Washi Tape Birthday Cards: A Tutorial in iPhone Pics

Good morning, friends. And happy 2013.

I've got a week's worth of posts in various stages of completion (or non-completion)...waiting to be finished. I intended to start the year off with some sort of deep, introspective post. Instead, a little washi tape tutorial. There you have it. And I'm using phone pictures. Welcome to the new year.

I ordered a collection of these cute washi tape spools from Le Box Boutique a while back, and have loved having the variety to play around with in my packaging. Stick around until the end of the post...I might just have a little discount code so you can pick up some washi for yourself.

One of my goals/plans/intentions for the year is to be better about sending birthday cards...good old-fashioned-post-office-mail. We're also trying to make better financial choices (hello, my husband is a banker). So, I spent a bit of time in my craft room last week making up a little collection of birthday cards to have on hand.

If you're human, you probably can look at a picture and figure out how to make these, but I'll go ahead and show you what I did.

1. Stamp something fun onto a gift tag...you could swap out any stamp to make a more generic card.

2. Choose some coordinating washi tape, and rip off a big piece to adhere the gift tag onto the card.

3. Add a second smaller piece of tape for a little added interest.

4. Wrap another little piece of washi tape around the envelope, just for fun.

5. That's all. So easy...but cute, right?!

You could also add some baker's twine to the top...

...embroidery thread would work, too.

So, go visit Lacey's shop: Le Box Boutique and use code OHWRITE10 for 10% off your purchase. Lacey sells washi tape by the foot...so you can start or add to your collection with some great variety.

You'll also find inspiring packaging supplies like these pillow boxes...

Happy shopping!

Coming back...coffee punch made me write

Well friends, it's been a long time since I've written, and wouldn't you know that coffee punch is what finally dragged me out of my non-writing slump.

Before I share the recipe with you, let me catch you up on the past couple of months in our lives. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to actually write something meaningful about all of these things. For now, I'll share a teeny tiny glimpse into where I've been. And then I'll share a recipe that you will want to make tonight.

In May I found out I was pregnant...we were shocked, but so thrilled. At my 8 week appointment we learned that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. This was devastating. My third miscarriage. It is a terrible thing to lose a baby. A lonely, heart-wrenching, horrible loss to experience. My mom flew out to be with me during the worst of it, and I was so glad to have her here. A week later my dad came, and we enjoyed a week of touristy fun around Colorado Springs. Sometime during that week our sweet boy turned 1. I cannot believe it has been a year since Truett joined our family. And almost a year since we walked through his heart surgery. Apart from a fading scar, you'd never guess that our happy, silly, active little boy was ever sick. God is so good. We celebrated with a splash party. It was a perfect day. Last week, our beautiful Colorado mountains caught on fire. On Tuesday the fire crept down into our city, and so many families lost their homes. We've had friends evacuated and friends lose everything. We had a family staying with us for a few days. It was so hard to wait and watch as over 300 homes burned to the ground. I cannot imagine what the next days and weeks will hold for the families who've lost so much. It's been a difficult week for our little city. I am so glad to serve a God who is very much in control, even when things around us seem to be falling apart.

Which brings me to today. Strangely, on Tuesday night as so many were fleeing their homes, I was hosting a baby shower for a dear friend. If I'm honest, it seems a little trivial to share a recipe for coffee punch in light of all that's happened in our lives recently. But, this is where I'm starting. I just don't have the energy to write much more on real life stuff. I hope you understand.

I adapted a few recipes I had, and this is what I came up with. It is delicious and was a huge hit...hence the sharing. It's worth it, trust me.

Coffee Punch

4 cups of strong (cannot emphasize the 'strong' part enough!) coffee...I used my French Press and let it steep for several extra minutes
10 teaspoons of Swiss Mocha
1/2 pint of original creamer
1/2 pint of flavored creamer (I used Coffeemate Italian Sweet Creme)
1 quart of whole milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla

1. While the coffee is still hot, mix it together with the Swiss Mocha
2. Combine coffee mixture with rest of ingredients, mix well, and freeze
3. Thaw to a slush and enjoy

*If you prefer a sweeter taste, you could add 1/2 cup of sugar in with the coffee and Swiss Mocha.
**I doubled this recipe for the shower.

It's good to finally be back. Hopefully you'll hear from me again soon...happy weekend to you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've been in a Valentine's flurry around our house. Maren and I made all her Valentines for her party at church. She used a stamp to put her name on the back of our little heart birds. I cut everything out and she glued it all together. We had such a great time working on these. Have I mentioned before how much I love that Maren is into creative projects? She is...and I love it!

I wanted to put up a few Valentine's decorations, but didn't want to spend any money. My mom gave me a square berry wreath a few years ago for Christmas. I love having it out during the holidays, and this year I transformed it (temporarily!) for Valentine's Day. I cut out letters on my cricut, glued them to some book pages and used mini-clothespins and string to attach them to the wreath.

I also strung up some vintage Valentines that I've collected throughout the years.



Maren dressed herself for her party yesterday. She was sure to wear plenty of red.

In other news...Truett is completely mobile. He has been for over a month now. He has been quite pleased to discover every nook and cranny around our home. We're working with Maren to keep her little things up off the floor. Nothing is safe from this little guy. He is so curious and quiet, which is an unfortunate combination for such a small boy. Or, maybe just unfortunate for his mother. I think he quite likes it, actually!

Our Handmade Advent

We're a week into December and I'm finally sharing our Advent calendar with you. Better late than never...and thanks to Pinterest, you can file this little idea away for next year. *wink* In order to make this little tree you'll need 25 empty toilet paper rolls. You might want to start saving them in June if you plan to make your own tree next year!

Maren has really gotten into crafting with me lately, which I love. She was a big help in putting together our little toilet-paper-roll-Christmas-tree-advent-calendar.

We started by cutting paper to fit around the rolls. Maren applied glue to the edges of the paper, and I rolled the paper around the empty paper rolls.


1. We rolled paper around all but 3 or 4 tubes, and we used those on the inside of the tree.
2. I used my Cricut to make 25 1.25 inch circles. I wrote the numbers on the circles, and hole-punched each one.
3. I made a little template for how we'd arrange our rolls to make a tree.

4. To make the trunk of the tree, hot-glue 4 tubes together.
5. Next we glued each row together before assembling them to make the tree.
6. Use yarn, string, twine, etc. to attach the tags to the inside of the rolls.
7. I flipped the tree upside-down to glue the tags inside the rolls.

Here's our finished Advent tree!

The paper rolls are a perfect place to hide a piece of candy, scripture verse, or other small treat.
This year we're doing "Truth in the Tinsel". We're not making all the ornaments this year, so we'll probably do the same thing next year to fill in the rest of the ornaments. We have found the readings to be simple and meaningful for our young family. I would encourage you to check it out!

What are some ways you make the Christmas season meaningful for your kids? Do share!