Everything Etsy

Here are some great links from Everything Etsy.

This link is for 101 Simple Handemade gift tutorials. If you are already thinking about Christmas (I know I am!) There are some really cute and easy ideas here..

If you like free (and who doesn't?) here is a link for 101 printables. Some of them are worth printing and others aren't but this gave me a lot of exposure to some new blogs that I love! Find them here.

 

Here is a link for 101 Fall tutorials..time to get busy

A Party for Reese

I think this is an absolutely adorable birthday party for fall, so I recommened it for Caroline's friend Reese who is turning 2 in October. Her mom wants to do a costume party which I am sure will be adorable too, so I thought I would go ahead and share this with you all!! I found this blog on Aesthetic Nest

Get the invitation printable here

You can view the entire party here

First Day of School Photo Idea

Check out this adorable idea I saw today on Be Different, Act Normal. Even if school has already started, it's not too late to do this! Do they really look that much different from the way they looked last week? If you do this, I would love to see it!

What a great way to document your child's interests every year. See the idea here.

What is The Paper Heart Studio?

I’ve been getting this question a lot lately. I thought this would be a good time to try to explain what it is that I am trying to do here. There are several reasons why I am doing this and what I am hoping to accomplish, so here we go. 

I am not new to the blogging world. I kept an ‘online journal’ of sorts when I was in high school and college. Then I started another after we got married (but we all know how long that lasted) which was right up to the time I got pregnant with Miss Caroline and started her baby blog. But after she was born…well…I’m sure if you are mother you can understand how I almost never updated the thing. So about a year or so ago I rediscovered the blogging world. I wasn’t blogging, but I was reading. I found that there is a whole other world out there. People have blogs about everything..If you like gardening, cooking, scrapbooking, home design, home remodeling, crafting, tutorials, party planning, fashion, or anything else, there is likely a whole blog world out there just for you!  Personally, I’m into the crafting, home remodeling, party planning and tutorials, but there are so many sites out there it took me a while to figure out which are the best ones. It seems like every day I add another 1-3 blogs to my reading list.

What started happening as I was reading these blogs was that I would see all these great ideas for parties and fun things to make yourself and the like—ideas that I wanted to file away for a rainy day. I needed a place to put all these great ideas so that I could find them again. I started a list of them, but it turned out to be unorganized, and that’s just not my style. Pictures speak much louder than words and the more I see them, the better it makes me feel, and the more it motivates me to DO SOMETHING. So I started this blog as a place to just put everything that I was finding out there in blog world. Then I would see something that I thought someone else would like, so I thought I would just make it public for everyone and we could all share together. My intent is to have a blog post every day during the week. I try to put them together in my free time and load them so they will automatically post every day. You should see all the posts I have drafted! It doesn’t look like I will be running out of ideas anytime soon! Hopefully this will be a place where you can find some ideas and inspiration too!

And then there was this fancy idea that maybe I could turn my crafting hobby into a miniature (and I do mean miniature) business on the side. ( I have a lot of free time you know ;). But I do like to make things like name banners, cupcake toppers, notecards, and pretty much anything that can be made with paper and glue for people. I thought maybe there would be someone who would be interested in purchasing some of my goods. Maybe, maybe there isn’t. I’m going to try anyway. But I will need your help. If you know someone who might be interested in anything that I do, or wants something that I might be able to do, please let them know about me. My marketing professor always said that the best marketing was by word of mouth. It’s honest and free. Can’t beat that. I am trying to spread the word via Facebook, but it is a slow process, so if you know someone who might be interested please share. I am not going to be one of those overwhelming sales people…it’s just not my style. But there will be lots of incentives, giveaways and contests, so why not at least check in to see if there is something that piques your interest.

What you will notice in many of the ‘big wigs’ that do this sort of thing is that 1) all their ‘party printables’ are pre made and they just fill in your name and age and 2) you have to print, cut and assemble them all yourself.

The way I do it does not (yet) involve a printer and when you get them, they are ready to use. This means that they can be completely customized for you!

Are you looking for something in particular? If you are looking for a party idea or for a tutorial about how to make your own fairy skirt for your daughter or something equally cool, let me know! I can probably find you something that will interest you.

Do you want to swap crafting goodies? If you make something that you are trying to get out into the blogging world let me know and we can swap and I may even do a feature on you! How is that for free advertising?

I just started a Facebook page, and so far it has a whopping 8 likes (and that includes me). For most of the contests, giveaways and the like you will want to be a part of the Facebook page, so make sure you join if you haven’t already!! There is a like button on the top right of this page.

You will also notice that there will not likely be this much writing on the blog again for a long time. I try to keep it short and sweet and stick with pictures. That’s usually all I look at anyway. I’m not deep. If you want deep, you are in the wrong place. This is a blog about parties, crafting, cupcakes, and pretty!

So there you have it! The Paper Heart Studio—where I go to use crafting to relieve my stress!

Lilly Flower Birthday

The little girl's name is Caroline, how can I not love this party?! I think this mobile is a great idea especially when hanging from a chandelier or over the table light.

View the whole party here

Remodeling the House

I am going to start a semi frequent feature about remodeling our house. Our house is very small. We're talking like 800 square feet. There are 5 rooms and a hallway on the main floor, but we have also started working on finishing our basement. We have lived here for about 5 years (Since we got married in August 2006) and most everything about it has changed. Here is the before picture that was taken by DH when he purchased the house in 2004:

When DH bought the house originally the plan was to fix it up and flip it. DH and I had just started dating and I wasn't there to take before pictures, but I did get to go inside it once before it was inhabitable, and I can tell you it was a hot mess. I wish I had pictures of the old cabinets to show you all the broken doors and hanging drawers. Then you would really think we were amazing =)

I was all ready to post some before and after pictures, but I really want the before and afters to be almost the same picture, so I am going to have to retake some of them. In fact, I was going to post a new picture of just the front of the house, but fancy that, I didn't have one with the right angle. So I thought I would just take one. Well, then I got home and everything is dead from the heat this summer that I thought I had better wait...so. Hopefully in the spring things will be prettier and I can take a photo that will wow you.  Maybe my last post will be a before and after of the front of the house.

I am in no way pretending to be one of those people who blogs about their house all the time. Who are you kidding- my house is small and we are the cheapest people you probably know. There isn't money for that sort of thing. Let's make it functional, keep it clean and I am happy.

Another issue is that in the last 5 years I have taken so many pictures of the house here and there, that I don't know which ones to post or really where I have many of them saved on my computer. So give me a minute and I will get it all sorted out. This project may be more for my organization...but anyway...hopefully you will enjoy the process.

Stay tuned...there have been lots of changes. Many of you probably know what my house looks like now, but do you know what it looked like way back when? We joke that the only things that are still original to the house are the studs and 3 bushes in the front yard...ok maybe there are a couple more things, but it's a lot of changes.

This is also a really great way for me to show off how handy DH really is. He comes up with all the ideas and makes them happen. I can paint and that's pretty much it. He has done everything else.

Guess what the first thing to go was?? I'll give you a hint...it's striped.

How to Frost Cupcakes

If I have not mentioned it before, The TomKat Studio is by far my favorite blog. The girl has style!!
Here is a recent post she did on how to frost cupcakes! This is something that I def need to practice. DH frosted the cupcakes for Caroline's birthday and he did an amazing job. Maybe between now and her party in January I can get some practice. I am sure that no one at work would mind eating any failed batches =)

To learn how, click here.

A Jolly Holiday

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I saw this Jolly Holiday party @ Craftiness is not Optional and I immediately thought of Caroline. She loves Mary Poppins. We actually made it through this weekend without watching it, which came as a great surprise to me. This mamma thought of everything and did this Mary Poppins party better than I would have ever done. This mamma can sew! She made her daughter's dress AND did a whole tutorial on how to make it!

My favorite decortation was this Happy Birthday banner (of course!) because it is something that I could actually make. View the rest of the party here.

**Breaking News** Another Mary Poppins party was posted today on Amy Atlas.

It was is very fancy. You can view it here.

Sprinkle Shower

Some mommies thing it's taboo to have a second baby shower, and that is understandable. But here is a cute idea for a 'sprinkle shower' for guests to sprinkle the mom to be with small gifts and love.

View the full post on Kara's Party Ideas here

Note to Self: Make these

I think that this clock is absolutely beautiful. I probably don't have the skill or the talent to make this, but for those of you who do, here is where you can find a tutorial for how to make this: Personal Picture Clocks

A wedding for Katie!

My friend Katie is getting married in April. She is over weddings, and so isn't really excited about planning hers. She must be friends with the wrong person. I have been trying to entroduce her to etsy for awhile, and this was the perfect chance for me to show her everything out there. Here is a collection of black and white things I put together for her. She told me a long list of colors that she didn't like and so...this is what was left..super simple, super sweet. Now if only there were more hours in a day, I would volunteer to do it all!

A treasury: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NjQ0MDI1NHw1NTA5MzQ3NjU/nice-day-for-a-black-grey-and-white?index=2

Still here

Classes start tomorrow..I have lots of blog posts in mind, so stay tuned for…

 

-A party for Reese

-A wedding for Katie

-A facebook page!