life. photos. scrapbooking.

Another fine use of the Instax Mini :: Thank You Notes by Macho

Spoiler alert. Those of you who participated in the celebration of Macho's 4th year, or sent a gift... You may wanna just stop reading now. Your thank you notes are promptly posted - but they'll look an awful lot like the ones I'm about to show below... so if you wanna be surprised...

JUST STOP NOW, K?

 

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You couldn't help yourself could you?

I know I couldn't.

Yesterday was an "at home with mom" day for the kids and getting Macho's birthday thank you notes checked off the list was a high priority. I'm BIG on thank you notes - getting and giving them.
In this culture of instantaneous communication - we email, text, etc. to get our point across... so sitting down and taking the time to write/create a nice personal thank you note - says "hey, I really give a hoot about you and what you did" or "i'm suuuuuper grateful."

My point is - THANK YOU notes go a loooong way with me.

Stepping off soapbox.... now.

I wanted Macho to do something personal... but he's 4.... hmmmm. Hardly Hemminway at this point.

So I thought about my handy dandy little Instax Mini Polaroid Camera.

I ordered/used it for the little bugs hospital guest book... when she was born in Nov 2010.

You can read all about that HERE.

Anyway - it had been quite awhile since I dusted off this fun little toy and I thought this would be just the project to do it.

Here's how it all went down...

1 - I had my list ready of all of the things Macho had received for his b-day and from whom.

2 -I snapped instax pix of him playing with each of the items. And let them "develop" a couple of minutes.

3 - I gathered some textured cardstock, a few select stamps (which Macho helped choose), permanent ink pad, a spool of ribbon, some glue dots, a sharpie pen and a stapler.

4 - I began stamping the little pirate guy (Stampin' Up! stamp from a few years ago) onto the cardstock... and Macho began to sign the bottoms of the photos.

5 - Macho then glued the photos to the pages and stamped the second "Thank You" stamp underneath my pirate kid.

6 - Finally - after I'd lost Macho's flea-sized attention entirely - I cut some small strips of ribbon and attached them with a stapler to the cards.

VOILA.

Personalized - signed - easy - and something we could did TOGETHER on our day at home.

Check that box, y'all.

 

 

 

Slipcover - An Attempt

I bought this marvelous new desk chair from the Pottery Barn on MEGA sale last month.

My derrier has been thanking me during my long editing stints in front of ye olde computer screen for that cushioned bottom. Veeeeery nice.

It's upholstered in linen with a nailhead trim.... see?

I really do love it. As it goes in homes with small children - anything mommy or daddy loves - the kids usually love too... especially with peanut buttery fingers or drippy popsicles this time of year.

In order to protect my new investment I decided to purchase some cotton twill fabric and try my hand at sewing together a loose fitting slipcover for it.

SO on Saturday - I gave it the old college try. But, be warned... sewing - it's just not my gift. I want to be good at it - but sadly - no.

I washed my fabric first so it wouldn't shrink later.... I did this weeks ago. (been sitting on this praying that the kids didn't ruin the chair with a rogue pen or something until I had the time)

Anyway - step one was to basically just start pinning and cutting out the framework for the slipcover...

I wanted the rough fringed edge to be exposed around the bottom of the chair - so I cut my fabric accordingly.

Really the entire process was more like one big guess. I would pin some - and then go sew it. Come back - pin on some more - then go sew that bit.... and on and on it went.

I thought I was pretty bad a$$ that it was sorta fitting all around - and that I tucked the corners up at the front of the seat and all that. I figured it was the same idea as wrapping a package... so I went with it.

Nothing to lose right?

It was looking pretty good until I finished and turned it right side out. Then it all looked a little wonky.

Usable - but wonky.

Again - I'm pleased that there aren't large gaping holes in between some of the seams - but the fit could be a bit better in some spots. In any case - it's a suitable shield for all the tiny grimy fingers on those who call my "office" their playroom.

Happy Monday!

 

 

Tutorial :: Embossing | Appointment Cards

Last week I rolled up my sleeves and created another batch of the little appointment cards I mail out to clients when they book their session. I was running low. Since the process involves stamping and embossing - I thought it would make for a dandy tutorial.

Ever embossed anything? Well... I can say it's seriously mind blowing. The first time I ever embossed something I stamped - I was all.... HECK this card is fancier than the ones at Hallmark! Running your fingers over the raised glossy image I stamped made me feel like I had made something really special.

I was super impressed with myself.

But that don't take much.

I'm uber goofy.

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The process is simple really.

Stamp - sprinkle embossing powder - tap excess - heat with a heat gun. That's it.

Here are a few photos to illustrate.

Gather supplies ::

Stamps...

Embossing Powder and spoon... (and I use tweezers to hold the paper while I heat it)

Heat gun...

The few essentials to get started... Craft ink pad, paper, stamps, powder, gun.

1) Ink and stamp paper

2) As quick as you can (before the ink begins to dry) sprinkle the embossing powder over the surface of the stamped area.
3) Remove excess powder...
Tap, tap, tap.

4) Evenly heat the surface with a heat gun. This tool is like an extra hot hairdryer that doesn't blow the air too hard. Soft air - high heat.
This photo is meant to illustrate the raised effect you get from embossing. Once you remove the heat - the whole thing is dry in less than 5 seconds. It's like putting an extra fine layer of candle wax on top of your stamped image. A soon as the heat is removed - it hardens up.
5) Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This pack of cards had twenty five in all...

Next I started on the envelopes. Different stamp - same process.

The packs of envelopes only have 10 in each - so I did two colors.

Now everything was ready for assembly. Appointment cards, envelopes, mini business cards and a little chevron ribbon.
I mark the session date and include a little note on one side...

Staple my business card with a bit of ribbon to the other. Then place inside the little envelope.
That's all folks!

Leave me a comment with any questions.

 

Oooh - I should add - for this project because I wanted the white to be EXTRA white - I used white craft stamp ink AND white embossing powder.

Every other color ink I have I just use clear embossing powder on top.

Ok - Happy Monday!

Easiest DIY Ever.

Scoped out the new line of Martha Stewart office supplies at Staples last week.

Invested in a packet of her chalkboard labels...

Decided to give them a try on some empty cans of my current favorite guilty pleasure - Pepperidge Farms Cream Filled Pirouette sticks.... Mamma Mia.

Step 1 :: Gather supplies.

An empty container + A can of spray paint + Chalkboard label

Step 2 :: Choose a ventilated area and begin coating your can with thin layers of spray paint.

**Note - the blue covered the letters several coats before the orange did!

Step 3 :: After several coats... Let em dry completely.

Step 4 :: Peel and stick the label.

Step 5 :: Identify the contents of your container!

I think doing these ahead of time and saving them for teachers gifts, household organization, hostess gifts, housewarming gifts... the list goes on... would come in super handy!

Happy Monday!!

DIY: Measure Me Stick Tutorial

For some time now I've had a hankerin' to make a piece of art that would serve the purpose of chronicling the heights of the kids as they grow.

I didn't wanna just do the old pencil mark on a doorway - just in case we move someday. I'll wanna take it with us.

My sister in law, Liz made a very cool one for her house - and I've seen a few examples on Pinterest and in catalogs (Pottery Barn Kids, i think?).

At any rate - when I finally got my act together and went to Lowes to purchase some supplies - I kind of went without a set plan in mind, except for knowing approximately how big I wanted it to be. I figured - I'd go - see what kind of materials I could score - and the design would just roll from there.

Let me just say this - it was EASY AS PIE to do this. One piece of wood... some leftover oops paint from the baby's nursery (I can't believe I painted ALL 4 walls this yellow color the first time around. It's beige now - thank goodness!) some Frog Tape, black acrylic craft paint and a small brush and some el-cheap-o aluminum numbers also from Lowes.

The taping off part was the most time intesive thing about it - but still - super easy. A monkey could make this.

Here's how ::

Get some wood - I wanted mine to just fill the side of the bookcase - so I measured the width and bought a 1x8x8. Clark trimmed it down so I would have a nice bit of equal margin on all sides.

Slap a quick coat of primer and color on it - whatever you like. I had some yellow - so I used that. :)

He hung it up with a single screw, drilled through the opposite side of the bookcase.

Hang it up before you mark off the height. Makes it easy - just use a tape measure and start at the floor. Make a bunch of tick marks on the side of it with a pencil - then use a contractors "square" to draw your lines in.

I drew a 5" line on every "foot" mark and a 3" line on every 1/2 "foot" mark. And just kept the little ticks on the side for all the inches in between.

this is what I got...

then I taped off some really skinny stripes and went to town with some black acrylic paint (gloss) from my local craft store.... ya know - the 99 cent job.

Of course - what would a project like this be without a little art direction from my main squeeze - Macho.

I let that dry and removed the tape and learned my first lesson in painting straight perfect lines....

See how yucky and messy? Well - the trick is... after you tape it off - you have to put a coat of your base color on FIRST (in my case the yellow) - right over the tape... THEN the black next. This seals up the edges and anyplace it's gonna bleed through. So I started again - I taped off some thicker lines every 1/2 a foot and went back at it.

First with a coat of yellow...

and then with black... and it WORKED!

Woot.

Looking MUUUUCH better.

Time for the numbers I bought. Turns out I didn't need the 7 after all... but heck - they were just over a $1 each.... so no worries.

I just loved that these were metal and had an embossed effect...

Still... I felt like they needed something - so I went to my scrapbooking stash and tried out some of my colored brads in the little holes at the top and bottom of the numbers. And since I had a hard time deciding which color to go with - I chose 6 different colors.

Once I was happy with that - I broke out some two part epoxy and glued them in place.

Alright - we are cooking now...

And then I took a step back and realized that the little tick marks at the 1" lines were just getting lost - now that I had those bodacious big stripes and numbers on there...

So that meant - more tape and more yellow paint -

A coat of yellow and two coats of black later... it was DONE and hung and looking great!

Again - learn from my mistakes here - and it will take you even LESS time. Seriously folks, this was a snap to do. Just a piece of wood - some paint - tape and some metal numbers.

Now GO!

xo