Home-made Holiday

Feeling a little more crafty than usual this holiday season when it comes to your gift-giving?  Like I said in yesterday's post, it focused on more of the store-bought items.  These below take a little more time, but a great result in the end when you see the person's face when they receive that home-made gift.

Check out this link here to make these yummy hot chocolate truffles.  I think these are great for that person that loves to stay in when it's cold and snuggle up next to the fire.  The truffles can be frozen until you're ready to enjoy them.  Just place in a mug with milk and heat away!  For gifting you can place several truffles in a cute Christmas mug, wrap in clear plastic and tie with a ribbon.  

Gift Basket.  But how is this home-made you say?  With all the thought into compiling a person's favorite things, shared memories or common items that they've been wanting, it's a great way to show someone that you care and love 'em. This website has so many wonderful gift giving ideas along with free printables, see link here.  If you have a friend who loves movies, create a movie night basket: popcorn cups, candy, DVD, theater gift card, popcorn, blanket or whatever else you want to add!  

How sweet is this?  If you like to give custom scrapbooks, why not make one with a twist? 

Dabney Lee makes these super cute and trendy phone cases.  This is an awesome customizable gift, a little on the pricey side but my goodness aren't these gorgeous iPhone cases?  They are also available on some blackberries.

This was a great idea I found at Clover Lane Blog.  A custom cookbook that hold your family's favorite recipes and favorite photos.  Kind of a recipe scrapbook.  This project you might have to give someone next Christmas, in order to compile your favorite recipes and photos, but I thought this was a wonderful idea.  Make one for your family, but I think grandparents would enjoy it as well!  We have a few cookbooks from local churches and organizations, but this cookbook is all about you and what your family loves to eat! I hope to do this one day and can pass this on to my children.

Today is my last work day of the week, hooray!  Tomorrow I'll be preparing the house for the holidays and maybe helping my dad clean out the basement storage that is full of stuff from high school/college/childhood!  I hope everyone has a fabulous Turkey Day!

Misadventures of Costume Making

Last night began the costume making adventure! So far, so good.  One can only hope.  I found a great and easy tutorial thanks to YouTube.

 I bought 2.5 yards of fabric on sale at Joann's and from my fabric I cut the three pieces of fabric I needed.  The video showed me the sizes of pieces, I drew the shapes in CAD then my hubby plotted them off so I could just lay it over the fabric and cut.  Now if you do not have drafting equipment like us, you can just measure with a ruler and chalk out the pieces then cut.  Tonight I will sew (and it isn't a lot of sewing, thank goodness) and add the ribbon lining around the edge.  I will let you know what it turns out like! 

Can you believe it's dry clean only! Cute and comfy though!

Underneath I'm just going to wear this cornflower blue prairie looking dress I have from Old Navy.  And super cute boots.  I also found a glossy black basket from Goodwill for 0.50! Score. I can't wait to see what my guests are coming dressed up as!  For the hubby's costume we decided on an Occupy Wall Street Participant.  Since he is really into politics and is passionate about it (not protesting, but politics) we thought it would be fun and something he is interested in debating about.  I love Halloween!

Boo Time

It's Halloween Week! And now that I am what I call "an official adult" (not sure what that means, but after I got married I all of a sudden felt a lot more grown up) although I don't necessarily act like one sometimes. I have decided to have a Halloween Party!  Costumes are mandatory of course! I am debating on who/what to be.  My favorite that I have come up with is Red Riding Hood.  With recent movie release, heroine is brunette (usually), and it just sounds comfy to wear a cozy cape instead of a binding Halloween getup.  Smurfette was another that I thought of, with the movie coming out and everything (but I just don't look that good in blue).  So after much debate and inner struggle I have decided that Red Riding Hood would be best for me and Hudson can be my Big Bad Wolf (I asked the hubby and the offer was quickly declined).  

pretty

 Now to make a cape.  And hopefully I can find a pretty prairie girl dress like the one above.

As for the hubby, working on it.

I am however quite talented thanks to one of my best friend's help.  My friend Brittany taught me to sew and thanks to her I have been able to make some great costumes! For a few years we stuck to Will Ferrell characters.  We were actually on our honeymoon in Hawaii last Halloween so we didn't partake in the celebration last year, but here are some looks at past Halloweens. 

Octomom! 2009

Zoolander. 2008.  I made this suit but in red and Britt was Mugatu.  I can't find the pictures though!

Blades of Glory, 2007! This was a lot of sewing and my first crafted costume!

It's all in the details.  See the headband!

In 2006 Brittany made an amazing Ricky Bobby jumper, I was Chaz from wedding crashers and our friend Shayna was Elf.  We were a Will Ferrell Trio, so much fun!  Looking forward to getting back into costume making! Hope I didn't forget how to sew, hopefully it will be like riding a bike.  Happy Wednesday!

Initial Here

It's a comeback and everyone is talking about it.  Monograms that is.  When I was in high school I got my monogrammed necklace, earrings, ring and bracelet set.  I was so excited when they arrived.  Then in the beginnings of college it was monogrammed totes, then the trend sort of went away.  I still wear my classic monogrammed jewelry, even though my initials have now changed.  But there are beautiful classic staples and work well, especially when needing to dress preppy for certain events here in Lexington. 

My mother gave me this on my birthday and I love it!

Necklace Pendants

I really love the rings

Great gift!

But the designs and creativity have advanced and are now better than ever.  One particular online store, Marley Lilly can monogram almost anything your little heart can think of!  Scarves, Jewelry, IPad and IPhone Cases.  I'm already thinking of some great Christmas gifts for family and friends this year!

Check out www.marleylilly.com

Me and My Shadow

One of my projects accomplished from this past week off was to create silhouettes of me and my family.  I had already owned some unused framed and matted artwork that desperately needed to be replaced.  I used vinyl wallcovering samples for backgrounds to add texture and depth to the silhouettes and basic charcoal paper for the cut-outs.  Overall this homemade art project cost me under $7, not too shabby.  So, if you would like to create your own the steps are easy and you'll love the end result.

First step is painfully obvious, take profile pictures of your subjects.  If you are doing multiple silhouettes like me, you should stand at the same distance for all the profiles so when printed the heads are scaled appropriately.  After you are satisfied with the pictures taken, print to the size you wish the silhouettes to be.  Cover the pictures with tracing paper and using a pen draw over the profile (see picture below).  This may take a rough draft or two, I kept messing up around the nose for some reason.  Small details like hair and eyelashes are very important and add a great amount of character to these.

My husband was a great sport.

 Then staple the perimeter of the trace to the silhouette paper of your choice so that it is secure.  To cut use either scissors or an exacto knife (I preferred an exacto knife, but I have a lot of experience cutting strange angles with these).  And after this step you have your actual silhouette.  Now you can display it however you choose: whether you mount the silhouette on a brightly patterned cardstock or attach it to classic white that is your decision.  I covered the pictures with black paper that I currently had surrounded by white matting and then covered that with textured white wallcovering (leaving a black border) and finally attached my silhouette before inserting it into the frame.  See below for final picture.

Voila.

However, I did not put all three in one frame.  Far too busy, each person gets there own (I guess I'm not one for sharing, OCD "Only Child Syndrome").  I was extremely pleased with the final result.  Happy Monday!

The Show of the Century, Part Duex

Since I just showed my story and idea behind our Save-The-Dates, I thought it would be appropriate to continue this by talking about my reception extras.  The ticket theme continued at the wedding once the guests arrived for the cocktail hour in the pre-function space. 

Backstage Pass, where all the action happens

I designed both the Save-The-Dates and the Access Passes on Adobe Illustrator.  I had the Save-The-Dates printed through a local supplier, but I decided to print the Access Passes myself using my at-home printer.  Using a hole punch at the top of the passes, my Maid Of Honor and I tied ribbon (0.69 cents a roll from Big Lots!) to each one of them!  One of the great things about these items was that they were black and white, saved a ton of money.  They had the look we wanted and gave guests all the information that they needed.  These clever little suckers told guests their assigned tables and where parking validations were available.  Not to mention a cute little souvenir if they are feeling sentimental.  A ton of the guests, including myself wore them around their necks like Backstage Passes.  The passes for the bridal party read their first name except for Bride, Groom, M.O.H. (for Maid of Honor) and Best Man to give these special people a special touch.

Another detail we added to give our love of music to the mix were the party favors, sunglasses!  Once the guests had received their backstage pass, enjoyed the cocktail hour they still were not allowed into the grand ballroom.  Once the doors opened and the guests matched their passes to their table, tucked into their dinner napkins were a pair of wayfarer sunglasses (not Ray Ban's, we are not made of money).  

Shady Surprise.

All the guest donned their shades with an attitude and helped us dance the night away.  Needless to say, they were a great hit.

My future is so bright, I gotta wear shades.

And as the ballroom grew darker and the drinks were going down smoother we started knocking out the lenses so we could see what we were doing.  Not to mention pulling off some fantastic hipster looks!  

My good friend K, who doubles as a nerd.

 It really ended up being such a personal touch for us and the guests!  We could not have asked for a more perfect celebration!

The Show of the Century, Part Un

One very special thing that my husband and I share is our love of music.  Some might call us "music snobs", but I just would say we have more taste than others.  I'm only joking! Calm down people!  But in all seriousness we do love it, I used to be the concert queen and Keith loves to play the guitar (although the busier life gets the less time he gets to play).  I have talked before about my custom designed invitations by moi, but we also designed our own Save-The-Dates.  Playing on our love of music our Save-The-Dates emulated concert tickets! 

We really are rock stars.

At first we wanted to send a ticket to each individual person who was invited versus one to each party.  Then we thought...that is a lot of tickets. So we opted to send one ticket to each party we invited.  The tickets contained the date, venue and our website so guests could learn more about the wedding and the couple.  I was really happy with the result of the tickets.  We also continued this rock-n-roll theme in other ways through details in our reception which I will share very soon!  Happy Monday!

My invitations, yum.

Homemade Hallmark, Part Deux

Just sharing yet another custom made card for a friend's birthday.  I love that fact that they don't take an absorbent amount of time, money or energy.  I, and admit most do, can spend tons of time in front of the card display trying to find THE perfect card.  I don't know why I haven't been doing this for years already, I can personalize everyone's event and who doesn't like a handwritten note?  Nowadays it's nostalgic and cozy, I mean compared to text or email. Enjoy!

Front Cover: together we made duct tape dresses, they were fab.

Front Cover: I always yell her name very obnoxiously.

Homemade Hallmark, Part Un

Most of my friends I have come to realize, do not live in the same state or town as me.  This is a crazy notion! But I am working on my keeping in touch skills more and more everyday, it really is hard work.  One of my best friends lives in Nashville and for her birthday I decided to make her a personal card for her birthday to send my love and birthday wishes.  I included inside jokes that only her and I share and this created a birthday card frenzy and I just had to continue it with more of my friends.

They are fun to make and great to show your care and bring back memories to one another.  I just used scrap paper, paint pens and black drawing pen. 

Front Cover. Cheese Moon, inside joke.

Inside. Harry Caray, inside joke.

By Invitation Only

Photo: Designing Fate Original, please ask for permission to use

One of my passions is graphic design.  I always think about going back to get my masters in graphic design, but the thought of school is so overwhelming.  Maybe one day.  But I will tell you one thing, after my husband proposed I absolutely knew that I was going to custom design our wedding invitations. The shades of the green and purple were taken from paint swatches so that they matched exactly.  Control freak? Perhaps, but there is nothing wrong with seeking perfection.  Take a look at the reception information card, map and RSVP card.  All designed by moi using Adobe Illustrator.

Photo: Designing Fate Original, please ask for permission to use

Photo: Designing Fate Original, please ask for permission to use

Photo: Designing Fate Original, please ask for permission to use