Fabric Birthday Card

Today is my nephews first birthday party!! There really wasn't a birthday card cute enough for my little man and I didn't want to spend six dollars for a piece of paper that would be thrown away at the end of the day. So aunt Lacey came home and created a 'card' perfect for this special ocassion!

I realize the bottom doesn't exactly measure up correctly but this is my first one. Tutorial on the way!

Birthday Board and How-To

True Story: I texted my sister in law and told her to give my one and only nephew 'LOTS OF BIRTHDAY KISSES'. Then I realized that his birthday isn't for 2 more days....

I'm pathetic when  it comes to remembering important dates! I saw the cutest birthday board on Pinterest and couldn't resist making my own.

I was going to take pictures for a tutorial but it is really so simple it's easier just to explain.

I started with a scrap piece of wood I found at my moms house (My hoarding of crafts does help out sometimes). I sanded and painted my beautiful board. For the graphic I printed off this amazing picture onto fabric and then mod podged it onto the board. I can't resist a little pink so I dabbed pink onto the edges then sanded the edges down for a shabby look. A final layer of clear spray paint adds a little shine.

For the tags I had some new ones from last Christmas left over. I dunked them in vanilla flavoring for about 15 minutes then I baked them in the oven for about 10 minutes. The tags come out all warped so I stack them in between foil and put something heavy on them until they flatten out and cool down.

Not sure that it matters but I put everyones birthday on the tags with Sharpies new paint pens. I swear I've used them every day since my daughter unwrapped them on her birthday :)

The knob I bought at lowes. I am NOT savvy with electric tools so I super glued it to the board and let dry overnight. I used twine to hang the tags and think it turned out pretty swanky! I will be making these for Christmas since they are basically free to make and super cute!

Mail Call! Fabric Envelope

I have this AMAZING AUNT. I can remember when she went on vacation, I usually got to go to. My parents weren't very adventurous and didn't like to go anywhere outside of a 200 mile range. Going places with her and my cousins was always an adventure. I love my aunt SO MUCH. She is my second mother. Every year for birthdays and holidays, the kids and I get a handmade card and sometimes a tiny trading card will fall into our hands as we open the card. She is SO talented, and I keep every little thing she makes because it is so amazingly beautiful. I was thinking how I haven't done anything special for HER in a very long time. Nothing says "I love you" like handmade. I keep seeing fabric postcards all around the internet and wanted to take it one step further. This envelope is a little smaller than a large manilla envelope. It was so fun to make. I used paint,  tulle, muslin, woven cotton, glitter, modge podge and ribbon. The "You are loved" on the back is a piece of twill I wrote on. After it dried I added modge podge and glitter. I then sewed two pieces of tulle over the top. It looks pretty swanky in real life!

I put a 'patch' of muslin on the right upper side for the stamps.

Instead of a zipper or resin snap I made the envelope with ties. I tied them in little tiny bows and tucked them inside of the envelope.

Next time I will use a zipper and tack it into place so that no one opens it before it is delivered. I really thought the mail lady would flip out and tell me about some sort of regulation that I didn't follow. Instead, she smiled really big and told me how pretty it was. It was only $1.30 to mail :) I'm not sure if it arrived safely or not but it was SO FUN to make. I will definitely be doing this again!

Pencil Case Party Favors

My daughters birthday flew around (as always, too quickly!) and she hadn't been feeling good all week. The doctor told us that she couldn't attend p.e., ride her bike or do any running or strenuous activity. I have been promising her a slumber party but we had to postpone it since she was sleepy and it wouldn't be much fun having a party when she didn't feel good. So I promised that we would have the slumber party later, saved all of the things I had made and bought for it and decided to send cupcakes and party favors to her class so that everyone could at least KNOW it was her special day!

After scouring pinterest for ideas on party favors I decided I didn't want to make or send sugary sweets or junky toys which usually get thrown away a couple days later. I decided to make pencil holders!

I would post a tutorial but there are hundreds of pencil case tutorials on the internet already. It really is such a simple project! I added a loop to them so that they could be hung up. We are CONSTANTLY losing pencils at home, so I thought this would be a convenient way to keep track of them for homework time.

I made the teacher one also. The fabric was a yummy baby lulu velvet that I've been hoarding for a special ocassion. She is really the best teacher alive, and nothing is too good for this super woman. It doesn't show up as beautiful as it is :) Instead of candy, I stuffed the bags with pencils, a crazy straw, fruit roll ups and other useful things. For the label I printed a cute little owl saying to match the bags.

After school one of the girls in class ran up to me and asked me, "HOW DID YOU MAKE THOSE? I LOVE IT!". It seems they were a real hit and the teacher had them leave the cases in class to keep track of their pencils. Maybe everyone will remember my sweet girl everytime they grab a pencil!