Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy V-day! 8-bit style love to my readers!

Conversation heart puffy stickers by Hallmark courtesy of Dad.

Making this year's holiday cards

Truth be told, I was pretty unmotivated to make Christmas cards this year, or even writing out store bought ones.  But after a lazy afternoon of watching Home Alone, inspiration struck.  I freehand carved this design into a speedball speedy-cut rubber block, and went for some glitz by using metallic inks.

Here they are drying on my clothing rack (a very good place to dry cards)

I even did a little experimenting with red paper and leftover white ink, which I'm totally diggin'.

The festivities start tomorrow night for my family, and the weather is predicting a possible white Christmas.  Well, 1-3 inches which will melt immediately but I'll take it!

DIY Christmas gifts for my bffs

This year, a few of my very good friends will be getting some very special Christmas presents: Ke$ha themed ornaments.  Be honest music elitists—Ke$ha sings a good party song. And although I don't really consider myself a party girl, my friends and I won't deny it's fun to dance around to her raunchy, catchy jams.  Now that I've defended myself I'll show you what I've created.

Hey girl, hey

These mini bottles purchased from Amazon were filled with glitter from confetti.com in the party rockin' shades of watermelon and prisma silver (because I guess there are a lot of silvers). I created the labels in photoshop with lyrics from her infamous single Blow, "Go insane, go insane, throw some glitter, make it rain."

Words to live by

In case you haven't seen the video, it stars Dawson Leary so I highly recommend watching it.  Tie some hemp cord around the bottle neck and you've got a top Christmas present perfect for the friends you met in Catholic school.

The hollerdays are a special time of year

It's pink, so you know it's for girls

Party on, friends.

Recycled holiday gift tags

Sadly this December hasn't been my craftiest holiday season, and though I'm bursting with ideas, I just haven't had the time to do many of them.  Blame a heavy work load, an increased interest in baking, and finding out that I have to move at the end of the month.  The next week leading up to Christmas is going to be heavily creative to make up for it (I hope, I may have just put a lot of pressure on myself).

To kick things off, here are some gift tags made with recycled grocery bags, stamps, and baker's twine.  I found it best to double layer the bags and hold together with rubber cement to make them a little sturdier, then cut into shape and attach the string last.  Simple, quick, easy, and cheap!

Rubber stamps were Martha Stewart except for the star,
which I made out of some leftover linoleum

Joy: A nondenominational message we can all appreciate

Einstein won the Nobel Prize...

...but not for his theory of relativity!  It was in fact his discovery of the photoelectric effect that won him the award.  This information is a great pickup line for a guy OR a girl and may be useful one day during bar trivia.

This sketch of Einy is actually the front of my bf's valentine's day card.  We are sometimes dorky-cute like that, but not in an annoying, Zoey Deschanel kind of way. 

At the Christmas tree farm

In an effort to both avoid the shopping rush and utilize the spare hands lingering around the house post-Thanksgiving, my Mother uses Black Friday as the day to cut down her Christmas tree.  And since my mini tree usually comes from the not-so-scenic Home Depot parking deck, I took the opportunity to tag along and take some photos of my native land, while lending minimal help to actually finding and cutting a tree. 

Glittery votive holiday candle holders

Who doesn't want to add a little sparkle to their holiday? The answer is no one.  These glitter covered candle holders are pretty enough to give to friends and family, but casual enough to give to that person who you aren't sure is getting you a gift, but if they do you don't want to be left with nothing for them.  Plus they're easy and quick to make!

DIY Anthropologie-style paper trees

While in Anthropologie a few weeks ago I saw this paper pine tree among the holiday decor, and then went home and recreated my own version.  This cute, antique style tree makes a great decoration or gift and can be used through the entire winter.  Read on to see how to create your own.  

A New Year's Wedding

In order to avoid Christmas overload, here's a New Year's wedding invitation.  I made these for some friends of mine who wanted a festive party feel to their invitations, since we'll be poppin' bubs and dancing 'til the world ends.

They were printed on pearl linen paper, which has a gorgeous shine and sparkle to it that unfortunately doesn't photograph well.  They were then mounted on black card stock and put into gold envelopes.  The bride even added some extra sparkle by adhering a few little jewels to the firework centers (not shown).  I'm really happy with they way they turned out and I can't wait to celebrate the big day!

The full set

Close up of invitation

Close up of RSVP

Another card from Christmas past

Here's another card from '09, or maybe even '08, I can't really remember.  This one was designed in Illustrator and screen printed onto a bright white cardstock.

Last year's holiday cards

Since I started this blog last February, I wasn't able to show the process of making my holiday card from 2010.  The design was created in Illustrator, carved into 2 linoleum blocks, and then hand printed.

Slight ink variations. Ah, the beauty of hand printing!

I usually like to go with some warm and fuzzy Christmas lyrics, but nothing that straight up says "Christmas" so that I can send it to my non-Christian friends.  For this year I'm thinking "Tidings of comfort and joy."  And of course I love type, so it'll be very type-centric.  

Suggestions?  Post them in the comments.

Crochet snowflakes are still cool

I'm coming out swinging into the Christmas season and kicking things off with a modern update to an old favorite, crochet snowflakes.

These cute, easy to make snowflakes probably conjure memories of your grandmother's Christmas tree, or that old lady neighbor who would give your family a little ornament as a thanks for putting up with another year of her crochetyness. But in spite of these associations, crochet snowflakes can be fun and fit into the modern home, free of doilies and those strawberry candies. 

I'm pretty new to crocheting (thanks, Pat for teaching me!), so this stuff is still new and fun for me to make.  To add a little twist, I've make a few different snowflakes and attached them together to make garland.  I won't get into the details of how to crochet, there are plenty of tutorials and videos out there, so I'm just going to tell you what I did to make my garland.  There are no less than a million snowflake patterns online so you could seriously do it up.  There's everything from super simple to pull-your-hair-out complex, and I've chosen pretty simple ones.  I'm making three different snowflakes, but the small ones are the same as one of the larger just with one less row, so it is really only two styles.  

Two different large, and one small. 

For the snowflake with the pointed tips in the center of the photo, I'm following this pattern.  For the other large snowflake and the small ones, I'm following this one, which has step by step images so it's great for a beginner.

For yarn I'm using Aunt Lydia's crochet thread size 3 in Iced Bamboo, which has a slight sparkle to it that unfortunately doesn't sparkle as much as I'd like, and a size E4 (3.5mm) J hook.  I want my chain to be pretty snowy so I'm making 4 of each large snowflake and 9 of each small for a total of 17 flakes.  A chain stitch (ch) will make the chain and the snowflakes get attached using a slip stitch (sl). 

Ready to be hung up

The pattern for stringing them goes like this:
Ch 40
*Slip stitch small snowflake, ch 20, sl large snowflake 1, ch 20, sl small snowflake, ch 20, sl large snowflake 2, ch20*
Repeat between * * 4 times
There should be one small snowflake left, sl it on and finish with ch40

Adorn your stairs if you have them

If you like, you can starch the snowflakes so they are stiff, but I prefer to let mine be soft.  They have a great vintage feel and look great draped on a railing or over a mirror (maybe in the bathroom?).  You can make the garland as long, short, big or small as you like by adjusting the number/type of snowflakes or the chain length. Or experiment with different colors and styles.  Plus, since it's not holiday specific, you can admire your creation all winter long!

Trick or Treat

Fall Palettes

It's finally starting to cool down here in the Northeast and we're finally getting to experience my favorite thing about fall: the colors.  So while at a garden center this weekend (ok, it was really a pumpkin patch), I found myself lost in a sea of mums, the flower that flanks everybody's doorway.  It was a beautiful sight, and an inspiration for seasonal 2 color palettes.

The first picture, they almost look like heads of cauliflower.

The palette, warm and comforting shades.

Squashes and cranberries

This image is a little sharper and lighter.

As a result, the palette is a little cooler and brighter. 

Crisp and cheery

You can incorporate all the shades of the season into your wardrobe, decorating, and cooking!  Once November hits, things start to get depressing, so get out and enjoy all the beautiful Fall colors while you can!

Halloween is approaching

A few years ago I made these Halloween cards and recently came across them in the closet while switching out my summer clothes. They are collaged out of patterned scrapbook paper, as I am surprisingly not into scrapbooking but I love those big tear off books of paper. Maybe this year I'll actually send them!