i heart CRAVE Party

I just received my save the date for the Seattle summer CRAVE Party and I am so excited! I went to my first party last December and am thrilled to see that Finch & Thistle's flowers and table design are shown on their photos page here-

http://www.craveparty.com/photos_craveshow08.html

If you haven't been to one before, CRAVE Party was created by my very own Ladies Who Launch incubator leader Melody Biringer (yes, that Biringer) as a way for busy women to gather a couple of times each year at a one-stop-shop location. For the cost of three Seattle non-happy hour drinks ($35), you get access to exclusive deals at boutiques (jewelry, handbags, clothing, accessories, home decor etc etc), a divine dinner, free drinks, complimentary spa services, belly dancing lessons and numerous entertainment acts.

I can guarantee that CRAVE Party is the most fun you will ever have networking with other women business owners at an event thrown by women business owners...oh and did I mention that you also get to take home a delicious goody bag?

Details:
Summer Dreams CRAVE Party
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Teatro ZinZannis Spiegeltent @ 222 Mercer St, Seattle
Tix $35 includes drinks and dinner
www.craveparty.com to register

Seattle Symphony Stradivarius Salon Gallery

Diggin Food...and Flowers

When we moved into our new house eight months ago, imagine my surprise to find out that some old friends of ours from college now live a mere five minutes down the road! Willi is the creator of Digginfood.com and a veritable gardening goddess. She is the West Coast editor of Organic Gardening magazine and was recently featured in Sunset magazine ~ http://www.sunset.com/garden/fruits-veggies/how-to-grow-fruits-vegetables-backyard-00400000041730/

We have decided to collaborate in the next couple of months on some fun DIY projects for our readers and to get things moving, here is a recent post from DigginFood about jam jar lanterns for the garden...http://www.digginfood.com/2009/06/diy-candle-lanterns/

Handmade Weddings

I. love. etsy. Seriously. I think it is possibly the coolest site on the whole wide web. A treasure trove of unique (and usually cheap) jewelry, clothing, candy, furniture, artwork etc etc. If you can make it, you can sell it on etsy.com. While trolling for inspiration the other day, I came upon some fantastic finds just perfect for a handmade wedding. And while I am the first to extoll the virtues of a real flower versus a faux (the scent! the texture! the ephemeral-ness!) some of these paper flowers and pom poms are just divine!

twigs & honey shop: myrakim

Kari Herer Photography

Party Poms

paper platypus

Why I love Shutterfly...

I recently started posting some of my events on a Shutterfly page (http://finchandthistle.shutterfly.com/) and I wanted to share how fun and easy it is to make a professional looking (and free) website with their new member pages. You will have to sign up with Shutterfly (also free) to make a site, but once you are a member they have numerous layouts and doo-dads (is that a technical term?) that you can add on. Very cool. The best part is that anyone you direct to the site can download your pictures to print or post on the internet. What a great way to share family photos! And don't even get me started on the photo books...I am in the process of putting together some formal portfolio books right now and couldn't be more excited about having a professionally printed, bound book to show future clients.

Inspiration

Inspiration from a stroll around the Ballard farmer's market yesterday ~