Occasion

(all photos courtesy of  Heather Crosby of YumUniverse) My friend Heather Crosby from YumUniverse and I were two of the lucky 450 (!) to attend Martha Stewart’s Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations book signing and on-stage interview with Susanna Negovan at the Standard Club in Chicago. The venue was posh and very Martha from the …

Thanksgiving is around the corner so I thought I’d round up some of my favorite Thanksgiving free craft project tutorials. First: Some easy ways to dress up your turkey table this Thanksgiving with napkin rings and placecards: – Thanksgiving felt leaf napkin rings free craft project tutorial – Thanksgiving felt and paper leaf placecards free …

I made these personalized sugar cube wrappers to go along with a bridal shower gift for my friend Debbie. I bought Debbie’s sugar bowl and creamer from her registry (very pretty btw) and filled it with personalized wrapped sugar cubes in her pink and orange wedding colors with her soon-to-be married name: Ten Eyck (yep, …

Today’s indoor craft activity is for toddlers under two years old: it’s a color sorting straw game made out of a recycled oatmeal container. And trust me, it will keep them entertained at home for hours. All you need is an empty Quaker oatmeal canister (or cardboard box), a standard hole punch, a bunch of …

This DIY baby wipes container craft will put the finishing touch on your nursery decor. My baby wipes box has become a fixture on Elise’s shelf so I thought why not make it extra pretty? So I decided customize it by covering it with fabric. Here’s what the baby wipes pop-up container tub looked like …

I made this ring holder from a recycled cardboard egg carton as a gift for my friend Debbie’s recent engagement. Would you ever guess that this ring holder was made out of a recycled egg carton if I hadn’t told you? Is this crazy or what? I’ve been eyeing our empty cardboard egg cartons before …

I whipped together this easy but clever hostess gift for my friend Wendy’s ‘Welcome Home’ housewarming barbeque: a potted mint plant with a teabag ‘card’ perfect for summer sun tea. Wendy’s new 3-bedroom Chicago condo has a rooftop deck that’s easily the size of a large outdoor beer garden. No kidding, it’s really that huge …

Here’s how to make a fabric baby gate for the bottom of stairs or between doorways. This DIY fabric baby gate has given me a lot of piece of mind these past months. We tried store-bought safety gates at the bottom of our stairs but couldn’t figure out how to work around our awkward window …

These free printable wedding invitation and round place cards are part of the “Inspiration to Reality: My Modern Clementine” feature at Style Me Pretty in partnership with Bliss Wedding & Event Design and C STUDIOS. The chic design was inspired by 60s geometric bold patterns in black and white, clementine orange, fresh green and gold – …

Make your own oven mitt in less than one hour with my free oven mitt sewing pattern. These DIY oven gloves are just the right size — not too big and floppy — and you can choose to quilt the outside of the oven mitt or leave it nice and smooth. I’ve made them both …

Today’s photo frame craft idea is all about recycling. I used masking tape pieces to cover an old red photo frame that I almost gave away to Goodwill and voila! A whimsical, throwback photo frame for Elise’s one-year-old portrait. Anyone else out there make masking tape vases as kids at camp? At Camp Na-Wa-Kwa we …

My friend Jolyn, the Queen of Handmade Burp Cloths, taught me years ago how to turn regular white burp cloths into posh fabric-covered burp cloth sets in less than an hour. Cute, huh? And oh so useful too – my #1 baby gift criteria. Recently it seems like everyone is having babies and I have …

Try this delicious sweet potato crackers recipe! I’ve been making this sweet potato crackers recipe again and again since Thanksgiving’s sweet potato leftovers and I think it’s high time I passed along this yummy kid-friendly recipe. A sweet potato crackers recipe that kids love to eat Elise has become my official cracker-making helper and #1 …

Elise loved her 1st birthday gifts and wanted to say thanks in style! I designed pink monkey thank you cards with a ‘1st birthday’ bananas birthday party hat and yellow polka dots cards. Then I used pink and burgundy fine-point Sharpie markers to write on them. This free pink monkey 1st birthday thank you card …

Here are free printable bubble labels in yellow and pink. Just download, print, cut, and stick for easy DIY birthday party bubble favors. I made these yellow and pink free printable bubble labels to coordinate with Elise’s 1st birthday party theme – Pink Monkey and Bananas. Elise just loves bubbles – she has a little …