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!

Happy 4th!

I know it's a bit late, especially as I am listening to the fireworks going off, watching the All-American movie Forrest Gump as I write this, but I hope that everyone had a safe and happy Fourth of July today!

This is how I celebrated today, doing what I love, by creating this little banner and garland- pretty much the extent of my decorating for the holiday.
Have a great night!

For My Significant Otter!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, sharing it with your loved ones, or just loving yourself, which is always necessary too! As promised, I have some more Valentine's Day projects to share, although it's a few days late. So, today's project is the card I made for my otter half:

This card has features two of my favorite things: otters and puns! (If you ever find yourself needing to smile, I highly recommend looking up pictures of otters. They are just so stinking cute!!) So, one of the things I tend to do is cuddle real close and hold hands. It's one of the things otters do so they don't float away from each other. We joke around, saying we have to hold hands so we don't float away. Or fall off the couch. This is the inside of the card:

I absolutely love puns! I would use them all the time if I could. When I use them, he usually chuckles and smiles. (Or he just feels bad because I'm so corn-y) Either way, there's usually a smile on both of our faces, so it's all good! I didn't want to go overly Valentine-y with the card, since he's not at all into the holidays (any of them), but I still wanted to show him how I feel! I guess that's all the gushiness... :)
Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Now it's time to get ready to enjoy the absolutely beautiful February weather we're having. Sorry to all of our New England friends and family! You can always come visit!! Have a wonderful day!

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!

A Plethora of Projects!

Good morning, friends!! It has, unfortunately, been quite a long time since we’ve posted something new. Between the usual, school and work, we’ve been pretty busy. And on top of that, the kiddos have passed on the cold bug, so we had been fighting that, too. That was a huge pain, but it seems to have cleared up. Hopefully that’ll be the last of it, although the fall/winter season is in full swing here. The rain does help with the productivity- who wants to go outside in the rain?! In the little bit of healthy free-time we’ve had, we’ve been uber busy with our crafting projects, and a few projects for ourselves. We’ve had a handful of superhero projects- some invitations and a ton of bags, and this little set of a card and a banner we created for our little cousin’s Hulk-themed birthday:

We were also tasked with creating a few new bag designs. Here is a picture of some of our new ones, which include The Incredibles (no capes!), Robin, and the Ninja Turtles, though only two are shown

We also worked on some cards in the last few weeks, including these two “punny” cards. The first one is a card we sent out to our family and friends- a little farm-themed card that reads “Cow’s it Going?”. The other is one we wanted to post a while back, but never got to it. It is a fall inspired, little shape card that features a fox in a pile of leaves. The inside of the card reads “Sending you piles of smiles”

 

The biggest, most exciting news of the last few weeks is that our very close friend (hopefully she still thinks this…) and her husband are expecting a little one this April!! It’s all very exciting! We made a few cards to send to congratulate them:

How cute are these two?! The Winnie the Pooh card was inspired by the scrapbook paper that was used in some of the details, like the crib sheet. It’s kind of hard to see, but it’s there. And the paper has been in our collection for a while now, so we figured why not use it?! We also included a little basketball because they both used to play and are now gym teachers. And like all of our projects, we used a ton of pop dots! The second is a super cute side step card designed to look like a baby’s nursery. We included the dresser, with clothes and all, along with some toys and dolls. We couldn’t forget the crib with the sleeping baby and the mobile hanging over!

The last two projects we have to share are some Halloween ones we were working on. The first was a set of cards we made for our sister-in-law (don’t mind the pajama pants in the background- we got an early start that day!). These easel cards feature a little googly-eyed witch and her broom. We also embossed a spider web on the background and added some rhinestones in the corner of the card. The inside of the card reads “Witch-ing you a Happy Halloween” and a little bat that holds the easel up. And as with all cute, “girly” cards, there’s some sparkle, too!

The last project we’ve worked on was a banner we made for a customer. This one was a personalized Halloween banner that features two teddy bears, one a ghoulish witch and the other a spooky jack-o’-lantern.

We, of course, used pop dots on the characters and letters. We finished off with some rhinestones on the letters. Each piece is tied together with multiple colored ribbons and some glitter tulle!

Phew! Quite a long post today, huh?! Sorry about that! We probably could have (and maybe should have) done them individually. Hopefully we’ll finish and post some of our new holiday items that we've been working on and some holiday projects we have planned! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Good evening! I feel like I should start with a silly pun or something, but after spending the last three days working on superhero projects, my creative juices aren't flowing tonight. However, I wanted to post a quick  little project for today (even though it's tomorrow everywhere else...)

I came across this super cute poem the other day and wanted to make a little something that with it. I printed the poem out, leaving just enough room for a lucky little leprechaun! I can't say I was totally creative with the treats, but when the poem ends with Leprechaun Kisses, what are you supposed to share with someone?!
Now that we have gotten most of our orders organized and completed, hopefully there will be a little more time for us-crafting, especially because there are so many spring-themed projects  we want to make.
Thanks for stopping by! Now it's time for bed!!

An Irish Wish!

Happy Monday! Or not. It was a tough morning to wake up, even after going to bed pretty early last night. It's just about time for a mid-afternoon nap now! Anyway, we wanted to take some time out to share a set of St. Patrick's Day cards we made for our #1 customer!

These little cuties came out so much better than planned. This middle card is what the whole 'set' looks like when it's all together. As you might be able to tell, they are little folder cards and when you pull out the insert, there's a little Irish poem, wishing the recipient lots of luck with only a little trouble. Like every cute card, the little leprechauns have googly eyes and glitter makes everything better, of course!Who wouldn't love getting this card in their mailbox?!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful afternoon!

Whoo Loves You?!

Happy Sunday!! We hope you are all having a fantastic weekend so far! After days of waiting for the rain, it has finally come. We are supposed to have heavy rain for the next three days. Luckily we don't live in the mountains... These days are perfect for catching up on crafting (and cleaning, unfortunately). Anyway, we have one more Valentine's Day gifts to share with you today. This is the gift I put together for Boy this year. I didn't want to ruin the surprise, so hopefully he doesn't look here today... Unfortunately, my pictures aren't very good today. Sorry!

Owls are his favorite animals, so I went with them as inspiration. It's also easy to come up with a silly pun to go along with. The bag and matching card have the two owls sitting on a branch with little matching ribbon embellishments. And of course, I added googly eyes!

The card is an easel card. Once it's open, the top rests on some 3D hearts. The final touch is a bag topper for the sweet snack:

I made some s'more pretzels (hence another pun!). It also features the two little owls!
Hopefully he'll enjoy this gift. And if he doesn't care for the gift set (because he's a boy...) hopefully he'll like the gifts inside!
We  are entering this gift set into FCCB's "I Heart You" Challenge
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

You're Tops!

Woohoo! It's finally Friday! We hope everyone has had a wonderful week. Or, at least through the latest storm back East. Hopefully everyone will be shoveled out in time for their big plans with loved ones tonight. Or, watching rom-coms with some pizza and drinks. Nothing wrong with that either.
Anyway, today's project is a set of classroom Valentines for tomorrow:

How cute are these little suckers?! (pun intended!) These little lollipop holders have a few layers to them:

Each holder has a layered heart and and book. The books are complete with googly eyes (of course) and a teacher-related pun. The best thing about these?! They used up scraps and only two new pieces of paper! They are a great way to use up all our small scraps.
We were going to post these for yesterday, but decided it would be better to do it today. There are quite a few kiddos in Robyn's class who frequent our blog. We didn't want to ruin it for them... :) We already have so many more ideas for these! Sometimes being so creative is such an inconvenience.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day with all your loved ones!

Be My Valentine

Happy Thursday!! We hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far. We hope all of your Valentine's plans are all set, but last minute is always good, too! (I mean, it's not like it doesn't happen every year...) So, in honor of all those last-minuters, here is a Valentine's Day card we quickly threw together:

This card turned out to be a lot more elegant than  originally planned. We added some extra lace and rhinestones for some extra special touches. To finish it off, we popped out the sentiment on front. This whole card was whipped together in less than 30 minutes, including design time, but it looks like it took much longer (in our opinion!)
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for our cutest Valentine idea of the year (granted, there hasn't been much 'competition'...)

Hey Valentine...

Happy Wednesday! We hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. We've been staying busy, trying to catch up with our personal crafting. The latest project we completed was a set of Valentine cards for our sister.

These cuties were pretty quick to whip up. When we first started designing them, this wasn't even near the original idea. After talking to her, we decided to go with the silly animal puns. These little critters and the puns are always a good match for each other. And to top it off, they all have googly eyes! The finishing touches on the cards are the little gemstones for the ellipses. They're a little "little kiddish", but what valentine isn't?!
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for another Valentine's Day project!

Happy New Year!

 Good morning! We hope everyone has had a safe and wonderful night yesterday.  We can't believe how fast this year has gone by. We have a lot to be thankful for this year, including seeing our entire family, including an awesomely planned road trip back East this summer. We were most fortunate to have some guests out here, as well, which is always welcome, unless it's Boy and our apartment is in a state of organized chaos ;) At the end of summer, Robyn began working in fourth grade and made some new friends (although I take a teeny tiny amount of credit for talking her into interviewing for the position.) 

Now that most of our Christmas presents are at their destinations, and have been used a few times, we have a little more time to design and create new projects. We wanted to make a quick banner to hang on our mantle. The flags are smaller than normal, but it ended up being a perfect size. We used bright colors, with some shimmery silver-gray for our letters and images. And they're a little hard to see, but we also used a bunch of rhinestones, especially on the two noisemakers on the end.

  Thank you so much for stopping by! Here's to an even better 2014!

Merry Christmas!

As you might be able to tell, we've been quite sporadic with our posting. Between the last few weeks of school, Christmas crafting, and working on orders, we haven't had very much time to make new projects. However, we wanted to take a few minutes to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We hope your holidays are filled with time spent with loved ones. We will be spending some time Skype-ing with the family tonight. Hopefully they don't start karaokeing while we're talking. We shall see what tomorrow brings. All we have planned is to make our cinnamon roll tree in the morning and talking to our parents and brothers.

We wanted to share some holiday lights with our readers. Here's a little picture of our cute little tree in the corner. The picture doesn't quite do it justice, but as you might be able to tell, it's a gingerbread theme. We made a bunch of gingerbread cookie ornaments and hung them up on the tree. Every once in a while it smells so good! We also made some adorable matching garlands and wreaths for the mantle and windows. Maybe we'll get around to post pictures of them. 

As we said before, happy holidays from us to you! We hope everyone has a very (pleasantly) memorable holiday. Have a great day!

Sweet Holiday Wishes

Happy Sunday! How crazy is it that it's already December?! It's been pretty crazy, how fast this year has gone by. We hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. We definitely had a much-needed, enjoyably long weekend.Now it's time to get back in school mode. Luckily it's only a few more weeks until our next break. (There's a plus side to having such a late Thanksgiving, huh?!)
Now that we have to catch up on all of the work we didn't do this weekend, today's card is a quick holiday card:

This card is themed after a gingerbread house. We were originally going to make a card that featured a gingerbread house, but after a few changes, this is what we decided on. The bottom of the card reads, "May your holidays be sweet!"And we added a few rhinestones to make it sparkle a bit.

This is the inside of the card. It, too, underwent a few changes from the original design. After realizing that the patterned piece had to go on the bottom (so it wouldn't show through the hole), we realized that the sentiment would have to be on the outside so there would be room on the inside to write a little note. Fortunately, it still looks good to us!
Thank you so much for stopping by! We hope you have an enjoyable end to the long weekend.

Happy Saturday!!

We hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday weekend so far. We hope everyone has gotten all the best Black Friday deals and all their holiday shopping done. We have not. We prefer to "celebrate" Small Business Saturday. It pretty much means that we make all of our holiday gifts. However, as small "shop" owners, who could blame us?! ((Holiday cards, anyone?) So, instead of having a Cupcake Saturday post, we have an adorable little holiday card to share with you today:

How stinkin' cute is she?! She has been adorned with her googly eyes, along with some little white pom-poms on her hat and shoes. Santa's little helper is holding a mighty large present, all wrapped up with ribbon. It is actually a gift card holder.

Who wouldn't want to get to get this little card?! It's such a cute little way to package a gift card! And to add a little more character to the inside of the card, we created some accents using the same paper:

This card is just too cute! We can't get enough of it! There will be a little boy to go along with her soon enough. Gift cards (and cookies) for everyone this year!
Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day and remember to support the little guys in the neighborhood today!

Santa's Coming?!

Happy hump day! We hope everyone is having a super day so far. Luckily, it's already Wednesday and a few days closer to another weekend. We have never been guilty of rushing anything. The weekend, the holidays. Nope, not us! So, while taking a few minutes out of our orders, (and a need for change), we made a quick banner.

This banner matches the bags we made yesterday. It reads "Happy Holidays". The banner is pretty basic, with a few embellishments. We were fortunate enough to find the perfect paper to use in our scrap stash. It probably wouldn't have been used for anything else. Below are pictures of the letters, with some glitter on each, the Santa in the middle, that matches the bags, and the poinsettia on the ends, that match yesterday's tags.

 Santa has his googly eyes and spakley white trim, which is a bit hard to see. The poinsettia on the two ends have rhinestones in the center.
The plan is to create a few new matching items. Hopefully they'll be done before the holidays!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day.

Hey, Santa!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a great, long weekend and took some time to thank any veterans. We spent the entire day working on a ton of party favors, and after all this time, I think we have finally gotten everything down in order to bust them out. However, it's never too early to think about the holidays. (OK, maybe that depends on who you ask.) We took a break this weekend to make these little cuties: 

Our sister wanted us to make these gift baggies for her holiday gift list. We wanted to add a little holiday sparkle to Santa. We also used some rhinestones on the holly and poinsettia plants. And, of course, he has little googly eyes! We kept the tags nice and simple, since the bags are a bit more embellished.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Fallidays!

Happy Sunday! Wow, it has been a long time since we posted something. As you might be able to tell, then, we have been quite the busy beavers recently. With school and work, and everything that goes with it, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to sit down and work on the fun things (obviously meaning the crafting). Or, the "fun things" turn out to be a set of wedding invitations (for a lady in Australia, getting married in Spain, with family in the UK. OK, so it's awesome that someone from overseas has seen our stuff!) And of course, more party favors than I care to count... But this weekend, we found some time to create for fun. (Update: We just spent about four hours looking up Christmas projects. Is it November yet?!)
So, today's project is a cute little fall banner we made for our sister:

(It was a bit longer than planned, but I'm pretty sure the pieces were a bit wider than I first thought. I hope she has room for it somewhere!)
It's a little hard to read, but it says "happy fallidays". It is accented with two super adorable little scarecrows on either end:

 And here is the spacer in between the two words:

We wanted to keep this one a little less crowded, mostly because of the background paper used. I think the best part of this banner is the use of non-traditional colors used. The background paper came from a fall paper stack that is full of blue, brown, and light yellow papers. To make it even more fun, we added some pink accents and ribbon (because pink makes everything better!)
Now to go make something with all of the extra orange paper this banner was supposed to use up. Or more party favors. Both have to be done eventually!!
Thanks for coming back to us after our little unplanned break! We hope you all have a superb end to the weekend!!

A Sunny Christmas Wish!

Hello! We hope everyone is having a fantastic Thursday! Today has been a perfect day to work on projects. Mother Nature must know school is starting soon and started fall. The last few, and next few, are supposed to be rainy. We can't complain though, because we have a ton of work to do, trying to decorate a classroom in time for the first day of school. A new project seems to pop up every few hours. Anyway, I took some time out to create this card. It's a super cute southern Christmas card:

How cute is he?! It looks like Santa has been having a relaxing summer vacation, too, before getting back to work! I guess he didn't use very much of his SPF 50 suntan lotion...

This is a closer view of him. I kind of went pop-dot happy on a few of the pieces, as you can see the shadow around him. There is also some added glitter in a few spots to add another fun touch! The last picture is the inside of the card. The only fitting sentiment we could agree on was "May your Christmas be Warm and Bright":

And we added one more touch with the holiday-inspired beach ball on the inside. 

We are entering this card into a few challenges. We used a variety of cartridges, including both paper doll ones and Doodlecharms.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge: Challenge 175- Heat Wave 

Bitten by the Bug 2- Let's Get Wet! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!