Tis The Season Boutique - Sneak Preview!!

With Finch's annual sale taking a pass this year, we are excited to help promote & encourage you to visit  Tis The Season Boutique in Chaska, MN.

You'll find TONS of great gifts for the holidays + several Finch's Boutique artists as well! including...

7two7 Glass
Birdie & B's Sweets

Metro Mitten Company

Yellow Finch.Gray Day

Come on by! Starts this evening!

Friday, December 6th   5pm - 8pm

Saturday, December 7th   9am - 6pm

Sunday, December 8th   11am - 5pm

Friday, December 13th   5pm-8pm

Saturday, December 14th   9am - 6pm

tistheseasonboutique.com

+ Last night we attended Tis The Season Boutique Preview Night - a fundraiser event with ticket proceeds benefiting American Cancer Society - It was a blast! So! That means we have sneak peek photos of some of the goodies you'll find at the boutique! Take a look…

Keep cozy with comfy scarves - plus! I spy sweater mittens from Metro Mitten Co!

Oh man. You'd better believe there are some yummy treat awaiting you…mixes for amazing dips, jams, candies and homemade caramels...

Tasty Cake Pops from Birdie & B's Sweets! Vanilla Snowmen and Penguins + Chocolate Trees and Stockings!

Lots of clothing and toys for Kids + Baby! Plenty of Nuggets from Yellow Finch.Gray Day!

+ we can' forget about gifts for pets! Coats, treats, and toys galore!

Hope you get a chance to stop by! Brave the cold and warm up at Tis The Season Boutique!

Boutique Bummer...

   Finch's Boutique is a no-go for 2013 - for those of you who saw our post McBrides are Expecting, the reason should be pretty obvious! I SO enjoy planning and scheming up new ideas and plans for the boutique each year, but man, the mental and physical demands will be much to much for this gal at 7 months pregnant.

   According to Kevin, I become "completely unavailable" in the month or two leading up to the sale - it's true I may get a little wrapped up with artist communication, blog posts, and list making - I guess I hadn't realized I was COMPLETELY unavailable! 

   This year, my lists are going to look a little different... So its a Boutique Bummer, but for really good reasons!

  We are hoping to keep up with our previous Finch's Boutique artists via our boutique facebook page + planning to keep you updated with other holiday sale events as they come up as well.
  We have a TON of Yellow Finch.Gray Day product made - with not even close to all of it listed on Etsy yet....  so perhaps we will find a sale to participate in elsewhere...

Instead of supervising the boutique this year, these shop dogs will have to oversee the the preparation of the new Nursery Room and practice sharing the house - and their mom & dad - with the new Nugget!

You never know! Perhaps the boutique will be back next year???

McBride's time to relax....finally....

  Wondering where we've been for a while? Oh, we've been here all right, just cheating on this blog with Finch's Boutique blog...
  It's that time of year, when we completely tear apart our house, stash away our personal decor and bring in other people's stuff - 70 local artist and designer's stuff to be exact. Our largest Finch's Boutique to date was a big success - even if Day 2 was hindered by a ton of snow - it's was still a lot of fun, but mostly a ton of work....not sure if it will be happening here again next year..... we'll see....

  Here's what I mean...

We move most furniture out or re-purpose some - like one couch and the coffee table -
and bring in all the display apparatus...

Would you believe we had over 200 visitors come through our place?
That's a few more than we typically like to entertain at once...

This year got so big, we opened the smaller guest room down the hall to accommodate the Kids/Baby/Pets product.

Luckily, we have the two best shop dogs ever....

Okay, 1 really good shop dog....and then there's Rigby....

"This is my 7th Holiday boutique - no big deal" - Finch

Oh Man, being shop dogs is REALLY hard work...

   NOW! We have the house pretty well put back together, people's product is *almost completely gone and we're ready for some relaxing. We're definitely pleased to have finished the bulk of our Christmas shopping before the sale, but that doesn't mean we're sitting still for too long....

Still lots to be done! On to 2013!!

Happy Holidays from The McBride's

Kevin, Elisa, Finch & Rigby

Magic Nugget Sponge Sets!

  One of my new creations for Finch's Boutique - under the name Yellow Finch.Gray Day (blog/etsy shop to come...some day....) - is Magic Nugget Sponge Sets!

  I've been making Nugget Wash Mitts for kids - sewn from terry cloth - for a few years now, and I guess I was thinking of ways to expand cute options for gift giving, and a way to make everyday routine tasks, like baths, a little more fun :)

  Take a peek!

From online, I ordered a multi-color pack of composite cellulose sponges
- they're flat and hard, like little card boards

I sketched and cut out a little pattern from a cereal box! ha!

I traced/cut around my pattern to get my Nugget shape!

The picture I don't have is me sewing all the bit together, but basically, I used a hole-punch and X-acto knife to cut out the little eye holes, and I doubled up my thread to sew on the the little square patches and owl beaks.
Here are the packages all set for the sale!

When you add the little, flat composite sponges to water - they INSTANTLY grow into squishy, fun sponges ready for bath time! IT'S MAGIC!

  * Later I emptied all the little round sponge bits my hole puncher - and let Brooke and Owen drop them into a bowl of water over at Grandma Bonnie's - Brooke proclaimed them to be "Magic Beans!!!"

  Other ideas for these sheets of composite sponges: cut them into alphabet shapes or numbers, animals or fun shapes - circles and stars, hearts, oh my!

Yellow Finch.Gray Day for Finch's Boutique

  So I have been spending most of my time preparing for Finch's Holiday Boutique 2012 - coming up on Dec. 8th & 9th - it's a full time job (on top of the one I already have!) I've been working on my own product - under the name Yellow Finch.Gray Day - and updating the boutique blog once, sometimes twice, a day.

  My product list so far:
- Plush Toys like Jimmy Dolls, Pocket Nuggets, Tooth Fairy Nuggets
- Terry Wash Mitts
- Tea For Two Play Sets
- Finger Puppets
- Magic Sponge Sets
- Pieced Fabric Pot Holders
- Tea Pot Framed Art and Pot Holders
- Squeaky Bone Dog Toys
- Jingle Nugget Kitty Toys
- Felt Ornaments
- Re-usable Coffee Cup Cozies

+ Kevin is getting ready to start making his Peppermint Bark and Green Apple Bark pretty soon here too!

  I thought I'd share a peek a some of what I've been working on! Framed tea pot illustrations with matching pot holders (My mom is working on the tea pot kitchen towels to complete the collection!)

Its Getting To Be That Time of Year...

  What time of year you ask? 'Tis getting to be boutique season! Finch's Holiday Time Boutique that is! You may be thinking "hey! but that's not until December!" True - but it's time to start 'recruiting' artists and designers to participate. I am working on firming up all of this year's details - all I can say for now is that it's going down Dec. 8th-9th - Hooray! I will be posting info on the boutique blog very soon :) Just got to get my buns in gear.
  But in the meantime, let's look back on Finch's Boutique from 2011.......

We are willing to bet that THIS year's boutique will look even better! Mark your calendars!!

photos by Amber Engfer Photography

The Boutique is Back On!

   Have you heard? Finch's Holiday Time Boutique

is back in action!

After taking a year off to get married, move and try to settle in, we are back!
Mark your calendars for Dec. 3rd and 4th - Come and shop and you'll get to see some of our lovely home updates in person - if that isn't enough motivation!! Plan to complete a TON of your holiday shopping early because there are going to be really great stuff made available by over 50 local artists/designers/crafters, + 1 designer from Philly and 1 designer from Denmark (just bc you move, doesn't mean you can't participate from afar - we love you Lynn & Vân!)

Have a peek at the Boutique Blog: http://finchsboutique.blogspot.com/

So that means I am also full speed ahead making cute little items for the sale and getting ready to transform the new place into a 2-day boutique. So! Now I get to share some of what I'm working on along the way :)

I've been making little Nugget Finger Puppets!

and these little "Tea-For-Two" sets
(2 tea bags + 3 sugar cubes - ready for the fanciest of tea parties...)

I have lots more in the works - I'll be sure to share more as I go :)