homemade holidays: gifts of 2015

After counting them all up, I figured I made over 50 handmade gifts  this year.  Most of those gifts were small scale, but that added up to a lot of crafting hours, and not many sleeping hours in December.  :)  I promised my husband not to make anything for two weeks after Christmas, but luckily I have plenty of things to show you during my hiatus.

All of the projects in this post are lumped together because I only have fuzzy phone photos of them - sorry about that.  Guess that's what happens when you craft late at night and wrap/ship first thing the next morning!

I took advantage of the free house box printable by Polka Dot Prints for Design Mom and made a gazillion little treat boxes for friends, playgroup mommies, helpful ladies at church.  I paired as many as I could with an extra little gift, like a sparkly bird ornament or small pack of letterpress cards.

These houses were obviously designed for Christmas, but swap out that wreath, and you could definitely use it all year round.  A heart for Valentines?  Bunny for Easter?  I think I'll get a lot of use from that printable.

My L-Letterpress was working double-time, and I gave out a lot of notecard sets.   These were printed with the Ruffles Printing Plate, which I think is quite pretty.

For Oscar's preschool teachers, I made patchwork lanyards using the tutorial from the blog, Simply Cotton.   These are super easy to make, and only take 8 charm squares (5x5" cuts of fabric).  Just a note, if you are sewing them in bulk:  sew all 8 charm squares together first, then cut the long strip in half, essentially making two lanyards at once.  It speeds things up a bit.

Also speeding things up, use one kind of fabric and skip the patchwork.  I made a more neutral (wardrobe friendly?) lace print lanyard for my sister-in-law, BYU-Idaho's newest librarian.   Love you, Holly.  :)

I think these lanyards make a great, useful gift for anyone required to wear a name tag to work.  If I were having any more babies, I would make some for the wonderful nurses in the maternity ward.  I bought the lobster clasps from an etsy shop, twpmango (also got some cufflink backs ... but I'll show you those later).

Ok, last up in the terrible lineup of photos, I made three colorful clutches using Elm Street Life's Bow Clutch tutorial.  I love this little bag - it is the perfect size for the little necessities ... wallet, phone, chapstick, etc.  Anytime I don't want to haul my diaper bag, I grab my little clutch like this.  Admittedly, the pink one turned out a little wild (sorry, Megan!), and the polka dot clutch was somehow sewn backwards, but are still cute for a pencil case, make up bag, travel pouch ... 

Phew ... sorry again about those fuzzy photos.  I'll take better photos of the things I made for my kids.  :)

letterpressed gift tags and note card sets

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you have a joyful celebration with your family and friends.

During the holidays, I tend to put my favorite crafting tools into overdrive.  Earlier this week I showed you a holiday project with my Silhouette Cameo, and today I'm sharing what I'm making on my L-Letterpress System.  First up, the cutest little Christmas tree gift tags:

All of the printing plates from this gift tag come from the Wintertide set.  First, I blind embossed the mini flat cards with the polka dot background.  Blind embossing means you use the printing plates without ink so it just presses the design into the card, but leaves it white.

Then I set up my roller with bright green ink and set up the tree and "happy holidays" plates.  

Simply ink the brayer, roll it over the printing plates ...

close the lid, and run the platform through the Epic Six.

Presto ... they come out looking practically perfect!  Just realized looking at these photos that I still need to punch a hole in the tag, but you get the idea.  :)

For small gifts and stocking stuffers, I also made several sets of these small note cards for various occasions.  Tiny note cards are my favorite when I want to include a card but don't have a long message to write.  I always feel awkward when there is tons of empty space left over.

Things that are both pretty and practical make great gifts, don't you think?  

Lifestyle Crafts has some nice deals going on for Black Friday:  

• All borders, boxes & bags will be 40% off
• The Holly Jolly Craft Kit will be only $39.99
• Free shipping for orders of $50 or more, plus a free Sticky Thumb dimensional

Plus, you can use my code, HOMEMADE, to get an additional 20% off!  Happy shopping. :)

Ruby's Ultimate Princess Party

Surprise!  I'm back for a blog visit, and I'll be here all week, folks.  Maybe I can be a quarterly blogger? Anyway, the beginning of this week is all about parties, parties, parties.  Brace yourself, there are a lot of photos coming your way.

To start, this special little lady turned three years old ...

photo credit: Anna Costa

About 6 months before her birthday, Miss Ruby began requesting a pink princess party, with a princess castle cake, a pinata, and could Snow White please come?  I was happy to oblige.

We set the tone with a dreamy pop-up castle card, complete with a little princess inside.  I used my Silhouette Cameo and shapes from the online store to make them, and they came together surprisingly easily. They made Ruby squeal with delight (ok, me too).  We were off to a good start.

When the guests arrived, they were invited to make their own crown.  Again, I cut the crowns on my Cameo, but crown kits are easy to find online or at your local craft store.  We decorated with foam stickers.

We also had a cozy reading tent set up with plenty of princess books.  Reading is Ruby's all-time favorite activity, so this was a no-brainer.  As my present to Ruby, I made this princess quilt and a couple of floor cushions for her room.   The fabric is from the Once Upon a Time collection by Alexander Henry.  I just winged the quilt, but the floor cushion pattern came from the book, Girls World, by Jennifer Paganelli.

photo credit: Anna Costa

We played Pin the Crown on the Princess (and Prince).  I made the game with Silhouette store shapes cut as big as I could fit on a 12x12 piece of cardstock, and just glued them to a piece of foam board.  Easy, peasy.

The highlight of the party, of course, was when Snow White showed up.  Ruby was a little star struck.  

Snow White was actually my friend, Anna, and she did the most wonderful job.  Her character was so spot on, and she has a really beautiful singing voice.  Snow White sang the wishing well song to the kids, read Ruby's favorite version of the Snow White book (a vintage Golden Tell-A-Tale from Grandma's house), and then was nice enough to take a photo with each of the kids, which we later sent out in thank-you cards.

Not only was Anna an amazing Snow White, she is a very talented wedding photographer and was so nice to take some photos of the party.  Any picture in this blog post that looks really good was taken by Anna.  She has a great food blog, too!  You can check her out at Costa Kitchen.

photo credit: Anna Costa

Our party food was a pretty standard (but delicious) barbecue, with princess touches.  There were crown shaped cheddar slices for my cheese-loving girl (thanks, cousin Sam, for cutting all those for me!), pb & nutella crown sandwiches (thanks, mom!), and princess pink popcorn (it is tossed with melted pink candy coating and pink m&ms ... so yummy!).

My friend, Sonja, sewed all of the beautiful buntings for the tents.  They added such a nice touch, and matched the quilt in the reading nook.  I made the giant paper roses using a tutorial by Studio DIY (who happens to have the happiest Instagram feed on earth).

photo credit: Anna Costa

The kids all had a go at the pinata, which they LOVED.  It always seems strange to me to put a beloved character on a pinata and then bash it to pieces, but whatever.  The kids want that candy!  We filled it with princess rings (pirate rings for the boys), and candy necklaces and bracelets.

photo credit: Anna Costa

Finally, we had cake ...

After showing Ruby many princess cakes on Pinterest, and she concluded that she needed a pink castle with tall towers and princesses on it.  I am a total amateur, but we pulled it off, and even fished the perfect cake toppers out of Ruby's new Princess Candyland game that arrived just the day before from her aunt.

Later that night when I was tucking her into bed, Ruby told me I actually had made the wrong cake. Because this was just a little castle and it was supposed to be big, big, big so the princesses could go inside. I'll probably forgive her someday.  :)

photo credit: Anna Costa

I think she was just stalling bedtime, because she seemed pretty pleased with it in the moment.

As a party favor, Ruby made each of her friends a little beaded bracelet.  I was shocked that she actually had the patience to get through this project, but she happily stringed beads for like 15 bracelets.  She and my mom made a great team.

I cut the favor boxes using my Lifestyle Crafts die-cutter and a box die.  The princess toppers were made with my Silhouette.  Isn't teamwork great?

I had to make cookies, too.  They're my favorite part of any party.  My favorite sugar cookie recipe is for Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies at Bake at 350.

 It was a special party for an exceptionally special girl.  A big thanks goes to my mom and mother-in-law for all of the party-prep help, my nephews for all the manual labor grandma assigned to them in the house and yard, Jared and Thayne for manning the BBQ, my friend Sonja for crafting right along with me, and Anna for wowing the kids as Snow White and taking such pretty pictures.  :)

Come back tomorrow to see Oscar's Star Wars party, which just happened over the weekend!  I totally geeked out over it.  I'll also have a killer Silhouette promotion going on.

Tricks 'N Treats with Lifestyle Crafts

September is winding down, which means Halloween will soon be in the air.  Have you started your Halloween crafting yet?  I have a few costumes in the cue, and have also been making a few goodies with the new Tricks 'N Treats die cut collection by Lifestyle Crafts.  (Not familiar with cutting dies?  They are small metal templates that cut paper when used with a die cut machine, such as the Epic 6).  I was particularly drawn to the spider die - is it just me, or does the combination of spiders and polka dots suddenly make Halloween look a little classy?

We associate with a pretty young group of kids, so I'm always looking for alternatives to candy to hand out to friends.  How about Halloween bookmarks for the little readers?  I glued the spiders to colored cardstock (and some polka dot letter-pressed paper), then laminated the bookmarks for durability.

Sometimes you just can't fight the sweets.   The spiders instantly spook-ify these mini cupcakes.

Spiders don't have to be strictly for Halloween ... with the right color combo, you can create easy Spiderman party decorations and cupcake toppers.  In more natural colors, it would even be a good die to use for a nature-themed party.

As always, use the code HOMEMADE to receive 20% off your Lifestyle Crafts order at checkout.

paper party pretties

Lifestyle Crafts released the latest shipment from their Fall Core Collection, and it is full of pretty little cutting dies, perfect for parties.  I was sent the doily punches, doily rosette, and the swing top box to play with.

I combined three of the doily rosette die cuts, made with sparkly gold glitter cardstock, to create a giant birthday girl button.  There is a pin on the back to attach it to any shirt, so you'll always know who is the life of the party.  Great for girls big and small alike!

The Swing Top Box is perfect for many occasions.  At just under 2" assembled, it is just the right size for small party favors, tiny gifts, or even as a tooth fairy box.  

I dressed my boxes up with other doily die cuts and decorations, and easiest of all, washi tape!  I'm a total sucker for an always-wrapped gift box.

Use the code HOMEMADE to receive 20% off your Lifestyle Crafts order at checkout.

letterpressed thank you cards (a bridal shower gift)

Earlier this month, one of my best pals in the world got married - yay!  I wasn't able to make it out to the bridal shower (insert frowny face here), but of course I wanted to send a gift.  I included something fun and something practical ... this was the practical part.  Isn't it nice when practical can also be pretty?

I used my L-Letterpress system from Lifestyle Crafts to make a nice, thick stack of letterpressed thank you notes.  An essential for any bride!

Not familiar with the L-Letterpress?  It is one of my favorite papercrafting tools. Check out Lifestyle Craft's blog for a rundown of the basics.

For these cards, I used a combination of printing plates.  Polka dots from the Wintertide Plates, the thanks script from the Blossoms Plates, and the M monogram on the envelopes is from the Scholastic Plates.

If you get an assembly line going, it really doesn't take long to crank out a big set of cards.  I printed about 50 of these thank you notes in an evening.

Dressed up in a pretty bow, you have a gift worthy of any beautiful bride.

Congratulations, again, Megan and Nate!  I love you guys to pieces.

invites and envelopes

My little brother got married last month and I was able to help make invites and menus for the family dinner the night before the wedding.

The dinner was held at a restaurant located on The Hill in St. Louis, a historic Italian neighborhood loaded with delicious places to eat.  Favazza's calls itself "The Rose of the Hill," so my mom asked me to create something to go with the rose theme.

I used my Silhouette machine and the digital software to create the invitations and dinner menus.  I loved the convenience of not having to do any measuring and cutting by hand, but you definitely could do it without a machine.  On the invitation, the rose was a delicate cut-out, so the red backing showed through.

I used the L Letterpress to monogram the envelopes with silver ink.  So simple, but adds a nice touch!

felt doily hair clips

I totally dropped the ball for kcwc over the weekend.    No new kids clothes were sewn, but I did make a few hair accessories.  Does that count?

Until now, I have only really used my Epic 6 for letterpress projects.  It was time to see what she could do with die cuts.  I used the nesting doily circles die and nesting circles die to cut felt for these cute hair clips.  I recommend using wool or wool-blend felt, and passing the die cut through the Epic a 3-4 times for a nice, clean cut.

After adding a bit of embroidery to the felt cut outs, I covered a plain alligator clip with coordinating ribbon. Then I hot-glued the pieces together for a perfectly sweet little clip.  They look really cute in my girls' hair, and not so bad on big girls, either!

As always, use the code HOMEMADE for 20% off your order at Lifestyle Crafts.