spontaneous getaway

Chase and I got to escape to his family's cabin for a few days and it was perrrrfection. We managed to sleep in, spend some time in the quiet, get our work done with sounds of the Taylor River & birds chirping, make breakfast & enjoy our morning coffee together, visit our favorite places to frequent when we're in Crested Butte, have dinner with a very special couple in our lives, and savor a spontaneous road trip together!  

Have I mentioned I *love* spontaneity? Well, I do. I think it keeps our marriage exciting & allows us to make the most of our time in marriage before kiddos. I think spontaneity is one of our love languages ;) ((what? that's not one of the 5? oh.))

While Chase worked on school & church stuff, I had lots of time to brainstorm and come up with a summer line-up for blog posts, including some fun recipes, and a new series! More on that later ((or check out the Facebook page for the official announcement)). For now, you can enjoy some of our photos from our 2.5 day stay in Almont, Colorado. 

What's your favorite place to "get away" to?

love.

GROUP sponsor highlight + giveaway: featuring Sense & Sensibility, Sentimental Heart Vintage, and Paper Vine & Co

Happy Wednesday everyone :) Make sure you scroll through and enter all of the other giveaways from the month of May. Winners will be announced next week! Today, I'll be sharing three more of my wonderful sponsors (that are super talented and absolutely beautiful -- inside and out!) and you can enter to win ALL of the handmade loot that is up for grabs today.  Woohoo! 

Would you like to be featured? Email me for sponsorship rates and we'll team up. 

Hi! I'm Aime from Sense and Sensibility!  I hand make all my jewelry to be sensible in every way.  Highest quality materials for the highest quality product.  And yes, I did name my business after the Jane Austen novel. =) Jane Austen is my inspiration.  Her characters are strong women who make the best of their lives wherever they are and fight to make things better.  So when I am designing my jewelry, I try my hardest to make beautiful, honest, and sturdy pieces that will stand up to the wear and tear of modern women's schedules.  And whether you are shopping for yourself or a friend, shoot me an email!  My absolute favorite thing to do is custom orders.  Jewelry is the best when it is custom made for your likes and dislikes, needs and habits.  Check out my blog for some of the custom work I have done so far!  Have a beautiful day!

Today, Aime is giving away a $25 shop credit to the Sense & Sensibility shop, along with offering a wonderful discount of 20% using the code OHSWEETJOY20. Enjoy!

Sense & Sensibility linkage:

Twitter: twitter.com/snsnsnsibility

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SenseNSensibility

Blog: snsandsnsibility.blogspot.com

Etsy: snsnsnsibility.etsy.com

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My name is Michele Richards and I am a Christ follower. I'm a pediatric physical therapist at work and I am in love with my photography, music and collecting sweet vintage pieces. My vintage shop grew out of my inability to leave a good piece behind. In an effort to share the wealth, so to speak, I began to offer up my finds in my etsy shop, Sentimental Heart Vintage. I like being able to offer good unique pieces at a cost that any vintage loving folk can afford.

Michele is offering up a super generous $20 shop credit. You can also use the code SWEETJOY15 for a stellar discount! She has some GEMS in her shop. 

Sentimental Heart Link Love:

website: www.sentimentalheartphoto.com
vintage shop: www.etsy.com/shop/sentimentalhvintage
instagram: sentimentalheart
 pinterest: sentimental heart

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My name is Anne-Scarlett Marrow, the owner/creator behind Paper Vine and Co. I'm a wife to a sometimes cowboy, and a first time mama to a 6 month old roly poly bundle of joy and giggles named Jolie. Paper Vine and Company came about when I began planning an afternoon tea inspired baby shower for a friend and the co-host and I couldn't find an invitation that we just loved. I knew what I was looking for and figured I would just make something instead. Other friends started asking me to custom design event invitations for them, and Paper Vine and Company was born, a boutique style, custom design papiere company. Our custom products include: Event Invitations, Save the Date announcements, Post Cards, Wall Art, Birth Announcements, Note Cards, Recipe Cards, Valentine's Day Cards, etc... all unique and digitally crafted. PVC is a southern company in every sense of the word, therefore all of our designs are whimiscal, southern, & sweet as tea.  Please check us out on facebook, and don't hesitate to ask questions.  We will work closely with you to get everything just right, we are 'custom' of course!  Our goal is to provide a "that's it!" moment when searching for the perfect paper product for your event.

Anne-Scarlett is giving away a $20 gift certificate and you can get a discount with the code PVC4OSJ. Score!

While their website is getting some sprucing up, you can find them on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PaperVineAndCompany

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There are MANY ways to get entries for today's giveaway, so pay attention and make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry.  :)

Mandatory Entry:

Be a follower of Oh, Sweet Joy! blog via Google Friend Connect & leave a comment saying that you are.

Extra entries:

1. Follow Oh, Sweet Joy! via twitter (one entry)

2. Follow ANY of today's highlighted sponsors via twitter (one entry each)

3. Pin ANY tutorial, recipe, (current) giveaway, or outfit post from Oh, Sweet Joy blog onto one of your Pinterest pinboards (one entry each, up to two)

4. Let know a favorite item from any of the highlighted shops (one entry each)

sense & sensibility * sentimental heart vintage * paper vine & co

5. Blog, Facebook, pin, or tweet about this giveaway (one entry each). Feel free to use this:

GROUP giveaway over on @ohsweetjoy's blog (featuring @snsnsnsibility, sentimental heart and paper vine & co)! http://www.tinyurl.com/2ddk985

Good luck!

love.

((outfit schmoutfit)) blues & greens

tank // bandeau  // skirt (vintage OSJ..ha!)  // watch, belt - fossil // necklace - c/o guilty star // bracelets - c/o flourish leather // wedges 

Blue skies, green grass, warm weather, and wildflowers inspired this outfit. I LOVE Colorado in the transition from spring to summer. It's like all of creation has on it's party clothes. 

Loooooove it. 

PS, you should definitely check out the link above for where I got my necklace (it's called Guilty Star). This online shop has SO much great jewelry for amazing prices. Adding a statement necklace to plain tees or tanks is so easy when you've got shops like these at your disposal. Check them out! ((and use code GUILTYVIP for a great discount!))

love.

linking up with lindsay!

also linking up here

((handmade monday)) cinco de mayo fiesta

Well now that it's almost June, I thought it was time to finally get this Cinco de Mayo post written! I tried my best to enjoy the party & not have a camera attached to me the whole night, so although I didn't get as many photos of details as I'd hoped...it's not as important as the time I spent with dear friends. We had 40 people cram into our teensy apartment and I loved every second :)

\

Paper & Vine Co. designed my amazing invitation. SO fun, she did a great job at balancing out corny & fun, yet totally legit...which is just what I was going for. I love the little señor & señorita! I'll definitely be using her again for more graphic design needs. 

We had a build your own taco bar, individual 7 layer dip cups, chips & salsa, black bean salsa, guacamole, black beans, mexican rice, sopapilla cheesecake for dessert...basically SO much food! I'd say, however, the focus was on the beverages. We went all out with white & red sangria (recipe for white sangria coming soon!), margaritas, pacificos, jarritos mexican sodas, agua, coca-cola and some lemonade for the under-agers. 

What I love about throwing parties is that you cant really take all your friends out and pay for their dinner, but it's totally feasible to throw a party and make food for all of them! (( I'm super thankful for Jess & Andy who came over early and helped me prep lots of the food. Y'all are lifesavers :))) It was seriously a blast to have everyone under one roof with the sole purposes of having fun, enjoying each other, and simply celebrating life & God's blessings.

And what's a fiesta without a piñata? We walked across the street to bust open Mr. Burro and share some laughs. 

If you want to throw a fiesta such as this one, I would highly recommend it. It was a blast & a fiesta certainly doesn't have to be exclusively for Cinco de Mayo. This would be a great birthday party or a celebration of any kind, really! Who doesn't like to wear sombreros & eat tacos? I can't wait until our second annual :D

love.

Where it's from:

*Stackable beverage dispensers (for sangria): target

*Straws: sweet lulu

*Baller margarita glasses (i painted them), tissue paper for decorations, plastic eating utensils, paper plates & napkins: dollar tree

*Tablecloth: Crate & Barrel

*Pinata: World Market

*Beverage Tub (large - sodas) & Canning Jars for drinks: local hardware store - mcguckin's 

*Beverage Tub (small - beer): Target

*Printables: I can't find one of the links now, but some of them are from LoveCreative.

((advertise with oh, sweet joy! in june))

Summer is the perfect time to market your brand & blog to help boost sales while everyone has a teensy bit more of free time on their hands! If you have new lines of products coming out that you want help getting the word out about or if you are dedicating more time to your blog this summer & want more readership -- let's partner up!

The Oh, Sweet Joy! family is oh, so supportive & loyal. We love all things colorful, inspiring & handmade. Come join the hundreds of shops & blogs who have had great success with advertising on the Oh, Sweet Joy! blog. E-mail me ((ohsweetjoyATgmailDOTcom)) for current sponsorship rates & let's grow together, shall we?

love.

tulum, mexico

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let the photos do the talking. I will say this, though. One thing I love in particular about Mexico is that they sure know how to do color. I can't explain how inspiring and beautiful all the vibrant hues are around these cute little beach towns. Here's a recap in photos of our trip to Tulum! :)

This was our first trip to Mexico for a vacation & it was lovely! Have you been to Mexico? What's your favorite place you have ever  traveled? 

Crazy story (I love how God works): Chase and I had both been to Mexico, but for Mission trips. When we were dating, we were at his parent's house looking through old photo albums. Turns out, we had gone to & served at the same orphanage long before we had ever met AND had multiple photos with our favorite kiddo, Mario. How cool is that? 

love.

((shop my closet sale))

It's that time again! There are a LOT of anthropologie, fossil, and gap goodies up for grabs. The best part? They're summer styles! Looking fabulous never ever has been so easy & affordable.

There isn't all the email me to call dibs & paypal billing this time around. Just add the items you'd like into your cart & proceed to paypal. Easy peasy!

What are you waiting for? Items always go FAST, so Click here to shop my closet :) 

love.