Thompson Family-Life

Holiday Cards

(source)

Every year, I vow to "simplify, simplify, simplify" when creating my Christmas cards, but they always end up being "complicated, complicated, complicated".  : )

This year, I DO vow to create a design that is easy. I swear on it. (and with all of the other crafty things I want to accomplish, i really think I'll have no choice to but to follow through on this vow! Things are trekking along veeery slowly in craftland.)

Last year, I had this idea that I had visualized to a T in my head. And I thought it would be fairly simple.

But of course it wasn't.

And it turned into the BIGGEST-headache-of-a-Christmas-card-ever.

 

(source)

Not only was the creating of the design complicated, but once I FINALLY had it to the printer, I was SOOO dissapointed with the print quality, I thought I would cry. I DID end up finding a better printer, and it looked fine in the end, but not perfect. (that's a whole other story, that i'll explain later: photo prints vs. press-printing)

But all of that said, it was worth it (once it was all over) and the card turned out exactly how I had imagined it. I was really, really happy with it.

 

(source)

I actually didn't even get this card out til the very END of January of THIS year.. haaaa.. It was doomed from the beginning. ;-)

But it felt more like a "year in review" kind of card, instead of a Holiday card, so it worked out in the end. (i hope!)

I've been meaning to share it here for the LONGEST and it got to the point that it wasn't really relevant anymore, so I was just like "forget it".. but NOW it's finally relevant! So I don't feel so weird posting it. ;-)

Here's the cover:

 

It turned into a "quad-fold" (which i think sounds funny) because of the nature of the photos etc.

Here's the back spread, minus the cover (if you can imagine it divided into 4 sections when accordian folded)....

(click to see larger)

 

And here's the inside spread, also divided into 4 panels...

(click to see larger)

 

My idea was to show our entire year of 2008 in photos. So I had this wrought iron old gate-type-thing I found at an antique store a long time ago just sitting in our back yard.. I never did anything with it, but it was perfect for this.

I strung yarn from one end to the other and clipped photos, little month placecards (going from January to December, from left to right in semi-linear order) and other odds and ends that I liked.. some things that went with each month, like little vintage birthday picks for birthday months, and vintage ornaments for december, etc.

 

The problems I encountered was that #1, I wouldn't be able to fit all of these images on just one 5x7 card, that is why it ended up being a quad-fold! (around 16 inches wide and around 5.75 inches tall, front and back).

And #2, I didn't realize how HARD it would be to take photos of photos. I had actually printed all of those photos on my home printer, arranged everything on the gate, and then took photos of the arrangement.

Once I opened the photos on the computer, I realized that the photos of the photos didn't look as good as I had hoped (i think i secretly knew this was going to happen, i mean really, i KNEW it was going to happen, but was in denial. lol.)

So, not only that, I actually had to make TWO arrangements.. b/c all of the months/photos wouldn't fit on the one gate. So I did January through June in one arrangement, then took my photos. THEN I took everything down, and did another arrangement of July through December.

 

I also realized, to get a good photo reproduction, I would have to take several photos of each arrangement and merge them in photoshop. (all you photographers out there are feeling my pain now, right?) If I had taken just one WIDE shot of the entire arrangement, the reproduction quality wouldn't be as good. Does that make sense? I am not sure why i'm explaining this in detail.. i just find it interesting the process of things...

SO, I had to merge those photos seamlessly so it looks like ONE big photo on the card.

Then, I had to photoshop in the actual individual photo files, on top of the printed photos.

LOL. ok, that makes sense to me. And only me, I'm sure! Let's just say, it's very tedious Photoshopping!

 

(source)

If you can imagine taking a photo of a photo, there was glare on alot of the photos. So I just photoshopped them back in there when I was laying out my design in Photoshop. Hopefully someone out there understood that and feels my pain. (again, this is why this thing was such a pain in my ars.)

Once I FINALLY finished the design, it was off to a printer, a NEW printer I'd never used before (i know, bad sign already.)

What I realized essentially is that press-printed products just don't reproduce as well as photo-prints when it comes to photographs. You can see all the little dots that make up the image with press-printed items. And since the little photos in this design, are indeed little, alot of times the fine detail in the faces, etc. were lost a tiny bit (albeit, only I would be picky about this. I think you graphic designers out there understand where I'm coming from. We're super-picky about print quality.)

So all that said, i think they turned out pretty good. The 2nd printer I used also printed on a slightly textured cardstock so it was pretty. (and I owe a HUGE Thank-you to Heather, a blog reader, that helped me out with finding a better printer! :-)

To my dismay, I couldn't find the actual printed card to take a photo of for you to see. I do hope I find my extra copies one day. After all I went through with it, something tells me I should frame one in a 14 carat gold frame. ;-)

 

(source)

So what are YOU doing for your holiday cards this year? I'd love to see! Link me up! Or if you've seen any inspiring holiday cards, link me up to those as well. :-)

I have an idea in my head that SHOULD be pretty simple for this year. Guess I should get my butt in gear right? It's almost the 3rd week of December. Yipes!

Now if I can just get a decent photo of the boys.

Now that's a whole other story! :-)

Felt Holiday Tree Tutorial, Stuffie Printable Kit, and Tiny Bazaar

  

It seems that my felt tree tutorial from last holiday season is making the rounds online. I have no idea how! I guess someone remembered it from last year and then with the crazy viral nature of the internets, it's gotten around. I saw it on Design Mom yesterday and was like, whoa, where did that come from?! Anyway, thanks for the felt tree love! You can find the tutorial here where I posted it last year, if you're interested!

I have mine sitting on top of my IKEA shelf again, just like last year.

 

 

For those readers that weren't around last year, I was also reminded of a printable kit that I released last holiday season when I found these ornaments while putting up our Christmas tree this year... Cooper loved these "pillow" ornaments he called them.. I loved them even more because he could hang them on the tree without me worrying that he might drop and break them (phew.) :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a stuffie kit with all of your favorite Woodland characters.. toadstools, deer and gnomes.. You just print them onto printable fabric (or even regular fabric) and sew them up! There are also versions with blank banners where you can personalize them with a person's name. Just add the name in Photoshop, or handwrite with a fabric pen, or you can even scan your child's signature and add it in Photoshop. Or you could even embroider a name! so many ideas for that...

I also used them as gift accents - you have a cute gift embellishment that you're giftee can also hang on their tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Kirsty from the Kitschy Digitals Creative Team made this BIG gnome stuffie that you could gift to that gnome-lover in your life!

 

 

 

 

 

You an find the printable kit here! Read more about what you can do with this kit in my post from last year.

More on Christmas Cards designs and gift wrapping later... I also wanted to mention that I've closed my Tiny Bazaar shop for the holidays and will re-open in early January. A BIG THANK YOU to all of my wonderful customers this year! I appreciate you so much!

(PLEASE NOTE: If you are interested in any of my downloadable products (embroidery patterns, Photos Inside Collection Labels PDF), I would be happy to sell those to you still since they are just emailed to you (no snail-mailing involved). Email me if you are interested. You can also purchase the embroidery patterns in my Kitschy Digitals Goods shop still. Thanks!)

so, what about the outdoors?

Do you do much outdoor holiday decorating? There's always so much inspiration for the inside of your home during the holidays, but not so much on the outside.

We always seem to have an identity crisis for our outdoor decorating every Christmas. When we first moved into our house a long time ago, we just did the sort of traditional fake garland, white lights sort of thing. Then when Cooper came along, we added a light-up train (because at the time HE was the one obsessed with trains, not Campbell).. just sort of did the outside decorating, ya know, for the kids. ;-)

But for the past couple of years, I've been wanting to like the outdoor decorating more, ya know, and have some sort of real concept behind it. I think it's gotten better this year, although if I were honest, I'd love to go totally vintage-inspired with lots of big, pastel colored bulbs everywhere (or even bright colored bulbs since Ethan might not be so keen on pastels) and lots of fun vintage "blowmold" plastic decorations... maybe one day. :-) I did find a vintage Santa and a pair of Toy Soldiers this weekend at my favorite vintage store. The first of hopefully a new collection?

 

 

 

We do have a bit of a red and white/peppermint theme going, which I do love. I love the red and white combo.

We have these peppermint string lights around our front door...

 

And then these big peppermint lights lined up in front of the house... (got them at Target, but i think i've seen them at WalMart too)..

Not totally happy with how these are arranged.. these are new for this year.. thinking i might add some red velvet ribbon connecting them? with bows underneath each peppermint? not sure... it's a fine line with looking good and looking like you've gone overboard. Although i've never been opposed to "overboard"... ;-)

I also got some of these candy-cane rope lights at Target.. not sure where I'm going to put these yet.. possibly inside? They look totally like candy. yum.

 

One house that I would totally take inspiration from in the future is Laurie's at Magpie Ethel... she embraces vintage holiday kitsch with a fervor!! LOVE IT! I also adore her shop!

Here are photos of her super-festive and vintage-inspired home... this is her Santa collection on her front porch... to die for.

a look at the front of her home... love those big colored lights!

 

I ADORE her staircase banister decor using vintage foil candy containers to embellish.. SO CUTE. I love the tinsel she used!

I've never seen stripey tinsel trees before... um, YUM. :-) And her collection of light reflectors? equally yummy.

And here are some of her gorgeous and clever, vintage-inspired Holiday Decorations from her shop! These little posed dolls perched on spools of ribbon just kill me.

 

 

Light reflector flowers...

 Cuuuute embellished deer...

 

And I love this vintage, handmade Christmas card basket that was in her shop! What a great way to use your vintage holiday cards!

And have you seen Jennifer at Naughty Secretary Club's flickr set of her mom's holiday decor? HOLY MOLY brilliant. :-) Wonder where Jennifer got her kitschy style? no doubt from her ultra-awesome mom! :-) WOW!

Here are just a few from her set:

 

 

And this is an image I found on Flickr (which surprised me that there weren't more outdoor holiday decor themed Groups!)...

 

Gotta love a candy-colored Toy Soldier for the holidays. Everything looks better in pink. ;-)

Link me up to YOUR outdoor holiday decor....I'd love to see! Or if you've seen any inspiring ideas for outdoor decor, please link me up!

Christmas Cupcake Kit Giveaway!

Wow, seems like blogging and holiday preparations don't mix lately! Is everyone feeling this way? I'm ok with it though.. we enjoyed putting up almost all of our holiday decorations this weekend (inside and out)... Everything for the most part looks the same as last year with a few new vintage items here and there. Will share photos soon.. hopefully today! This room is getting a makeover though.. i'm sure if you've been reading my blog for a while, you've heard me complain about my-very-70's fireplace. ;-) Well we're FIIINALLY painting it white after 11 years of living here, this week! Can't wait! Photos to come...

Hoping to focus on the few Christmas crafts I have on my list... it's of course a pretty noble list, here's hoping I can check everything off. (said with nervous giggle.)

We sat in our very festive and cozy Christmas room last night (the most decorated of all the rooms in the house.. the one room where we have to shoo-shoo the boys out so they don't break anything...) and sipped hot cocoa (with a shot of Baileys Irish Cream thank-you-very-much) and watched Christmas movies, and I crocheted my gingerbread house.. which is moving along.. slooowly, but surely.

I have a FABULOUS giveaway for you today! The ladies at Layer Cake Shop emailed me asking if I'd be interested in doing a giveaway on my blog and of course I was game.. I LOVE any kind of kitschy cupcake fun!

Here's what you get:

 

 

Here are the details from their shop:

The Layer Cake Shop Christmas Cupcake Kit belongs under the tree or in the kitchen of every cupcake lover! Give the gift of pure holiday cupcake baking bliss to yourself or that someone special! Loaded with 73 pieces, you'll giggle with holiday glee as these festive cupcakes roll out from your kitchen! The Layer Cake Shop Christmas Cupcake Kit contains..

• 24 assorted Christmas cupcake toppers.. a mix of pine trees, holiday trees, silver trees, deer, Merry Christmas Plaques, pinecones, pointsettia, holly, christmas flowers, snowmen, and santas.
  
• 24 assorted red and green baking cups
• 1 ounce of peppermint flavored candy cane sprinkles
• 12 red royal icing twist flowers (photo coming soon)
  
• 12 Christmas bakery labels

All packaged up in an adorable white windowed tin tie bakery bag with coordinating paper bow and label.

Leave a comment with your email address to win! I'll (randomly) pick one lucky winner on Friday. :-)

More to come later today!

Happy Friday & some Kitschy Inspiration

So i go from a "Happy Monday" post, immediately into a "Happy Friday" post. I've been MIA this week! It's been one of those weeks where I've been insanely busy, but at the same time, not really getting anything done. Doesn't quite make sense. My part-time graphic design job has been pretty busy lately which is nice! But doesn't leave alot of time to get things done at home. But that's ok. Being busy at work is always a good thing. : )

By the time I sit down at my computer after the boys are in bed, i've been so tired that i just sort of zone out and forget what it was I was supposed to get accomplished. I realized it was the sleep deprivation sinking in and I finally went to bed early last night. I finally feel actually rested this morning!

Thank you for the nice words about my new banner! Glad you like it! Also, thank you to everyone that participated in the Tiny Bazaar/Kitschy Digitals Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale!! :-)

I did take some time to get some photos of one of my new Blythes... (the other went straight to a customizer to get her bangs cut)... my new dark-haired girl is soooooo pretty. Her hair has a totally different texture than my other dolls (in a good way) and is very long so there are lots of styling possibilities!

 

I love her neutral make-up.. she's totally a flower-child.

One thing I have been doing alot this week is relentlessly surfing the internets for inspiring images... I've been trying very hard to refrain from buying anything... so I figure by sharing things here I can quench my need to spend money. 

I'm not sure if I've talked about Magical Pony Farm before, but I've been a big fan for a while now. Lately, I've been pretty obsessed with all things kitsch, not that I haven't always been into kitsch, but every once in a while I just HAVE to have my hardcore kitsch fix. I think when Christmas comes around, I get even more into it.

Magical Pony Farm definitely fills my kitsch-fix need. :-)

Here are some VERY inspiring images from their shop!

I've noticed embroidered pieces in this shop before, but WOW, they've taken their original embroidered work to a totally new level! Beautiful!

link 

link

This one even has ribbon embroidery... BE STILL MY HEART gorgeous. Makes me want to try some ribbon embroidery myself.

 

link

i *LOVE* their silkscreened wall art... LOVE LOVE LOVE. And this one even has machine and hand embroidery added to it. And of course, the colors they use are soooo wonderful.

 

link

link

link

This fawn image is so lovely... these images really make me want to try silkscreening. Love these super-sweet brooches!

 

and how cute are these little shadow box necklaces? killer cute.

and little mini diorama necklace!!

Silkscreened pillow... loooove the kitty image and big bow!

 

And speaking of dioramas... these little kitschy ones are just to-die-for.. the attention to detail and craftmanship are wonderful!

What I love about this shop is that so many of the pieces keep their sense of humor firmly in tact. I love decor and fashion that always keeps that in mind. I hate anything that takes itself too seriously! Sometimes, more really is more. ;-)

Have a great weekend! More inspiring images to come next week. I got my yarn for my crocheted gingerbread house this week and I started on it.. albeit very little. It's going to be much smaller than I originally thought! I think when I'm done, i want to make a bigger one using thicker yarn/larger needle. We'll see how long this one takes first!

Happy Monday

For those that don't read my blog through Google Reader, you've probably already noticed this if you've visited today, but for those that rarely make it outside their Readers (i know, i used to be one of you.. then I had to stop because it sucked ALL of my time! ;-)... here's a new blog header I *finally* put together. It's been needing an update since this summer.

Click to see larger....

Happy Monday! :-)

Christmas crochet, new dollies & the Snuggie

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great one spending lots of time with Ethan's family. :-)

We took Ethan's grandmother to the mall today (i think I go to the mall maybe once or twice a year, and it's usually with his grandmother) and i have to admit that it got me in the Christmas spirit even more. We went to a bookstore (which we haven't done in AGES!) and wow, I miss going to bookstores. We do so much online shopping, I forgot how fun it is to stand around in a bookstore for a few hours perusing.

I don't have a lot of subscriptions to magazines.. I seem to find most of my inspiration online. But one magazine that I do pick up quite often at the grocery store is Crochet Today. They usually have some really cute patterns and designs, and dare I say, some are actually hip. ;-) Which is rare in magazines! (Hence, why I find most of my inspiration online and in blogland!)

This Nov/Dec issue is SOOO inspiring and just put a huge smile on my face. They have alot of cute, kitschy patterns for holiday crafts. The one I'm MOST excited about is the AMAZING crocheted gingerbread house!

 

Seriously, WHAT?! they're killin' me. I've already ordered my yarn for this and I'm holding myself to it to finish it in time for the holidays. TOTALLY TOTALLY psyched.

Although I do appreciate and love the kitschy Christmas color palette they used, I'm going for more of this sort of color palette with the yarns I chose from KnitPicks.

(P.S. I'd love to hear what yarn stores you guys like that knit and crochet out there? I can't afford the luxury yarns, but want something a step above the craft store yarns. I do love KnitPicks yarn.. but was curious if you guys had any other suggestions? please let me know in the comments section! i would appreciate it!)

I also LOVE the ripple tree skirt pattern (as seen on the cover photo above), and these ornaments... how cute is that ribbon candy one?

 

And I LOVE the idea of making stockings out of hexagon's.. not fond of these colors, but you can always change those!

Since I replaced our stockings with these a couple years ago, they're aren't very practical for actually putting things inside.. 

they are more decorative. And Ethan has been telling me since then that we need something that actually works, for the boys. Which I agree. So those crocheted stockings would totally fit the bill!

there's also a SUPER cute pattern for a little drummer boy (or girl!) set, made entirely from crochet!

 

Also, I know I mentioned that I have one new Blythe coming from France (previously owned)... I totally love her very mod-aloofness... she was stuck at the Post because of a strike, but is now happily on her way here...

 

and it looks like (to my utter surprise) that another girl is coming to me in the next week or two. I totally never expected to want another doll, but I haven't been 100% happy with the redhead I already own, so I was thinking of giving her new hair (yes, you can do that. ;-) Someone else can at least! I don't do customizations.. they make me nervous.)

... so a friend recommended (thank-you Ana!!) that I check out another Blythe redhead that was for sale at Plastic Paradise.. she is one that I saw in person at Blythe Con and totally fell in love with her hair, complexion and freckles. I should've bought her instead of my other redhead in the first place.. not sure why i didn't?

So here's the other new girl (on the left): (not my photos, source here, she was previously owned)

 

Nothing personal against my first redhead :-) But i do think she needs new hair still.. here's how she looked when I bought her:

 

Here she is after I chopped her hair and bangs.. still cute, but honestly doesn't look good UNLESS she has a headband on (because I did a bad job of cutting her bangs.. and they go way too far back. Hence the headband to cover the bad part up)..

So I was thinking of maybe changing her hair to something like this?
 

That is an actual goat mohair reroot (for you non-dolly people) believe it or not. (WOW) Although I'm typically not a fan of the mohair look, I do love it on this doll, and she has similar coloring to my redhead. Who knows, I guess i could always give her a totally new color. I don't think I could sell her though.. I'm too attached!

So that is FIVE dolls now.. I'm glad that Christmas and my birthday are coming soon.. otherwise, i'd still have just my 3 for a while (thank you Ethan and Mom! :-)

So, now that most of you have glazed over at my rambles in Dollyland, you can snap-to and hear about an even more intriquing subject: the Snuggie.

So I'm sure you guys have seen the Snuggie. On TV? at the grocery store? at WalMart maybe?

Ethan and I always see it at the grocery store, or on TV and we crack up. But then he always says how I need one because I'm always cold.

Well, tonight he brought me home my very own Snuggie. He says that I can craft now outside when we go camping and not get cold. :-) How sweet right?

And if you haven't seen this yet by Weezer, you must now. It's too too funny. :-)

And what's even more hysterical is THIS photo that came up when I did a "snuggie" search online...

 

OMG. How seriously freaky is that?!?

SALE at Tiny Bazaar & Kitschy Digitals {Goods}

So the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales at Tiny Bazaar and Kitschy Digitals {Goods} are starting a little early...

The prices are already marked in my Tiny Bazaar shop. Everything is 30% off storewide!! 

To obtain your 30% off discount at Kitschy Digitals {Goods}, you'll input the discount code "blackfriday" at checkout. Super easy!

The sale starts now and ends Monday, November 30th, 8pm Eastern Time.

Here a sampling of what's in these stores:

I also wanted to show you some photos that I've been meaning to share for quite some time now, but keep forgetting! A few customers have sent me photos of rooms in their homes where they've displayed my Picture Frame decals. I LOVE seeing how customers use these! And 30% off these decals is such a great deal since they are some of the more pricey items in my shop (they range from $20 to $50 regular price)

These were taken by incredibly talented photographer, Mika Beth Edwards (oooh, how i want her to take photos of my family!).. her daughters are adorable. :-)

 

 

And this is of a room in Kelly Lautenbach's home.. I love her arrangement of frames!

 

and here's one of my home...

And remember the 30% off sale on all of my digital kits here and here goes through Monday as well!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving Day. :-)

Kitschy Digitals Kits SALE!

Hi! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you American readers out there. :-) Just wanted to remind you that the 25% off sale on all of my Kitschy Digitals digital kits starts today and goes through Monday.

If you see any digital kits you like in my Two Peas in a Bucket store, that 25% discount has already been marked! (or should be!)

If you are interested in my two digital kits available on my blog, you will need to input the code: "blackfriday" at checkout to receive your 25% off discount. Remember, with digital kits, you never have to pay shipping! yay! :-)

I have lots of kits in my Two Peas store, one in particular might be of interest if you're thinking of a good gift idea for the children or book-lovers in your life. This is a kit that I have offered since last year, but if you're new to my blog, you might not have seen it: the Woodland Book-Lover's Printable Kit.

It was a big hit last year, so I thought I might highlight it again this year. It's such a guilt-free gift for kids when we're so bombarded with all the toys and stuff out there during the holidays.

This printable kit includes:

-4 Bookplate Designs 

-4 Bookmark Designs 

-1 Reading-Log Design 

-3 Iron-on Designs (for canvas totes, t-shirts, you name it) The iron-on designs can also be used as coloring sheets!

-3 *BONUS* Gift Bag Topper Designs (for the bookplates, bookmarks and reading log) 

-Complete instruction PDFs for EVERYTHING. 

You can read even more details about this kit in my post from last year.

Here are some pics of the kit elements that I printed myself last year... everything can be personalized, which i LOVE! You can personalize in Photoshop, or just handwrite the names.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're not into printing at home, I also sell the bookplate stickers and the bookmarks already printed in my Kitschy Digitals {Goods} shop.

Details to come on the Tiny Bazaar and Kitschy Digitals {Goods} Sale that starts on Friday. :-)

Black Friday through Cyber Monday Sale!

So, I started thinking about all of the Thanksgiving Sales coming up at all of the department stores, etc.. and thought, "hey, i should have one too!"

I will give more details tomorrow on how to obtain your discounts. :-) Thinking about starting on your gift-giving list? We have photo prints, paper goods, beautiful picture frame vinyl decals, embroidery patterns, clear stamps, Blythe accessories, printables and more!

And to clarify, it's:

30% off everything at Tiny Bazaar

30% off everything at Kitschy Digitals {Goods} (everything in this shop is available in my Etsy shop as well, so you can shop at either store.)

25% off all of my Two Peas Exclusive Digital kits (I wanted to do 30% off, but they only allow up to 25% off at Two Peas)

And 25% off my two digital kits now available on my Kitschy Digitals Blog.

Make note, that the sale is an extra day longer for the digital kits.. it starts tomorrow, Thanksgiving day!

More details to come! :-)

(and p.s. the frames I used for the image above, as well as the fabric buttons, will be in 2 new digital kits that will be available in December! :-)