My doll house was hands down my favorite toy growing up. I spent hours and hours making furniture and switching the rooms around. The humble wire and felt family that lived there would have loved such a well appointed space. The black, white and pink palette would have appealed to my 10 year old self and is even more appealing to me now. In fact my living room would fit right in to this mix. To me pink is neutral – even hot pink, so this is pretty much my dream house.

images via Making it Lovely

It just so happens that many of my favorite sweets are a perfect match to the bright hues of our Meadow pattern. The fresh raspberry and buttercream macrons, brown butter custard fruit tart and assorted cookies all came from Bittersweet, one of my favorite bakeries here in Chicago. There was a fudge frosted cake from Sweet Mandy B’s as well, which is my kryptonite. But before all the treats we had pizza, which was the number one thing I craved throughout my pregnancy. I joked I may give birth to a calzone.

The Meadow wall went up without too much trouble using a combination of 3M command hooks and strips. We were all so sad to see it come down a week or so later. For a more permanent installation, which would be so fun in a little girl’s room,  you would need to use more robust supplies to make it last.

Everyone filled out a prediction card for me to read after the baby arrived. It was so fun to see all the good name suggestions and funny first word ideas. I am sure Buck will enjoy reading them years from now and perhaps wonder why I didn’t choose to name him Beauregard.

I feel very fortunate to work with a great team of creative and thoughtful people. Celebrating with paper and pastries is always a treat. I wish we could do it every week.

Trade shows are a lot of work – anyone exhibiting in or attending one will tell you that it can be physically and mentally draining in a very unique way. After doing them for so many years I realized we needed to make the work something we would look forward to and hopefully inspire and excite our customers with more than just product. Each show we challenge ourselves to really “bring it” and the process is very collaborative. When I look at these pictures I feel grateful that I get to work with a talented and committed crew who can work such wonders.

I used our Garden Roses paper to line simple white plates, make a table runner and fashion a few cupcake liners using our template and instructions found here. Buying the spray roses a few days ahead will allow them to become full and lush for presentation, just be sure to wash and dry them throughly the night before topping the cupcakes with them. This collection of white cake plates is one I have been working on for years, but you could achieve a similar effect by placing dinner plates on paper wrapped vases like I did here one Holiday.

1. Kidsonroof Farm Bedding
2. Themis Trio Mobile
3. Womb Chair
4. Uusi Moderne Farm horse & pig
5. Winter Water Factory Romper
6. J. Schatz Egg Night Light
7. Striped nursery from Project Nursery (found on Pinterest)