Christmas in February

There just never seems to be enough time during the holidays! This year, I wanted to make monogram embroidered ornaments for my family inspired by this ornament from September House:

But life got busy as it is prone to over the holidays and by the time I got the supplies it was January. Oh well! Anyway, I haven’t trimmed the edges and added ribbon yet, but you get the idea:

Better than I expected! The pattern came from here (a great resource for anyone interested in cross stitch) and the fabric came from here. I’m obsessed with linen now that I’ve tried it. It’s more expensive than evenweave, but soooo pretty! Also, I recently found out that February is national embroidery month which makes it a great time to start an embroidery project! Here’s some inspiration to get you started:

Lipstick Traces and Bam Pow Hand Embroidery by Sam Gibson via the Hand Embroidery Network

All images by their respective owners.

Making Valentines

I loooove Valentines day! I’ve been making valentines every year since I was a kid and no matter how old I get it never ceases to be fun. However, this year I might have gone a little overboard when I went to get supplies at Daiso:

It’s easy to get carried away at that store. Everything is so cheap and cute!

Strawberry and apple candy are my favorites!

I’m obssesssed with glassine envelopes, especially tiny ones like these:

The rest of the supplies:

I think this is some sort of flash card game? I’m not sure, but I thought the cards were cute!

The most adorable post cards:

I love giving people stationery! I hope it inspires them to write a letter:)

Things got pretty messy:

Remember these? Add some hearts and they’re mini valentines!:)

A mini valentine sealed up with some confetti and little heart buttons:

I like to mix it up:

The glassine envelope goes in the little grocery bags along with some candy and gets sealed with these mini heart clothes pins:

They’re all ready to go! (I had to label them temporarily to keep track of whose was whose)

My boxes are a motley crew:

It’s not too late to send valentines! If you’re stumped as to what to make, here are some great ideas to get you started.

Valentine’s Day Cards

My favorite holiday is approaching! I’ve been seeing some beautiful things drifting around the web. Here are some of my favorites:

I absolutely ADORE Rifle paper! And I’m not alone, via Paper Crave

Something beautiful followed by something snarky. You know just what I like Spark!

Oh man, I wish I could do calligraphy. Leafie Calligraphy

This is more like my handwriting. Only neater. Ice Cream Social Paper

A new fav Bread of Many

I saw these silhouette valentines from Owly Shadow Puppets on the same Paper Crave post and I can’t decide if I love the valentine or the envelope more!

A gorgeous little card within a card! I’m such a sucker. Missive via Oh So Beautiful Paper

It seems everyone is loving the card within a card this year! The inside card is blank for you to write your own message. Sweet Baker

Things That Make Me Happy

Love these Victorian invitations by Angela Liguori

My Lord greeting card by Graphic Dirt

I got these EXACT cards for Christmas from my sister! How weird is that?

Personalized Geography lesson letter set by Cutie Pie Company

Don’t you just hate it when you find great holiday cards AFTER the holidays? There’s always next year!

Folksy deer holiday cards by Cutie Pie Company

Invitations by Bread of Many

Paper keys note set by Bread of Many

Rad card by Design des Troy

via Modish: the blog

Merry Christmas card set by Design des Troy

A seriously bad ass calendar by Dirty Bandits

Via Design Work Life

Christmas is in the details

Before everyone opens their presents tomorrow, I wanted to share a few of my favorite decorating ideas. I never have a problem getting inspired, it’s picking one decorating scheme and staying with it that I find difficult! I’m a very lazy DIYer, so I always try and keep it as simple as possible. Last year, I printed out the first letter of everyone’s name in different fonts and glued it to a bit of spare wrapping paper. They make great easy gift tags and add a bit of graphic interest:

This year, I decided to use these gold foil thingies (I’m not sure what their official name is) that I bought at Castle in the Air as extra decoration/adornment:

And that’s a wrap! Happy Holidays everyone!

Renegade Holiday Round Up

I just got back from the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair in San Francisco and I wanted to show you all what I got!

Pie Bird Press has always been a favorite of mine, not only because they make the most gorgeous letterpress cards that look like paintings, but also because they have great extras like this favorite customer ribbon. So cute!

I love discovering new talent! Power and Light Letterpress may not be new to the rest of the world, but they’re new to me. I picked up this quirky little card at their booth and I can’t wait to send it!

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love a sale, especially when it’s less-than-perfect/experimental cards that didn’t quite make the cut. That’s why I picked up these four cards at Two Guitars. And it was hard to narrow it down to these four. Believe me.

Paper Pastries had the most adorable booth! Everything was pastel and they had a 25 piece stationery set that I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy, but was sorely tempted by. I ended up taking this “I left my heart in” card home for a friend and now it ocurs to me that I should have bought one for myself!

Krank Press had some adorable little card sets that required much heming and hawing before I decided on this rainbow “thank you” card.

One thing I love about craft fairs is that you can get things that aren’t available online! I saw these neighborhood posters by Ork Posters a little while ago on one of the many blogs I read and lamented the fact that I couldn’t get a San Francisco one due to lack of wall space. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that they turned some of their damaged neighborhood posters into greeting cards and were selling them.

All in all it was a great turnout. Lots of new people and some great finds from my old favorites. In my upcoming travels, I hope to make  it to some of the other Renegade’s in either Chicago or Brooklyn and see what they have to offer. If they’re anything like the last three in San Francisco have been, I’m sure it’ll be worth the trip!

Holiday Wreaths

Making a holiday wreath has become my own personal tradition (does two years in a row count as a tradition?). Wreaths are about as complicated as I like to get with my DIY, but  this wreath was definitely worth it. The example:

And here’s mine:

I did a few things differently. I used a hardback instead of a paperback which gives it more of a sculptural quality due to the heavier paper. I also added a little bit of gold glitter to the antiquing process because glitter makes everything better. However, anyone who attempts this project be warned: use a book that’s 200 pages or more! She mentions that you’ll need a long(ish) book in the instructions, but I foolishly did not read that part and ended up substituting pages from a paperback (which are much lighter) in order to finish the center. Oh well! Perfection be damned, I think it turned out well. If you’re looking for something a little bit easier or you have a fear of hot glue, I’d definitely take a swing at the paper leaf wreath I made last year. Here’s the example:

And here’s mine:

Here’s a few more I’m thinking about attempting next year.

Felt:

And pom poms!

Via Paper Crave and Design*Sponge

Paper book wreath tutorial by Living with Lindsay

Paper leaf wreath tutorial by The Red Thread

Felt wreath tutorial by Domestifluff

Pom pom wreath tutorial by Bluebird Vintage

Santa Silhouette Cards

I originally wanted to make a holiday version of the security stamp postcards I created for the paper swap for the holiday card swap, but my computer is badly in need of a replacement and so I went analog instead.

I turned to my old favorites: silhouettes and office supplies. I can’t wait to send these out!

Ph Design Shop

I went to Houston a week or so ago and stumbled across PH design shop while I was there. What a great little store! I just wrote them a glowing review on Yelp because I thought that some of the reviews were a bit off putting and didn’t reflect the marvelous selection of great designers they have. Here’s what I bought:

Anyone who’s ever met me knows how much I love a good letter set and this set my heart a flutter. (No pun intended). Five beautifully designed sets of paper and envelopes and a nifty little box to store them in by Grady McFerrin. (Top image by Ph Design Shop, bottom image by yours truly-forgive my atrocious photography skills!)

It took much self restraint not to buy absolutely everything by Linda & Harriett including their gorgeous 2010 calendar. (Beautiful colors. Simply stunning in person). I’m also the biggest sucker for thank you cards because they’re so “practical”. (Image by Ph Design Shop).

I’ve always loved Yee-Haw Industries, but I’ve never gotten a chance to see their stuff in person. This letterpress frame is just gorgeous (I think I may have blogged about it before?) and just had to come home with me.

I have a serious crush on Mr. Boddington’s Studio and on this visit I think I converted my sister to the cult. They’re another brand that I’ve been following for some time, but have never seen their work (or their occasion cards) in person.

Last but definitely not least, I found these lovely holiday cards by Parisian based artist Nathalie Lete produced by Paper Prince. They’re are another example of paper goods I love, but can’t find anywhere on the web. It’s also precisely why I come to small boutiques like Ph Design shop.

There was more (so much more!) that I wanted to buy and blog about, but somehow I managed to only come home with the above. Suffice it to say, if they were to open a branch in the SF bay area, I’d be a regular customer!

Brooklyn Bride’s Annual Holiday Card Swap

Anyone who did my paper swap will love the holiday card swap hosted by Brooklyn Bride. I just signed up!

Hurry! The deadline to sign up is this Wednesday, November 25!