Category Archives: Graphics

Graphic design templates and illustrations for parties, showers, birthdays, holidays and kids.

Mother’s Day Editable Recipe Card Freebie!

IMG_4535Happy Monday! I tried getting this recipe card ready for you last week, but was sidetracked with other duties throughout the week. Boo! BUT, I plowed through and got the last bits of it together this morning. Yahoo! Sharing recipes have long been a way of bringing families and communities together. An expression of love through food. No matter how we communicate recipes, whether it be online or cookbooks, sharing food we love will always be relevant to the human spirit.

The recipe cards on my Etsy shop are one of my biggest sellers. They are easy to work with, you don’t have to hand write a recipe (I loath writing a recipe!), and you can use them over and over just by saving a new copy. Who can argue with that?!

Recipe cards make a great personalized gift for your mom, sister or friends and are great for showers. And It’s close to wedding season folks! I’ve paired some of my favorite recipes on cute cards with some tea towels and kitchen gadgets from the brides registry for a sweet and personalized gift. So until Mother’s Day you can download this 4×6 editable and printable recipe card right here…for free! Hope you enjoy!

Mail Organizer Secret!

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For years I have had to stare at our pathetic mail organizer on the counter across the kitchen island where a spend a good portion of my day. I have never liked it no matter if it was clean and organized or messy…which was 99.9% usually the case. I’ve always wanted to get rid of the thing, but I have never been able to find suitable homes for those random bits of mail/coupons/business cards/Netflix mover to return or the odd leftover school picture. So after about nine years of internal mental deliberation, I finally came to peace with my nemesis. It won’t go away. Ever. Even if I put it all in the junk drawer below, those random bits of things will start creeping back on the corner in plane view and mock me in my defeat. Soooo, if you can’t get rid of it, why not make it prettier?

IMG_4489This is a picture of it cleaned up in the new organizer – still way better than it was, but I wasn’t happy.

Once I finally got around to finding a prettier version of what I had and one that contained the chaos better, I felt a lot better about my enemy. BUT, it still looked messy!! Aaagh! Then a light bulb went off in my head. If you can’t clean it, hide it. That’s what under the bed is for and those weirdly shaped under stair closets, right?! So out came my ruler to measure and I got to designing a typographic cheeky phrase that was both fun, clean and measured perfectly to hide my eternal chaos. I have to say, I am far more zen every time I look up from my kitchen sink and see my “neatly organized” mail  😉 It’s still all there, just hidden! What do you think?

Easter Art Print: Freebie!!

IMG_4313Here is a little free a Easter art print! Easter has not been much on my mind like everyone else because we celebrate Greaster (Greek Easter) and it’s not until May 1st this year…way far away!! But I didn’t grow up in a greek family so there is a part of me that still wants to celebrate this week with you all and so I got my Easter pants on and made a freebie printable art print to celebrate the occasion 🙂 And I will for sure be making some hot cross buns for Good Friday! One of my favorite Easter traditions my mom always did.

Click here for the PDF print.  …can you tell I’ve been in to watercolor lately?!

Cocoa and Cookies Birthday Party

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I’m over the birthday party hump with both of my girl’s birthdays under wrapped – phew! My five year old was stuck on having hot cocoa, pajamas and a puppy movie for her birthday party so I tried to tie it together with a Cocoa and Cookies theme (…and where your PJ’s!). I kind of phoned this one home this year with everything we’ve had going on these last few months, but she seemed pleased with her party and the little touches I did do, I think turned out pretty cute. Here are a few pictures of her party.

I was indecisive about having a white border or not on the invitation (see above) and in the end I went with no border. I added a coral colored straw because I’m well aware that cocoa and cookies for a birthday theme in March is not exactly seasonal 😉 and in the end I went with no border.

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I designed little thank you tags for the homemade hot cocoa and cookies the kiddos took home. Simple and certainly inexpensive. Yahoo!

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This number 5 balloon was from her actual birthday the week before, but it survived a week and a half later…barely!

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My attempt at a icebox cookie cake. It didn’t turn out exactly like my #magnoliabakery inspiration cake, but it was a worthy effort 😉 Cake decorating is certainly not my forte!! But it was delicious!

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I’ve fallen in love with these adorable sparkler candles and it adds a fun surprise to the cake!

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Finally making use of our chalkboard wall we have! My husband does a great job at projecting the text from his mini projector and then tracing the text so it turns out level and in the font I want.

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The kids got to decorate their own mugs with a monogrammed letter and take them home with them along with their hot cocoa and cookies goodie bag.

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The two older girls hard at work on their mugs. I wish I got more pictures of the table before it got all messy, but the sun was shining in so brightly that it was hard to see beyond all of the shadows. Oh, and lastly, the kids dropped marshmallows from a chair in a mason jar. They all said how simple it would be, but it was harder than it looked and they all had to eat their words!

Valentine Class Bookmark Cards – Free Download!!!

IMG_4015With sick kids, half days and a multitude of other unplanned stuff in our schedule, it’s been taking me longer than I would have liked to get these valentine bookmarks finished and shared for a valentine freebie! But, alas, I finished {sigh}.

I really try to limit the trinket quota in our house, but it always seems to be a loosing battle. However, I trudge on and hope someday my house will be a trinket free zone (wishful thinking, right?). That said, for valentine’s day, it’s a mecca of trinkets and so in the past I’ve just done some simple valentine cards (see my Etsy Shop) with a lollipop taped to the back. For fear my kids will get bored with my noncreative valentine efforts (however, I thought their cards were pretty cute, but kids could care less about the design…it was for me 🙂 ), I decided to create some valentine bookmarks. Not as exciting as candy, but my mom conscience feels much better about it! So here you have it…they are a free download for the next week and then they will be available on my Etsy Shop for purchase after that.  Just print (on card stock), trim and write on the back and you are finished! Enjoy 🙂

Pajama and Pancake Birthday Party

IMG_3979It’s been a few weeks since my daughter had her birthday, but shortly after we dashed off to Hawaii (can’t complain!!!) and now we are back to the daily grind of life. I’ve been anxious to post about Vivienne’s birthday party. I thought it turned out so cute, but I must apologize for some of my pictures. I am by no means a professional photographer nor do we feel it necessary to hire one for a kids party. Every thing we do, we do it ourselves…except for the cake. I’ve learned my DIY limits and cake decorating is not my thing 😉

After a year long conversation of Viv telling me she wanted a pirate party, a few weeks before I needed to send out the invites, she threw me a curve ball and said she wanted a slumber party? “A wha, wha?!!” I said. Me not being ready to host a sleep over with a bunch of six and seven year olds, seeing disaster in the making, years off my life and no sleep, I gently suggested a pajama party instead with breakfast for dinner (who doesn’t love that?!). She was sold! Amen to that! So I had a few weeks to rethink party ideas and come up with a game plan and here you will see the results with corals, peaches and golds as the main theme.

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IMG_3810To keep with the ombre theme of the invitation, I had our local store do an ombre cake which I thought they did a fantastic job and much better than I could have ever attempted. Then I topped it with some sticker flags and gold washi tape I whipped up along with a #7 sparkler candle.

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IMG_3777To set the scene and create an intimate, cozy atmosphere, I used a low table covered with white kraft paper and gold sparkle stickers. The kids sat on pillows and ate pancakes, fruit and yogurt parfaits…talk about sugar overload!! On either sides of the table, I had a teepee with faux sheep skin (#ikea) rugs and pillows inside. I already had one teepee I had made years ago, but I wanted one more without the effort of cutting and sewing. So with a little Google help, I saw some no-sew ideas and came up with my own take. Talk about easy!! Just using some 6′ wood dowels, a painters drop cloth and a few pushpins and you are good to go!! I also topped the teepees with some tissue garland and what I call “fairy lights” I had picked up a while ago from the #target dollar bin. That place can be a gold mine if you check regularly. Finally, we have a glass panel wall that I used to hang some gold and peach pin wheels as a back drop. Super cute!! 
IMG_3819For activities we had a donut from a string eating contest (that was a big hit!!) and then the kiddos decorated their own pillow cases with fabric markers. It kept them busy for quite a while and it was fun to see what they came up with.

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Finally, for the favors, I found these sparkly gold bags from (again) the Target dollar bin that I dolled up with some Thank You tags and filled them each with a peach colored bracelet, some donut shaped soap from Etsy, and these glass magnets I made that coordinated with the invitation. Over all I think all the kiddos had fun and who doesn’t like hanging out in your jammies?! To take one for the team, I even wore mine and I have to say, it’s the most comfortable I’ve ever been at a party 😉

*Most of the party supplies were from Shop Sweet Lulu and Target

**If you have any questions about how I created or styled some of the party items, I am happy to answer!

Christmas Dinner Place Card Freebie!

IMG_3543This year we aren’t hosting Christmas for the first time in a looooong time. We are going to enjoy the day stress free at my brother’s house this year, which I am kind of relieved to not have to plan and host a big dinner. Aaaaahhhh! That said, I love to decorate the table for Christmas and come up with fun place card holders for the table. I always do something simple and pretty inexpensive…usually it involves my husband going out and picking some evergreen branches for me from some trees outside 🙂 Last year was one of my favorite tablescapes with skinny pine tree branches stuck in left over pieces of wood from what we cut off from our Christmas tree. My husband drilled a hole in the middle of the small stumps so the branches slid right in. It was simple, free and easy. I wish I had some pictures, but I sadly forgot to take any.

BUT, the other dressing for the table were these fun place cards (Click here for the free download!!). You can type in the names of your guests in the PDF or just leave it blank and write them in yourself. You choose! Click here for the free font if it doesn’t show on your computer. Enjoy!