Pinterest-a-thon: Rein-beers

At the office we are doing a holiday "secret elf" exchange. I drew a guy's name, which has been a tad challenging because I have only met him once. I've tried my very best to get thoughtful, manly stuff while sticking to the strict $15 budget. 

Today is the big elf reveal and I could not, for the life of me, think of what to give as a final gift. That's when I realized, just because I have a guy doesn't mean I can't still do something a little crafty. You know how much I love making gift 6 packs (see birthday, baby), so this rein-beer 6 pack seemed like a fun and festive idea!

Pinterest Inspiration

After confirming he drinks alcohol and that my idea wasn't too lame or inappropriate for the office (since I am the new girl and all), I purchased the supplies to make my very own 6 pack of rein-beers!

It was SO EASY to put together and cost me approximately $12.

Supplies:

6 pack of beverages - I went with New Belgium Trippel

Brown pipe cleaners

Small multi-colored pom-poms
Wiggley eyes
Wrapping paper
Glue and scissors

 1. Unload the beers. Wrap the base of the 6 pack box or leave it plain, especially if the beer is a winter ale!

2. Wrap pipe cleaner around bottle top and make bunny ears. Kink into desired antler shape. Add an extra piece of pipe clear if you want larger antlers.

3. Glue on googly eyes.

4.Glue on a small pom-pom nose. I used one red pom-pom for Rudolph and brown for the rest. Ta-da: rein-beer!

I put them all back into the box their sleigh and attached a Santa gift tag. Hello - someone's gotta be a designated driver.

 

Since you cannot buy wiggley eyes, pom-poms or pipe cleaners individually AND this was so fun, I will be making more of these rein-beer 6 packs in the future!

Pinterest-a-thon: Snowman Ornament

Last but certainly not least, today is my final guest post for the week written by Adriane! I met Adriane during the conference but did not get a chance to get to know her until we were back in the office. She's super sweet, funny, also a CSU ram (lots of rammies in our Boulder office) and works out at 24 hr Fitness so we've taken a few classes together. Thanks for sharing your project, Adriane!

Pin-spiraiton

 Every Christmas we get my Mom a snowman ornament – so this year I decided to make mine! My project was inspired by this pin, originally see on Craft Goodies.

After an hour-long trip to Michael’s, in which I spent way more than I needed to on Christmas decorations, I came home with Styrofoam balls, yarn, wire, buttons, and burlap.

I started out by wrapping three Styrofoam balls in yarn (takes longer than you’d think), and glued them together to create the body. The original post used black furniture tacks for the buttons, but I rebelled and chose the genius route of hot-gluing – wait for it – four buttons to the body. I then used 20 gauge wire to makes the arms and hat, and cut a burlap scarf to complete the project!

Yarn Wrapped Holiday Wreaths

Today I am guest posting on Inspired Honey Bee for her holiday Pinterest-a-thon.  Using left over yarn from the yarn wrapped letters I made back in September I made not one but two holiday wreaths: one for our front door and one for my office door!

Hop on over to IHB to see how they came together!

Want to join the Pinterest-a-thon party? Link up your Pinterest holiday project right here.

You're the Best!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Wishing you a beautiful day.

This is the Mother's day cards mailed to my Mom, Grandmas and soon to be mother-in-law, because they truly are the best!

Pink floral paper and you're the best stamp from Paper Source.

Celebrating Easter vicariously

This year Easter completely snuck up on me! There were no crafts or cards (gasp!) and we had B's friend in town for the weekend, so we ended up not celebrating the holiday. The most festive our weekend got was a bag of Starburst Jelly Beans (hands down, best jelly beans ever) and running into these spray painted bunnies on the beach in Bolinas. 


I was happy to know that most friends and family we're celebrating Easter in full force. I wanted to share their creativity and holiday cheer in an effort to celebrate the holiday vicariously! 


Just because you don't have a cotton tail, doesn't mean you can't be a bunny on Easter! Pippin and Ulla are no strangers to dressing up for holidays. Their moms (the twins: layna and janelle)  love to put their pets in costumes and take pictures. I wonder if their mom did the same to them as youngsters? 

Check out this  lil' flock of sheep cake pops made by Kaci! They almost seem too cute to eat, although their sugary goodness would be hard to resist. Read the full how-to here.

Rachel hosted another fabulous holiday craft party: Candy, Wine and Easter Egg Dyin. 

{see Rachel's other holiday craft parties here: monster mash, gingerbread village, valentines}

Sadly I had to miss the party, but I wanted to share this bunny egg made by Surime. She applied scotch tape, in the shape of a rabbit, dipped half the egg in blue, and the other half in green. Peeled away the tape and drew on the details with a marker. Isn't that awesome?

And finally, my motivation to share all this Easter creativity, Jessica's DIY Easter name cards and napkin rings! 

Jessica sent me photos of these cute, and easy, Easter projects yesterday. We sent messages back and forth, while I was dreaming about the delicious food they were eating, she offered to share how she made these cute and easy Easter decorations. Her photos and directions are good practice for when she starts a blog ;)

Cute Critter Name Cards 



For the name cards, I used plain white card stock (approx 4x6 inch sheets on sale a Hobby Lobby).  I used the Create a Critter cartridge for the Cricut to make the bunnies and chicks.  Each are 3 layers (plus the "shadow") so you just follow the instructions/pictures to make each layer.

For the bunny I chose winter white, a light pink i had on hand for the background which showed up in the ears, nose and cheeks, then a little cream/darker white for the tummy part.  Then I used black card stock for the shadow which turns out to be the whiskers and the little bit around the edges.

For the chick, I got a textured classic yellow for the body and an orange for the beak.  There is a tummy part for that one too, but I forgot when i was buying paper, so i didn't put one on   Again, black cardstock for the shadow which makes the legs and the edges.

I used a glue stick to glue each layer on top of the next and let dry.  Then I just used a glue pen to put a little white and yellow glitter on their tummies and voila! a cute critter! I folded the white cardstock in half and glued them to the top corner, bunnies on one side, chicks on the other, just to switch it up.

For the lettering, i used the Wall Art and More cartridge. The first letter of each name I did a "monogram letter" and then just chose the font I liked best for the rest of the letters. I had several different brightly colored card stocks on hand from other projects, so that worked out perfectly to make them springy and Eastery! 


Glitter Egg Napkin Rings


I purchased styrofoam eggs and put them on bamboo skewers. I poked the skewers through a shoebox to hold them up.  Then I took each one off and held it by the skewer while I sprayed with the spray adhesive.  Then I sprinkled the glitter on and then put it back into the hole in the shoe box to dry.  I let them dry overnight in hopes that the glitter would stay on better. 

For the napkin rings, I wrapped floral wire around a condiment bottle that was the same size as the napkins about 6 times.  I wrapped the ends around the rings to hold them all together.  Then I put a dab of hot glue on the back of the egg and put the wire on it with the ends side in the glue so no one would get poked.  When that was holding a little bit, I put another drop of hot glue on top of the wire in the same place so that it would hold it on better.

Luckily for drying time (not so nice for me...) it was really cold outside so it dried pretty quickly, but you'll have to hold each ring in place until the glue hardens or it jut falls over, which sucks.  

Once the rings are dry, place them on napkins and voila - adorable glitter egg napkin rings! And here's the final product, minus the amazing food, of course. 

I hope you had a wonderful Easter! Thank you all for letting me spend my holiday by living vicariously through you. Extra special thanks to Jess for sharing her how-to. I have lots of inspiration for a egg-cellect celebration next year!

his & hers: Christmas toys

hello, hello! I'm back from a 10 day vacation to Colorado. Although I was on vacation, seemingly leaving lots of free time for things like blogging, I decided not to make time to blog. Instead I had lots of time with family, friends and my beloved Mile High city. It was a nice little break, but I'm happy to be back (to blogging. real world? not so much). 

Before diving into the new year and sharing a few intentions for my 2011, I want to share our Christmas toys! I've decided to play along with Hooray Design's weekly series called his & hers. 

I can't remember the exact age when I stopped asking for toys for Christmas. All I know is that its been a while! Now that I'm (ahem) an adult, doesn't mean I can't start asking for toys again! In the 3 years we've been dating, B and I have always set a limit on Christmas gifts. For some reason this year we decided on a higher than normal limit. I was so excited to give him his gift and equally excited to receive mine....just like a kid on Christmas morning!

HIS: the new 4th generation iPhone

B rocked the Slvr for 4+ years and was overdue for his upgrade. It didn't take long for him to fall in love with his new iPhone. I can't lie, I'm also in love with all the free aps, games and that I can change his background and locked screen to denim (hello Canadian tuxedo!). Minus the alarm clock fiasco, it's been a solid purchase. 

{apple}



HERS: Cricut Expressions 

In plum...isn't she cute? I received word late last night that she's arrived in the East Bay, thanks to A&B for the safe journey! I look forward to all the crafty endeavors ahead of us, including play dates with Debbie and her Cricut. From others I received 2 Cricut cartridges, craft paper, stamps and a gift card to Michael's. I'm looking forward to a crafty 2011!

{cricut}



Warm Holiday Greetings

I've been wanting to share my holiday cards here, but decided to wait long enough for everyone to receive them in their mailbox first. This morning I uploaded all the pics, planning to write the post later in the day. I realized the post was meant to be today because a) it's actually WARM and sunny here today, so it truly is a Warm Holiday Greeting and b) many other of the blogs I follow also shared their holiday card today!

My only real plan for making holiday cards this year was to use materials I had on hand, which included a large pack of festive holiday paper. I saw these cute cards ideas from Paper Source and was planning to use them as inspiration. 

Over Thanksgiving we took this nice photo in Laguna Beach and I got to thinking...why not use the photo for our cards. I mean, who wouldn't want to see B and I arrive in their mailbox? :) 

While there are many wonderful websites that will produce beautiful photo cards, I still wanted to make the cards myself (need to use up that holiday paper!). Using Picasa I added the Warm Holiday Greetings as seen below. In less than an hour Wallgreens had my photos ready for pick-up! 

I mounted the pictures on dark brown cardstock. Using my cherry Divine Twine (I know, I am obsessed with it) I wrapped the photos to look like a package. 

Using 12x12 sheets of holiday paper, I cut a festive base for the card. I attached the holiday paper to a flat piece of Kraft paper.

With scraps from the paper above, I made coordinated envelopes! 

I attached the two pieces of paper together, added labels and stamps to the envelopes and viola - a Warm Holiday Greeting from our house to yours! I'm really happy with how the cards turned out and have received so many sweet comments from friends and family. 

I wanted to make something smaller but similar for a few of my co-workers. Here is what I came up with...

While I truly enjoy making and mailing holiday cards, there is nothing I love more than coming home to holiday mail. Our Happy Holidays garland is filling up nicely!

Here are a few of the presents I wrapped last night. Cute tags, eh? I decided to use simple paper this year (it's actually packaging paper from CVS) with the tags I made and festive ribbon. Easy breasy. Now hoping they all travel well on the airplane! 

Tonight we're off to Colorado! I am SO EXCITED to be home for the holidays!! 

Gingerbread Village

On Monday night Rachel hosted a Gingerbread, candy and wine party. In other words...a group of ladies gather at Rachel's, each bring a bottle of wine or appetizer, two bags of candy and we all make gingerbread houses while indulging on wine, apps and the candy! 

(you may remember we did something similar for Halloween)

The result was an eclectic village of nine houses,  over-consumption candy but an all around good time! Welcome to our Gingerbread Village...

The mound of candy and frosting used to build the village

And the most fun part, an up-close photo of the houses and my favorite part about each one!

Look at the roof on this house - each tile was cute out of Twizzler's pull-n-peel. Favorite feature: the melted snowman in the yard!

Welcome to my elf hut. I'm sure it's really cute and cozy inside, which is good since the outside leave a bit to be desired! Favorite feature: sour patch lawn with a corner garden. 

Do you have a stomach ache from eating too much candy? Have no fear: we're at the hospital! After making a window that looked like a sign for an emergency room, Ariane decided to make her house a hospital. Favorite feature: the ambulance on the sprinkle filled street. 

The house on the block everyone envies - look at that immaculate lawn and perfect path way! Favorite feature: chocolate pretzel lined roof. 

As you can probably tell, this is the Architect of the group: perfectly spaced bushes, fences and look at that curved pathway! Favorite feature: the perfect sprinkle tile roof. Need a professional, for your real or gingerbread house, you know who to call!

Maybe I'm biased because Molly was sitting right next to me, but I think her house turned out super cute! Peppermint fence, gum drop lined path and those chocolate pretzels for the roof. Favorite feature: turning a (tree shaped) sugar cookie into a large yard tree. 

My other neighbor (while decorating) sure is handy with the frosting! In no time at all she had a Smartee roof, mint chip lawn and pretzel fence. Favorite feature: trees in the yard. Holding that front tree up is a roll of Smartees - clever!

Last but certainly not least, the A frame at the end of the street! Elana made the most of her lawn space by creating several lawn ornaments. A festive, wide path leads you to my favorite feature: the cute red door with a sprinkle door knob. 

(i'm a sucker for red doors and little details)

That wraps up our Gingerbread Village tour of homes! To continue the holiday creativity we're planning a Valentine's cookie, card and wine (of course) gathering. 

Ashlee, Debbie and Sarah - you were all missed! 

T.I.Y. - Tag It Yourself!

Looking for an easy and super affordable way to add a little handmade goodness to your holidays? I suggest you T.I.Y. - tag it yourself!

There are so many fabulous FREE gift tag templates (all you have to do is download and print) I'm not sure why you'd wouldn't TIY! Here are some of my favorites, followed by the ones I'm using this year. All tags can be found by following the links under each photo! 

{eat drink chic}

{orange you lucky}

{going home to roost}

{the paper cupcake as seen on party like a kid}

{belvedere designs}

{amy butler}

Using this free download from Heather at We Met in a Bar, I printed a few sheets of the gift tags. I then cut them out and glued them onto holiday paper. The first set are backed with festive paper.

This second set I used solid colors and patterns. 

I love all of them and can't wait to attach them to gifts. It's hard to tell the size in these pictures...they're approx 2x4 inch, plenty of room to write to & from!

Still want MORE? Check out the Inspired Honey Bee's favorite freebies round up from last week. 

I would like to extend a huge thank you to the designers and creative people out there who share their talents with others - you rock! If you (dear blog readers) use any of these free tags, please give credit where credits due. Leave a comment on their page or a shout out on your blog.