Bags & Tags

Happy Christmas all! 

Just a quick share today. Here are the bags I decorated to hold all of the little pressies I got for my girls. They're loosely based off bags I saw on Amanda Dell's blog. I loved the mini pom poms!!

I made the snowflake out of pipe cleaners using this tutorial. I also stamped the mini bags using an older Ali Edwards' stamp set. The tags I cut myself and finished off with a gold reinforcement. I want like 400 more of them!

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful holiday! To everyone else, have a fabulous Thursday =)

cheers & besos,

Ohio Ornaments

It's true. I love my Pinterest boards! I'm so visual and Pinterest is so visually awesome. I love looking at my boards, pinning projects for a later date, looking for inspiration.

I went through my boards the other day and decided to re-pin all the projects and recipes and layouts I have used [see it here]. Of the 4,003 images I've pinned, I've only used 59 of them! Doing the math fairly quickly, but that's barely more than 1%!!!

And the thing is, I love the things I pin. I want to use them. So this month and next year, I'm planning to do just that. Starting with this project:

State Ornaments: [Pin] [Original Source]

Aren't these adorable? I loved the Pinspiration and thought these wee lil hoops would be the perfect little stocking stuffers for Matt's family. We'll be in Ohio for Christmas this year and I'll be able to hand them out (in person!) then.

I went with Ohio State colors on this one, topped off with a silver ribbon. Stocking stuffers can now be checked off the list!

cheers & besos,

Bachelorette Mini

Morning! I'm up bright & early today because someone's phone kept buzzing for unknown reasons. It's somewhat close to the time I usually wake up so here I am, up and blogging at 6am on a Sunday =)

I have the winner of last week's RAK for you all, but first I wanted to share this mini book I put together for Kimberly. 

Did I tell yall I'm going to be a bridesmaid? First time in life! I'm excited but curious to see what this whole experience is going to be like. 

Well, now that I think about it, it's already started. Tara, Susie & I threw Kim a weekend long party in the Hill Country for her bachelorette. Ten girls spending the night in an adorable farmhouse, literally in the middle of nowhere. It was a blast! 

We also did a bit of wine touring in the local area. But for me, the silliness that went down in the evenings, the talking, the laughing, the relaxing and watching movies. That for me was the best part.

I put together this 6x6 mini book with just a few supplies: green and purple cardstocks (Kim's colors are green and purple, and handily fit with the wine tour theme), a package of purple flowers, pearl trim, purple lace trim, washi tapes in purple & green, and a package of Jolee's with a wine theme. 

I tucked into my stamp & Thicker stash, and embellished with a button or two. And of course, turned to my punches more than once for a circle or a bow. 

It took me some time to get it all together. And I remembered why I don't make mini books that much any more -- they take so long & I start to lose interest and zeal for the project. But I always love seeing them all put together. Scroll through for a quick recap of our girls weekend. I had a blast with these lovelies. Can't wait until February 16!

Oh, one more thing. I have to note that I did catch the misspelling in the title page. Working to fix it now!

And of course I didn't forget about the RAK winner! According to random.org it's commenter number 3. That would be you SamSam! I'm e-mailing you know for your address, so I can get these goodies off to you. If you haven't seen the e-mail, then please e-mail me at paperheart[dot]project[at]gmail[dot]com.

cheers & besos,

Presties for Besties

I can't believe Christmas is gone for another year. Seriously, I felt cheated out of a holiday this year. Being sick, being away from family, etc. etc. It was such a weird holiday. But I'm hopeful that next year will be better! 

Anyway, I finally was able to sit down to work on some Christmas presents for my girls. Each of them got a decorated tray + another scrappy present.

This first tray is for Ms. Tara. I loved this photo of her and Kim. And yes, it's a bit weird that I didn't put one of the two of us, but she has plenty of those.

For this tray, and the rest of them, I pulled my colors from the photos themselves. The color combo on this one was cream/brown/pale pink/green/gold. I riffled through my stash for products & papers in those colors and made this cute lil tray.

Here's Kim's present. It's a group shot from her Bach. I took it on a timer & am so glad we were able to get all of us in front of our cute little farmhouse. Don't you love that its red with turquoise trim?!

Red, turquoise and purple made up my color combo for this one. I hated the idea initially but now I'm glad Tara made us all wear purple.

And finally, here's Susie's tray. I snapped this photo at my birthday brunch & found out later it was the first photo of the three of them all together.

Loved the dark blues they were wearing next to Lauren's cute purple dress. I had fun mixing those colors plus some creams. And I really love the quote on that October Afternoon sticker. She's their little flower!

I loved how these presents turned out. They're all personalized, inexpensive to make (I only had to buy the trays) and easy to put together. I might have to do this again next year!

cheers & besos,

Kraft Wrapping

Who doesn't love brown paper packages tied up with string?!

Here's how I wrapped the presents I showed you all a few days ago.

This first with yarn and a homemade pom.

The second with loads of washi for a more modern look.

And with this last, I stamped using white chalk ink and finished it off with a ribbon.

Don't they look lovely sitting under my tree?

Merry [early] Christmas yall!

cheers & besos,

Tomerlin Presies

Good morning! Man does it feel great to be scrapping and blogging again =) I'm still scrapping out of boxes, but I'm hopefully I'll spend a good chunk of next week getting my scrapbook area set up and organized. 

In the meantime, I made a few Christmas gifts that I wanted to share. It was frustrating to want to use some things I knew were packed, but I made these work in the end.

Here's a shadowbox (is that what we're calling these?) of Matt and his sweet Grandma Rose. 

I love this smaller size and the 3 little boxes to decorate. It makes it easy! Well, as easy I'll let it. These tiny spaces are hard for me to fill for some reason! These 3 took me hours to make because I kept shifting through options, trying to find what I wanted.

I drew a lot from the colors in each of the photos. Grandma Rose's shirt helped me pull in some blues and pinks, and the trees helped with the greens and yellows.

I used a hodge podge of products on all of these. Most notably on this one, I used some of the new 5th & Frolic from American Crafts and the Crate Paper Trendsetter I think it's called.

For this one of Matt and his family, I pulled out greens, blues and khakis, plus some black for good measure. Products are from Studio Calico, American Crafts, Basic Grey, Echo Park and the Girls Paperie.

But I think I had the most fun putting this one of Matt and his sister together. Jenn's shirt made for such a pretty jumping off point. There's some Dear Lizzy, Crate Paper, Amy Tangerine, Crate Paper, Echo Park thrown in here.

So yes, 3 presents done!! 5-6 more to go! Be sure to check back for more of these lil trays. Also, check back this week for the wrapping and decorating of the presents. Arguably, this might be my favorite part =)

cheers & besos,

Birth Day

She's almost here! Lauren is going to be born today. Her Mama is scheduled to be induced, so we'll get to meet the newest member of our group this afternoon.

I didn't want to show up to the hospital empty handed, so I made a birth day card and some onesies.

Dear Lizzy's lines make making gifts for little girls so easy. I used several of her papers for this card (which is a semi-lift of a Danielle Flanders card) and thought the "celebrate sunshine" sentiment was perfect for the birth of a little girl, especially one born in the summer.

And I've not been neglecting the insides of my cards. I decorated this one with some mist, tape and a variety of lovely date stamps.

And onto the onesies...

I accidently bought muscle tees!!! For a baby! And of course I didn't realize this until I ripped open the package. But I had to make the most of it. I hope they don't mind too much.

Remember Laverne's (of Laverne & Shirley) famous signature "L" sweaters and shirts? That's the inspiration for this onesie.

I did something a bit different with the next one. It's one part reverse applique and one part straight stitching (my first attempt!) I liked the variety of the cursive and the block letters. Plus, it's yellow!

And finally, the signature design I created for little Ms. LC. I had to include the heart in the "C".

Oh, and I have to talk about this tutu. I've had it stowed away in my gift box since January, when I picked it up from Target at a steal. It's soooo tiny and perfect and cute! I'm happy to pass it along to an actual little being who will wear it and if possible, enhance its cuteness!

Can't wait to meet this little girl!

cheers & besos,