I am thrilled to be able to welcome Go Against the Grain the Wedding Vendors I ♥™ Guide on the blog. Laurel specializes in event accessories, maps and graphic design for all of life's parties and events, including weddings. She also welcomes special requests for customization so if you don't see something that jumps out at you, you just have to ask. Here's a few of my favorites from her shop and be sure to see below for a special sale that ends today.

PS: Today is the last day of Go Against the Grain's Valentine's Day Sale where all Valentine Toppers are 40% off. Hurry on over to shop at Go Against the Grain and save on the cutest toppers like these . . .

Go Against the Grain is a member of the Wedding Vendors I ♥™ Guide. If you are a wedding business interested in being a part of this guide, please submit your information here.

As we get ready for our first "real" winter storm of the season, I wanted to leave you with some fun things . . . one of which is you could win some "bling" just in time for the holidays. It's the last weekend to enter to win $50 in Blue Nile Jewelry {PS: there will be two winners}.

This weekend also marks the last time you can place your order in the all new Brenda's Marketplace for your handmade holiday gift tags, cupcake toppers and stocking stuffers. Be sure to head on over to order your holiday goodies and save 20% on any size order with coupon code: holiday2013 {Below is just a quick preview of some of the items available in the shop}. The hair pins make the perfect stocking stuffer for both girls and ladies. They're even great gifts for bridesmaids.

save 20% on any size order this weekend
coupon code: holiday2013

Green Holiday Wreath Cupcake Toppers {set of 12}

$10.00

Add To Cart

Colored Flower Hair Pins on a Gift Tag - you pick your favorite color{s}

$4.00

Flower Color:

Select Flower Color redbluegreenyellowbright pinklight pinkpurpleorange

red blue green yellow bright pink light pink purple orange

Quantity:

Add To Cart

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. I spent the weekend with my family decorating for the holidays {while our little one kept un-decorating the tree} and working on something behind the scenes for the big reveal today. I'm SO EXCITED about this super fun launch! Brenda's Marketplace is now officially open on my blog. I'm thrilled to launch my very own shop, right here on the blog!!! You will find handmade paper goodies and accessories with custom invitations coming very soon in your choice of pre-printed and print-at-home. Nearly all the paper goods have a bit of glittery goodness in them and I've created cupcake toppers, holiday cards, holiday gift tags, wine tags and thank you note cards. You will even find fun floral hair pins and decorative cupcake wrappers. There's lots of great stocking stuffers in the collection!

To celebrate the launch, I am offering 20% off all orders today until 11:59 pm est with coupon code cybermonday and FREE Shipping if your order total is over $30 with coupon code freeship - both codes can be applied to one order!

​Strawberries are on my mind a lot lately, not only because my daughter loves them and I recently made pancakes for dinner that were topped with the red berries, but because my strawberry bridal shower invitations in my etsy shop have been a hit recently. Just this weekend I finished off two orders for upcoming strawberry themed bridal showers that will be using my invitations to announce the special day. And, this week, I'll be working on strawberry cupcake toppers to finish up another order.

So, since I've been seeing lots of strawberries lately, I thought I should put together a strawberry bridal shower inspiration board. Of course, a strawberry themed wedding would be equally amazing. After all - the bride and groom are "berry sweet together".

Image Credits: strawberry arrangement in a tea tin, strawberry bridal shower invitation, photo by Tiffany Wayne Photography, mini strawberry cakes, strawberry doll swing dance shoes, strawberry macarons, strawberry bouquet, photo by Katie Stoops Photography

Laurel of Go Against the Grain was so sweet to send me a little package for Valentine's Day. The packaging was so pretty and I loved the addition of the glittered clothespin {I'm a girl that loves glitter}. Inside was another pretty package - a muslin bag with the letters LOVE stamped on it. I just love this idea by the way. With muslin bags {even paper bags} you can easily use rubber stamps and customize the packaging anyway you'd like for any event.

Inside the muslin bag were samples of the Valentine's Day cupcake toppers Laurel has created and sells in her Go Against the Grain etsy shop. 

The pucker up cupcake toppers are just too cute and the cupid's arrow cupcake toppers are just pure brilliance. These toppers are actually in two pieces {one end has the heart-shaped arrow head and the other has the feathered end}. Below shows you a photo from Laurel of the cupid's arrow cupcake toppers in action. {previous 3 photos were taken by myself with my iphone}. Don't you just love these toppers?