I have been super busy lately working on all kinds of orders, which happen to be mostly custom orders. I’ve been creating all kinds of goodies for baptisms, engagement parties, birthday parties, baby showers and probably a couple other things that I can’t possibly think of right now. I absolutely love doing custom orders! I might panic a bit in the beginning wondering what exactly I am going to do and how I’m going to do it, but it’s all part of the fun! Custom orders enable me to think outside the box and create something that someone has envisioned in their mind. I love making other people’s ideas come to life and in the end I have created something that I would’t necessarily thought of on my own.

So incase you were wondering why I have been behind in my blog posting or why my Etsy shop has been looking a little lifeless , it’s because I’ve been so busy working on all these little beauties:

I have been getting quite a few request for these tented buffet cards that I had originally designed for the damask baptism I did last year but could easily be used for any occasion. I think they’re so pretty and they just might end up for sale in my shop in the near future.

I recently had a customer ask if I could incorporate a cross into my damask baptism favour tags. After designing a few samples, this is what we came up with. I love how they turned out!

One of my customers always has me designing all kinds of fun things for her parties. This was my first attempt at a banner for her daughter’s polka dot and striped themed birthday party. Banners are a lot of work, but definitely worth it!

These super cute owl envelopes were designed to match some owl themed baby shower invitations I did for a friend. I love owls and think that there will definitely be a few owl themed items posted in my Etsy shop soon!

If you’ve visited my shop recently, you would have noticed that there is a whole lot of pink happening there. So when a customer asked me to make her some Mickey Mouse invitations, I found it refreshing to be creating something for boys and not in pink! I used a black square envelope to match the invitations and they turned out super cute!

So if you’re searching for something and you can’t find just what you’re looking for, I will gladly help you make your ideas come to life! And hopefully I will remember to come up for air sometime soon and list some of these new things in my shop!

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I decided to treat you all to something pretty sweet; a free Valentine’s Day printable! So what is it? Only the funnest Valentine’s Day cards ever, mad lib Valentine’s! Each design has a different mad lib and you get two of each one on 1 sheet! When I was a kid, I loved doing mad libs, so I thought I would bring them back from near extinction and give them to you to print and share with your sweethearts, kids, friends, pets, or whoever you want.

These are super easy to do!  Just download the file by clicking download here at the bottom of this post, and print out as many as you need. Cut the cards out using the crop marks and they’re ready to use. You can choose whether or not you want to fill them out or leave them blank for a fun Valentine’s Day activity for your sweetie. The best part is they’re fun for adults too!

Hope you enjoy your freebie and you receive something extra sweet from your Valentine this Valentine’s Day! xo

This is a PDF document so you will need a PDF viewer like Adobe Reader to open the file. You can get it for free here.

For personal use only.

Now that the holidays are over, I can finally share a few of my top secret gifts with you as well as some of my extra special wrapping. I wanted to really try to make my wrapping pretty this year, not just wrap it in Christmas paper and slap a bow on it. But I did learn the it takes quite a bit more time….totally worth it though!

I had done several posts on handmade gift ideas, and I ended up buying quite a few of the items I had featured. It was hard not to buy all of them, but I was SO happy with the ones I ended up getting, and the recipients loved them too! I will definitely be making even more purchases from Etsy next Christmas. To me, buying a handmade gift seems more special than store bought ones, and knowing that I bought it from a fellow Etsian makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

One of my favourite gifts was this custom business card holder from Bambina. My sister is the owner of Right Diagonal, an online store selling equine products and accessories, which is why it definitely had to have a horseshoe on it. She totally loved her business card holder! Pssst…that tag is from my Etsy shop.

Another one of my favourites was for my friend, Aimee. I was loving the look of wrapping my gifts in kraft paper and adding a little twine. I kept seeing pictures of stamped names on gifts, so I thought I would give it a try…I loved it, and so did she! I think the less perfect the stamping comes out, the more awesome it is.

I got her a Lucky Elephant bracelet, which in my opinion is probably the best gift ever! I recently won a giveaway over at the Lucky Elephant, and I absolutely love my bracelet! I get quite a few compliments on it too! If you’re ever stuck for a gift idea, I would highly recommend buying one of these amazing bracelets!

I wanted to give my bridal party some pictures from the wedding for Christmas. When I printed them and asked for some extra envelopes, stamped each person’s name on the envelope and tied some green twine around it. It was super easy and looked cute too!

There were so many other awesome gifts I purchased off of Etsy this Christmas, I wish I could share them all! And I am happy to say that I even received a gift that was purchased off of Etsy too! It’s this Greek Charm photo print from J2 Studios. I just have to find the perfect spot to put it, but I love it!!

I hope you enjoyed your holidays and I am looking forward to sharing more of my gift and wrapping ideas with you in the new year!

I was guest blogging over at Alyssabeth’s last week and shared this craft tutorial on how to make a pinecone angel. She has tons of easy and inexpensive Christmas craft ideas posted over there so be sure to check it out!

These pinecone angels are very special to me and has been part of my family for many years. When my grandfather was alive, he used to make tons of ornaments, decorations and beautiful wreaths out of pinecones which are always proudly displayed around my families’ houses especially at Christmas time.

One of the things he loved to create were pinecone angels; his is the gold one. Recreating these angels has been on my list of things to do for a few years now, and now I have finally accomplished my version of Grandpa Lang’s pinecone angel. You can collect these items on a nice fall day and save them for when you’re ready to make your ornament. It’s so easy and very inexpensive to make.

You will need:

• Pinecones at least 3″ tall
• Acorns with the tops on
• Dried milkweed pods – If you don’t have any of these in your area you can find them online
• Pipe cleaners
• Golf tee
• Ribbon
• Silver or gold spray paint
• Black permanent marker
• Hot glue gun
• Craft glue
• Glitter (optional)

Collect all of your outdoor supplies and make sure they are free from any dirt and bugs. If the milkweed pods are still closed, split them open and clean the seeds and fluff out of them. Leave them to dry for a few days or longer if needed.

Spread out your pinecones, acorns, dried milkweed pods and golf tee on some newspaper and spray with spray paint. You will need to do several coats to make sure you’ve covered all of the areas.

Once your items have dried (at least 24 hours) you are now ready to start gluing. Using a hot glue gun, glue the acorn to the top of the pinecone. You might need to remove the tip of the pinecone in order to position the head properly.

Cut a pipe cleaner about 6″ long, bend it into a ‘V’ shape and glue it to the core of the pinecone about 3/4 of the way up.

Attach the milkweed pods to the back of the angel for the wings. You will need to be very generous with your glue, especially with the milkweed pods, to make sure everything is secure.

Wrap the ends of the pipe cleaner around your golf tee. I glued my tee to the tip of the pinecone closest to the top so it wouldn’t move. Cut another piece of pipe cleaner about 2″ long and make a circle for the halo, leaving a little excess length to glue it to the back of the head.

I added a bit of glue and then glittered the top of the acorn and the flat end of the golf tee. You could also add some to the tips of the pinecone or inside the milkweed pods. Draw the eyes onto the acorn using a black permanent marker.

Cut your ribbon to the desired length and using the hot glue gun attach it to the back of your ornament just below where the acorn sits.

What’s great about this craft is that it barely costs any money to make. Most of the supplies you can find outdoors and the others you may have lying around your house already. It’s easy enough for the kids to help make, and makes a great keepsake for years to come. I have had mine for over 20 years! I know this is one Christmas tradition I will be passing on to my children.

Happy holiday crafting!