bouffe e bambini: February 2011

Handmade Gift Guide

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!!

I'm posting this a little early because tomorrow I am going to be cooking all day:) My favorite thing to do!!

Here is my weekly gift guide! Everything is gorgeous and handmade of course!!

I WANT..................

This adorable easter bib from lillybelle Designs

These raspberry dark chocolate dreams from Nicole's Homemade Treats

This apron from Yellow Bird Designs

This gorgeous dress from Up To My Knees In Crafts

This gorgeous necklace from Cherry Creek Designs

This gorgeous shawl from Happiknits

This gorgeous bag from beso handbags

This adorable top from lil blue boo

These adorable owl leg warmers from B:Mod Designs

This adorable pom pom hat from Creative Dragonfly

This gorgeous hoodie from Evy's Tree

These gorgeous baby shoes from KathyDee's Cozy Toes

This gorgeous pendant from Annali's Jewelry

One of these gorgeous headbands from Caroline G.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Ahhhhhhhhh......................Venice

One of the things I found so amazing about Venice are the sounds. Because the living quarts are close but there are no cars in the city, you can hear the clinking of silverware and the low hum of a conversation in the streets or from your apartment. It's something I never thought about before and was astounded by the beauty of it when I was in Venice.

Linking up {HERE}

Siblings

Annali's Jewelry anklet GIVEAWAY

I'm so excited to announce this giveaway!!

One of my lovely sponsors Annali's Jewelry has decided to offer a giveaway today!

She's giving away one of her favorite anklets. It's so adorable and it doubles as a necklace!!

I love anklets. I wear them year round but this is P*E*R*F*E*C*T for summer, which is right around the corner!!!

Look how gorgeous it is as an anklet or a necklace!!

BUY IT

Head on over to Annali's Jewelry and start shopping now.

WIN IT

THE PRIZE: The anklet/necklace pictured above. OPEN WORLDWIDE

MANDATORY ENTRY

Please visit Annali's Jewelry and tell me which piece of jewelry is your favorite

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES

1. Become a fan of Annali's Jewelry on {FACEBOOK} and leave Annali a comment so she knows you stopped by!
2.Become a public follower of my blog via Google Friend Connect

3. Become a follower of bouffe e bambini on {TWITTER}

4. Become a fan of bouffe e bambini on {FACEBOOK}

5. Tweet, blog or facebook about this giveaway

6. Purchase something from Annali's Jewelry and comment back here afterwards. (good for 3 entries, leave 3 comments)

You MUST be 18 years or older to enter

Giveaway OPEN WORLDWIDE!!!

You MUST leave separate comments for each entry and please leave don't forget to leave your email address

Giveaway will be open until 4/8 at midnight

One winner will be chosen at random using random.org and contacted by me via email

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

If you like this giveaway....PLEASE come check out my others.......ALL my GIVEAWAYS are handmade

Keep it long or cut it short?

Okay folks, I have a little question for you!!!

This is my hair!!

Whoooooaaaaa......It's long!!

Should I keep it long or cut it into a short shag?

Mind you, this is after I have done NOTHING to it. I didn't blow dry it or straighten it or curl it so it stands to look a lot better than this had I actually decided to fix it properly.

I don't know why I find it perfectly acceptable to look like a hot mess in front of all you lovely people but would try much harder to "do" something with myself if I were going out in public!

I guess I like ya:)

Also, I don't actually ever wear it down when I'm at home with these 2 babies hanging off me all day. This is how I wear it ALL THE TIME, in a bun. Which isn't that bad but pretty boring!

However, I find that whenever I am heavy I want to cut it short and then once I am thin I want it long again.

So, I think I'm feeling the urge to cut it because I'm a little chunky after these two babies but hopefully I will back to normal soon and then I will probably want it long again.

Decisions. Decisions.

SO what's your opinion on the hair situation?
Hanna

The Handmade Hog Linky Party

Please join me and link up ANYTHING handmade or homemade. I would love to see recipes, DIY projects and craft projects of all kinds!!!
And if you didn't make anything this week, no worries, link up an old favorite!!!

There are no rules! Feel free to grab the Handmade Hog button and place it in your post or on your sidebar but it is absolutely NOT required!! EVERYONE is welcome to participate!!! This is just supposed to be a fun way to share your ideas and pick up some new ones !!

So, please join me! LINK UP!!! I can't wait to see what you have in store!!!

New York Crumb Cake

I love this recipe from Martha Stewart! This is a true coffee cake! Perfect for lazy weekend mornings! My husband adores this cake.

{RECIPE}

Welcome Yellow Bird

I am delighted to introduce you all to my lovely new sponsor Yellow Bird.

This gorgeous little shop has handmade aprons, cocktail napkins, and beautiful muslin produce bags just to name a few.

The first thing that attrackted me to Yellow Bird were shop owner Sarah's gorgeous aprons! You all know how much I love to cook. I would love to own a couple of these handmade aprons.

Take a peek at some of the lovely items you'll find at Yellow Bird

Here's a tiny snipit about shop owner Sarah,

"I am a stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I sell my aprons and cut flowers at our local farmer's market in the summer. In the winter I sew. We grow almost all of our own vegetables and raise chickens and laying hens for eggs."

Sarah also has a blog that you can keep up with {HERE} and a facebook page you can keep up with {HERE}.

Also I am super excited to announce that Sarah is offering bouffe e bambini readers a 10% discount on everything in her shop including already marked down sale items.

Simply enter the code "Spring11" to take advantage of this great deal.

Thank you Sarah!!!

Please help me show Sarah and her gorgeous little shop a very warm welcome and hop on over {THERE}

and take a look around!!!! I think you'll find something you like!

Happy Shopping!!

My Beso Trunk Show

I'm not sure if you all know this but I am representative for beso handbags. So I either host or attend beso trunk shows in my area. I signed on to be a rep. because I truly L*O*V*E shop owner Johanna's bags. That is the one and only reason!!

The first time I laid eyes on them I just knew, number one, that I HAD to OWN at least one, and number two, that Johanna and her bags were goin' places!!!

Seriously, these bags are gorgeous. They are all custom made. You get to design your own bag and the fabrics are all vintage. It couldn't get any better than that!!!

I am so proud to be a rep for beso handbags. If any of you are interested you should contact Johanna! She is a super sweet gal too!

Anyway, I'm blathering! The point it this is the trunk show I hosted on Saturday. I must admit my ego was a bit bruised because out of about 25 women that I invited only TWO showed up! And the two that did show up are my weekly play date friends!!! I realize that many of the women I invited really wanted to come but honestly had prior engagements........................ but 25???? It got me to thinking that I should stop planning my own parties and create a business creating other people's parties. Then I don't have to worry about who shows up but I can still have all the fun creating.

I was pretty bummed out. It just made me feel like an old ,washed up mom. Many of my long time girl friends are not married and do not have kids so I am totally out of the loop. The social events that they are attending just aren't a good fit for me anymore and vice versa. It's not at all like we don't WANT to see each other. It just simply doesn't work out. Your life just becomes so different when you have kids. No more 8 O'clock dinners at the bar downtown. It's more like 5:30 dinners while trying to hold one baby and feed the other while both are screaming. So unromantic.

Anyway I totally had one of those high school moments where I felt so totally forgotten. I thought, "I used to be so popular. What happened?" But I also used to have fabulous dinner parties late at night serving gobs of wine. Now I'm having an afternoon party and serving Perrier and breastfeeding my baby between conversation! Things have just changed! And don't get me wrong. I L*O*V*E my life and my babies and wouldn't dream of having it any other way but sometimes it's just hard.

Can anyone else relate to this??

So on to the party!!

Despite the lack of guests, the three of us had a wonderful time snacking and chatting and looking at gorgeous bags.

Here is the party!!!