PROJECT: craft tickets.

I love so many aspects of planning PROJECT: craft but my favorite detail always ends up being the tickets. Instead of having attendees print off boring Eventbrite tickets, Lindsay and I chose to send happy mail with a little surprise tucked inside. 

For PROJECT: craft-Spring Edition we envisioned mostly white decor with pops of bright colors. We carried this to the tickets by purchasing plain white boxes, wood excelsior, and bright yarn. Lindsay used her Silhouette machine to create little "admit one" vinyl stickers that were applied to wooden balls. The wooden balls were then wrapped in yarn + a tiny "pull me" tag finished then off.

I printed up these PROJECT: craft cards with the Epic Letterpress Tool using a custom plate. It was so fun seeing our logo in letterpress + we were over the moon happy with the quality and turn around of the custom printing plate.

Wrapping 33 balls in yarn took us a couple of hours but the effect was worth it. I love the impact little details like this make to an event. I think it not only gives people an idea of what to expect come the big night, but it gets them really excited to see what else might be in store.

You can see tickets from our last PROJECT: craft here.

PROJECT: craft Preview + Exciting News!

PROJECT: craft was this past Saturday. If you can believe it, the night was even better than last time. The vibe of the evening was amazing. I think a lot of that had to do with our level of preparedness. We managed to have every detail ready 15 minutes before 7:00 which gave us plenty of time to take some deep breaths and a few moments to soak in the atmosphere before our guests arrived.

There will be more (non-iPhone) pictures of the night coming soon. I'm so excited to share the details with you!

Until then, I have some exciting news! I received an email yesterday notifying me that Dandee was nominated as a top party planning blog. How fun, right? It makes me incredibly happy to know that you are finding inspiration in this little space. If you would like to vote for me (which I would be pleased as punch if you did) you can do so once every day until April 11th right here.

30 Favorite Things.

To celebrate my 30th birthday in December I promised a happy mail package with 30 of my favorite things to one lucky commenter. I was pretty vague about what the contents would be but you dears commented anyway and I was so excited to read your sweet birthday notes. Caroline was the lucky winner + I finally sent off her package last week. A few of you mentioned you were curious about what would be included so I snapped a few shots of everything before I slipped it in a box and sent it on it's way. 

 Thirty favorite things: (in no particular order)
1. Martha Stewart magazine
2. Paper Source labels
3. Japanese masking tape
4. baker's twine
5. kraft bags
6. Essie nail polish in "Chinchilly"
7. sticky notes
8. Burt's Bee's Lip Shimmer in Peony
9. Aveda Hand Relief
10. a Passionista mix
11. tall birthday candles (these are from Target)
12. my favorite necklace from Elisa Shere Jewelry
13. a letterpress card by the lovely Suann of Simplesong Design
14. striped straws
15. Lindor white chocolate truffles
16. muslin bags
17. wool felt in happy colors
18. old book pages turned into something pretty
19. manila tags
20. glassine bags
21. pillow boxes
22. business card size kraft envelopes
23. Moleskine cashier notebooks
24. tiny composition notebooks
25. tiny latte bowls from Anthropologie
26. anything from the Martha Stewart Crafts line
27. miniature clothespins
28. "Have I Done Any Good"print from Persimmon & Pink (this print is hanging in the cozy brick house)
29. Extra Peppermint gum
30. Altoids smalls



























Since shipping the package to Caroline, I've thought of other things I could have easily included. A pair of striped socks, a big round balloon, my favorite mascara.

I'm curious, friends. What would you have packed up?

15 Questions.

Sweet Marta asked me and 13 other bloggers to answer the same 15 questions for her Guest Post Series. I have read + loved all of the posts so far. It's fun getting a peek inside the minds of favorite bloggers, wouldn't you agree? If you feel so inclined, you can read my answers here. And follow the rest of Marta's series here.

This Week Is...

-Sentimental. My babe is turning two and I feel out of sorts about the whole thing.

-Busy. PROJECT: craft is a mere three days away. There are still a lot of checks to make on my to do list but things are coming together + I'm excited to share the details with you.

-Exciting. A few weeks ago Ryan and I decided to take the children to Utah for spring break. The only problem? We're not sure what we're going to do when we arrive. We have one or two things on our itinerary but we're mostly wide open. Would love some suggestions from you, Utahan friends.

Photo of me and Oliver courtesy of You Look Nice Today Photography.

Weekending.

This weekend was a busy one.

There were car rides to and from soccer games. 

On one such ride I caught Audrey + Oliver holding hands.

Owen is on a drawing kick. There are beauties like this strewn all over the cozy brick house.

I created centerpieces for a Relief Society dinner. Wheat grass, pennant flags + big round balloons made a church basketball court feel happy.

 Oliver spent the morning running around in Audrey's leotard. He loved it. She did not.

Easton has been fighting a cold for two weeks. This morning between sniffles he requested whole wheat pancakes for breakfast. I happily obliged.

Other highlights: PROJECT: craft preparations are in full swing, Ryan found a missing pair of shoes in the church lost and found (???), and the grass is greening up.

Yay for Spring!

Epic Letterpress Tool Review + Giveaway.

The winner of the Epic Letterpress Tool from Lifestyle Crafts is:

Congratulations! Please email me at dandeedesigns@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends! Lifestyle Crafts recently sent me a complimentary Epic Letterpress and Die Cut machine to play with and review for you. It has been loads of fun, you all know how much I love paper so that shouldn't be a huge surprise. 

I want to share with you the a couple of projects I was able to create using the machine and my honest opinion of the system. 

The tool itself it compact and seems to be well made. It's not too heavy and the handle is easy to turn as long as you don't use too much packing paper. Lindsay was with me the first time I tried the Epic out and we mistakenly used too many sheets of paper below the clear packing mat to create a deeper impression. Once we figured that we didn't need so much additional paper to get the impression we wanted, the handle was much easier to turn.

The printing plate kits I received were all packaged well and came in perfect condition. I loved the designs and had fun deciding which colors of ink to use.

This image is what your project will look like without any ink. In the letterpress world, it's called a blind impression and I love how simple and classy it looks.

I really like the fresh green color on this card. When applying the ink, it's important to remember that a little goes a very long way. I can't imagine ever going through all the ink in one tube.

The first ink color I tried was the metallic gold. I literally could not wait to create something shimmery. Again, remember that a little ink is all that's necessary to get the right look. The gold ink needed a bit more drying time but the look is well worth the wait.

If you like to host parties, the Epic is such a great tool. You can use the machine to print up some invitations AND cut out flags for your party food. These Party Flag Inserts are perfect for labeling treats.

After I cut out the tags I letterpressed them with my favorite gold ink.

In all, I am over the moon for the Epic. Before I started playing around I was a bit unsure I would use it much. Now I can't stop thinking of things to make. My mind is spinning. And yours will be too. The possibilities are only limited to your imagination.

One of my favorite services Lifestyle Crafts offers is the custom plate design. You can upload your own graphics and Lifestyle Crafts will work up some printing plates for your Epic. I sent in some designs and can't wait to get my custom plates in the mail. I have so many plans. . .

Are you thinking you would like an Epic too? Great news! Lifestyle Crafts would like to giveaway an Epic Die-cut/Letterpress Tool + an assortment of accessories to one lucky Dandee reader.

Giveaway Guidelines:
-Make one comment on this post to enter.
-Giveaway closes Monday, March 21st at midnight.
-Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on Monday March 21st at the top of this post.


Just so you know, it is very important to me that I offer honest reviews to you my readers + friends. I would never lead you to buy a product that I wouldn't spend my hard earned money on too. 

Mindy Gledhill- Whole Wide World Music Video.

Remember my surprise birthday trip? If so you might also remember I mentioned in my re-cap post that I was in a music video.  Well dears, today is the day for you to see it! The lovely Mindy Gledhill invited our little group of traveling mamas to appear in her Whole Wide World video.



The shoot itself was really fun. We met on a little country road by some HUGE wind machines and ran behind a truck with a camera guy in the back for a couple of hours. Our only instructions? Run. Don't look at the camera. Smile, but not too much. Check, check, check.

The temps were chilly and by the end my cheeks and nose were rosy red, but my heart was full and warm. How many people get the opportunity to be in a real music video? Not many. A perfect memory from my 30th birthday that will be cherished forever.

Mindy and her crew supplied silver running shoes for everyone. Although you can't really see them in the video, they looked awesome as we were running down that country road.

 The Passionista, Kristin, me before the running began.

And here's the star. It has to be said that Mindy is one of the most genuine, kind people I have ever met. The passion she has for her craft is palpable. Her energy- contagious. And the beauty Mindy radiates extends farther than her blond hair and cat eye glasses. It's the beauty in her heart that has impressed and inspired me most.

Tako Fibers.

Back in December Marilyn gifted me this crewel embroidery kit by Tako Fibers for my birthday. The second I opened it I fell in love. The packaging is simple and sweet and the kit itself comes with everything you need to complete your project. Not to mention the darling hand drawings in the instruction booklet. I love it so much, I had to share with all of you. 

I plan on taking my Tako Fibers kit with me to Project: craft. I hope to already have it started by then so I can sit, stitch and chat.

p.s. Did you see that PROJECT: craft is already sold out? SO exciting!

Weekending.

Soccer season kicked off Saturday. 

Audrey and I wore matching Chuck's to celebrate.

Easton's freckles came out of hibernation thanks to the shining sun.

Ryan coached two games.

Oliver kept himself busy using orange cones as robot arms.

Other highlights: Abby scored the game winning goal and had a couple awesome assists, Owen said "I'm thirsty" a million and one times, we managed to play three games without getting rained on and after it was all over?

I came home and took a nice long nap. I love Saturdays.

PROJECT: craft-Spring Edition Update.

Tickets for PROJECT: craft-Spring Edition are steadily depleting. The last time I checked there were just ten or so left. Here are a few things I've been thinking about that I wanted to share with you:

-The deadline to purchase tickets is March 22nd. Half the fun of PROJECT: craft is the little details Lindsay and I put into the event. Remember the tickets from last year? Well, I'm not going to give too much away, but we've cooked up something you're going to love. This new deadline will give us a few days to slip your handmade ticket in the mail.

-There are going to be GIVEAWAYS! We have a slew of handmade giveaway items from our favorite shops, you're going to love them.

-Don't have a project to bring with you to work on? No worries! We are providing craft kits for each attendee. It will be something sweet + simple. A beginner project that will keep your hands busy while you chat with friends.

-If you're inspired by pretty things and happy people, PROJECT: craft-Spring Edition is the place for you. We're so excited about our guest list so far, won't you join us? Buy your ticket here.