Valentine's Day

This year my son was asked to create a valentine's day mailbox for a "secret valentine" drawn from a hat.  He got a girl who loves puppies and the color red, so we found this kit online and decided to attempt it ourselves.  Easy and cute!

As long as the boys will continue to let me create photo valentines for them I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity!

Crane

Check out one of my Christmas cards now available at Crane.com!

Christmas Garland

New Minted Holiday Designs

My newest Minted holiday card is now for sale.  I love the photo they selected!

Joy

Joy to the World

Holiday Photo Card Time

It's that time again!  I know it's only the beginning of June, but in the stationery business that means holiday photo card preparations are in full swing!  I love entering Minted's design contests and the holiday challenge is always the most thrilling.  This year there were over 2300 amazing submissions.  I would really appreciate your votes for mine as well many of the others that made it to the top 700.

And, as a little incentive, Minted has a $500 gift certificate up for grabs! Everyone who rates at least 50 entries will be entered into a drawing for a $500 credit on Minted*. Ten additional voters will be chosen at random to win a gorgeous Minted T-shirt. Take a quick break, and help reinvent the traditional holiday card.

Here are my 2011 designs:

http://www.minted.com/design-rating/28016

http://www.minted.com/design-rating/29981

http://www.minted.com/design-rating/27119

batman birthday party

I could literally add photos for days!  Karen Tyrrell of piccolina photography captured so many wonderful shots of my son's 4th birthday party.  Here are just a few along with details.  I hope they can serve as inspiration for other parents of budding little superheroes!

homemade tags and cupcake toppers, gift box labels from littleday press

custom invitation from littleday press, wipeable tablecloth from etsy

capes from Sew Plain Jane, tee shirts by littleday press (see below for designs), bam! headband from etsy

personalized batman cape set from etsy

We asked all the kids to let us know their superhero names, superhero colors and superhero powers a week before the party so that I could prepare their tee shirts.  I designed a logo for each one and used iron-on transfer paper to add them to the shirts.  You can get more details from a great party I discovered on birthdaypartyideas.com.  I purchased the blank capes from Sew Plain Jane and lots of felt from JoAnn fabric.  I found great templates for masks and shapes from Martha Stewart.  Moms helped their kids cut out shapes and glue them onto their capes (large sheets of double-sided adhesive worked really well for on-the-spot assembly felt glue for extra re-enforcement along the edges).  Finally, I armed them all with silly string to battle the joker!

superhero party preparations

Tomorrow is the big day!  My son can't wait to share his love of Batman and superheroes with a dozen of his little friends.  

superhero party sneak peek

Gearing up for my son's superhero birthday party.  So much to do!!  More to come. . .

be mine valentine

I had fun putting together the boys' valentines this year after seeing these on 24-7-365.  I wish I had a better camera because these photos just don't do them justice!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Harry Potter cupcakes

My son turned seven today and we're headed to Harry Potter at Universal next week.  Tonight we're having his favorite dinner, chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese, and these yummy cupcakes!  The chocolate cupcakes are boxed, but the icing is Martha Stewart's wonderful Swiss Meringue Buttercream (heavenly!) and the incredible toppers are from Crafty Rosy. 

Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes

Okay, so I'm no Martha Stewart, but I think I did a decent job of making these fun little turkey cupcakes for my son's preschool class party tomorrow.  After looking at the professional photo on her website I may go back and fluff them up a bit with some more toasted coconut.  

Instead of making the cupcakes and icing from scratch, I went with the boxed stuff.  I did add the melted semi-sweet chocolate chips to the vanilla icing to give a slightly home-made kick.  I was able to find everything (including the toasted coconut marshmallows) at Wal-Mart after half a dozen failed trips to various other retailers.  I should have known that I could easily find all the ingredients for a Martha Stewart recipe at Wal-Mart since her line is all over the place there!  The gummy fish seemed too big for the beaks so I went with candy corn instead.  I also attached the heads to the cupcakes with toothpicks so that they wouldn't all tumble off on the way to the party.  I just need to remember to let the teachers know to take them out before the kids eat them. . .

beautiful photo calendars

I'm so excited about the launch of the new photo calendars from Minted!  From Minted's blog, "The idea for the calendar originated from the fact that most drug store-type calendars are wonderful in that they showcase your family’s pictures, but are horrible to look at. We were never sure where to even hang them… the closet or a hidden corner seemed to be where they gravitated to. We wanted to elevate the calendar to the level of fine art and make it something that was a reflection of your personal style and aesthetic. And we’re pretty confident we’ve done just that with today’s launch."

They are printed on high quality calendar paper and are available in two sizes with lots of customizable options for each month of the year.  I plan to order several as Christmas gifts for family.  My antico noe design is pictured above.  Be sure to check out all the truly unique designs.

minibooks

Loving the new Minted minibook format.  These little booklets were so much fun to design.  I only wish I had been able to squeeze in more of them!  Stay tuned for voting!

wine bottle wraps

I needed a last minute wine bottle wrap idea and, of course, turned to Martha for some ideas.  I think this turned out pretty nicely. . .and I love being able to make use of my fun little gift tags!

coming of age challenge

These are my entries in the latest Minted challenge.  Voting is now open!  I would love your votes!!

mis quince años

16 celebration

sweet cross