If I could wish a wish...

At the heels of Dr. Seuss's birthday last week, I've been thinking in rhymes ever since. And I can't get this particular one out of my mind!

So we went ahead and celebrated.

Why do they have to get older? Oh well, maybe if I keep on wishing the same wish on my wish dish, it will eventually come true! Or is that just when I get grandchildren?

A "ewe"nique Photostrip Collection.

I'd like you to meet Erin Vertolli— my very talented friend and fellow Blankner Mom. She is probably the coolest Mom I know. For one, her kids are named London and Vegas. How cool is that? Her house is very West Elm meets CB2 with a dash of IKEA. Plus, she is the talent behind One Lucky Baby— a line of hip baby attire and accessories designed with the modern Mom in mind.

Erin invited me over recently to pour though her fabric scraps. I love using fabrics in my mixed media art. Anyway, when I walked in the door, I saw this collage of Photo booth pictures on her wall. I absolutely loved it and asked her about it. This was her response: 

ERIN: I have this ridiculous obsession with photo booths. Not the digital, or the sticker booths but the old school classic B&W or Color booths. You get 4 shots. No retakes. No copies. I started collecting strips about 15 years ago. Most pictures are of friends and family but I've got fantastic photos of strangers too. Am I surprised when I ask random people if they'll squeeze their body into 2x2 feet, take some pics and let me keep them? Always. Not sure if it's the booth or the booze, but people lose their inhibition in these things.

Only a few places in Orlando still have the classic booths including Eye Spy, BBQ Bar and Stardust. And maybe one day, my living room. Until then, I'll keep collecting, framing and dreaming of my own!"

Be sure and check out Erin's shop here:

Well, I think I'm going to round up the hub and kids and go find a Photobooth! Have a great weekend!

A Garden Birthday Party - for Mackenzie!

INTRODUCING: The Garden Party Collection available now on Etsy! 

To see the full collection click HERE .

MY NIECE RECENTLY TURNED FOUR and we celebrated with a Garden Birthday Party designed and illustrated by yours truly! Here's the double-sided invitation that was sent out to friends and family (see above and below).

And here's the Birthday Girl!

Since my house is full of boys, I had so much fun designing this party for Mackenzie. 

• The tablecloth is made from colorful bandanas. Thanks Mom for sewing it together for me! 
• Hot Pink Water Jug— is from Joann's found with all their Easter stuff.  Same with the flowers. 

• The yummy homemade white cake was layered with fresh strawberries and homemade icing!
• I made clay cake toppers to match the Garden themed invitation. (Thinking about selling these too.)
• The little statue of Mackenzie was made using Shrinky Dinks! That was fun to watch it bake!
• My friends Shona, Claire and I sewed the Mini-bunting for the cake (and also for the yarn wreath).

• I spray painted the clay pots in bright colors and filled them with Jelly Bellies.
• The Flowers were made from a template and tongue depressors (template available at my shop)
• The Party Circles in the center of the flowers are part of my Garden Party Collection.

The kids loved playing and planting flowers in the sandbox.

• Chenille bubble blowers were easier for the kids to dip into the bubbles and the chenille absorbs the bubble mixture and makes bigger bubbles!
• The Bubble Wrappers are part of the Garden Party Collection.

 I found this adorable Butterfly Catcher jar with "what looked like" a real butterfly! Tap on the top of the jat and the butterfly flutters around. It was a big hit with the kids.

 Click here for instructions on how to make these cute balloon flowers!

Guests left with these Garden Party Favors.

 Can't wait 'til next year!

President's Day— Something old, something new...

Something old and something new.

8x10 Graphic Illustration

by me

Something  borrowed: Mini President Figurines

(Photo by Every Day's a Holiday: Year-Round Crafting With Kids)

If I had the time this week I would have whipped these little cuties up, I just didn't have a minute to spare. Oh well, there's always next year! Love the cute little top hat on Lincoln— just like the ones I used on my Snowmen!

Something...crafty!

Wind-up Lincoln Hat!

I made this using the wind-up mechanism from another wind-up toy laying around the house, some black construction paper and craft foam. Hilarious!

Have a great Presidents' Day everybody!

Our Attic Renovation is Featured on Remodelaholic!

Yay! 

Please go take a look!

HERE

Valentine's Day rocked this year!

I decided to leave my red magnolia wreath up until Valentine's Day because I love it so much and hate to pack it away. So I added this cool Love sign I made out of coated copper wire and yarn. L-O-V-E it!

Jackson (my Kindergartener) vetoed the Fruity Valentine idea so we decided to decorate rocks instead. I got this idea  here at Red Bird Crafts. Sooo cute! And easy! Jackson came home and didn't mention anything about them, so I'm assuming his classmates liked them and there was no rock throwing going on in class. Guess I would have gotten an email from the teacher if that had happened. 

I ran with the chalkboard speech bubble idea from earlier this month and made 18 of them for Wesley's classmates last week. They each wrote a special message to their parents and I took pictures of them. We also made these twisty yarn picture clips. A sweet, sentimental gift for Mom and Dad.

Twisty Yarn Picture Clips How to:

You'll Need:

• yarn

• sturdy coated wire (from the hardware store. The same stuff I used for the LOVE sign)

• some paper clips (clothespins would work great too!)

• twist-on wire connectors (also from the hardware store) 

Tape the paper clip to one end of the coated wire. Wrap the yarn tightly through the paper clip and around the wire until it is completely covered. Snip the yarn and twist on a wire connector. Then twist it to your "heart's" desire!

And I'm calling it a day. Sweet!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone is having a very happy Valentine's Day!

I'll do a Valentine's wrap-up later tonight. So little time and so much to do!

Minted Design Challenge — "Marriage Advice" Wedding Shower Invite

Woohooo! I just entered my first design challenge on minted.com! I'm so nervous and I still have to wait a few weeks to find out the results! Please have a look at my "Marriage Advice" wedding shower invitation and let me know how I stack up to the competition!

To view my entry and more details about my design, 

please click here.

shower invitations - Marriage Advice

Fruity Valentines!

A take-off of the Annoying Orange videos on YouTube that my kids love watching, these fruity treats will be what they hand out to their classmates this year at school. I found the cute little stickers over at Twig and Thistle and added a boyish twist with the googly eyes. You can download the stickers here. 

 The Annoying Orange

You've got to watch at least one video. They're pretty funny!

Happy Valentines Day!

Girlfriend Time is good for your health—Seriously!

"A message to my out-of-state friends."

8"x10" Digital Illustration

On that note, I just received this email from my friend Carolyn, who received it from her friend, who received it from her friend, and so on. Read on....

Subject: The University of Stanford Lecture - Stress Relief Date: Friday, January 28, 2011, 8:05 PM They Teach It at Stanford "I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious. Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym. There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other women is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky.   Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."

Say it with a Chalkboard Valentine!

THIS WEEK ON IronCraft: Challenge #5 "Be Mine"— The challenge was to make a Valentine's Card. There are some really cute cards posted by my IronCraft friends like Jeromina's Valentine Tic Tac Toe card (she always blows me a way with her cool ideas),  and this adorable Heart Tree Embroidery Pattern from The Modern Lady (see her tutorial— you can do it too!).

I chose to go with a chalkboard theme, so I made these chalkboard speech bubbles. They were very easy to make. I just drew the bubble on the foam board, adhered chalkboard contact paper (you can find it here) and then trimmed it out with an exacto knife. Done! 

The Valentine's card was easy too. I  just mounted the photo to card stock to make it more firm and then adhered chalkboard contact paper to the back. The kids will have fun writing, erasing and re-writing their messages. 

   I wrote the message for Jackson, but that goofy smile is all his!