This is a quick one. I designed this shirt for a friend of ours for her 16th birthday. She loves the game Clue and we’re planning a little “Clue” themed party for her soon. A party theme isn’t complete without a matching shirt (at least I’ve gotten in the habit of creating one for most themes these days.)
I sourced the chalk outline from, I’m so sorry, I can’t remember where! It doesn’t always occur to me in the moment that I’m going to want to blog the things I’m doing. I’m trying to be better, but failed again.
The candlestick was something I created. I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I tried it out and am pleased with the way it turned out. I asked our friend’s mom what her favorite weapon and room are in the game, so that is why I picked candlestick and billiard room.
I love my Cricut Easy Press. It’s so much easier (huh!) than using my iron. I kept putting off the project, but it’s silly because it was so fast!
Of all the seasons and themes I get excited about, Christmas is one of the top. I love to illustrate and paint Christmas-y things. It’s true. Those of you who have been around a while (or, yikes, dug in to some of the archives!) know that there is a lot of Christmas on this site.
Now, fast forward to March of this year when I finally decided to open an Etsy shop. My first concern was that I had no idea what to make… Christmas was really far away! I summoned all my creative juices and prayed a lot and I did come up with some things to list that make me smile. I hope they make you smile too, at least to see them pass through your feed.
While I’ve been creating all that non-Christmas stuff, I’ve been holding a hope in the back of my mind… Christmas in July! Could I continue filling my shops with products and artwork while still preparing some Christmas for July?
I’ll have to admit it was hard. I had bigger plans than a large family and garden would allow, but I have managed to get a few things listed to kick off Christmas in July. I’ll be adding more throughout the month as I have time and I’ll be highlighting each item here beginning next week.
Don’t want to wait??? Visit my shops now to see what’s there!
…with more in the works! Subscribe to find out when new items are listed!
The big announcement??? SALE, SALE, SALE!
Both shops are running a 50% off Christmas listings during the month of July! This is my biggest sale yet and is probably the steepest discount I’ll offer on Christmas this year! Don’t miss it!
A few months ago I saw one of those “coffee pairs nicely with silence” signs that are out there. Have you seen them? There are tons. I thought of my father-in-law. He likes silence! 🙂 Then I started thinking about my mom… she thinks coffee pairs nicely with EVERYTHING! So I did a search… and another. And another. It wasn’t out there! I was shocked. Surely more people love coffee THIS much!
So I set out to making one… but I wasn’t sure if what I came up with was THE one.
So I designed another… and another… and another.
Until I had 7 designs. Some are just slight variations of another, but I couldn’t decide which I liked better. I asked Husband… and Mom… and sister. Wouldn’t you know it, they all liked different ones.
So in the end, I decided to use them all, in one bundle of coffee goodness. Because, sometimes, silence doesn’t happen! There are 7 designs in black and white for cutting on your Cricut or Silhouette cutting machines. I picture these designs on canvas or wood in your coffee bar. I’m planning to make some of those signs to sell at Christmas market later this year!
I’ve also made those 7 designs with a touch of color for printing! Print and frame them, make them into stickers, or cards, or tags. Possibilities are limited only by your imagination!
You can find these in my Etsy shop now. And, as always, I want to offer my readers a 33% discount this week to celebrate their addition to my shop. Click here to get that discount automatically, or enter coupon code COFFEEPAIRS33 at checkout. (Follow my blog in the sidebar to hear about future sales!)
How are you going to use it? Pop over to my pin to share a pic of what you make with it! 🙂 I’d love to see it!
I designed this “Coffee, Home Brewed, Served Always” sign as a gift for my mom a couple years ago. My husband gave me a new Cricut for Christmas that year and I wanted to make something for my mom with it. None of the signs out there fit just right. Most read, “Fresh Brewed” and “Served Daily”, but my mom doesn’t care if it’s fresh and drinks it all day long.
Click over to my shop to see a quick video of the finished product on her coffee maker.
I sold a couple framed at the Christmas Market the kids and I participate in this past year. One was vinyl on canvas and the other was printed and placed in a homemade frame. Now it’s in my Etsy Shop as a digital download so that you can make your own.
As always, I want to offer my readers a discount for it’s first week in the shop! (Follow my blog or sign up to receive them by email so you don’t miss a discount on future products!) Click here to get the discount code applied automatically, or enter Coupon Code ALWAYS33 FOR 33% off for the next 7 days!
Yes, I’m running behind. But since I struggle just to get here at all, I’ll do what I can. Just because I’m not posting, doesn’t mean I’m not doing… in fact, it’s probably because of all I’m “doing” that I rarely get around to post.
All that to say… here are some pics of this year’s Christmas Market. The kids and I participate in it together and my mom comes to help. Sometimes that means we work together on projects, sometimes that just means we all contribute our own work and sell at the same table. This year my three oldest and I sold. The kids use the money they make from the market to help pay for summer camp. I used mine to by my husband a Christmas gift. 🙂
We had a number of ornaments this year. Some were from past years and a handful were new.
My 11 year old son and I made these extra-mini book stack ornaments. They turned out so cute!! In the tree pic above you may be able to see the “Hot Cocoa” and “Candy Cane” versions too.
As far as book stacks go, we also made this cute regular mini sized book stack. I used dowels for the mini-marshmallows on top. This sold almost immediately. We’ll be making more next year! 🙂
My oldest son (15yo) and I did these big books as well. I’m just loving these book stacks! We’ll be making some spring versions for sure!
You can also see some of the garlands and rolling pins I did. And the snowman salt and pepper shakers. We gave them an upgrade from last year, replacing the burlap with black and white check. I love them! 13yo DD made them a couple years ago.
This shot is more of my tiered tray. There are so many cute things in here. My mini “home brewed” coffee sign, a couple more bead garlands and more rolling pins.
Here are a few more snowman signs like I shared last weekend. I just love the square one. When I get around to making my own, I’ll do it that way.
I expanded on the mugs I sold this year. In addition to the ones I made last year, I also had some printed with original artwork. I forgot to take close ups of the mugs, but one is my snowmama and kid hugging. It says “I love my snowmama”. Another mug has an illustration of mistletoe on it and says “In this house we do mistletoe.” The last design is my “home brewed, served always” coffee print. I didn’t sell enough to break even on those this year, but they were fun to include and hopefully more will sell next year.
It was our best year so far and we had such a fun time doing it. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of what we did this year!
