DIY Tassel Necklaces

If there is one thing I love, it's handmade gifts, and this year, we are all about giving out handmade pretties!  Anna and I spent some time a few weekends ago creating beaded tassel necklaces with charms for her sweet little friends and we just love how they turned out!

Stop by Maggie's blog to see how easy these necklaces are to make! 

Maggie Holmes Design Team: DIY Gift Bags and Money Holder

Homemade gift bags and card holders are so darn fun to make!!  I put these adorable little bags together for my sweet neighbor who just graduated from high school.  Hop on over to Maggie's blog to see more and read about how easy these are to put together!  

Making Merry: Snowball Soup

Anna is full of Christmas magic.  She loves the tree, the sounds, the sights and of course, the presents.  I've really talked with her a lot this year about the real meaning of Christmas, and am trying to instill in her the feeling of "giving".  Giving our time to others, giving money to help out those who are less fortunate, donating gifts and picking Angels from the Angel tree....  She gets it.  She gets the reason behind this amazing season and I couldn't be more proud as a mama.

So when we were talking about gifts for her teachers at school, she immediately insisted that she give out gifts to her classmates, because "it's the season of giving, right momma" (I totally asked for that, right??).   With two days until she's out for Christmas break, I really had to scramble to figure out what we could do.  I mean, who has time to make/wrap/give 25 gifts????  :)

I spent (probably way to much time) on Pinterest and found these super cute little "snowball soup" gifts.  It's nothing more than hot chocolate, candy and a poem, but it's something and it's super cute!  And Anna couldn't have been more excited to put them together.  She stuffed each bag with a big smile on her face talking about how excited her friends were going to be....just the sweetest girl ever.

I know it's last minute, but I thought I would add the poem here just in case anyone else was looking for a quick, last minute gift!  Just right click, save to your desktop and print away!  I printed four to a sheet and then trimmed them out!  Easy peasy!!  

I think they would make great neighbor gifts, class gifts or even family gifts for the little ones!  Who doesn't like hot chocolate, right??  

Happy giving, friends!

Crate Paper: Handmade Embellishments

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that I've been hinting at something fun and awesome coming soon.  I can't quite share everything yet, but I did want to share what sparked this journey for me....

It's these little handmade embellishments...

You can read more about how I created these on the Crate blog today, and in just a few short days, I'll spill the beans on what they inspired!!  Let's just say that I have poured my heart and soul into this adventure and I can't wait to share it with you all!!  In the meantime, enjoy these eye candies...

So....any guesses???

Heidi Swapp: DIY Stenciled & Stamped Gift Bags

This cute little boy went with me to Michaels yesterday to check out the new Heidi Swapp Project Life goodies.  I was so fortunate to be able to play with some of them for Heidi's new release, but I couldn't resist stopping in to buy check out the different kits and products.  Everything is just so flippin' amazing.  I love Heidi's style so much, and the additions to these kits are genius (did you see the camera card???).

I picked up a few little goodies for myself, as well as some for a little giveaway.  And what's a giveaway with a pretty gift bag, you might ask???  

So.... with the help of my two rug rats, I played around with a few muslin bags and some of Heidi's stencils, stamps and mists to create the perfect gift bags!  These bags are sooooo easy to make and are just amazing!  Here's a quick little tutorial for ya!

Grab your stencils, stamps, mists, inks and get messy!!

I used the Heidi Swapp "Stencil Minis", as well as her "I like totally love you" stamp for my bags.  The stencils are 3x4 (sized for Project Life), but are so versatile for other projects.  I also grabbed a few of the new mini Color Shine bottles and my favorite pink shimmer for my mists.

Since the stencils are smaller than the bag, I taped the stencils to the bags with some washi and then lined all sides of the stencil with pieces of scrap paper to completely cover the edges of the muslin bags (leaving only the stencil visible).  A few quick sprays of mist and my bag was finished!

Who wants one of these goodie bags filled with a few new Heidi Swapp Project Life goodies???  I have a bag all packed and ready to be mailed to one lucky friend!  Hop on over to my Instagram and leave a comment to be entered to win!!  

Birthday Gift Bags

Amanda Rydell is one super crafty lady.  I have been inspired by her for quite some time now and I am so honored to work alongside her on Maggie Holmes' Design Team.  She is a breath of fresh air and always comes up with the best ideas....for example...this awesome recycled gift card holder.  Amazing, right?

This little birthday set was inspired by Amanda!  It was so easy and simple to put together and I just love that it is 100% handmade!  My sweet little girl even got in on the action and added a few little bits and pieces to our gift.

I started by adding a few Crate Paper Styleboard rub-ons to a glassine bag.  I love using glassine bags.  They are perfect for adding softness and femininity to layouts and mini albums, and they work especially well for sending cards and small gifts.  The rub-ons worked perfectly with the smoothness of the bags and the pop of gold against the white is just beautiful!

I stamped "happy birthday" using my mini alpha stamps onto an office tag and then added a few paper scraps, glittered tape and a doily to create a small adornment on the glassine bag.  

I used a piece of gold dot kraft paper from the Styleboard collection as my card.  I trimmed it to slide right into the bag and added my message on the backside (which is plain kraft paper).

I included a few small birthday surprises (balloons, candles, notes and a bracelet) in the bag and I popped it right in the mail!!  So easy and perfect!!

diy heart gift bags...

it's officially february.  let the valentine's day crafts begin!!  

i'm kind of obsessed with glitter and hearts....and making crafty videos, so this weekend i made these sweet little heart gift bags for my daughter and son's preschool teachers.  they are so easy to make and oh so cute!  we can't wait to fill them with heart shaped goodies!  :)

here's a quick little video (2 minutes) showing you how super easy they are to make!  i've included some additional notes below, so check those out if you want to make your own!
enjoy!

so fun, right??

some helpful tips:

*the heart template is cut out on contact paper using my silhouette.  you could easily use a heart punch on contact paper.  i set my blade to a depth of 2 and a speed of 2 and double cut my hearts.  contact paper comes with a paper back.  i removed this and placed the sticky back of my contact paper directly onto my silhouette mat.  a super easy way to make a sticky template or stencil.

*after you add your glitter and it dries, apply a second coat of mod podge over the glittered hearts to seal the glitter.  this will keep the glitter from flaking off all over your house.  you can thank me later!  :)

*i used matte mod podge but i'm sure the glossy mod podge would look awesome.

*and yes...i sped the video up quite a bit. i only wish i could work that quickly!

crate paper: i love you gift boxes

nothing says "i love you" like a sweet little gift wrapped in a pretty box.  for valentine's day this year, i am surprising my two kids with these beautiful gift boxes filled with fun treats! i've wanted to start the tradition of using the same boxes each year, and as soon as i saw the "love notes" collection, i knew i could use the papers and embellishments to create gorgeous little boxes.

you can read more about how i assembled these cute boxes on the crate paper blog.

gossamer blue: gift tags

hi and happy thanksgiving to you!!

i'm on the gossamer blue blog today sharing an easy gift tags and bag set that i put together for my sister-in-law using the beautiful november kits.  so easy and so pretty!!  see you there!!

xoxo

diy christmas gifts

i love handmade gifts.  i love making them and love giving them.  i've made my children lots of "special" gifts over the years and i'm looking for some ideas for this year!!

today, i thought i would share some of our favorite handmade gifts.  these are still used frequently in our house, and surprisingly….they are some of my children's favorites.  i've included links to most of these projects, but please let me know if you have any questions!!

family matching and memory game

i spy christmas ornament

fairy garden

felt abc book

do you have any handmade gifts on your "to-do" list??  please link up your ideas here!!  i'd love to see what you are planning to make!!

xoxo