wanted glitter. I was surprised how easy this was and I'm so happy with how it turned out!


Trust me when I tell you this was SO easy. First up, head to your local craft store and get a canvas. The one I got is a 9x12. I then Googled "reindeer head silhouette" and went to the Images. I chose this one, but there were several other great ones to choose from. I contemplated doing a profile or a full reindeer, but ended up really liking the one I chose. I copied the image and blew it up, printed it out, then cut it out.

I then taped the reindeer to the canvas then used a pencil to trace the outline onto the canvas. Next up was Elmer's glue. You may want to grab a q-tip to help spread the glue. Be sure not to use too much glue, or it will make the outline bleed. Then it's the fun part....pile on the glitter!

Let it sit like this for awhile, then lightly dust off all the excess glitter. Use a tooth pick to help re-define the outline. I did this several times, as it took a good couple hours to dry.

Here she is in all her gold glory! I think this would be adorable in the shape of a tree, snowman, snowflakes, etc. Stay tuned for more Christmas crafts!

Jenifer & Casey's Grey & White Wedding

I'm so excited to share with you some pictures from Jen & Casey's wedding that we did last month! These are brought to you by Lane Dittoe.

Yes, this is the same Casey from Friday's Kooba post. Please check out more of these beautiful pictures at Lane's site here. That's our Quirky Love (You Are The Peanut To My Butter...) print that you can get in any color at our Etsy shop.

I'll be sharing all the details of this wedding soon, complete with how I got the furniture pieces (including that dining table above) on Craigslist, then painted for styling the wedding. Enjoy!

What's up, Buttercup?

Check out our newest print in our Etsy shop. Isn't she cute? This print came from inspiration from my little Drew. Every morning when I go to get her, she is standing in her crib looking at me with that sweet face and I ask her, "what's up, buttercup?".
This would just look so cute in any little girl's room and would be such a cute gift framed for your next baby shower! Can you imagine giving this with a box of Sprinkles cupcakes?

We offer the option to customize the print color. Check it all out at our Etsy shop to the left or by clicking here.

A Kooba Story

By now you may know how much I love Kooba purses. I am lucky enough to own 4 of them, most recently my husband surprised me with a new beauty for my birthday.

My friend Jen shares my love of Kooba. Jen has owned the most beautiful Kooba, her first, the Jayden for about 2 years. Anyhow, Jen just got married, and an unfortunate event happened a few days before the wedding. When I met with Jen after her honeymoon, she told me all about it.
Here is an email her new husband, Casey, wrote to whom-ever will listen over at Kooba! It's hilarious....and I'm posting here for your enjoyment, and also hoping someone at Kooba might read this!

My name is Casey Miller and I am the World's Worst Husband.

It all began two days before my wedding on October 20, 2011. My then fiancée was on her way home from work with her favorite handbag, the Kooba Jayden in bourbon. Now I know it may seem like I'm just saying that, given the audience of this email, but it's the truth...hand on heart. My now wife is the most OCD, Type A woman I know (I say that in the most endearing way possible). When she finds something she likes, in this case your handbag, she treats it with the utmost respect and care. I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure she still has her favorite outfit from 3rd grade shrink wrapped in the back of our closet.

I bought this particular purse for her about a year and a half ago from Nordstrom. Since then, friends have been envious, strangers have approached her on the street, all wanting to know where she got that bag and want brand it was. Often she would go online in an attempt to locate another one of these handbags for equally smitten friends; however, each time she came up empty handed. Unfortunate, but at least she had one for herself that she would cherish forever. Until...

Back to October 20. My wife was on her way home from work and had one of those aluminum reusable water bottles in her purse. "Someone" forgot to screw the cap on all the way and what resulted was a disaster of epic proportions. During her car ride home from downtown San Diego, the contents of the bottle were emptied in the purse, which was sitting on the passengers seat of her car. Now most people would be concerned with the contents of the purse in this case (wallet, cell phone, day planner, etc.), or how about the high quality leather seats that now had 16 ounces of Kooba filtered bourbon colored water on them...not my wife...the status of the purse was her only concern. Since I wasn't with her, I can only speculate as to what happened next during those few minutes of sheer panic/terror, but I would imagine it involved a combination of swerving between lanes and her cursing Al Gore and the entire "Green" movement for her stroke of bad luck with this reusable water bottle.

I won't bore you with the details of how the purse was then meticulously emptied on to our kitchen counter, vigorously hand dried and towel swaddled with the care a mother shows a newborn; however, all those things did happen. The damage had been done, but my wife still remained positive and hopes of a full recovery were at the forefront of her mind. After a day in Intensive Handbag Care, the purse seemed to be on the road to recovery, drying and it's color returning to normal. That is, until I, the World's Worst Husband, took command of Operation Handbag Recovery - 2011.

During this October week, we had been plagued by fog and rain and our usually sunny, dry San Diego climate was a damp mess. As I mentioned, the purse's condition was stable, but I thought I would take matters into my own hands and ensure a speedy, full recovery. This, in my self-proclaimed expert opinion, could only be accomplished with the use of our household oven. Now I've been called stupid before, but I am most certainly not dumb. I wasn't going to bake the purse, that's just ridiculous. What I did do however, was let the oven briefly heat up to a dry, warm, 100 degrees, then turned it off and placed the purse in to let it sit overnight. Surely by morning the purse would be back to 100%, I would be hoisted on to the shoulders of my fellow World's ex-Worst Husbands and praised for my exploits and ingenuity. At least that's how it was playing out in my head.

Instead what actually happened, no one would ever have guessed. Actually, the worst-case outcome in this situation is probably pretty obvious while reading this, so I should clarify by saying I could never have guessed.

As I mentioned earlier, our wedding was now a day away, family from far away was staying in our house and a large celebratory meal was being prepared. The events of a day earlier with the purse were out of everyone's thoughts and happiness, love and holy matrimony had replaced them. That is, until I smelled something burning. "Casey, why is there a smoldering purse in your oven?", geez, if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that...!

As it turned out, my wife and I both forgot the purse was still in the oven. Another family member turned on the oven, preheating it to 350 degrees for a loaf of garlic bread. Now, I'm not one to point a finger, but who preheats an oven without first checking for a Kooba Jayden in bourbon handbag inside?...but I digress. So I was then left with having to break the awful news to my soon to be wife that her most favorite possession (myself included amongst those possessions, the handbag still won) had just been baked at 350 degrees like a loaf of cheap bread. This is not an exaggeration...she cried. She cried for her most favorite possession now looking like an overcooked turkey, she cried because she knew that another one of those elusive handbags would probably never be found, and last she cried because at that exact moment she realized that she was marrying a man who although had the best intentions, shared the thought process of a caveman.

I'm sure you're probably reading this thinking; there is no way someone could actually do this. For those naysayers, please see the attached pictures.

Please believe me when I say that I am not looking for any handouts or freebies here. I made this bed and I plan on sleeping in it. However, what I will accept is some guidance as to how I can find another one of these handbags for my wife. I have scoured the Internet; looking at more purses in one month than any straight man should look at in an entire lifetime…all to no avail. This handbag simply does not exist for purchase anymore. Honestly, if I knew of another woman who currently owned this handbag, I would not be above forced home entry and theft. That's how desperate I am and how much this purse means to my wife. But I, of course, would leave behind $600 because I'm not a caveman.
Any guidance as to where I can find this handbag for purchase would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Casey Miller

If anyone knows people at Kooba, let me know!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! I was especially excited to host Thanksgiving this year because it would be the first time we used our dining room since I redecorated. I was hosting a smaller than usual group this year, so I decided to just be really simple with my decorations.

I did these simple name cards with stamps and I cut out little felt leaves and glued them on. It only took a few minutes and they were really cute!

My accent color in the dining room is raspberry pink. These spray roses did the trick. The rest of the flowers are from our yard. I also used votives with coffee beans. Makes for great smelling candles!
I got these awesome placemats at the Crate & Barrel Outlet awhile back.

And here's Mr. Micah posing next to our pie. Trust me when I say "he liked it". I told him that I ate pumpkin pie just about every day when he was in my belly....but he thought I was being silly.

Hope you all had a great day with family and/or friends. I know I did. I continue to be thankful for everything I have in my life.

Lastly, I thought I'd share a new purchase with you....here's my new entry way rug!

Have a great weekend everyone! Let the Christmas crafts begin!