I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, crafter, and blogger living in rural New England. As seen in Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, and more! | Tutorials, DIY, crafts, parenting tips, recipes, money saving tips, product reviews, local product features, New England living, intentional living, and more! |
We recently came back from the most amazing and magical trip to Disney World! It was our family’s first trip and we had such a wonderful time and learned so much along the way (separate blog post coming soon to share more on all that we learned). One of my top must-dos for the trip was to get a silhouette portrait of our girls done as a souvenir. | This post contains affiliate links |
At the time of writing this post, they currently have Silhouette Artists at Magic Kingdom and at Disney Springs. We tried twice at Magic Kingdom to get them done but the first time we went was towards the end of the day and the line was long and our kids were tuckered out so we had to skip that day. The second time we went to Magic Kingdom during the middle of the day and it was a success - a short line that moved fast and it was so amazing to watch the Silhouette Artist work! The subject sits in a chair across from the artist (many artists can also work from a side view picture if it’s a good one - they can even do pet portraits this way), and then they get to work snipping the paper with sharp little scissors. They cut two sheets of paper at once and you end up with two sets of portraits (mirror imaged). The artist did both our kids within minutes and it’s a perfect likeness to them, I was so impressed!
Afterwards when it's time to pay you have the option to buy the frames there if you would like. I had every intention of buying oval frames there but at the time they were sold out of ovals and only had rectangular frames which I just wasn't interested in. So we got our silhouettes to-go in a little gift bag (tip: it would be a good idea to bring a large ziplock bag to protect the silhouettes a little more).
When it came time to pack up and go home at the end of the week I was actually very thankful we didn't buy the frames in Disney - we traveled with carry-ons only and there was no way we would have had room for the frames in our carry-ons.
Once we got home I shopped around online to find oval frames that fit the silhouettes. After reading a lot of mixed reviews I ordered several different frames to find the one that fit best. After some trial and error I found the PERFECT FIT oval frames for the Disney World Silhouettes right on Amazon - and they come as a set of two! It was meant to be ;)
I recommend taking out the plexiglass piece and using that as a guide to trace and cut out your silhouette to fit in the frame (I did not use the oval mat that came with the frame - and don’t forget to remove the protective plastic film from both sides of the plexiglass). It worked perfectly for us! We kept one portrait for ourselves and gave the other one to the grandparents as a thank you for house sitting for us. It’s such a special souvenir that we’ll treasure!
Disclaimer: I found that these frames fit the Silhouettes we got this year (Fall, 2024) at Disney World perfectly. I would think they should also fit the Silhouettes from Disneyland and Disney Springs too, but I cannot confirm that because I haven’t tried it yet myself.
Summer vacation is here, now let’s have some fun! I’ve scoured Amazon for fun yard games, beach toys, car games, and activities for kids of all ages - even some indoor activities for those rainy days. There’s no excuse for boredom this summer, let’s have some fun! | This post contains affiliate links |
As a mom of two little ones, I’m always on the hunt for a stylish way to haul our gear when we’re out and about - which is where Town and Country Tote comes in! They are the perfect solution for your diaper or work bag. | This post contains an honest review of product provided by Town and Country Tote |
Town and Country Tote is a small business that offers quality, Made in USA classic tote bags with a twist - these tote bags come in a variety of colors and patterns as well as a really handy durable canvas insert that organizes all your gear perfectly! I just love the variety of compartments in the organizer, and how it’s set up like it’s own little filing system with everything at your fingertips!
These classic tote bags are super versatile and would make the perfect diaper, work, or gym bag for both women and men. They also offer great personalization options which can machine embroider, hand embroider, or hand paint your monogram and/or coordinating stripes on the tote bag. These special details really set the bag apart from others and make it unique and beautiful as well as practical!
Want to win a Custom Tote Bag for yourself?
Go over to my Instagram (@birchlandinghome), like our Town and Country Tote post, follow both accounts, and tag a friend! Winner will get to choose a Classic Tote Bag with the personalization option of their choice - up to a $160 value!
- This post contains an honest review of product provided by Town and Country Tote, LLC but all opinions expressed are my own. Please see our full Disclosure Policy for more information -
If I'll be very honest, these last two or three weeks of pregnancy have really kicked my butt! For our first pregnancy, I worked 10 hour days in a doctors office up until the day after my due date. This time around these last few weeks have been plagued by nearly constant Braxton Hicks contractions, ligament pain, dizzy spells, a terrible head cold, and now ocular migraines. Second pregnancies definitely can be a whole different league than first pregnancies - I could write a whole post on this (and probably will later). But in a nutshell, this is why I've been so MIA on the blog and Instagram lately, even though we're still waiting for the baby. | This post contains affiliate links as well as products provided for review by L.L. Bean |
For every "ailment" I've had these last few weeks the remedy from my doctors has been the same - "lay down and take it easy." Which is much easier said than done when you've got a toddler and a million-and-one things you want to finish up! Overall though we've been blessed with a healthy pregnancy so I really shouldn't be complaining.
One thing I've been slowly working on these last few weeks is finally packing our hospital bags! L.L. Bean was kind enough to send me their new diaper tote insert as well as one of their
iconic boat and tote bags and I'm looking forward to sharing a full review post with lots of pictures as soon as I can. For now I'll just say I'm really loving how spacious and organized everything is and how versatile this diaper tote insert and bag will be!
Once I come back to the blog from maternity leave I'll be sharing lots more on this amazing bag and insert as well as featuring some more great New England-based businesses and makers - stay tuned!
- I received this diaper tote insert and boat tote bag for review from L.L. Bean but all opinions expressed are my own. Please see our full Disclosure Policy for more information -
In our daughter's small bedroom, space is at a premium. We try hard to make the most of the space and keep the floor as open as possible to help the room feel a little bigger and give her more area to play. On one wall of her room, there is a very shallow nook I wasn't sure what to do with but wanted to make it an efficient use of space. After some thought, I decided building some custom book storage would be the perfect solution.
Materials:
1x3 boards
1x2 boards
screws
wood glue
spackle
level
painters tape
How-To:
1. Cut the wood the desired length of the rail shelf. You will need two 1x3 boards and one 1x2 board for each rail.
2. Line up the boards as shown below (the wide ones on the bottom and back, and the narrow one at the front). Pre-drill, then glue the edges, and secure with wood screws.
3. Once it's dried and secure, spackle the screw holes, let dry, and then apply 3 coats of paint (I used semi-gloss trim paint).
4. Next mark the location of the studs and the approximate spacing of the book rails. I could have easily put three rails in this space but I didn't want our toddler trying to climb it like a ladder, so I decided to only do two.
5. Center the book rails in the space and use a level to hang the book rails, pre-drilling and screwing the book rails into the wall studs.
6. Decorate and add your books! While these are pretty sturdy, I would recommend being mindful of the weight put on the rails - don't put too many books or large, heavy books on them, especially since your little one will be reaching up to pull books off and you don't want anything heavy to topple off.
And finally I decided to build a simple, sturdy narrow crate to hold our daughter's bigger, heavier books.
Other posts you might enjoy from Birch Landing Home:
It's been a long time coming, but we've finally moved our little one up to her "big girl room"! Decorating and organizing this space has been a challenge since it's such a tiny room. And while arrows, deer, and gold polka dots are all the rage right now, we wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck and go with a timeless, classic theme that our daughter can grow into. | This post contains affiliate links |
We decided to go with a blue, white, and yellow color scheme (which always reminds me of Cape Cod) and just a few decorative touches that can easily be changed out as our little one grows and tastes change. Keeping everything pretty light in the room helps make it feel just a little bit bigger too.
The bed and dresser came from Ikea and were very reasonably priced. In fact, these were my first purchases from Ikea EVER (gasp) and I was very impressed with the quality and sturdiness of them. While not shown in these photos, we have under-mattress bedrails that are typically on the bed so she doesn't roll out.
The bedding was one of the most reasonably priced quilt sets I could find and came from Amazon (*at the moment it's listed for double what I had paid, but Amazon pricing can change often so hopefully the price will come down again soon). I just love all the different blues, greens, and creams in the bedspread! It keeps with the Cape Cod color scheme and adds a country touch.
The "love you to the moon & back" sign was made by me and will be coming to our Etsy shop soon ;)
This little dormer was the perfect spot to tuck the dresser in as well as some decorative touches like the wooden oar, which was a freebie find. The custom name puzzle is from Amazon, and both the lamp and the curtains are from Wal-Mart.
We also added this Personalized Alphabet Printable from my Etsy shop as well, and our daughter loves finding the letters from her name in it.
This Moon Bed was a custom creation from my brother and sister-in-law as a gift for our baby shower - it makes the perfect spot for snuggling up with a good book and some stuffed animals. The starfish watercolor painting is by New England artist Jen Scully of Mack & Ro. I love how it compliments this corner with the "moon and stars" theme but also fits in perfectly with the overall coastal vibe of the room.
What's New England without a farm? This little Pottery Barn table was a yard sale find (score!) and makes the perfect spot for a barnyard scene. The wooden barn is from Melissa and Doug but the animals are Little People (all yard sale finds again). The woven rope basket to hold accessories for the farm adds a coastal touch. This rope basket is old, but I've linked a very similar one here.
This room has a very shallow alcove and to make the most of the space I built custom book rails in it for storage and display. I debated on putting one more rail down lower but decided against it since I know our toddler would try to climb it like a ladder. Instead, I made a custom narrow wooden crate to sit on the floor and hold her heavier books that I didn't want to put up on the wall.
The book rails make for great storage that doesn't take up a lot of room, as well as gives us a chance to show of some of our current favorite books (including some fun New England-themed ones).
And last but not least, possibly the most important addition to our daughter's big girl room, the
Ready to Wake Clock! I was a bit skeptical at first, but this clock really has been a lifesaver (and no, this is not a sponsored endorsement). Our daughter used to get up between 4-5AM everyday, but once she learned that she needs to stay in bed until the clock turns green she now sleeps to the decent hour (6:45AM) that we set her clock to (thank goodness!).
I've tried to link all my sources for the room but if there's anything I'm missing that you have a question on, please send me a message.
I've had the pleasure of following Allison Cole Jewelry on Instagram for awhile now and fell in love with Nicole's gorgeous nautical-inspired jewelry. Nicole was kind enough to send me one of her classic rope bracelets to style and offered to give a bracelet from her gorgeous line to one lucky winner. Read on for an exclusive coupon code and how to enter to win a bracelet of your own!
Nicole Recomendes is the owner/designer behind Allison Cole Jewelry. Nicole has roots in New England - growing up in Hanover, MA and spending every summer on her family's boat. She has always had an eye and love for nautical style. After working in the corporate world for awhile, she followed a dream to work for herself and launched the line in May of 2015 and it really took off from there!
I've always been a big fan of nautical and New England-inspired fashion myself and so I was excited to pair her Metallic Rope Bracelet with some of our favorite nautical inspired pieces. What I really love about this bracelet is that it's simple enough to dress up or down but still bold enough to make a statement. These rope bracelets look great on their own or stacked with other bracelets and bangles.
Exclusive Coupon Code
Allison Cole Jewelry is also very reasonably priced which makes this trendy style achievable for everyone. Better yet, we have an exclusive coupon code to share with you -- use the code BIRCHLANDING at checkout to get 20% off everything in her shop! (That makes the bracelet I'm wearing less than $20 - such a great deal!)
*GIVEAWAY!*
Looking for a chance to win your choice of bracelet from Allison Cole's line? Find the photo above on my Instagram (@birchlandinghome) and enter there! All details and rules can be found in the giveaway post. Good luck!
- I received this bracelet for review from Allison Cole Jewelry but all opinions expressed are my own. Please see our Disclosure Policy for more information. -
My husband and I have been married for nearly five years now but it seems like our wedding was just yesterday. We got married before Pinterest was a thing and so it was up to us to figure out all the details on our own. It was a learning process and we came up with some great ways to cut costs and still have our dream wedding. | This post contains affiliate links |
From the start we knew exactly where we wanted to get married - a beautiful historic mansion overlooking the lakes and mountains we love (it was also where my husband proposed). So that helped narrow things down quite a bit. But the downside? It was expensive and didn't include much of anything. In order to have our wedding where we wanted, we had to cut costs in other parts of the budget and in doing so we saved thousands of dollars.
Tips for Saving Big on Your Dream Wedding
Start planning as early as you can. We started planning our wedding about 13 months out; we thought we had plenty of time but we were shocked at how many dates were already taken at our venue of choice, how many DJs/photographers were already booked, etc - even more than a year out. Starting early means you have the most options to choose from and are more likely to find affordable vendors that you like. Waiting until the last minute can leave you stuck with expensive options or ones you aren't happy with.
All photos by Steve Holmes Photography
Find a venue that includes a lot. Okay, so this tip did not really apply to us (our venue included little other than the physical ceremony location, reception hall, and a day-of wedding coordinator). But many venues include at least something, and some include a lot more than others. Some items that may be included in the venue cost include: the wedding cake, toasting champagne, linens, DJ, flowers, cake cutting fee, bar credit, coffee service, hors devours, or even all of the food/catering. If you can find a nice venue that includes at least some of these items, it can save you big in the long run.
Pick a venue that's beautiful in itself. If you can find a venue that looks pretty as-is, you don't have spend a lot (or anything) on decor costs! An outdoor wedding with a pretty view means you don't need anything for the ceremony. And a pretty looking old hall with a lot of character means you can get away with little or no decorating for the reception. We spent almost nothing on decor costs since we felt our ceremony location was so beautiful already.
Use details of the wedding venue to your advantage. One of the little touches that people remembered most about our wedding? The wishing fountain! Our venue had a beautiful fountain in the middle of the ceremony location and we decided to use this feature as part of our day. We put out a jar of brand new shiny pennies dated our wedding year (which cost $2 - literally), and put a little note in our wedding program about throwing pennies in the fountain for happy wishes for the bride and groom.
Don't get married on the weekend. I know this sounds strange but many locations offer a great discount if you get married on any day other than a Saturday or a Sunday (and some locations offer off-season discounts as well if you get married in the winter). The date we really wanted for our wedding had already been booked (even though it was over a year out!), and so when were deciding on a new date we chose to have our wedding on a Friday evening. By having it on a Friday we saved around $750 just on the venue cost!
Opt for the buffet. When selecting a caterer (presuming it's not included with your venue), look for ones that also offer a buffet option and compare that price to their "plated meal" price. Buffets generally cost about 1/3 less than having the meal plated and served to your guests. We choose the buffet option for our wedding and saved a lot on meal costs!
Make your own invitations - or at the very least assemble them. Originally we wanted to design, print, cut, and assemble our invitations ourselves. But with all the time and stress going into wedding planning on top of regular work, we decided to forgo the stress of designing and sourcing paper/printing services and order our invitations. We found a beautiful invitation design that fit our theme and colors perfectly and it was all printed on thick, gorgeous paper. The best part? It was from a small designer/paper goods company that was priced really reasonably and also had the option of sending all your invitation materials uncut and unassembled for $150 less which was a great savings.
Don't get sucked into buying "wedding-specific" items. Next time you're at a bridal shop or craft store, check out wedding day items like guest books and flower girl baskets and you'll be in for some sticker-shock. I still remember looking at a flower girl basket and not believing it cost over $25! Because of that we decided to for-go the (ugly in my opinion) while silk flower girl basket and get a basic woven basket at a craft store for $5 and tied a piece of coordinating ribbon to the handle. We also skipped the traditional guest book and had guests sign the photo mat of one of our favorite engagement pictures - this keepsake is now hanging in our master where we can see and appreciate it every day. These days with Pinterest the alternative guest book ideas are endless!
Borrow your petticoat. If your wedding dress calls for a petticoat, see if any of your friends or family has one you could borrow for your wedding. (If they do, make sure to try it on with your dress before your dress is altered to make sure it will work.) No one sees the petticoat and it's not a sentimental part of the day, so there's no need to actually buy one.
Offer to do the leg work. If you're working with a vendor and have some extra (and very reliable!) hands willing to help on the day of the wedding, offer to do the leg work for the vendors - in exchange for a discounted rate of course. For example, the cost of our linen rental included delivery and pick-up of the linens but my husband's parents offered to take care of it since they lived nearby. By having them pick up the linens the day before the wedding, and then drop them back off the day after the wedding it saved us $100. Also, our florist was about half a mile from the hair dresser where we all were getting our hair done - so, rather than pay the delivery fee for our bouquets my mother-in-law ran over and picked them up for us.
Take advantage of family and friends' talents. If you know someone that has a great talent or hobby, feel them out to see if they'd be willing to help you with an aspect of your wedding. My sister-in-law is super-crafty and an AMAZING baker. She made our gorgeous custom wedding cake for us and my brother-in-law made the cake base, saving us hundreds of dollars - not to mention it's much more meaningful knowing it's made with love by someone we know.
DIY wedding centerpieces. If you choose flowers for your centerpieces each arrangement can easily cost $80+ and that adds up to a lot, fast. We decided to make our centerpieces ourselves and save this money. My husband and I opted for flower-free centerpieces that we could make way ahead of time; we used birch logs with hearts and table numbers carved into them (a nod to when we carved our initials into a tree while dating), along with river rocks and some other natural elements. Everything we choose for our centerpieces meant something to us which made our them very personal. In order to make them we only had to purchase the candles and some river rocks - for all 10 centerpieces it cost us about $35. (My only other piece of advice for making your own centerpieces would be to bring it to your venue and see it on one of their tables ahead of time, if possible. Our centerpieces looked awesome on our kitchen table and we thought they were the perfect size, but once they were set up at the venue we realized they didn't fill in the center of the tables quite enough and we should have brought some smaller elements to fill in around it.)
Simplify the bouquet. Florists charge more for having to source out more flowers.. if you have mixed bouquets they can cost a lot more than a bouquet the same size that contains just one type of flower. We wanted to keep it simple anyways and decided to stick with straight yellow roses for all the bouquets and that saved us a lot of money in itself.
Borrow a fun car instead of renting a limo. We had the advantage of having our ceremony and reception at the same location, so we didn't need to transport the wedding party from one place to another. Even still, we wanted a fun "getaway" car to leave in at the end of the night. Luckily for us, our family is into restoring cars as a hobby and we got to use a '66 Chevelle that we all helped fix up - definitely made it more fun and more meaningful than using a limo service.
The One Thing Worth Splurging On
A great photographer. Seriously folks, hire a great photographer and you won't regret it!! Your wedding photos will be what you look back on to remember the details of your day, and it's so important to have ones you're proud of and that truly capture all the magic. A great photographer can also do wonders with what they have - even if you don't have the most ideal backdrop for a photo they can make it look amazing with some artful focus or composition.
When hiring a photographer make sure to look at their full portfolio; see if you like their style, if they're consistent with editing techniques, if the overall mood of the photos fits your personal taste. It's also a good idea to hire a photographer that comes with an assistant photographer - this way you get double the photos and more angles of the ceremony. It also allows the photographers to be in two places at once, especially helpful for taking getting-ready photos.
You also want to find a photographer that gives you full rights to your photos - after all you want to be able to print as many copies as you like, make photobooks, send photos to your local newspaper for your announcement, post them on Facebook and other social media, or even possibly submit them to be featured in bridal magazines. Without a letter stating you have full ownership and publishing rights to your photos you'd be unable to do any of that without going through your photographer every time (and doing so would cost you extra money each time).
And don't forget to quiz any potential photographer on things that may go awry and how they'd handle it... just in case. A personal emergency came up and they were unable to photograph your wedding at the last minute? (They should have some photographer associates of equal or better caliber they can call on to fill in for them at no additional cost to you) If a camera or lens gets dropped on the big day? (They should have backup equipment with them as well as extra fully-charged batteries). A great, experienced photographer should have a game plan for anything that may come up and still get you beautiful photos of the day despite any challenges that may arise.
Disclaimer: Please note this post shares my opinion and prices and information mentioned are based on our experience of planning our wedding five years ago. *Prices and packages from vendors that we used may have changed.*
