A NEW GIFT FOR YOU: Maggie from Boutique Graphics has teamed up with Boutique Cafe again this year to create two new original Holiday printables as our Christmas gift to you!!

These sweet sayings are Free for you to download and print off at your local print shop (or at home on your printer). Put them into a cute frame and place them around the house to make your holiday festive and bright. These make an easy and affordable gift for someone you love as well. We’d love to see pictures of where you place your prints and how you display them, post a link to your blog if you share them – (*remember good things come to those who share…).

We have two NEW Holiday designs available for 2011:

“Joy Love Peace Believe Christmas” in a classy and beautiful tree formation

and the playful and frolic filled:

“Have yourself a Merry little Christmas”

Each download is available in 3 sizes (4×6,5×7,8×10)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to each and every one of you.

With much love,
Daria, Maggie and the entire Boutique Cafe Team

FREE DOWNLOADS
Click to download the sizes you wish
“Joy Love Peace Believe Christmas” Tree
4X6
5×7
8×10

Click to download the sizes you wish
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
4×6
5×7
8×10

**Last Year’s Free Printables are still available for download here >>

A few weeks ago I shared a fun link up with you, including some awesome summertime activities for your children. As promised I’m back with some additional ideas to keep the kiddos entertained, engaged and having a blast during the long summer days. Enjoy and please share with others! – Daria

1. Footprint Butterfly – for all those little budding Picasso’s out there, get out the paint and use their feet as butterfly wings. This would also make a fun gift idea for Grandparents, it’s always so darling to capture the smallness of their little feet forever.

2. Adorable DIY Bird Feeders – Bird watching is always an interesting adventure for little ones. What’s even better? Getting a bit messy and making bird feeders. These ones are so adorable, and super easy!!

3. Puff Paint Artwork – you can make this puffy paint in your very own kitchen with self-rising flour, salt and food coloring. Cook in the microwave to puff it up. Voila!! You’re Awesome!!

*Check out my original suggestions here>> as well More ideas to come soon – let me know how your children enjoy these activities too!!

Dontcha just love it when you stumble upon something amazing on Etsy? My recent stumble is Heather’s shop Lemon Dropp. She sells bright, inspirational prints for your home. Heather uses beautiful bright colors that are sure to liven up any space!

I love the ABC print she sent me. It’s hanging in our nursery and it’s the perfect addition. It has a fun mix of animals and letters.

When I asked Heather to tell me about herself and her company, what she responded with was awesome and motivational.

I’m a SAHM of four – three boys and one girl.  I was a visual arts major in college.  I love my family, graphic design, photography, cooking, crochet, sewing and interior design.  My shop, Lemon Dropp, came to be for a variety of reasons.  My husband is currently looking for a job, which has a been a really hard process.  Not only is Lemon Dropp a much needed creative outlet and a way to make some money, but it helps me stay focused on the positive.  It started out as me designing uplifiting prints for my own house to help us not despair about our situation, and has blossomed into my own etsy shop.  I really believe that happiness is a choice, and that no matter where you are in life, there is always a bright side, always something to be happy and excited about, and there is always hope.  I try to portray that in my prints. I try to make something tangible and beautiful that people can put in their homes that spreads that positive attitude.  I think that every home could use a happy art print or two to help us remember who we are and what we want our lives to be.  I also have a blog : www.alemondropplife.blogspot.com where I share design inspiration, lovely things I come across, ways to give service, little tidbits about my family life, and updates for my shop.

Take some time to check out Lemon Dropp. Heather’s art is so happy! – Katie

***Giveaway!!*** Heather’s giving away and 8×10 print (winner’s choice)! To enter, leave a comment telling me which print is your favourite. (Giveaway closes May 5th, 2011 at midnight. Winner will be contacted via email and will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen)

***Promo!*** Get 15% off with code BC15OFF.

Congratulations to Amy! You’re the lucky winner!

Binth not only sent me their darling baby book (see my past review) but they also sent me two of their “FRIENDS” prints, which are absolutely charming. Each print is screen printed with hand-mixed inks. They come framed and ready to hang (or stand), which I love since all too often I purchase prints I love, but never complete the hanging process because I forget or procrastinate buying a frame! I loved hanging my “Doe Girl” and “Dancing Bears” on my daughters’ nursery wall shortly after they arrived (see photo below). Somehow Binth has an amazing ability to tie modern with vintage and make it perfectly balanced. I love the colors that are used – “licorice black and lavender with just a touch of cream.” The prints are high quality and will surely last through the ages and become heirloom items – they’re that adorable. – Katie

***Giveaway! Binth is giving away 3 prints (winner’s choice) to once lucky BC reader! To enter, visit Binth and leave a comment telling me what your three faves are.

Additional Entries by:

Tweet about this Review and GIVEAWAY on Twitter (include @BoutiqueCafe and @Binth in your Tweet). Please come back here and post a link to your tweet as well for an extra entry.

We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline April 15, 2011 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

Congratulations to Wendy R!

I love it when an artist (or in the case of Photofiddle, a company) finds a way to take a new spin on the old photograph and turn it into a true work of art. Modern Bird Studios does just that; I’ve never seen anything like it and I absolutely LOVE it!

First, a little bit about the artwork and Gregg, the artist behind these awesome pieces:

The concept behind Modern Bird Studios was born about three years ago as an experiment [Gregg] had bouncing around in his head. Gregg has always liked to push the boundaries within his art, whether playing with space or combining traditional and non-traditional mediums. He decided to create a piece that utilized technology and painting. Gregg combines his original urban-style with photography, graphic design and traditional painting to create handmade, original art pieces.

I love it when the traditional meets the non-traditional, kind of like Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, but in this case, the combination works!

The process to create the finished product isn’t an easy one (you can read more about it here). Basically (though the process is far from basic) Modern Bird Studios turns your photograph into a two-tone image and then paints that image in two contrasting colors on extra thick oak composite. The end result is a fresh, modern, unique work of art.

For Modern Bird Studios’ review on the Daily Dish, Gregg and his wife Megan, who is quite possibly the nicest person on earth, took one of our favorite pictures of George and after numerous emails back and forth (I am artistically challenged and could NOT decide on a color combo), turned this:

into this:

The problem is, I can’t decide where to put it. Here are the two places I’ve tried so far:

Next is the home theater and family room. Hmmm…I may need a few more of Gregg’s pieces around the house. Good thing we’re taking more family photos this summer!

You can view Modern Bird Studios’ online gallery for some beautiful examples of their work. I also seriously love their Pre-Designed Series. Those flowers are gorgeous! I know Mother’s Day is Sunday, but it’s never too late to show Mom how much you appreciate her. Do like I do when I don’t order gifts in time (something I do A LOT): create a fun coupon announcing the gift and put it inside a cute little gift box. It will still be a surprise when she receives her beautiful work of art from Modern Bird Studios no matter when it arrives!—Emily

* Promotion! Modern Bird Studios is offering Daily Dish readers 15% off their custom piece or a piece from their Bloom series. Simply use code BOUTIQUECAFE when checking out. Offer expires May 11, 2010.

*** Giveaway Modern Bird Studios is giving away one (1) 12”x12” custom piece valued at over $200!***

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway:

•  Visit Modern Bird Studios and leave a comment telling us which Bloom Series print is your favorite.
•  “LIKE” Modern Bird Studios on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you “like” them.
•  Follow Modern Bird Studios on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•  Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.
•  Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: May 13, 2010 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

• Congratulations to Jessica N., the winner of the Modern Bird Studios giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

Hello Friend!

I couldn’t be more excited about LOVE! My newest fabric collection for Rowan has me reeling.

I’ve gone over-the-top with prints and color to make a luscious and yet “bite-sized” collection of 26 quilting/fashion weight fabrics and 12 Home Dec weight fabrics. A marriage by design coming from a love affair of rich, soulful, organic florals and architectural prints passionately inspired by my recent trips to Indonesia and England. Rich tropical colors with ethnic imprints and elegance found in over the top florals like full roses and exploding peony blossoms join together in an optimistic celebration of print and color.

Print stories ” heart ” and ” soul ” provide the most positive vibe! Let the un-limited mix of design and color fuel your customer’s next creative project! Click Here to view the entire collection, I hope you and your customer’s fall in love with them all!

One of my favorite parts of my Love collection is the expansion into different substrates! I had a blast creating my new Love projects. Keep in touch and continue to check my website to see the new lifestyle and project photos and to learn about the releases of Love in quilting, home dec, flannel, laminate and double-faced quilted fabrics! We will be updating the website and adding free downloadable patterns featuring the different Love fabric weights throughout the month of September. I can’t wait to see all of the fun projects you and your customers come up with.

Westminster Fibers is accepting orders now for all substrates so be sure to contact your rep to place your order or call 1-866-907-3305 to set up a new account. I hope that Love inspires you & your customers to create great things this fall.

Peace and Joy,
Amy

Or better yet Photofiddle the kids, you, the family pet or his game-winning touchdown. No matter what you Photofiddle, Dad’s going to love it! How do I know? Because my hsuband and I were Photofiddled and thoroughly enjoyed it; we’ll definitely be back for more!

Before your imagination runs wild let me clarify: Photofiddle is not some new-age massage therapy or an update on the bronzed baby shoe. It is a super cool, totally unique way to turn photos into works of art. And did I mention it’s quick and easy? Photofiddle allows users to create their own artistic creations using free online photo effects software. The software takes a picture and transforms it using over 50 photo art styles. You’ll find everything from oil painting (my favorite) and Warhol pop art to watercolor to abstract art and film-strip photo collages. You can also add a photographic tint like sepia, blue, red or green. Once you’ve turned your photo into the perfect painting or chalk art drawing or abstract work, you can take your design and have Photofiddle put it on stretched or rolled canvas or turn it into a framed art print or even art poster.

Photofiddle gave me the opportunity to try out their site. It took me a while to decide on a test photo but when I saw this one (my favorite one from our trip to Kauai last year) I knew I had a winner:

It took no time for Photofiddle to apply a gallery of effects (remember, there are over 50!) to the photo. What took a lot of time was deciding which effect we liked best! Though my husband had a favorite or two of his own (I forget which ones…we obviously chose my favorite) I loved the oil painting effect the most. We selected that effect and our canvas was shipped just a couple days later. It arrived in very little time and I tore carefully opened the box, anxious to see our newest work of art. I was impressed to see how well the canvas was packaged, always a good sign:

When I flipped it over I immediately fell in love. Photofiddle officially took its place in my top 10 list of favorite reviews. I really wanted to show you all the canvas hanging on one of my walls but we have yet to decide the best place for it. It’s so awesome it makes all my other wall hangings look inartistic and uncool. But I do have the image Photofiddle created taking our original photo and applying the oil painting effect. It’s not as nifty as the real thing but it still makes me smile:

You totally need to Photofiddle the whole family! Just think what a wonderful Father’s Day gift a Photofiddled photo would be—he might even thinks its cooler than the Old Spice soap-on-a-rope and matching cologne gift set you originally planned to give him!—Emily

*** Giveaway Photofiddle is giving away a $50 gift certificate to one lucky Daily Dish reader! Please visit Photofiddle.com and leave a comment telling us your favorite Photofiddle effect. Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: June 23, 2009 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

For an extra entry, tweet about this giveaway and leave a separate comment with the URL to your tweet!

* Promotion! Photofiddle is offering Daily Dish readers 15% off their purchase! Simply enter code “cafe15” (without the quotes) in the Promotion Code box when checking out.

Home accessories are to a house what shoes are to an outfit- it gives a statement. It finishes the look, perhaps, even giving it a look?!

Once I wore this adorable little black sundress and paired it with black flats. Cute, but, blah. Another time I wore the dress with purple shoes and everyone noticed the dress. Funny how changing up the accessories everyone seemed to notice that very cute dress.
So, I think the same rings true with furniture…only on a much larger scale. Accessories in a house can transform a room, let alone the home. Walking into a room you can be captured by the small things that make the big things beautiful. So, why not initiate some ummf into your rooms with decorative pillows by Squarefeathers.com. The collection is a sure thing to make your home get the adoring ahhs.

I had seen these amazing pillows that seem to look like canvas of art. The collection is haute couture for decorative pillows. The designer has meticulously captured elements of the outdoors and combined the design with vibrant colors or a muted palette-whichever theme he was going after. The sea theme has beautiful soothing blues while the tropical designs infuse vibrant colors, the wood series has bold patterns-each line is so different yet all meticulously handcrafted.

I received the package of pillows and was completely in awe over what I saw inside. The pillows not only look amazing, but, the feel of these down feather pieces of art is incredible. The thing I like about my sea coral pillow is that it is made of soft white luxurious fleece that feels like cashmere. It is so soft and the crisp blue sea design gives it an additional element of soothing luxury on my couch.

The pillows are pricey. Each one is handcut, hand-assembled and hand-sewn, so you pay for the individual production of the pillow. But, because most of my furniture is either revamped garage sale finds or hand me downs, nice pillows are the key to make my home either feel cheap or look chic. I like spending more on the small things because I get more bang for my buck. I can move the pillows around in rooms and change up my house continually with small decorative items like these gorgeous pillows that will make a fashionable statement.-Amber

Available online at squarefeathers.com

Oh and my oversized distressed leather sofa that seem to go unnoticed (which is odd considering it takes up half the room) is now receiving praises…and I tribute that to my new decorative pillow from squarefeathers.com.

Somebunny loves You!


That’s the message you’ll deliver with the purchase of this Bunny art piece from twolittlewitches. This 12”x12” original painting is on a gallery wrapped canvas and is a OOAK. It’s totally adorable and calorie-free!

Your little Honey Bunny will love it! >

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