You're Invited to A Holiday Soiree!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend. Today’s post is going to be considerably shorter than yesterdays. After a little lull, we spent some time over few days working on some new projects for our shop, including these invitations:

We wanted to get a “head start” on the holidays. Funny story- we’ve had “Start Christmas so it’s done on time” on our to-do list since August (no lie) and we finally did so. (Maybe we’ll get our July birthday gift done now… ) We made invitations for a few themes, including the ever-popular “Ugly Sweater” party, a “Nutcracker Sweet” party, and a penguin-themed invitation.  Hopefully we’ll be able to add a few new invitations and matching items over the next few days. Or the next few weeks. The way we see it, you can’t have a party without invitations, so they're the best place to start!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!

The Newest Items in Our Frozen-Inspired Party Collection!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a fantastic Tuesday! We have been quite the busy beavers working on new projects to share/post/sell and hopefully all this work will pay off in the future. As you may have seen, our newest party decor is based on the movie "Frozen". There are a few more things we have to add to the collection, but we just wanted to share what is done so far:

Some of these were already posted here on our blog (like the invitation and thank you note) but we also added a few other items. The items here feature Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Cliff, a Love Troll. Clockwise from 12:00, we have a cake topper, some party favors, centerpiece sticks, the invitations and thank you notes, some name/place cards, matching cupcake wrappers, and the picks to match. We also have a few things with Sven, the reindeer, and Hans (even though he's not the nicest).
As we mentioned earlier, we added these items to our Etsy shop yesterday. Pretty sure that was the hardest (and probably least-fun) part of all of this... Oh well. Like we said, hope it's worth it and we can make something other than superheroes (not that we're complaining about it. Too much.) I guess now it's time to start on the next party- thinking of a fall owl/woodland party!
And, a big congratulations to our friends Annie and Tyler who have completed their cross-country bike journey! They are quite impressive!!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Relaxing in the Summer Sun, Just Letting off Steam!

Good afternoon! We hope you are having a wonderful week so far. It's been quite hot here- feeling like a snowman in the summer (hence the title!) So, how do we let of our steam? We craft, of course! No surprise there. But, we have a few new banners to share with you today. They go along with our new "Frozen"-inspired party decorations. The biggest one is our 'Happy Birthday' banner:

The banner is bookended with Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, with Arendelle Castle in the middle. (For those of you who haven't seen the movie and have no idea what we're talking about, the movie is great, and should definitely be watched! It also makes winter seem a little closer on those hot days.)

 

We also made two other banners. We don't usually make all of these banners, but we wanted to add some listings to our Etsy shop. So, the first one we wanted to share was a high chair/"I am 1" banner and a personalized name banner: 

 

Everyone's favorite snowman makes an appearance in the "I am 1" banner:

Each snowflake piece features a popped up image, either a character or letter. And of course, we added glitter with the writing and tulle, which is a little hard to see. We also added matching ribbons to hold the pieces together.
Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully we'll be able to post the rest of our complete "Frozen" projects tomorrow. And then we can go on with a new set! Have a fantastic day!


View our Listings Here: "Frozen"-Inspired Banners on Etsy

New "Frozen" Projects Are Here!

Good afternoon! We hope everyone is having a fantastic day! It's been quite hot here, which makes wanting to do anything kind of rough. However, we've been fighting the urge to be lazy and have completed some "Frozen"-inspired projects, as promised!
These newly-listed Etsy items are just the first few pieces in this new collection.

The first two projects are an invitation and a printed thank you note. When you remove the invitation from its folder, everyone's favorite snowman comes out:

Of course we added some glitter (what princess doesn't love glitter?!) and pop-dotted some of the accents, including the snowflake on the thank you note:

How adorable is this set?! We have a few more projects coming in the next few days, including some banners and decorations. (The banners will be up once they're put together- apparently our missing hole punch is actually at home, and yes, Mom, it will be easier to get a new one instead of cleaning!)
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

New Etsy Listings:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TwoEarlyBirds/search?search_query=Frozen&order=date_desc&view_type=gallery&ref=shop_search

A 'Frozen"- Inspired Preview

Good afternoon! We hope everyone is having a great weekend! I hate to brag (most of the time!) but we are having a fantastic weekend! It has been warm (hot, according to the people here) and sunny and just absolutely beautiful. Not quite like the weather in the East. Hope everyone stays safe in these storms (especially those two awesome bike riders in Kentucky!)
Since it has been unseasonably warm here, it has put us in the mood for some cooler weather, and projects! We have been busy working on a new set of party decorations. It's not quite done, but here is a hint of what's to come:

We're quite excited for this set! The first project to be done will be a banner, as long as we can find the hole punch! It always seems to disappear when it's needed...We will post the pictures when it's done!
Thanks for stopping by!

Warm Winter Wishes (in August)

Hey there! I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! We've been pretty busy making Christmas cards here. It's never too early to start, right? Here's one we made yesterday.

This is a double-diamond fold that really packs a punch. We made a single diamond card last week, but this one is even cooler, I think. We've been trying different types of cards to include in our repertoire. Here are some other views of the card.

 

 Thanks for stopping by!

Snowman "Joy Fold" Card

Hey there! Sure, it's August and 80 degrees outside, but today's project is a cute card with a fun little snowman!

It doesn't look like much flat, but when it's standing up, it definitely packs a visual punch. I'm not sure where I found the directions for this, but they were saved as "Joy Fold," so we'll go with that.

 

There are two different folded cards, with the smaller one glued on top of the bigger. We've been trying to clean out our stash of embellishments, and the snowman was a great find in there! Usually I don't like using them since there's only one of each, and who knows when a different project will come up, but it's time to use them up. Here's a picture of the top flap open.

The sentiment is another embellishment box find.

Thanks for stopping by!

Just Believe!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent yesterday up in Bellevue, which is up near Seattle. We went for some paper and came back with more than we bargained for. Funny how that tends to happen. Unfortunately we didn't get any holiday shopping done, so sorry guys- nothing for you this year!
Continuing with this week's theme, we have a layout that would be perfect for a holiday train ride. Or a 'Polar Express' party, of course!

This layout features the magical train that's headed to the North Pole. And the only way to get on is to have your ticket:

The word "believe" was designed to look like it was hole-punched. In the movie, the Conductor is mighty talented when it comes to punching the kids' tickets. We also added some bells to the layout, which happens to be more than just the first present of Christmas (and it doesn't go to the boy known as Know-It-All).
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for a quick and fun home decor project!

Warm Wishes and...

Frosty Kisses! Happy Tuesday, everyone! We hope you are all having a superb week so far. We have a fun project to share with you today. It is a little banner we made to go with this week's Winter Woodland theme.

The picture is a little light, but is says "frosty kisses", hence the title of the post! We used pale green and blue paper, along with matching decorative prints. The color scheme is perfect for winter projects. The next two pictures show close-ups of the words:

(You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.) It's a little hard to see, if at all, but the letters were outlined with some more buffalo snow. The next two pictures show the snowflakes and the center space.

 

The snowflakes on the end are folded to look 3D and are accented with some more 'snow'. They came out better than planned- they were a little hard to fold down the middle. And the last picture is the center space, which is decorated with a cute little snow couple. We used the same colors and paper for their accessories, and of course, some more snow. It's a little hard to tell, but the snow is behind them.
It would be a cute addition to winter couple pictures! Thanks for stopping by!

A Winter Treat

Welcome to another week! It's back to work for a lot of us after the holiday. It was definitely a little hard to wake up this morning, both physically and mentally. But, on the bright side, only a few more weeks until another break! We're looking forward to it already :)
Anyway, today's project goes along with yesterday's invitation. It uses a similar design and would work well as a party favor or gift bag. Fill it with some hot cocoa mix and it's all set to go!

We used some more buffalo snow on this bag, giving it a 'realistic'-ish touch. It is so much fun to use, until it gets all over the place. But at least it's  pretty and sparkles a little! The tree is made to be 3D, but it's a little hard to tell.

And, of course, there is the cute little bow! The ribbon has white printed snowflakes and the blue matches the bag. We decided to add the extra white yarn bow, to add another dimension. They are held together with a cute snowflake brad. Just looking at this bag is making me cold! I hope the Northeast doesn't suffer from too much snow tonight and tomorrow morning. That's one thing I don't miss!!
Thank you so much for stopping by. Join us tomorrow for a home decor project.

Lace Up Those Skates!

Happy Sunday! We hope everyone had a wonderful, restful weekend. We spent today up in Seattle, running a marathon. It wasn't our best, time-wise, but it was one of the best-run marathons we've run. It was amazing running past the Space Needle and the stadiums, and along the I-90 bridge (unfortunately we had to turn around and run back along it.) We couldn't have asked for nicer weather- mid-40's and SUN! OK, so it started off cloudy, but the sun peaked out about halfway through. Now our biggest challenge is going to be moving around and not falling down!
But, we do have a project to share with you tonight. This week's theme is a little different from our others. This week's is more of a cartridge-based theme, having to deal with the outdoors during winter. The cartridge we're using is called "Winter Woodland" and it has a bunch of cute designs on it. Today's project is an invitation we put together.

This invitation is shaped like a holiday ornament. (It would also be cute in the shape of a snow globe. Next time!) It features a little ice skater and quite a bit of snow! The next picture shows the detail a little better:

This was supposed to be a shaker card- kind of like a snow globe- but the 'snow' was too much. We used buffalo snow along the edges of the hills and there is some floating in the 'air'. The inside of the invitation uses the same green  patterned paper, with room for all of your party information.

This would be perfect for a little girl's ice-skating party, or any winter party!
Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome Winter!

Yesterday’s Answer: Crisp Kringle!

Happy First Day of Winter! We don’t really like winter around here. There’s too much snow. And shoveling. And cold. But what can you do? It is a great time to do some crafting! Here’s today’s project. It’s a banner that reads “Welcome Winter.” After making the fall one earlier, I knew there would be more of them. It looks perfect hanging up in the dining room in all of its winter wonderland glory! (See more pictures of the dining room on the post from the 14^th.)

Today’s Joke: What do you call someone who is afraid of Santa?

Dining Decor

Yesterday’s Answer: No woman wears the same outfit every year!

Today’s projects are a few weeks in the making. It took a while to get it right, but I think we did. It’s our “Winter Wonderland” dining room décor and tablescape. The room is usually pretty dark, since it has brown paneling, and kind of gets forgotten. We put whatever doesn’t have a spot anywhere else in here. Well, not this year! It definitely needed some brightening up, and what better way than with silver, whites, and blue?! The tablecloth and curtains were some cheap twin-sized sheets that we repurposed for the room. Then we threw on a white lacy cloth to add some white (and to hide some of the wrinkles we couldn’t get totally ironed out!) Next, we got some ornaments in our color scheme to put all around. They make great decorations on and off a Christmas tree! Then to bring outside in, I spray painted some small sticks silver to use in the ornaments. Finally, we threw some bright white, almost blue, icicle lights up for the final touches. Hope you enjoy it!

Today’s Joke: What kind of hat does a snowman wear?

Warm Winter Wishes

Yesterday’s Answer: Camel Ye Faithful!

Today’s project is another quick winter card. It was a simple card to make- squares and rectangles. The four squares pop out of the card. A few layers were put together to make it 3D-ish. The snowflake in the corner is hand-stitched in purple thread and has a jewel in the center. The card says “Warm Winter Wishes” and has three more little gems, in purple. You can’t go wrong with gems and jewels!  The envelope has a simple stamp- a little cup of hot cocoa, which is the best way to stay warm! It will be a good way to spend this weekend, which is supposed to be chilly!

Today’s Joke: What is the first thing elves learn in school?

Just Skating By

Even though it is still fall, here is a winter card. We’re trying to get a head start on winter- just not the snow!! This card has a pair of ice skates on it. The bigger snowflake is a brad. I like the color choices- the light blue and green. The dark blue makes the design pop. The inside of the card says “Wishing you ‘snow’ much fun this winter!”. Hopefully we won’t have snow for a while. There is an envelope that goes along with it, that has a cute pair of mittens in matching colors.