For today I want to share an update I did on the fan of the sewing room, I was super inspired when I saw a chevron project posted on Design Sponge last year, I pinned it with the hope that someday, when we had a house of our own I could refurnish my own.

Since we are on a very tight budget for all of our house improvement projects we are going to refurnish a lot of the things that were in the house, in the case of my office/sewing room I already showed you what I did with the build-up, now it’s the time for the fan! In my case I needed a full recover for this fan because I didn’t like anything about it, as you can see in the before picture, it had flower shape lights, the blades where showing the wicked pattern side, and I definitely didn’t like the brass body.

So I took the blades out and I was super happy to find that the other side was plain wood, so I would paint and accomplish my idea on that side. For the body, I left it there and took the flower glass shared off (I need to figure what i will replace them for later) I taped and cover around the areas I didn’t want painted and spay with a metal primer, then top it with white paint.

I did the same for the metal parts of the blade and use wood paint for the blades.

After that I taped the shapes I wanted on the blades, this was my very first experience with frog tape, I totally loved it but I did a few thing wrong on this try.

I was not sure of how much pressure I should apply to the tape, and I had a few areas where tape crossed, so my advice pay extra attention to those areas, use your finger and really press there, I didn’t and my blades got pretty messy in the crossed tape areas.

After I took the tape off I had to clean up an re-touch some areas, after everything was dry I re-assemble the baldes and then re-attach them to the fan body. I really love how it ended up looking, I still have to figure what I want to do for the shades but as for now I love it just like that =]

I am really excited because I only have a few more projects to finish the sewing room of my studio, after that I plan on finishing the office room to get all done with my Studio level of the house, that way I can focus on the re-launch of my site and the projects for the baby’s room =] Hopefully I will get to it in a couple of months.

Talking about baby, I wanted to share the link to my Baby blog, I though about keeping it private because it’s more of a Diary for our future son/daughter but then I realize that I like sharing the things that are important to me, specially when I am absent here. So here you go -> Dear Seed, a little diary with the updates of my pregnancy along with my weekly pictures, just like the one above =]
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
XOXO

First two images by the awesome Next Exit Photography

I am so happy to finally reveal the real reason why this place has been so quiet and why I’ve been so sick =] We have a little one on the way! So at least is a happy sickness. 2012 has been pretty crazy for us, so far we have a new house, new car (mine) and a baby on the way! talk about excitement and stress. We could not erase the smile off our faces, we are beyond excited and we feel so blessed, it’s kind of funny how everything just happened at once, but some times things are just meant to happen like this! It feels like it’s Christmas, we got it all packed in a few weeks.

So far this pregnancy has been kicking my butt pretty bad, I always get car-sick and my Mom suffered from pretty bad morning sickness when she was pregnant, so it was not a surprise to me when I started to feel sick, but it got to a point where I could not do anything or eat anything, because in less than I could walk to the bathroom I was hugging the toilet. Everything made me dizzy and I could not even walk to the kitchen without stopping because I felt I was fainting. My Doctor gave me medicine that helped me a lot and now at least I’m eating normally but I am still dizzy and super tired most of the day (specially in front of the screen) The first trimester is officially over, so I am hoping things will eventually get better, but even if they don’t – I don’t care much, I am so happy to have this little one growing inside that I would take this kind of morning-all-day sickness for the whole 9 months as long as he/she is healthy =]

Because the stress of the move-house-sickness was really getting to me I decided to close my Design Studio, that way I can slowly catch up with all the clients that are in my wait-list right now and hopefully I will also catch up with my Inbox (right now it’s a nightmare). I am still selling Blogger and WordPress premades but only on Etsy. So I am not completely out of the Design picture =]

Our house is still a huge mess because I just don’t have the energy to do much, and that’s kind of frustrating, but I know that we will slowly get there =] I try to clean and organize whenever I am too dizzy for the computer but most times I just end up in bed =[ I get dizzy even with my phone so that's why I've been so silent on Twitter and absent on Instagram. I hope to feel better soon, so I can catch up with everything (including this blog).

Last week I was lucky to finally have a normal day, one of those where I didn't look like crap so I took my first weekly pictures, I really wanted to start taking them sooner but at least I started =]

I am not planning on posting weekly updates here just because I want to keep the blog as it is now, I am keeping a side blog where I plan to post all my baby stuff but of course (as everything else in my TO-DO list) it’s not done yet, so I will share it once I get to it =] I am planning on sharing ALL the projects and stuff I want to make here – but other than that I want to keep all my baby-talk over on the other blog, because I don’t want to get you all tired with my pregnancy-issues (because I know I get tired of hearing myself) LOL.

I am so happy to finally share the news and feel free to talk about it with everyone =]
I hope you all have a bright and sunny day!
XOXO

The very first project I got to tackle the week we moved (other than cleaning, trying to unpack and organizing) was the revamp for the build-in desk in the sewing room, because since the minute I saw it I knew I wanted to prettify it.

The counter top was a laminate surface, so I come out with a buch of different ideas to revamp it, I though painting was not going to be a very durable option with me using it all the time, but once at the store I realized that they had a special paint for laminated surfaces! silly me =]

I guess I just needed to go out there and see what the store had, I was planning on adding a vinil sheet as one of the top ideas on my list, but they were all a lot more complicated than just paint, so I am super happy they had the exact color tint for this pain (they only carry 16 different colors).

To start I took all of the drawers and doors apart, then took all of the hardware off, clean it very well and added paper an tape around all the areas I was going to paint. The inside of the cabinets was super dark, so I also planned on painting it (white) so that I could see in there better.

Because this is a build-in taping was kind of hard on some areas but it just required some extra patience =] For the counter top I was surprised of how good of a coverage the paint had, I could have leave it with just one layer, but to be sure I did 2 anyways.

The rest of the structure was solid wood, so I end up giving it 3 layers of paint, the pink covered really well but since it had more intricate corners I preferred to give it one more =]

I also wanted to share a little trick I use every time I need to paint hardware and screws, if I need the heads of the screws to be the same color as the hardware I just pinch them to a piece of styrofoam, as for the hardware I choose the side that will be visible to paint first and then once it’s dry I take it out and finish the other side. This has always worked really well for me, so I hope it can help others too =]

I also wanted to share one of the things that excited me the most about the build-in, it has an extendable top. I think it would be the perfect space to have a Serger (since they are not needed all the time) I could easily pull it out every time I need it =]

Now I just need to buy one, but with the new house and such I don’t see it happening anytime soon, but at least it already has a place in the sewing room =] I just love the mechanism inside, it has a little handle in the botton that you pull to unlock so you can put it back it. So perfect!

For the hardware I just spray painted with a very similar color pink, it’s a shade softer but you can hardly tell. At first I wanted it to be a hotter pink but now I think it looks good and I am starting to like it more and more.

And as usual I had to share a picture of how Curly keeps me company when I work, it was pretty cold with all the doors and windows open in the studio, so he just crawl in to a ball and stayed warm. He is doing so much better now in the house, at first he was super scare of the stairs (we use to only have a 2 level house, not 3 like now) He used to cry for us to take him up and down but after a few days he goes all by himself and we play hide and seek whenever I have to go up or down =]

I can’t wait to have more time and keep on going on the rest of the projects I have lined up, so I can unpack and start to sew again =] and don’t worry I know I am still owing 2 tutorials, I hope to finish one of them next weekend so I can share it next week!

That’s it for the revamp of the build-in, more on how the studio/office/sewing room is coming together soon =]
I hope you all have a lovely and sunny day!
XOXO

We were so excited we wanted to move right away! but right after we took this pictures a snow storm hit the mountains and up until today there was still snow coming down, we lost power because of falling trees and it was way too difficult to even try to move things in the snow. So we will wait for the weather to get better to attempt to move.

Our new house is by no means new, it was actually build in the 70′ and needs a lot of work, no really A LOT of work! but that was exactly what we were looking. We contemplated building in order to have the house we wanted, but after we saw this house we knew right away that it was perfect for us, it had all the potential we were looking for, and since it needs so much work, we can renovate it to be exactly what we want =]

The house it’s located downhill, so in this picture you can only see one floor, but it’s actually a 3 story down, and the main level entrance is one of the things we LOVE! we used to have to carry groceries about 30 steps up from our rental driveway to the house, so this by itself it’s a great improvement! We have a two car garage with a little shop below it, we plan to renovate that too, but so far that’s last in our super long list!

And along with the news I wanted to share one of the things that excited me the most about this house – the 3rd floor -> this is actually a 1 bath/2 rooms level, and it’s all MINE to set up my studio/office!! YAY! – So I can’t wait to get started in the renovation of this space (one of my first projects in the house)

It’s funny that even before escrow closed I had everything I want to make with this space planned out in my head =] I decided to keep the wall dividing the 2 rooms (at first I wanted to get rid of it and have just one very long room) and make the front room my office/design studio and the back room as my sewing/crafting area so that way I keep things more organized.

I am so excited to share the rest of the house and the improvements we are going to be working on, since it will be mostly done by us with the professional help of Ken’s dad. We decided we want to move in and slowly work on one room at a time, for this next couple of weeks we are going to be working on cleaning, and whatever the weather allows us to do outside, and I’ll be working on my studio every time I can.

I am so happy to finally write this post, we have been crossing fingers for weeks!!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and if you have any moving tips I would really appreciated! since last time I moved I only brought 2 bags from Chile, this move will be a little bigger than that LOL.

One cool thing was that right before I got sick I decided to upgraded to an Iphone. Ken tried to convinced me for about a year before I actually decided I wanted one, I think I refused for way too long =] right? – I had a chance to play with it while in bed and I have to say I LOVE IT. Among other things I finally joined Instagram and even tho I am still trying to figure it out, I think it’s pretty awesome.

So hopefully now that I am feeling better I’ll get to share some previews and stuff there, so let me know if you are on Instagram too, I am HowJoyful there =] I don’t really have many pictures and most of them are of Curly but hey! he’s a very cute subject.

On another note, even though the news of Google discontinuing Google Friend Connect has been all over the blog world for quite some time now. I wanted to share my frustration and sadness about it, as of March 1st they stopped the support for all non-Blogger blogs, so what does that mean for HowJoyful? Since I use WordPress the little widget in my sidebar (the white box below my ad) that used to say “follow this blog” is will no longer work (I just still have not erased it hoping Google will change their minds – hopeful thinking never hurts), but that is not really what makes me sad/mad, it’s the fact that everyone that used to get updated to their readers via Google Friend Connect will not longer get it.

I was actually super happy to almost reach 1,000 readers on GFC and I wanted to celebrate it with something special (GFC was about 1/4 of my total audience so it is a pretty big deal to me), but that same week I heard for the first time that Google decided to eliminate Google Friend connect along with a few other Google services that are not very popular (it was pretty late already, I could have tryed to write a post to warn everyone before they stopped delivering updates, but I’ve been so out of the loop while sick). Right now Google is recommending to create Google+ Pages and add their widget, but keeping up with yet another page/social media and start from scratch will be hard, I just don’t know if it will be worth the effort.

My readers are super important to me, I know that if you bother to read my blog there is something I must be doing right. I just treasure each one of you, so I just can’t get over the fact that every blog that is not hosted with Blogger will not be able to use GFC anymore, I kind of undertand that Google is protecting their own blogs, but their solution could and should have been better than just say “start all over with Google+ pages”.

I am so sad I have no way to let all of those readers about this change =[ so I just really hope some of them will visit, realize that they are not getting the updates and re-subscribe... ( what a pain for all of them!) And just in case you are one of them and are reading this post, there are a lot of other ways to get updates when a new post is published:

• You can subscribe to the RSS feed.
• Add this blog to Google Reader
• Follow via Bloglovin'
• Get email delivery
• You can like our Facebook Page
• Follow on Twitter

Anyways, enough with the GFC issue because I am very excited to be back and feeling better =] I hope you guys missed me! because I sure did =] I know I still owe a few tutorials I showed the previews for, so I’ll try to post them soon (I have so many half done post drafts right now… but I’m working on it!) I’ve missed you all so much!
I hope you all have a lovely day!

1- Two tone burlap wreath by Stephanie from Fab your Bliss
2- Fabric Ruffle wreath by Kelly Hicks Design
3- Tissue paper wreath by Rebekah from A Blissful Nest
4- Nonna wreath tutorial by Jones Design Company

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, see you next week!
XO

The first thing that came to my mind when I thought about my business cards was the leftover, super cute, wood, handmade ladybugs that were going to be part of our wedding favors, but since we decided to go a different route, they were gathering dust in a box. That’s when there was a bright light that went off in my head! I had about 200 tiny ladybugs with double stick tape on the bottom so you can stick them wherever you want.

My next step was to order a few custom stamps from Jessica of JLMould, she made a couple of stamps before so I knew I wanted her to make these ones (If you ever need custom stamps go to her!) I also got a few different shades of turquoise cardboard, glassine envelopes and gathered my puncher and the Japanese tape that inspired the pattern used in my blog design.

NOTE: Jessica from JLMould was kind enough to offer a 5% off in all stamps for the HowJoyful readers using the code: JLMould – Thank you Jessica!!

My first idea was to make little craft bags the same size as a business card. Even tho to me they looked super cute, it was way too time consuming (the craft paper envelope part), even using a cutting machine. So I only made a few trial ones of those.

I opted for just using glassine bags that were the perfect size. I printed a little greeting explaining that ladybugs are a very popular lucky charm in Chile and punched with a scalloped round punch. Stamped both the card that I cut out of the turquoise cardboard and the front of the glassine bag so I can put one on top of the other and tape the corners.

So in order to get to the ladybug (in the pictures doesn’t really show that you can see the ladybug through the glassine envelope) people have to only un-tape one of the corners, I didn’t tape the glassine bag shut either, because it would have been too much work for the poor people getting the cards hehe. After witnessing people opening the bags and taking the ladybugs out I can say that everyone seemed to enjoy it =] Below you can see what the little envelope contained.

While exchanging business cards at Alt summit, I received very positive feedback and it seemed that everyone loved the fact that it had a goodie in it. And I really loved how the back of the ladybug note has a QR code to howjoyful.com 8] -> Nerd smile!

So there you go! the HowJoyful business cards =]

ps. Amy Butler said that from now on every time she saw a ladybug she was going to remember me – not that she will actually remember me – she will probably think of the crazy girl with the ladybug story that she met at the Alt Summit white party – LOL I think it’s still pretty awesome!

I hope you all have a lovely day!
XO

[ Image by b.a.d photography for Alt Summit 2012 ]

I want to start by saying that the coordination of the event was great, very detail oriented (LOVE!) and well designed (duh =] ). I had very high expectations and I was super excited to get to see/hear some of the Alt speakers I really admire.

I did my homework and researched all of the sessions and classes I wanted to take, so I had my schedule and was able to read about the people speaking in each one of them, that way I had an idea of what to expect, content wise, and let me tell you it did not disappoint, not one little bit. I walked across the street to our Hotel every day with my head spinning with ideas on how to improve this little place and my business. I have a super long to-do list (Yes! I love to-do lists!!) and I have to say that I am still a little overwhelmed by all of the big dreams in my head =]

[ Image by Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit 2012 ]

That’s me in the picture above, front row like the little nerd that I am sometimes =] adding to my notes and getting ready for another fabulous session.

I think one of the highlights of the conference was to get to listen to Ben Silbermann, creator of Pinterest. He gave a very encouraging and powerful speech – He looks so shy, but with a mic in his hand he’s just awesome!

He shared the story of how Pinterest was created and a little bit about his pursuit for doing what he loves and how only 2 years ago he was struggling to get financial support and only had dreams of creating something big.

The other highlight of the conference for me was to be able to chat for a tiny bit with the amazing Amy Butler, she totally made my day after a few very-non-successful encounters with other bloggers.

Here is a picture of her and the rest of the panelists at one of my favorite sessions “From Blog to Book”. After the session ended everyone rushed to ask her for an autograph and to take photos with her, so I decided not to even try =] But later that night, at the Winter Wonderland Party, I got to talk to her for a few minutes, and that little chat made me realize that it seems that when you are very successful/famous, people tend to be super kind/humble/approachable (just like her), but when people are on their way there (popular but not super famous), their heads get way too big.

I have to blame myself for the disappointment tho, because ever since I started blogging, Readers, other Bloggers and Designers I’ve met online have been nothing but nice, super kind and awesome, so that was exactly what I was expecting, especially if they love Design and Blogging. But in the blogosphere, just like in the “real” world, there are all kinds of people! (I know! weird huh? but it was kind of a shocker for me.) I don’t want to get into details but I am sharing this because in one way or another my personal experience at Altitude Summit has helped me realize how I don’t want to be and how I don’t want other people to see/read me.

Being humble is one of the qualities I appreciate the most in people, therefore, it is also one of many that I am constantly working on with my feet on the ground. One very coincidental thing is that the same night after being kind of upset, and still frustrated by some blogger’s attitudes, while networking and run into the below type work by Neil Tasker, a little confirmation that I am not the only one that really appreciate humble people =]

[ Stay humble - type work by Neil Tasker via Dribble ]

Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of nice people there, I think I just had the bad luck to run into the ones I shouldn’t have. While in the conference I got to meet super nice bloggers and Designers, I actually filled a little clutch with business cards I collected. I think it was an overall amazing experience, super inspiring and eye opening.

On the left: Amy Butler in the panda hat, me, Tab and Rachel – We also had a little Weddingbee Reunion (on the right)

If you are thinking about trying to go next year I’ll tell you now, with no doubt, DO IT! They have awesome sessions, the food is great the Grand Hotel could not be any prettier and the speakers are very talented in all of their fields, all of them are super willing to share and answer your questions.
Plus they give you so many little presents!

[ Image by Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit 2012 ]

And if you are the ones interested, here are 2 really cool links to see what the panelist talked about this year.

• Growing a Readership: Twitter recap of the panel featuring @makingitlovely @jordanferney @maggie and @designcrush
• From Blog to Book: Altitude Design Summit panel with Amy Butler, Grace Bonney, Julia Rothman, Lia Ronnen, and Chronicle Books editor Kate Woodrow.

And as far as our road-trip there and back goes: it was awesome! I do feel kind of bad that I got sick on our way back, so I slept most of the way, but this does not happen all the time and normally I keep Ken company the whole way, so he was OK with it. We stopped and stayed in Provo and Vegas to sleep and rest (yes, I tried to sleep a lot =P)

Even tho we were not totally prepared and forgot our swim suits, we got to play with our feet in the water =]
It was a very cool trip and a super awesome experience, I really hope I can go again next year!

ps. If you go next year, let me know and we can go together! =]
XO

Just like the other ones I glue them to my hand-cut-kraft-paper envelopes with a normal glue stick, but if you really want them super secure I would also recommend you a few drops of hot glue.

This time I prepared a single PDF file with 2 different shades of labels, a light pink and a creme, the page holds 4 labels. Remember to not “Fit to print” because it will make the labels a little bit smaller.

As I mention before this is a PDF file, so in order to preview the file you will need to have Abobe Reader installed on your PC or MAC. Without the program you will not be able to download or preview the file. If you have troubles please visit this link, because each browser works different.

I hope you all enjoy this freebie and make your Valentine’s day more special!
I am trying to catch up with work after a wonderful week in Utah for Altitude Summit, so I will share the details as soon as I can =]
ps. I also want to share my handmade business cards!!
XO

* This printable is provided for personal, non-commercial use only.
Check the Site policy at the bottom for further information, Thank you!

So as soon as the tickets started selling I told Ken about it, he suggested we could turn the trip from California to Utah into a road trip, so that way we could get to spend time together and he could go skiing some Utah mountains while I am in the conference =] I was sold right away!

So we are on our way there and I can’t wait for all of the fun =)there are so many classes I am looking forward to, so of you are going I hope to meet you and if not I will share my experience once we are back next week, so you can have a peek =]
I hope you all have a lovely day!
Xoxo

I wanted to wait a while in order to write this post to see how it worked first, it’s been more than 3 months and it holds the shape and works perfectly, so now that passed the test of time I can share it =]

It was actually pretty simple and if it wasn’t for the dry time of the ModPodge it could be done easily in less than 15 minutes.

THE MATERIALS

• Your fabric of choice in the size you want your mousepad
• A 1 inch bigger than your fabric piece of non-slip shelf liner
• Modpodge
• Paper towel
• Small brush or sponge brush
• Sewing machine, or handstiching

THE PROCESS
Before we get started remember to pre-wash the fabric you are going to use because it can shrink after you get it wet with the Modpodge.

- Cut your fabric in the size you want your mousepad (mine is a 10×10 inch piece), you can get all creative and try different shapes, I just did a square because I don’r have much space in my desk right now and my square fits perfect!

- After you have your fabric, cut a bigger piece of the shelf liner and pin it in place, add a paper towel in the bottom, that way the shelf liner will be in between the fabric and the paper towel to be able to sew it. Otherwise it will get stuck to the foot of the sewing machine, if you plan to hand-stich it, dismiss the paper towel =]

- Sew your mousepad carefully around the edge making sure the fabric and mat do not move

- After you are done sewing, pull the paper towel carefully away from the sewing line (right picture above) after you do all of the edges the center portion will come out very easily.

- Grab a brush and cover the fabric in a thin layer of Modpodge, if you don’t have Modpodge you can use tacky glue and water (just remember to use 2 portions of glue by one of water)

- Let it dry and if necessary put weights on the corners fo the mat so it stays in place while it dry, after is completely dry repeat with another layer. I only did 2 and it works perfectly, but if you have a thinner fabric i would recommend you to use 3 layers.

Let it dry completely and cut the excess of mat on the edges. You are ready to use your fabric moused!

I love this mousepad and the best thing is that I can make them as bigger or smaller I need, with pretty fabrics for a more customized desk look =]
I hope you have a lovely day!
XO

* This tutorial and pattern is provided for personal, non-commercial use only.
Check the Site policy at the bottom for further information, Thank you!

1- Felt monogram pillow by Allison from Little Lovelies via Maybe Matilda
2- Big bow pillow by Liz form Say yes to Hoboken
3- Shag pillow by  Vanessa from V and Co
4- Smock pillow by Fleeting thing

I am super excited to go to Utah and attend Alt summit next week! and to finally have time to craft a little and make some pretty business cards =] I will show you all once I’m done!

I hope you have a lovely day!
XO

♥ First I have to say that I am super happy to see how much this little blog grew in just one year, back in January there were not even 200 RSS subscribers and now it’s pretty close to 2,600! How did that happen? Well, however happen it makes me super happy =] so Thank you [huge wave]

♥ I am also very excited to finally finish the update for my business HowJoyful Design Studio or HJD Studio, it took me a while but finally it’s ready for the new year and I am excited to finish all the current projects so I can start accepting new ones in March.

♥ Last January I jumped and started my very own 101 in 1001 list. I has been very rewarding to cross things off (yeah I am a list maker!) so I hope I can cross off a lot more things in 2012! If you still don’t have a 101 in 1001 list, this is the perfect time to start =P

♥ In 2011 we decided to adopt a little dog, but we only got to enjoy him for a few days =[ We are hoping this new year will be the year to try to get another one.

♥ I was super happy to go visit my family back in September, it was very refreshing to get to spend time with my Mom and sister. Once a year sometimes feels like it's not enough.

♥ I opened a premade template shop, shared free templates and open the shop section of my blog, so now I just have to finish the details of my two first sewing patterns and add them there =]

♥ I was also very excited to open the doors to sponsors in July, thanks to the on growing traffic I felt I could help other blogs and small business to get more views in their sites.

♥ And of course there was a lot of sewing, crafting, upcyling and Inspiration shared this past year, so I can only hope to have more time to dedicate to the things I enjoy doing SO MUCH =]

I had this post almost ready since last month, so I decided to change the end portion of it. Two days a go my grandfather passed away in Chile, so that would definitely be the sad part of 2011 =[

For the past couple of day I’ve been thinking a lot about life and the things I want to do, but most importantly about what my contribution to other people’s life is and I hope will be. This next year I hope to keep growing into a better person, to worry less and love even more. I hope to never take my friends and family for granted and remind them all the time how much they mean to me.

Let’s celebrate life and cherish every moment, always say “I love you” and hold the hands of those who need it, life is too short to worry about silly things. Let’s be playful and smile, laugh and jump. I wish sunny and pretty days for all of us and for those gray and cloudy days warm and tight hugs. Deal?

Thank you for reading and letting me share my life.
Much love, XOXO

I made a PDF file with 4 different buttons patterns that you can use to wrap or embellish packages, I used only one sheet for my 4 sample gift on this post =]

As I mention before this is a PDF file, so in order to preview the file you will need to have Abobe Reader installed on your PC or MAC. Without the program you will not be able to download or preview the file. If you have troubles please visit this link, because each browser works different.

I simply wrapped everything with craft paper (when I ran out of it I always use lunch bags) to embellish the package in this post I did 3 different things.

- I printed and cut stripes of the button paper, and used them as belts for the bigger packages, I glue both ends and finish with a hemp twine wrap and a simple bow =]

- I printed and punched flowers, I think this was by far the easiest one and witha few of them your package just looks adorable =] If you don’t have a flower or shape puncher, just cut some cute shapes and glue them to one side, it will still look very pretty!

- I used the paper to make little bunting details, I cut a 1″ long stripe, then cut 3″ pieces folded them in half and place yarn in the middle. after gluing it, I cut the edges to shape a bunting flag =] I glued the first and last bunting flag to attach to the package

I hope you guys enjoy it and embellish your packages with this simple tips =]
Have a lovely day!
XO

* This printable is provided for personal, non-commercial use only.
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Since I really liked one of the rejected drafts I decided that it would be nice to show you all a little bit of behind the scenes as an excuse for it to get a little exposure, I just feel sad no one got to see it! The least I can do is give it 1 post of fame. So here it is, the poor little How Joyful that went to the trash =[

For this sketch I really liked the idea of making swirls in the shape of hearts with "How Joyful" but then I changed my mind because it seemed too busy and cutesy for my personal taste. So I started exploring other ideas and other kind of typefaces, lines and swirls. I ended up with probably more than 20 different drafts but this one below was the runner up =]

I still think I could do something with this, the one above was the last draft I did in ink and paper, but I also vectorized it. So, I would really like to actually do something with it since I spent so much time on that. I think it could be another print to frame for my office, or maybe print it on fabric? I am not sure.

This was one of my first completely free-hand projects and I loved the process so much! Now I really want to buy a new tablet to draft projects because my old one was only for PC so now I have no way to use it (the only bad thing about only having Mac products now) so hopefully I’ll get to buy one soon, because I really want to get back into drawing with a tablet again.

I’ve received a few emails asking me for the font I used in my current header, so I want to show you where it came from. I actually didn’t even have tracing paper that day, so I just started playing with the only sheet of paper I found. After my first sketch I went over to my Mother-in-laws (She does awesome calligraphy) and asked for her advice/opinion, we played with calligraphy pens and had a lot of fun. I was still indecisive over the two sketches because I started with such a different set of concepts for each one. But I decided to work more on my second draft because I thought it was way too rough at first, so with a few line changes and tracing it on Illustrator it ended up just like I wanted =]

Do you have any ideas to use the runner up?
I hope you all have a wonderful day and stay warm!
XO