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- Donate the foosball table & have it removed 

- Run with Moose 3 times a week

- Finish up all pending orders that were started in October

- Organize all receipts/bank accounts for accountant

- IKEA trip and shelf assembly for studio (foosball has to be gone first)

- Prepare our first Thanksgiving as a married couple

- Start new section of etsy site offering custom diaper bags

- All fabric and inventory organized (need shelf built first)

- Paint sewing cabinet (finally)

- Homemade dinners at least 3 times a week (including days with leftovers...)

- Finish watching all the past seasons of Bones

Inspired by my fall favorites post (maybe even including a few of them...) I took a stab at creating my first Etsy Treasury, aptly entitled 'Inspiring Autumn'. I'm using that board for my Friday Favorites post. The picture above is a screen shot of the page, but you can see the whole thing here. I mentioned on my facebook page that I would seriously be thrilled to have any item on this list (Christmas is just around the corner folks!) and there are lots of different price points too- so it's not like I'm being a Greedy McGreederson over here. People are always asking 'What would you like for Christmas? and my typical answer is 'I don't know. Money?' Always good, but oh so boring to open.

Regardless, I think there are a lot of items on here that make great gifts, so check it out. As a matter of fact, treasuries on Etsy are a great way to find something for the hard to shop for person in your life. Type in a couple of key words that describe items/colors/etc they might like and voila- you might stumble across something fabulous. Try it out for yourself here!

Plus, you will be supporting artists and small businesses that create unique handmade items! Hooray. :)

I really can't say enough good things about Etsy. I did a majority of my wedding shopping on the site and could not be happier with the customer service and products received.

Also- don't forget to head over to Emmaline Bride and enter to win a custom clutch made by yours truly. If you are one of my dear, dear readers I would really love to make a bag for you!!!

Hope you all have a very Happy Halloween!!!

Thought it was high time to do a short and sweet post dedicated to my favorite time of year (see title of post). Changing leaves, chilly nights, bonfires, pumpkin spice lattes, hoodies, scarves, college football, dry air...I LOVE fall.

Here are just a few things I've noticed around the web this week that reminded me we're almost in November!

Need to make these Pumpkin-Gingerbread Muffins with Mini Chocolate Chips TODAY!

EmersonMade has a clothing line? with tweed coats?? YES, please.

A mini pine cone necklace. love.

You guys know how much I love handmade, one of a kind items, right? Check out these chic and stylish knit hats, scarves and headbands made by IndeeMitch! They've got super cute models too. :) (hi sissy!)

Birch wall art? I so want this over my bed.

But I saved the best for last. If you are married, engaged or just a couple in love, High Cotton Events and Leslie&B have teamed up to give away a styled love shoot for free! Check out Carlee's post here to enter! The only requirements are that you must live in the Southeast. (You will have me for competition, fyi) ;)

Lots of fun ladies over on twitter post awesome shoes up on their blogs every tuesday. I know some of you might be a tad confused as to why I'm featuring plain old flip flops, but these are my all time favorites. I even wore them in my wedding when the fancy shoes I had put me on the verge of a panic attack bc they hurt so bad during pre-wedding photos. True story. Here are my lovelies. The thin strap, tan leather rainbow. L.O.V.E. And yes, they sell them at Nordstroms so you can check out fun stylish footwear while trying out a pair of these bad boys. (did I mention they have a lifetime warranty on the sole???) :)

To my 9 dear followers, one of which is me (I can't figure out how to unsubscribe from my own blog, oops...), I apologize for the neglect on the blog. It's been a very hectic couple of weeks, what with last minute orders, a baby shower to plan, trips to visit relatives and my real job. Lame excuses, I know. (I started the post off with a funny smilebooth photo though, so if you really were mad, that should make up for it, right??)

I promise to get back into the swing of things after the weekend! I have an exciting announcement regarding a wedding I'm going to be involved in and I'll also have a new product to debut in the shop that isn't a clutch. So you big bag ladies get ready!

I will note that I added a new type of clutch in the shop yesterday. Some ladies had been begging and pleading for a wristlet, and I was getting a little tired of all the whining and constant badgering (just kidding) so I came up with this fun little fold-over version. My sweet twitter friend, Erin, wrote up a cute little post about it over on her blog, Sparkle & Hay, for her Thursday Purseday pick. If you don't know what that is, then you need to join our ranks on twitter and follow her, and me! She also gave us a sneak peek of her engagement photos- gorgeous! Did I mention that I have the honor of making all her bridesmaids bags for her wedding this October? So excited.

Alright, back to work. Hope you all have a fabulous Friday and an exceptional weekend!!! Go Noles!

Ok, so as I've stated before, this blog is dedicated more towards my fabric creations and less towards food- even though my company's namesake was derived from my grandma and her cookies. This is where Jessica comes in. She is the brains, looks and muscle behind My Baking Heart; a blog dedicated to her passion of creating yummy treats and generously sharing the process with the world. Thank you ma'am! She, too, drew inspiration from her mom and grandmother (we are some lucky ladies to have amazing women in our families) Now, she cooks in the same kitchen where she used to watch them create as a child! How cool. :)

She was kind enough to purchase a custom collegiate clutch from me to support her TCU Horned Frogs. If you are here via facebook, you may have seen the adorable photo she posted on my wall. Here's a photo of the clutch for reference: So what is the point of this rambling story, you ask? Jessica asked me for the recipe to the Oatmeal Lace cookies and did a write up over on her blog. Please go take a look here at how amazing they came out and then take a look around for even more delectable goodies to create in your own kitchen. You will not be disappointed!!!

And if you're feeling a little inspired after perusing her blog, head over to the Project Food blog here and vote for her for the Next Food Blog Star. Voting ends Thursday, September 23rd, so any love would be appreciated. :)

I figured it was time to show a little love to college's #1 ranked football team, good ole Alabama. Plus- houndstooth is an integral part of their gameday stylings (thanks bear bryant) and I think you all know my fondness for the pattern. :) So, for your viewing pleasure this Tuesday morning, I present the B.B. clutch (and matching pin). Roll Tide!!!!!

haven't shown some of the bags i've been working on for clients and just for fun lately so this will be more of a 'photo' post than a 'mckay rambling' post. for those of you heaving a sigh of relief, you're welcome. do you have any particular design/color you want to see for fall? i'd love to hear!!! just leave me a comment below. :)

(click on any image to view larger)

I cannot even express how excited I am to share a little bit about Sara & Jordan's big day with you all. Not only was Sara the first bride to use one of my Oatmeal Lace creations for her own wedding, she also runs a stellar blog, Eco-Vintage Weddings, that is devoted to vintage-inspired and budget-friendly weddings that have little impact on the environment. Um, sign me up, please?! You can head over there to check out even more pictures of her beautiful, DIY wedding in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. All photos were taken by the talented Creative Kindling. (Click on any below for a larger view!)
Enough from me- here is Sara to walk you through her day.
Our wedding day was the hottest day of 2010 in Sioux Falls thus far - it was over 100 degrees with humidity! We had ambitious goals to do most of our wedding photos outside, but we decided to alter that plan once we experienced the heat firsthand. Our wedding was vintage-inspired, nature-inspired, eco-friendly and absolutely, 100% us. We were engaged for 11 months before our wedding, and I spent most of those 11 months working each day on something for the wedding. (side note) Seriously guys- Sara and Jordan were really a DIY duo! Check out just a few of the things they created for their wedding: all the wedding stationery, from save the date cards to programs to thank you cards, a rice krispie treat wedding cake (I die!), cake table bunting, burlap table squares, all signage except for the guestbook itself, garter & throw-away garter, bridesmaids hair pieces, and more! Amazing. Ok - back to Sara! We spent 6 months designing all of the pieces in our wedding invitation suite, and probably another 2-3 months designing all of the other wedding stationery. It was some of the most enjoyable months of wedding planning - these were projects that my husband and I completed together, and we enjoyed putting our creative minds together. The end result is more than we could have imagined! Our reception centerpieces included 1-2 birdhouses (my mother collects birdhouses, so we honored her by incorporating pieces from her collection. The birdhouses also brought in our nature-inspired, eco-friendly vibe; since she already owned the birdhouses, we didn't need to purchase centerpieces, thereby reducing our waste impact!), a wedding photo of our relatives, a wooden letter "G" that I painted ivory and distressed, and a sign, explaining our centerpiece choices and our commitment to being eco-friendly. We also made napkins out of fabric that we purchased locally, and folded cootie catchers with trivia about my husband and I as a couple. Last, tucked inside the napkins on the tables was a ticket to our Photobooth, encouraging guests to take 5 minutes in the photobooth that we made.
We served Mexican food (our favorite), danced to Michael Buble's "Everything" for our first dance, and boogied the rest of the night away to our favorite tunes blaring from our iPod. It was the most memorable day of our lives, and we feel so grateful to our families and friends for all of their help, love and support.

Such a wonderful DIY wedding! Thanks so much for sharing, Sara, and congrats again to you and Jordan!!!

Vendors:
Photography: Creative Kindling
Flowers: The Flower Shop
Ceremony: Augustana College Chapel of Reconciliation
Reception: Washington Pavilion of Arts & Science
Dress: Happily Ever After Bridal Salon (I wore an Alfred Angelo gown that has since been discontinued)
Birdcage Veil: Symphony Bridal
Hair: Salon Ne-Zhoni
Tuxedo: Evelyn's Floral & Formalware
Guestbook Tree: Lovliday
Etsy sellers: Paloma's Nest, Oatmeal Lace Design, LeahLeah, The Lucky Button, Y&E Bridal, BPoetic, Nomsa, Whisker Graphics, Whisker Works, galla 15, Earmark, ARemarkYouMade, QACreate, BoutiqueSophia
Sheet Cakes: HyVee Bakery, Sioux Falls, SD

i haven't watched this in awhile and it seriously made my afternoon. if you were not in attendance it may not be quite as enjoyable to watch but at least you get to listen to some rockin B-52 loveshack. :) enjoy friends!

and if you still want more, feast your eyes on this fun spread matt miller made for us on his blog. such a freaking fun day!!!! (click image to enlarge)

So fun opening my email today! One of the brides I worked with to design her bridesmaid clutches sent me a few photos of them in action from her wedding day this past weekend. I love it!!!