Loving Polka Dots

Happy Monday - welcome to another week!  I hope you all had a great weekend! I re-painted our main floor bathroom, it was quite the project but I am SO happy that I did it!  More to come on that project soon...

I thought I would kick off the week with something I'm loving lately - Polk Dots!!  I keep seeing them everywhere and love how they look, especially on stationary and accessories.  I decided to create some of my own polka dots - it's so easy to get creative with them - they go with anything!

Here is a look at some of my polka dot creations!

Envelopes...

Greeting Cards...

Journal...

Place mats... I found this idea and tutorial from The Small Things Blog.

Secretly, I would love to have my own greeting card and accessory line... an etsy shop might be as close as I  get someday! :)

These polka dots are so easy to DIY!  All you need is a pencil eraser and an ink pad or craft paint!

Have fun!!

Easy Valentine's Day Card Ideas

Some say that Valentine's Day is a "Hallmark Holiday."  If that's the case, why not make your own Valentine's Day cards for the ones you love?! :)  Here are a few easy Valentine's Day card ideas to tell your sweetheart just home much you love them!

1} A Best Friend

8 1/2" x 11'

Fold a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 white cardstock in half and trim it to a width of 4" so it fits in a standard envenlope.  I layered scrapbook paper to create the Valentine's day theme and finished it with a friendship message from a Stampin' Up rubber stamp set.

This card fits in a standard envelope.

2} Love You

4" x 6"

I love how simple this message is.  I used letter stamps to create this card but if you don't have rubber stamps you can easily use stickers or cut out letters from magazines!

3} For You

5" x 5"

Inside message: "I was thinking you could keep it!"

This is my favorite card of the three!  It's so sweet and perfect for a new love or a long-time love.

If you can use a pair of scissors, you can easily make this card.  Take yourself back to elementary art class and use the skills you learned to cut out a paper heart and find letters from magazines.  The message for the inside of the card can be printed from the computer or hand written.  Glue the card together with a glue stick and you have the perfect Valentine's Day message.

I hope these ideas help you create your own "Hallmark Holiday" and show the ones you love how much they mean to you!

Beth

It's A Girl!

GOT YA!! For some of you, I bet you had to read this post because the title completely caught you by suprise and you had to figure out what was going on!  No, I did not and am not planning to have a baby.  Maybe someday, but not any time soon...

However, our good friends in northern Iowa just had their first baby, a girl, named Riley Jo.  And, because I love giving gifts you better believe we mailed them one right away.  I am pretty proud to say that I actually made the majority of their gift (if you count items and not $$ because we did give them a Target gift card.) Some of you might think I am crazy for spending time on this stuff because it is SO MUCH easier to go out and buy something but that's definitely not as fun when you want to give a unique or personalized gift.

Here is what I made.  It's not much (that's why they got a gift card) but it was fun! :)

I love making greeting cards!  I do a lot of rubber stamping and use a lot of Stampin' Up products.  Making cards is something I do to relax.  Not to mention it saves quite a bit of money when you consider buying $3.59 greeting cards these days - Ridiculous!  Even though I love making greeting cards my boyfriend, Adam, said I can't make a living do that...

I also do a little bit of sewing- mostly straight lines yet - so I made a burp cloth.   If you can thread a sewing machine you can make one of these.  Just pick out some cute material, sew the material right sides together and then turn it right side out and stitch up the opening.  Very Easy!

This was my favorite part of the gift!  I picked up a cute jar a Hobby Lobby, (usually 50% off every other week), tied a ribbon around it and used my rubber stamps to jazz it up.  You can't see it very well but I filled it with those cheap, plastic, little girl barrets that I found at Target.  It would be cute filled with diaper pins or candy if you wanted to give something simple as a birthday gift. 

Personalized gifts are fun and pretty easy as long as you are willing to put a little more time into them.  If you don't like taking the time to make gifts or don't feel very creative, let me know, I would be happy to make personalized gifts for you to give.

Happy Crafting!!