Something for Everyone Gift Guide

Its never too soon to be thinking about what kind of gifts to get people for *gasp* the holidays.  To get started I thought I'd make a generic gift guide that covered everyone.  Kids, adults, men, women...you get the point. Shown below are my favorites but you can find the full treasury here

1. Paris Postcard Collection - First I love the way they are all displayed in this picture, and even in frames (one of the other views available on Etsy) they look fantastic.  Plus the use of yellow in every picture makes me want to smile.  
2. Hand Made Seed Bombs - I saw these and just thought it was such a great idea! What a great stocking stuffer.  Unfortunately you would have to wait until spring to use it but, um hello! it will bring butterflies, totally worth the wait!
3. Game Boy iPhone Decal - Yup, you guessed it, nerd!  I saw this and laughed so hard, what a cool idea.  Takin' it old school while still being totally new school.  LOVE IT!
4. Hand Painted Canvas Messenger Bag - First I was totally impressed by the hand painted part.  I couldn't paint this well if I tried (and I wouldn't try because some 5 year olds can put me to shame!). Then the witty comment and I knew I just had to add this to the list!
5. Hand Tooled Leather Owl Case - Yet another hand made object.  There are just so many talented people out there! I love the owl, and the fact that each one is completely unique!

Housewarming Party Invitation

Well it’s been over a month since I last wrote about it (here), and this invitation was definitely a trial. I had a hard time getting the idea in my head on paper.  First the lanterns wouldn’t come out right and then it seemed like too much was going on.  On a whim I added in the fireflies (the little yellow dots, not sure you can see them or not) and those took time to perfect as well.  As you can see from the finished product it took quite the turn from its original conception but I like it.  I think the finished product looks more like a party for adults, and less like a child's birthday party (not that there’s anything wrong with a birthday party!)

See the magic below!

First I wanted to stick with my text theme from before, but it wasn't working out the way I wanted to

Then I thought i might print it on a creme or beige background

Next I thought I might add some fireflies and make give it more of an evening feel

Finally, I decided that less is more, kept the fireflies, ditched the background color and called it a day

Here is the finished product.  I really love the lanterns, they turned out better than I thought they would.  You can purchase them here on my Etsy Shop (and, if you like any of the early versions, I can clean them up and make those too!)

Etsy Craft Night - Magnets

Inspirational Quote:

When someone says "you've changed." It simply means you've stopped live life their way
-not sure who its by

Etsy Craft Night - Magnets

Sometimes, my life is really busy and sometimes it’s not, but all of a sudden it’s September and I’m like, woah! When did that get here!?  Well on September 1 there was an Etsy craft night and usually I see it on my calendar a few days ahead of time but because it was on THE NEXT PAGE I didn’t see it until the day of.  Luckily, I hadn’t made plans for that evening and was able to go. 

The craft was making your own magnets using a kit they provided and cut outs from magazines.  Turns out, the same guy from the last craft night was leading this craft night.  Apparently he has a lot of awesome crafts in his Big Ass Book of Crafts (no really, that’s what it’s called).  I met some fun new people, one of which moved here from Boston, and I also managed to burn my fingers several times using the hot glue gun (no pain no gain right!?....sure…). The stuff on display at the museum was the same but I did take a quick jaunt through the museum store and found some really awesome mugs.  Check them out below!

Here are my magnets.  As you can see (upper right) there were some technical difficulties, they kept pulling themselves apart! My favorite one is the one that looks a little orange and has a moon (its the one that is closest to the camera in the lower left image).

MUG SHOT:

I thought that these mugs were very cute and creative.  Great for kids...or adults who act like kids (which is all of us, don't judge!).  These mug are only for sale in their brick and mortar store but you can find out more info about it here.

The Engagement Party Finale

Well the engagement party has come and gone.  There was definitely a sugar hangover the next day what with seven different types of desserts and six different champagne beverages. We were able to get four of the desserts from Starbucks and then two from Costco and finally we dipped our own chocolate covered strawberries (with the help of Wes’ family).  Our champagne beverages were mimicked from a local restaurant in Chico and were fun and fruity!  I think that everyone who came had a really spectacular time.

The Bride and Groom to Be

As promised, here are the thank you cards I made for this party.  You can see the full process here and here.  I stuck with the champagne theme but to add a splash of fun I used multiple colors.  Also I used the Loopi font that I liked from the beginning.  The bride and I decided that she didn’t want to use their married name on the card because they’re not married yet so we stayed with ‘Thank You’ and called it a day.

These thank you cards are available for purchase here, in my Etsy shop.

Thank You the Pink Series

Going to make this post short and sweet and to the point! As you may have noticed I’ve posted a line of Thank You cards on Etsy over the last month or so. Displayed below is the series in its entirety. The cards were all printed using a 'Strawberry' color but you can get them in pretty much any color you'd like.  I hope you like them!

You can purchase them from my Etsy shop here