Christmas cards do not have to be Christmas colors :)

I sat down yesterday to work on some more Christmas card templates, and I thought to myself "What if I didn't use red and green?" I mean, there's no law that says Christmas cards HAVE to be red and green....so, I went with my gut, and this is what I came up with! I did use some red and some green {I can't totally shun the colors, right?} but I didn't use them together! Enjoy a playful take on Christmas cards...

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my earlier blog that if you want to give your recipients a "family update", we can do that. I can include a note on a separate piece of paper telling them what you have been up to the last year...for most of my friends, this year has been filled with new babies and marriages! So exciting!! Add $0.25 to the price per card!

Shown in 4x6 with 2 pictures. We can redesign to fit one picture or even three.

LOVE this! Definitely more cutsie, but so fun! Shown in 4x6. This can be redesigned to fit two pictures on the side.

Polka dots have arrived!!! The yellow frame could also be pink or green! Shown in 5x7.

SO fun! Who'd a thought you could make a Christmas card using pink and green? Shown in 5x7.

The background looks yellow, but in real life, it looks more green. Again, the frame can also be pink, yellow, or green. Shown in 5x7.

Since I have this star pattern, I just had to use it! But, I refused to use the green frame {of course, if you want the green frame, I will certainly do it for you} so I picked blue instead...how cute!

More to come....

Britt

Christmas cards!! YAY!!

Hey y'all! I'm doing christmas cards this year! I've got about 7 templates done so far! See pics below! Some are 5x7, some are 4 1/2 x 6...any of them can be done in any size. The cards shown below are printed on card stock. The next examples I post will be on photo paper! They can be printed on either one (I would recommend photo paper). Here are the prices:

4 1/2 x 6 cards, includes envelopes

30 cards or less - $1.00 each

31 to 50 cards - $0.90 each

51 to 75 cards - $0.80 each

above 75 - $0.70 each

4x9, includes envelopes

30 cards or less - $1.25 each

31 to 50 cards - $1.15 each

51 to 75 cards - $1.05 each

above 75 - $.95 each

5x7, includes envelopes

30 cards or less - $1.25 each

31 to 50 cards - $1.15 each

51 to 75 cards - $1.05 each

above 75 - $.95 each

Shipping is $3.00 on all orders of 50 cards or lower, $5.00 on orders of more than 51 cards!

I can really do any size card you want, but these are the size envelopes I'm ordering in bulk. If you want a different size, it might be a longer turn around time b/c I'll have to specially order envelopes.

The prices above are for a flat card, no layering or envelope liners. If you would like a layered look, maybe red card stock layered behind your photo card? Add $0.25 to the price per card. If you would like envelope liners, add $0.25 to the price per card. If I had to choose one or the other to add a little something extra, I would definitely choose the envelope liner! Maybe a cute red or green gingham liner? Oh so cute!

"Merry & Bright" card. This is shown 4x7 because I was experimenting with sizes, but I would make it one of the sizes above.

"Ticker tape" card. Of course it can say whatever you want it to say :). Shown 5x7.

"Ribbon card" is shown 5x7. This one and the "Ticker tape" card can have multiple photos if you wish.

"Little Merry & Bright" shown in 4x6. Love the simplicity! Would be super cute with a gray envelope liner!

"Polka dot merry christmas" shown in 4x6. B/c of the picture quality {sorry guys} you can't really see the words at the bottom, but I promise you can in real life :) The wording is in tan.

"Christmas tree words" card shown in 5x7. This one can be redesigned to have multiple pictures as well! Would be really cute with a green patterned liner!

"Believe" card. This will probably be our Christmas card this year! Shown in 5x7.

"Joy" card shown in 5x7.

I'm hoping to post a few more templates in a day or two, so check back!

Wild West Update!

Will's birthday party is officially going overboard! Look what I found the other day for Will?!?!? A little belt with a gun and holster!! How cute!

I can't wait to see him wearing this {assuming he keeps it on}

The favor tags! I'll have to take pictures of the bags. Me and my mom sewed them out of red and white striped fabric...they turned out so adorable!

I've used a lot of kraft paper so far b/c it looks so rustic!

This is our menu! I printed this and cut it down to 8x10 so I could frame it!

My dear friend Candice Tate is taking pictures for us and I want her to be able to send out a link to the pics, so here's what I came up with!

There will be about 10 kids or so at the party, and I wanted them to feel special...sooooo.....I made them all wanted posters! They all say something a little different under their picture. They will get to take these home with them after the party!

Boot magnets that I'm putting in the boxed lunches for the kiddos! I bought the boots and the magnets at Hobby Lobby and glued the magnets on with glue dots (this is an awesome product, ultra sticky and not messy).

That's all for now!

Jungles and Legos

Hey y'all! I've been busy! Will is almost walking...but he is a FAST crawler! He is hard to keep up with! I can't believe he is turning 1 in two weeks...where has the last year gone?? This time last year, he was kicking the heck out of my bladder! I just couldn't wait to meet my little man, and now he's almost 1, almost a walking, almost talking, almost all grown up {this is the sappy mom in me coming out!}.

Looking back on this year, I have LOVED staying at home with my son and would encourage any mom who can make the numbers work out to do the same! The precious time I've spent with him is irreplaceable. Although the day to day things are kinda boring most days, I know my son better than anybody, hands down! I love that we have that special bond that no one else does!

ok, ok....on to my new paper stuff! I love the idea of a jungle theme boys b-day party! So bright and colorful and so many different directions to go! I did the invitations for this party and am working on the banner this week (will post pics soon).

Closer view...sorry for the quality, I am NOT a photographer!

grrr.....love the little tiger! I wanted this to be playful and fun!

I was asked to do a few things for a Lego party! How fun?!?!!? Well, I had so much fun creating the invitations, banner, and favor tags! Here's a few views of the banner. I'm only showing "Turner" but it says "Happy Birthday Turner". How fun to make the layer behind the letters look like Lego's? After I took these pics, I punched a hole in each top corner for the ribbon. I chose a blake and white striped ribbon.

Cute little Lego face's for the ends of the banner!

Favor tags!

The invitation! It took me a while to make the Lego's but I think the effort was definitely worth it! I put these with white envelopes, no liner. Price for items shown are: invitations - $25 for 25 invitations and envelopes. Banner - $25 for banner and ribbon. Favor tags - $15 for 35 tags. The jungle invotes are also $1 per invite and envelope!

Will's birthday invites are DONE!

My son is 10 months old and plans for his Wild Wild West first birthday party are in full swing! I have actually been planning since he was born (ok, ok...before I even had him, I had the theme). I am SO excited!! Can you tell?!?!!??

I finally finished the invites...and here they are!

I'm using lots of the blue, red, black and brown. The envelopes are white with a red liner.

Much much more to come!!! Things I'm working on this week: the menu! I've got to solidify what exactly we're having. Since it's a lunch time party, and it is in November (yay fall!), we're having chili and corn chowder for the main dishes. For the desert, there will be a rice crispy bar. I'll make all the rice crispy treats the night before, cut them into squares, and put them on a lollipop sticks. The idea is to drizzle caramel, chocolate or peanut butter on them then dip them into various toppings (crushed oreos, snickers, heath bar, and a few others). Doesn't that sound delicious!! Of course, we'll have birthday cake too! So, I've got to get a list together of all the sides we need, and maybe appetizer items, too. AND, I've got to do a menu sign that coordinates with the invitations...When I get that done, I'll post it!

And here are some recent Will pics! This is what I see when I get him up from naps...so sweet!

Look at that adorable smile! I can't believe he's almost a year old!

Mustache baby shower goodies!

My friend Jessica Smith asked me to do the paper goods for a baby shower she was hosting! It was a double baby shower and both women were having boys...it was the second baby for both as well. She wanted it to be fun and relaxed. Here's what we came up with...

Let's start with the invitations. The theme was "Little Mr. Men" using mustaches and lots of boy colors, blue and red! I was so excited about these, and thought they turned out cute! I did an envelope liner in a red houndstooth...I actually used a few different red and white patterns; stripes, polka dots, houndstooth. Jessica also wanted to include an insert with a wish list for each mommy...you can see this in the second picture!

These were the cupcake toppers I did. I attached these toppers to simple popsicle sticks.

Water bottle covers! So easy to do and makes you event look so personal and adorable!

I also did a banner for the shower as well, but didn't get a picture of it :( It said "Little Misters"....you'll just have to take my word for it that it was super cute!

For any event, I am happy to do the invites, and actually mail them out for you as well. All I need is the addresses in spreadsheet form. This is a huge time saver plus saves shipping costs of me mailing the invites to you!

I've also done a Tinkerbell birthday party recently, and I'm working on a Lego party now!! So excited!!

Britt

The perils of 9 months...

Will has been such a handful ever since he hit 9 months! He loves to crawl, which is great...BUT, it means I have to chase him and say "no" a million times a day! The condo we live in has an open floor plan so there's no way to fence him in. SO, we've had to rearrange furniture...we're using his toy chest, the ottoman to our chair and a few toys (ones that he can't move) to kind of block him in. Ha! I call it his jail when I'm home with him!

Anyway, the reason I'm blogging today is that we are FINALLY getting sleep and I feel like my brain works again :) For the past couple months, he's been getting up at night and it was tolerable b/c I could pick him up and rock him for 5 or 10 minutes then put him right back down. Well, it got worse and worse. It went from waking up twice a week to every night, then more than one a night, then to longer times at night. We ended up giving him bottles to ease him and put him back to bed. Then, that stopped working! For the past two weeks, we have had to be up with him for a couple hours at a time! Talk about tired mommy and daddy!! I ended up bringing him to our bed and sleeping with him on my chest a couple times b/c he would SCREAM as soon as I laid him down. We knew that one solution was to let him cry, so we did that one night and he ended up getting so worked up that he threw up everywhere....all in his crib and all over the carpet (I picked him up out of his crib and sat him on the floor to undress him). I think that was this past Sunday night. Monday night we were so scared to let him cry that we didn't! We ended up being up with him for a few hours that night...

So, finally at our wits end, we took him to the doc Tuesday morning to make sure he wasn't sick. I swear, the second the doc walked in the room, I erupted in tears! I just couldn't help it! I felt like I was finally going to get answers. I just LOVE our doc. She has a 22 month old daughter so I feel like she is really talking from experience. She did not disappoint....she checked him out, no ear infection, no fever, checked his throat, listened to his chest, etc. Nothing physically wrong. She said that sleep regression was totally normal for his age, and that we had to push through and let him cry. Obviously, being a doc, she gave us several options, but said that crying it out would work the fastest. She said that he probably got used to us coming in and picking him up and thought that every time he "woke up" he needed to be held by us. I put woke up in parentheses b/c babies go through sleep cycles during the night where they partially wake then go back into a deep sleep. She said that the best thing to do is just let him cry, even if it takes an hour (Oh Lord....). Also, she said that putting him to bed earlier would help. We were putting him down about 8:30, so we rearranged his night time routine in order to get him in bed by 7:30. Well, I immediately started our new plan of letting him cry when I got home. I put him down for his nap, and he cried, and cried, and cried. Normally he doesn't cry at all when I put him down for naps, but I think his night time sleep was so messed up that it started to effect his naps. He ended up crying for 15 min then went to sleep. Same story for his afternoon nap...grrrr! Both naps were only about 45 min. A normal nap is about an hour to an hour and a half. Tuesday night comes, and Cory and I are just DREADING what's to come... We put him down at 7:30 on the dot and he cried until 8:00...a whole 30 minutes! At least it wasn't an hour, right?!?!

The big question is.....Did he wake up during the night??? Yes...but only once and for just a minute then fell asleep! I couldn't believe it! Did it really work that fast, or was he just extra tired b/c he didn't get good naps? Wednesday naps - he went down about 9:30am with just a minute of crying and slept for 2 hours! I put him down around 3 for his afternoon nap and he cried for 10 minutes and went to sleep. I woke him up at 4 b/c I figured we'd have a hard time at bedtime if he slept longer than that. That night - again, we put him down at 7:30 but he only cried for 9 minutes. He didn't wake up AT ALL last night! I can hear angels singing...thank goodness!! I think our problem is solved!

The doc said that when we travel, be prepared for him to wake up there and for a couple days once we return. Makes me not want to travel! Until now, we've been doing lots of traveling! At least one trip a month, some months 2. It gets harder the older he gets...he doesn't sleep well in pack in plays and our families don't really have an ideal place for him to sleep.

ok...now that I feel sane again, I'm planning to take pictures of some recent paper stuff I've done and post them tomorrow!! Stay tuned!

Britt