Princess Night Light

My daughter occasionally wants a night light when she goes to bed. I took our Princess word art and put it on an acrylic block. The block had a hole drilled into the bottom through which I fed a strand of battery operated lights (about 20 lights), and viola! A perfect night light for her room.

The Gift that Keeps Giving

Happy New Year! I apologize for the funny error with the photos from my last post. My computer randomly dropped my internet connection while I was uploading my photos as I was posting. I reconnected and thought it went through alright, but apparently I was wrong. You should be able to see the photos now.


My friend Mica send me this darling gift in the mail. She rolled the white lunch sack, and made her cards with Stampin' Up! stamps and materials. I particularly love her card. It's simple, but very cute. The two-sided paper and stitched ribbon add a fun flair.

(Alas, this year I sent Mica and the other 200* people on my Christmas card list store-bought cards--though in my heart I stamped them one). As I mentioned in my last post, it was a particularly busy Christmas for us this year. And to top it all off, one of my children had us singing "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". My sweet pea has been miserable as two bottom teeth made their way through the gums. Add to that an ear infection and pretty much all my sweetie wants to do is be held.

I don't know if you've ever tried stamping with a young one in your arms, but it's pretty impossible. :D

Anyway, inside Mica's cute wrapping job was this recipe card holder. I had cut the vinyl letter for her and her church group as well as a few extra for gifts she was making. I guess I was one of the lucky recipients of the gifts!

Thanks Mica! I love it. I've already got my favorite Williams-Sonoma recipe for Butternut Squash soup on the metal board and ready to go for dinner tomorrow. I'm so excited to use this. Mica knows I love to cook (when I have the time), and I have needed a good recipe card holder for a long time.

And speaking of gifts, let me just say there are definite advantages to being such good friends with the owners of the best new stamp company out there, Lizzie Anne Designs. Meridith (Anne) sent me the cutest new stamps for Christmas, AND THEY'RE NOT EVEN AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE YET!! (Okay, so if you wait a few more days you can get them too, and BELIEVE ME you want to get these stamps).

Not sure what I'm talking about? Well throughout this week LAD is revealing several new stamp sets they adding to their already fantastic collection on January 7th. Today they revealed four new sets. I can't tell you what the stamps that I received are yet (I promised them I wouldn't spoil their surprise), but I can STRONGLY encourage you to check out their sneak peeks throughout the week.

So what was your favorite Christmas gift this year? Was it handmade? I'd like to hear from you if you are willing to share.

*The actual count is 199 Christmas cards--really it is. When you have as many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends from numerous moves as we do it adds up quickly. :D

Hot Chocolate...mmmm

Well, yesterday I mentioned the hot cocoa mugs we sold at the Utah Chocolate Show, so I thought I'd post a picture of them here. We used a different grade vinyl than what we normally use for the walls. (It's a stickier vinyl which adheres better when the mugs are washed--handwash

only). We also did a mug & plate set with "Santa's Cocoa" and "Santa's Cookies" on them.

Jodee came up with this idea, and it's been really popular. Last year I offered them at a few holiday craft boutiques locally & personalized a several for teacher gifts. And one of the craft day projects we did this year were mugs with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Santa & Teacher's cocoa on them. They all turned out really cute.

In my own family, my kids like having their own mugs. It means no fighting over which mug belongs to whom--much like the personalized Trick-or-Treat buckets. (I love doing things that cut down on fighting). Last year we started having hot chocolate as their after school treat. It's cold walking home from school!

Chocolate anyone?

One of the nice things about fall and early winter is that chocolate seems to be in abundance. Those yummy truffles at Costco come back (they are covered in cocoa powder and literally melt in your mouth). There is also hot chocolate, homemade fudge for the holidays, and cookie exchanges (the more chocolate the better).

Next weekend is the Utah Chocolate Show in Salt Lake City. We did some signage for them last year and sold some of our cocoa mugs at a booth. This year we're making up some 2 ft. long quotes for boards or for your wall (personal choice). We've found some hilarious chocolate quotes, and as I prepare them, I'll be posting pictures.

This one I've prepped the vinyl, but I haven't applied the application tape just yet. I'll be sending these unmounted to Salt Lake, where Jodee (my friend who started this business with me) will be putting some on boards and selling some as unmounted quotes. I'll definitely post pictures of any finished products I've got. Afterall, who doesn't love chocolate?

Baby Gifts

As I mentioned, I’ve had lots of friends having babies lately. My new favorite gift to give is our Bath Time tin filled with lots of baby bath supplies. The little hippo was designed by Meridith Anne of Lizzie Anne Designs, and licensed for a fee. He’s too cute! This vinyl project started off as wall art for a tub surround in a kid’s bathroom--(which was darling by the way).

One day last year I needed to make a baby shower gift, and I was playing around with different container ideas. I happened to have an empty paint can and voila! The Bath Time Tin was born.

A friend of mine had me make a few for her which she filled with things like bath crayons, colored bubble bath and other things older kids would like in the tub. Her son gave it away as a fun birthday present.

I'm always looking for cute containers to put gifts into, and I love that I can customize them now too.