Quilled Christmas tree card

Merry Christmas!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

My friend Steven has a delightful family tradition where his entire family brings the Christmas cards they received each winter and vote on the best Christmas card. They give out prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and the kids get to vote too! I entered the contest a few years ago and ended up winning 2nd place with this quilled Christmas tree card.

Yes there's a little hidden treble clef in there ;)

May you and your families have a joyful Christmas season!

Quilled flower wreath and pink and gold glam birthday cards

Birthday cards galore! K requested a bright card with red flowers for her mom, and a pink and gold card for her niece, whose recent 1-year-old photoshoot had lots of adorable glam elements.

Materials used: chipboard letters, baker's twine (DIY'd with yarn and a power drill), cardstock, alphabet stamps (similar), and glitter washi tape (exact).

Materials used: paper, paper, and glue 

Pop-up typewriter birthday card and quilled cat bridal shower card

Last month I visited my little sister in San Francisco and we discovered a pop-up Golden Gate Bridge greeting card in a gift shop near Lands' End, one of my favorite places in SF. She immediately turned to me and said, "Make this!" So when I saw this pop-up card tutorial, I knew she would love it for her birthday card! 

In other news, this past week my friend Kristin ordered a custom card from me for a bridal shower. Her requests for the card were to include a monogram and cats. I used to make lots of animal-themed cards for a florist shop in Saint Louis and cats are one of my favorite things to quill.

DIY Christmas gifts: dip-dye, marbled paper, and stenciled stationery

Now that Thanksgiving has ended...let the Christmas festivities begin! Christmas is my favorite holiday and I am grateful that we have the freedom to openly celebrate Christ's birth.

A few weekends ago my friend Liz and I made stationery as Christmas gifts. We tried out 3 methods: paper marbling, dip-dye, and watercolored stenciled hearts.

Read on for the how-to's!

DIY Log slice Christmas ornament

It's not even Thanksgiving yet but I'm already looking forward to the Advent season and Christmas. A month ago I made these wood log slice personalized coasters for my brother-in-law's wedding. I had a few wood slices left over so I decided to make a Christmas ornament for my friend Kristin since these logs came from her backyard. I personalized it with Kristin's dog Rooney's name. Rooney is gentle and loving and eats curtains in his spare time. He actually tried to eat these wood slices after we cut the log.

This was a super simple project. Sand the log, apply varnish, write out Rooney's name with a brush marker, applied Modpodge to seal, drill a small hole for the ribbon to go through, and...all DONE! 

30th birthday and fall-themed quilled birthday cards

My friend Kristin recently ordered these 2 custom cards from me. I love how quilling adds a 3-dimensional effect to jazz up simple greeting cards.

Requests for card #1: 30th birthday, champagne, pink, and teal. The recipient of this card is an upholstery expert so I picked out this patterned paper to mimic upholstery fabric/wallpaper design.

Requests for card #2: fall colors, birds, and flowers.

DIY Pallet Bench

After 11 months of storing a pallet in our garage hoping to make it into a DIY project, we finally bit the bullet and made it into a bench for our front porch!

Click below for the tutorial!