Merry Free Printables!

I've been on a free printables kick recently. There are so many cute (especially, holiday) ones on the net right now and I think it's the sweetest that designers are willing to share their talent for free. Here are of my favorites:

+ This, DIY Holiday Paper Reindeer Postcard & Tag from Eat Drink Chic.

+ HelloBee's, Notes of Thankfulness.

+ Holiday Gift Tags from Love vs. Design.

+ Country Jam Jar Labels by Ellinee.

+ Holiday Mail Stripe Gift Tags, another Eat Drink Chic beauty.

+ Love vs. Design, Ugly Sweater Tags.

+ Cute Ellinee Paper Bows for Christmas and in Fall colors.

+ Gift Tags & Star Charm DIY by Dotcoms for Moms.

The possibilities are endless for these. I'm currently using the Notes of Thankfulness daily; I fill one out and put it in a jar so that at the end of the month I can remember the ways I've been blessed. I'm also contemplating the DIY Reindeer Postcard as our Christmas card this year.

Have you found any cute printables? Are you using them for your holiday crafts or gift wrapping?

Michaela Rae

P.S. I've enjoyed my hiatus from blogging. I often see a correlation between my time spent online and how at peace I feel (less being more). I do plan, though, to update a bit more frequently now that things are settling down. There are also some exciting things ahead that I want to document and share with you!

Yarn Ink Stamp

This is my first Try New Adventures Thursday blog post! My sister Alicia came up with the idea and every week she and several of her readers share their new adventures. Since I always enjoy following them and already love trying new things, I figured it's time to jump in on the fun.

Several months ago I saw something similar to this online and the idea stuck with me. I came across some yarn in Kurt's closet today and decided to try making my own. Here's how it went:

I used one of my acrylic stamp blocks to wrap the yarn around. I imagine you could use any small block shaped item you may find around the house to do this, as long as you don't mind if it gets a little ink on it.

After wrapping the yarn around the block, I pressed my ink pad against it. I found that it's easier/less messy when you put the "yarn stamp" on the table and press the ink pad down onto it instead of vise versa. 

I just looped the loose end of yarn under another piece to hold it in place.

Pretty fun huh? I want to play around with it more to see what different types of style & color variations I can make. 

Have you ever made your own rubber or yarn stamp?

Oh, and speaking of new adventures and stamps, Claire (Kurt's mom) and I are going to a Rookie Rubber Stamp Workshop at Paper Source this coming Saturday. I'm really excited about it!! I'll let you know how it goes. 

Michaela Rae

Appliqué Headbands

Since September I've kept my eyes open for the perfect hair accessories for my wedding. After finding a very simple and elegant veil on Ebay, I've been on the search for some type of embellishment for my hair for the reception. I think I've found my next project!

I found some DIY tutorials for lace appliqué headbands and I can't wait to try making one. They're exactly the look I'm going for. I like that they lay flat on your head, making it not too extreme of an accessory. It keeps with the simple yet elegant style I love. I also really like lace.

For Feature Wednesday, I want to show you an applique headband that Sara from Craft Snobs made. On her blog she explains exactly how easy, and inexpensive ($5!), it was to make. I especially love the gold and white colors. Thanks Sara!

Here are a few other pretty applique headbands. The bottom two I found on Etsy. Can you believe some of them are selling for over $100?! One of my favorite things about crafting is that you can make things for so much less than what you can buy them for.

 

Michaela Rae