twine and tape

Check out my guest post on Sweet Symphanie where I talk about some of my favorite twine and tape finds.

liv's 1st birthday

Liv turned 1 the day I got back from New York so we stuck a candle in a frozen Otis Spunkmeyer cookie to celebrate. She loved it, but I still wanted to do a little more for her birthday celebration at Sunday dinner. I didn't have much time and was way too lazy to even go to the grocery store (thanks Rachel for supplying more eggs Sunday morning when I ran out!). There are definitely a lot of things I'd like to do better or try in the future. Fortunately, we always celebrate with a porcupine theme for 1st birthdays (it all started with my first birthday and my parents made a chocolate cake with a cupcake head and decorated it with 6-month-old candy corns).

CAKE and CUPCAKES: Chocolate with pink marshmallow frosting. Small individual porcupine cake for Liv; cupcakes for everyone else.

PARTY FAVORS: I had resigned myself to the reality that I just didn't have time or energy to do much for this party. But when I woke up Sunday morning, I once again couldn't stop myself and decided to try making some party favors. I had to come up with something that used supplies I already had at home so I thought of no-bake chocolate cookies turned into little porcupines. In theory, I think the idea could still work - my execution this time around not so much. Next time, I'll buy chocolate kisses to use as the head - chocolate chips were too small so I tried using melting chocolate wafers. I wrapped each chocolate porcupine in a clear bag and attached a die cut pink paper porcupine printed with birthday text.

APPAREL: Pink porcupine shirt for Liv.

THE PARTY: After dinner we sang to Liv. As you can see from the photos she wasn't so sure about the whole thing. Papa pulled her hand away from the cake after she tried to grab it which resulted in lots of tears (no nap that day didn't help either!). Elle stepped in to help blow out the candle and then Liv got to eat the cake all by herself.

We love you Liv. Happy 1st Birthday!

What the L is That?

(image from Envelopments blog)

I've been back from the Stationery Show in NYC for a little over a week and a half now. I think the show went really well, and the product and L brand got a lot of attention and support. There are so many fun products and ideas I want to share with you on the blog.

At the show we were lucky enough to be right across from Envelopments. Envelopments is a great company with fantastic products and even better people (both of my sisters used their products for their wedding invitations). Mark, one of the owners at Envelopments, has been a long time supporter of QuicKutz and the products we create. I've had several opportunities to meet with him and collaborate on new ideas and concepts. He wrote a really nice post about the letterpress on his blog. Check it out and visit their website to see their product line. You'll definitely want to incorporate their products into your next invitation, announcement or event!

busy...

I've been crazy busy getting ready for this. Lifestyle Crafts will be at booth #2558, and I'll be doing one of the show's Daily Demos on Sunday at 2:30. If you're going, be sure to come to the Daily Demo and stop by the booth. I think the National Stationery Show is one of the coolest tradeshows out there. Not only is it held in NYC each year (which I love any chance I get to go back and visit), but it is full of such fun, creative, inspiring products and people. Other than the fact that I've still got a lot to do before the show, I can't wait!

opposite party

This week is this girl's birthday...

We have Sunday dinner at Adam's family every week and celebrate a lot of birthdays with 2 parents, 8 siblings, 6 spouses and 20 grandchildren who regularly attend. Elle's birthday is only one day after her cousin so the plan was to celebrate both birthdays on Sunday. I told myself to keep it simple this year (I don't want to set an expectation for her that she gets a big party every year) and have a cake for her at Sunday dinner and then Pinkalicious cupcakes and dinner on her actual birthday for just our family.

But...I just couldn't stop myself. It became quite apparent I have issues. Friday I called my sister-in-law with an idea to throw an Opposite Party. I thought we could play off an "opposites attract" concept because they were born only one day apart but are opposite in so many ways...he's a blonde/she's a brunette, he's blue-eyed/she's brown-eyed, he's a boy/she's a girl. Luckily, she was on board and I think we pulled off a fun party in basically one weekend. I think it may become a tradition for our Sunday birthday celebration for Elle and Ayden.

Party Invite - sent by email.

Party Favors -

for the boys: gummy worms, gummy fish and candy rocks

for the girls: candy necklaces, candy lipstick, candy rings

Table Decor:

Elle side: pink, girly, flowers, sparkles, white ornate frame with photo, pink dessert plates, pink napkins

(notice the opposite silverware! thanks megan for that added touch)

Table Decor:

Ayden side: blue, boyish, rocks, sticks, simple

silver frame with photo, blue dessert plates, blue napkins

Table Decor:

We made the center of the table between the pink and blue more neutral and added dessert snacks to eat at the table.

silver candlesticks with white candles (big/small)

clear vases filled with chocolate and white opposites

white chocolate and milk chocolate pretzels (dark/light)

yogurt raisins and chocolate raisins (black/white)

hershey kisses and white chocolate chips (big/small)

Birthday Sign:

Happy: big, blue, uppercase letters, print

Birthday: small, pink, lowercase letters, cursive

Elle's Cake:

pink frosting (girl)/chocolate cake (brunette)

cake (round and small)/cake stand (square and big)

white sprinkles (small)

Ayden's Cake:

blue frosting (boy) /white cake (blond)

cake (small and square)/cake platters (round and tall)

white sprinkles (big)

Food (unfortunately only one picture):

The food was served on a variety of white square platters and white round bowls.

pink lemonade (sour)/blue rasberry kool-aid (sweet)

grilled chicken with dipping sauces

buffalo sauce (hot)/ranch (cool)

barbeque (red)/honey mustard (yellow)

peas (small, round)/sweet potato fries (long, square)

sticky white rice scooped into round balls

I printed out opposite words to describe the food, punched them into circles and squares and taped them to the serving dishes. I wish I would have had more time to really make this element better.

Party Outfits: I like our clothes to coordinate. I know it's cheesy but I can't help it. :)

Mom and Dad in blue (Adam had on a yellow tie that morning. When he came home from his meeting he saw our pink and blue and changed his tie to blue without me even asking him. He's learned that the tie must coordinate!) I used one of Adam's ties as a belt because I didn't have anything else blue. It worked great.

Elle and Liv in matching pink dresses with bows.

The two 3-year-olds

The Party Details:

We had dessert first (white ice cream with chocolate sauce)

Usually the mom's get food for the kids and themselves before the men, so we had the dad's get food for the kids and themselves first followed by the women.

Everyone sat on opposite sides/ends of the table from their normal seating place.

chevron rug tutorial

I've hit the baby stage where all food ends up on the floor. I'm getting tired of scraping dried sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, peas and who knows what else off the floor. Adam reminded me we went through this same thing with Elle and at that time I thought about sewing a oilcloth mat for the floor under her high chair. I never found any oilcloth I really liked (it seems a lot easier to find now), but I'm thinking about trying this diy rug/mat option. She painted the design on duck cloth followed by a coat of polyurethane. I love the chevron pattern.

[project] felt business card holder

I made this felt business card holder in January the night before I attended Alt Summit. I wanted something cute that would hold my cards and keep them contained in one spot in my purse.

Future blogger.

diy milk glass

Love this project. White seems to be my color of choice lately and spray paint will always be on the top of my favorite products list.

Found via Lucyisms via Ruffled

[project] puzzles

Elle loves puzzles so I decided to make her a set of puzzles that would be a fun activity for her to work on during one of our meetings at church. They're the perfect size to put together right on top of a hymn book.

If you have a QuicKutz Revolution or Epic tool, I used the 4x4 puzzle die to create each puzzle. However, I'm sure you could create the same concept by just cutting out pieces that fit together.

Print out a photo and cut to 4x4. I just printed mine on plain copy paper so it would be thin enough to cut using my die-cutting tool. Adhere the photo to a thick material like chipboard. I used QuicKutz adhesive-backed white chipboard which made it really easy...no glue required.

Die cut or cut the photo mounted on chipboard into a puzzle shape. If you want the puzzle pieces to be thicker, die cut or cut an additional piece of chipboard and see step below. If it's thick enough for you, skip the next step.

Turn the photo/chipboard piece over and layer the other die cut puzzle pieces on top to add thickness. Be careful to line up the pieces exactly so the puzzle will still fit together nicely.

Take the puzzle apart and spray each piece with a clear acrylic coating to help make the printed photo more durable.

Create and print a label for the puzzle and place in small ziploc bag.

Repeat process with more photos - you're going to need more than one to keep her entertained during that hour of church.

Place puzzles in small clear file folder. I found mine in the dollar section at Target a while ago.

This project seems a little labor intense, but it was so fast and easy. I made the entire thing in less than an hour. She loved it and really enjoyed putting together the puzzles which had her picture.

tiny chocolate kisses

Found this idea via my cousin's blog. Just wrap chocolate chips with foil to create mini chocolate kisses.