Ever wonder what to get a friend as an engagement gift? While it is definitely not expected or necessary to give engagement gifts, sometimes we just want to show that we are happy for them with a little something special. Here are a few ideas, some of which are similar to gifts that I’ve received and loved!

• A subscription to a bridal magazine. What bride-to-be doesn’t love flipping through the pages looking for cute ideas? Even with wedding blogs all the rage, it’s sometimes nice to have a tangible magazine to browse. And there are so many out there to pick from!

• An adorable ring holder for that shiny new bling she has just acquired. ETSY has plenty of adorable ones, but this one can be customized with the couples name or initials.

• Champagne flutes for toasting the special occasion. There are so many adorable ones out there and in a wide price range. You could go with anything from fun and hand painted to classic crystal.

• A new set of stationary showing off what will be the brides new last name. Shutterfly.com has a wide variety of custom stationary sets that are so reasonably priced. My sister actually gave me a set of these that say “A note from the future Mrs. Lindell” with a capitol “L” in the star. They are perfect as thank you notes for all the showers.

• A return address stamp to reduce the amount of writing for all those thank you notes they will have to write.

I hope this gives you a few fun ideas! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Yesterday I shared what we did for my Dad’s birthday. We got all secretive and had something in the works for a little over a month. You can get all the details and see what it looked like here.

Of course Kal and I documented the whole ‘opening of the present’ thing….both with photos and a video. And yes, in the video my Dad is making fun of us for being the crazy daughters all up in his face with cameras. Us Schmitt’s are weird like that (and Kal you are included in that, even though your last name is no longer Schmitt). Anyways, feast your eyes on the video.

Let’s hear a collective “awwww”. Of course my Flip Camera ran out of batteries half way through, but you get the idea. What about you guys? Anyone gather a bunch of memories as a gift for someone?

I hope everyone had a a nice long weekend! I spent mine having a little fun, catching up on some things around the house, and partaking in a special celebration. You see, our Dad turned 65 on Sunday and we’ve had a little something up our sleeves for about a month.

We’ve been secretly gathering emails of friends, family, and others who might want to participate in a birthday project. We then sent an email out to everyone asking them to send us a memory they have of our Dad. Old, new, photos, articles, whatever they had, we wanted it. Our plan was to accumulate 65 memories to represent his 65 years. We were going to package each one up in an envelope separately and number them from 1 through 65. Something similar to this, all wrapped up with a pretty bow.

source of picture

Notice how I said “original plan?” Yea, we ended up deviating from that original plan a bit. There were so many people that sent in memories, a lot of them sent more that one, to the point where we had many more that our original goal of 65! Our Dad is a pretty awesome guy, he is loved! We really didn’t want to pick and choose the 65 memories, we wanted to included them all. And then we thought that the pretty package of stacked envelopes was cute, but might not be so practical. Once they were read, what if a few of the envelopes got lost? Well that would make our keepsake gift fairly pointless wouldn’t it? So we decided to go with a book format instead. I don’t know much about scrapbooking, nor have I ever really made one, so we’ll just call this a memory book. I went to my local Michaels and grabbed a book and some simple paper. We really wanted the memories to be the focus, so we decided to keep it simple and without embellishments. Then I just laid out all of the memories and taped them down using this crazy fun gadget. It’s a double sided tape contraption that works like one of those whiteout pens.

Paper Source

Once it was complete we wrapped it up and headed to our dads for an evening of celebration. It was hard for us to wait to give it to him! And when we did give it to him, of course we documented it!

I think it’s safe to say he enjoyed it! There is so much to the book that he could not read every single one on the spot, but it was fun to watch him realize how many people contributed.

Happy birthday to the most wonderful Dad we know!

Come back tomorrow for a video of him opening it. Real reactions are always better than pictures!

… or wrist, neck, or finger.

I came across Kendra Scott jewelry when I was planning my wedding last year.  I fell in love with all her earrings, bracelets, necklaces and rings.  I went with her Carmella Stud earring but used the color bar to personalize it with my chosen gems.  You can check out how myself and other brides used Kendra Scott Jewelry here.  You can also get a glimpse of my earrings here from my wedding.

Enough wedding talk.  Why am I bringing this up now?  Well, I’m on the email list for Kendra Scott and have been getting a lot of discount codes for Valentine’s day and now President’s day.  I thought I’d let you in on the secret.  Using the President’s Day Code (on the home page), you can get 10% off all sale items.  Kendra Scott is based out of Texas but you can purchase any of her items online.  I’ve also seen some of her earrings at small boutiques and recently at Macys and Nordstrom.

Here’s what I’ve got my eyes on…

Darby Earring

Sage Earring

Libi Earring – On sale so take and extra 10% off with the President’s Day Sale!

Tavi Stud Earring – I can see myself wearing these to work all the time.

Josephine Cuff

Grayce Statement Necklace

Poppy Cocktail Ring – Also on sale!

Ramsee Ring – Another steal on sale.

Any of Kendra’s pieces are great gifts for friends, family, and of course… yourself!

Cort and I were spending Christmas Eve at our Aunts house when I spotted this adorable tray of hers…

They tray was on a hand painted stand and held plates for appetizers and a few glasses for people to grab.  I snapped a photo of it real quick and was planning on asking Aunt Cyndi where she had gotten it.  I needed to get one for myself!

Wellllll,  a few hours later I was opening my gift from Aunt Cyndi and what do I see?  My own personalized tray!!!

Lucky Cortney received one, too.

Another adorable touch (that I don’t have a photo of) is the backside of our trays.  In a light gray font is a word collage of “Christmas 2011″ so we’ll always remember them as a Christmas gift from our thoughtful Aunt.

So for any of you out there wanting your own personalized tray for yourself, you can find the information HERE.  I started browsing myself and found you can even have a photograph of yours be the background.  Or, you can choose your own designer theme that Erin Condren provides.

Aunt Cyndi used hers as a serving tray, Cort is using hers for a coffee table tray, and I’m currently using mine for display.  Something important to know is these trays are waterproof and food safe!  You can serve food and drinks directly on the tray.  I know Brian would love one to hold his wallet, car keys, watch, and loose change.  They would be great place to catch jewelry on your dresser, or hold soaps and bath salts in your bathroom.  There are so many possibilities!  Here are some examples given on Erin Condrem’s website.  I think my favorite is the first one… maybe it’s the Patron’s fault.  I <3 tequila.

I have plans to purchase some for future wedding and baby shower gifts.

Did anyone else receive a Christmas gift you think we’ll love?  Please share!

A very special little girl on Jeff’s side of the family loooves to play school. What little girl doesn’t, right? I know I did. I can remember taking turns pretending to be the teacher with my friends and sister, loving pointing to my pretend chalkboard and and using my pretend teacher materials. Buuut enough about me, this post is about Avery. So we decided to play up to what she likes, and get her something fun for Christmas. A chalkboard. But not just any chalkboard, we painted her name on it!

It’s a little bigger than it looks in the picture. It was about 2 feet high by 3 feet wide, and it even has one of those little trays for the chalk at the bottom. But let me tell you, it is crazy hard to find chalkboards these days. With whiteboards and dry erase markers all the rage, bigger chalkboards are rare. Even with the whole chalkboard craft craze. So we ended up finding one on ebay, man do they really have everything. Here is a similar one but in green. Oh and when I was looking for one, I found these posted on ebay as well. They call them vintage. Really?! Vintage? Ummm I 100% remember using them when I was in school….soooo apparently I’m vintage now. Weird!

Anywayzzz, here is how I went about painting Avery’s name onto the chalkboard: I grabbed a couple bottles of glitter paint and letter stencils from Michaels, and a few paint and sponge brushes that I already had. Then I punched out the letters to coordinate with her name and cut them out.

I opted for the darker of the two paint colors since it would show up more. Rubellite was the name of it. I taped down the stencils and then busted out my foam brush and started dabbing on the paint. Before it was dry I pulled of the stencils. I was pretty much just using them for a guide, since my handwriting straight up stinks. Once I pulled them off I used a regular thin paint brush to fill in the stencil gaps and add more paint. When it dried the glitter looked a little thin, so I added a few more coats. I wanted this thing like the little girls in Toddlers and Tiaras, full of glitter.

After the first coat

After four coats

And here is a phone pic of Avery enjoying her new chalkboard.

It’s kinda hard to see her name in this pic. But I think it’s safe to say that she likes her new chalkboard. It looks like teaching is in her future. If not for real when she’s all grown up, at least of the imaginative type.

Sugar and salt are the perfect pair.  I currently have salted caramels in my candy dish and you’ll always find me eating popcorn and M&Ms together at the movie theater.  So, when I came across this recipe in Pinterest, it was instantly pinned on my Sweet Tooth board.

I’ve made these a couple times just to have around the house (very dangerous since their bite size!) and to bring to friends at work.  I recently made them again to bring as hostess gifts for Thanksgiving dinners Brian and I attended.  I put them in clear cellophane bags, tied them with tulle, and added a pumpkin die cut gift tag.

I’m definitely going to make these again as Christmas gifts for coworkers and friends.  I’m thinking of adding Christmas sprinkles on the chocolate and filling jars with the pretzels rather than in bags.  Just how Rebecca Cooper (a photog blogger I follow) does with her Turtle Bars.

The link to the original recipe is here.

Shopping bags and malls and crowds, oh my! I don’t know about you, but all those things combined this time of year = not my idea of a good time. Oh don’t get me wrong, I loooove shopping. I’ve had my fair share of marathon shopping runs, but I’m not such a fan around the holidays. Mad props to those of you who can endure the craziness of black Friday. I would crouch down in a corner in fear, no lie. So this year I have done most of my Christmas shopping my favorite way. Online. And throughout my research (What? spending countless hours sorting through websites and gift guides IS research. Right?) I have found some pretty fun things that would make for great gifts. So I thought I’d share them with you.

Clockwise from top left:

1. Nail polish makes for great stocking stuffers. Some of my favorites are Wicked, Power Clutch, and Bobbing for Baubles.
2. West Elm has a great selection of Lacquer Trays that come in a ton of colors. They’re so useful for corralling remotes, serving drinks, stashing papers, or decorating.
3. A pair of earmuffs that are as stylish as they are warm.
4. Create a fun and yummy custom chocolate bar. They have a million different toppings you can add to make a truly unique bar. I think my favorite combo might be banana and bacon! They even have a blog dedicated to chocolate.
5. The Lake Shore Natural Clutch by Jess LC. How cute is that!? And I love that it is made in Chicago – gotta represent my hometown love.
6. Cashmere lined leather gloves to keep the man in your life warm and stylish.
7. A beer mug or pilsner glass for a beer lover with their favorite NFL logo. You can even customize it by adding their name.
8. How about a chic leather camera strap in a pearl shimmer hue? Yes please! This is most definitely on my list this year.
9. Know someone who loves to run? Get them a Shoe ID. It can be engraved with their emergency contact info so they can strap it on their shoe before a run. Hopefully it would never have to be used, but better safe than sorry.
10. And last but certainly not least, some bacon and chocolate (center pic)! There I go again with the bacon! I just can’t help myself, I love it. Maybe not as much as Katie over at Bower Power. Her blog is one of my daily reads and let me tell you, she hearts bacon. She even vows to brush her teeth with the stuff. Now that’s love. Is it creepy when you feel you know someone and you haven’t even met? I guess I owe that to our crazy high tech world. N.E.Wayz….If you got me anything from this line, I’d love you forever. Mmmm, salty and sweet = perfection!

So whatcha think? See anything that you’d like to get or give?