Baby Blocks

We have friends who just had their first little bundle . . . a boy! When I was thinking about a baby gift I wanted to make for him {ok, really it was for his parents. He couldn't care less!} I was thinking about something personalized and bouncing some ideas around in my head when I realized that his first and last name both had 5 letters. Thanks guys, that worked out so well for this project. His little set of letter blocks spells his first name on one side and his last name on the back. The other 4 sides are just fun, cute, boy-ish papers. I love the way they turned out and wanted to add one more little personalized item to the gift, so I etched his name in a bottle and added some change . . . you know, to start on his college savings and all! A personalized, recycled piggy bank of sorts.

Latest project

I've been keeping plenty busy lately, but haven't been taking pictures or documenting what I've been doing too well at all.

But, here is what I finished off this week::

I volunteered to do the invitations for the {annual} staff appreciation breakfast at my kids' elementary school. The theme this year is Grease/50's High School Dance. I made an envelope that was reminiscent of the sleeve for a record. Inside was a "record" with the date and time on it and an RSVP card as well. Most of the details were on the outside of the envelope, because it wouldn't all fit on that little white circle in the middle of the record {well, I guess I could have made it fit, but the font would have been so small that no one would have been able to read it}.

I think they turned out quite nicely, and the coordinators of the event were happy with them, so what else can you ask for? Now, I just hope all goes well the morning of the big breakfast. {My husband is making a musical appearance wearing white pants -- provided I can find a pair at Goodwill or a thrift store between now and then -- so it is fixin' to be an entertaining morning!}

and the winner{s} is . . .

Ok, I've decided that I'm not at all good at this giveaway thing. I feel bad for the people who didn't win and I want to give everyone a prize. But, alas, I don't have that many Valentine's. So, the winners are::comment #1 and comment #5 {there were exactly 6 comments -- if you exclude mine, so I thought to myself:"6 comments, hmmm. Dice have 6 sides. I think I'll toss a dice to pick the winners!" Pretty smart of me, don't you think?}::

comment #1 is from my friend Margaret:

Star Graf Design said...

love them. You're so good at card making!
Fun fact:
I'm obsessed with organizing. I recently went thru our closets and re organized, everything feels so nice and clean. Plus I got rid of clothing I've been holding onto for more years than I can count.

February 8, 2010 12:25 PM

and #5 is from

Wehaf said...

Okay. I brush my teeth in the shower. I don't know if it is extra-fun, but it is a fact!

February 8, 2010 10:44 PM

I really have absolutely no idea who "Wehaf" is, but thankfully she {or maybe he, I guess} left an email address, so hopefully I can get cards in the mail for Wehaf soon. Margaret, I'll just bring yours to MOPS on Thursday, ok? I figure you wouldn't get them before Thursday in the mail anyway! Congrats on the "big" win, you two!

a little giveaway!

UPDATE::Contest is now over, sorry! Congrats to our 2 winners {see post above!}

The other night I stayed up late and made Valentine's. LOTS of Valentines. I went a little crazy. TONS of Valentine's; tons, I tell you! Way more Valentine's than I have friends {and loves} to send them to! So, you can partake in my abundance of Valentine's if you wish :: leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a set of my Valentine's. Just tell me an extra-fun fact about yourself {and if I know you, try to make it something that I don't already know, ok?} Since Valentine's Day is coming up pretty quick here, I'll pick a winner {or 2} sometime tomorrow. Ready? Set? Go! Enter away!

Just a sampling of my fun night of card-making:

Banners

It all started when my friend Rachel asked me to make her a "give thanks" banner like one she had seen online. So, I did::

It turned out so cute, I made one for myself too.

Then my mom wanted a "Merry Christmas" one. So I made that. Then, that one turned out so cute that I made this one for myself::
Everyone {well, the women anyway} at our Christmas Open house loved them and wanted one too, so I figured they'd made pretty good Christmas gifts, so I made a few more.

Then people saw those and it just kept growing! Rachel, decided she needed one for New Year's as well, so I made her this one::

Then my friend, Jenny, is in town from California for the holidays and hinted strongly at how cute a "Home Sweet Home" one would be . . . so I made her this one::

Now, I'm helping my mom make a "Celebrate" one for a friend of hers {great for just about any occasion, wouldn't ya say?} then I might take a little break . . . or maybe not.

What would your banner say?

{Banner prices are based on length of sentiment, but are roughly $15 each.}

I've been busy!

I've been crazy lately crankin' out orders for Christmas gifts right and left::
Personalized, commissioned stuff.
Hopefully everyone will be happy with their finished products!

Sets of magnets {18 to be precise}::

A Christmas banner {this one was actually for me!}::

and I LOVE it:

so I made 4 others that weren't for me.

A few little fun "match book" notepads::

On top of all that {literally, since it's taking place upstairs} we're in the middle of doing this::

Actually, I'm not having to much to do with it. It's my parent's Christmas gift to our girls to give their room a little makeover, so they are doing the work!

Now I've got to get my crack in gear and start working on my list of projects that I need to make for my Christmas gifts . . . I'll need them before I know it, next week is coming fast!

Give Thanks

A friend of mine saw a "give thanks" banner for sale online and fell in love with it. She was going to order one and then she thought "I bet Shana could make this. I'll ask." So ask she did, and I said "sure". This one isn't quite like the one she saw online {I like this one better and hope she will too!}, that one had glitter and I'm not a huge fan of glitter. Rachel said she could do without the glitter too, so here is the glitter-free finished product; I think it turned out great::

A creative afternoon

For some reason, as I was sitting outside reading a very good book, I was overwhelmingly compelled to begin this project, one I was inspired to do after seeing this tutorial. I hadn't planned to do any projects at all today. I was really enjoying my book and had planned to enjoy it the entire time the littles were napping, but then those plans went right out the window!
I found a board {not too old even, but pretty beat up} in our yard and got to work. First I slapped a pretty thin, messy coat of white paint to the board, rubbed in a little anitiquing glaze and let it dry. Next I sanded it a little. Then I traced some chipboard letters onto the board {I didn't measure before I started tracing, I had just eyeballed it. When I got to the end I realized I would only have room for "199" and I didn't want to do '96, so I erased it all and started again}. Then I painted the letters with black paint and let that dry. When it was all dry I sanded it again and then hosed it down to get all the dust off {and age it even more!} and I was done!
I love it!
I can't decide if we should put it in our bedroom {it would look great in there} or somewhere more "public" so that people will actually see it. Not many people venture back to our bedroom when they come for a visit!

Fun!

If you have not yet discovered Wordle you have GOT to check it out! It is amazing and wonderful and fun and addicting and just plain great! I love it! {Big thanks to my sister-in-law for bringing it to my attention!}

I went to a baby shower for a friend who is soon to have a set of twins and this was {part of} the gift that I brought. I think they turned out really cute. Unfortunately, they are going to spell Ellah's name with a H at the end. {it's not unfortunate that they're going to spell it that way . . . just unfortunate that I didn't know that ahead of time. I was going to double check on the spellings, but, #1, I didn't think you could really screw up Ella or Eddie. -- little did I know! -- and, #2, I wanted it to be a total surprise and not clue her in that I might do something personalized}. I didn't know this and thus will need to do them again. But, it's so easy it won't really be a problem. Except for the fact that I don't have any more of those exact coordinating papers, so I'll have to pick some different prints.

Want to make your own? Here's what you do:

• Come up with fun words {the more times you type the word, the bigger it will be}.
  
• Create your Wordle
• Print it on to fun paper
• Stick it in a clear, plexiglass box frame.
• Wrap a little ribbon around the outside for some dimension and added fun {or don't!}

Now you're all done, wasn't that easy? And super fun too! Of course you could put it in any type of frame, but for this particular project, I really like the look of the clear box frame with the ribbon on the outside. If you wanted the sides to coordinate you could cut paper to fit in there too.

If you don't mess around with the fonts and colors and layouts for too long {don't follow my example, I tend to over-mess!} you could be done in about 10 minutes and for a grand total of about $5 each.

Give it a shot next time you need a gift and want something unique and personalized. I'm pretty sure it will be loved and treasured!

Another project

A big {8x8}, antiqued wooden tile for my sister-in-laws birthday with my favorite picture of my nephew. I made them a similar one with a picture of their wedding 5 years ago, so, now they have a little set! A fun, unique gift and way to showcase a special picture.

Late night

Every once in a while I really get "in the groove" and stay up way, way too late making cards. Well, I did it again this week. I'm sure that I'll be paying for it for at least a few more days {with crabbiness, limited patience and eye-drooping exhaustion -- wait, that sounds like most days around here}, but I got LOTS done. Long after everyone in the house was sleeping {Dad included} I was still downstairs working away. Here's what I came away with after my {nearly} all-nighter:


I think I made over 50 cards in one sitting; no 2 of them alike. It was fun and relaxing {well, except for the missed sleep part!}

Handmade gift pack

I made this gift pack to donate to a silent auction for Northern Voices, a school for children with severe hearing loss. The daughter of a friend of mine goes there and asked me if I could donate anything. And I was happy to!

The gift pack contains a 6x9 inch {memo-sized} decorated clipboard, a jumbo clothespin {a fun, unique way to display a favorite picture, or keep your recipe right there as you cook or hang on to important little papers that may otherwise get lost!} and an assortment of 10 all-occasion cards {birthday, thank you, new baby, get well, thinking of you}.

Here's hoping it will bring some money in for a worthy cause.

Retail value of the gift pack: $35

Baby gift

8x10 framed baby name and birth date with verse "Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a reward from Him." {Pslam 127.3}

This one was made as a baptism gift, but would be great for a new baby gift or a special gift on any other important day early in life {baptism, dedication, first birthday}.

wedding: print only

8x10 print only . . . ready to be framed

wedding gifts

Here are a couple wedding gifts that I did recently. They followed the color schemes of the wedding invitations and I'm hoping that for years to come they will remind the couple of their big day with fondness!


The frames are 16x20 and the art in the middle is matted to 8x10. These show last name and wedding date but could be customized with initials instead "K & S" or "est. 2009" rather than the exact date or whatever your heart desires! Shorter last names (6 letters or less) work best if you want entire last name, though, otherwise it would get too small to look good.

Framed: $45
8x10 Print only (frame it yourself): $17

{See a similar project for the birth of a baby here}