{St. Patrick's Day} LUCKY

Being a HUGE lover of nice stationary and cards of all kinds, I look for any excuse to make and send cute cards of my own. It's especially fun to splash my little-sweet-face-boy all over my creations and send them to his grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins.

I found Dean's "Mr. Lucky" shirt at Kohls a few weeks ago for a steal {and actually had a really cute headband thingy with shamrocks -- BUT -- my husband had to remind me that we actually have a son and not a daughter. Sometimes I get a little carried away ;-}


I also made some really quick and simple St. Patty's address labels to dress up the envelopes. Presentation -- need I say more?

I have TONS of projects I'm working on this month, so stay tuned!

COMING SOON ::
~ A few YUMMY recipes
~ Updated family room pics {sorry -- I've been majorly slacking in this area}
~ Easter/spring simple decorating
~ Craft room wall storage
~ Alisa's bridal shower invites
~ Jake's first holy communion invites
~ CeCe's 1st birthday invites & related party goods
~ Greg & Erin's rehearsal dinner invitations
~ Ella & Tommy's birthday invites & related party goods
~ Daryl, Avery & Ella's bedroom wall art
~ Doug's 50th surprise party invites
~ AND MORE!

**And I thought I was going to be able to relax a little after Dean's party -- LOL!

{Holiday} The Last of the Cards...

My 2010 Holiday Card Collection is DONE! These babies are signed, sealed and delivered as of this morning. I posted my mom's card the other day. Now on to my own cards and my sisters.

Ginger got the boot this year, and instead I went with a simple profile shot of my boy that showed his sweet smile and crinkly little corners of his eyes. I took this picture Thanksgiving weekend because it wasn't terribly cold. He's sitting in front of my garage doors, which I love because they are old, black, wooden doors {you can't really tell in the pic b/c it's B & W}. I was inspired by a picture I saw on gapkids website {you can see it on my left sidebar under Bring on WINTER?!?!} I love that row of smiling faces all dressed in their adorable snow hats and mittens.

I went with the colors dark pink, light blue and of course my favorite, lime, because they popped against the B & W picture. In addition, some different fonts spiced things up a bit. Merry & Bright, one of my favorite holiday sayings, also made an appearance on the card. Lastly, I hand glittered the word bright on each card {not pictured above}. I'm happy with the final product :-}

The wrap labels are also simple and compliment the card design.


There just wasn't time for me to take a picture of Jack and Maura over Thanksgiving, but luckily Bec was able to snap a quick photo at her home in Virginia. I love that Maura girl is smiling :-}

We used some untraditional Christmas colors {red, dark pink, light pink, and light blue}, but I really like the way they look together {NOTE: the dark pink is not as bright in person as it shows in the picture}. Simple snowflakes were also on the card, and yes, I hand glittered those as well. They look adorable, but after glittering 40 of Bec's cards and 70 of mine, well, let's just say I'm over glittering for a while ;-}

Because Bec didn't send an announcement for Maura, she also wanted me to subtly include her birth stats on the Christmas card, so I included those in a small circle at the bottom of the card.

Lastly, we used dark pink envelopes {for Maura}, and I made small return address tags to adhere to the back of her cards. They compliment the snowflake design on her card.

That's it! TGIF ~ Enjoy your weekend!

{Holiday} Christmas Cards

It's been holiday card central in my house this week. Between my mom, my sister and my own cards, it's been a frenzy of designing, printing, cutting, crafting, addressing, adhering, stuffing and stamping! Phew! Almost done. Goal :: ALL cards done and mailed by Friday. I just dropped my mom's cards to her yesterday, so I figured I'd give you a little peek at them.

We used a picture my mom had taken of her home last winter during one of our many snow storms. I tweeked it a little using Photoshop {still LOTS to learn on that front} and added some simple verbage in different fonts, colors and sizes. These were paired with red envelopes.

COMING SOON!
~ Becky's Christmas Cards
~ My Christmas Cards
~ DIY card display
~ Cute gift idea {neighbors, co-workers, etc.}
~ Cookies & Crafts Party {Christmas Eve}
~ 2011 mini desk calendar
~ A few yummy crockpot & casserole recipe{s}
~ Kitchen project {still in the planning stages...ughh!}
~ Craft room wall display {storage solution}
~ Stefanie & Jason's wedding suite
~ Dean's 1st birthday party invitations & party details....NOOOO!

Holiday Cards 2009 - Pink and Green!

These are the Christmas cards I made for myself this year. I put a picture of my puppy, Ginger, on the card. I also include some of the lyrics from Charlie Brown's "O Christmas Tree" because the trees I made kind of remind me of Charlie Brown trees. In retrospect, I wish I had left the lyrics off to make the card look a little more simple, but after printing 54 of them, I decided to just keep them the way they are. Lesson learned - the simpler the better!

I LOVE the look of pretty envelopes with beautiful address lables just as much as I love what's inside the envelope. So, I made little scalloped return address tags for the back of the envelope (cupcake topper design) and rectangular address labels for the front. I had these printed at different times and the colors came out a little differently each time. Second lesson learned - print all pieces in one shot to avoid difference in ink colors!

Christmas Cards!

These are the Christmas cards I made for my mom and sister. My mom really wanted a picture of the entire family from our summer vacation on her card but my brother-in-law Mark wasn't there this summer due to his coaching job at James Madison University. Poor guy was working while we all relaxed on the beach. So, I kept her card picture free. Maybe next year she'll put a pic of me and Becky's little boys on her Christmas card :o)

My sister lives in Virginia, and they had a huge snowstorm about a week ago. My nephew is a tough guy to take pictures of because he is constantly on the go and won't pose for a picture, but Becky was able to snap this cute candid shot of him in the snow. His cheeks are all rosy in the color version of the picture, but the black and white looked better with the colors used on the card. And I love the reindeer on his hat! He's my boyfriend (shhhh....don't tell Bo) :o)