This week, my husband and I had the opportunity to attend a wine and chocolate pairing for the grand opening of See's Candies at the Tustin Marketplace.  When I first got the invite, I was super excited because I LOVE See's.  You already know I have a sweet tooth, but seriously, ever since I can remember, every trip to the mall with my mom was not complete without a visit to See's. I realized I couldn't take part in the wine tasting, but figured I could get Brent to have a few tastings for me and I could eat all the candy I wanted, score!

If you happen to be in the Orange County Area, you know that the Tustin Marketplace is huge.  There are so many different groupings of stores and it gets a lot of customers, especially during the holidays.  That is one of the reasons that See's is opening this first ever large concept store in this location.  You know how long those lines get in the tiny shops at the mall, well See's at Tustin is the largest See's there is, which makes it perfect for Holiday shopping.



We had a great time tasting the samples of chocolate and learning from Domaine Somm about the wines from to pair them with.  Brent's favorite pairing was the Dark Raspberry Cream paired with the 2012 Muscat.

We even got to go behind the scenes/counter and see how they house all of the delicious confections!  My personal favorites are the Milk Chocolate Butter, Milk Patties, and Milk Almonds.  Yum!  I found out that associates that work at See's get to eat ANYTHING they want!  I so should have worked there!  Oh, and you know the black and white tiles in every store?  They are a nod to Mary See's (Creator of See's Candies) own kitchen.

After eating more See's Candies in one sitting that I ever have before (a pregnant girl's dream!) we went home and I got the best sleep I have had in a long while!  I swear it was all of that chocolate! :)

Thank you See's Candies and Domaine Somm for such a fun event! 

Today when I went in to edit a few pictures in PicMonkey, I saw something new and exciting...a Design element with blank canvases!  I immediately thought Christmas cards, invitations, and best of all...subway printables! Yay!

For those of you who aren't familiar with PicMonkey, it is an online photo editing program.  A lot of the program is free, and for a small fee you can use the rest of the awesome amenities it has to offer.  I use this program for all of my photo editing and have been really happy with it.  It is so easy to use!  I'm not affiliated with them at all, I just really really like it!

I made this printable today while making a tutorial for you to follow on how to make your own.  Go ahead and download this free version, or if time permits, make one yourself!  This printable is 5"x 7".  Click on the link below to download. 

Now for the tutorial:

1. Go to PicMonkey.com and at the top of the screen scroll over Design.  A bar will pop up with different size canvases for you to choose from.  The one I used above is 5" x 7".  Click on the size you would like.


2.  The next screen will prompt you to select a color for your canvas.  I chose white, but you can choose any color you'd like.  Once you've selected a color, click the green "Apply" button.

3.  On the left side of the screen you will see a toolbar with all of the design elements.  I start with the text.  The button for that looks like "Tt".  Once you select that, a bar with fonts will pop up.  Select the font you want and click the "Add Text" at the top of the screen.  Note: any font or element with a small crown next to it is part of the paid membership.  Fortunately, most of the elements are free :).


4.  When you click "Add Text", a text area will appear on your canvas.  Type in your desired text.  A toolbar will pop up on the right side of the screen where you can edit your text size and color.  Repeat this for the rest of the text you want in your printable.


5.  To move text around, simply click on the phrase and drag.

6.  If you wish to add any graphics to your Subway printable, the butterfly icon on the left toolbar has tons of graphic design elements to use.  Also, currently there is a snowflake icon that includes seasonal themes and graphics.  I found the header and snowflake footer in the Winterland theme.  Those two in particular are part of my paid membership, but there are others that are free.


7.  Once you have everything in its place, click "Save".  It will give you the option to choose the file size and quality you want.  I chose "Sean" for my printable, which is the highest quality and file size (1.5 MB).  Choose your file size then click the green "Save to my Computer".

8.  There you have it!  Print, frame, and display!

Okay, so I know I said I would be back to blogging with fun fall posts, but clearly that didn't happen. So sorry!  November has been a busy month and time has just flown by!  As you may know I run a crafty little company with one of my best friends.  Well, the last few weeks have been chock full of crafting and getting ready for a few holiday boutiques that we had.

Now that they are over, I plan on getting back to blogging (no, really this time!).  This is the last of my busy weeks, but in the meantime, I wanted to share pictures from some of our boutiques and the link to our Etsy shop: J&A's Handmade Lovelies. Check it out if you feel so inclined :).

Jordan and I at the Bella Boutique

Our Setup for the Holiday Gifts and Goodies Boutique