I love to be reminded of the day and I Sacha got married. It was a wonderful, fun, meaningful and exhausting day for everyone involved, and if I had the chance to do it all over again- I'd do it in a heartbeat. We have so many beautiful photos from our wedding day- in our wedding album, various albums put together by family and friends, scrapbooks, and tons of photos online, too. I have to keep all of the photos out of Balian's reach, so they don't get destroyed, which means that they're out of my sight, and unfortunately, out of mind a lot of times, too.

 

Of course, I don't need to rely on photos to be reminded of the day Sach and I were joined as one, but it's easy to get caught up in everyday life- the frustrations, headaches, worries, and not put our love at the forefront of it all. When I was approached by Julie Ratzlaff, owner of Heartland Boutique, about reviewing some of her custom-made blocks, I was thrilled.

Julie designs and hand-crafts gorgeous wooden blocks, which are appropriate for seasonal display, or everyday! Julie offered to design a custom set of Family Name Blocks for us to review. She sent me a few photos of her previous work, and I was in love with what I saw. So, I e-mailed Julie, answering with a resounding 'YES!' and she got to work! Julie asked me about color schemes for the blocks, which got me thinking about where they would end up being placed in my home. For the three piece block set, I envisioned my mantle being the perfect spot for them to live, all year long. The colors in my living room are notes of tan, muted gold, deep red, brown and burgundy, with hints of olive every now and then, too. I snapped some photos of the accent pillows on my couch, and the curtains, and sent those to Julie. Julie responded with some questions, pointing out that photos are not always true to color, and she was right- the colors were coming across sort of purple in the photo. So, Julie did an awesome thing, which was sending me a color swatch to select the colors from!



Being able to select the colors from this swatch that Julie sent me was a huge help!


After I sent my color preferences to Julie, she went to work- immediately! A day later, I had a lovely e-mail from Julie, letting me know that the blocks were finished!  The e-mail included a few wonderful surprises, which I'll get to in a minute.

Within just a few days, our new Family Name Blocks arrived. I couldn't wait to see them. My mother-in-law happened to be over at our house, having dinner with us when the blocks arrived, and was interested in seeing them, too.

As I removed the blocks and placed them on the table to examine them, I knew that we had just been gifted with something very special. The 3 piece name block set includes one long block for our family name, and two smaller blocks- one for 'the' and one for 'est. 2007'.  Julie couldn't have matched my living room accent colors more perfectly! I mean- they're pretty spot on! The wooden blocks have been sanded and stained, and then the front of each block is covered with a decorative paper, similar to the beautiful papers that I enjoy using in my scrapbooks. The blocks bear large black lettered stickers, and are each embellished with special touches.


Here they are! Our gorgeous new Family Name Blocks, created by Julie!

Julie did a really cool thing before creating our Family Name Blocks. She poked around a little bit on our blog and read more about me and my family. She found our love for God, faith, and love for one another at the forefront of my 'about me' section, and used that as an overall theme for the blocks. I couldn't have been more pleased with this- we absolutely love to display Christian themes, making our love of Christ known to those who enter our home, and this is such a subtle, yet powerful and very meaningful way to do that very thing.


I love the colors in this pretty block!

Our 'The' Block is covered by a pretty red and vintage tan striped paper. In the left corner, a small almost burgundy stone stands out, and in the right corner, Julie placed a clear pop-up sticker, which says, 'Shared laughter is love made audible.'


The first half of the 'Witt Family' Block...



Here's the other half- love the words on the block, behind the black lettering!

Our 'Witt Family' Block is so pretty! It is covered with an olive green paper, which bears words like: hope, love, Jesus, believe, salvation, pray, Lord, and includes a couple of scripture verses, as well. Pretty green and burgundy stones make a stunning dot in between 'Witt' and 'Family' on the face of the block. Above the word 'Family,' is a pretty tan colored sticker, which reads, 'We are blessed.' The entire block is topped off with a gorgeous trio of ribbons, all tied into a pretty bow, with a stone dot at the center.



So, so pretty! So elegant for reminding us of our wedding!

Our 'est. 2007' Block, is simply elegant! It's covered with a gorgeous cream colored paper, and bears a beautiful cross, with lovely dainty accents. Again, we meet a burgundy dot stone in the left corner, and a raised clear bubble sticker in the right corner, which says, 'Laughter is a gift everyone should open.'





This is how I have the blocks displayed on my mantle... I absolutely love them!

I love this set of blocks so much that I placed it on our mantle. It's one of my very favorite places in my living room- it catches everyone's eye, and I can't wait for this to be one of the very first things that someone notices when they come into our home. It's a constant reminder of our love for each other, the promises we made to one another, and that we are surrounded by God's love. Our little family is built on and cannot survive one day without faith, hope and love.

The extra surprise (which Julie did tell me about, before sending), was a very special custom name block for Balian! While looking around on the MBP blog, Julie saw one of the reviews that featured a few pictures of Balian's jungle themed bedroom, and she said she just couldn't resist making something special for my little monkey!



Balian's special name block!

Julie made Balian's block so special! As soon as we removed it from the packaging, he saw it and he knew it was his! Julie painted the wooden block a  nice green color, which matches the theme of B's room pretty perfectly. It's covered with a cream colored crackle paper, bears 'Balian' in big black letters, and is embellished with adorable animal stickers! All of Balian's favorite animal pals are on his name block: a monkey hanging from a tree branch, an adorable little blue snake, a toucan, a zebra, and a giraffe! There are cute accent stickers, too- like paw prints and rocks with grass sprouting out from under them. A colorful bundle of three layers of different colored tulle creates a cute bow, atop the block- in shades of burgundy-brown, light blue and light green. A simple brown button dots the middle of the tulle bow.



Balian's cute name block sits atop his bookshelf...

I was really touched by Julie's surprise. Balian is such a lucky kid, to receive such a special gift, which was made just for him. We proudly display the block on the bookshelf in his room, next to his monkey clock- just where Julie pictured it sitting, as she created it!

Along with custom name blocks, Julie creates beautiful blocks for seasonal decor, as well as memo boards, and more! Check out some of her other beautiful creations:


Fall Leaves Block
(Perfect for the upcoming season and ready to ship!)



Trick or Treat Block
(Ready to ship!)




 Custom Order for a Direct Sales Business
(How adorable is this!? All of our friends in DS need these for their display tables!!)



Little Girl Block Set
(Would make such a sweet gift!)


I don't have room to show you all of Julie's beautiful creations, so you'll just have to check out her photo gallery here.

I can truly say that these blocks have been a blessing to our family, and I also feel extremely blessed to have connected with Julie- she was such a delight to work with, and really provided me with top notch customer service, right from the very start of this process. Heartland Boutique is very near and dear to Julie, and it's easy to see that she pours her love into each handcrafted piece which she creates. From family name blocks to decorative blocks for the seasons, Julie can customize just about anything your heart desires. After looking through her albums, I am thinking toward Christmas gifts for loved ones, as well as birthday gifts (we have a lot of BIG birthdays in our family this year). I have a direct sales business, myself, and think the Direct Sales custom block is a great idea for displays at parties, rallies, meetings, vendor shows, etc! The seasonal blocks are perfect for displaying at home, and they'd look great on a teacher's desk! The religious blocks would make fantastic appreciation gifts for pastors, musicians and office staff around the holidays!

If you have a special occasion coming up, love holiday accents, or you're looking for a special little something to display everyday in your home, stop by Heartland Boutique and see what Julie can do for you!

Want It? Buy It!

Heartland Boutique has lots of pre-designed blocks ready to ship! There are also lots of beautiful examples of Julie's handiwork for you to see! To ask about a set of custom blocks, leave Julie a comment on her Heartland Boutique Facebook page, send her a message, or leave a comment here on our blog! Julie's beautiful blocks are priced really well, too- so get ready to make a list of everyone you'd like to give a special block to!

Want It? Win It!

One lucky reader will win their very own custom name block from Heartland Boutique! Just use the Rafflecopter entry form below to enter for your chance to win. You MUST 'like' Heartland Boutique through the rafflecopter form to be eligible to win this giveaway!

Special thanks to Julie over at Heartland Boutique for creating these special blocks for our family, and for offering this special giveaway for our readers!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Other than the above featured items, which I received directly from the sponsor, for review purposes, I was not compensated for facilitating this review. All opinions expressed are my own. Your experience may differ. MBP is not responsible for sponsor prize fulfillment or shipment.