Porcupine’s First Birthday Party

As we’re coming up on his second birthday party, I thought I’d finally get around to posting a few pictures from Porcupine’s first birthday party. We had a blast and everything turned out just the way I wanted it to! (Except all the snow on the ground, but what can you do when you have a baby in February in Indiana!)

The theme was kind-of Alphabet-y. Everything I do is Alphabet-y (I still have to post baby shower alphabet things! Another thing to add to the to-do list!) I found inspiration for an Alphabet-y invitation from this blog.

 (Fonts are Century Schoolbook and LaurenScript. I used the “Pencil Sketch” feature on Picasa to make Porcupine’s picture seem schoolbook-y. Then I printed them on cardstock – 2 to a page.)

I’d been pinning all kinds of cute desserts forever, so I just made a bunch! Cupcakes with rainbows, goldfish, teddies, “balloons”, and of course As, Bs, and Cs!

My mother-in-law made Porcupine a giant cupcake to smash in to!

I ordered the “one” plates from BirthdayExpress.com, along with some other things. I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t just find blue “one” plates locally! Oh well…I love internet shopping!

I knew I wanted some kind of cool “backdrop” (again, I owe you a baby shower post, because there, we did balloons, kind of like this.) made of balloons or streamers or something. Then, on the same blog where I found the invitation inspiration, I found a cool “Happy Birthday” sign inspiration.

 I cut the letters out on my Cricut using the font from the “A Child’s Year” cartridge.

Our house was full of family and fun, and I couldn’t have asked for a better party.

I think Porcupine had a great time, too…and he loved his cake!

Hopefully, I’ll post pictures from his second birthday in a more timely manner! And I’ll get to work on a baby shower post, pronto!

Thank You Cards

Oh my goodness...so many things to post, and so long since I've posted last!

So a quick post for now: look at the cute  thank you notes I made! They were sort of a pain (aren't so many projects?) ;) but I am so happy with them!

I used Cricut's Country Life cartridge with its cute banner font and my trusty Gypsy!

What projects have you been crafting?

 

Happy March!

I think everyone’s naming their post today “Happy March!”

Well, it IS happy! Spring is on its way and I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see if the things I planted in the fall will grow. (I also planted a lot of daffodil and crocus bulbs, as well as more wildflower seeds!)  Never mind all the snow that’s been falling today…

In the meantime, my little nephew, Cole, just turned one!  We’re going to head to his birthday party tomorrow, and I hope to get some cute pictures of him and all the things I’ve been creating for him. :)  I’ve been sharing some previews on Facebook, so here are a few more now.  His party is going to be sock monkey themed, so I made some shirts and bibs…

(letters cut out on the Cricut. Fabric from here.)

(embroidery from here! I adjusted the smile and ears a little bit.) :)

And a big ol’ paper banner/bunting that says “Happy 1st Birthday Cole!” on it!  I printed it all out on the computer (thank you, Microsoft Publisher), then my amazing friend Jessica cut it all out and strung it on some jute twine for me.  It’s too big to take a picture of until we hang it at the party, but here’s a preview:

:) :) :)

I am so excited about it!

And “trying to be healthy” news, I bought a juicer on clearance at Aldi for $19.99.  I know there are nicer ones, but for the price, I couldn’t help but give this one a try…just to see how we like it.  I made my first glass of juice with a Granny Smith apple and a cucumber. It was pretty good! So, now I’m hoping to add fresh juice to our nutritional arsenal.

Any juicing or baby-present making on your agenda? Are you excited for spring (even though it’s snowing?)

Things I Love Thursday: Chalk Pens

So I’m a little late to the chalk pen game. 

Now that I think about it, I must have seen the results of this amazing product everywhere, but just wasn’t thinking about it, or realizing just how glorious it must be. 

I love chalkboard stuff: paint, labels, you name it, but the chalk, of course, is messy. (There used to be a nice layer of yellow dust under my island where the dogs eat.)  Then I saw this post on Evolution of Style, and when I asked Jenny what she was using to write on her chalkboard labels, she said “chalk pen”!  I was excited.

She got hers at Hobby Lobby, I got mine on Amazon.  And ever since, I have been one happy gal. The chalk pen is inky and wet-erase, so it goes on like a paint marker and doesn’t wipe off as easily as chalk. And your writing is much neater and cleaner.

I shared a little sneak peek of the cute jars my friend Janis got me from Anthropologie: they are much cuter and more practical when written on with a chalk pen.

I covered an old Nestle Toll House container (the big one from Costco) with some Contact paper (from Marshalls), cut a Contact paper chalkboard label out on my Cricut, and labeled it with the chalk pen.  Voila, dog treat container!

You know I love dry erase things, and for some things I still do love dry erase, but in the instance of these jars I have, my labels were just getting erased. The one on the right used to say “raw sugar” and the on the left used to say “hot chocolate” (that label was completely gone!).

But now, with chalkboard Contact paper and chalk pen, I’ve got this!

(The dark blue canisters above still have dry erase labels that have remained in tact!)

And my island! I still have regular old chalk around for when kids (or adults!) come over because it is totally fun to write on the island and erase and start over…but in the meantime, I’ve semi-immortalized (what would that really be? just “extended the life of”?) this cool horse drawing that a friend’s daughter drew and neatened up my “dog’s diner” with the chalk pen! Doesn’t it look nice?

I don’t know how those dogs are so messy when they eat/drink, but chalk on that side never lasted! But chalk pen is so far holding up great!

So tell me the truth, am I really the last person to have heard about chalk pens? Are you as excited as I was when I found out? Are you going to go buy one right now? :)

Ashley’s Wedding Dress: Behind the Scenes

If you’re curious, I posted a little bit about how I decorated Ashley’s wedding dress over at The Modern Seamstress! :)

Check it out! :)

“Lincoln” Name Art

Thank you, Cricut, for helping me out with this project! It’s theoretically a simple one if you need a quick gift. (I say “theoretically” because you know these things never go as planned! But this one actually went pretty smoothly because I’ve been trying to learn my lesson and plan ahead.) :)

I used my Cricut to cut Lincoln’s name, placed it on some primary-colored background paper, and framed the whole thing! Cute name art for Lincoln’s nursery.

When I make name art like this, the frame is almost always bigger than the paper I have to use as a background. In this case, the frame was roughly 11”x16” (or whatever size Ikea makes their frames) and the biggest paper I had was 12”x12”.  To make the background look purposeful and designed, I sort of cut up and pieced the paper back together in a new pattern (like quilting!).

I cut the letters out with my Gypsy and Cricut.

I used the font on A Child’s Year. I love that it’s got an old school-book feel to it.  I also added a kitten from ZooBalloo. :)

One of the things I struggle with most when doing fun projects like this is making sure there’s enough contrast between the background and foreground, so I definitely try to test as much as I can (with dry-runs) before I start gluing things down!

I ended up using a white paint marker to draw on some “stitching” lines on the letters, just for fun.

Speaking of glue, these are the two I use the most, and I’m pretty happy with them. Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive and Zig 2-Way Glue.

Then I just added the kitten, popped the artwork in an Ikea Ribba frame, and voila!

A couple of tips when using your Cricut:  (…that I did not follow when I made Lincoln’s alphabet bunting, leading to a less than stellar crafting experience.)

1.) Use a new mat and a new blade.  I know you don’t want to change these things out, and that they cost money, but trust me, it’s so worth doing. Cuts come out so much cleaner when the mat is nice and sticky and the blade is nice and sharp. (This is especially true for fabric, thick paper, and delicate paper.)

2.) Make notes as you use different materials.  There are a several different “cheat sheets” out there for cutting settings on your Cricut (I like this one and this one), but everyone is different, so it’s so helpful to make notes for yourself. I have a sticky note/label on my Cricut with settings for cardstock, fabric, regular paper, etc. (This is especially helpful when cutting different kinds of fabric! And something I didn’t do/wasn’t doing when I was making the bunting!)

3.) Size matters! The Cricut can cut just about anything, but shapes with more intricate details definitely cut out better at larger sizes. When I was doing the bunting, part of my problem was that I was trying to cut out some relatively complicated shapes in a small size and in fabric and without a new blade/mat combo. Just disaster! :) With this project, I knew I wanted to keep everything simple and large and it went very smoothly. :)

If you decide to try a cute gift-project like this, have fun! Share the details with me!

Maligayang Pasko

I am so proud of myself for actually seeing a project through, start to finish, in a day. :)

“Maligayang Pasko” is how you say “Merry Christmas” in the Philippines!

When I saw these posts on House of Hepworths, I was totally inspired. I knew I could do something similar for Christmas.

 

First, I went to my Gypsy (for Cricut) and designed a “Maligayang Pasko” using mostly the Calligraphy Collection font but a little of Gypsy Font. (The “li” were in the Gypsy font, just so I could get the cursive layout how I wanted it.)

Since we’ve taken our fence down, we’ve got this pile of fence panels in the back yard. So I figured they would be perfect for this project.

I set my Gypsy/Cricut design for the largest cutting mat, 12”x24”, so I knew I wanted my sign to be bigger than that. I measured the boards of the fence panel and decided I needed about 9 (which was about 32”), so I took about 11 off the panel (just to be safe since some were cracking).  (I decided to make two signs, one for myself and one for someone special who has to wait till Christmas to get it!)

I decided to use the greenish, weathered sign, since it looked like it could be festive. :)

I cut each one of my boards to about 19.5” (a random measurement that looked good to me!).  I cheated by just cutting the boards around the sections with the nails in them (that were previously holding the fence together). (The nail-y scrap pieces went straight into the garbage/burn pile.) 

I found another scrap board in the back yard that I to cut to the width of my sign as a backer for all the fence pieces. I used 5/8” 18ga nails in the nail gun to attach the planks to the back boards. (I should have also used some glue. Oh well.) I put those little nails in the front and back of the wooden sign.  Once it was all together, I gave everything a quick sanding with some old 100 grit paper.

Then I collected some paint and stuff.

I cut the first “Maligayang Pasko” (on the Cricut) out of freezer paper (shiny side down). (I think posterboard or something would have been ideal, but I didn’t have a piece around that was big enough or a new cutting mat that was sticky enough.)  I sprayed some adhesive on the back of the cutout, then placed it onto my first set of boards. It was really sticky, which was good for my rough boards.  Then I sprayed the whole thing with several light coats of red spray paint.

When I peeled off the stencil, I was so happy with the results!

But, as cool as this green looks in the picture, in real life, it wasn’t quite what I wanted yet, so I decided to brighten up the lettering with some white paint. I took a small artists brush and some oil-based white paint diluted with mineral spirits (so it would be a little thinner and slightly runny) to keep everything looking weathered and rustic. (Latex paint probably wouldn’t have stuck to the spray paint/rough boards as well.)

For fun and added interest, I splattered a bit of white paint around, and spread some white paint on the edges with a  bunched up paper towel.

I was finally in love with the sign. I added to the weathered old look by running the sander with some old 100 grit paper lightly over the whole thing. Then I sprayed it all with some clear coat to seal everything in.  Doesn’t it look great?

Here it is again on the mantel!

I made two signs, start to finish, in a day, and both were done completely with stuff I already had around the house. Woohoo for a completed and free project!

What do you think? Will you be trying a decorative sign made of old boards? :)

Cole’s Bunting

I’m over at the Modern Seamstress today, posting about how I made Cole’s cute little name bunting!

Head over there and check it out!

Baby Presents in Action

It was so fun meeting little Cole! What a cutie!

All wrapped up in his personalized blanket :)

The bunting blends perfectly with his Classic Pooh themed nursery.

And “Mr Sanders” is the perfect complement to his espresso crib and 100 Aker Wood map :)

Here’s a shot of me giving the little guy a taste of what life will be like with me and my camera! :)

What a great weekend with family and a new little baby!

Things I Love Thursday: New Baby Presents!

Not new baby-presents, but new-baby presents! I’m so happy for some of my favorite cousins who’ve just welcomed their first baby into the family! A little boy they named Cole!

We’re hoping to head down to their house soon to meet the little guy, but in the meantime, here are some gifts I’ve made for him!

(I’ll get better pictures of everything once it’s all installed around the baby or in his room!) :)

His name on a bunting:

A Winnie-the-Pooh blanket to go with their nursery theme:

A “Mr Sanders” vinyl decal for above the nursery door: (This is one I really can’t wait to see installed!!)

And when I saw this fabric, I couldn’t pass it up for first-time parents! Run the edges through the serger  and call them receiving blankets!

Making things for new babies is so fun!!!

Christmas Subway Art Pillow - Cricut Word Collage

While I'm working on a post about some new bookshelves I'm working on, here's a post over at my sewing/crafting blog, The Modern Seamstress, about an awesome Christmasy subway art pillow I made with Cricut! Gosh, I love Cricut. I'm not sure how I lived without it.

Christmas subway art pillow, made with the Cricut Word Collage cartridge and EasyWeed vinyl

Cat door

I'm just kind of showing off with this one. Well, I'm sure I'll be using this blog a lot to "kind of" show off.

I saw this cat door on Pinterest, over here. Super cute. I love its half-rounded-mousehole-ness. This is my plain cat hole. Except that it says "CAT", which makes it awesome.

This is my cat, Puppy.

"CAT" awesomeness thanks to Cricut and vinyl.

This might be the original pin.