making your way to fun & fancy gifts, favors and recipes for every occasion

DIY Valentine Cards

Ah, February- when the weather is dark and dreary (and very wet if you live in Portland). What better way to cheer up the gloom than crafting at home with a cup of tea or even better with chocolate and a good friend? These handmade valentines were a blast to make and very easy. Supplies: • MOL labels, of your favorite styles and shapes with valentine words. I used Bible verses, but lines from poems ("Red is the Rose", "Shall I compare Thee...", "Roses are Red...") or classic valentine sayings … [read more...]

DIY Heart Bookmarks

After reading this tutorial for heart bookmarks on Martha Stewart, I decided I wanted to make them for my friends and family for Valentine’s Day this year. Instead of gluing two pieces of cardstock together as the tutorial shows, however, I decided to simplify things by using personalized heart-shaped labels from My Own Labels. This turned out really well, and made the whole process super simple! If you’d like to make your own heart-shaped bookmarks, you’ll need: • A heart template, … [read more...]

Baked Clay Ornaments

My husband and I are really fond of Christmas, so we always decorate our home just as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over. This year, after all of our Christmas decorations were up, we realized that our Christmas tree was looking a little sparse. Perhaps some of our old ornaments were broken or lost, or maybe we never had that many to begin with. Either way, we decided we needed more decorative attire for our tree, and came across this fun idea for baked clay ornaments. We went to the craft store … [read more...]

Bookmark Place Cards

These bookmarks double as wedding reception place cards and then after the wedding as book markers. Simply find a beautiful paper of respectable thickness and of a color to match the label and your wedding colors. It is nice if the paper can stand up on it’s own. Order a label shape number 04 in your favorite style. Then enlist the help of mothers, sisters or friends with really nice handwriting to put your guests names on their very own keepsake from your wedding. If you wish to make these bookmarks … [read more...]

Waffle Knit Dishcloths

Over the summer, I decided to expand my crafty repertoire and explore the world of knitting. Although I've been handy with a crochet hook for years, my proficiency with knitting needles left much to be desired, which was a problem I very much wanted to remedy. So to teach myself how to knit properly, I decided to ease into it with a very small, simple pattern that required both knit and purl stitches: the Waffle Knit Dishcloth by Debbie Andriulli. To improve my skills, I knit one of these dishcloths … [read more...]

Christmas Cheer

Welcome our newest contributor, Anna Lorton! Anna was born in Idaho and raised in Oregon. She has traveled the world and lived and studied in far away and exotic places like Illinos, Florida, and Hamburg, Germany. Portland, however, is her favorite place to be. She works for My Own Labels as a data wrangler. In her spare time she likes to write letters, craft, folk dance and read. I love snail mail. I usually send it more than I receive it, but that has never dampened my enthusiasm to send … [read more...]

Simple Gifts: Cinnamon Sachets

This is a sweet and easy gift to put together, especially if you have little hands to help. Cinnamon sachets hung in the kitchen are a beautiful way to store cinnamon for use in cooking, or just for looking at. Sachets are also good for freshening a closet or drawer, garnishing a stack of towels in the guest room, and - my favorite - as an ornament for the Christmas (or Easter) tree. You will need: • cinnamon sticks • ribbon or raffia • tags Be sure to allow for plenty of ribbon or … [read more...]

Handmade Dish Scrubbies

If you read my posts here on planning a DIY wedding, you'll know that I was married in September (The wedding was perfect!). At first, I was worried about what I would do with all of my decorations once the big day was over, but now that I'm not spending all of my time planning a wedding, I'm using my free time to explore new and interesting ways to use up all of my leftover wedding materials. For instance, I recently ran across a free pattern for crocheted dish scrubbers made of tulle! The pattern … [read more...]

DIY Tea Bags

Last week, I saw an amazing tutorial over at A Beautiful Mess for DIY loose leaf teabags, and I knew had to try it for myself! Lucky for me, I just happened to have a box of loose black tea and some pumpkin pie spice lying around the house, so I thought this would be the perfect time of year to make gift boxes of homemade pumpkin spice tea to give to my friends and family for the holidays. This project ended up being super fun, and because I already had everything on hand, the whole thing was … [read more...]

DIY Candy Filled Pumpkin Favors

These candy-filled pumpkins are so cute and fun to make. I originally got the idea from Martha Stewart's Cherry Bomb Wedding Favor How-To. But instead of a cherry, I decided to make pumpkins for Halloween favors. I even added my own favor tags to make them more special and unique! Martha's how-to says these are "a cinch to make" but it took a little practice for me to get the hang of it. After making 4 duds, I came up with these beauties! Tools & Supplies: • Orange tissue paper • Scissors • … [read more...]