a little | merry christmas to all

Happy Holidays!!

a little | DIY on-the-go baby

After being inspired by this I decided to create my own on-the-go baby gift basket for a shower I went to last Sunday. I found the basket at Target and then I ironed on the sparkle name. I filled two adorable lunch bags from Hobby Lobby each with a onesie, 2 diapers, 2 disposable changing pads and travel wipes. I added a fun toy to the handle of each bag. I filled the bottom of the basket with the extra diapers and added the extra onesie and changing pads to the front of the basket. Super easy to make and really fun to put together.

a little | year in (baby) pictures

Thank you Young House Love for this great idea and tutorial. I just LOVE this idea. Check out the tutorial here.

a little | on-the-go baby

When my brother and his wife had their first child I remember the hunt for the "perfect" diaper bag was quite difficult. At that time babies were not even a blip on my radar, but I remember thinking how would I ever choose a diaper bag myself. When I saw this post on Brunch I thought it was just a fabulous idea. It seems like everyone of my facebook friends are pregnant and I even have some real life friends who are pregnant too. :) I think these will make a perfect shower gift. Can't wait to start putting some together. Now if only we had a H&M in Kansas City.

a little | reduce, reuse, recycle trees

I just love both of these trees and think they will look great on my mantel for Christmas. I feel another craft day coming on.

a little | ceramic tags

I want to make these. Inspiration for my next DIY project. Now if I can just get to them before Christmas. :)

a little | holiday excitement

I love, love, love this online magazine. If you haven't checked it out yet it is a must! It got me so excited for Christmas!

a little | refrigerator organization

Lately, I have been trying to find a way to map out our meals for the week ahead. And of course I am always trying to find a way to organize our bills. After visiting one of my favorite stores this weekend, I found these wonderful, removable, repositionable vinyl chalkboard panels and thought I HAVE to do something with these. Here's what I came up with...I might have a small obsession with green. :)

a little | weekend links

Many of the blogs I follow have weekend links, so I thought it might be fun to have my own little weekend link list. Here goes...

An Illustrated Life - I spent the morning at two wonderful professional development workshops for art teachers. The first workshop was all about art journals and altered books. Check out this really cool Sketchbook Project through the Brooklyn Library. I sometimes feel like a bad art teacher because I don't create my OWN artwork. I think this could be a really fun way to keep my artistic juices flowing and create my own artwork, but not be too time consuming. Here are some inspiring books: An Illustrated Life - 1000 Artist Journal Pages - The Journal Junkie Workshop - Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists -Creative Sparks

Design Mom Giveaway - Probably shouldn't share this one considering I want to win, but I thought these fractures were too cool not to share.

Mash Handmade and Bon Bon Atelier - My mom and I are hitting up some fun stores this weekend. Can't wait to see what we find.

Type War - My longest streak is 55! Can't wait to keep playing to see how many more I can get. I just love typography!

Brunch - Just for fun.

a little | real life diy halloween

My goal last weekend was to spend some quality time crafting. I, instead, got distracted and cleaned out my basement. The good news is I spent my evenings this week making up for it and now my home is decked out for Halloween!

Check out my inspiration for these projects here.

See the inspiration for the cake/pumpkin plate here.

a little | halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love all of the decorations. Ever since I was little I always wanted to have a Halloween party. Unfortunately, my brother's birthday is the day before Halloween, so it was never in the cards for me to have a Halloween party. And even in my adult life the opportunity hasn't presented itself to host a party. I'm hoping by this time next year Gregg and I will be moved and settled into a new home and I will FINALLY be able to have the party I've always wanted. In the meantime I'm thinking some festive holiday crafts/decorating might be in my cards. Here is my inspiration...Hopefully I'll be able to posted my own results soon. All images below were found via Martha Stewart.

a little | dainty beauty

Found via A Cup of Jo

I only recently became a lover of jewelry. A friend from work sells Premier Jewelry and I have purchased some pieces from her that I love, but lately I have felt some can seem a little bulky for lack of a better word. I love how this piece and others from Edor are toned down and so daintily beautiful.

a little | typography furniture

Found via hello lucky

I know I have expressed my love for typography before, but I LOVE this table. I want it. I need it. I have to have it. If only...

a little | decal love

Found via How About Orange

This is why I LOVE blogs. I was doing dishes this morning when I noticed my boring flour and sugar canisters. I thought to myself, self, what could you do to those to spice them up a bit? And then as if How About Orange heard my thoughts she posted this. Plus I always love a free download. Thanks Just Something I Made.

a little | real life diy #2

In an attempt to see if things I see on other blogs are as cool in person as they are online I am trying them out. Experiment #1 was a success and I am happy to report so was experiment #2!!

Here is the inspiration post and here are my results: (Please excuse my wrinkled piece of fabric, just too lazy to iron.)

It was a hard decision deciding what to stencil onto my bag and my fabric. I was inspired by these pillows and the idea is I will turn the piece of fabric into a lovely pillow. I'll keep you posted. As for the bag, well, I coach a high school dance team and I thought this would be the perfect bag to keep all of my dance team 'stuff'. So of course I went with our school mascot. I did, at the last minute, decide to wrap the tail around to the back instead of trimming it off and I really like the effect.

This was such an easy project and it turned out so well. Here are the steps I took:

Step #1: Cut out design from freezer paper.

Step #2: Iron on freezer paper to fabric.

Step #3: Spray with spray paint.

Step #4: Remove freezer paper once spray paint is dry.

I am sure you can use fabric paint, but I found spray paint to be fast and easy.

As for my next diy...hmmm...any ideas?

a little | hand painted aisle runner

I know I'm going on a little wedding kick today, but I couldn't help but share my hand painted aisle runner. I got the idea from Bell Creation. I designed a logo that was used on a lot of our printed material, so when I saw the idea I knew instead of a monogram I had to use our logo.

a little | wedding love

As a graphic designer, I had so much fun creating the printed material for my wedding. Unfortunately, I have yet to take any photos of my invitations, but here is my other favorite piece...the programs.

a little | origami

Found via Bloesem Kids

Another find I feel like would be great to use with my students. Parent's love when their artwork actually looks good hanging in their house and I think this would be the perfect project for that. Plus I could use one of my favorite artists, Jasper Johns, as a point of reference.

Here is the tutorial. It has great diagrams and even animations.

a little | monster bag

Found via Bloesem Kids

I have always been a fan of the Ugly Dolls, but when I saw this bag I again thought "Oh how I wish I could sew." Then I looked at the tutorial and realized it was a no sew project! I'm even thinking it could be a fun one to do with my students.

a little | blog party

I have never participated in a blog party. Actually, I just learned what one is today. I thought these two looked like fun and an easy one to get me started. Here we go. :)

a little | repurposed picture frame

Found via Lemon Tree Creations

I never would have thought to turn a picture frame into a tray. What a great idea! My mom recently made some curtains for our townhouse. I am thinking how great this tray would look with my curtain fabric sitting in the middle of my dining room table. Now if I can find the right frame to use...

a little | fourth of july love

Found via Greedy Girl

The fourth of July has to be my favorite holiday for many reasons. My grandmother's birthday was the fourth of July, so my memories of this holiday always involve celebrating with family, eating lobster at the cottage in Maine (okay, everyone else had lobster I had a hot dog), and of course fireworks. When I saw this dress it made me want to celebrate all over again. And the price tag really isn't too bad either.

a little | ghost of halloween future

Found via Scoutie Girl

How stinkin' cute is this outfit. Mark my words, one of my future children will wear this as a halloween costume. Luckily, I have a seamstress mother (who is also a librarian, so she will LOVE this idea) who can hopefully make this happen for me.

a little | traveling book club

A group of girlfriends and I are starting a traveling book club. We recently had 2 very good friends move away, so to keep them in the loop we came up with the idea for our traveling book club. The premise is each month you receive a book and the following month you pass that book along. We never really discuss the books, but this way we have a new book to read each month and plus it is always fun to receive mail.

After being inspired by this library kit, I of course felt like we needed one of our own. Then I saw Rock Paper Scissors Via Airmail post and I knew just the theme to use. Click here to view the pdf and start your own traveling book club. The pdf includes a library pocket, a ratings card, and a bookmark.

a little | photog love

Thanks to ashley noelle I am in LOVE with this photographer.

a little | diy freezer paper stencil

Found via lemon tree creations

It is time for another real life DIY. Tonight I am going to experiment with freezer paper stencils. I have decided to combine it with my new love of geography and I will be stenciling the state of Kansas on to muslin and then turning that in to a pillow. Wish me luck!

a little | always fits

Found via Design Mom

Apparently, I have a love of all things geographic today. These pillows are awesome. I'm even thinking DIY...

a little | city art

Found via studiokmo

Oh how I wish studiokmo would make a cut out of Kansas City. These city prints by designer/artist, Karen M O'leary, are hand cut. Her maps are extracted from the city grid and then hand drawn and hand cut. Check out her flickr page to see the process.

a little | homemade ice cream

Found via Style Me Pretty

How great is this ice cream wedding favor and what a fun summer treat! And you know how much I love tutorials. Thanks City Cradle Design!

a little | hitched jewelry

Found via Hello!Lucky

I love, love, love this necklace. You can even personalize the back with your wedding date.

a little | personalized notecards

Found via rifle paper co.

I always feel like I can make anything. Just like these personalized cards. I mean I have paint and I have cards, so of course I could make these. Unfortunately, they probably won't turn out as nicely. :) I guess we shall see...