Mother's Day

And the handmade gift-giving continues... we celebrated Mother's Day with my mom the weekend prior since my sister was home from her job with American Cruise Lines and had to get back on the boat this past Saturday. I put together a scrapbook and a shadowbox with items my mom had saved and collected from my wedding and the surrounding events. I did not take pictures of it, but needless to say I think she loved it.

My mother-in-law had requested that I make her a bookmark some time ago when they bought me the letterpress machine for Christmas. I finally made one for her using the same process as the one I gave to my husband to give to her along with her other gifts on Sunday. I used various flower letterpress plates and bright colored inks to do something festive and springy. I made a tassel with grey baker's twine as well.

I think it came out fabulous and the more I use the letterpress machine the better my projects turn out. Hopefully I can find some more time to finish some other projects in various stages soon. Send good thoughts our way during our continued search for a new home!

Handmade Calendar - May

Hi everyone!

I'm back for a bit to share a few easy things I've completed in what little spare time I have right now. The house hunting is still going strong and hopefully we will find something right for us soon. In the meantime, I can't believe it's May already and summer is right around the corner. It would be nice to be settled in a new home to enjoy the nice weather...fingers crossed!

For your viewing pleasure, the month of May from my handmade calendar (also featured here and here).

Checking In

Hi everyone!

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a little while, so I'm checking in to say "Hi" and let you know I'm still kicking. My husband and I recently decided it was time to buy our first house and so I have been completely consumed by the process outside of working and the normal day-to-day routine. I have many half-finished projects and a bunch of stuff to share, but this is where my focus is at the moment.

I promise to return with lovely posts and ideas soon, so stay tuned!

xoxo
Sarah

A Handmade Birthday

My husband's birthday was this past Monday and I ended up making a few of his gifts by hand. I showed you the embroidered gift tags I added to his present here. I have been looking for as many things to embroider as possible, so I combined my love of papercrafts and embroidery with those little gems.

Months before his birthday, I received a request to make him another book using my text block bookbinding skills. This present wasn't much of a surprise since I wanted him to pick out the decorative paper, but he loved it anyways. This time he asked for a little larger book with blank pages that he will use as a scrapbook. My husband tends to never throw anything away, so now he'll have someplace to keep all his tickets stubs and other random memorabilia.

Ever since I got my letterpress kit, my husband has been asking me to make him a bookmark. He reads everyday and for months he has been using an old piece of scrap paper that I used to remind him to set out the pizza dough for dinner one night a long time ago. It is literally a torn piece of notebook paper that says "Pizza Dough" in large writing. It is definitiely time he got a proper bookmark. I thought this would be a fitting gift for his birthday, so I broke out my kit.

I cut a piece of heavy cardstock to 2" x 6" and letterpressed a background in bright green. Then I created a monogram in royal blue at the top. I found a tutorial online for making bookmark tassels and created one with yellow and white baker's twine.

While I had my kit out, I made him a birthday card as well. Using a background plate and yellow ink, I created a large sun at the bottom of the card. I added "Happy Birthday" and "30" in turqoise and affixed the white card to a folded turqoise piece of cardstock.


This picture shows all my little mess-ups, oops!



I got him a few other small gifts, but I tried to make as much as possible myself. I was able to use a bunch of different techniques and had fun doing it. I think it makes gift-giving even more special and I know my husband loves it.

Photos by Kyle @ 918 Photo

Handmade Calendar - April

Another month has come and gone...unbelievable. I showed you my handmade 2011 calendar here. Check out April!

Photos by Kyle @ 918 Photo

Birthday Love

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Today is my incredible husband's 30th birthday. I want to wish him a beautiful day and many more wonderful birthdays to come. He is my best friend and the true love of my life. And for that he gets his favorite fish tacos for dinner! ☺

My gifts to him this year are of mostly the handmade variety so I will leave you with one detail that I made for him before I share more.

Wedding photos by Vic Pellicier

Gift Tag Photo by Kyle @ 918 Photo

Pinterest

As if I need more excuses to waste time on the internet, I have recently discovered the new inspiration organization tool called Pinterest. The site allows you to create "boards" of different categories and when you are perusing the internet and find an image you love, you "pin it" to the board of your choice. It's a lovely way of organizing your internet finds and is essentially a way of bookmarking things in a fun and easy way.

Once you have an account, you add the "Pin It" button to your browser so that whenever you find an image you like you just click "Pin It". A window pops up with all of the available images on the page, you choose which one you want, select one of your boards, write a description and the image is pinned to the site. It shows the link to where you got it too so you don't have to worry about giving credit. Plus you'll be able to easily find the site where you first saw it.

Here is my dashboard with all of my "boards"

My "Inspiration" Board

My "For the Home" Board

Visit the Pinterest site to request an invitation to join and be sure to follow Dill Pickle Design!