Personalized Gift Wrap

I've always wanted to personalize wrapping paper, but I tend to wait until the last minute to wrap gifts so it just never happens. Finally, this year I stumbled upon some craft paper early enough and since I actually got my shopping done early (I'm on top of things this year, apparently), I've got some presents wrapped to share with you!

When I told my mom I had some more creative gift wrap ideas this year, she asked that I stick to her gift wrap color scheme. I think she was skeptical when I bought the paper, but I told her to trust me! Her choice colors: silver and gold with some red and green (preferably shiny/metallic).

I (or rather my mom) had all these supplies on hand except for the paper. Of course I used a pencil, scissors and a little tape, but figured those didn't need to be pictured :) Since there were extra little decorative items lying around I decided to use those to embellish the presents a little. 

I realized the other day that the only person who has glitter all over their present is the one person who freaks when she has one little speck of it on her. Oops! And oh well. She'll get over it once she sees what's inside. For this, I painted gold circles all over and then added the glitter circles. I used the glue to make circles then sprinkled glitter all over. This was the messiest and most time consuming present since I had to wait for one side to dry to turn it to do the next. 

I recently learned the magic of double-sided tape and a hot glue gun when it comes to wrapping. In this case, I used a hot glue gun since this paper is a little thick. Because who wants to see tape?

And if you don't feel like making an all over pattern and wrapping some ribbon (or embroidery floss), why not make one big design? 

There's so much you can do with craft paper, and since they come in bigger rolls than most gift wrap, they really go a long way. How are you wrapping your gifts this year?

Lacey

New Mexico & Mississippi

I'm still taking things pretty slow since earlier this week I was still getting pain throughout my left arm. I managed to get New Mexico and Mississippi done and listed though! My goal is to finally get all states done by the end of the year. I know I could have actually had all states listed long, long time ago, but I have this problem where when I have a new idea, I have to do it right away.

Also, because I've been slowed, I decided to not make any more ornaments even though I really wanted to get one more listed. I'm happy with the selection listed and am so happy I decided to make ornaments this year.

I think I might actually have all my Christmas shopping done, which is amazing for me. I'm starting to get things all wrapped up, and I'll be sharing that next week! Have a good weekend!

Lacey

Happy Thanksgiving (and a coupon code)

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thursday thru Monday, save 25% at Mila & Belle. And please remember to try to help other small businesses if you can this holiday season :) 

DC, Kansas and an ornament

Last Sunday I had to force myself to take an embroidery break and it was one of the hardest things ever. I was having really bad shoulder pain and it was affecting my whole left arm. I really should take breaks more, but it's just really, really hard... I want to stay home and embroider all day. My sister was sweet though, and dragged took me to a Craft Beer Festival on Saturday. It was lots of fun. I seriously need to get out more.

After some healing, I got a DC onesie (finally!) listed and a Kansas onesie.

Also got one more ornament listed. Unless something comes up and I get crazy ideas to make more, I have one more ornament to finish and list. 

As always, Annabelle was my little helper and we had to take a picture of her Paw Patrol pups. I helped her push the camera button :) 

Now it's time to prepare for Thanksgiving. I'm happy to be home with my parents this year. It's my first Thanksgiving with them in 9 years! Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

Lacey

Keeping Little Ones Busy

How do you keep your little ones busy when you're trying to get work done? I'm always trying to find ways other than TV to keep Annabelle busy. This can be difficult with her because she wants help with everything. She gets frustrated when she can't color in the lines of her coloring book and when she can't draw a picture exactly how she likes it, so she tries to get me to color and draw for her.

I'm keeping a few journals for her to play/color/draw/whatever with and it's working pretty well so far. Sometimes I'll draw a little something for her, like a circle and tell her make a design with it. This seems to work better than just handing her a piece of paper and crayons and telling her to draw something. Annabelle can get overwhelmed with too many choices and is easily overstimulated so I've learned to just keep it simple.

So far we've just used stamps and a couple ink pads, pens, pencils, markers, crayons, stickers, etc and I only give her one type of supply at a time so she's not overwhelmed by too many selections.

Buttons have also been super entertaining. Really any small objects that she can sort through and line up are great for her.  Puzzles are good, but I have to catch her in the right mood or else I'll be stuck putting them together for her. I'm thinking of getting her some of these too. The big mixed-in bucketful and some empty containers for sorting will keep her busy for days, I'm sure! 

How do you keep your little ones entertained? 

Lacey

Ornaments 2.0

I've got more ornaments in the shop! Come check it out!

Bah Humbug

Fa La La La La

Happy Festivus

I love using hoops for ornaments because they can also be hung on the wall if you don't want it on the tree. And I feel the Festivus "ornament" wouldn't be appropriate for a Christmas tree anyway, right?

Happenings

The past two weeks have just somehow been exhausting. Just about everyone has been sick and I had no motivation during that time.

So other than that what have I been up to?

This week I worked on an order that I totally underestimated. Now that's finally done and I'm trying to figure out my plan for the next week.

Mila and I started journals together. I thought it would be a great way to encourage her writing and reading, as well as creativity. So far, we each made a list of 10 things we're thankful for. We also had a Create a Creature day. Mila ended up making lots of creatures!

The Rocket Ship Cat was my favorite. 

This past Tuesday (Veterans Day) my dad (who happens to a Veteran just so you know) took the girls and me into DC for a little walk. Mila asked to bring along the camera. Her pictures:

Actually I might have taken that one. I don't know.

I love the ones Mila took of Annabelle. 

We found some Ginkgo trees on our way back to the car so we (they) had to stop to gather as many leaves as possible as well as some other nature finds.

I guess Annabelle wasn't too happy about Mila's finds. 

Did you have a productive week? Have any great weekend plans?

Getting ready for Christmas

I don't know about you, but I can't believe that Christmas is already less than two months away. Are you ready? I already got a little of my shopping done... very, very little, but it's a start, right? I've learned my lesson that I can't start too early with the girls. Since we've cut back on their gifts to eliminate the unnecessary crap, I try to make it as special for them as possible. And their tastes change so quickly so what they liked a few months ago is totally not the thing now.

Anyway, I decided kind of last minute, that I would be bringing some Christmas ornaments to the shop this year. Last minute because I had not planned at all and now I need to get these knocked out ASAP. So far, this is what I have.

I have a few more to list, so keep an eye on the shop!

A New Workspace

I'm so excited about my new space, and I just had to share it. I was perfectly fine with the previous layout, but my mom really wanted mine and the girls' sleeping/living space to feel like our own and she also felt I needed a separate space from the girls.

The girls' area is still a work in progress. 

I spent a lot of my childhood in Japan. Can you tell? 

I didn't realize how much I needed this space until it was done, and I am actually finding a lot of inspiration in here. I can spend all day in here working on my orders or various projects while the girls play in their room. I think the only problem is my parents may have a hard time getting me out of here when the time comes!

Fall Birthday Celebration

We've always held the girls' birthday parties together, but would still, as a family, celebrate their individual birthdays on their actual dates. This year has been a little different for our family so we celebrated both birthdays on Mila's birthday. My husband just finished his exams (!!!!!) and sadly was not able to stay long enough for Annabelle's birthday as well. It was a nice family celebration though. Not only did we get to celebrate with my parents, but also my sister and niece.

She's been dying for a Snack-eez.. however you spell it.

I love that both my girls were born in October. It just always feel like an exciting time of year and it's just so fun throwing their birthdays into the mix! My parents had a bubble/fog machine, which really was the coolest thing ever.

Annabelle was a little scared of the fog bubbles so she used Guy, the skeleton cat to pop them. 

Mila's been talking about bobbing for apples for a few months now, so that is what they did. Annabelle's technique was my favorite. She would scoop up an apple quickly, take a bite, and throw it back in.

We also did some (fake) pumpkin painting. It was getting late and we had to peel Annabelle away from the paint to open presents. 

My mom likes to go all out for events, but overall everything was kept pretty simple. Mila wanted tomato bisque, grilled cheese and cucumber sandwiches (her new favorite).

I had no idea the inside of the cake looked like this. We were all pleasantly surprised when we cut it!

A few months ago, I decided I was going to make alphabet photo books for them and I totally forgot about it until the last minute. I managed to get it all together and shipped right before the birthday and was very happy with how they turned out. As I've said before, I'm not big on excessive gift-giving. Every year we've kind of cut back on the gifting and I feel the gifts have more meaning. I love these books because they're about them, and they're fun, and they can enjoy them for years.

It was a great birthday and it sucked that their daddy had to get up way early the next morning to go back home :( And it sucked even more that Annabelle would not sleep, seriously at all, so I was running on very little sleep yesterday.