friday finds – valentine’s day

 

This Friday, I’ve compiled my favorite Valentine’s Day cards:

1. For the Digital DIY-er: Elise Blaha put together a tutorial of how to use her digital stamps to create some simple, but awesome cards. These would be perfect for really anyone on your list – singles included!

2. For the TV Show obsessed: If you watch a lot of TV shows, then you’ve probably seen Breaking Bad. This card is so perfect!

3. For your single friends: Valentine’s Day is not just for couples. Celebrate the love you have for your friends!

4. For the funny/cheeky person: If you’re involved with someone in that way, then this is perfect. I think males will especially appreciate this one 😉

5. For the traditional romantic at heart: There’s nothing wrong with a little cliche romance. Claim it, and own it!
Shameless plug: My Etsy shop is now updated to include new cards, including Valentine’s Day. Also, Christmas cards are starting at $1.50! Get ‘um while they’re hot on discount! 

Have a great weekend!
xoxo.

first project life album completed

I finally finished my first Project Life album! I discovered this form of documenting a couple years ago through Elise Blaha, and decided it would be perfect for capturing my memories post college. Memory keeping for High school and college is very theme based, but post college the everyday is captured just a little more. Mainly because you can only share so many partying studying photos, and this thing called Instagram took off after college.

This system was also very beneficial for me because every inch of space I have in my apartment is important. I used to have so much scrapbooking ‘stuff’ in my old apartments, but moving here I had to really consolidate. This system takes only a handful of things to complete: an album, photo pocket pages, a core kit, pens and most importantly, photos.

Since moving to New York was a natural fresh start, that’s where I decided to start my first Project Life album. I’ll be doing this for 2013 & 2014 as well, so look forward to those coming soon.

my 2015 one little word: try

Every year, One Little Word floats through blogosphere, or at least through my blogosphere. I never quite thought it was for me. I wasn’t sure what one word I would use, or how I would use it. I also thought since everyone is doing it, that it would be cliche to do.

I thought a lot about what I want to do in 2015, and what I hope to get out of it. I kept coming back to the thought that I constantly want to learn by trying something. Lately, there’s been so many mediums I’m super interested in trying – crocheting, woodworking, letterpressing, etc. Then, there’s my always goal of trying new restaurants, bars, and neighborhoods in NYC. Even #DancingMan bought a pack of deals for different bars throughout Manhattan so that we (well, really he. I just get to tag along 😉 ) can try new places.

As I thought more and more about this One Little Word concept, I realized that my word was literally in front me. Try. So short. So simple. But full of so many opportunities.

I want to try new mediums. I want to try to make new things using my hands. I want to try new restaurants, bars and neighborhoods in NYC. I want to try to have more patience. I want to try cooking new food groups outside of pasta. I want to try selling my own products. I want to try being a better blogger.

Hopefully, this sheet of paper will be filled with more things that I’ve tried, as I try them. Those that I do try, I’ll highlight to mark off.

Even if I don’t succeed, at least I tried. I figure that since I’ll be hitting my ‘mid-20s’ officially this year, this is the time to try new things in order to understand more of my likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. This is the time to experiment. This is the time to learn and make mistakes and learn some more.

Here’s to trying in 2015.

To learn more about One Little Word from Ali Edwards, click here. 

2014 christmas cards

It’s finally time for Christmas card season, a.k.a my favorite time to make cards!

I’ve clearly fallen in love with gold recently, specifically things with gold dots. I’m pretty sure 75% of my Christmas gifts to people include gold dots somewhere on their item. It’s just so festive, but classy!

This was the first time I embossed something. I’ve had a heat gun for awhile, but it was mostly for making decorative candles. Through many trial and errors, I finally got the act of embossing down, even if my couch and rug don’t necessarily agree.

Last year, I wasn’t as thorough in the production process as this year. So half of my cards were sent out on Christmas Eve! If there was anything I wanted to accomplish this year, it was to at least get the cards in the hands of the recipients before Christmas. The first half were sent out in the mail yesterday, and the second half should be sent out by Friday! Yay for getting Christmas cards actually in the mail!

make this: wooden tea light votive holder

I was wondering the aisles of Michael’s the other day (I swear, recently I’ve been there almost daily), and noticed they carry a bunch of flat wooden pieces that look like they’re from real trees. The inspirational side of me would have rather cut these from a tree in my backyard. Seeing that my backyard is the MTA parking lot, there’s not a lot of trees to choose from. Oh the woos of living in the City (jk!).

I’ve been wanting to do something with these wooden pieces for awhile, but I just wasn’t quite sure what. I love the feeling of being in a cozy cabin, which is where a lot of inspiration for my apartment is coming from (hence this bookshelf). These wooden pieces bring that perfect kind of cozy atmosphere.

I was digging in my randoms drawer last week, and I noticed my 5 pound bag of tea lights. I had completely forgotten I had bought those in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. Obviously, they were not needed during Sandy, but I felt obligated to use them now.

And so a project was born. To be honest, this was the simplest DIY project I’ve ever done. I started and finished it in about 10 minutes on Sunday when I was recovering from our Ugly Sweater Holiday Party.

Supplies Needed:
– Flat, wooden stand
– Clear glass tea light votives
– Hot glue gun
– Tea lights

Directions:

1. After opening the stand from its’ packaging, dust off the top so that it’s clean and smooth
   
2. Figure out where you want to position the tea light votives. I just eyeballed it, but if you are picky you can mark the spot with a pencil
3. Glue your tea light votives to the wooden stand
   
4. Repeat until tea light votives are done
   
5. Put tea candles in the votive, light, and enjoy!

 

One thing I love about this DIY, besides the quickness and ease, is that after it’s finished you can decorate it for any event, and you can use it in many different ways! I don’t have a dining room table (I don’t even have a dining room), but if I did, these would make the perfect center piece.

 

simple happy card

I bought this stamp several years ago when I worked at Michaels. I found it last week when I re-organized my stamp collection, and thought it was amazing for a card. I love to make cards, but sometimes they’re not as fast and easy as I would like.

This one was simple, easy and applicable to really anything.

Close up of the red arrow

It’s fun to experiment with different colors for this stamp. I simply just restamped the arrow in a new color, and went over it in a color matching pen. I stamped the outside corners of the card with black ink too, to add a little something.

Blue arrow

If you get one, let’s hope it’s not a “Sort of” Happy-O-Meter 😉

grand opening: cori’s corner

I’m so excited to announce that my shop on Etsy is now open for business! This has been something I’ve wanted to do for awhile, but I never had the time to actually open it.

Currently it only has 10 items, all of which are handmade cards. Cori’s Corner is taking very small steps and is in its’ infancy, but I’m hoping to expand into frames, more cards, and maybe even a couple scarves!

Cori’s Corner

What items would you like to see?