Vintage Book Wreath Giveaway, Coasters, and a Winner

Before I tell you about this super exciting giveaway, I have to give a quick disclaimer about yesterday's post. We didn't actually get any concerned comments on the blog but we did get a couple of texts wondering about it. Don't worry! We would never have let Lola just sit on the top of Jason's Jeep like that. In fact, she really isn't sitting much on her own yet anyway, and even if she were I would never have let her just balance up there like that. That was all thanks to Photoshop. I will show you the original photos I worked from to make that shot at some point soon!

Okay now onto this gorgeous wreath:

 

 I am so excited about this giveaway! I don't know about you, but I LOVE wreaths made from vintage book pages! And guess what? We are giving the beautiful Joyeux Noel Wreath (shown above) made by the lovely Lana of Simple Joys Paperie to one lucky winner! Just in time for Christmas.

 Lana makes the most beautiful paper creations including all sorts of gorgeous wreaths:

These STUNNING angel wings:

 Precious little angels:

 Adorable little snowmen:

And lovely vintage sheet music cones:

So, how can you win?

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

You don't have to have a blog to enter, either. If you aren't a blogger, just enter a comment and then where it says "comment as" scroll down near the bottom and click on anonymous. However, if you do that, make sure to leave your e-mail address so we can confirm that you are the winner. If we draw the name of someone who doesn't leave any identifying information we will simply draw a new name. Make sure to check back here on the blog to collect your prize!

You can comment each day if you would like to up your chances!

For extra entries become visit Simple Joys Paperie and come back here and tell us your favorite item and/or follow Lana's blog or twitter account and come back here and let us know you did!

(Just make sure to leave your favorite item, and the words "blog" and "twitter" as their own comments so you will get the extra entries as we use random.org to pick the winner). 

Because of the cost of shipping a wreath internationally this giveaway is for U.S. residents only.

Also, we wanted to let you all know we have our Drummer Boy Coasters back in stock! 

And we plan on having some new pillows ready by Friday and more burlaps stockings back in stock early next week!

 And finally it is time to announce the winner of our MyPix2Canvas Giveaway 

Congratulations to Kristel!

We will be sending you an e-mail with all the info from

I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!

Seasons Greetings? (Jason's November Post)

You've all seen the wonders that Jenni can create for her holiday photographs, but what you may not know is that our family has a bit of a history when it comes to Christmas cards, and as a general rule of thumb, the goal had always been to make each year's photo increasingly more bizarre than the last. Now those of you who have seen Jenni's cards in recent years are probably a bit confused, as nothing about her holiday greetings is in the least bit strange or unorthodox, so let me explain...

Growing up (like a lot of other families) our parents would line us up each Thanksgiving, snap a few crooked photos, look for one where everybodys' eyes were open, add a generic seasonal pleasantry, have it printed, and then send it to all of our friends and extended family. Unlike a lot of other families, however, the Crotty children were particularly un-photogenic. For years and years, our mother would send out pictures featuring more Nike headbands and Lloyd Christmas haircuts than genuine smiles or enthusiasm.

Determined to put an end to rather mundane routine of Christmas card normalcy, I finally convinced my parents that swift change was in order. Now I had seen funny cards before, but I wanted something that didn't quite make sense. I didn't want whoever opened the card to laugh... I wanted them to be simply confused. The photo below seemed to do the trick.

2005

The following year I came up with this arrangement...

2006

You'll notice that Jenni had been replaced by a man who would later become Jamie's husband (at the time though I'm not even sure that Jamie and Josh were dating, which helped add to the overall awkward feel I hoped to attain). Also, I'm sure there will be some inter-family backlash for claiming this as solely my own idea, but whatever, this is my post so I will take creative license as I so choose.

In my opinion, 2007's photo (not pictured here for numerous reasons--in short, my hands are tied) was the icing on the proverbial family photo cake. It also is the reason that the Crotty family stopped sending out Christmas cards, but that's a fact I like to take as confirmation that our cards were garnering the reaction I had hoped for.

Now that we are all grown up, each family has branched off and started sending out their own cards. Since Dana and I are both single (as Jamie likes to say, we "don't have families") and Jamie and Jenni have forgotten what its like to have a sense of humor, I took it upon myself carry on the family tradition.

In my mind, the fact that a 22-year-old, single male would have his own Christmas card is outlandish enough in its own right, but I also wanted to make sure it still created the "uhh...?" reaction of our old family cards. I wanted something that at first glance might seem like a relatively normal picture until you notice that something is a little out of place.. The result was something that I hope is as equally "off" as one might expect from a Crotty family Christmas card.

So, for what its worth... Seasons Greetings, everybody!

Lillie's Pink Cinderella Party and Some New Products

To celebrate Lillian Annabel's third birthday (which is actually this Thursday, but we celebrated it over Thanksgiving because my family was in town) we threw a little pink Cinderella themed party per the birthday girl's request. Just like last year I was able to spend around $50 for all of the decorations (not counting the food). Here are tons and tons of photos:

Here is our little princess. My mom made her a beautiful princess skirt and gave her some Cinderella gloves and Lillie and I made the crown.

I got these carriage hang tags from The Porcelain Rose on Etsy.

That is the original Grimm Brother's Cinderella story written out.

Lillie and I had lots of fun adding glitter to little glass slippers cut out of pale gray cardstock.

I also got these dress hang tags from The Porcelain Rose on Etsy.

We made a little banner out of silhouettes of Cinderella strung together.

We made a little paper cake using sheets of scrapbook paper and good ol' printer paper.

I think one of my favorite things was the huge "L" that we made from cupcake liners although it took FOREVER! I was torn between making a "3" or an "L" but now am so glad I decided on an "L" because now I can use it again for Lola.

I got five new tissue paper poms from Fiesta Pom Pom on Etsy.

When I was younger I had an American Girl doll named Felicity. A month or so ago I sent it back to the American Girl Doll Hospital where they scrubbed her and washed and smoothed back out her hair and made her good as new and then we gave her to Lillie for her birthday. I think I was even more excited than Lillie. Haha!

I also wanted to let you all know we have a new pillow cover available in our shop this morning:

 The Drummer Boy in Red

And our very last batch of Silent Night/Holy Night sets in black this season are now available. We won't have time to restock them again this year, although we will be offering them in red later this week. 

And don't forget! 

Today is the last day to get 

30% off all of our women's and children's thermals and sweatshirts 

by using the code DISCOUNT30 and that includes our brand new Hope is the Thing with Feathers thermal!

We got most of the downstairs decked out for Christmas last night. I can't wait to show you all once I get everything finished and photographed!

I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!