Hearts and Hellos

It’s been like four years since I’ve updated this blog.  Do people still blog anymore?  Anyways,  I’ve been crafting in the meantime and just not posting to the blog.  Just sharing stuff on my personal Instagram and Facebook.   I got an instagram set up for my craft stuffs, but someone is sitting on ihearthello so I decided to just change the name.  Honestly, Hearts and Hellos rolls off the tongue easier and the handle was available.  Hopefully I’ll be better about updating this blog and showcasing more stuff.  I’ve really gotten inspired as of late and even inquired about maybe selling some stuff at a local craft show.  Crafting is really just a hobby for me, but also who doesn’t love a possible side hustle?  Also, I need to justify my craft room and buying more stuff 😂.
So in the coming weeks I plan to post more projects, more craft tools I’m loving and we’ll see how this all goes.

❤️ Michelle

2014-2015 The last six months of crafting

 I have been so lazy about updating this blog, but oddly enough I have been doing quite a few fun crafty projects.  I thought I would summarize the last few months in this post.  Here are some gift bags I made for Christmas for my co-workers.  I filled them with decorated notebooks and post-it holders.  I used this treat bag tutorial by Cosmo Cricket to make the bags.  Such a super easy way to use a 12"x12" piece of paper to make a cute gift bag.
Below are the Valentine's cards I mailed out this year.  I used the Pebbles Inc "We Go Together" line, some twine and some basic card blanks to design these cards. I especially like the coffee and donut card.

 I made a sign to decorate for the annual chili cook-off at work.  A co-worker and I took 1st Place for chili and for theme.  I used mostly October Afternoon's Sasparilla line to make the sign. 

I watched a number of tutorials on YouTube on how to make shaker cards and this was my first attempt on the left.  The cards are super fun to make, but take a little bit of patience.  Sequins tend to get a bit of static and stick to everything!   I feel like I will be making a number of these types of cards in the future, so I stocked up on a ton of mini-sequin packs from Impress. 
My dad turned seventy-seven and this is a personalized birthday card I made for him.  I was also hired by my husband's team at work to make birthday cards for their monthly celebrations.  I however forgot to take pictures of those cards :(

Most recently, I hosted a bridal shower for my best friend of over 20 years.  I used my We R Memory Keepers L Letterpress and the Whimsy plates to create these bridal shower invitations.  It was a little tricky to line up all the different plates together, but I was so happy with the finished result.  You just have to be extra careful and wipe any excess ink off the edges of the plates to keep the image nice and clean.  It didn't take long at all to letterpress twenty invites.  I mixed the teal blue and white inks to make this custom color. I also suggest buying a larger ink brayer to make inking invitations easier.  The brayer that is included with the L Letterpress is a bit small.
Finally, below is a picture of the marquee letters I painted as part of the décor for the shower.  The bride is also planning to use them for decorations at the reception.  I purchased the Heidi Swapp Marquee Letters from Michaels and painted them using Martha Stewart Metallic Pearl craft paint.  It took several coats to get complete coverage, but I really like how they turned out.  I would suggest using both small sponge brushes and also a  They look like metal, but are paper!  The LED battery operated lights are perfectly bright and run on AAA batteries (which are not included).  At $11.99 a piece full price they are a great way to get into the lighted letter trend.

Halloween Countdown Project



Goodness, it has been a while since I have updated my blog.  I wish I could say I was busy doing all sorts of crafty projects, but in all honesty that hasn't been the case.   So, I wanted to make sure to get at least one Halloween project completed and posted.  I made this Halloween Countdown for my favorite little person.  He's turning eight this Halloween and I am lucky to be the auntie who gets to spoil him with fun activities and crafts.  I would like to note that I cleared this project with his mom ahead of time. I didn't want her to be stuck with having to do a bunch of activities and projects that she didn't sign up for.  Luckily she was game and this project was born.

One of the first projects I ever posted on this blog was an advent calendar I made for the same little dude. I feel like my crafting ability has improved a bit since that project. Below is my finished Halloween Countdown.  It consists of 31 envelopes and tags made with October Afternoon's Witch Hazel paper and embellishments, along with some American Crafts number stickers, some painted clothespins I found at Michaels and one embroidery hoop. 



 

 

I glued the clothespins to the embroidery hoop with hot glue, but in retrospect I would use 3D zots.  The hot glue did not adhere to the painted surface of the clothespins as well as I would have hoped. 
Each day has an envelope with a tag inside.  Each tag has an activity, project or treat associated with it.  I made the envelopes using my We R Memory Keepers envelope board.  I used 4'x4" squares of paper and used the guide at 2 1/4" to make the envelopes adhering the side flap to the back of the envelope so the tag could easily slide in.
The tags were made with corresponding paper and buttons were adhered to the top of the tags for easy access. I embellished each envelope with various stickers and numbers, and using a circle punch, punched 31 orange circles to tie all the envelopes together.
The countdown calendar is something that could be used year after year.  I also made a corresponding treat box to hold some of the treats that were listed on the tags.  I covered a box with October Afternoon Witch Hazel paper and added some glittery American Crafts alphabet stickers as well.  If you are interested in what activities were included, please leave a comment and I will be happy to provide a list. Thanks!

Taking a leap

The banner I made for my table at Urban Shopping and Cocktails.

Sometimes you have to take a leap.  I have often said that what I do for a living isn't what defines me.  It is what I choose to do with my spare time from which I get the most fulfillment. I love to make paper crafts and now I am taking a chance to sell some of my crafts at a local shopping event.  It is kind of a big deal for me to put myself and my creations out there. 

A lovely friend of mine runs a monthly shopping event called Urban Shopping and Cocktails.  It was the perfect place to sell some paper crafts and get a little experience.  The other vendors who see there were friendly and kind and the environment is really encouraging and supportive.

I made small 3x5 notebooks, 4x6 notebooks, Post-it note holders and cards to sell.  In retrospect, I should have worked on my display a little more, but it was still such a lot of fun and I made over $100!

I hope to be able to participate in more events like this one in the future.  It is nice to be able to do something that I love and share it with others while also making a little money to continue to fund my love of paper crafts.

Here is some photos from the event:

Disney Magic Scrapbook

So, the holidays are over and I was able to accomplish a lot of the things I set out to do.  Much like any ambitious to-do list, some ideas will just have to wait until next Christmas.  Sometimes it is hard to fit in time for crafting when you work full time.  In 2014 I hope to make crafting an even bigger priority. 
One huge thing I did accomplish however is making an entire scrapbook.  I will be the first to admit that if you ask me if I am a scrapbooker, the answer is no.  I will always answer that I like to make cards and paper crafts, but scrapbooking is too daunting of a task.  A little while ago, a co-worker and friend of mine asked if she could hire me to make a scrapbook of her recent trip to Disneyland with her granddaughter.  At first I was a little wary of agreeing to it.  I was really worried about being in charge of capturing all the memories and I had never even made a scrapbook before.  But she was still willing to let me do it, even after I admitted to my novice scrapbooking ability.  I purchased a scrapbook kit from the CKC Convention in November from Embellish It!  You can find the kit here.  It contained a Basic Grey plain chipboard album and Simple Stories Say Cheese papers and embellishments.  There were instructions on how to make the book, but really I just used the instructions as inspiration.  Once I started, I got really into creating my own pages, in fact none of my pages look like the ones included with the kit.  Only the cover is similar. 
Here are pictures of the scrapbook.  I am really proud of my accomplishment (and not in a humblebrag kind of way).  Once I got over the initial feeling of how overwhelming it would be, it actually came together pretty quickly.  Here it is from cover to cover. 

 

 

 

Holiday 2013 To-Do List

Thanksgiving is only a little over a week away and Christmas is right around the corner.  I think I better get my to-do list made and hopefully I can get all the projects I am planning done in time for the holidays. 

I hope to have a few projects done in time to distribute them around Thanksgiving or shortly after.

• Christmas Banners with holiday greetings like "BE MERRY", "JOY", "PEACE"  and "NOEL".
• I want to make another Advent Calendar and I think my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Board will be just the right tool for the job.  I am deciding between small envelopes filled with activities or small envelopes that can hold treats.  Maybe I will make it a combination of the two.
• Finishing up my Christmas cards.  I bought an amazing card kit made by Anna Griffin and it has enough to make 60 homemade cards.   I think I have made 10 so far. 

This year, I am trying to think about what is most important about the holidays and I want make as many gifts as I can.  I have a few great ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. 

• I am up-cycling some metal Tazo tea tins to hold handmade card sets.  Lucky for me, I have a good friend who has been collecting these tins so I should have enough for five sets.
•  I am a pretty novice crocheter, but I found the cutest pattern for an infinity scarf on craftgawker.com.  Puff Scarf Instructions
• Christmas cookies - I want to do a day of baking and I am compiling a list of my holiday favorites to make this year.  So far, lime melt-aways, macaroons, and some sort of chocolate cookie are on the list.  Time to break out my Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies magazines for inspiration.

I would love to hear what items are on your holiday to-do lists.  I will be sure to post photos of the items I am working on.
Thanks for reading!

Halloween Cards 2013

I love creating crafty things for Halloween.  This year I made a wreath for an auction at work  and last night I finally made my Halloween cards.  I get it, it is in fact October 29th and if I get them in the mail today, hopefully they will be received by Halloween.  Luckily they are mostly traveling locally and shouldn't take more than a day to be delivered.
For the cards I used Mambi card packs for the card bases, October Afternoon Witch Hazel papers and postcards, American Crafts ribbons and twine, and stamps from Impress.  Here is a sampling of the cards: