Holiday Card Evolution

In what seemed like a flash of brilliance, I chose to send homemade Christmas cards this year.  I enjoy making cards & I adore the holiday season so why not?  Sure, crafting 50+ Christmas cards would be my largest cardmaking project yet.  Oh yes, of course I would find the time for this project during the busy holiday season. 

Looking back, I identify that moment as a stroke of insanity! 

Allow me to take you on the journey of the Koru Kate Holiday 2011 Card from inspiration (I'm so excited to make my holiday cards!) to reality (What in the world was I thinking?) . . .

Six weeks ago, I pinned a snowflake card as my inspiration:

One trip to Paper Source, one trip to AC Moore & one raid of my craft armoire later, I had Version 1 of my holiday card:

A few minor tweaks of colored card stock & patterned paper later, I was happy with sweet Version 2 of my holiday card:

Bright Version 3 of my holiday card on RZ's choice of classic holiday red card stock:

A few more of lovely Version 2 on my choice of icy blue card stock:

I'm a complete sucker for details so every card has a snowflake stamped on its butt:

I'm pretty proud of my humble holiday cards.  We dropped the first batch in the mail last night; the second batch should be ready this evening.  I've glued my fingers together, I've smudged countless snowflakes, I've wondered if the project would ever end.  But there is a definite satisfaction knowing I created our newlywed holiday cards with care & love for our family & friends.

Will I make my holiday cards next year?  Ha, by then I will have forgotten the insanity & I will think it's a fabulous idea!  

Photo 1 via, Photo 2-6 by Koru Kate

Crafty {Belated} Birthday

Belated Birthday Gifts & Wishes 

for Jen of Craftiness NOW

At Koru, the inspiration & celebration of new beginnings involves weddings 99% of the time.  But beginnings come in many forms like births & birthdays.  & I like to celebrate them all!!!

My friend Jen of Craftiness NOW is no exception.  When she announced her birthday bash in August, I eagerly started a birthday project for her that involved her love of pink & crafts.  Then I was unable to attend her party (boo-hoo) & I stalled on my crafting.  We finally made plans last week & this was the fire I needed under my crafting butt to get this project done.

Let's call this project Inspiration Canvas Set.  I found inspiration on Pinterest but (stupidly) I didn't actually pin the source but the basic canvas, letters, paint idea is similar to this pin.  I wanted something simple & sweet to decorate Jen's cute apartment & inspire her with some well-chosen words.

First things first was a trip to AC Moore.  I loaded up on 4 baby canvases, wooden letters & paint.  Because a throng of sorority sisters had depleted the supply of wooden letters to make their paddles, I was forced to rethink my words.  I ended up with my original words of Love & Hope, plus the new additions of Joy & Wish: 

I painted two of the canvases with a few coats of Ballet Pink because Jen loves pink & the other canvases with Vanilla for a nice contrast:

The "toughest" part of the project was painting those tiny letters.  For most of the letters, I painted them before I glued them on the canvas.  It wasn't easy keeping them in place to paint them.  I didn't paint Wish until it was glued on the canvas for that exact reason.  Then I ended up with pools of extra paint on the canvas.  I can't decide which method was best:

Before too long, my birthday present idea turned into an actual birthday present that I'm pretty proud of:

I wrapped these cuties in a cupcake gift bag & paired them with pink wine & presented them to Jen at our little dinner & dessert party.  I'm pretty sure she liked them.  Hopefully, all of Jen's birthday wishes come true because she deserves each & every one!

FYI, with the right words, these could be a great engagement, wedding or baby decoration or gift.  Think Marry Me with the couple's name, wedding words like Forever/Always/Love/Heart or the baby's name, birth date & stats.  Be creative & have FUN!

St. Patrick's Day Crafting #2

Green, green & more green!

A little green sparkle never hurt anyone!

Just like last year, I'm making my St. Patrick's Day cards for my family & friends. I may soon be losing my Irish last name but I will always be an Irish girl!! I love sending cards for the holidays & I love making the cards even more. Crafting is a time to unplug & unwind- I cherish every moment!

I had a clear design vision for my cards &, unlike last year, the cards turned out exactly as I'd planned. What didn't go as planned (there's always something!) was the actual crafting. Since I already had a shamrock punch & green pens, I only needed green paper & green ribbon. Yup, lots of green. I was excited to find sparkly, glitter green paper at AC Moore- jackpot! I came home & happily punched tons of cute, tiny shamrocks before taking a short break.

Beagle Bailey ate half of my shamrocks during this break!

Soooo . . . I had no green paper left & less shamrocks than I wanted. I soldiered on & I suppose the luck of the Irish was with me because I had the perfect amount of shamrocks for my cards & for Bailey's snack. The cards are so cute & I can't wait to show them to you!

Tune in on St. Patrick's Day to see my finished product!!

DIY Project: Welcome Bags

Our Wedding Welcome Bag

My Mom is a gift basket-maker by trade. She makes creative, beautiful gift baskets for charity raffles, first-time home owners, wedding gift bags & more. Give her a theme & she churns out a perfectly-themed gift basket. By the time we tackled our wedding welcome bags, we had less than one week to the wedding & a never-ending to-do list. We never considered skipping the welcome bags because we still wanted gift bags to greet our guests at the hotel & provide them with information & treats. We had to make welcome bags & keep our sanity intact. My Mom was probably a tad disappointed when I told her the theme for our welcome bags was "simple."

But she went with the flow as she realized I may have a meltdown otherwise & we kept it simple. The basic idea was a plain bag decorated with our leftover "Greetings from Hoboken" save-the-date postcards tied with an easy bow & filled with a welcome letter, wedding itinerary & plentiful snacks. We snagged glossy, white bags & white grosgrain ribbon for an awesome price at AC Moore. We went to Sam's Club & grabbed anything & everything that looked good- water, apples, granola bars, cookies, pretzels, chips, etc- also for a reasonable price. We bought white paper decorated with silver swirls at Staples. I had already collected Love mints & wedding tissues.

Thank goodness this project was not so much DIY as DIT- do it together. While I worked on the letter & itinerary with our painfully-slow printer, my Mom & cousin/bridesmaid worked the bag assembly line. I can't thank them enough for their valuable support & help! Each had to be tagged with the postcard, hole-punched for the ribbon, stuffed with the treats & information &, finally, tied with a bow. Between the shopping, the assembly & the delivery, this DIY project ate a lot of time. Quite a project even on a simple scale!

The hardworking welcome bag team

Yes, I wrote "Welcome" on every treat

The tagged welcome bags waiting to be finished

The welcome bags may not have been as fancy as my Mom would have liked but I thought they were just perfect. With the "Greetings From Hoboken" postcard, they managed to perfectly welcome the guests to our beloved home & carry through our hometown theme. Plus they looked cute & simple, they were filled with yummy snacks & they had pertinent information. What more could you ask for from a welcome bag?! RZ & I delivered them to the hotel on Friday afternoon to be placed in each of our out-of-town guests' hotel rooms as a hearty welcome to our wedding weekend. The fun was just beginning!

The finished product- I loved them!

Craftiness Now

I loved fingerpainting! Fingerpaints from & available at AC Moore

As a kid, I loved arts & crafts. Art was always my favorite subject in school. I was happiest armed with a big box of crayons & a fresh stack of colorful construction paper. Some of my best memories involve afternoons spent fingerpainting on a refrigerator with a good friend. I remember laughter, messes & fun!

One of my handmade 10% off gifts to Koru customers tucked into Koru's merchandise

Sadly, it's been many, many years since I fingerpainted a refrigerator. A few months ago, I noticed that I really missed arts & crafts. It's not the same designing an invitation or wedding, while I love both. I longed to work with my hands, get messy & have fun. In a dizzy burst of inspiration, I handmade Christmas decorations & 10% off gifts for Koru Wedding Shoppe.

From Craftiness Now, Jen's beautiful Decorative Decal Pillar Candles

Then I hit a lull. I had zero inspiration for another craft project. Thankfully, my high school friend Jennifer Kim launched Craftiness Now, an awesome blog about the calm art of crafting in a crazy city life. Her blog is full of her craft projects, her resources & her inspiration, along with beautiful photographs. All of sudden . . . inspiration galore! I could turn my armoire into a craft center! I should join AC Moore's rewards program! I would love to make gorgeous candles like those shown above! Now I'm a happy girl with several craft projects in progress, thanks to Jen.

Do you count Martha Stewart Weddings as your inspiration? Do you love to craft? Do you enjoy craft eye candy? For all this & more, I recommend Craftiness Now!