Thursday, June 8, 2017

BFF Open House Link Party

Happy Friday Eve all! Hope you've had a great first week of June. I'm sure the past and next couple of weeks are big "last day of school" weeks for everyone, even for us grad school parents. 

Here are some great ideas from last week's party. 

Stephanie from Somewhat Simple has a great roundup of Father's Day gifts. If you can't find an idea there, I'm not sure it exists!


Lindsey from Repurpose and Upcycle has a wonderful image transfer tutorial for a custom ordered Farmhouse Sign. Farmhouse decor is so popular right now and being able to customize what you want in your sign is perfect. 


Tassels are another thing I'm seeing everywhere. Decor, jewelry, clothes. Leslie from From Playdates to Parties has an easy tutorial to make your own for far less than you'd spend at the store. 



Finally, one of my never ending bucket list of things to master is to make pretty cakes like this awesome Unicorn Cake from Bird's Party


Now, on to this week's party! Thanks for coming :) 


   
   



Monday, June 5, 2017

Maybe I Should Change My Blog Name To The Answer Is Coffee? Printables!


Or, maybe I should change it to "The Answer Is Mochas" to be even more specific! If you read my posts, you know I don't get through the day without them!

Imagine my absolute joy when this week's freebies from Creative Market  included another of my absolute favorites, hand lettering, combined with another favorite,  FREE all rolled into one downloadable set of Hand Lettered Coffee Quotes !

  • Coffee? Check
  • Hand Lettering? Check
  • Free? Check


What's not to be happy about? I'm happier than  me with a mocha.  Seriously if you are on the lookout for fonts and digital images you need to bookmark Creative Market and every Monday they release 6 new items for .... you guessed it FREE. 


In this set you get all of these hand lettered quotes. Aren't they great? You also get them in black on a white background ( plus more). I broke these apart so I could use them individually and make you things like the above "Coffee Coffee Coffee" printable that's sized 8x10 when brought to full resolution.  I also made it in the reverse: 



There's a great chalkboard background that also comes with this set so of course I had to play with it! 

Update: After I posted this one, I noticed that "of" should be "for" . Since I can't edit it, I plopped a little heart over it. 




and



Needless to say, the possibilities are endless. Go get these and hope you like these printables! 


Thursday, June 1, 2017

BFF Open House Link Party


Happy Friday Jr. / Friday Eve and Happy June! How on earth is it June? Thanks for hanging with me and understanding the lack of features last week. Month end craziness at work just ate my brain. 

These features are from last week's party and the party the week before. 


First up is this gorgeous thrift store makeover from Raven Would. Love what Kileen did with this down to the casters she added and the shabby chic finish. 


With Graduation season upon us, My Busy Beehives has got some elegant printables perfect for any Grad! 


Who doesn't love an Ikea Hack? I love seeing the creative ways people make their stuff (already so cool) even more amazing. Sara from Find It Fix It or Build It has 23 Ikea Hacks for you!


 Finally, what better way to end the week / start the weekend than with a batch of these Sour Cream Double Chocolate Chip Cookies! Visit Crazy About Expresso for the recipe! 

Now, on to this week's party! 

   
   

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Saturday Wine Humor



This week's party continues here.

My BFF sent a hilarious quote to me this week and it was serendipitous that Designbundles.net had the perfect set of graphics to go with it as their freebie of the week . You might say they were the perfect pairing, so I made this printable with her in mind. 

It's a great collection of wine themed graphics but it's only free to download for 5 more days! 


To save, click on image to bring to full resolution, right click to Save As, download. It's sized 8x10


Thursday, May 25, 2017

BFF Open House Link Party


Happy Friday Eve and especially long weekend Friday Eve! To give you a hint of the kind of week it's been, we're going to skip features this week and jump right to the party. Wishing everyone a long, restful and happy weekend! 

   
   

Thursday, May 18, 2017

BFF Open House Link Party


Happy Friday eve and here's to the end of another busy week. Hope all the moms had a wonderful Mother's Day !

Some features from last week party. 


Farmhouse style is so popular right now. I've been wanting to start an indoor herb garden and love this idea from Paisley and Pugs ( in fact, I think I have these exact galvanized pots!)


Who can't use more storage but buying enough can get pricey. These coordinated pretty bins are made from cardboard boxes! Shared by Just Measuring Up.


Hair clips, especially decorative ones, are another thing that can get expensive. You can make your own ( and get the exact colors you want) like Sew Historically did with the one shown here. 


Finally, I'm drooling over these Cinnamon Rolls. Don't they look delicious? From Crazy About Expresso!

Now on to this week's party! 
   
   

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Ermagerd! Special Gift for a Special Friend


A few years ago, fate introduced me to someone who has become a great friend. A change in work assignments brought us together though in our company, "together" is virtual since she is on one side of the country and I'm on the other.  

Our paths had never crossed before and we quickly discovered we had many things in common. Our passionate love of our kids, our "wicked smaht" sense of humor, our shared love of the same TV series and movies and more. I don't remember exactly how the expression "ERMAGERD" (for OMG) became part of our daily discussions but it was probably from something that had happened on "Game of Thrones" or "Bates Motel". 

We'd always have the same take on something and that morphed into us saying we were like Forrest and Jenny from "Forrest Gump" ...."peas and carrots" which became "peas in a pod". She became Erma and I became Gerd and that's been our thing!  I wanted to commemorate our relationship which is what this gift represents. Still with me? 


I knew I wanted to letter something, and I knew I wanted to frame it so I started with these supplies: 
  • Unpainted Frame
  • Acrylic Paints 
  • Lettering Pens
  • Embellishments for frame
  • Heavy Paper ( I used watercolor paper)
  • Lightbox
  • Fun Font


I painted the frame black , then crackled it using my tried and true white glue crackle technique with metallic gold as the top coat.  Once dry I added the rolled paper flowers I picked up on one of my Michaels trips. 


For the lettering and pea pods, I chose a fun font, found a piece of clipart I liked, created the sentiment on my computer, printed off and then using my lightbox, layered watercolor paper on top. Traced with a pencil, then outlined with a high quality non-bleed pen ( I bought a pack of pens by Recollections @ Michaels, comparable to Micron Pens). 

Some might ask why I didn't just use the computer generated print but I wanted this to have a hand lettered feel (and the watercolor paper wouldn't fit my printer anyway). Since I wanted it to coordinate w/ the frame, I used a metallic gold gel pen to accent the peas in the pod. 



We also share a love of black and white clothing. Since I love making jewelry and had recently picked up some new supplies to play with, I made her a pair of earrings, and made a complementary pair for me! I wear big earrings, so I made hers a little less bold but using the same beads. 


I  can't have pierced ears so mine are clips and hers are pierced. I'd picked up a package of  connector links ( the silver ovals) and layered different sizes together for each pair, and then strung the beads on headpins as shown, connecting them to the links with jump rings. 

I've waited to post this until I knew she received ( and liked!) her gift which she did and does. As I told her, the BEST feeling in the world for us makers is the excitement we feel when someone loves something we made for them. My gift in return ( not that one was expected) was her excitement over receiving this. Best feeling in the world! 



Love ya Erma!



Saturday, May 13, 2017

Metallic Mother's Day Cards


This week's party continues here.

Not happy w/ the photography here but these cards have been mailed already so...

I always make a few Mother's Day cards for special friends. This year I went with a palette of grey, white, black and gold.  The grey floral paper is actually from a Valentine's collection but works so well here I think. 


The focals for each card are from the DCWV Eclectic Chic stack I picked up at JoAnn's. Each is a panel from a 12x12 page of sentiments. 


There was a sentiment perfect for each of the women I was sending cards to. 



I layered each with gold glitter and white papers and then attached them to a gold and white polka dot panel on top of the grey floral panel. Gotta figure out how to get better at photographing metallics. 


Thursday, May 11, 2017

BFF Open House Link Party


TGIF ( almost) everyone. Wishing all the Moms a very Happy Mother's Day weekend. Hope you all get treated like the Queens that you are.  If you're scrambling for some last minute ideas, here are some from last week's party. 


You can't beat printables for coming in handy at the last minute. Play Dates and Parties shared these just in case you need some last minute gift tags. 


Whether you want to tuck a gift into these or use as a gift topper, you can't go wrong with these Basket Weave Hearts shared by Eclectic Red Barn


If you're like a lot of makers, you may have something already in your stash that would make the perfect holder for some Spring plants or a little herb garden? Love this shabby toolbox Our Hopeful Home turned into a planter. 



Finally, fess up. What Mom among us hasn't had that moment when we've longed for a treat just for us? Sure the recipe says 2-3 people but let's be honest...SINGLE SERVING lol. Edible cookie dough without eggs ( even though I've eaten the raw cookie dough and lived to tell about it). From A Sprinkle of Joy. 

Now, on to this week's party! 

   
   



Monday, May 8, 2017

Lettering Practice: Monday Motivation from Hermione Granger

Happy Monday all. (Trying to have a better attitude about Mondays!)

I lettered this quote from "Harry Potter" specifically from one of my favorite characters, Hermione Granger. 



I was Hermione as a child. My nose always in a book and in love with libraries and and bookstores, and my parents sent me to the dictionary and encyclopedia when I had questions. 

I've been practicing "bounce" lettering which basically brings the lower parts of the letter down lower so when you start the next letter it looks higher and "bounces" ( this is completely MY very simple explanation!). 

Here are some explanations of bounce lettering from more expert sources. 

From Dawn Nicole Designs: How to Do Bounce Lettering
From One Artsy Mama: Basic Bounce Lettering
From Pinterest: Bounce Lettering

Another of  my favorite HP characters, Mad Eye Moody, sums it up when it comes to lettering: "Constant Vigilance" which translates for me to Practice Practice Practice.

Happy Monday ( working on that). 






Thursday, May 4, 2017

BFF Open House Link Party


Happy May and happy Friday Eve all ! I think (THOUGHT)  we may finally be getting a taste of Spring ( we're only 1.5 mos behind the official calendar right?) here in the PNW but now it's thundering and storming out. Hope everyone's had a good week and let's see some of the ideas shared at last week's party! 


I am seeing a lot of fun made-over globes everywhere.  JoAnn's even has some you can buy new to decorate. Check out this beautiful shabby chic vintagey globe that Penny's Treasures shared. I love those "DREAM" blocks too!


Fun decor isn't only for the inside. How lucky are the birds who get to visit this lovely bird feeder shared by Lolly Jane? SO lucky!


You've got to check out the "before" pics of these gorgeous bedside tables that were made over by Grandma's House DIY


This week's chocolate feature is a Chocolate Cake literally made out of Chocolate Bars! I love this idea from A Crafty Homemaker.

Now, on to this week's party!