love day mail

The end of February is upon us! I can't believe that we're already heading into the third month of 2015.

Since we only have a few hours left of this bitter cold month of romance I wanted to show you the valentines I sent out a few weeks back.  I have been sending valentine's to friends of mine for the past 3 years and it's so much fun!  It's so nice to have an excuse to send a little something special to all the people you love.  

Last year I made these awesome garlands, which I don't think I can ever top, so this year I decided to make some heart cookies to send out to everyone.  Of course (as usual) I started way to late and got way too ambitious, so no one got their treats until after the 14th, but it's the thought that counts, right?

I also got these old valentines cards from this store Foursided, they have really cute cards and random little gifts.

This was my first time using royal icing, and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be to make them look like those perfect store bought cookies.

We finally ate the last of the left over cookies the other day, so I think it's time to try again right?? Who's up for some Spring themed cookies!!?

babies babies babies

Everybody is having babies!

How did this happen?

The wedding invites are starting to dwindle and they've been replaced with baby announcements!

My mom has always been an amazing home-made gift-giver.  Every newborn has received a baby quilt and sometimes a little something extra (like an awesome stuffed dinosaur). Now that I’m an “adult” I can no longer sign my name to my mom’s beautiful gifts, so it’s time to start contributing something of my own.  

Back in the beginning of the summer a family friend of ours had a little baby boy.  So when my mom told me she was working on her quit I kicked it into high gear and made the little peanut a hooded towel.  I always loved mine when I was little, and babies look so darn cute in them.

When I was searching the World Wide Web for inspiration all I could really find were solid colors and a few ducks, so I pulled out some post-its and drew up some ideas.

The idea that got me most excited was the hippo so I headed over to The Needle Shop and bought some blue gingham and got to work making the bias tape.

cut, sew, iron, cut, sew, iron, cut, sew, iron, cut, sew, iron

I did one more drawing to figure out the details of the hippo's face and then got to work putting all the pieces together

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of it before I sent it out, but here are a few slightly blurry ones of the final product.

I LOVE the way it turned out!

And now that there are a few more little babes in my life it’s time to get crackin’.

p.s. here's that little peanut in the towel. 

Oh geez! What a cutie!

that's tuft

Last weekend I took another class at The Needle Shop! (remember these 1, 2, 3, 4 ?)

I get their news letters and when I saw that tufting was on the new class list I signed up right away.  Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, "Tufting" is an upholstery term, it's something you see a lot on headboards, couches and chairs (the buttons that sink down into the fabric and create a 3D diamond pattern).  I've always wanted to learn and it turns out it's much easier that I thought!

Unlike the ottoman class, we didn't make a completed piece of furniture, like a headboard (there are too many variables to do a project that big in a beginners class).  Instead we each upholstered a 2" by 2" piece of wood.

The most complicated part is figuring out your spacing for the buttons, but once you do and you drill the holes in the wood you get to take this awesome foam cutter thing and cut your holes in the foam...

Then we made covered buttons to match our fabric.  It was so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!  I always thought you needed some crazy machine to make buttons, but it's so simple.  You just need two chintzy pieces of plastic (that come in the button pack) and a hammer (or really strong fingers).  It was really satisfying to make all these...

Rachel (owner of The Needle Shop) was so surprised at how excited we got over buttons.  And the excitement didn't stop there.

Even though we were just making a sample piece I still bought some fun fabric. I tried to center the buttons in the flowers, but I think that's a more advanced move, so after the first tuft I gave up on that idea.

It turned out really great, and now I just want to tuft everything in our house.

I'm still not sure what I'll do with my doll's bed sized headboard, but I'll let you know when I come up with a crafty idea!


p.s. Speaking of the newsletter, our tufting class was the first one The Needle Shop had held, so Rachel took some pictures for their facebook page and the site, and guess what showed up on the most recent newsletter...

Hahaha!!! A ridiculous picture of me next to a cozy cat!

love day mail!

Happy - very belated - Valentines Day!

I love Love Day. I love showing people I love that I love them. love love love.

But seriously, I think everyone needs to stop putting so much pressure on themselves to make Valentines Day a romantic holiday.  For the past few years I've been sending valentines to friends and family as well as The Man, and it has felt wonderful.  This year I wasn't able to send out as many as last year, so if I missed you I'll get you in 2015!

I wanted to share these earlier but i sent them out late, and I didn't want to ruin the surprise for my few valentines.  But now that the USPS tracker tells me they've all been delivered I'd like to share...

I saw this post on Oh Happy Day a while back and loved the idea, so, as I do with her wonderful crafts, I took the idea and ran with it.

Instead of using flat paper cut-outs I made 3D origami hearts.  My first one definitely didn't turn out so well but after I got the hang of it it was really fun.  It's great when you make those last few folds and it pops into shape!

I used an upholstery needle to thread the glittery poof balls onto the bakers twine, and used fun washi tape with images of pins to attach the letters.

I used conversation heart phrases for the garlands, it was hard to pick out who should get what, but I think I made the right choice on all accounts.

The best part was as the weekend went by all my valentines let me know they got their package by sending me pictures of their garlands!

I love sending people fun mail! I think I need to do it more often! What's next?...Easter cards?...Or maybe Independence day cards! Yeah! America Mail!

kalie's bride kit

It's been almost a month since Kalie's wedding, and, unfortunately, with all it's craziness I was unable to take any photos, so there's not much to show you until her photographer sends over the real-deal photos.  But in the mean time I can show you Kalie's Bride Kit.

A year ago when my friend Maria got married I found this cute idea and ran with it.  So when my best friend in the whole wide world got married I knew I had to make one for her too.

Kalie's wedding "colors" were navy blue, burlap, and white lace, so I decided to paint the box Navy and for the writing I used a white paint pen.

Just like before I used the ol' graphite transfer method to get an outline of the design and lettering on the top of the box (otherwise it would look like a gift from a child...my handwriting is terrible!).

This time I decided not to wrap all the items in the kit individually.  I think it's more fun to open the box and be instantly presented with all your little gifts. I attached the "descriptions" with navy blue washi tape and a ribbon for the bobby pins, and lined the box with white tissue paper so everything didn't roll around when the box was closed (and going through airport security).

So here is what was inside Kalie's Bride Kit:

"Emergency Bun Repair" - Bobby Pins
"For Minty-Fresh Smooches" - Mini Box of Altoids
"To Calm Your Wedding Day Jitters" - A Tiny Bottle of Wild Turkey Bourbon
"To Dry Your Tears...Or Mine...Or Your Moms" - Polka Dot Tissues
"To Get You In The Mood" - Green M&M's
"No Babies!" - Trojan Condoms
"For the Morning After" - Advil

It was so much fun to put together, and the best part is that you can make it unique to any bride you know.

Have a Great Weekend!!!

fixin' for a picnic

A couple of weeks ago we went outback to the communal outdoor area of our apartment building and saw that our picnic table was broken.  Remember the picnic table The Man and I built over 2 years ago! I can't believe it's been that long, but I can believe that one of the beams snapped.

With the summer in full force and Independence Day on the way we decided it was time to fix the sad broken table. So we got some new 2X4s at Home Depot and went to work.

So here she was in all her newness all those years ago:

And what a difference 2 years make:

Look at what 2 Chicago winters can do to cedar. Beautiful!!  You can definitely tell which pieces are new.

I love having a productive weekend, breaking out the power tools really makes you feel accomplished!

love day {cards}

 Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Remember Elementary School when you would get ton's of Valentines?  You'd pick a box of Valentines Day Cards, most likely themed from your favorite tv show, and make your Valentines Day mail box in class and hand out a card to everyone (unless you were one of those mean kids who only gave cards to the "cool" classmates).  It was so much fun to dump all your Valentines on the floor and read through them while eating all those chocolates and lollipops.  I miss handing out a bunch of cards, it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. Last year I made 3 cards, and it felt really good, so this year I sent out even more!

A few weeks ago I found blogger Oh Joy's video series called "Make Someone Happy."  So far there are 5 videos and they are all super cute, with ideas like surprise balloon bouquets, and love notes hidden in cupcakes (which I totally want to do!).  The one that really caught my eye was No.5 A Little Letter.  It's like a mad-libs love note, and they give you a link to the blank note here. So I printed a bunch of copies and wrote to some of the people I love the most!

maria's bride kit

Hello readers! That is, if there's anyone left still reading after a month and a half without any posts.  I am finally able to get pictures off my camera, and there are tons of things I can't wait to show you.  So here is a post I started writing a few months ago, before our friends' wedding.  Now their honeymoon has come and gone so I changed the tense, added the pictures and here you go! ...

I'm at that age, where everyone I know is suddenly getting engaged.  There are many weddings on the horizon, but there is one in particular The Man and I are were looking forward to (don't worry daddy, I'm not talking about ours!).  Ours friends Maria and Daily got married on September 9th and a few months ago her bridesmaids threw her a bachelorette party.

As for the party itself I'll just say, we had a good time, and leave it at that.  What I'm really here to tell you about is what I gave as a bachelorette gift.

 (bride kit from Oh Happy Day!)

I saw this DIY bride kit on Oh Happy Day! and thought it was a wonderful gift. She made a sweet box and included lotion, mints, bobby pins, nail polish, and other practical helpful bits and bobs. I loved the idea but wanted to make a tad more personal, so I kept the color scheme and added a few details:

I didn't have tattoo paper or a fancy color printer, so I used the old stand-by transfer method from grade school: I printed out the designs I wanted to use, scribbled all over the back of the paper with a pencil so that graphite was covering the paper, then placed my image on the box where I wanted it (drawing side up) and drew back over the lines of the image so when I lifted the paper my drawing was on the box in graphite. Easy-peasy-mac-and-cheesy!

Then I took a regular blue pen from work and filled in the lines on the box by hand. The box itself is from JoAnn's (the same one used in the Oh Happy Day! tutorial), and I just grabbed some cheap-o acrylic paint to paint it blue.

My favorite part of the kit was what I put inside.  I wanted it to be a little practical but also personal and funny, so I started thinking of various wedding traditions and superstitions, like "cold-feet" and shoving cake in each others faces.  I got together a few trinkets and printed little clues for each one on simple gift tags.
This is what I came up with:

 Once I got everything wrapped they barely fit in the box, but with a little smushing it closed right up!

This project was so much fun to do, I highly suggest it for a lovely bride-to-be in your life.  I recently found out my best friend in the whole wide world is engaged and I can't wait to think up some fun personal treats for her bride kit!

p.s. Fun Story: The clue for the condoms (though obvious) was my favorite.  When Maria and Daily got engaged, Andrew (aka The Man) and I were waiting with bated breath to hear the news.  We knew it was going to happen because Daily had called us the day before to ask if we could tell Maria that the party we invited her to was cancelled because it was getting in the way of his proposal plans.  The Man was pacing the whole day, one of his best friends was getting engaged, he couldn't handle it!  When the call finally came later that night one of the first things The Man said to Maria was "You're not allowed to have any babies for at least 2 years!"  This was of course after "congratulations" and "I'm so happy for you" but it was hilarious, the engagement was too much change for him and so he made Maria promise "no babies for 2 years." She's kept her promise so far . . . just one year to go :)!

paper lantern

Remember back when I showed you that to-do list? Yeah, you know, back in January.

Well take a look at what I finally finished!!!

A while back (a.k.a. over a year ago) I saw this bad boy on Design Sponge. I loved it and wanted to make one, but procrastination got the best of me.  Then, a few months later, I saw these puppies on Style me Pretty, and it really got me ready . . . to start thinking about it even harder.

So a few months ago I finally told myself it was time.  I got a paper lantern, cut tons of triangles, and started the long process of gluing them one by one onto the lantern, it took forever but it was totally worth it because look how cool this thing is!!!!

I'm pretty sure the ones from Design Sponge and Style Me Pretty were made with wider strips, which probably made it both faster to put together and a brighter light.  The strips I cut were 1" wide at the top and 8 1/2" long (cut from old stationary we were going to throw out at the office). There are so many layers that the light barely shines through the paper lantern I bought.  It also doesn't help that I decided to buy one of the battery-operated LED lanterns, which don't put out much light at all, and the light that does come through has a weird green hue to it (I didn't check if the LED worked until after I was half done . . .oops).  I think I might put a light bulb in it afterall, especially since there is a socket in the ceiling right where I want to hang it In Our New Apartment!!!! I'll show you once everything is put together. I'm super excited to move, if you can't tell already.

I think I'll try another one with different sized strips, or maybe different colored strips!! This project was pretty time consuming but the end result was so gratifying, I'm happy I stuck to it.

If you want to give it a whirl just make sure to buy the lanterns with the continuing/parallel metal coil, as opposed to the ones with the crazy asymmetrical/criss-cross coil.  The parallel lines are your guide lines as you paste your strips and circle up the lantern.

And when you're done send me a picture! I'd love to see it!

mom's day bouquet in may

My mom got her Mother's day present on Tuesday (honestly not as late as I thought it was going to be  :) way to go FedEx!).  So now that it won't ruin the surprise I want to show you what I made her!

I love flowers and beautifully arranged bouquets but damn can they get expensive, so as a lady on a budget I was trying to find an alternative that was cheap to purchase without being cheap looking, and voila! I found tons of great tutorials on how to make crepe paper flowers!

The funny part was how difficult it was to find crepe paper.  None of the art or craft supply stores in Chicago had anything, or even knew what I was asking for, so I took to the internet. 
Oh trusty internet, your knowledge and supplies are so vast.

I mostly used this tutorial but this one was also helpful for variety.

I used the thicker wire to bunch them together and stick them in the vase, and then I added a few "leafs" for greenery and to fill in any gaps . . .

It was super fun to make the flowers, and I'm definitely going to make some more for my own house.  I'm terrible at keeping plants alive so it'll be great to have a little floral pop in the house without having to worry about it getting moldy. (Does that happen to anyone else?)

I also made my mom a card from a photo my Dad took of us sleeping (or pretending to sleep) when I was little.  It turns out that the original photo was actually taken on Mother's Day! How cool is that!

I Love you Mom!