Something for you!

An early Valentine's Day freebie for you! Download the printable PDF.

DIY yarn love

Just in time for Valentine's Day! See instructions here.

Glittering Lightscape

I really like this idea of poking white lights through a canvas. Might have to try this one myself!
Here are the instructions from apartment therapy
• Paint a stretched canvas from an art-supply store in your desired color.
• Plot out your design in pencil on the back, keeping dots a half-inch apart.
• Gently press an awl through each dot in your design to make a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the bulb.
• Press a bulb into each hole; secure each with craft clue.

{via pinterest}

cuteh bunneh

 

This is adorable. Now I have to add embroidery to the list of things I want to learn.

{image via pinterest}

Shameless self-promotion

Hey! You should check out my Etsy shop that I just started! Right now I just have a few baby shower and birthday invitations but will do custom orders and plan to add more things, so keep visiting :)

Origami Flowers

How gorgeous are these paper flowers by My Bohemian Summer? I loved my own wedding flowers, but I think I would have loved to have had a paper bouquet even more! Plus, these are much nicer to save as a keepsake than dried up old flowers. {via Paper Crave}

Mochimochi Land

Tiny. Cute. Yarn. Love. Check out Mochimochi Land here.

 

 

 

 

 {via Design for Mankind}

Paper Cut for Pa

Spent my Saturday afternoon making this cute little birdie for my Dad's birthday present. Hopefully he likes it as much as I do!

A Baby Shower

This weekend I hosted my first baby shower for a dear friend of mine...it also featured another first- my first sewing project- a flag bunting decoration that mom-to-be could use in the nursery afterwards. It was a time consuming project, but I am really happy how it turned out! I also made an easy paper garland (punched circles fed through the sewing machine- so simple!) that I hung from my dining room light fixture, and a diaper cake gift.

Guests could serve themselves bellinis, mimosas, raspberry lemonade, or quench their thirst with water bottles wrapped in custom labels (I wrapped leftover bunting fabric on the bottle tops to hide the ugly blue plastic), and munched on brunch food and yummy cupcakes from Susie's.

It was such a lovely afternoon spent with friends anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new baby!

Origami Jewellery

Origami Jewellery is created by French design friends Claire & Arnaud. I love the simple beauty inspired by the delicate Japanese craft combined with precious metals. I would love to own the crane necklace!

 

{via the daily smudge}

Little owlies for a little peanut

A good friend of mine asked me to create some art for her gender-neutral nursery. We decided on an owl theme (you know I love owls!), and these are the little prints I threw together for her to fit in Ikea frames she already had. The lil peanut is due is a few weeks, hopefully he/she likes them!

And this is the invitation I made for the baby shower:

 {With my busy month, I didn't really have time to be uber creative, and therefore can't take credit for the prints. As you can see I was very much inspired by Lee Arthaus}

Olive Manna Colouring Book

I would love to have this colouring book by Olive Manna... it is gorgeous! I could spend hours therapeutically colouring the beautiful patterns and meticulously trying to stay within the lines!

Does colouring appeal to any other adults out there?

Amy Butler: rugs and other pretty things

I want ALL of these rugs designed by the lovely Amy Butler for Chandra Rugs. I can't decide which one I would want in my own home...I think I am leaning towards the one on the top row, right. Check out Amy's website for more products including bags, towels, bedding, stationery and more! She also has FREE sewing and craft patterns you can download that are equally lovely.

Painting

This is a (pre-framed) painting my sister asked me to do as a wedding gift for one of her girlfriends. She wanted something reminiscent of the marshes we all grew up on in Sackville, NB. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out considering I normally work on much larger canvases.

I've been enjoying working with a palette knife a lot lately. This is a textured triptych painting of a Newfoundland landscape I made a while ago for our living room.

I would really like to do some more paintings, and perhaps even try to see if I can somehow sell them either online or locally. Anyone have any suggestions? Must. Get. Motivated.

DIY Origami Heart

For a sweet do-it-yourself Valentine, check out this easy tutorial to see how to make these little origami hearts. (The tutorial is for "money hearts", but I just used a piece of paper cut to 9" x 4")

I opted for simple white paper, but they would be cute made out of double-sided coloured/print paper, with a little love note written inside, or strung up on a string for decoration.
{via Eat Drink Chic}

Amigurumi and other cute things

Eeeep! Amigurumi means "crocheted stuff doll" in Japanese, and I am in love with these cuties found on Shanalogic. I really want the little catcus! Also loving this cute bunny tote and foxy ipod case. Tons of cute gift ideas on this site.

I would like to learn how to crochet so I can make these cuties myself. If you are interested in free amigurumi patterns (including the cactus one) check this out.

What the heck is a diaper cake?

I know- it sounds gross. I got a lot of weird looks when I first told people I was attempting to make a "diaper cake" for a friend's baby shower. It didn't occur to me that you might envision an unappetizing cake with a lot of chocolate diarrhea-like icing, instead of a centerpiece/gift made of diapers.

I am getting to that stage in life where all my friends are getting married, and now starting to having babies. I am sure this is the first of many baby showers to come, so I thought I would try to master a "diaper cake".

It was actually a lot easier to make than I had expected. To make the cake, diapers are arranged in a spiral pattern around a round object (like baby lotion bottle) and stacked in tiers to look like a multi-tiered cake. It helps to have an extra set of hands to hold the diapers steady when you tie them in place. I then wrapped each layer in a receiving blanket to look like icing and finished it off with a nice ribbon. Other finishing touches included toys, clothing, and roses made of baby facecloths.  There are plenty of online tutorials that provide tips (if you actually care!)

It is a fun, creative way to present a practical gift!