Personalized Tote Bags

Okay, this is a great concept but my technique could use a little work! Personalized tote bags would make a great gift for almost anyone. How cute would these be for your bridal party? You could fill them with flip flops, spa products, magazines or a good book, bottled water & snacks to get them through your big day! Or for a child, you could fill them with a few books and some snacks and they have a little book-nook "kit".
Here's what you need to get started:
Canvas Bag
Paper Doily (10" - 12")
Spray Adhesive
Fabric Paint
Sponge Brush
Vinyl
Cricut

I started by ironing my canvas bag flat. Then using spray adhesive, spray the backside of your paper doily and place it down on the canvas. This will create your "stencil". The adhesive prevents your edges from lifting.
Sponge on the fabric paint and remove the doily. This is what is looks like after:I then used my Cricut and some vinyl to create the "K" stencil. With a little more fabric paint, viola - a personalized tote!

Wristlets, Key Chains & Fobs

Wristlets, Key Chains and Key Fobs, Oh My! Now these little cuties couldn't be easier to put together and what a nice little gift these make. Here's what you need to get started: Ribbon or decorative fabric; Nylon Webbing (I used both 1" wide & 1.25" wide); Heat n Bond UltraHold; Key Fob Hardware (I purchased mine on Etsy - I used both 1" wide and 1.25" hardware); a Ruler; and a Scissors.
And viola' - an instant gift!

I made 2 different sizes: the larger is a wristlet, the smaller is a "regular" key chain.

Wristlet:

Standard key chain:

Chocolate Nugget Candy Dishes

Chocolate anyone? These candy dishes, filled with custom wrapped chocolate nuggets, are the perfect way to say Thank You or to let someone know that you're thinking about them.
Another version:

Black & White with a POP of Color!

I am so in love with this technique for editing photos! You can take any full-color photo, turn it into a black & white photograph, and add just a pop of color.

Here is the before photo:

And here it is after being turned into a black & white photo with a small pop of color:

And with just a little more pop of color:

Here's another before photo:

And after:

My Sister's Bridal Shower Favors

My sister's bridal shower was this past Sunday. Here are the final favors I made for each guest attending her shower. Each guest received a Dessert Towel Cake paired with personalized hand soap.
Here is closer look at the hand soap dispensers:

Here is a closer look at the Jelly Roll Dessert Towel Cakes:

Jelly Roll Towel Cakes

I've been trying to come up with favor ideas for my sister's bridal shower. I believe this is the winner! This is a crude mock-up, but you get the idea. I'll post pics of the final product when I actually start mass-producing these!
Each shower guest will get a "cake" that includes 2 washcloths and I'll be pairing it with a hand soap dispenser (shown in previous posts) that I'll customize for each guest. I'll wrap it all up in a clear cello-bag and tie it all together with a coordinating ribbon.

What do you think?!?!? Don't you just want to eat it?

Birthday Basket

My cousin turned 11 years old last week and I thought I'd put together a "tween" basket for her birthday party. The strawberry theme started with the strawberry flavored lip gloss and it took off from there.
I wanted to include some strawberry gum, but of course it had to be "pretty"! So, I made a slider for the gum pack.

Then I wanted to make a skinny notepad to go along with the green glitter spiral pad I purchased.

Then I wanted to dress-up some fun pencils I bought. So I made a pencil sleeve for them. This helps coordinate all of the items when everything is placed in the basket.

Here are the hand-made, altered items that I included along with some fruit-scented shower gel, lotion, a scrubbie, lip gloss, glitter notepads...

And this was the gift tag that I tied to the box.