New Packaging for Pretti Mini!

So excited to have a new look to the shop, a new logo, and now a fancy new label to jazz up our packaging! There's a new website coming soon, too, but, SHHHHHH! (Don't tell anyone yet!) We'll be announcing the official news here when we're ready to launch. For now, here's how our goods will show up on your doorstep!

 

And this is how we are packaging our Pretti Pom Wands:

Funny how such a little thing can make me smile. I love how it turned out and that it's pink. Cause, you know, everything's better with a little pink!

Have a beautiful day!

xoxo,

Jen

Welcome Summer with an End of School Year Goodie Basket! (FREE PRINTABLE SUMMER FUN VOUCHERS!)

 

School is almost done for the year! Get the kids ready for summer with a fun goodie basket. It can be anything from a few beach toys and bubbles in a sand bucket to few little surprise tickets they can expect to use this summer.

25 fun ideas for what to put in a bucket or basket:

BEACH TOWEL

SUNGLASSES

NEW SWIM SUIT 

GOGGLES

SAND TOYS

WATER GUNS

WATER TOYS

BEACH SHOVEL

BUBBLES

SIDEWALK CHALK

NERF BALL

NERF GUNS

FRISBEE

JUMP ROPE

BEACH BALL (deflated)

POOL TOYS

KITE

CRAFT KIT

SILLY STRING

BAG OF WATER BALLOONS

GLOW STICKS

SMALL BOOK

SKETCH BOOK

GIFT CARD (See below for ideas or use our SUMMER FUN VOUCHERS!)

MINI PHOTO ALBUM FOR SUMMER MEMORIES

  I credit my assistant, Karla, for coming up with the idea for the gift basket. She is always full of fun ideas...especially when it comes to the kids! We had a good time tossing around all the things we'd like to put in their goodie bags or baskets the last couple weeks. Knowing how my daughter has always wanted to go to Hershey Park, I thought it'd be fun to surprise her with park tickets, too. We added season passes to our local water park - Sesame Place - and a few little gift cards for our local ice cream shop and movie theater. I had so much fun, I couldn't stop. I thought "what if I made cute little vouchers for them all?" So, here they are: SUMMER FUN TICKETS!

To present like a booklet, just punch a hole in the corners, then tie with ribbon.

To include things like theater tickets, park passes, or gift cards, glue the card to the front of the envelope & stash the goods inside. I stacked a few on top of each other then wrapped with a ribbon. 

Here is yours! Ready to print and fill out!

Ideas for your fun day trip or passes:

TRIP TO THE PARK

FATHER/SON OR FATHER/DAUGHTER FISHING DAY

MOTHER/DAUGHTER SPA (at Nail Salon or local Sweet n Sassy)

ICE CREAM PARLOR DAY

AMUSEMENT PARK TICKETS (taped to the back of voucher or in an envelope)

DAY TRIP TO THE BEACH

PICNIC IN THE YARD

LOCAL MUSEUM DAY TRIP

TRIP INTO THE CITY

BASEBALL GAME

POOL MEMBERSHIP

Rainy day ideas!

MOVIE THEATER TICKETS

SKYZONE TICKETS

BOUNCE HOUSE TICKETS

GIFT CARD FOR LOCAL POTTERY OR CRAFT PLACE

SHOPPING SPREE! GIFT CARD TO FAVORITE STORE

Last, but not least, - actually, some of my favorites - a few sweet and simple ideas to put on our 

SUMMER FUN VOUCHERS:

One special craft day with your child

One nature day with your child (go on a nature walk, hike, or visit local park)

One visit to local ice cream shop with mom or dad

Trips to the ice cream truck (With money for them already in the envelope)

Gift voucher to Rita's Water Ice

Weekend Trip to Grandparents house

Make up your own! (And comment below! I would LOVE to hear your ideas!)

What's great about this, is you have plans already in place for your child's summer and money allocated for the specific activities and places. Even ice cream money set aside! There were so many little trips and things we MEANT to do last summer and never got to. This year, I have a plan, the tickets, and it's all presented in sweet little envelopes!  It's gonna be a great summer!

WISHING YOU AND YOUR KIDS AN AWESOME SUMMER!

xoxo,

Jen

SUMMER PARTIES ARE ALMOST HERE!

The weather has been nice and warm! All the neighborhood kids are outside playing again and mermaid party orders are pouring in. That can only mean one thing: IT'S ALMOST SUMMER! Yay! Time for flip flops, pool parties, summer picnics, beach time, cook outs, under the sea parties, vacation, and weekend getaways. Time with the kids. Time with family and friends. What's not to love?

So since I have summer on the brain, I thought I'd share these fun Under The Sea Printables. How cute would these be to take to the beach this summer or have for the kids by the pool? Don't wait for a summer soiree! Add a little fun and celebration to your every day!

Print this image on 8-1/2 x 11 paper or card stock. Cut and tape around water bottles.

Print these on cardstock, using 4 images on your 8-1/2 x 11 page. (Print 2 per page for larger cards).

Cut in half (down the middle) then fold each in half with seahorse image in front. Use as place/name cards or buffet cards.

How will you use yours? What fun plans do you have for the summer? I'd love to hear from you!

XOXO,

Jen

The Best Mother's Day Gift: The Gift of Time

This weekend my hubs took my daughter to his parents for the weekend. While I missed hanging out with the family and visiting both his mom and mine, what I REALLY needed was a weekend get caught up. And he knew that. Orders were getting backed up, laundry was piling up, and the house was a mess. A couple days on my own and I feel more organized, recharged, and set up to have a productive week. I put in some earlier mornings and long hours, but it felt GREAT. I worked on orders, prepped others, stripped the beds, did lots of laundry, actually put said laundry AWAY, wrote a few posts, and worked on my new website. (More on that soon!)

By the time my family got home yesterday, I was ready to relax. My daughter and I gardened a little bit - planting the flowers she bought me at the school sale - and we made a little stepping stone path. Had the best time with my little nature girl. The hubby grilled us some salmon and asparagus and poured a nice glass of sauvigon blanc.  A perfect night with my little family and a great end to my Mother's Day Weekend.

Hope all you Mom's out there got a
little gift of free time, too! Of course, the BEST gift of all is having this little girl to love every day!

XOXO, Jen

I HEART MY CUSTOMERS!

 

Happy customer photos to share this morning! Adorable Kaleena turned one and her mamma graciously sent me these pics from her big day. Love seeing how creative my customers are! The photo is just gorgeous against the backdrop. (Great idea, Ashley!)

 

Look at that sweet face!

 

Beautiful mom and daughter. Receiving sweet customer photos: awesome. Seeing a happy little girl enjoying her day with special items we made: priceless.

Pretti Mini Items in this post can be found here:

Fabric Backdrop

High Chair Banner

Pretti Pom Wands

Bunting Banner

To view the entire collection you can go here.

5 Adorable Easter Breakfast Ideas!

Surprise the kids with one of these on Easter morning! Adorable pancake bunny. Originally shared here.

Yummy bunny biscuits and jam! Think I am gonna make this one! Find the recipe here.

Another cute idea for pancakes. I Heart Publix had some great ideas! I just love these adorable egg "chicks"! So sweet!

Wishing you and yours an beautiful Easter and Happy Spring!

XOXO,

Jen  

Cinderella!

 I can't wait! I am finally going to take my daughter to see the much anticipated Cinderella movie this weekend. Not sure which of us is more excited! (Yes, I am a princess, ahem, KID at heart). Cinderella parties are already popping up all over the place and we are getting a lot of requests over here for those glass slipper wands. You can hop on over to the shop to see them here.

Have a royal day!

xoxo

Jen

Spring is Almost Here!

I'm so excited for warm weather, pretty pastels, and spring flowers popping up in the garden! Okay, mostly the warm weather! Inspired by a pastel version of the rainbow, here is the new Spring Collection. Pretty decorations for an Easter Brunch,  Mother's Day, Spring baby or bridal showers and of course, birthday parties!

Wishing you all a beautiful SPRING!

Hugs,

Jen

Sharing The LOVE Pom Pom Wand Sale!

Just in time for Valentine's, I decided to share some love by adding 2 extra Pretti Pom Wands to every order. Make a pretty Valentine's centerpiece. Prepare ahead for a birthday party or shower. Or just gift a few to your favorite valentines, classmates, neighborhood kids, or family!

Click on the photo above to visit the Pretti Pom section of the shop or go here for the main page.

Have a "pretti" awesome day!

Jen

10 Ways to Organize Your Craft Room or Work Space

I work from home and practically LIVE in my craft room. It was important to me to make my work space functional and organized, but pretty, too!  I wanted the room to reflect not just who I am, but to also reflect what I do with my company, Pretti Mini. I'm so happy with the way it turned out! Today I'll share some of the details and a few tips to help you design YOUR special space.

#1. ORGANIZE. Write down the items you really need to organize the most and come up with a plan. Is there something you can lose in order to make room for something you really need? For example, I stock a LOT of tulle so finding room for all of it was my biggest issue. I used to store my fabric where the tulle is now, but then I realized I really didn't need it all. I let some go, then I left only the colors and prints I use often on display and stored the rest. I put them in clear bins so I can easily find them later, but put the bins out of site in a closet. Now I opened up more room in my cube storage space to display only the items I needed to access every day. I picked up the cube storage shelves at Target. (There are 2 of them - one stacked on top of the other). I chose not to use a lot of baskets so I could view my stock instantly, but there are so many color options you could go with. Thirty-One has some really great colors and prints! Going to be picking up a couple of those in the near future to replace my beige ones. (Pink, of course!)

#2. GO FOR INSTANT GRATIFICATION. Make or buy one special piece. Hang it up or add to the room. Now decorate just that corner. Seeing your vision immediately in front of you goes a long way to inspiring you to do the not-so-fun tasks of filing, storing, purging, etc.  For me, it was the "Create" sign (from a Deborah Mori calendar) and that pink chair fabric that got my creative juices flowing.

#3. DON'T BE AFRAID OF COLOR. Splash your favorite color on the walls (or just on one wall) to brighten up your space.  Or go the other way and stay neutral, but add in color with bright chairs, art, or accessories.

#4. DISPLAY YOUR ACCESSORIES. Put them out where you can see them. I had boxes and bins of flowers, bows, fabric swatches, and beads tucked away. With them out of site it was easy to forget what I had and it seemed like I never found what I was looking when I needed it! Having them all pinned on my dress form was a great way to pretty up the space, while finding a storage solution for it all. I was able to get rid of a bunch of boxes and clutter and I just love the way it looks.

#5. HANG IT - Walls, ceilings, etc.  My craft room is on the 3rd floor of our 300 year old farm house. While we absolutely love it, there are always storage challenges in an old house. Uneven walls, floors, and odd shaped ceilings are part of the deal. Sometimes, you gotta think up, under, on the door, or even on the wall in plain site. I found these unique frames from Pier One to display and hold my lace trim. Now I don't never have to search for it and it does double duty as a interesting wall decoration. I am a big fan of anything that pulls double duty!  (Same goes for the items in my shop!)

To store the many strips of fabric I had laying around, I used  (2) No-damage Adhesive hooks, (1) piece of string, and a bunch of clothes pins (to be painted pink at another date!) This is such an easy solution for so many things. I hung all those strips on the inside of the closet door and added another row underneath of it for the long strips. Now it is out of my way, but stored in a place that I can easily access it and find the color(s) I need. Yay! Mission accomplished!

Organized closet!

#6. DISPLAY YOUR WORK.

There is an ever changing landscape in my room, depending on what I am working on. But displaying my items - even temporarily - gives me pride in my work and reminds me what I love about my job: making pretty things for people to enjoy.

New Wedding Poms for my upcoming collection

Valentines Hanging Topiary

#7. PERSONALIZE IT.

Add in personal items you love like books, mementos, and family photos. My shelf displays my daughter,  husband  and my Gram, along with special things like the hat ladies passed on from my husbands' Grandmother.

#8. A SPACE FOR THE KIDS. This is an important one for me. I work long hours and wanted a place where my daughter could come up and be creative with me. She loves to draw and color so I keep baskets of paper, doodle books, markers and craft supplies ready for her. It's become a special after school time for us. She does her homework then we work on our crafts together and listen to her favorite hits on the radio. Sometimes we take a break to dance to the latest Taylor Swift song, then we get back to our crafting...then dance again.

(This pic is BEFORE I found a home for all of those bins!)

How it looks now. Much more space for the kiddo!

#9. THINK OUT OF THE BOX. After all, it's YOUR creative space, right? I love using old jars for storing pens and sticks, an antique tea cup to hold paper clips or pins, and those plastic over the door shoe holders for EVERYTHING. They are great for storing just about anything small - from fabric remnants, to tools, paintbrushes, or supplies. I have them tucked away in closets all over the house!

  I use a LOT of ribbon and have two work stations - one for me and one for my assistant. Using a paper towel holder to store ribbon gives me a something that holds a lot and can be easily moved.

This is what I like to call my "time management" center. Inside this fab organizer from Thirty-One, I keep my orders straight, my inspiration near, and an awesome printable calendar from TomKatStudio (that matches perfectly) keeps those deadlines in site. And let's talk about that clock ! One of my favorite pieces! I wasn't sure where to put it after I rearranged the room and my husband actually came up with idea to hang it right there on the organizer. LOVE it! Since I'm using a printable calendar this year, the space where a flip calendar usually goes was the perfect solution!

#10. INSPIRATION  

When I found this calendar last year, I knew it was going to be something I would keep. It's filled with beautiful illustrations and positive quotes. I framed and hung my favorites.

I was still searching for the perfect sign to complete my main wall, when I stumbled on to this at 

Joann Fabrics. Love!

And that beautiful painting on the left? That is my favorite piece of all. A painting my daughter made for me. I used to sing for a living so she said that is a portrait of me. LOVE.

Hope you got some inspiration from this post! Enjoy creating YOUR perfect space!

Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Feel free to add a link to your craft or sewing room and have a beautiful day!

Jen

 Shopping info:

Sewing Machine : Brother Project Runway 

Yellow inspiration board frames (turned lace holders): Pier One

Custom Toile Curtains: Calico Corners

Wooden Blue Table Tray and Dress Form: Home Goods

Storage Cubes: Target

Ribbon Organizers,Thread Spool Holder and Fabric:  Joanne Fabrics

Wall Organizer: Thirty-One

Green Wall Clock: Dot & Bo

Wall Color: Butter by Restoration Hardware

Printable Calendar for 2015:  TomKatStudio

Fabric wall banner and pom poms: My shop! Pretti Mini

Year of Hope & Inspiration Calendar by Deborah Mori on Amazon