Yes, we’re still here!

April 20, 2012 By

We’ve been MIA lately, but we’re not sitting around with our feet up for sure! Beverly’s kids’ school year is quickly coming to an end and there are *so many* events and activities at the end of the year. I had forgotten what all goes on at the close of a school year. My semester at the college is winding down too, but not before collecting final essays and administering final exams. One of my students asked me how many more times we would meet and he was shocked when I told him three classes and the exam period, for a total of four times (after I refrained from telling him to check his syllabus!).

We have once again had a wonderfully busy month working on so many fun designs for our clients. We actually closed the shop for a few days so we could catch up on custom design orders. I have several fun blog posts coming up to highlight a few showers and parties we’ve created products for, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share some of the pictures of our crew from Easter. Beverly sent me the pictures last week, but I hadn’t had a chance to download them until just now.

They are too funny. We wanted them to sit together, but Molly and Addi immediately laid down so instructed the boys to do the same. They didn’t stay there for long, and the next series of pictures looks like a wrestling match.

Oh, how I love these sweet, smart, silly nephews of mine. They just.won’t.stop.growing. It’s killing me.

And I love that these sweet girls love each other. Molly calls Addison on her play phone at least once a day. So cute.

Don’t forget to check back soon for some fun party pictures!

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Spring has {already} arrived

March 21, 2012 By

Happy spring!

I don’t know about where you live, but my daffodils have bloomed and are already spent! Two of my tulips popped up today, which I thought was particularly fitting for the first day of spring. It’s been so warm here that everyone is already in dresses and sandals, and I actually broke out the white wine the other night – it was quite refreshing on a warm evening.

I decided I’d better get on with my Easter decorating before the holiday came and went. I dug out my spring bin from the attic, surveyed the goods and made a quick trip to Target and Michael’s after I dropped Molly off this morning. I have a bit of crafting to do {don’t worry, it’s not much!} and then hopefully I’ll have some fun pictures to share.

I did get down the Easter egg wreath from last year and Molly was SO excited to see it when she got home from school. She kept saying, “Is that for me?! Did the Easter bunny come?”

I hope to share some pictures of the house decorated for spring/Easter with you this week, and I want to share a print that I whipped up this morning in between emails and mopping!

Oh, and I almost forgot! We get the sweetest emails and pictures from our clients {you truly make our day when you do this, by the way!} and often moms or shower hostesses will blog about their parties. Sometimes they share their blogs with us and sometimes we happen to stumble across them. About a week or so ago, one of our clients convo’d us via Etsy to tell us she blogged about the baby shower she hosted using our grey & yellow sunshine collection. Her post was *so* sweet and it reaffirmed that we love what we do! Thank you Jenn for your kind words!

PS – Want to see a cute girl in an Easter dress?

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A collection of thoughts on spring

March 6, 2012 By

After weeks and months of waiting for winter weather, I determined that Ol’ Man Winter wasn’t making a stop in NC this year. And then it snowed in the mountains yesterday. How crazy is that? I wore flip flops and a short sleeve dress last Thursday and yesterday, I wore boots and a sweater. It’s supposed to warm back up to almost 70 by the end of the week, and at least it’s sunny. This morning, while walking into school, Molly grins, looks up at me and says, “It’s a BEE-U-TI-FULL day Mom.” Yes it is, sweetheart. Yes it is.

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We have designed some of the *sweetest* invitations for spring parties already. I’m loving a bridal shower design we’re working on, as well as a southern {think monograms!} baby shower invitation. And there’s a boy’s birthday collection that might be my most favorite ever; that is going to be one cute parTEE! {hint hint}.

I can’t wait to share the pictures from all the parties with you.

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My daffodils are in full bloom and I picked up the most gorgeous smelling hyacinths at Trader Joe’s last week. I love fresh flowers, so I’ve decided this spring that I will keep some in the house, whether they’re from the yard or an inexpensive bouquet from the store or Farmer’s Market. For the price of one coffee a week, I can have fresh flowers. I hate to cut the flowers from our yard, even though I’ll enjoy them more in a vase on the table, I can’t bring myself to take them from the yard.

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It’s spring break at the college at which I teach, so I’m using this week to catch up on SBN orders and grade stacks of papers that I collected before the break. I’m also trying to get back on track with keeping the house clean because it has been sorely neglected as of late. I consulted my handy-dandy cleaning checklist this morning and was able to clean the doors, door knobs, light switches and kitchen cabinet fronts in addition to replying to a full inbox! Oh, the joys of having a smaller home. I love that it doesn’t take me forever to tackle a seemingly big job. The sunny, spring-like weather has me itching to do a complete spring cleaning!

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Beverly has three sick kiddos again this week! I know she’ll be glad for the less-germy warmer months to arrive soon. And the spring issue of the quarterly publication for which I am the assistant editor is in its final stages before printing, but it will go to print soon, just in time to enjoy the longer afternoons with my sweet girl!

What are you looking forward to this spring?

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A labor of love: My Easter egg wreath

April 13, 2011 By

Last Easter, I wanted to make an Easter egg wreath, so I bought the wreath form but never got around to buying the plastic eggs. After Easter, I bought eggs on sale and put them in my spring decorating box and was so pleased with myself that I had everything I needed to make the wreath. Fast forward to this year:  I realize Easter is coming, we’re i the middle of  stalled redecorating/reorganizing project, and I can’t find the wreath. I’ve got the eggs, mind you, but no wreath form. So I finally go back into the attic, pull out multiple boxes of Christmas decorations, put them back in, look in a closet, and finally resgin myself to the fact that there won’t be an Easter egg wreath this year, either. The next day, in a moment of clarity, I remember that I put the wreath form *on top* of the purple storage container that houses my spring decorations and realize that it must have fallen off and is indeed in the attic.  So back up the stairs I go, pull out the Christmas boxes again and magically find the wreath form.

Then it takes me three more days to get motivated to actually start making the wreath.

And then I realize I don’t have enough hot glue sticks OR Easter eggs.

So after acquiring said items, I start making the wreath and realize that I didn’t put the eggs close enough together and then it’s time to get Molly from school and then we have an appointment and then…well, you get the idea.  So the unfinished wreath sat on our very limited  kitchen counter for a few days.

Until yesterday. I finally finished that sucker. Molly loves it, which is the only reason I made it in the first place.

Last night, I wanted to get a picture of the wreath before it got dark, so as we were getting ready to read Molly her bedtime books, I grabbed the camera. She saw me get the camera and ran after me, calling “Cheese!” Obviously we don’t take many pictures around here.

When I asked her what she thought of the egg wreath, she said, “Cute!” {But I think she’s the cute one!}

So now that that project is complete, I guess I should get around to finishing one of the other 2 zillion half-finished projects.  What do you think?  Have you made a wreath like this before? What else do you do to decorate for spring and Easter?

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Monday musings – What we’re up to now

March 29, 2011 By

Have you missed us?  It’s been a while since we last blogged – and believe me, it’s not for a lack of goings-on!  Spring has sprung and with it all of the busy-ness of warmer weather, spring sports (baseball and soccer at Beverly’s house), and days spent outside with curious toddlers. Swinging and blowing bubbles are the activities of choice at my house.

We have been working on some super fun party invitations – a special Elmo party, a baby shower hosted by yours truly, and a pirate gathering, just to name a few.  We are also in the final stages of printing our first ever wedding invitation and we couldn’t be more excited about how beautiful it is!  Also, we have created some new notecard designs that are perfect for families and mothers-to-be.  We can’t wait to share them with you.

Sweet Birdie’s Nest is also in the process of a makeover.  We changed our logo/header a bit – did you notice?  We switched out the brown border to a softer gray, and finally added our tagline so that new visitors will actually know what we’re about.  {Not sure why we didn’t think of that sooner…} And we’re looking forward to introducing a new blog design to you *soon*!  We’re so giddy; I feel like we’re in seventh grade, the way we’ve been anticipating and giggling over this change.  If you love Sweet Birdie’s Nest, please continue to share us with your friends and family – we have been able to grow our business because of friends like YOU and we are so grateful.

Finally, on a personal note, I went to Beverly’s house this afternoon when Molly woke up from her nap to look at the wedding invitation proofs and when it was time to leave, the girls gave each other hugs.  It might have been the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Some days I cannot even believe how lucky I am.

 

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Spring is in the air…

February 22, 2011 By

Which means it’s shower season!  We’ve had several requests in the past few weeks for some very sweet baby shower invitations.  And we know that bridal showers will be happening very soon for the early summer weddings.  Today I want to share with you some of our recent favorite designs – all inspired by this lovely spring weather we’re having!

{this one was inspired by our collection of items from the perfect color combination!}

And, if you’re like me and want to bring the perfect off-the-registery gift, consider our personalized notecards.  We can create a customized set to match any theme and the bride or mother-to-be will be thrilled with your thoughtfulness!

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