Posts Tagged ‘holidays’

Thank You Freebie

November 22nd, 2011
20 Comments

This time of year shouldn’t be the only time to express gratitude to the ones you love for the things they do for you, but if it’s something you’ve not done in a while, now is definitely the time to do so.

I owe so many people thank you notes (especially with all of the awesome help with moving!), so this design is largely for me to kick my own butt in gear & spread the gratitude. This hand-lettered thank you is also available for you to enjoy & use to express your thanks to the ones around you (a lined version also included). Just click the download button below & print. The design is black text on a white background, so feel free to print it on colored paper or HECK, some adorable vintage wall paper or scrapbooking paper. I fully plan on doing just that as soon as the ink refills for our printer arrive.

What are your plans for this Thanksgiving? It might be cool to write a thank you to each person you attend Thanksgiving dinner with & write all of the things you’re thankful for about them. Just a thought. Other Thank You freebies:

Thank You Postcard 2010 • Fill-in-the-Blank Thanks 2009

This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering the file NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Thankful Box by Guest

November 21st, 2011
3 Comments

Until I get my studio set up at our new place, I’ll be posting mostly thrifty finds, ideas & guest posts. If you’re interested in guest posting , please email submissions (photos 500px wide) to melissa at melissaesplin dot com.

• • •

Hi everyone! My name is Holly and I’m from elevencupcakes. I am so excited to be on ISLY today (one of my favorite blogs!). We have been thinking up some fun ideas for a kids Thanksgiving table for the past few weeks and I am super excited to be sharing how to make this ‘Thankful Box’ with you today. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Kids’ Table: Thankful Box

Thanksgiving is a great time to remember all that we are thankful for. We made these simple ‘thankful boxes’ for each child and had them at their table. While they wait for dinner to start, kids can write, draw, and remember all that they are thankful for this year.

• S U P P L I E S •

  • Altoid tin
  • white spray paint
  • 3″x10″ strip of white paper (fold 3″x2″)
  • scrap paper
  • markers

Spray paint the altoid tin white. You may need to do a few coats to cover it completely. Take the 3″x10″ piece of paper and fold it over 2″ back and forth, so that you make an accordion. Decorate the white paper with scrap paper and stickers. Once the altoid tin is dry, tape one end of the accordion paper to the bottom of the tin. Decorate the outside of the tin with scraps of paper. We printed the word ‘thankful’ to attach to the front as well. Put out markers and pens to kids can write and draw all the things they are thankful for.

We also made a ‘Thankful centerpiece’ for the main table.

• S U P P L I E S •

  • 6 pieces of paper 10″x7″ long (folded in half)
  • Scrap paper and stickers
  • Pictures
  • Tape and markers

Party in A Box by Katie

November 16th, 2011
0 Comment

Until I get my studio set up at our new place, I’ll be posting mostly thrifty finds, ideas & guest posts. If you’re interested in guest posting here, please email submissions (photos at least 500px wide) to melissa at melissaesplin dot com.

Hello ISLY readers! This is Katie from hello truelove. A big thank you to Melissa for having me on her blog today! A friend of mine is having a baby soon and I am very sad that I won’t be able to have a baby shower for her here in NYC. You see, she used to live on the East Coast but she is a West Coast girl these days. One of our mutual friends is headed out to see her in a couple of weeks and I thought it’d be fun to send her a mini-baby shower in a box. Now, in my opinion, a party in a box must contain:

a) Something frivolous and decorative

b) Something sweet (or at least something to munch on!)

c) Gifts, of course!

So, I broke out some trusty tools and went to work.

My first idea was for a little safety pin banner. I printed and cut out the letters and used double-sided tape to stick them on my punched hearts.

Then I punched two holes in each heart and used the safety pins to connect the hearts.

Last, I tied some ribbon on either side so it’ll be easy to hang when she starts the party;)

As for the gifts, I wanted to get her some practical stuff…

and some things that were too cute to resist.

You didn’t think I was going to send something without proper NYC love, did you?

I managed to find an old map and punch some hearts out of that too:) Since my friend was kind enough to volunteer to carry the gift on the plane I kept the wrapping simple.

Have you ever sent a party in a box? Since I’m not from New York there are lots of people I love who are far away. I only wish I had started the tradition sooner! A party in a box seems like the perfect way to send cheer to family and friends if you can’t be with them during the holidays!

I love this idea, Katie!  Thanks for sharing! Be sure to check out Katie’s blog Hello True Love & shop Hello True Love Paper Goods.

Calligraphy for Shutterfly

September 5th, 2011
17 Comments

First, thanks for your patience over the weekend! We were moving all of our sites to Amazon’s servers & it got super complicated. Moving forward, this site should load a lot faster (especially for international folks)!! There are still some kinks to work out. The header is a hot mess at the moment, but we should be fixing that soon. Let me know if anything malfunctions, k? Especially downloads!!

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this with you since last February!! Can you believe I’ve actually kept a secret that long? Just kidding.

I had the opportunity to do some calligraphy for the lovely Petite Lemon ladies for their Christmas 2011 line. It’s so fun to see how & where they’ve used my lettering! Here are a few samples. These surely got me excited to send some photo cards out this year.

I made the angel. Love the unexpected color scheme on this one.

I lettered “deck the halls”. I love square photo cards!

I lettered “Merry & Bright”. Love the angular aspect of this one.


I lettered “joy”. I love how it plays with that modern wreath. Love that wreath! I would totally send this one out.
I lettered “fa la la”. What a fun idea to play off the gift tag idea.

I lettered “alleluia”. This is a classic – could go with any theme or photo. I might need this one.

I lettered “Blessed”. I like the simple layout. Perfect for lots of pics.

 

You can find more of my lettering & embellishments in some of the designs you see here. This was not sponsored by Shutterfly. I’m just stoked to show you my work!

Happy Fourth of July!

July 5th, 2010
5 Comments

Hope you had a happy fourth of July weekend! I sure did. My parents were here visiting from Charlotte, so we packed the weekend full of barbecues, pool parties & dinners.

Friday, my folks treated me, my siblings & our kids to Toy Story 3; Penelope sat sweetly on my lap the whole time & I just about bawled my eyes out. Friday night we hung out with my dad’s family and I got a peek at my uncle’s new iPhone4.

Saturday, my dad & I ate lunch at Bruge’s Waffles & Frites where we enjoyed the most delicious waffles & fries & fry sauce ever. Seriously. EVER. Saturday afternoon we partied with my mom’s family & went swimming. Not sure I’ve ever seen Penelope so petrified of water before.

Sunday, I barely squeezed into this patriotic outfit; I must’ve gained weight or something in the last month because that skirt does NOT fit anymore. Oh well. Sunday evening we dined with my grandparents; Penelope & her cousin had way too much fun playing with dress-ups, toy guns & water.

Of course I forgot to bring my camera to every single thing this weekend! I seriously missed out on some great photo ops. BLERG!

How was your holiday weekend? What did you do?

mobile site