Northwest Flower & Garden Festival: Succulent Souvenir: Kileen's Garden Boutique

The Northwest Flower & Garden Festival starts Feb 26th at the Washington State Convention Center and in my shopping series, I wanted to spotlight a great booth called Kileen's Garden Boutique.

I had direct experience with them because one of my neighbors made a purchase from their booth and was so happy with it, she asked if I would go back and get her another one the next day. For a price, you receive everything you need to make a complete succulent garden to fill a shape, like a wooden Initial box (represent your last name) or a heart. It is really cute. 

My friend Jenny wanted to give her friend the letter P. I chose 7 small succulents and the shop keeper supplied the moss, potting material (not much more than what is in each pot, if I remember correctly) and everything the recipient needs to plant a little garden. I think this is a great gift.

Be sure to look for this cute booth and consider a succulent souvenir from the 2020 Northwest Flower & Garden Festival 

#nwfgs #succulents #souvenirs #kileensgarden #gardengift #seattle

Monograms

It was a great day when I got my Husqvarna Viking sewing/embroidery machine.  I have used it continually for sewing, but as I look back over these last 8 years, I realized that I have mostly used the machine embroidery feature for baby gifts.  It's time for me to have some personalized things!

So this week I've gone on a monogramming bender and made myself 2 sets of AHR napkins, 2 "anne" dishtowels and I put a fancy "R" on an antique fingertip towel for the powder room.  What do you think?

I will have to rotate my new masterpieces so that you don't see an "R" in every room!  Have you ever noticed a magazine article like that, where the home owner loves monograms and you can spot one in each picture - overkill!

I hereby promise to display a reasonable number of initials.        

Monogrammed Towels

Does your kitchen need a lift now that all of the holiday touches are gone?  My kitchen looks very bare and in need of a touch of color.  I think a few monogrammed dishtowels draped at the sink will do the trick.

All you need is some inexpensive flour sack towels, a plastic alphabet stencil sheet (from the craft store), a bottle of fabric paint, a plastic baggie (to pour your paint onto and throw away after!), a small stenciling dauber tool, masking tape (to keep the stencil in place) and a paper grocery bag (to protect the counter top). 

Follow the directions on the paint bottle - most air dry and then can be "set" with an iron on a low setting.  Then you can wash them without loosing your design.  Super cute and super easy.

Chocolate Monogram

How do you like my white chocolate monogram?

A long time ago I saw a dish of chocolate letters and have been carrying the idea of making a chocolate monogram in my head ever since.

I decided to reinterpret the classic white chocolate peppermint bark (that is so popular at the holidays) and this is my super cute result!

All you need is an alphabet mold, a bag of white chocolate chips, crushed peppermint starlight mints, a glass measuring cup, spoon, knife and a microwave. 

Simply put enough white chocolate chips to fill 3 letters (21 chips?) in a glass measuring cup.  Microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Spoon the chocolate into each letter of the monogram.  Level off each letter by removing excess chocolate with a knife.  Sprinkle crushed mints on top of chocolate and place in freezer for 5 minutes.  Remove from freezer and pop out chocolates onto a tray.  Cute, eh?  Now repeat as many times as you want.

This candy is the perfect after dinner sweet.  And who doesn't love a monogram?

Needle in a Haystack

I volunteered to work a 2-hour shift as a cashier at my church's rummage sale a few weeks ago. It was the last day of the sale and the building was still brimming with rummage and not quite enough happy shoppers.

We always work in teams, and since it was so quiet, the woman that I was assigned to work with gave me a reprieve from my duties so that I could go shop the sale. Great! I could walk the corridors talking to people and nosing about for treasures.

I honestly didn't see much that I wanted, but when I walked into the area called "Jewelry" I noticed this pin. I have always loved monograms and I was sure that I could see an "R" (Reeves) and a "D" (Dan, my husband). For me, a married monogram (like you would put on sheets or pillowcases) would be ARD.

I asked the ladies in the department for a consultation. "Could this be an A?" "Don't you see an A?" We laughed that I was wiggling the pin a little to skew the results. "Sure, it's an A," they finally conceded. Wonderful! I bought the pin for a whopping 50 cents, pinned it on my sweater and headed back to my station to work.

When I approached my teammate, Barb, she actually gasped. "That's my pin! You bought my pin!" In an entire building full of room after room of mismatched, well worn rummage, I had found "the needle in a haystack" and bought something my partner had donated! It had belonged to her Mother-in-Law (a woman that had lived to be 101 years old!) and it was a gift that she had monogrammed for her. Her name was Agnes (It is an A!) and Barb donated it to the church not really knowing if anyone would want a monogrammed item.

Can you believe it? The whole experience felt magical, like I was meant to have this pin; as if her Mother-in-Law meant for me to find it. Love it!

Monogrammed Heating Pads

Okay, I admit, heating pads are not typically thought of as a great gift. But once I got my hands on one, look how cute it turned out!

It was Christmastime and I wanted to make a gift that was cozy and inspired reading books in bed. While hot water bottles with cute knit covers are all the rage,
1) I can't knit shapes.
2) I am still not convinced that a hot water bottle really works.

But add electricity and I start to believe. I bought a basic heating pad, sewed together some pink chenille and pastel floral and tied it shut with pink ribbons. The "piece de resistance" was the pale pink monogram.

I love my Husqvarna Viking sewing machine (The Rose) - it is reliable, has a great selection of stitches and (when I can get up my courage) does monogramming. The hardest part of monogramming is judging "the stitch placement," but when it works, it looks fantastic!

I made two of these monogrammed heating pad covers and they were a hit. A toasty gift to warm up some cold afternoons. Maeve Binchy, anyone?

Monogrammed Scarf

What do I do on a snowy Saturday morning? Embellish!

Last October, I walked into a discount clothing store (TJ Maxx) and was handed a small gift bag with this amethyst scarf inside. As a promotion to highlight their new "high-end" fashion section, every customer that afternoon was given a scarf. I've been considering how to make it my own for months. Then last night it struck me - a beaded monogram would be subtle, but beautiful. I printed off a giant "R" on my computer, drew it free-hand in ink and started sewing on beads. The trick is attaching about 20 beads, then tying off. It makes me feel better knowing that if one thread breaks later, the entire letter won't fall off and I'll be able to repair it. I may use something on the back to secure the stitches...Fray Check?

I love how this looks!