Summer Printables from Oh Happy Day!

Happy July!  Oh my this summer is flying by quickly!  Since I don't get "summer vacation" anymore, summer is not as awesome, though the weather is somewhat a bit nicer.  (Until the SF summer fog rolls in...)

Oh Happy Day has a lot of craft ideas, but my favorite is the one Amy Moss shared on Oh Happy Day last week!



(Source)

She also provides a version with "Happy Summer" printed on the popsicles, ice creams, and watermelon slices.  I just printed out a sheet of these - though I don't have a clear purpose for them yet!  Perhaps some cards to send to people!  I also like the ideas she shares for using them as part of the wrapping or packaging for presents.  I'll be sure to report back if I do something cool with them.

Hop on over to Oh Happy Day to download the Summer Printables!

What would you use them for?

Lord of the Rings Inspired Graduation Gifts

My one and only cousin (yes, I only have one!) graduated from college last month!  :)  I made her a two-colored puffy ribbon lei, just like the one I made my brother, but in her school colors.  Turns out Michael's doesn't have a maroon colored ribbon in the same texture/size as the yellow, 50 cents a spool for 3 yards kind.  It was slightly wide, half sheer (WHAT, WHY?!) and $1.50 a spool for like 1.5 yards.  MADNESS.  Which is why I spaced it out the way I did.  I think it turned out okay.  :)

 

And apparently it is not the thing to wear leis at graduations in Minnesota... so she didn't even wear it afterwards!  Though she did bring it and took pictures for OUR SAKES... but... still.   {sniffles}  My mom made her the other spiral lei.

 

My cousin and her mum!

 

For instructions on how to make the puffy ribbon lei, visit Penga's blog and see here for tips from me!

 

 

 My cousin is a huuuuuuge Lord of the Rings buff!  Like seriously, knows all the lines and watches the extended versions of the movie for fun.  Multiple times.  haha.  So while this is sort of Hobbit-y, it's kind of all the same to me.  :)  So I made her a card of Bilbo's house!  I was inspired by this on Pinterest.

 

I don't really have instructions or a tutorial since... I just made everything by hand!  I used the one I saw on Pinterest as a guide, especially since the only thing I knew was that Bilbo has a round door for his house.  I freehand cut the door parts/layers and grass.  The flowers were made with a paper punch I got from Daiso.  :)  Tim helped me draw the woodgrain on the door.  I would've liked to include a fence (as in the one Pinterest had) but I felt like it would've covered up my door too much.  And it would've been more intricate cutting I didn't want to do.  :oP

On the inside... I used a Hobbit-esque font!  It's actually called Bilbo Hand from dafont.com.  On the left I wrote a message and on the right, Tim helped me find this graduation-relevant LOTR quote!  It says:

 

"It's a dangerous business Sharon

Going out your door

You step onto the road

And if you don't keep your feet

There's no knowing

Where you might be swept off to."

On the back I put "Condon Productions" since it was a joint effort.  :)

I couldn't find an envelope big enough for the card, so I just used a brown paper bag I had.  It fit perfectly, actually.  :]

Sealed it up with an owl sticker!

 

I got her this LOTR-inspired "Prince and Lady of Ithilien" necklace from Etsy since Éowyn is her favorite character, I think.  :)  And of course, there was also a monetary gift since... those are the best, right?  ;)

 

 

 Do you ever do themed gifts?  What was your favorite graduation present?

                                               

Valentine Cards 2013: Teacup!

Valentine's Day crafts! Sorry didn't get to post these before Valentine's Day, but that was partly due to the fact that I made some of them the night before. :) And some inspiration struck while I was standing in front of the candy at Target. The night before. :oP

 

I made two kinds of Valentine's for friends/coworkers and a book Valentine for Tim! Today, I'll cover the first one I made today.

 

 

The first Valentine was a "teacup" with a teabag. This was originally inspired to be sent to my college friends in LA. When we lived in the dorms, we would have "tea parties" together in the evenings. (The wild, wild college kids we were.) :oP So I was thinking we could have a "virtual tea party" since three of them are in Southern California and one of them plus myself are in Northern California. :)
 

(Source)

 

This Martha Stewart teacup valentine was my inspiration. I think I could've jazzed mine up a bit, but I used what I had and people seemed to enjoy them. :) I also drew some red hearts floating next to the teabag, so it wasn't as boring as it looks here.

 

The base was white cardstock and a pink piece of piece

I free-handed the teacup and then traced a few copies to cut out by hand, since I don't have those fancy-pants shape cutter machines. ;)

 

I'm usually worried that glue will come loose later on, so I used double sided tape to adhere everything together.

 

TIP!  Before gluing/taping the teacup down, place a teabag inside, and then press down around the edges of the teacup!  That ensures there's enough space to insert the teabag.

 

Did you make Valentines this year?

                       

Pinterest

I dids it. I held off for SO. LONG. But I did it.

I joined Pinterest. :)

I knew that I would love it. And I knew I would probably spend too much time on it, which is why I've been holding off on joining! But I had dinner with a friend a few weeks back who was totally selling it for me. (As if I needed too much help thinking it was fabulous.) :) I've really enjoyed it because... I have hundreds of bookmarks for crafts and recipes, AND... a million random email drafts with random links to "cool stuff"! So I've been transferring all these random links and deleting all these drafts. It's been great. :)

I have also had to enact some NO PINTEREST DAYS, to help prevent too much time lost. :oP

Here are some of my favorite pins for Valentine's Day!  (It's not too early to start planning, right?)  Some of these I pinned from things I've found online and others I've re-pinned.

 

Source: diycraftyprojects.com via GoodRecipesOnline.com on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Alvina on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Alvina on Pinterest

Source: blog.makezine.com via Alvina on Pinterest

Come be my friend!

So are you on Pinterest?  Is it a worst time sucker than Facebook?  What are some of your favorite things to pin?  Recipes?  Random funny things?  Clothes?
                       

rising table

We need a coffee table.  This one would be space efficient.  :D  And awesome.

(Source)

          

swirl bookcase

(Source)

LOVE!!!!

        

onesies for Jade

So we got baby Jade (or her parents?) a ducky hooded bath towel plus these onesies I made.  :)  They were all iron ons like from here!

Her daddy's a med student and her mommy's a nurse practicioner.  Appropriate, I'd say.  :D

Her daddy had taken to calling her Katana (as in the Japanese sword)  :D

This one is slightly like a previous one for Nevan but makes more sense now!  As in soccer + jersey makes a little more sense than a ducky + jersey.  o_O  ALSO, her parents both played a lot of soccer when they were younger!

I also made them this print and put it in a white frame.  To go with the ninja theme.  :D

                           

This was too much fun.  Common'.  Someone else have a kid!  And... go!  ;]

                                     

word maps

I love maps. Design. And cities. So you'll see why I love these!

Look it's SF!  But wait... lets get a closer look....

The streets are made of their street names in words!!!  (Source)

SF will always be my favorite city and it's extra special since I'm far away from it!  I LOVE this one extra since it's letterpress and mono-colored.  However, it's $95!  There's a print for $30 but it's multi-colored and I'm not as huge of a fan of that one as this.  I actually found out about this when my boss ordered two of the letterpress (one in black and one in blue) and got them shipped to the office, and she let me oogle over them.  :]

There's also one for Boston (as well as NYC, Wash DC, and Chicago):

(Source)

Boston is now my second favorite city and current home, so there is extra love for Boston as well.  :]  It would make for a great souvenir when we move back West?  hahah.

And today a friend posted this site, Transprtnation on my FB wall:

(Source)

(Source)

I think the Boston one looks more interesting, and it's more relevant to me since I take it almost everyday!  (The SF one is so... boring!)  I kiiiinda feel like it's sort of a knock off of the previous street-name-word for streets but in this case for transit.  But it's a neat spin and a transportation/design geek would love this.  (Easy gift at $25 a pop!)  :]

Do you like maps?  Design?  And cities?
                             

cityscape

Found some really cool typographic bowls/tumblers at Target for SF and NYC!  I'll have to get 'em off my camera sometime.  But in the meantime, I found these on Target.com.  How cool are they?!  I happen to love cityscapes and skylines a lot, so I think they're extra awesome.  :-D

Cityscape Pillo - Dude, just $10!  (Source)

 Cityscape Shower Curtain - $15 (Source)

I might lobby for the pillow if I saw it in-store but at the same time, it wouldn't be a very need-based purchase!  (Trying not to buy things we don't need?  A good life philosophy.)

                                                        

baby love

I sometimes think I studied the wrong kind of "planning" in school cause party planning is just too. much. fun!  :-D  Themes, color schemes, snacks and drinks, games and presents!  I don't think anyone who would know about this read this blog so I think I can safely say that me and a friend are in the works of planning a surprise baby shower!  The shower will be in October so there is still a bit of time between now and then.

We are thinking of going the Evite route since most of the guests will be young and computer savvy, and this will save a few bucks.  They had one or two cute baby shower designs for girls but I wanted something that would tie in with our theme of pink, brown, and white polka dots!  :-D  I've been working on a simple design and I will share when it is finished!

But in the mean time I went browsing on minted.com and this one just popped out at me off the screen and hugged me:

(Source)

I kinda just love it a lot  :]  It's also just so HAPPY.  I like that's it bright, cheery, and really pretty gender neutral.  In fact, I can even see it as a wedding invite!  I love how the bubbles of love are crowding each other because there is just so much love.  :-D
                               

micke desk

Tim thinks I need a desk.  I use the dining table as my desk.  :]

Perhaps this one would be suitable!

Ikea Micke Desk - white/orange (Source)

Kinda modernly artsy fartsy.

                                             

Baby gifts!

Baby gifts for other people of course.  :oP

My pastor back home, his lovely wife (who did the girls' hair for our wedding), and our flower girl Haley (who's like way bigger now!) just had a new baby boy!  So my latest project was this!

I thought about it and in hindsight realized a football (since the dad loves football) would've been more appropriate with the "jersey" onesie than ducky, but... ducky was what I had.  (And ducky seems child friendly!  :oP)

Can you see where our inspiration came from?  :-D

It was all just a blank onesie and some iron-on transfer sheets.  Much like the totes I made my bridesmaids.  :]  Design.  Print.  Cut.  Iron "canvas" (in this case, a little green onesie).  Iron.  And voilà!  :D  (If it's a shirt, make sure you wash and dry your it first so it's pre-shrunk.)

Remember not to use steam!

With the iron-on transfers!  Let cool before you peel off.

Ta-da!!  :]

I've been working on a few more designs that may make their debut with whoever has a child next.  GO!  :oP

            

                                                      

fun find: thank you card designs

I was looking for an example of argyle when I stumbled on this page of free downloadable thank you card designs!  Pretty cute ones too.  AND... it says, "Card designs are set up to print on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper.  The cards will print two to a page, simply cut the page in half  (no trimming around the edges necessary!)"... which all just means less work for you!  Whoo!  Formatting and spacing things can take so much time sometimes.

There are 8 designs and here at a few I liked:

Kind of really busy... kind of really cool...

(Source)

Go here to see the rest of the designs and to download the files (PDF).

                        

likes of the day

Saw this on Mrs. Pashmina's post about wavy hair, and it's orginally from Style Me Pretty.  But it was the simple but awesome invite in the middle picture that caught my eye!

I love cities and cityscapes and skylines.  Their other pictures are also nice.  :oP  (Source)

Thought this cup from Starbucks is really cute!  The Starbucks that is closest to work is like... the slowest Starbucks ever so I usually have a few minutes to let my eyes wander over to the "products"/sale section.... before they wander over the pastry case... before I have to make eye contact (it's a nice human courtesy thing to do, right?) with the barista.

I may pick it up.  After Valentine's Day.  :-P  (Source)

I also love people who give me Starbucks giftcards (two for Christmas!) and feed my coffee addiction.  :oP  And at $1.62 for a tall coffee (silly tax), those giftcards last awhile!  Once in awhile I'll splurge on a mocha.  Or latte.  But seriously, one of those equal two days worth of coffee!

              

ACDC's annual report

Besides the slow posting due to Thanksgiving last week, this has also been what has been keeping me busy at work for the past month of my life.  :] 

Well... the front and back cover of a 24 page annual report at least!  You might be bored to death if I posted the entire thing.  :-P  (Unless you are interested in real estate development in affordable housing and what we've done this past year!)  But if you insist on reading it (or at least looking at the pictures) I can email you the PDF!  It was definitely the biggest design project I've worked on... that wasn't just for my own entertainment.  If I had more time and such, I would make it cooler.  hahah.  But as it is, I do stuff and other people approve.  And there was the whole deadline thing of getting it in time for our annual meeting & dinner last night.  (Where I finally got to hold it in my hands in print!)  The report is nothing spectacular, design wise, but I'm pretty proud of it.  Perhaps that is the case with anything you spend a month nursing!

Now I'm off to edit a bunch of pictures I took from said annual meeting.  How do you fix too-bright flash?!

Ah!  I still have to post about my Thanksgiving/Fall cards!  And of course, I was going to go boot shopping today but the sky decided to rain.  {shakes head}  And my Gmail background decided to show it's SNOWING.  (Which is not true.)