Oooh la la Cadeau

I just stumbled upon this amazing site that sends these gorgeous wrapped gifts, called Oooh la la Cadeau. I LOVE how they are so personalized and luxurious looking. This would make a great gift idea, for friends and family that have helped out at your wedding, but anyone would be lucky to receive one of these.
Cutest baby giraffe gift.Baby gift "year of firsts"

For the gourmet in your life.

I think this is my favourite one- I love the colours!

How cute is this? It's for a Bridge lover.

Ladybug Labels

I love this etsy store, LadybugLabels. Such a great way to personalize your favours.

Bobbette & Belle

I stumbled upon this company, Bobbette & Belle, that makes the most adorable macaroon favours. Just had to share!
Hand painted monogram can be added to the macaroons!

Homemade Gift Ideas

I've always loved the idea of giving homemade gifts and cards for Christmas, because I think that thoughtfulness should always be the biggest part of the gift. I've found these great homemade gift ideas from Martha Stewart and picked some of my favourites. Not only do they make great Christmas gifts, they're great party favours.
How much do you adore these Candle tea cups?! This would be a great favour idea for a tea-themed bridal shower. Homemade scented salt scrubs

A box of cookies wrapped in kraft boxes, decorated with Christmas cards.

Personalize gift cards by putting them in these cute card holders.

I love this spiced coffee idea- take whole beans and mix them with cinnamon and nutmeg spices, or vanilla bean seeds.

You can also make small bundles of mulling spices. Be sure to include a recipe and use natural cheesecloth and non-dyed twine (unlike the picture shown). Jams, preserves, marinated olives and nut topics (shown) also look completely elegant, especially when you dress up the jar with fabric and/or spoons.

A totally cute yet simple bonbonniere- paper cones filled with goodies such as caramels. The trick to making homemade items pro-using nice script fonts like "edwardian script" and my favourite "Windsong".

Sale at Martha Stewart Crafts

Just thought i'd pass on the good news that Martha Stewart Crafts is having a sale and use this opportunity to share my favourite Christmas items from the site!

I'm usually not a big fan of pointsettias but this wreath is so cute (made from paper). What a cute idea!Loving this acorn napkin ring idea- just in time for American Thanksgiving.

This cookie box is from this new line of "Gingerbread Village" designs (which only Martha Stewart staff would think of!)

Note the teddy bear graham cracker-sized cookies in the box!

Speaking of Gingerbread men- how adorable is this felt trim?

Simply gorgeous scalloped edge divided boxes. Love the idea of giving home baked items for Christmas.

Real Wedding: It's All About the Guests

It's the long weekend and I finally had time to pick which gorgeous pics from Christina and Tom's wedding to post. The wedding took place at the Scarboro Golf Club in Toronto, featuring shades of fresh spring greens accented with tones of chocolate. Christina honoured both her Chinese culture and her husband's Korean culture by wearing traditional dresses in addition to her white gown. Thanks to our 'faithful' reader Christina for sharing your wedding with us!!

Her Wedding in Her Own Words:
Our wedding was the perfect extension of the dinner parties we host in our 648sq ft condo. Whenever we have dinner parties, we always obsess over little things we think our guests would appreciate, so we figured, why should our wedding be different? For my husband and I, the overriding theme was a simple dinner party...for 140 of our closest family and friends. Our venue was perfect for it. It was old and intimate, but large enough for us to have the ceremony, cocktails and reception all at one location. Smaller single-purpose rooms made the difference. The cocktail in the main sitting area equipped with a baby grand, the formality of dinner in the main dining room, and a separate ballroom for the dance set the tone for each stage of the day. A few little things we hoped they enjoyed: Guest boutonnières to honour everyone who came to celebrate; homemade jars of apple wine jelly favours that also doubled as table seating cards; four rounds of toasting the tables to make sure everyone’s glass was always full; a bride-and-groom speech that kicked off the reception so that all the formal stuff was out of the way and our guests were relaxed right when the first course was served.

Ribbons Crafts from Martha

Ok, I admit, i'm not getting much work done because i'm totally in Weddings mode because my friends' wedding was just this weekend (which I will share about later). I found these totally cute ribbon crafts from the Martha Stewart Spring 2008 issue and I really had to post.

Eye Candy

I'm loving the endless selection of party & wedding favors available these days- especially these super adorable lucite "candy bins" from the chic wedding favor company Parcel Design. They've totally taken the blah out of dragee almonds and chocolates by adding lucite and white accented with clean cut labels.

Why not give a green gift? Another innovative party favor I found on their site - this personalized "Garden in a Bag".