Decorated Cookies For Breast Cancer Awareness Month

It's been a busy few days! And the next several weeks don't show a lighter load. My calendar doesn't have me coming up for air until around the last week in October. With the exception of a dentist visit and a car maintenance appointment, everything else is fun-filled!

Tomorrow night my mom and I will be going to our church's quarterly women's event. Our last Every Woman gathering was amazing. I blogged about it here. This one is called "Night of Pink" and we're jump-starting Breast Cancer Awareness month a little early. Our guest speaker will be a Pastor of one of our church branches - a woman who I hear is amazing, and is a breast cancer survivor.

It's going to be a wonderful night! The room will be filled with a sea of women dressed in pink, tables will be decorated beautifully, and we're going to have a lavish dessert bar! I was asked if I could make some cookies for the event. I made TWO large platters, which totaled 100 + cookies. Since the platters are identical, I just took pictures of one. Here are the cookie designs that I did....

I purchased the "ribbon" cookie cutter online from Country Kitchen.

I saw these "Keep Calm and Fight On" cookies on Sweet Sugarbelle's Facebook Page this week and the next day implemented the design into my cookie platter.

I did my icings in three different shades of pink. I love the variety, and how the color scheme goes from a light shade of pink to a darker shade of pink.

Lollipops are always a fun touch! I tied a tiny bow around the sticks for added cuteness....

A tip to keeping your baked goods fresh is to add a few slices of bread into the container before you put the lid on....

I've added this Breast Cancer Awareness Bow to my Etsy shop today, where there are also a few others available for purchase....

I've prepped several every-day frilly hair bow designs that will be added to my shop soon!

We're Ready for Halloween!

I know, I know...we're not even through September yet and I'm talking about October and Halloween. But I'm super excited this year as Ilah is older and she can have a little fun getting dressed up and toting her Halloween treat bag around ; )

Towards the beginning of the year, my mother-in-law bought Ilah a Halloween outfit on clearance at Dillards after Halloween was over. It's not a "costume" per say, but it's a cute little cat outfit and it's warm, which is most important since it will be pretty cool at night on Halloween in our neck of the woods {that kinda sounds like we live in the sticks where the nearest porch light will be one hundred miles away} - but you know what I mean...the nigh time weather in October will be a bit cold.

There will be plenty of years ahead of us where Ilah will want to choose her own costume but this year, she will be wearing this little outfit....

Yesterday I made Ilah this hair bow to wear with it....

I spotted this super cute treat bag at Homegoods a few weeks back and thought it was so cute and the perfect size for Ilah to carry around Halloween night. She's really into carrying things and this darling bag couldn't have been more perfect, and it's super light since it's made out of cloth....

It was only $3.99!....

Back to the bow, I pulled from the colors on the goody bag and made it to match....

Our church will be having a night of fun for the kids on Halloween. I remember going to these at my church when I was little girl. They referred to them as a "Harvest Festival". Having a child brings back so many memories and I just love making special memories with our little girl!

I've been getting some emails asking when I would be adding new bows to my Etsy shop. My big coupon promotion that I did last month just about wiped out my inventory. With school back in session, Breast Cancer Awareness month coming up, and Halloween around the corner, I added these bows - and more like them - to my shop today....

Slowly but surely I'll be adding in more cute every day frilly pieces like this one, which I just put in today...

Here is the link to my Etsy shop if you'd like to see what's in my store: www.etsy.com/shop/MorganLaneBoutique

My Etsy Shop: Morgan Lane Boutique {50% OFF OF EVERYTHING!}

I have absolutely loved making every handmade bow that has gone into my Etsy shop, Morgan Lane Boutique. What initially started out as a creative outlet of just making bows to match Ilah's outfits has turned into something that has not only been profitable, but has also been so enjoyable for me. I love mixing and matching various fabrics and coming up with unique, and affordable, one of a kind designs.

This month marks 9 months that my etsy shop has been opened. The feedback left within my shop from new and returning customers who have purchased my handcrafted layered hair accessories has propelled me to keep with it. As the months have gone on, I have refined my bow making skills and have created some darling frilly pieces to match many of Ilah's outfits...

I have had many requests for custom orders, the most recent being just a few days ago, when I was contacted to create two bows for a set of twins who will be born into a love of the Georgia Bulldogs! I always enjoy creating custom pieces! I sent the customer this picture of some fabric options that I thought paired nicely with the GA Bulldog fabric....

After she made her fabric selections, that same day I completed her order....

These are the smaller bows that I sell in my shop, that are approximately 2.25" - perfect for newborns. These twins will be born in October; the bows will be the perfect size on their cute little heads!

I'm excited to begin making many new hair bows and adding them to my shop! But first...I want to clear out much of my current inventory. While I have done coupon promotions in the past, I've never done one this big....

NOW UNTIL SUNDAY, EVERYTHING IN MY SHOP IS 50% OFF!!

Lots of darling frilly hair bows to choose from...including holiday collections {Christmas, Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, July 4th, etc.}.

Even the interchangeable headbands are 50% off....

All you need to do is go to Morgan Lane Boutique and enter coupon code "50OFF" at check out.

As my shop states: "All of my unique creations are handmade, hand cut, personally designed, and lovingly made…waiting to be adorned on pretty little heads, of all ages, everywhere".

Thank you to all of you who have supported my business!!

Momma Loves A Bargain

The words "Ross", "Marshalls", "TJ Maxx" and "Homegoods" have appeared on my blog many times. I love a good deal and have purchased many items within these stores. Strolling through their aisles recently I found [and purchased] some neccessities that would have cost me three times as much had I purchased them at Babies-R-Us or Buy Buy Baby.

These travel hooks have come in so handy! I opened up the pack when my girlfriend Vanessa was visiting and gave her one to attach to her stroller handle, and I did to mine. If your basket in your stroller is already full {the diaper bag alone can take up a lot of space} or if your baby is reclined and asleep and you don't want to chance waking them up to shove something in the stroller basket, these hooks allow you to attach your shopping bags to them.

I scored them at Marshalls on clearance for $3! I had a girlfriend who had a baby recently and I picked up a pack for her as well. This makes for a great and inexpensive added baby shower gift {for the mommy!}.
Ilah is forward facing in her car seat now and her legs are so long....if my seat is far back enough, she can reach it with her feel and sometimes playfully kicks away. On a separate visit to Marshalls I spotted Fisher Price {set of 2} Protective Kick Mats....
Another score on clearance for just $4!

Recently, I paid Marshalls another visit to look for bakeware and detoured to the children's section to find this snack pod by Safe Fit {if you can't find one at your Marshalls or TJ Maxx [I spotted them there too] you can purchase it from Toys-R-Us here and read all the 5 star reviews}.

I just LOVE this thing!! We purchased a Britax Boulevard 70 CS carseat for Ilah and it does not come with a cup holder. As she started to come of the age where she was drinking from a sippy cup in the car, I was always having to reach back and give her the sippy cup, and then reach back and take it away when she seemed done, otherwise it would end up thrown on the floor because she had no where to put it. The snack pod was super easy to attach to our Britax {and it came with two snack cups, lids included}. It can also be attached to most strollers. Here is a professional marketing shot of the product....

And here is my blurry one! Ha! I snapped this shot of Ilah with my cell phone the other day in the car. She loves taking her snacks out of her cup and having her sippy cup within reach, and putting it back in its place when she's all done : ) Did you notice the price tag? I got it for just $7.99. Another find at Marshalls.
Onto clothes. I have posted many photos of Ilah's outfits. As she has gotten older {and outgrows clothes in what averages to be about 8-12 weeks} I stick to getting her {inexpensive} clothes from Ross, Marshalls and Old Navy, with Ross being my top spot {mostly all of her pj's are the Carter brand purchased at almost 75% off of the retail store price}. Take for instance, these darling summer outfits... I made a matching bow for it this week!

Cute matching bloomers!....
And this darling outfit....
I also made a matching bow for it....
A picture of the back...

These outfits were just $5.99 each...

When your child sometimes gets around to wearing a cute outfit only once or twice because she/he is growing so fast, then it makes sense to me not to purchase costly outfits. I know many moms who get their children's clothes from second hand shops for this very reason. I made the mistake of buying a lot of darling clothes {and shoes} for Ilah before she was born because I just couldn't resist - she probably never got around to wearing about 25% of them. Another cost effective approach to buying children's clothes is to visit the clearance racks and buy your child clothes for the following season. For instance, winter clothes will drop to just dollars when the store just wants to get rid of them to make room for their spring clothes.
Lastly, remember this post when I showed you the picture that I scored at Ross {for $19.99 on clearance} to fill the blank space on the wall in our guest bedroom?

BEFORE

Here it is hung up. Isn't it lovely!? I think so : )

AFTER

I just love practical and pretty finds that are so inexpensive!