Halloween Mummy Dogs

Halloween is coming up next week.  Do you have a party planned?  Will there be kids there?  Or maybe kids in the bodies of adults?  My friend Britt made these great Halloween themed pigs in a blanket for a recent  party that she hosted, and I had to share them.  They're adorable:  Halloween Mummy Dogs.  Who knew decaying corpses could be so cute!

Start with the normal pigs in a blanket ingredients: 'Lil Smokies hot dogs & crescent roll dough, plus caraway seeds.

Slice the crescent roll dough into long strips to simulate mummy's wrap (disregard the perforated lines that the dough come with in the package).

Wrap each hot dog with the strips, leaving a little opening for what will be the face, adding the caraway seeds for eyes.

Bake, plate, and serve...with a little tomato blood.   Bwahahahahaha!!! 

Happy Halloween!

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New Retro Suitcase Gift Sets

I love suitcases.  It's probably because I love to travel and they always make me think of great trips I've taken, or enticing places I have yet to visit.  I don't get to travel as much as I'd like, so you might say I'm a bit preoccupied with images and symbols of travel and far away destinations.  

Although modern rolling suitcases are more sturdy and practical, I still really like the old style cases that I've acquired over the years.  I have one wood framed case that I bought at a flea market in Glasgow, Scotland and hauled all the way back to the states with me because I loved it so much.  I have other cases that are precious to me because they belonged to family members who have been gone for many years and saw many great adventures of their own.

So, I was thrilled to find boxes in the shape of suitcases to introduce my new gift sets in time for the holiday season.  They'll also be great for wedding party gifts at any time of year. One set would be perfect for groomsmen gifts, with its collection of shaving items. Others would be perfect for bridesmaids or mothers, or even the bride and groom themselves.  Everybody loves nice soap and who can resist a cute suitcase?

Definitely NOT me!

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Urban Unveiled at Benaroya Hall

We had a lovely time at Urban Unveiled this week.  I was very impressed and inspired by so many of the vendor displays that were there.  Here are a few highlights from the Founders Room, where we were located...

There were beautiful sweet things from The People's Cake

And gorgeous creations from Fena Flowers.  The theme for the show was "Diamond" and they did a really nice job incorporating it in to their display.

Look at the creative idea that City Catering came up with.  They were sticking with the Diamond theme as well and  made thousands of little drill holes in the back-lit serving stands, which were each filled with pegs to make the beautiful glowing effect you see here.  And their food was fantastic!

Here was our area.  I'm very happy with how it came together.  I had fun coming up with some new packaging designs for the event and was able to incorporate some glittery, diamond accents in to tie it all together.  We were very pleased with the great response we got from the many attendees on this memorable evening.

Thanks for a great event!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This month is the 25th anniversary of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  This cause is close to my heart (no pun intended) because of a strong maternal family history of breast cancer.  It's so important to get regular mammograms and to do the self-checks that save so many lives each year.  I get to go the the Ballard Swedish Women's Imaging clinic for my tests.  On a recent visit, I walked in and sat down, trying to act cool in my oh-so-attractive hospital gown.  This is what greeted me...

happy, smiling, crocheted boobies (ordinarily I shy away from the term booby, but it really seemed to fit here).  I love them.  And they came in so handy for the technician when she was going over how the imaging equipment worked!  They're both practical and disarming.  I think every imaging lab should have some!

Urban Unveiled

I am so excited to be participating this year in the Urban Unveiled wedding show!  It's taking place the evening of Wednesday, October 12^th at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle.  That's the week after next, in case you haven't looked at a calendar lately.

The show will include lots of incredible wedding vendors, a Luly Yang bridal fashion show, live music, and an astounding raffle.  A raffle ticket is included with the price of admission, and guests will receive a second free raffle ticket when they visit the Founders Room. So all guests receive two free raffle tickets. It's called “The Art of Giving”  and includes some really great stuff.  Pssst...be sure to notice the Seattle Sundries contribution near the end of the list.  Purchase tickets to Urban Unveiled, and maybe you will be the recipient of one of the following items:

• T. Anthony Jewelers: Custom designed chandelier earrings. (Value: tbd)
• True Colors Events: 10 hours of consultation services. (Value: $1,250)
• Luly Yang Couture: $1,200 towards the purchase of a gown. (Value: $1,200)
• John & Joseph Photography:   Engagement Session.  1-hr Session in Greater Seattle or Los Angeles Area.  Includes High Resolution Disc with 75 edited photographs. (Value: $1,150)
• Roche Harbor Resort: Two nights in a luxury suite, Dinner for two in our fine-dining restaurant, Couple's retreat at our Afterglow Spa. (Value $1,000)
• Belathee Photography: Either and Engagement session, bridal shower coverage or any other type of portrait shoot. (Value $550)
• Willows Lodge: Do Not Disturb Package. One night’s accommodations for 2 people in a luxurious NW style room; Dinner for Two at Barking frog followed by exclusive “In-Tub” dining experience for a relaxing soak in your room. (Value: $520)
• The Woodmark: Gift certificate for an overnight stay in a lakefront guest room, includes dinner for two at bin on the lake.  (Value $500)
• W Seattle: 1 complimentary weekend night stay in a wonderful room. (Value: $400)
• Seven Salon: Gift Certificate (Value: tbd)
• Seattle Sundries: Two gift sets, one for a bride and one for a groom.  (Value: $100 each)
• Rented Elegance & Design: Gift Certificate for Prop Rentals (Value: $200)
• Michael Bride: two hour makeup lesson (Value: tbd) 

Pretty nice, huh?!

Great Games

School has started again, so it seems like a good time to sing the praises of two "educational" games that my kids and I love.  They're both great family activities, or for the kids to play on their own.  Good Christmas gifts too... 

The first game is Take Off.  It's a simple concept where 2-4 players get four colorful little airplanes each to use as playing pieces.  Multicolored dice are rolled to determine which direction your plane gets to fly.  The goal is to be the first to have all four of your planes travel from Hawaii across the map, and back to Hawaii on the other side.  Players follow color coded paths and learn geography and world statistics as they go.  If you roll a "take off" you get to choose a card from the stack, locate the city it describes on the map, and jet to that location.  We love reading all the information included on each card, right down to how to pronounce the name of the city that we're flying to.  It's been a fun and colorful introduction to the countries of the world.

I'm sorry to report that it seems the company who manufactures this game recently stopped production for some reason, so it's hard to find at online stores right now.  There are lots still on ebay and at smaller toy stores, so I would snap one up if you can find one.  Hopefully they will be back in production soon!

The next game is Quiddler.  It's like a cross between Scrabble and Gin Rummy, for kids.  Players build words using cards drawn from the stack and add up the points over several rounds to see who wins.  I recommend watching this video that describes how it's played because the written directions are a little confusing.  The words don't have to be long and complicated, which makes it ideal for early language learners (or adults with very small vocabularies..hee hee). It's also very compact since it's just a stack of cards, so it's great for travel.

I just love the beautifully illustrated letters too.  They seem to be inspired by the Book of Kells, which I have always thought was an incredible contribution to our graphic lexicon.  So the game is not only educational, but inspirational!