DIY Crepe Paper Rosette Heart Frame {Tutorial}

My good friend Kat (of Kat Spencer Photography) mentioned that she was going to be setting up a photobooth at the Special Arts Festival in Garland this month. She told me about the awesome kissing booth that she was building, and said she was making mustaches and other fun props for the kids to enjoy. "Would you want to help?" she says. "Are you kidding?? You had me at 'mustaches'!" I said. 

Well, actually, she had me at 'photobooth'. I won't deny that I am obsessed lately.

Anyway, I thought it would be cute to make some heart-shaped frames as props, and I wanted to practice my crepe paper flower rolling technique...hence this project was born!

How to Draw a Heart Without a Template {Tutorial}

I realized suddenly at the beginning of a project how spoiled I have been by the ease of finding templates online for any shape I could ever need to make. Just print and trace or cut out...without ever giving it a second thought. Hearts are particularly easy - I can just use the heart shape tool in Photoshop and stretch or squash the heart to the right dimension and enlarge or reduce the size until it's just what I need, and print it out.

However, what happens when I need a HUGE shape - too big to print out? Hmmm, do I trust myself to be able to draw a perfectly symmetrical heart on a piece of posterboard? Uh...no.  So I came up with a plan.


Here's how to draw a symmetrical heart without a heart-shaped template to trace!

Strawberry Yogurt Hearts - Easy, Sweet, + Lowfat Valentine's Treats!

These sweet little pink hearts are SO easy to make, and are a healthy Valentine's Day treat. Eat them as they are or use them as toppers on cupcakes, ice cream, cake, or brownies!

New Year's "Resolutions" ~ More...Happy!

I just happen to be of the mindset that typical New Year's resolutions suck. I mean, why would we want to start out the year by making a list of all the stuff we love but are going to make ourselves not have or do anymore? Or all of the things that we hate do do but decide we need to do those more often... On what planet does that make for a HAPPIER life? Not my planet.

Here's how we do it at my house. Make a list of all the stuff we LOVE but don't get to enjoy enough of, and resolve to enjoy MORE of those things. 

Here is my list for 2013... {I made it into a print & a pillow at Society6!} It's going to be a great year :)

"More...Happy" throw pillow at Society6

Rosemary Orange Walnut Cookies: My Very Own Gourmet Recipe

The other morning I woke up with an idea for a recipe. I don't know where it came from, but I couldn't get the thought out of my head. I kept wondering what it might be like to try a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe with rosemary and walnuts instead of chocolate chips. Wait...what?? 

DIY Lemon Butter Lip & Skin Balm in Altoids Tins

This rich Lemon Butter Balm is amazing and extremely versatile. You can use it as a lip balm, cuticle cream, moisturizer for hands, feet, elbows, knees, body, etc. It is deeply moisturizing and will do wonders for your winter dry skin, and it has a lovely subtle scent, which reminds me of honey lemon tea. 

Of course you can play around with the 'flavors' by adding essential oils to the mix. I really only used the lemon extract because I had it on hand and didn't have any lemon essential oil around, which would have made for a stronger scent (you would probably only need several drops instead of 2 tsp of extract).

I poured mine into Altoids tins because I happened to have a giant stash saved up (I used to keep them for jewelry making supplies...back when my stock was small enough to fit in these tiny containers :). Plus I thought they'd be kinda cool and they're the perfect size to stash in your purse!

A Peek inside my favorite Craft Book: Decorative Crafts Sourcebook review

For me, choosing a favorite craft book must be like what a mother would feel like to have to choose a favorite child. I don't have any children, but I do have a shelf full of amazing craft and hobby books full of project ideas and inspiration.  I cherish each and every one of them for different reasons, and they are all equally special to me. And they really do light up my life!

However, I don't think I'll hurt any of their feelings if I did have to choose, so for the sake of not having to change the title of this post, I'll go ahead and tell you what my favorite book is...for today.

Decorative Crafts Sourcebook from Amazon.com

This Decorative Crafts Sourcebook is one I almost always turn to first, when I'm in need of an idea. It is a 300 page encyclopedia of techniques with pages and pages of step-by-step how-to's in each category for Paper, Fabric, Metal/Wire & Wood, Ceramic & Glass.

But not only does it give you hundreds of incredible techniques, it goes on to give you projects which use some of those techniques within each category.

For example, some of the techniques are embedding leaves or other botanicals into handmade paper, or dyeing paper with tea or beets. These bars of handmade soap are wrapped in handmade paper embedded with leaves which is dyed with tea, and embellished with a pretty ribbon and sealing wax. So, it uses a combination of a few different ideas, and the result is simply lovely!