Happy Valentimes

I wanted an easy and fast way to make a few Valentine's cards. I first tried cutting out some paper hearts but they weren't doing it for me. Then I remembered the many times I have seen other wonderful crafty women (and men I'm sure) make stamps out of rubber erasers. So I took my crafting knife, drew a small heart on the top of a pencil eraser, and carved away.



It's so easy to make and the best part about it being a pencil is that it has a handle built right in. I am super happy with how it turned out and can't wait to find more uses for my little heart.

Bridal Favors

My wonderful mother threw me a beautiful bridal shower a couple weekends ago. I will post more of the details later this week but I wanted to share the favors in their own post. I definitely wanted to help out with the shower and this was one way to do it.



I won't lie, every now and again I like to be the center of attention, but more often than not I don't. Now when you are the guest of honor at a bridal shower it's really hard to not be the center of attention. I wanted to make sure that every person who attended knew just how important they are to me and why I wanted them to be there. I decided to make a favor for everyone that would actually get used and not thrown into another drawer with the little bags of jordan almonds and similar things.



My mom and I decided to make tea towels. We found some linen that we liked, bought a few yards, and my mom cut and sewed all of them! She really is amazing. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to print on them using a lotus root and this is where things got tricky. I bought fabric paint which ended up being too thick and quite a disaster.



We then realized that using an ink pad would be the best option and give us the best print but the hard part was finding one that was a) good for fabric and b) permanent. We scoured the internet, called countless stores, and finally found the ink pad we needed. The only problem is we could only find one retailer in the area and they were still 15 miles away. The brand is VersaCraft if you ever find yourself in the same bind. We drove out there the next day and bought the ONLY red pad they had left. Printed, heat set, and ready to go!



To finish it off, we added a wooden spoon and a label. On the back of each label I wrote a little note to each person. It was such a wonderful day and I can't wait to share the rest of the details!

little pumpkin

Holidays are my favorite time of year. Not only because of the parties and family and delicious food but I love decorating my home for the holidays. In past years, Christmas always gets the most attention but this year I wanted to add some new things to the fall decor.



I had an idea and didn't know how well I could execute it but I was going to try. It didn't turn out as well as I'd like and I rushed it a little so the stitching isn't perfect but I think it is a wonderful addition to the mantle until December rolls around.

correspondance

I have always had a love of all things paper, especially cards. There are so many wonderful companies, big and small, making cards and if I had a letterpress I would love to be one of them. For me, working on a smaller scale at my kitchen table making cards for friends and loved ones is more than good enough. Recently I have been using scrap paper and origami sheets to make shapes and then using a glue stick to adhere them to blanks I have gotten from Michael's. Here is a last minute card made for my friends' wedding. I would use rubber stamps for everything if it wasn't so tedious.



Once again the theme of making something yourself which you could easily buy comes up. A beautiful screenprinted or letterpressed card can cost you upwards of $3 but a pack of 12 blank cards and envelopes cost about $5 with the paper either being free from your scrap pile or a couple bucks for a pack of origami paper.





I also have a stack of creme postcards from Papersource that we used for our Christmas Cards last year that I have been slowly going through. Here, I whipped up a little Halloween card to send out with a gift. When it comes down to it, not only am I saving money but I am being creative and making things for people that I love. I know that I love receiving handmade goods so I might as well give them too.

cute card

Last weekend, we were lucky to enjoy two of our lovely friends getting married. Since we were going to be in the San Luis Obispo area (the wedding was in Parkfield ) and that is where are wonderful photographer Jeff Newsom is from, we decided to do our engagement photos while we were up there. I am so excited to see how they turn out!

As much as I love all the wonderful letterpressed cards out there, I have been dying for an opportunity to make this lovely card from Lovely Morning.



Also on our way to Parkfield, there were these adorable baby cows right on the side of the road. I hope their cuteness brightens your day!

long time coming

I've finally gotten my camera back so I can finally post about Steve's birthday! I'll start off with his gift. Steve is really hard to buy gifts for. I am pretty good at buying him clothes but other than that, I am usually at a loss. Since this was his big thirtieth I wanted to make sure it was something special. I thought of a few things we had talked about getting or him wanting and decided I would let him choose which of the three he wanted. Now my only problem was figuring out a way to wrap these momentary intangible things. First, I took apart an envelope I had and traced the shape onto three different pieces of scrapbook paper and cut them out. Using my bone folder I folded the four sides so they would close up nicely.



I had some old card stock lying around from our Christmas postcards so I drew each gift option (3 fruit trees, a kindle, a home brew kit), carved it out, and glued a piece of origami paper to the back. These were then glued to the envelopes.



They were all closed up, each tied with a ribbon...



...and bundled together with these wonderful paperclips. (he chose the home brew kit, by the way)



The second little gift I made for him was a birthday button. I had seen this birthday boy badge on a blog somewhere (I'm sorry I don't remember which one!!) and thought to myself "I can make something similar." So I did. Steve bought me a little wood burning kit for Christmas and this was the first time it was put to use. ($20 at Michael's) It definitely took a lot of practice. For the writing I simply printed the text on paper, colored the back with pencil, laid it on top of the wood circle and traced the text. It transferred to the wood so I could easily burn it. You could use carbon paper if you have some but this works if you don't.



I had some scrap felt lying around, so I cut them into little petals and laid them out in a pattern I liked. I hot glued around the edge of the petals and stuck the circle on top. I also glued a piece of felt on the back to secure it all and finished it off with a pin.



It was so great to see Steve wear this all day, all around LA. He was such a good sport. His birthday party was a success with homemade tacos, delicious treats, ladder golf, and an outdoor screening of The Big Lebowski complete with horchata White Russians. The absolute BEST part of the whole birthday celebration was a custom pinata we had made of Steve's head. It was so great to see everyone's reaction and to watch the real Steve knock down pinata Steve.

mama b

Yesterday was my mama's birthday. To celebrate, my wonderful brother and his lovely wife hosted a little BBQ at their home. I was asked to bring a side dish and feeling up to the challenge, I tried a new recipe. Alice Water's Moroccan Sweet Potatoes from The Art of Simple Food . It was absolutely delicious. I topped it with some edible chive flowers from our garden. It went really well with the tri-tip and salad. It's served at room temperature so it was perfect for the hot sticky weather we've been having.



While looking for recipes to make in Ina Garten's Back to Basics , I came across a recipe for parmesan thyme crackers and made them to go along with the cracker and cheese appetizer. They are really just a savory shortbread and they tasted just like super yummy cheez-its.



I also didn't have a birthday card on hand and my mama loves all things handmade by her children so I took a cue from Wren Handmade and put together a little card with some adorable origami paper I picked up with my friend Rachel last weekend.



I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and give all your mama's some love.