Card Books

Have you seen this super cute idea for cards?

pinned here

I loved the idea because I have saved cards from our wedding, my shower, my baby shower, and even Christmases.  But have never known what to do with them and hate to just toss them.

So I started out, with the plan to make it more like a book- using two binder rings.  I quickly realized- anyone who had more than 25 people at their wedding would NEVER be able to do this with a binder ring! absurd.  I would've needed 4 books!

So- I took a note from my favorite "book" designer, Elise Blaha Cripe & decided to just use some nice white satin ribbon I had on hand to bind them together.

& in case you're wondering- here's how I centered all my cards with 2 hole punches with a single hold puncher:

-Find your smallest card (usually a 4x6), and put one hold punch about 1/2" from the top.

-Take one of you many now-empty envelopes & center your card on it.

-Punch the envelope where the card is...then fold the card in half & punch through that same hole again.

(see where I'm going?)

You can use the envelope as your reference, or go back and hole punch the other hole in the card & use that.

I also did my bridal shower cards, as well as my baby shower cards!

A tip for "threading" your cards with your ribbon- take a bit of tape & wrap it around the end (like you're making the end of a shoelace).  Makes life much easier!

And double knot your bow, but be sure not to make your bows TOO tight- or else you won't be able to open the up!

Cupid Arrows

This year is our son's first Valentine's Day, and so of course I had to send out cards. 

My friend Wendy did all the work, and made it positively adorable.  

(Although, I should give some credit to that stinkin' cute little boy!)  

We had a mini-photoshoot just in his room and gave him some cute props to play around with 

and Wendy clicked away!

I told her an idea of what I had in my head, and being the amazing, creative designer she is- made it even better than I imagined!  

One of the props we used was a cute little Valentines arrow I whipped up right before Wendy arrived.  And it only takes a few seconds- my kind of crafts.
(Please excuse the ugly date stamp on the photos, I didn't realize it until I went to edit, so I went back and redid all the pictures, and somehow those didn't save to the memory card correctly, then my little one woke up from his nap &  I was so flustered about it all- I just didn't care enough to re-do it again!)

Materials:

-dowel

-felt

-paper hearts

-hot glue gun

Directions:

Cut 2 felt rectangles.

Then cut fringe down each side at an angle, leaving about 1/4 of an inch in the middle.

Put a dab of glue on each felt piece and stick on the dowel.

Then do the same things with the heart.

Easy Peasy!

Stick some in a jar and use as a decoration, use as a prop or shoot your heart-throb with it!

*Wendy is currently selling amazing custom family trees and working on adding other awesome things to her shop. But please don't make her so famous that she still won't do photo shoots for my little stud!*