A pattern seems to be forming in my work too.  So far this year all the custom projects I have are for wedding stationery.  This is a bridal shower invitation I’ve just finished for a lovely bride getting married later this year.

The bride’s colour palette was purple and she wanted shoes and or a purse and of course a touch of bling!  I’m not so great at drawing so enlisted the help of my very talented daughter Holly who sketched this image for me. Together we make a good team and the client loved it!  Below is an email from her.

Thanks so much Karen. The invites and thank you card look great! I

will certainly keep you in mind when I need more cards. These look

great! Service was also wonderful!

Diane

I design and create cards everyday so this year for a change I made bookmarks for each of my kids.  As a family we love to read so this was the perfect choice.  I simply raided my scrapbooking drawers and cut and glued the papers onto precut bookmarks, then wrote a personal message to each of my kids on the reverse, just to let them know how much they are loved XOXO

Even our breakfast wanted to share the love!

Maybe I’m taking this valentine theme a little too far!

Adam’s away in the UK on business at the moment but I slipped this card into his bag before he left, with instructions not to open until today.  If he hasn’t already lost it!

I love this quote, it  pretty much describes our first meeting all those years ago!

Love and Hugs to all

Karen

XOXO

Most of our retail orders for Valentines are out the door right after Christmas but I still like to make something special for my hubby and kids.  To get me in the mood I’ve been looking around the web for craft ideas we can make together and here are a few of my favourites.   Adam’s away this weekend and Holly has a sleepover planned so with a total of 7 kids in the house we may need something to do!

1. Valentine Garland – Courhome.net A free printable so easy to do

2. Crayon Hearts – Martha Stewart These are an old favourite we’ve made before but I still love them.

3. Framed hearts – LittleBirdieSecrets

4. Valentine heart pins – Purlbee.com

5. Valentine Mittens – Womansday.com

6. DIY Paper Heart Garland – Myownlabels.com A great idea and easy to add your own special messages

7. Valentines Day Banner – mymommatoldme.com

So now there’s no excuse to spread the love in your home too!  Enjoy the weekend everyone!

I’m really chuffed as the winner and finalists were chosen by Kathy Krassner, a longtime stationery-industry veteran.  Check out this link to her blog to see all the winning designs.  For anyone involved in the greeting card industry Kate’s blog is a wealth of information and a must read

Our “unvalentine” winning design.

matchbox advent tree from the happyhomeblog.com

This is such a great idea to use glass topped metal tins with magnets on the bottom, arranged on the fridge for everyone to admire.  Read how to make it  here

This colourful advent calendar is available as a kit from Sew Unique.

A cone-iferous advent! This is a fun new twist on the traditional advent calendar, a forest of paper cones that hide tiny treasures

We chose this year to make an advent tree using matchboxes bought at the dollar store  The whole lot cost $5.00.  This was a great sunday afternoon craft with my girls, we put on christmas music to get us in the mood and simply wrapped the outside of the boxes with scrapbook paper and then decorated with stickers and cut out images and numbers

I hot glued a magnet onto the back of each of the boxes (a couple on the big one) and then arranged them on the side of the fridge in the shape of a tree.  Of course we first had to take down all the other notes and reminders etc that were on the fridge and store them carefully in a drawer until after Christmas!

I slipped a little note inside each one with a treat or fun activity to do each day, trying  to come up with ideas that were mostly about spending time together and pretty much free.  Santa’s on a budget this time of year! Here are a few examples but you can do whatever you like, start some new traditions.

Cut out paper snowflakes and decorate the windows; Choose some festive foods and deliver to the food bank;  Make popcorn and watch a holiday movie together;  Make christmas cookies;  Make a treat for the birds;  Go for a walk and see the christmas lights;  Watch the santa claus parade;  Wear something red today;  Wish at least 3 people merry christmas (not including your family)

I’ve been making these shortbread cookies since I was a little girl, its my grandmother’s recipe, and so simple.  All you need is butter 4oz, sugar 2oz, and flour 6oz.  First you beat the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon until its soft and then beat in the sugar and then the sifted flour.  You need to use your hands to bring the mixture together, the kids love this part.  Sprinkle a little sugar on the counter and roll out the mixture, start cutting out your shapes.  We chose hearts and then bake in the oven on 300F for 25 mins.

Once they had cooled we covered them with icing and added pretzels for the antlers, a red smartie for the nose and chocolate chips for the eyes.

As a variation we sprinkled some of the cookies with smashed candy canes.  To keep mess to a minimum, place a candy cane in a ziploc bag, making sure its sealed, and then hit with a rolling pin – this was Ruby’s favourite part!!

I had to take this photo really quickly as they disappeared fast.

My inspiration was this paper leaf wreath from Martha Stewart which I was planning to make for fall but never got around to.  I used the leaf template which is downloadable from her site  and cut out leaves from the pages of an old book and gold metallic paper.  I placed  a single leaf on each of the plates and topped it with one of the clementine pumpkins I made for the first challenge.  I scattered more leaves along the centre of the table.

The clementine pumpkins were so simple to make and smell wonderful!  I just wound a piece of ribbon around and around the clementine until it was covered and then stuck a pin through the end of the ribbon into the orange to secure it.  I also cut 2 leaf shapes out of paper and pinned those down too.  Finish off by tying a piece of rafia around the pin head for decoration

I found these cute gold frames at Michaels, just a $1.00 each.  I took out the backing and used it as a template to trace a circle onto a page of an old book.  Cut it out and added a gold letter R and put it made inside the frame.  I’m using these as name cards.  Luckily we all have different initials so there won’t be any confusion.  The great thing is these make a lovely gift for the guests to take home!

What plans do you have for Thanksgiving this year.  Let me know or send me a photo of your table.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I took this picture from my studio window and then ran downstairs and took this one in the back yard.

I hope this is just a blip and doesn’t mean that winter is here already.

When I read about the annual Dare to DIY party hosted by Kim at NewlyWoodwards on her blog this week I decided it would be a good excuse to get started and have some fun along the way too.  As they say, all work and no play …  I had been toying with the idea of making  Christmas decorations this year with the kids and possibly gifts for their teachers and this is just the inspiration I needed!

I know Thanksgiving has already been and gone for us here in Canada but its good to be thankful anytime so her goes.  This week’s challenge is to make some Thanksgiving-themed decor.

There are hundreds of tutorials out there for paper pumpkins but this is the one I found. I put it together late last night with the only orangey things I could find (scrapbooking paper, paint chips and some clementines )

For the smaller pumpkins I just wrapped a clementine (the ones I didn’t eat!)  with ribbon and added paper leaves and rafia bows.

There is a different challenge to make each week for the next 6 weeks, so let me know what you think.  You can also check out other bloggers creativity over at NewlyWoodwards and maybe you’ll be inspired to have a go yourself.

There are memorials and plaques in nearly every place we’ve visited but this one stood out to me, probably due to its typography design. (I’m a little obsessed with typography art at the moment, as a glance at my new collections might tell you)  We found this in Westminster Abbey this Summer.

I bought a poppy this year (well several of them as I keep losing them) but found these on Etsy made by Stitched With Love UK They are such a pretty addition to your outfit and 20% of the sale will be donated to charity.  I’m definately getting one next year, it has a pin so I can’t lose it!

Poppy brooches from StitchedWithLoveUK

Remember them – Today – Tomorrow – Forever