our home – Elizabeth Smillie

6 years

February 1, 2016 Elizabeth Smillie

Today our little Etsy shop celebrated 6 years of business! 6 years of following a “path less traveled”, taking twists and turns that we didn’t expect {but that have been a wonderful blessing} as we “live creatively & celebrate every day”. 6 years!

6 years ago we were living in a little {uh, yes …quite little…not our littlest ever, but still, quite little} apartment, living from one slim paycheck to the next with an almost 1-year-old {and another baby due that summer} and gratefully taking advantage of any opportunities to earn an extra dollar that we could. We had opened a shop on another selling platform the year before {you can read a bit about that story here and here} and, as pennies were getting pinched tighter, the time had come to mix things up a bit and see if something else would work better – and lo, our Etsy shop was born. Our first sale came over 2 months after opening our virtual doors – and it was a welcome one! 6 years later, our shop bears very little resemblance to what it was in early 2010: we are in a different city, different state, we have a house {with an actual yard!}, our family has grown to 4 precious little ones, John is the one mainly running the business now {there’s a good chance he’ll be the one answering your emails} and I have taken more of a back seat while I homeschool the littles, we have 3{!} employees and every single item in the shop right now was birthed sometime in the last 5 years.
A few things are still very much the same – every single thing that we sell is hand made right here in our home, we still make sure that each new product fits within “live creatively & celebrate every day”, and we do everything we can to make your visions come to life. The custom orders that we fill are always a fun challenge!

We are so, so immensely blessed. This “path less traveled” is not the easiest thing, but it is well worth the rewards. {Our 3 year old cannot remember a time when her Daddy wasn’t home every day – he may be busy, but he is home, and it is wonderful. :D} You – each and every one of you – are a huge part of where we are today. Without you and others like you, our shop {and lives!} would look very different! Your orders and feedback are always, always deeply appreciated. Our second hire celebrates her 1 year anniversary with us tomorrow, so we rolled both events into one and celebrated with a lunch – and cake {of course!}! It was a fun time to take a few moments to mark the occasion, to celebrate how far we’ve come – plus, a great excuse to have cake. :D

So … here’s to another “Etsy-versary” in the books, and looking forward to whatever new and exciting things this next year holds.

items featured: Monogram Cake Topper (6 in Gold Glitter)

Sparkly Star Cake Toppers

Customizable Letter Banner in Gold Glitter

the kids’ room – a tour

December 7, 2014 Elizabeth Smillie

If you’ve been following along with me on Facebook, you might have heard that we have a new office space! Before I show it to you though, I thought you might like to see where we moved from {and what was the “new” office in January :)}. But of course, before I can show what was the office, I have to show what was in the old office before it was the office {so that next I can show the old office, of course}. :)

Emma Grace and Ian have been sharing a room since Ian was 6 months old, and they love it. They’re 15 months apart in age, and best friends {the 15 months apart bit is crazy, but I love that they’re best friends. I hope it never ends.}. So of course, the room has to be a boy/girl combo. It was a work in progress, always getting tweaked {but isn’t that the way with all the best things?} Emma Grace’s bed corner, all girlied upThe paintings on her wall are super light weight {I’m a bit skittish about hanging heavy things over beds since I grew up in California (you know, earthquakes and all)}, and were fun thrift store finds.
Ian’s corner, with their shared dresser.The light switch cover with the retro little boy and girl is from my dad’s childhood home. :)The car mat is an old one from my grandma’s house. We all used to play with it at her house, and now Ian is using it every day {I think she found it at World Market about 20 years ago and they of course don’t sell it anymore, but this one is similar}.The prints are from here.The stars are from some of our parties {mostly Ian’s cowboy and car themed parties} and I made a few in light green and polka dots to round out the group. I wanted to have something to add color to the corner, but thought that the poufs I used for Emma Grace’s corner were a bit too girly for his side. :) Ian is crazy about cars, animals, airplanes and cowboys, so I kept his corner a bit neutral on theme and it goes with everything his imagination cooks up.The triangle bunting is something I made for Emma Grace’s second birthday party {she was super into Winnie the Pooh :)}, and has held up really well over the years. So many people have loved it through the years that I’ve added a few versions of it to the shop!
The play corner – John installed the shelf at a toddler height {about 2 feet} and it worked well for their little stuffies, baskets of play food, dolls, etc. The middle paper doll art is by me {vintage paper dolls in a shadow box}, and the prints on either side are from here.
They all love the play kitchen, and spend hours in imaginary play with it. John’s parents gave it to them for Christmas, and it has been fabulous. Really, I can hardly say enough about this little kitchen! The prints are a combination of thrift store find {Winnie the Pooh}, note cards that I framed and a magazine snippet.

Olivia didn’t sleep in their room, but it might as well have been hers too for the time she spent playing in it.

And that was their room! The photos were taken on the same day that we started to repaint the room and then the next day it was the office {which I’ll be showing you super soon :)}.

It’s beginning to look like Christmas

November 27, 2014 Elizabeth Smillie

or at least, it did while I took these photos :)

One of the things our cookie cutter {but absolutely wonderful for us right} house does not have is a fireplace, and I miss having a fireplace. Not just on rainy days, snowy days, days when I really don’t want to get out of my jammies, but also on days when I really need to get some product photos for our shop taken. So, I came up with a solution – create a faux fireplace/cozy area!

With all this coziness, you almost don’t notice that the actual fireplace isn’t there :) For me, a cozy fireplace spot is made up of a great chair, complete with welcoming warm throw and cushy pillow, a spot for a warm drink, soft glowing light, and a mantlepiece {and, of course, a fireplace ….}. Notice I was able to pull together all but the fireplace? The photos I needed were for some new Christmas products so I added in some garland, a tinsel tree and lots of candles. Candles have been my answer to not having a fireplace for years {here and here}! I just love how the luminaries glow, and how the light reflects off of the gold shimmery banner! It was so fun to put this little area together, and as soon as I can get our Thanksgiving decorations put away, I’m going to put all of this back up. :) And of course, having a bottle of wine to share with your love as you get cozy together is wonderful! {and with our new leather gift ties, they’re a pretty fun hostess gift, too!} What do you think? Do you have a fireplace that you’d like to cozi-fy a bit? Or do you need to create a faux fireplace in your home, a place to get cozy and rest in the midst of the holiday hubbub {and winter chill}?

sometimes you need to look past the thorns

November 21, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

These were just simple weeds on the edge of a parking lot. Until I took a second glance, and saw the beautiful purple and green, the spiny forms that would look so lovely in a pewter vase on our autumn table.

How often this is true in life! Things, circumstances, people that we first see as simple, ordinary, or thorn-covered, when we look closer are beauty-full.

May you see the beauty in the everyday ordinary bits of your day today. <3

a Labor Day sale!

August 30, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Happy Labor Day! I’ve been planning on sharing our summer decor for … all summer {best intentions, eh?} and realized that if I was ever going to, now was the time! After Ian’s Car themed birthday, I was loving the “Americana” feel of all the party decorations, and decided to go with it as a summer theme. :) After I took down the cars and birthday banner, I added a few more things from years past and from the shop, moving them around a bit over the course of the summer. The Large Book Star Garland is surprisingly durable! I’ve had it draped on our shelf for 3 months now, and there’s only been one incident with a tear {and that one was my fault – not the kids ;)}. It eases nicely into Autumn, too! And the Red, White and Blue Star Cake Garland has been a fun pop of color in my little pot of dried boxwood, and looked sweet with the patriotic colored candles.
I made the embellished lanterns from a Martha Stewart tutorial a few years ago, and was happy to see that they had survived the time in storage {a.k.a. a file box in the closet that I had forgotten about}. To finish off our “dining room” area, I draped a Red, White and Blue Large Star Garland over the top of our curtains and hung a large Navy Star on either end.Star dessert toppers aren’t just for desserts! They add such a fun touch to just about anything, and I’ve really been enjoying having a cluster of red, white and blue stars in a pewter vase on the shelf by our front door. {“love” print from Recipe For Crazy}

Do you have any plans for the long weekend? My husband actually gets Labor Day off this year {perhaps the first time since we’ve been married – yay!} and we’re hoping to get a few house projects done. Growing up, my dad used to remind us that one of the best ways to celebrate the American worker was to be an American worker – and then tell us what the project for the day was! :) It didn’t used to be too much fun {except we always had a wonderful barbecue at then end of the day – mmm!}, but now that there’s the possibility that I could have a freshly painted bedroom? It sounds great!

And, not to leave you without a special sale for the Labor Day weekend {maybe a perfect time to stock up on decor and dessert toppers for fall celebrations?}, I have a coupon code for you! Use code LABORDAY20 for 20% off of any order in between now and midnight Monday!

I hope you all have a blessed, relaxing weekend <3

Cars themed birthday party on the Path Less Traveled

the Cars party

July 29, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Ah, the last installment of the Cars party – and the last one of {what turned into being} the series!

It was such a fun, relaxed type of party. We kept it pretty low key {as far as three-year-old’s parties go} and kept the guests to just family. Ian loved showing his cousin how to use the car track that John made and “do racin’!” We listened to the Beach Boys channel on Pandora, and the younger guests played “pass the Parcel” and had a small water fight {it happened to be raining during part of the party, so why not get wetter, right?}. Ian absolutely adored the Cars cake, and it was the sweetest thing ever to see how excited he was to stand in the middle of us all, soaking up the love and attention as we sang “Happy Birthday” to him! :)

He received some of the sweetest things – and even got his very first tool bag {with real tools!}. Isn’t it amazing how much delight kids can get out of a simple gift?

Here’s the sneak peek, part one and part two of the party {since I have apparently made it into a mini series :)} The balloon garland tutorial is here, and the party supplies that I didn’t already have, make or use from my shop are from the Dollar Tree.

And that wraps up Ian’s Cars themed birthday! There are so many other things that I could add, but I think I might have said enough :) Do you have any tips for throwing a kid’s birthday party? What are some of your favorite games?

I’m hoping to have a sweet party-themed How Tuesday for you tomorrow. In other news … the Facebook fan page is getting close to 200 fans! As soon as we reach 200 I’ll have a giveaway {hint: the prize is going to be sparkly!} for a brand new, yet to be released shop item. Share the fun with your friends to get us there even faster :D

Cars themed party on the Path Less Traveled

the Cars party! {part two}

July 25, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Ah, the best laid plans! I started out the week planning to share all sorts of birthday ideas with you lovelies, and then … a {most precious and adorable} teething baby {who wanted to be held all night}, kids with colds who needed their mama and somehow my {sleep deprived, foggy and semi incoherent} thoughts just didn’t make onto the blog. But now, the little are better, I’m more rested and ready to share!

Anyone ready for part two of the Cars party? {looking for part one? or the sneak peek? You can find them here and here}

I had seen a super fun pool-noodle turned car race track on Pinterest, and picked up a noodle at the Dollar store when I was getting the a few other things for the party {side note – the Dollar Tree is an excellent source for streamers, cake plates, napkins, mylar balloons and plastic tables cloths!}, and it turned out to be a bit too small for the cars {but perfect for marbles}. John improvised and made a track using a large piece of cardboard, and it turned out even better for Ian, since most of cars are bigger than Matchbox size :) The kiddos loved hurling the cars down the “track”, racing to catch them at the bottom and then running back to the top to do it again. Ian was soooo tickled with his Cars cake from Sam’s Club! And with the stickers and temporary tattoos that we used as party favors :)the indoor eating area – at lunch time {the birthday boy requested corn dogs for lunch}

The balloon garland was so fun – and easy! – to make! You can find the tutorial that I made for it here. And do you see the “road” style table cloth? It was another thing that I had found on Pinterest, and super simple to make happen. Just cut a black plastic cloth in half the long way and then attach 1″ x 6″ strips of yellow construction paper down the middle using double sided tape.view of our dining room from the front of our house – I love the added dimension and pop of color that the red and blue paper stars added!from the kitchen toward the dining room – there were fire engines on the shelf under the photo wall and presents on the piano
another one of the Lightning McQueen printouts

The outdoor eating area, with another “road” style table cloth. I used a bunch of red and white streamers and red and white paper stars to bring a party feel to the tent, and they were so lovely as they swayed in the evening breeze :)

So there you have part two – I’ll be sharing the rest of the party soon!

xoxo

Cars themed party from the Path Less Traveled

a little boy Cars party {sneak peek}

June 24, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Well, as you’ve heard, our little boy had a birthday {he’s 3!} which, of course, means that we had a party :)

Emma Grace loves parties, and being the awesome big sister that she is, she took on helping Ian “plan” his party months in advance – “So, Ian, you like cars? Hm, you want a Cars party?!” To which he {of course} replied, “YES!!!” So we’ve been talking about the Cars party for months.

For planning purposes I had been putting the ideas I’d found all over the interwebs onto a Pinterest board, and then {just like for Em’s party} closer to the day I narrowed down what might be feasible. Here is a quick peek at how it turned out!

some DIY signage over the snack/dessert table – and lots of cars and stars!a view from the front room to the back of the house: we chose to have an evening party for family, so the kiddos needed to have a light dinner before everyone arrived – they really enjoyed waking up from their nap to a decorated home and eating dinner at the “road” table!

the back yard – we had a few showers, but all in all in was a beautiful evening for a party. I’ll be showing you a full tutorial tomorrow on how I made the balloon garland over the inside table – be sure to check back!

All in all, not too shabby for a 3rd birthday party! Especially considering that the mama had rolled in late the night before from the Hobnob Summer Market, and most of the prep happened on the morning of the party. :) I love it when a plan comes together!

Have you had a chance to enter the Red, White and Blue Giveaway yet? I hope your Monday has been lovely, and I’ll see you here tomorrow,

little bits from the week

June 21, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

the photos that I capture on Instagram are just little bits and pieces of our life, and it’s really interesting to see what moments I capture {and which ones I don’t} – of course, it seems as if {since I instagram from our iPad} I only capture the things that stand still.

Which of course explains why Emma Grace, Ian and John don’t show up very often, but flowers, projects and Olivia do. Of course :)

If you’d like to follow along, I’m @pltmarket on Instagram <3

It’s been a few weeks since my last post like this, so let’s play catch up, shall we?

my sister-in-law is redoing her master bedroom in neutrals, gray and light pink – and asked for a custom garland to grace it. I love what I came up with! have you tried {re}growing green onions yet? silly baby girl! this is her “I’m such a funny girl – I can grin with my eyes shut!” face … and it melts me.

Of course, she also does this face when she is really tired and crying …. she’s a roller now! Olivia has been {purposefully} rolling her way across the room to get to the curtains and then plays peek-a-boo with herself in them :) new cake garlands coming soon! “mr. & mrs.”, “hooray”, “congrats!” and “we do” will all be showing up … soon. I promise <3

Ian got to touch his first snake on Memorial Day {see? we’re really playing catch up!} and was absolutely fascinated Ian loves his toy horses. Almost as much as he loves his cars and guns :) He has a daddy horse and a little boy horse, and they seem to go on LOTS of adventures – I find them in some of the most random places! being darling, of course <3 a custom cake garland – this time for a little guy’s Thomas the Tank Engine birthday prepping inventory for the Hobnob Market! my rose bush has been blooming! I’s still on the small side, so I’ve been hesitant to cut any long stems, but I’m loving snipping a small bloom every now and then! I’ve been adding some new Red, White and Blue items to the shop – have you checked them out yet? She loves sleeping on her tummy – and sticking her feet through her crib bars. Rollin’, rollin’! She rolled her way over to the box and snatched the tape off of it – apparently it was a pretty fun chew toy until I snagged it away from her! Last night I made up the Brown Eyed Baker’s Chocolate Bundt Cake. Yum. Next time I need a chocolate fix, I seriously need to choose a healthier recipe {although, this one DID have 5 eggs in it – can that count as breakfast? (if you don’t know what I’m referring to, you NEED to watch this video of Bill Cosby)} another custom order! this time a banner of light blue hearts and cream circles stamped with “Bride to Be” – LOVE it! and might even make more for the shop {what do you think, maybe in custom colors?} making up a newborn size lace onesie

and last, but not least, a super fun surprise – Pretty Prudent {aka Prudent Baby} featured our Subway Cupcake Toppers on their blog!!! To say I was excited to find out would be an understatement.

So there you have it – 3 weeks worth of pics in one fell swoop. Are you still with me? ;)

On to other things – I’m planning another giveaway {yay!} and would love your input. What would you like to win from my shop?

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend, enjoying the beginning of Summer {or Winter if you’re one of my lovelies in Australia} and soak in some time relaxing and being refreshed in your soul.

{hugs}

p.s. the giveaway is live! check it out and enter to win your very own set of 4th of July themed decor from the shop!

Chair Garland Decor Ideas {a continuing series}

June 20, 2013 Elizabeth Smillie

Have you heard? The chair garlands in the shop aren’t just for decorating chairs!
When it comes to using these petite garlands, there are so many options that chairs are only the the start! This is a continuing series {see more posts here} where I’ll share some of my ideas with you {and, if you’d like to share some of yours, I’ll post them as well!}

For the Summer holidays – Memorial Day, Ian’s birthday, Flag Day, the 4th of July, etc. – I am decorating with lots of red, white and blue. {those balloon in the reflection? they’re left over from Ian’s party :)}

This vintage mirror lightens a corner in our dining area downstairs, and as I was decorating for our little guy’s birthday I decided to see if one of the Red, White and Blue Chair Banners would fit across it to add an additional pop of color – and look at that, it fit perfectly!

How about you? Have you tried using one of these sweet, short lengths of garland in an unexpected spot? Share your ideas in the comments!

Elizabeth Smillie

The Path Less Traveled

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