Winner winner chicken dinner!

Happy Friday everyone! Just popping in to announce all 3 winners of our Celebrating Handmade giveaways! Thank you so much to everyone who entered and to those who are supporting handmade and small businesses everyday! It's so important and I hope you will all continue to do so! And now, without further ado, the winners are....

Giveaway #1 - Lace Garter from Krumpets Designs - Winner is Stacey! Congratulations!!!

Giveaway #2 - Polka Dot Bowtie from Dana Eckert - Winner is Jessica! Congratulations!!

Giveaway #3 - Pair of Engraved Stemless Wine Glasses - Winner is Alana! Congratulations!!

Yay, congrats winners! I'll be in touch with all 3 of you shortly to put you in contact with the Etsy shop owners! Thanks again to everyone who entered and thank you to the 3 ladies who supplied these fabulous prizes!! And don't worry if you didn't win... I have another giveaway coming soon! Happy Friday everyone! XOXO



Winner winner chicken dinner!

Happy Monday! I have a winner to announce! Thank you to everyone who entered to win a print from the amazing Livy Love Designs. I'm happy to announce that the winner of an 8x10 print is...

Congratulations Ashley Sloan! Please leave me a comment with your email address and I will put you in touch with Diana so you can choose your 8x10 print! Enjoy and thanks for reading! XOXO

Exciting Announcement! Mama Matryoshka will be at The Threadery!

With all of the craziness of birthday parties, moving, and vacations, Mama Matryoshka has been on vacation mode for most of the summer. I didn't mean for it to happen, but it did and I've missed it! I just love being creative and making pretty little things, and I always get inspired when the holidays roll around. This fall I really want to focus on trying new projects. One of my goals was to try and sell at a handmade/craft market and I'm happy to announce that on October 22nd, I will be! I've been accepted to sell at a booth at The Threadery! It's a new handmade craft market created by two lovely ladies (you can learn more about it here) in Orange County. I'm really nervous because this is my first time doing anything like this and I know it's going to be A LOT of work! I need to build a booth and backdrop completely from scratch and make a ton of inventory of both old and new items to sell! But mostly I'm super excited to put my product out there and interact with my customers face to face. I'll also get to hang out with Alyson of Eisley Rae Clothing and Heather of Happy Bee Boutique so I know we'll have tons of fun! If you're in the Orange County area make sure to stop by and say hi! I'd love to see you!

When: October 22nd, 9:00AM- 4:00PM

Where: 505 W. Lambert Rd. Brea, Ca 92821 North Orange County

I'll be sure to blog more details soon and keep you updated on all of the new products I'm making specifically for this event. I also have a giveaway coming very soon to say thank you for supporting my little Etsy shop for the past 5 months! Stay tuned! XOXO

Domesticated Delight got a sweet little makeover!

So, what do we think of my new blog design? I AM OBSESSED. I have had the Danielle Moss graphic design website bookmarked for over a year now, and I finally decided the time was right for a sweet little makeover! I knew she would do a fantastic job and let me tell you, she did not disappoint. I think she truly captured my style with the red/aqua colors and the graphics and I am so in love. Not only was she was incredibly easy to work with and quick to respond to emails, she was also willing to explain bloggy things (that I probably should have known about already) and gave me her personal opinion on a lot of things which was totally appreciated. If you are thinking of getting a fresh look for your blog, I can't recommend her enough!

A few things to point out: I changed the links on my top navigation bar to include some updated information about my family and added a section for my Etsy shop as well! And guess what? Mama Matryoshka got a makeover too! Make sure to check out the coordinating banner over at the shop... I just think it's the cutest thing ever! I also have a new button, both for my blog and Mama Matryoshka located on the right hand side under Follow Along for those who would like to add it to their site! I plan to get all the buttons from the blogs I've been stalking to add to my page very soon! Fancy!

Let me know what you think of the new design, and I'll be back tomorrow for Friday Favorites! XOXO

Exciting announcement!

I've been keeping a secret. Over the past month or so I have been working really hard on a top secret project and I am FINALLY ready to tell you guys all about it!

As you all know, I love to do paper crafts. More specifically, I like making scrapbook pages, handmade cards, and DIY party favors. I'm usually working on something all the time, and since I've gotten my Silhouette I pretty much haven't stopped. Normally the things I make are given as gifts or are used to decorate for a holiday or event. However, after much encouragement from friends and family, I have decided to open up my own Etsy shop! I wasn't sure about it at first because it can be embarrassing to put your handmade items out there for people to judge, but I decided I love doing it, and it makes me happy so why not? It's a way to bring in some extra money to support my family and having fun doing it!

For the past month I have been working non-stop creating an inventory for my shop, photographing everything, and then listing it. I can't even begin to explain how hard it has been to keep a secret. Now that I have a good stock of items ready I set the GRAND OPENING date for April 1st which is one week from today! To celebrate the opening, every day next week leading up to it, I'm going to post sneak peaks of the things I will have in my shop here on the blog! That's right, you guys get to see it all before anyone else! AND on the day of the grand opening I will give my blog readers a discount code so make sure you stick around!

I am so excited to share this with you guys and I really hope you like what I've come up with! And to everyone who has encouraged me along the way, THANK YOU! I couldn't have done this without you!

I iz a fancy blogger now.

If you're wondering why I haven't been posting much, it's because I've been having a blogging identity crisis of sorts. When I originally started posting here it was more personal updates about my pregnancy, birth, and then life with a new baby. I do love those posts, but my intention for this blog was to be inspiration for those who like the same things as myself: cooking, baking, and crafting. It is between these two themes that I've gotten stuck somewhere and haven't posted regularly because I always felt like the ideas in my head don't go with one or the other. I was also aware of how terrible my point-and-shoot camera pictures were and let's be honest, a bad photo doesn't inspire anyone so I was reluctant to post. Recently, after giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to focus more on the latter and post more dinner recipes, decorating inspiration, cute kids parties, dessert ideas, and share pictures and tutorials of all the crafts that I usually work on. One of the main deciding factors was the purchase of 2 new toys. Thank god for tax returns...

I was finally able to purchase a Canon Rebel T1i (along with the 18-55mm lens and the 50mm 1.8 lens) which I am SO excited about. I've honestly been interested in photography my entire life, but have always been frustrated with the limitations of a cheap point-and-shoot camera. Luckily, we were able to finally get a nice DSLR and I'm so excited to get acquainted with it. I've been practicing every day and hopefully the pictures around here will become better and more inspiring. (And of course I couldn't resist showing off pictures of my two favorite subjects, Cayden and his cousin)

See the bottom right picture? He's mad we lost the Superbowl! Sad face.

The Silhouette is something that's been all over the blogs lately and it's been torturing my sister and I with its amazingness. This thing can do EVERYTHING. She bought it last week and after much deliberation I decided it will save me a ton of money in the long run and ordered it yesterday. I can't wait to start playing with it. The Silhouette blog has so many fun ideas and you can guarantee I'll be stalking it daily.

Anyway, this doesn't mean that I'll stop posting personal updates. I'll still use Wordless Wednesday to show off pictures of the cutest baby in the universe (mine) and let you know what our family is up to. And of course Friday Favorites will continue as well. (And if you ever have suggestions for Friday Favorites themes I'd love to hear them!) I hope to start posting regularly now and really developing this blog into what I imagined it to be. I have a really fun giveaway in the works as well as an exciting announcement to come. And a big THANK YOU to everyone who takes time to read this. Every comment means SO much to me and I hope you'll stick around!

ANNOUNCEMENT: FALL/HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY EVENT AT DOMESTICATED DELIGHT!

I am SO SO SO excited to announce my first ever event on my blog!! So much time and hard work has gone into this and I can't wait to share it with you, my loyal followers! In case you guys didn't know, fall is my favorite season, and Halloween is my favorite holiday! (I think I say this about every holiday, but that's besides the point) So what could be more perfect than a Halloween themed event?! So I'm happy to announce that for the entire month of October I will be the host to several FABULOUS giveaways sponsored by the most amazing Etsy sellers as well as posting delicious fall recipes, fun tutorials for Halloween crafts, and you'll even get a sneak peak of my apartment and how I've decorated it for Halloween!

Here are some things you can expect to see here at Domesticated Delight this month:

• New giveaways every week!
• Recipes for pumpkin gooey cake, homemade chili, chai latte cupcakes, and more!
• Surprise guest posts!
• Tutorial for a paper-mache pumpkin craft!
• Fun pictures and inspiration of Halloween decor!
• And much, much more!
  

Here's a sneak peak at the giveaways that will be going on! I'm always excited to promote small businesses, especially family-run ones and I couldn't be more excited to work with all of my wonderful sponsors!

The first giveaway will be posted SOON so don't forget to keep checking back! And if you want to grab some extra entries for the giveaway of your choice, leave a comment on this post with pictures of your Halloween decorations from last year! Each comment will get you 1 extra entry and the pictures will be used on my Halloween decorations post (and if you leave your name and blog/Twitter link I will give credit!)

Happy Haunting everyone! :)