encouragement

Today is National Day of Encouragement. What? You didn't know that? Ok, neither did I until about 2 weeks ago, but the minute I heard about it, I was on board What could be more up my alley? So I sent a few extra cards this week (I was a bit bummed that no one to whom I mailed cards could get them on the actual National Day of Encouragement, since it's a Sunday, but since I'm quite sure none of them even knew of the "holiday", I guess I don't feel too bad). I started my whole business, and this blog, because of my passion for encouragement and making a difference in people lives. There are many ways to do that. Usually, I choose to do it through something I've made myself, but sometimes the truth is there just isn't time for that. I always keep some extra-great store-purchased cards (blank notes mostly, but some with greetings as well) around for the times I want to encourage someone and haven't the time to make them the perfect card myself.

One of my favorite verses, a life-verse of mine, and the one I based the name of my business on is this:

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
I Thessalonians 5.11

I encourage each of you to encourage someone today! A simple note or card in the mail (or hand delivered) is a simple, quick way to do that. Without too much effort at all, you can make a positive impact in someone's day . . . and often it's a much bigger impact than you would have imagined. Go for it!

another one . . .

Happy 15th Anniversary Mr. & Mrs. Buckman!

baby crafting

I've been busy making some personalized baby gifts lately. Thaddeus is the 2nd little person to enter the family of some friends of ours, so I made him a personalized piggy bank and a wooden block {roughly 3 inches x 5 inches} with his name and birthdate on one side and a blessing from Numbers 6.24-26 on the other.

Then, as it turns out, Thaddeus's parents needed a baby gift for another little man in their lives, so I was asked to make a set of blocks for baby Kyler. The blocks have his name on the front and his birth date on the back. My 2-year-old gave them a little test as I was working on them and they were a hit. She loved playing with them. So, hopefully they'll be both fun and decorative too!
Welcome to the world little Thaddeus and Kyler!

the latest

I made this over the past day or so for a wedding we are going to this weekend. I also helped my mom design a very similar one for a wedding gift she needed to give. I figure while you're making one, you might as well make two. Right? With all the humidity we've been having, I just hope it dries completely in the 4 days between now and the wedding. With our super-sticky weather, I'm afraid it will still be tacky by then!


I also made all the invitations for this wedding {along with RSVP cards and a sheet with directions and other wedding info} and designed the programs. The wood for the gift is cut from a big 2x10 if I remember right. It measures roughly 10 inches square and is about 1-1/2 inches thick. There's a sawtooth on the back for hanging, otherwise it props up nicely against a wall or on a shelf.

{Retail price $20}

end-of-year teacher gifts

i just finished putting together the end-of-the year gifts for our children's teachers for another year. the time sure flies by . . .

i usually like to make something unique, useful and personal for those people who invest so much in the lives of our precious kiddos and this year i came up with this::
handmade soaps from the local blue heron soap company which i picked up at the farmer's market {i love the farmers market!} and some handmade laundry soap in fun {upcycled} etched glass containers that read either "clean" or "wash" that i've been working on all week. {i etched the containers and made the laundry powder myself}. i attached cute little tags to each gift that say "have some good, clean fun this summer". {i was pretty proud of myself for coming up with that one. creativity with words is not usually my strong suit.}

i love gifts that are useful and consumable. and, for me, if it's unique and handmade that is even better! most of us don't need one more "thing" in our homes to clutter things up. right? i'm quite confident that each of the recipients who will be getting these tomorrow both bathes and does laundry, so hopefully they will find it useful . . . and all the more in the summer when so much time is spent outside. especially if you are a teacher and have the summer off!

so, that's what i've been working on . . . along with some shower invitations and a big order of wedding invitations that i hope to finish over the weekend and a baby gift and another wedding gift that i helped my mom to make . . . there's so much creating to be done! i love it!

Personalized Wedding Gift

Here is the personalized gift set that I made for a wedding that we attended over the weekend:: A wooden sign {about 4 x 11 with a sawtooth on the back for hanging} personalized with wedding date and last name, as well as a set of notecards for the couple to use either as wedding thank you's or for general correspondence from this day forward. {pun intended!}

I think a personalized wall hanging like this would make a great baby gift too . . . on some really fun paper with less formal fonts. I'll have to keep that in mind until the next baby I know comes along!

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!