Hello there! I'm Elizabeth. Welcome to my website and blog space. All the products in my little shop are hand crafted and stem from my desire to provide creative and high quality products that make people feel lovely. I believe the little moments of life matter, every day should be celebrated, and that the beauty all around us is a gift from the Creator to be enjoyed. I'm married to a wonderful guy who happens to be my greatest cheerleader and best friend, mama to three little ones and currently reside in the heartland of America.
So, perhaps you noticed that this How-Tuesday is on a Wednesday? Yes, it’s taken me a few days to get back up to speed after coming back from the wedding. But, even though it’s Wednesday and not Tuesday, I still wanted to post this for you {Valentine’s Day is coming! And you’ll want to start this as far ahead of the special day as possible, I imagine, so I didn’t want to wait until next week :)}.
Kind of inspired by Emily in this post, this is a “Love Note Tree” that, as each day goes by, will get another heart added with a little note telling your love what it is about them that you adore.
materials needed: 14 paper hearts, hole punch, twine {or ribbon} and scissors, and a pen
step one: punch holes in your hearts
step two: write “I love:” on your hearts, filling in the things/reasons as you hang them on your “tree” {in my case, a branch}
step three: cut the twine in 4-6″ lengths, thread them through the hearts and tie step four: hang them on your “tree”
So there you have it! By the time Valentine’s Day is here, this little branch will be full of hearts. <3 And each one will have another thing about John that I love, written on it for him to read.
Do you have any little projects that you’re doing for your love? Or, if you have kiddos, that you’re helping them to do? I’d love to hear about them!
This baby girl and I are currently sitting in the airport, waiting to board a plane and attend a friend’s wedding tomorrow. We’ll be back just in time to watch the big game Sunday night with John and the other two littles! :) {are you a football fan? Who will you be cheering for? Since I grew up in California I’ll be rooting for the ‘Niners :D}
Since this is supposed to be a shop update {remember how last week I mentioned I’d try to post them ever Friday? Yeah, I’m hoping this works :)} I wanted to share a few things with you:
– We’ve got a hash tag on instagram! Add the tag #thepathlesstraveled to your photos and they’ll be added to the feed on the right hand side of our site!
– some of our vintage heart cupcake toppers got featured in a gorgeous Valentine shoot here that was styled by Mona of BirdsandHoney {she’s so lovely and I know we’d be great friends if we lived near each other :)}
– not only is today Friday, it’s also February 1st, which means that valentines day is just 2 weeks away! If you need any last minute decor or gifts from the shop, feel free to place your order up until next Friday {the 8th} for guaranteed delivery with standard shipping, and by Monday the 11th with priority shipping.
– and last but definitely not least, we’re about to add some more things to the shop – I’m hoping to be able to share them with you Monday :)
That’s it for now – we’ll be boarding soon and I’m praying that Baby Girl’s first flight is wonderful!
Have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you Monday
There’s a fun new feature here on the site – a widget that allows us to feature your lovely Instagram photos showing how much you love your pieces from the Path Less Traveled!
Want to see one of your photos featured in it? Simply add #thePathLessTraveledMarket to your Instagram photos, and they’ll appear on the right hand side of our site! I’m really excited to see what you post as you share the Instagram love :D
On a similar note, you can follow me on Instagram to see what lovelies I’m working on {and cute baby photos, too, of course :)} – my username is @pltmarket.
Today’s How-Tuesday is super simple and so “love-ly” {sorry, couldn’t resist} and perfect for Valentine’s Day. Or, if you tweak it a bit, for any other occasion too, come to think of it … :)
It’s a sweet little way to finish off a gift, tie up a bag of sweets, add an extra touch to a Valentine – or even to use as a napkin ring – and I can’t figure out what to call it {“heart tie”? that would do, but kind of blah. But it’s the best my sleep-deprived-mama brain is coming up with at the moment!}. So, a sweet little heart tie tutorial, coming right up!
Materials needed:
red hearts, red and white baker’s twine, and glue {I used basic white school glue for this tutorial, but I’ve found that glue sticks work just as well}
Instructions:
Step 1: cut a 12″ length of twine. Step 2: glue the hearts – a small dab on two and all around the edges on two.
Step 3: place the ends of the twine on the dabs of glue.
Step 4: place the other glued hearts on top of the twine and press them together.
And that’s it! Pretty simple. :) And as I mentioned earlier, it can easily be tweaked for any occasion {stars instead of hearts, perhaps? Or little pumpkins?}, too.
If you want to dress it up a bit, just substitute ribbon for the twine!
A few days ago I took an afternoon to transform our {currently still decorated in Christmas and winter – about time I took it down, I think!} dining room into a Valentine party. I had so much fun! Here are a few photos of what I came up with :)
All of the paper pretties {except for the napkins} are from my shop:
Just stopping by to let you know that, due to the USPS raising shipping costs tomorrow, we are doing a few updates on the shipping fees for the shop. The domestic prices are only going up a fraction, but the international prices are just about doubling …. anyway, I wanted you all to know what was up with the change! {you know I wouldn’t just charge you extra shipping for fun, right? :)}
Also, while we are learning the ins and outs of the new rates, please bare{bear?} with us if we over charge on accident, and know that we’ll refund anything that we need to!
Hope you all are having a lovely weekend {any of you have special plans?},
Maybe I should move these weekly shop update posts to Fridays ….. there’s so much that I want to share with you dear readers, but it seems that my little ones need me more than this blog does and the posts only get written a line or two at a time :) Yes, maybe giving myself an entire week to write them might get them up on Fridays?
Anyway, on to the news! Do you see anything in the photo that looks familiar? Such as, oh, some pink and red heart cupcake toppers? You do? Me too! :) Last July one of the stylists for Romantic Homes asked if I would be interested in sending them some to maybe be featured in their Feb 2013 issue {of course I said “yes” :)}, and I’ve been waiting {sometimes not as patiently as others} and wondering to see what became of it. It’s so fun to see some of my things in print, and in a magazine that I grew up loving, too!
It reminds me of Celebrate‘s feature last year – God is so, so good. I’m so glad that He is working on our behalf to grow this shop, especially since marketing isn’t exactly my strength. :)
There are so many other lovely things that I want to share with you, but maybe, if I keep this post short and sweet I’ll actually get it up for you to read {and then come back later to share more!}. :)
Have you ever noticed that Etsy has a regular feature on their blog called “How-Tuesday“? If you haven’t, you’re in good company – it took me a while to notice, as well. :) Anyway, I really like the idea of a weekly {or semi-weekly? hm, might need to figure that one out still …} how-to” post. I hope Etsy doesn’t mind me copying their little play on words title :)
Last time when I posted the sewing re-cap, I told you about the little plaid skirts that I made for the girls to wear on Christmas. This time, I’ll tell you about the darling little onesie that I embellished for Olivia. {some of you saw the preview of it on Instgram :)}
So, one day I was sewing up orders – sewing, sewing, sewing, and starting to get a bit bored needed a change of pace. :) I’ve had a few pieces of vintage lace pinned to my ideas tack board for a while {I used one of the pieces for Olivia’s burp cloths} and decided to girl-ify one of her plain long-sleeve onesies. Every girl needs some lacy things, you know :)
It ended up being quite simple and quick, so quick that I didn’t even think to take photos of the project until I was mid-way though! To start, I laid out the onesie, and laid the lace along the front neckline to figure out if I could use the entire piece or {gasp!} would need to cut it. It was a few inches too long, so cut I did. The little scrap of lace that was left over got re-pinned for another project on another day :)
Next, I pinned it along the front neckline and lined it up in the machine. Once it was all set, the sewing went quite quickly – just a quick little line of stitching right up on the edge and it was complete!
Darling, yes? But wait, you haven’t seen the cutest part yet …
Oh my, too much sweetness!
So, there you have it – the first How-Tuesday. I’ve already got ideas for the next one … ;) Is there anything that you’d like to see?
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for the Valentine bundle – we’ve been getting some great feedback on both the garland and the cupcake toppers and I know you’ll love them if you win! They’d really add the perfect touch to your home for Valentine’s Day, or be a sweet gift <3
How fun would these be to round out (or to be a springboard for starting) your Valentine decor? Or, if red for Valentine’s Day isn’t your thing, to give to a lucky loved one?
giveaway details: Giveaway open until January 24 at 11:59 pm EST to US residents only. To enter, use the rafflecopter widget below. One unique winner will be emailed + announced on Friday, January 25th at the top of this blog post. I can’t wait to see who wins!
It’s official – Valentine’s Day is a month from today and I’ve started to plan – what crafts the kids will make for loved ones {I have a feeling their versions will be much simpler than what I have planned in my head!}, what I’ll do for John, how I want to decorate … ah, it’s a lovely {pun intended} time of year!
Do you have special Valentine traditions? I grew up with my mom always making sure that we each got a Valentine from her and Dad, and each year that I can remember we had a Valentine meal {usually dinner, but on the years when they splurged for a babysitter it was breakfast :)}.
12 “BE MINE” cupcake toppers from the Path Less Traveled
There were always lots of red and pink hearts – even if they were just cut out of construction paper – and we were strongly encouraged to make cards for each other <3
I’ve continued the family celebrating now that I’m married {to a man who grew up with 6 brothers and a sister – and thinks that I’m cute for making such a big deal of the day :)} and have a family and, by extension, have been stocking the shop with Valentine items. In fact, if you search “Valentine’s Day” here on the site or in my Etsy shop, you’ll probably be a bit overwhelmed with the number of choices!
This year, the new Valentine items are these darling cupcake toppers that you see here. I took the red, pink and white heart toppers and stamped them with “LOVE“, “BE MINE” and “XO” – they turned out so sweet!
12 “XO” heart cupcake toppers from the Path Less Traveled
They kind of remind me of the Sweetheart candies <3 and would be perfect for anything from a class party to a romantic evening. They can also be customized with short words or phrases – how sweet would “MARRY ME?” be?! I’d definitely say yes!
12 “LOVE” heart cupcake toppers from the Path Less Traveled
The Valentine versions of my heart toppers complement the other heart items so well – they almost seem as if they’ve been a part of the shop since the beginning!
How about you? Are you planning something special for this year? I’m looking for something special to do with/for John and would love to hear your ideas! It will probably be something here at home, after putting the children to bed early {since I imagine taking a nursing babe out on Valentine’s might not be the best idea}. So, yes, your ideas please!
Also, if you come across hiccups in our site as we’re building it, I’d really appreciate it if you’d take a moment to let me know, either via email or a comment here on the blog.
<3
p.s. Some of you have been asking if we’ll be carrying all of our Etsy stock – garlands, cupcake toppers, etc. – here as well and the answer is yes! It’s taking a bit of time to add them all to the site, but if the item/s you’re looking for isn’t here yet, it will be soon {and more, too!}.
p.p.s. There will be a giveaway coming soon! I haven’t decided if I’ll do it this week or next, so stay tuned :)
materials needed: 14 paper hearts, hole punch, twine {or ribbon} and scissors, and a pen
step one: punch holes in your hearts
step two: write “I love:” on your hearts, filling in the things/reasons as you hang them on your “tree” {in my case, a branch}
step three: cut the twine in 4-6″ lengths, thread them through the hearts and tie 
step four: hang them on your “tree”
