Make Your Own Stamps

I am so excited to have Addison's 4th birthday party featured on AndersRuff blog. I am a huge fan and absolutely LOVE these amazing women. So much talent. You can check it out here:
http://www.andersruff.com/custom-printable-parties/birthday-parties/4th-birthday-celebrated-vintage-race-car-style/
So in honor of that post, I decided to post the Make Your Own Stamp blog so you can see how I created the adorable car stamp.

I am officially OBSESSED with Yellow Owl Workshop. You can check her out here: http://www.yellowowlworkshop.com I had the chance to meet her and create stamps with her at Crafting Community's weekend event and then again at one of her classes in downtown LA at Poketo.
Making your own stamps is so much fun. She makes it super simple by providing a Carve-A-Stamp kit (purchase for $30 here: http://www.yellowowlworkshop.com/collections/carve-a-stamp-kit/products/carve-a-stamp-kit).
This weekend I made Valentine gift bags for my son and nephews. Below is the step to step guide.

Above are the supplies provided in the kit. A two-sided rubber stamp, a carving tool, transfer paper and a pencil.

Step 1: Draw your design onto your transfer paper.

Step 2: Transfer your design onto the stamp by rubbing the pencil markings onto the rubber.

Step 3: Use the carving tool to remove the section of the stamp you do not want to print onto paper.

A view of the completed striped stamp. Sometimes the most simple design works the best.

Step 4: Once you are done with your carving, test your stamp to make sure you have scrapped off all of the parts you don't want.

I also created a heart so that I could layer the heart over the stripes.

Always test your design on paper prior to marking the actual item you are stamping.

A finished stamped muslim bag. If you want this item to be washable you just toss it into the dryer for 20min to set your design. This is a great option for stamping tea towels, baby blankets and napkins.

Finished bags.

Pick up Little Owl's Little Prints for fun activities to do with the kids. Happy Crafting!

Rubber Ducky Baby Shower

I am so excited to finally post this party I hosted for my sister's first baby. He is turning 6 at the end of March. I thought I had lost these photos and as I was organizing pictures on my new gorgeous iMac, I saw them and knew I needed to post. What is great about this party is it was before I discovered printables and before I started following any party sites. So this is all me and my creative, crafty mind.

 Baby Daddy is a Firefighter so we wanted to incorporate this great ride on engine.

The ducky party favors were also found via google search.

 We played the celebrity baby name match. Always fun.

Homemade by me. This was pre-Pinterest so I must have googled "rubber ducky shower" and found this adorable cupcake idea.

Do you Corkcicle?

If you have not tried Corkcicle yet, you must. I am obsessed with this product. Check out their products on their website at www.corkcicle.com. The products are inexpensive and super cool for the wine or beer drinker. This is also my go to product for gifts.
I recently applied and was chosen to be an ambassador for Corkcicle for one year. As a welcome kit they sent me the coolest stuff and I wanted to share. I am so excited to get started on my drinking...I mean product testing.

 The Welcome Kit

 The Welcome Letter

 A very cozy and cool t-shirt

 The awesome products: 4 chillsners, 1 corkcicle, 1 corkcicle one and 2 shot glasses

 Themed bracelet

 Slick bottle opener

Stickers

Organizing Wrapping Supplies

Do you have a ton of wrapping paper, tissue and ribbon like me? I tried to store this all in cute silver trash cans in the guest room closet but the closet area was tiny and difficult to get to and the wrapping supplies took over. For Christmas, I was gifted with two wrapping organizers from the container store. As soon as I returned from vacation I knew I wanted to get this project done. I forgot to take a picture of the closet before hand but I did snap a few shots of the mess as I organized my supplies.

Once I organized everything, I placed everything into the two containers.

I organized all of the holiday supplies into the holiday chevron tote and all other (birthday, easter, halloween, etc) into the grey one. I am so happy with the results and can easily grab the bag I need and get to the supplies. I also realized that I need to stop buying brown kraft paper. I had 4 rolls and didn't even realize it.

Safely stored in the corner of the closet and easily accessible.

You can buy the grey one here:
http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10034146&N=&Nao=20&Ntt=wrapping
and the holiday chevron one here:
http://www.containerstore.com/shop/movingShippingStorage/holidayStorage?productId=10028799&green=E1F13B47-B5EE-569A-9147-E4521933222F

Fabric Covered Cork Board

I saw this idea on Pinterest months ago and bought a cork board and stuck it in a corner never to get to the project. Finally on New Year's Day, while watching the Rose Parade, I finally tackled it and it was so easy.

I love the results and am excited to share with you the crafty way of doing this project.

Supplies:

standard cork board with trim - I got mine at Target

250 silver push pins - bought at Office Depot

fabric - left over from my 40th birthday

scissors

duct tape

 Step 1: Place fabric over front of cork board

Step 2: Push in pins along border of trim, as you go along the edge and around the board, pull fabric tight to avoid any wrinkles

Step 3: Once all push pins are applied (took me about 40min and very sore thumbs), flip cork board over and pull fabric tight and apply duct tape

Step 4: continue to apply duct tape until all sides are pulled 

Step 5: Complete - see first photo 

Below you can see where I placed the cork board in my room.

Snow

Being from California, we do not get to see the snow that often. We were so excited to see snow when we landed in Montana. When we got to my parents house the boys immediately went to play and would not come inside until it was almost dark. Sadly for all of us the snow was all gone two days later when the weather hit 40 degrees.

 Snow Ball Fight!

 Snow Angels

 Getting PopPop with a snow ball.

 Lots of smiles before they came inside.

Snowman the three kids made by themselves. The carrot went missing a few minutes later. One of Gammy's dogs got to it. Everyone had a good laugh!