4 September 2014
Have y’all SEEN the new Puffin in Bloom books by Rifle Paper Co? They are perfection.
I love almost everything Anna does, and these books are no exception. I think they’re even prettier than the Penguin Classics! Anne of Green Gables is one of my very favorite books (I made an inspiration board here!), and I also love A Little Princess. I actually don’t think I’ve ever read Heidi or Little Women, so I guess that gives me an excuse to buy the books! :) They’re definitely going on my Christmas list.
All four books are available on Rifle’s site for $16 or for about $11 on Amazon.
P.S. All of these photos are from Anna’s instagram stream – so neat to see the paintings that became the covers!
P.P.S. My brother-in-law is Anna’s literary agent! So proud of him, too :)
28 July 2014
The run-up to Natalie and Joe’s wedding was remarkably calm, from my perspective, but there was one aspect of the festivities that was a little nerve-wracking – my other sister-in-law’s due date, which was one week after the wedding! Today is our nephew’s official due date, but despite dancing up a storm at the reception he still hasn’t made an appearance. Though I’m not sure Marget would agree at this point, I’m glad I’m able to make a report of the shower in his mama’s honor before he arrives!
We held the shower in New York, where my sister-in-law lives. We went with a loose “adventurous little boy” theme, since that’s (loosely) the theme of the nursery. Here’s the invite I made to send to guests:
I printed the invitations at FedEx, and sent them out in kraft envelopes from Paper Presentation I had on hand. I actually decided to list these as a download in my Etsy shop, so if you have a use for them, they’re right here!
We kept the decor fairly minimal: one of M’s friends made an adorable gingham garland, we arranged colorful yarrow into little tin buckets, and we displayed some adventurous books, pine cones, and wooden woodland animals. (They were part of my shower gift to Marget – maybe the start of a collection!) I also picked up a few tree trunk slices from A.C. Moore (easy to travel with!) for displaying food and made a special sign with nephew’s nickname.
To make the sign, I spraypainted a wooden craft store plaque white, then hot glued on twigs. Easy!
The favors were little muslin bags stamped with “Adventure is out there” and filled with trail mix! I used a self-inking stamp from RubberStamps.com and it worked beautifully on the fabric.
I really dislike most baby shower games, so we went simple and just had one activity aside from eating, socializing, and opening gifts: we painted blocks for the baby! The blocks were from A.C. Moore, and I picked up craft paint in the nursery accent colors and a multi-pack of brushes. It seemed to go over well; my brothers-in-law even picked up a brush to complete the set post-shower. As a side note, if you’re trying this and planning to have a really young child who might put them in his mouth play with them, I’d recommend adding a food-safe sealant after they’re dry.
Now we just wait eagerly for news of our nephew’s arrival!!
9 January 2014
Hi friends! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on my last post! I loved reading them!
Going back a few more posts, I had mentioned that I was considering DIY-ing this Sugar Paper note card set. And I did! It ended up turning out very well (if I do say so myself!), so I thought I’d share it here.
Supplies needed: white cards (I used A2), colored envelopes (my favorites are from Paper Presentation), metallic gold craft paint, a 12″ bamboo skewer, a small paint brush, something to hold your paint, and an old magazine
There are really no instructions for this project — you’re just making dots, however you think looks best! But I do have two very helpful hints. The first: I like the look of dots going off the card, but if you do so, you’re depositing paint on your work surface with every card, which can make finding a clean place for your next card difficult. My solution: use an old magazine you’re ready to recycle! You can turn the page after every card so you have a clean surface for each one without using an excessive amount of paper.
Second tip: When you use the base of the skewer to deposit the dots, it leaves a tiny peak. I wanted a cleaner look, so I went back over each dot with a small paintbrush to pick up some of the extra paint and smooth things out. It sounds fastidious, but only took a few seconds for each card! Before and after below.
And that’s it! I tied sets of six with satin ribbon for gifting after letting them dry overnight. They may not be letterpress like Sugar Paper’s, but I think they’re pretty fun!
DIY projects don’t always turn out that professional-looking, which can make them hard to give as gifts, but I think this stationery is the perfect candidate. Tuck this one away until next December, or make a set for yourself! :)
23 December 2013
Friends! Thank you so much for your kind input on my first Christmas card post. You guys are just the best. I loved hearing about your plans for your own cards, and about how much you love Minted, too! Here’s how the voting ended up this year:
I could easily have seen us choosing any of the three top vote-getters. However, we ended up going with a late-breaking photo, and then choosing a totally new design to complement it!
It’s the Winter Pines card by Alethea & Ruth. We really liked this design because it communicated well what we wanted to wish our loved ones — peace, love, and joy. The photo is by Bryce Covey, taken at our friends’ wedding. (By the way, that’s one of my best tricks for getting a good photo if you don’t have the budget for an individual session — wedding photographers are usually happy to take quick couple or family portraits during cocktail hour when not much else is going on, and everyone’s already dressed up!)
Here’s a peek at our second annual family newsletter. Many of you asked whether it would be back, and here it is! By the way, I COMPLETELY forgot to follow up after this post, but we are indeed an aunt and uncle!! Tegan was born on December 12, and she’s so cute — we just got back from spending the weekend with her and the rest of my family!
One other thing I wanted to mention — it’s important to us that our Christmas cards are not all about us. We send them out at Christmas to share our joy at the birth of our Savior with the people we love the most, and we want to remind people of that in a personal way. That’s why we include a few thoughts on what Christmas means to us. It’s also good for us to stop and put it into words!
Each card got dressed up with an address and some washi tape. I had the perfect mint, jade, and kelly green rolls already in my stash!
Not one of our cards goes out without a personal note (probably a holdover from my childhood — I can remember sitting around the kitchen table with my siblings and parents, signing what seemed like hundreds of letters from a very young age!). Here’s one for y’all:
Yes, I had some help sending these out :) Hope you love them!