Sarah's Spotlight - SunshineBakes

As this will be my last Spotlight before my wedding, I thought it was appropriate to spotlight another store that has helped me with my wedding plans! I have ordered my favors from SunshineBakes, a great bakery on Etsy. You want it, Beth makes it! As she says in her shop, she has tons of cookie cutters just waiting to be used!

Beth entered the working world after college but then realized her true passion is cooking and baking. So she entered culinary school and worked with a pastry chef to help her perfect her skills. She had worked in the field of catering for quite some time but enjoyed learning the craft behind the food. After becoming a mom, Beth decided to turn this passion into a career in order to spend time with her son while working. If only it could work out that well for everyone!

Beth hand crafts and decorates her cookies. She uses mostly organic ingredients to ensure the highest quality product. What I love most about SunshineBakes is that what Beth likes best is creating custom orders for all events - weddings, birthdays, showers, corporate events, holidays, any special day. She can add photographs and logos to cookies for an extra touch! Or she can match frosting to wedding/party colors. For example, my cookies will only be decorated in white, pink, and dark pink - no red for me! The cookies from SunshineBakes come in four different flavors: vanilla bean, cardamom orange, lemon, and almond. She mixes her frosting to match the cookie flavor for just the perfect treat!

I can tell you from first hand experience that Beth is very easy to work with. She responded to my questions very promptly.Additionally, I found her prices to be excellent in comparison to other bakeries on Etsy. She helped me work out numbers and even sold me cellophane bags to help me package my cookies for the big event!

I can't yet tell you how delicious the cookies taste, but I can say I'm glad my final head count went down so that I have plenty of extra cookies to eat during the honeymoon!

**Please note, there will be no spotlight until I return from vacation. I plan to resume my spotlights on 9/13/10.

Sarah's Spotlight - Lama Works

As I've mentioned before, I'm planning my wedding for late August. I first learned of Lama Works as a fellow member of the Etsy Knitters Team. So much to surprise, one day Laura, the shop owner, posted a wedding invitation on Facebook that she had listed in her store. It was right around this time that I had decided to poke around Etsy to find inspiration for my wedding invitations. I only needed to order 25, so I could splurge on something handmade. After hours of searching, numerous new items listed in my favorites, and a long conversation with my mom, I narrowed down my list to two invitations. Laura was immediately so friendly and easy to work with, that my final decision was made very quickly!

Laura is certainly a multi-talented crafter. She offers hand knit hats, scarves, shawls, socks, mittens, and brooches. Additionally, she creates stationary, greeting cards, and all sorts of wedding decor! In addition to my beautiful wedding invitations, she also made bud vases/place card holdings for my tables. I would include pictures of my actual purchases, but I don't want my family to see the invitations before they arrive in the mail! And I know one lovely sister who likes to check in frequently to see what I have to say! :)

But, if you're looking for table numbers, place cards, thank you cards, save the date cards, engagement cards, or anything other stationary for your wedding, then Lama Works is the place to start. She has also added some really cute animal themed pull-out note cards as well, so there really is something for everyone in this store. Laura says that she loves to craft and design. She admits that her interests vary widely, and while she may focus on knitting one month, she might go back to cards the next. In one email, Laura said the only hard part of her job is that not everyone realizes that "working from home" really does mean "working"!

I've spotlighted several artists who donate a portion of their proceeds to charity, and Laura is no different. A full 10% of every sale is donated to the American Cancer Society through the Carry On Campaign. She started this challenge in March 2009 and raised $552! I'm glad to know that a portion of my purchases will be going to a good cause.

You can also visit Laura at:
Blog: http://www.lamaworks.blogspot.com

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/lamaworks

Twitter: http://twitter.com/lamaworksdesign

Please note: Due to an upcoming vacation, this will be my last spotlight for the next 3 weeks. I plan to resume on June 14. I will hopefully not completely neglect my blog during that time! :)

Can anyone find me a 25th hour in a day so I can knit?

Who knew wedding planning could be so time consuming? I suppose I should have known better. I originally wanted a wedding with immediate family only. My finance and I are not planning a long engagement, so this seemed do-able. But then one night he informed me that if we're not going to city hall to get married, then he will be inviting some extended relatives and two friends. We've managed to keep it quite small, but suddenly I had a wedding to plan! Yikes!

However, I shouldn't complain. Within 5 weeks, I have a date, place, caterer, dress, bridesmaid dresses, justice of the peace, and am mostly set with a photographer. The caterer is impossible to get a hold of, but I do feel confident that I will have some food at my wedding! The best part is most things have fallen into my lap at really good deals, so we're doing really well!

Anyone who lives near Waltham, Massachusetts should be sure to check out Gore Place. This is where Dan and I will have our ceremony and reception. It's a great historic mansion dating back to the early 1800s. We originally were looking at their carriage house but learned we can use the mansion instead because our party is so small! How can you pass that up? I passed up the beautiful Italian Garden at another estate for the mansion. It was not a tough choice. The mansion offers great educational programs throughout the year and weekend tours. I love showing the place off, so here are some pictures:

They have an annual Sheep Shearing Festival, hence the photo of the sheep. I wanted to go last year but wasn't able to make it. Maybe this year. I just saw that they have crafters at the festival! I don't think I can have enough knit goods ready to go in one month, but I'll definitely keep this in mind for next year. What a great place to see some dog sweaters! It may not be quite the right time of year for scarves though.

But wedding planning makes it tough to work on my knitting! I had to research photographers this week and justices of the peace last week. This upcoming week is florists. And some time before April, I need to make all my birthday cards for the next year. I have a great break in birthdays in February and March, so I stamp all my cards at one. It can take a few days, and April is quickly approaching! But after researching and emailing different contacts, then come the phone calls - so much for my simple wedding. I can still proudly boast that, with the exception of catering, we are doing extremely well in the low-budget category.

My goal tonight was to knit, knit, knit away. Here it is almost 8:00, and I still haven't glanced in the direction of my knitting bag! Except for this blog, there was no wedding things to do tonight. Instead I got to talk to Verizon for the 100th time about my internet signal. I'm very proud that I managed not to yell at anyone tonight. All recent conversations end up with lots of yelling and a blood pressure that is probably off the charts!

But enough talk. Time to put away the leftovers, sit down, and pull out that knitting! I think I can hear it calling my name...