Archive for the ‘freebies’ Category

#Hallelujah Easter Printables 1: Basket Tag Challenge

March 10th, 2016
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Let me preface this series with disclosing that I’m a Mormon and I believe in Christ! He did something super awesome for all of us. These printables are focused around our Savior. I hope that if you’re a disciple of Christ, regardless of denomination, you’ll enjoy these designs.

I had the honor to work with Sugardoodle and Mormon.org on Christ-centered Easter printables. Not to get overly spiritual here, but I asked myself How do I bring Christ into our Easter celebrations? And the sad answer was I don’t. Not really. So this was a fun challenge for me in a design sense and in a personal/spiritual sense. I plan on using these printables this year to bring Christ into our sugar-induced celebrations. I hope you do, too!

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I love symbolism. It adds power and meaning to every day objects and visuals. So for this first printable, I made a simple tag that reads, “Take some time to go through your Easter basket. Share with your family how each item can relate to our Savior Jesus Christ.”

The idea is simple. And it doesn’t require any planning beyond attaching the tags to the baskets. Try to find ways to tie back even the silliest of Easter basket items to Christ. For example:

  • Peeps: baby chicks are a sign of spring, which is a symbol of life.
  • Bunny: bunnies (because of their reproductive habits) are a symbol of everlasting life. Christ’s sacrifice gave everlasting life to us!
  • Socks: socks keep my feet warm like the feeling I get when I think about how Jesus loves me.

If you’d like, do a little research on the symbols of Easter. I found this article to be interesting and insightful.

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Would you like to play along? Download by clicking the link below.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

*By downloading the above material, you agree to terms of use: This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering any files is NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Freebie: Valentine’s Day Treats 2016

February 16th, 2016
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We had a grand time this year prepping for Valentine’s. I nearly forgot to share what we did. I found a gigantic bag of (my favorite) Hi-Chews at the grocery store a month ago, so I knew immediately I wanted to do something punny with those. So here we are.

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The kids love these things (I had to buy a second back of Hi-Chews just to finish all the valentine’s because a bunch may or may not have been eaten many weeks before the fact.

I found little 3″x3″ zip closure baggies at my local Pak ‘N Wrap. You can find these just as easy at papermart.com. I just didn’t want to wait for shipping. I wrote out the little phrase, printed and cut these little fold-over cards and stapled them together. Mega easy.

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Penelope designed and I made a stamp so she could own her valentine’s day treats. Felix even helped putting them together! I love when I can include both of them on the fun! I know it’s too late for 2016 Valentine’s, but I figure I’d share this printable for anyone looking to use this idea in the future. See the link below to download the printable.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

*By downloading the above material, you agree to terms of use: This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering any files is NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

FREEBIE: Silhouette Mint Designs & Valentines

February 5th, 2016
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Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! I swear it was just Thanksgiving. This time of year just flies right on by. I’m teaming up with Silhouette (my favorite, as you know) to provide you with some fun printables in time for Valentine’s Day!

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The Silhouette Mint is one of my favorite new gadgets of all time. I can create a stamp in minutes. Literally. If you haven’t seen my youtube video on the process check it out here. It’s super slick, which makes card making, gift giving and label making so much more fun and customized. I wrote out a few little sayings and drew up a little banner. All these things are available to download free at the bottom of this post. If you don’t have a Mint, no problems. Feel free to use the graphics for personal use.

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This Wednesday, we had an intimate gathering to learn calligraphy and make Valentines. I wanted to allow these awesome people to use their freshly gained calligraphy skills, but also give them the opportunity to put calligraphy on something if they didn’t feel comfortable writing something out. Each guest got a calligraphy kit and a card making kit with card stock (Thanks to my favorite My Mind’s Eye peeps! We used the dark grey from this line.) and piles and piles of stickers, washi tape and stamps for everyone to deck out their cards to the gills. Because a gaudy valentine is an awesome valentine. Totally channeling my inner Schin Loong.

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These little stamps are so fun to use. See below for what size stamps I used for each design.

  • banner: 90×45 mm
  • Be Mine: 30×30 mm (on the diagonal)
  • You’re Hot: 30×30 mm
  • I Freaking Love You: 15×60 mm

If you’re interested in purchasing the Mint. Use code: MELISSA for $20 off a Mint machine! Wouldn’t it be so darling to have your kid design their own Valentine’s card? So adorable. Click the link to read more about the workshop and download the free artwork.

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Printable: Vanilla Labels (Easy Neighbor Gift)

December 15th, 2015
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I’ve had this brilliant idea since the beginning of September, but leave it to me to wait until the last minute to actually finish it off and post about it! EEP! This is quite possibly the easiest and most brilliant neighbor gift you can give this year (or next!).

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So, vanilla bean paste has become a staple in our home, so much so that we buy it in bulk. It’s mine and Chris’s favorite thing to add to our whipped cream (we have that “on tap” with our cream whipper
). The other thing I keep thinking about with holiday gift-giving is that there’s an overload of sweets that will spoil. Why not give the gift that’s gluten-free, vegan, won’t spoil and EVERY foodie will LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!

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Vanilla bean paste marries the convenience of vanilla extract and the potency of vanilla beans. Mr. FoodMadeByTom taught me the glories of this stuff way back when I took a class of his on making chocolate mousse, steak and veggies. But we didn’t use it for the steak and veggies. Although I’m sure there’s some universe where vanilla bean paste has been used in making a fancy-pants steak.

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I bought some small vials/jars from Specialty Bottle and a giant bottle of vanilla bean paste and filled each one. It’s just a sampling of vanilla bean paste, just enough for an extra potent recipe of vanilla whipped cream. Here’s the recipe for our whipped cream:

Ultra Vanilla Whipped Cream

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons (pretty sure Chris puts a full tbsp) vanilla bean paste
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Put all ingredients in the cream whipper and charge. If you’re doing it the old fashioned way, put heavy cream into a chilled bowl and whip with a stand or hand mixer. Whip until firm peaks form, fold in sugar and vanilla.

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See below to download the vanilla labels. I’ve made two versions, one for home made extract the other for vanilla bean paste. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Printable: 2015 Thank You Cards

November 19th, 2015
8 Comments

I’m so excited about this year’s Thank You Printable. Or should I say PrintableS, because I’ve teamed up with the fabulous Natalie Malan. We were in the same vender area at Pinners Conference two weeks ago when we came across this great idea. She’s amazing at watercolor florals and I can do some calligraphy, so we put our creative minds together and here we are!

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The first design is a simple wreath with warmer colors. I played around with various banner ideas, but ultimately I liked the simpler text.

Each card can be printed as a postcard, double-sided (like above) or single-sided for a flat card to be mailed in an envelope.

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Seriously, aren’t these florals beautiful!? Natalie sells prints in her shop and on Minted.com. You can also find a sweet watercolor kit (hello Christmas!) available in her shop.

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The second one was screaming for an organic brush script so I played around with different styles. I chose this version of the text for the way the ascenders, descenders and flourishes play with the floral border. I like how the organic lines of the letters compliment the flourishes.

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You can download one below and the other on Natalie’s Blog.

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD

*By downloading the above material, you agree to terms of use: This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering any files is NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this freebie for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Check out past designs here:

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