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What I’m Loving Right Now: Neon DIY Stationary

22 May

I might be having a slight love affair with neons lately.

Yes, I know they are 1980s-esque and beloved by the Taylor Swift-liking under 21 crowd. Which, besides the fact that I like TSwift, I have nothing in common with…as I haven’t been under 21 in a loooooong while.

But I can’t help it. Neons just make me happy.

So I made some stationary.

DIY Neon Stationary Card

In neon blue, pink, and green.

Talk about saying HELLLOOOOOO I received a freaking letter when you open one of these suckers.

These are 5″x7″ size, which gives the cards a substantial impact. I also really enjoy the contrast of the old-school engraving fonts against the neon paper.

I resisted making envelope liners for these…but only because I didn’t have matching neon paper for that.

But seriously, neons.

Love.

Neon Stationary DIY

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Flashback Craft: DIY Headbands

7 May

When I first really started crafting things (and I mean really started crafting), and by crafting I do mean crafting, not sewing (since I have been able to sew just about anything since I was 10)…

One of the first things I made was a three-bow headband. Grosgrain ribbon, satin ribbon, and elastic. Together?

A pretty sweet headband.

Three Bow Headband

Satin ribbon is really hard to work with, so here’s to hoping you have nimble fingers. I use about 3 inches of elastic on the back part, so the headband has enough stretch to go over your head & stay in place. If you plan on wearing this with a ponytail, I’d suggest black ribbon and black elastic.

Here’s a close up. I stacked the bows a little bit, so they have more of a clustered effect rather than three in a row.

DIY Three Bow Headband

You can also make them with flowers.

Flower headband

It helps to have a mom with a pretty intense sewing closet. The flower on this one is made out of some kind of linen silk, which I snagged in a half-dozen colors. You need the fabric to have enough stiffness that the flower holds up.

Here is what it looks like in action, and you can find an easy-to-follow tutorial here.

Photo on 2009-11-09 at 13

(Mental note to self: do not EVER have a bob again. EVER.)

Or you can do other bows, like this.

Bow Headband

These are super easy to make – and no two are alike, so it really just fuels my obsession with one-of-a-kind stuff.

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DIY Mason Jar Flowers, aka what to do with the runaways.

3 May

I have these beautiful day lilies that grow in my garden. They’re a “set it and forget it” type plant. Lots of sunlight, little maintenance, self-propagating—they just grow. And bloom with these amazing orange flowers in the middle of summer.

Which brings me to the runaways.

Every spring, I have a dozen or so lilies that have decided to be born free fluffy, born free and escape the confines of their planters. (It’s that whole “self-propagating” part, you see).

So every spring I dig up the runaways and plant them someplace new, where they can grow and bloom and expand to their liking. But this year I decided to do something different.

I put the runaways up for adoption. Meaning, I made these cute mason jar flower holders, put two lily fans inside, and sent them home with some of my girl friends. To self-propagate in other peoples’ yards.

DIY Mason Flower Jars

All you need is mason jars, some grosgrain ribbon, and cardstock. I used the jar lid to hold the flower tags on – which say “grow me!”  The tag pattern is available here – I just modified the text. Did I mention sharing flowers is way more eco-friendly than buying hot house bulbs? 

Add some special effects in a photo app, and you’re really fancy.

Mason FlowersDoesn’t this just make you want to garden?

But only flowers folks, this girl doesn’t grow food.

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DIY 90′s Cupcake Toppers

2 Apr

You know you’re dedicated when you cut out individual N’sync and Notorious B.I.G. action figures to use as cupcake toppers for a 90′s party…

DIY 90's Cupcake Flags

But seriously, these are awesome.

Like any cupcake flag, after you slice them out very carefully, don’t want to lose a Backstreet Boy, tape them onto toothpicks, and you are good to go.

90's Cupcake Toppers

In case you’re wondering, the cupcakes are Irish Creme, and were epic & delicious.

DIY Cupcake Flags

Boozy cupcakes + 90′s cupcake flags? #Winning.

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Easy DIY Thank You Card Set

6 Mar

So I still have a fascination with this whole “measuring” feature on my paper cutter. If I could go back to the days when I measured with a ruler and cut with an exact-o knife…I wouldn’t.

DIY thank you cards

A few weeks ago I whipped up this set of thank-you cards. I already had the ‘thank you’ part printed out since I used them for my niece’s birthday party, and I hoard save things to “use them later.”

The blue paper was left over from my ombre Tiffany card project, and the dashed line cardstock I already had in-house.

Thank you cards

A little slicing, a little glue stick action, and it’s thank you card game time.

I really like how these cards coordinate as a set.

Finished DIY thank you cards

Oh, and I still have more of the ‘thank you’ pieces to use up, so I’m sure you will see another variation of these on CP soon.

And who knows? Maybe I’ll even bake some cupcakes again soon, once I get this whole “work life balance” thing to stop being such a myth. Green velvet for St. Patrick’s Day anyone?

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DIY Tiffany Blue Cake Stand

4 Mar

So I love cake. Like, literally love cake.

And Tiffany’s. And cake plates. And any sort of project that involves hot glue.

Saving the world, one hot glue gun burn at a time? I like to think so.

When my bff was in town this weekend, we whipped up this DIY tiffany blue cake stand.

Tiffany Blue Cake Stand

The base is a candle holder, and the top is a dinner plate. I was a “maxinista” (#shamerattle) and procured both of these items for less than $10.

Blue Cake Stand Plate

Candle Holder Cake Stand Base

Add a little hot glue, and you have a cake stand.

DIY Tiffany Blue Cake Stand

Seriously, I could give the chick who made the ‘redneck wine glasses’ a run for her money with these.

Tiffany Blue Cake Stand

#Love.

Now, all I need is some cake.

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DIY Tiffany Blue Ombre Stationary

27 Feb

So I finally figured out that my paper cutter has this amazing feature, where it measures paper right as you cut.

Paper cutter with measure feature

That Martha Stewart, she thinks of everything.

And don’t judge, I would have figured this out sooner if I had actually read the directions…

Anyways, this is a vast improvement over measuring everything with a ruler.

So slicing and dicing custom cards is now pretty quick. Which is good when you’re getting ready for girls night out breakfast at tiffany’s birthday dinner and still haven’t started the cards…

But these went quick. I started off with 4 different shades of Tiffany blue for an ombre effect, in 12 x 12 paper.

Trim these down to fit in A6 envelopes.

A6 trimmed Tiffany blue cards

Then a quick run through the printer to customize.

Tiffany blue diy stationary

And done.

(For reals, I need to learn how to do letterpress to uplevel the wow here.)

I even got these sweet transparent envelopes to make sending the cards super fun.

Transparent vellum envelopes

But seriously? This whole “distance to the blade” feature is changing my life.

It’s the little things these days, really. 

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And My Kraft Paper Obsession Continues…

6 Feb

We all know that I sort of, well, enjoy kraft paper. A lot.

Here’s the roundup of my holiday projects that involved kraft paper. And yes, I know it is well over a month since Christmas passed, but considering that I just took down my tree last weekend…it’s still holiday time here.

You can use it to make table runners, like this.

Kraft Paper Table Runner

I really love this idea. Plus, you can do fun things like handwritten place settings or scrawl the menu out. (I did not do those things because it was only Christmas Eve and I needed to keep my over-the-top-ness to a minimum. Which was hard.)

Kraft paper also makes great invitations. Like the one for my Christmas Eve Spectacular.

Kraft paper invite

(Yes, I send out invites to Christmas Eve dinner…hence the reason I had to keep the table runner simple.)

Or, you can use it to make Christmas cards.

Cowboy Christmas Card

This one was for my boss. She reads a lot of romance novels, which we jokingly refer to as “The Cowboy and the Princess.“

And it’s a great way to wrap presents. Plus, yarn is an easy upgrade from your basic ribbon.

Kraft wrapping paper

Alright, I’m back to krafting. I mean, crafting.

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DIY Window Leaf Cupcake Flags

5 Jan

So a while back (and by ‘while’ I mean in September, #shamerattles), a friend came to visit and we got into some serious Cricut action.

The result?

DIY Window Leaf Cupcake Flags on Carrot Cake

These super-sweet window leaf cupcake flags. Perfect for fall. Displayed on carrot cake and my-favorite-ever-cream cheese frosting.

Just cut out all the shapes, assemble with glue, and then attach the finished flags to toothpicks.

Window Leaf Cupcake Flags

I like to use glue sticks for this type of work, hence the magazine laid out for scrap paper / workplace protector. I’ve tried rubber cement and liquid glue, but I remain a big fan of my first-grade glue stick method.

And seriously, get a Cricut. It’s awesome.

Because when you give a girl a Cricut, she’ll probably do a lot of crafts…like a lot a lot.

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DIY Festive Star Cupcake Flags and Place Cards

22 Dec

So I’m back…after an intense three weeks, I finally have some time to get back to CP. But that’s a story for another day.

One of my (many) obsessions lately is cupcake flags. They really just give cupcakes a little something extra…as in extra fabulous.

DIY Star Cupcake Flags

And cupcake flags are an easy DIY. You need toothpicks, glue or tape, and whatever you want to use as the flag part.

These metallic stars were picked up at Michael’s.

Metallic Star

You glue the toothpick to one star, add more glue, and top with a second star.

Star Cupcake flag in progress

Normally, I make my flags one-sided, but I was crafting with my BFF, who can be a bit of a craft dictator perfectionist. Which is okay, because then I do the extra steps that I normally skip out of laziness to be efficient.

After we were finished the cupcake flags, it was time for place cards. And we needed place cards to avoid sitting next to anyone weird at family birthday celebration dinner. Which is also another story for another day.

DIY Star Placecards

Not having folded tent cards handy, we used flat cards instead. Just glue on a star, and you’re done. We ended up writing the names on with a silver Sharpie, but had we pre-recognized the need for weird family member avoidance, they would have gotten printed pre-stars.

More posts on my variety of cupcake flags to follow…

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