On the Fifth Day of Christmas

Mrs. Claus spent the weekend decorating and decided a sale was in order for this week!

We know that everyone is busy around this time of the year, and party planning for a Little One (or a Big One) isn't always on the top of the "things-to-do" list. We want to help take the burden off of our customers (and put it on us!).

Now through Thursday, the more you purchase, the more you save! (These coupons can also be used at our www.twoearlybirds.com store, just send us a message!) This is a perfect time to pick up those invitations or banners to add to your holiday festivities!

Thanks for stopping by! We hope you come back tomorrow, when we'll have some helpful planning ideas!

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

Santa brought an idea for a quick, last-minute gift!

We all know how busy it can get around this time of the year- obviously. And if you're anything like us, it always seems like you need to add one more person to the list. And then another. And another. (I definitely added three more to mine yesterday...) Whether it's a teacher at school or the letter carrier (two highly unappreciated jobs, especially around this time of the year, in my opinion) or you need a quick fix for one of those parties that sneak up on you (Secret Santa, White Elephant, etc), having something small on hand to give them isn't a bad idea.
Today's project is a little coffee mug with a few yummy treats included.

Obviously, there are a million ways to run with this project. Since we wanted the coffee mug to be used for more than just Christmas, but still with the holiday feel, we went with a wintery theme for our mug. We made a basic hot chocolate mix to put into the mug, which includes layers of crushed peppermint chips (you can use chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, other kinds of baking chips, too) and small marshmallows. The gift was finished off with a small plate of shortcut peppermint chocolate chip cookies with a mocha glaze.
The recipes we used for both the hot cocoa mix and cookies can be downloaded below. We've included some other ideas to add to a basic hot chocolate recipe, as well, to make it your own!

You can download the files here:
2016 Holiday Planner Insert & Recipes
"Cold Hands, Warm Heart" Studio File

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!

On the Third Day of Christmas

Santa ran a little late... Sometimes you happen to fall asleep 7:45, and have to get everything done the next day. However, today's project did get finished, so it's all good!

Today's project is a little DIY lighted garland that would be perfect for a tablescape or to hang on the mantel. These poinsettias are about 4” wide and come together in a snap (once the pieces are cut out). I won't lie to you, I cut these out with my machine, so that helped, a lot. These pieces can also be shrunken down a little to make napkin rings or other decorations. These will add a lot of character and class to your holiday!

For each flower, I used green, red, and yellow (or gold) cardstock. There are three red layers to each flower and a green holly leaf layer. If you want to add a little sparkle to the flowers, you can add some white glitter to the edges for a snow-covered look, gold veins in the petals, or gold sparkle instead of the paper in the center, like I did. Since you are going to be folding and rolling the pieces, I recommend using thinner paper- it makes it easier to bend and fold. In this case, I made each individual flower, and then worked around the little bulbs on my light strand. I created five poinsettias for this garland and skipped a few lights in between to add a little sparkle and flare.

Once everything is cut out, you can follow these step-by-step directions to assemble the flowers. For other decorations, you can cut the pieces out at this size or shrink it down to a better size or enlarge it to make wall décor. 

Here are the downloadable files, just for you!

Instructions PDF File (with "Holiday Craft Ideas" Printable)
Printable pattern file

SVG file: (coming soon!)

Thanks for taking a look! I'd love to see some finished projects with the poinsettias!!

On the Second Day of Christmas

A discount for you to use!

From today through Sunday night, everything in our store is Buy One, Get One 50% Off!In order to take advantage of this offer, just send us a message including what you are interested in. We'll create a custom listing for you with the new price. This offer can also be used with other discounts, including the month-long "BeMerry2016", that will give you 15% off your purchase of $25.00

On the First Day of Christmas

Happy December! I can't believe how fast this year went! It's already the last page on the calendar and I still have my New Year's Resolutions on my computer, collecting dust (I think I made it to mid-January). I guess I won't have to do much thinking next year for any resolutions. I suppose we have to get through Christmas and the other holidays first, though.

To help everyone get going with their holiday to-do's and shopping lists, and everything else that seems to pop up during the holidays, today's gift to you is a holiday planner.

The cute little snowmen and bright colors will cheer anyone up and will surely help you get in the spirit! We decided to go with a more 'holiday/winter' theme so anyone can use it.The planner PDF file includes 21 pages (and a front & back cover) to start helping you get organized. Some of the pages include calendars, wish-list planning, budget trackers, a list to keep track of cards, checklists, and decoration inventories (helpful for next year, too!) The planner can be downloaded here.
Now, there may be a few of you who are thinking, "Oh, what about matching party lists or menus, or is there a sheet for a bunch of notes and reminders?". Those are coming! Over the next twelve days, I'll be adding some more pages to this file (I'll add them separately, so you don't have to download everything multiple times!)
Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!

He's Making a List...

Good morning! Now that everyone has spent the last week starting (or finishing) their holiday shopping, we thought it would be a perfect time to help make the holidays a little easier! Over the next 12 days, we'll be hosting our own little version of the

Each day, we'll provide you with tips, tricks, and discounts to make the end of this year the best yet! Each day has been thoughtfully planned and designed to help take the stress out of the holidays (especially tomorrow's post, if you're anything like me this year and are feeling totally overwhelmed). From planning tips to DIY printables, we are looking forward to helping our customers have the happiest holidays ever!
To get the festivities started, we're offering a coupon for 15% off any purchase of $25 or more now through the end of the year. To save, use coupon code "BeMerry2016" at checkout.
Thank you so much for stopping by!

Monster Fun!!

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend! I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate with Caleb's family and friends. We made the trek out to Montana on Tuesday night (and only sat in traffic through the first 40 miles). After taking a tour of his hometown, and five more hours of driving (or sleeping, in my case), we made it to our destination. It was probably the most "scenic" trip I've taken through Montana. Luckily, the weather was absolutely gorgeous (50 degrees and sun!) and only hit a patch of snow in the mountains. And to make everything even better, his family is absolutely amazing! I was super nervous about meeting all of them (and feeling like an oddball) but they are the nicest people! (When he told me they were the meanest, I was a little worried. He was just giving me a hard time. Luckily there wasn't a test at the end of the trip! Too many people to remember!)
Anyway, after driving all day Saturday (or again, sleeping in the back of the car), we didn't do much Saturday night and I slowly started getting back into the swing of things on Sunday. Here are the two projects I was working on that I'm so excited to share! These items are for a Little Monster's first birthday. The two items match our "Monsters, Inc." party decorations.

The picture above shows a 30-piece set of centerpieces. There are 6 sets with 5 pieces in each set. Each set includes a "Happy Birthday",  a name/age pieces, and three characters. Each piece is double-sided and the words are pop-dotted. This was definitely a labor of love (and lots of fine!). Since it took me a little longer than I would have liked to finish, I decided to add a bag of confetti in as a "free gift". Here's what that looks like:

I was super excited about how this turned out! I'm glad my original plan worked out better than I expected (and that I took the easy way with the character pieces!!) This bag of confetti contains almost 400 tiny pieces! These two pieces would make the perfect addition to any party, especially with the favor bags from a few weeks ago!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

What's This?! What's This?!

This is Halloween! Good morning! I hope everyone is having a fantastic week. With now less than a week to go before Halloween, I guess a "Nightmare Before Christmas" post is better late than never. (Hey, it's before Christmas, so there's that!)

I started this project, or at least came up with the idea, a few weeks ago, but finally got around to putting the finishing touches on it. This picture includes a "Happy Birthday" banner and a 10'+ garland. The banner features two little Jack Skellingtons, and of course I included a little Zero in the middle!

The garland has some of Jack's facial expressions. To top it off, both pieces feature purple sparkled cardstock because glitter makes everything better! (It's not a great picture. Apologies.)

These will be up for sale later today, along with some place cards and party favors! (I understand it's a little late for Halloween, but hey, maybe there's someone out there who wants a "Nightmare Before" Christmas!!)
Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Catching Up!

Good morning! The last few months have been a little hectic around here. After the rush of summer orders came in, school started in full swing. I was offered a position at a high school, so that has taken up a LOT of my time recently. Not going to lie, most days I go home and fall asleep, even though I try hard to fight it! When I don't fall asleep, my time has been taken up with work orders. Luckily, or unluckily, the orders have settled down, so I have had a little more time to work on some new items!
Here are a few of the new items we've been working on in the little free time the last few weeks. There are a few Halloween items (in the little time that's left before the holiday!), along with some new themes. Here are my favorite new items!

These "Monsters, Inc." cuties are the newest party favors! How cute are they?! (I don't usually toot my own horn, but 'toot-toot'!) These are probably my favoritest (I know it's not a real word) item for sale! They match our other "Monsters, Inc." party decorations. We also have a few other Halloween-y items coming soon!
As promised, we have some other new items and themes available.The first is this little bird garland.

Each piece is about 5" high and is on white thread to make it look like they float. (Right after this one was done, I started planning a Christmas one! Hopefully my thoughts get onto, or turned into, paper!) The last two pictures for today are the new themes we have to offer. Not all the pieces are made, but we can do custom colors and shapes! The first are our mermaid cuts and the other are zebra-print napkin rings and lollipop covers! (Pink would work well for a bachelorette party!!)

Stay tuned this week (hopefully tomorrow, but probably Tuesday) for a new party theme! I love how it's coming out so far, and I'm sure there'll be others who fall in love with it too!!
Thanks for stopping by!!

Getting Ready to Head Back to School

It's that time of year again, when the temperatures drop 20 degrees in a day, the leaves start to change colors, and the little (and big) kiddos head back to school. Most of our teacher friends have already gone back to school or will this week. Luckily, we still have another week and a half before our new school year starts. In honor of the new year, I decided to make a banner to mark the occasion (because, why not?!)

I was inspired by another chalkboard banner I was working on and thought a school one would be perfect (of course!) To add some special touches, the heart has been glittered and I added some tissue paper fringe, since glitter and fringe make everything better- even the first-day-of-school jitters! I think it's pretty awesome, even if I've already gotten a complaint or two about it. It was totally understandable, though. He's just not quite ready for school to start and would much rather have it be summer all year!
*Also, FREE to any teacher or staff member who might want a banner to decorate their space this year!!*
Thanks for stopping by this morning! Have a fantastic day!

It's Time for Oktoberfest!

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a great start to their weekend. It's going to be another scorcher here today- the last few days have all been in the high 90's (which is saying a lot for us out here). Luckily, the mornings are nice and the cooler weather gives you some time to think clearly, instead of just wanting to nap and not do much of anything- hence the reason I'm writing now!
One way to look at it is that with the "end" (??) of summer begins fall! We're getting closer and closer to cooler temperatures, leaves changing, Pumpkin Spice-everything, and Oktoberfest! This week has been occupied with getting items ready for a few of these parties. We're currently working on two- a "Gardenfest" party (which sounds like a lot of fun ;) ) and a Little One's First Birthday. Here are a few pictures of what we have so far:

 

There are a few more items that need to get finished this weekend. Hopefully a good chunk will get done this morning before it gets too hot and no work will get done! 

Oktoberfest items available here.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!!

Welcome, Little One!

Good morning! I've been a little quiet around here. I know, I know. I say it ever time that I'm going to post more frequently. And then never do. (Although 3 weeks is more frequent than normal!!) There just isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done! I can't seem to even finish the little things in time...
Anyway, one thing I did get done in time was a new baby gift for a Little One who's making her appearance any day now! (Hopefully she's punctual!!) My new, go-to "New Baby" gift are baby blocks counting months and years in Baby's life.

These personalized blocks are perfect for the monthly pictures that have become so popular. I went with a pink and gray critter scheme to match the nursery (or at least I hope it does...) The gator is a 'tribute' to her mom's past- I couldn't find any animal riding a bike ;) And, of course, there is a matching card to complete the gift.
Until next time, thanks for looking and have a great day!

Catching Up!

Good morning! It has obviously been quite a while since anything was posted here. The last few months have been extremely busy around here- between the parents visiting, the end of the school year, packing up and moving in, and working on a TON of orders in June and the beginning of this month, it finally feels like I can take a moment to sit back, relax, and take a deep breath! (Yesterday was the first time in quite a while I didn't actually do much of anything... and I kind of felt bad about it...)
Anyway, like I've said, it's been quite a busy few months. Here are some projects I've worked on:
     * A slew of invitations:

       * New party favors (including additions to the princesses!)

 

(These "Diego" bags aren't brand new, but I wanted to share them here!!)

      *  Some assorted items:

      * And lastly, some larger-scale party decorations:

Now, hopefully I can work on those New Year's Resolutions- keeping everything updated and start working on all the new projects I have in mind!!

May the 4th Be with You!

After all these years, I finally broke down and hopped on the Star Wars bandwagon. I guess it's about time, too, especially when you have more than a handful of family members, both young and old, who are fans... I have two "inspired" projects to share with you today. The first is a birthday banner:

For the banner, I used a font similar to the one used throughout the franchise. To add a girly, yet subtle, touch, the letters and pennant backgrounds were made in "galactic gold" (perfect name, huh?!) Of course, everything is multi-layered, because that's what I do! The two banner pieces are book-ended with some favorite characters.

 This is where it got a little tricky, because of the characters. I didn't want to just print and cut the characters out (Eww, yuck. I never liked the look of that. Anyone can print out pictures and glue them on.) After a little work and maneuvering, and patience with the small pieces, everything came together, better than planned! (I may be a small fan now, only because of this)
The second project is a matching birthday card for the Brother (talk about old fan...) I had one card designed and (somewhat) ready to send out, but then this idea came into my head and I decided to go with it. I hope he's OK with it 1.) being late and 2.) not a surprise...

The inside of the card, which I unfortunately don't have a picture of, is printed out in the same font as the banner and reads "Wishing Yoda Happiest Birthday, I am. Celebrate, you must." (obviously read in Yoda's voice)
Who knew Star Wars could be so fun?! Now, maybe I'll continue working on the matching party favors I started like two years ago...
Have a great day!

We're Back! (And Brought Along a Few Friends!)

Oh, my!! We're back! It has obviously been quite a long time. I'd love to be able to use some amazing, awesome excuse as to why we haven't posted anything here in such a long time, but after trying out some new endeavors, this little piece kind of got pushed to the back burner. Not forgotten, just kind of like the week-old leftovers in the fridge. In the meantime, we have been working on putting a cohesive look to our little business, a new "stand-alone" online store, orders, and every day life (who knew naptime for the Little One would turn into naptime for the Big One, too? Or at least the Big One being used as a pillow?)
After debating internally for a while, we have decided to take the next step and open an on-line store. Not that we don't love our Etsy store, but we thought maybe it was a good time to branch out and try something new, and hopefully bring along a few friends and make some new ones! We have more items available in this store, including many new invitations (for now. One section at a time!) The link to this new store is www.twoearlybirds.com/our-store. Like everything in life, it's a work in progress!
I guess now that the mundane is done (tried to keep it quick and simple!) we have a few new projects planned over the next few months. (Hopefully we can keep on top of things and not let it slide like we've done in the past...) With the new movie "Finding Dory" coming out later this summer, we decided to start Dory-themed party line. We probably should have started with invitations, but sometimes an idea comes to you and you have to run with it! This was one of those projects:

This piece features everyone's favorite Blue Tang and Clown fishes.

The fish and letters are pop-dotted, of course!And the middle space features a little under water scene, with a little Peach and a seagull in the corners:

I can't wait to see what the rest of the decorations will look like! A few other banners and the circle garland are next up on the to-do list!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a fintastic day (get it?!)!