Category: crafts

Cookie Kit Wedding Gift

Creating a Personalized Wedding Gift

I survived day 1 of potty training! Granted I had my husband helping me, but for me this is a big deal! For those of you who are just tuning in, I started potty training my 2 year old yesterday. I’ve been putting it off for months and finally decided to just do it. At this point in  the training it is going smoother than I previously imagined, but I realize it is still early in the process.

The hardest part about this whole process is coming to terms with the fact that my baby is no longer a baby– she’s a “big girl” now (as we’ve reminded her about a million times since starting potty training). Each milestone in my daughter’s life has been exciting, yet frightening as I wonder where the time has gone. People weren’t kidding when they say kids “grow up too fast”.

Cookie Kit Wedding Gift

Moving on from my mommy saga; my friend is getting married! I just love weddings! It’s such a happy and exciting time! But with weddings, always comes a certain dilemma; what to give as a wedding present? Personally I’m not a “grab a card and throw in some money” kind of girl. If you are that kind of present giver, personally (as a receiver) I love those gifts, but I also love something that has a little thought and time put into it as well.

Cookie Kit Wedding Gift
Cookie Kit Wedding Gift

Creating a gift basket is a great way to personalize a wedding gift while keeping it fun and purposeful at the same time. Here I’ve made a couple’s cookie kit complete with personalized “Mr.” and “Mrs” mugs, a personalized cookie recipe plate, homemade coasters, and some useful baking supplies. You can easily customize this gift for any couple by using their favorite cookie/dessert recipe. The possibilities really are endless!

Cookie Kit Wedding Gift

Cookie Kit Wedding Gift

Linked to: http://www.mygirlishwhims.com/2014/08/your-whims-wednesday-176-and-features.htmlhttp://www.lambertslately.com/2014/08/create-it-thursday-68-plus-features.html#morehttp://www.vmg206.com/2014/08/brag-about-it-vmg206.html


Custom Family Illustrations

I have a confession to make… It has been almost a week since I’ve even touched a computer and it has felt rather refreshing! I’ve just gotten back from a camping trip with no cell service and no distractions, just my beautiful family, the great outdoors, and a good book (which I’ve hardly put down since I started it several days ago). With all that has been going on with the blog and our shop opening up next month, it was a much needed break to relax and spend with my family without any distractions. Now that I’m back and refreshed I have a little “show-and-tell” project to share with you today.

hannas famiy pic

Hanna and I both adore the custom family portrait illustrations that are starting to gain popularity. While I myself am no artist, Hanna has been asking for the past couple of months that I draw one up for her cute little family, but I’ve been dragging my feet about it. The task seemed rather daunting and intimidating, but I finally decided to give it a try. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun and I quite liked the results for my first try.

Family Illustration

Some of our favorite artists include: Ink & Bobbin, Henry James Paper Goods, Susanna Avila Art, and Sophie & Lili. I would love to have a custom family illustration from any of these talented artists someday, but for now I guess I’ll have to settle for my novice drawing skills.

What do you think of custom family illustrations: love them, or hate them?

Linked to:

http://gracelangdon.blogspot.com/2014/07/making-monday-49_20.html

http://www.delineateyourdwelling.com/2014/07/link-it-or-lump-it-party-number-47-plus.html


Outdoor Summer Dinner Party

Besides blogging, one of our favorite things to do together is to host a great party full of delicious food, good company, and fun decorations. Since we bought our house last fall, I’ve been itching to throw an outdoor party on our spacious deck. With Sara and her family here visiting, and with it being our one year blog anniversary, we decided to throw a little outdoor summer party to celebrate. Usually we have things planned out several weeks in advanced, but besides our dinner menu everything else came together last minute.

dinner party2

You might be wondering how we managed to pull this off with such a limited budget in such little time? Honesty, we were quite amazed ourselves, but in the end we were very pleased with the turnout. It was the perfect combination of fun and classy. The key to throwing together a nice dinner table layout with limited time and money is being creative and resourceful. Everything you see on the table, besides the white flower centerpieces and the aqua colored plates, were things we already owned that we used or re-purposed.

dinner party

I think what really made the table, were the fun ikat patterned chargers. And would you have guessed that we made them for under $2 a piece?! About a year ago Sara found a bunch of these gold charges at Goodwill for $1. They have truly been a great purchase as we have used them at several other occasions. For this outdoor summer party we wanted something a little more bright and playful, so we purchased some wrapping paper to cover them with. Below is a simple tutorial on how we did it.

First, trace around the charger on the back side of your wrapping paper, then cut it out. Make sure to cut the circle about 1/2 inch bigger than the actually size the of the plate. Since you only see the outside edge of the plate we decided to only cover the edges, in which case we measured and cut out the middle as well.

chargers redo

Second. use spray adhesive to bond the paper to the plate.

chargers redo2

chargers redo4

Flip the plate over and spray the excess paper with glue, then fold over to the underside of the plate.

chargers redo5

Lastly, spray a clear acrylic coating or sealant over the top for added durability and protection from food and water.

Allow each plate to dry before using, then add these fun new chargers to your table setting for some added color and interest.

dinner party1

dinner party4
dinner party3

 

Linked To:

http://theblissfulbee.com/work-it-wednesday-no-55/

Share your Fun Creations – From Dream To Reality #125

http://www.bravenewhome.com/diyers-link-party-8/

http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2014/07/wow-me-wednesday-162.html

http://elizabethjoandesigns.com/2014/07/designs-time-no-18/

http://gracelangdon.blogspot.com/2014/07/making-monday-49.html


4th of July Clothespin Wreath

I can already hear fireworks at night going off through the neighborhood, the colors red, white and blue are showing up everywhere and the planning of BBQ’s is in the air; this going to show that the 4th of July is right around the corner! Take if from me, it’s not too late or very hard to get festive.
It seems like the last few days I have either been preparing for Sara and her family to come stay with us (cleaning, shopping, etc.) or working on up coming things for this blog. This has left the 4th of July as a major after thought! However, after seeing this clothespin wreath floating around Pinterest I knew I wanted to at least do that.
I scoured Pinterest for the original link to the clothespin wreath and never found it so I decided to go ahead and make my own and share the exact “what ya need” and “how to” with all of you.
The supplies for this project are pretty basic and cheap; all of which I was able to get a the one-stop-shop of Walmart.
– 12 in wreath frame
– 2 packs of clothespins (This wreath takes 60 clothespins to make but there are only packs of 50 at Walmart which are $1 each.)
– Glitter Stars foam stickers
– red, white and blue paint (acrylic or spray)
– paint brush
Start by dividing out your 60 clothespins. For mine I painted 15 blue, 22 white and 23 red. Next step is to paint them. I did it the hard way and painted each one by hand using acrylic paint. Surprisingly and a little bit to my embarrassment I didn’t even think about spray painting them until afterwards. It would have been MUCH easier.
But if you are going to paint them by hand I’ll let you know what I did. I used the foam brush and painted everything but the back and part of the sides. Then I took a smaller brush to get the inside of the clothespin where it would show. In the picture above you can see kind of how I went about the “lazy” way of painting them.
Once all the clothespins are dry stagger them on the wreath frame doing all the blue clothespins together then 4 reds followed by 4 whites. Lastly, at the foam stars to the blue clothespins and hang!
To add a little more to my 4th of July decor I spray painted some stars on our front lawn using some white field spray paint and hung up our flag.
See! Three very simple and easy ways to get in the patriotic spirit; all which can be done in an afternoon for under $20!
Sara and I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July! We know we will be and are SO excited that we get to be spending it together!

~ Hanna

Linked To:
http://theblissfulbee.com/work-it-wednesday-no-54/
http://elizabethjoandesigns.com/2014/06/designs-time-no-16/
http://upcycledtreasures.com/2014/07/the-makers-link-party-24/
http://www.bravenewhome.com/diyers-link-party-7/

Anthropologie Inspired Tote + Tutorial

If you caught our Friday Find’s: Summer Essentials post last week you may remember seeing this adorable beachy tote bag from Anthropologie. And as most of you know, when I see something I love but don’t have the money for… I make it. It was literally a fourth of the price to make and I was able to whip in up in less than an hour (for less experienced sewers, this project can easily be done in two hours max)!
To make this yourself, all you need is:
–  1 yard of upholstery fabric
 –  1 yard of a lightweight cotton fabric
–  3-4 yards of webbing for the straps
–  coordinating thread
–  a sewing machine
Happy sewing!
~ SARA
 
Linked to:

Card Group

Welcome to a little something we like to call “card group”! It’s a novel idea that allows you to build up a collection of adorable handmade cards, and is another excuse to get together with all your girl pals once a month. Let me explain…
First you need to get a group of friends or family to participate. Currently it is just Hanna, our mom, our sister-in-law and I who make up our card group. During each month you’ll make one of the same card for each member of the group including yourself. Then once a month plan a date when everyone in your group can get together to exchange cards. Each person in the group will then get one card  from each member. Since everyone in my card group now lives in a different state, we either mail them to each other or stock pile them until we see each other next– however you want to do it. 
The cards can be as simple or as intricate as you’d like them to be. Personally, I like simple (as you probably already knew from the other crafts and projects I’ve posted previously on the blog). If you don’t think of yourself as a crafty person, don’t count yourself out of card group quite yet. Sometimes I’ll come up with a grand idea for a card, but the majority of the time I find my inspiration from Pinterest or card magazines, as can you. There are tons of great ideas out there to get your crafty wheels turning if you need a little inspiration!
I love the collection of handmade cards I’ve built over the years. It has been a great resource when I need a quick card for a birthday party, baby shower, wedding, etc. Plus I love the personal touch a homemade card gives. 
All-in-all card group is a win win, not to mention it is so fun! I highly recommend giving it a try! 
As for Hanna and I, we’re headed off to southern California tomorrow for a girls’ weekend WITHOUT kids! I literally haven’t had one of those for almost a year now; needless to say I’m pretty darn excited. It’s always a blast when Hanna and I get together! We have plans to hit up the famous fabric district, do plenty of shopping, and even have a blog planning dinner date. Full trip review to come!
~ SARA

Linked To:
http://placeofmytaste.com/2014/06/work-wednesday-49.html


Friday Finds #10: Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, in fact it is in THREE days! If  you’re a last minute gifter like us, don’t worry, we’ve got some truly special Mother’s Day gift ideas for you that are sure to impress. This first idea is something Hanna and I put together that will provide your mother a peaceful day of relaxation. Who doesn’t love a good book and chocolate?! If that special woman in your life doesn’t like to read much, no problem, put in their favorite movie instead. The great thing about gift baskets is that they are completely customizable. Hopefully some of the ideas below with get the wheels turning in regards to what your mother would enjoy most. 
Once you’ve gathered up the items for your ultimate relaxation gift basket, you could deliver them in this beautiful DIY “Best Mom Ever” tote created by Jess over at Style Me Pretty. She has even included a FREE printable of the “Best Mom Ever” illustration so all you have to do is print it onto iron-on transfer paper, then iron it onto a canvas tote bag. How simple is that?! 
Below are a few other inexpensive Mother’s Day gift ideas that we absolutely adore. 
Mother’s Day Breakfast + FREE Printables |  by Jennifer at Hostess with Mostess Blog
Easy DIY Painted Flower Pots  |  by Bright Bold & Beautiful

Flowers seem to be a big tradition on Mother’s Day, so why not customize a flower pot to give the gift a little more meaning and thought. We love this simple color block DIY painted pot from Bright Bold & Beautiful!
We hope these easy ideas were inspiring and helpful. Happy (early) Mother’s Day to all you wonderful mommies out there who make this world a more wonderful and joyous place. Without a doubt, we would not be the women or mothers we are today without the loving example of our own mother and all the other influential women in our lives. We love you!