A Housewarming Gift Idea

Don't you just love the movie It's a Wonderful Life? If you don't, well you should. I cry every single time I see it. My sister did a swell thing for me after we built our house. She came bearing a gift basket with some simple items and quotes from the movie. What a great idea! Long on meaning, short on cost. I've done the same for several folks for housewarming gifts and thought I'd share the idea.

You can recreate her idea here. You'll need:

A niceish basket

Gourmet salt of some kind

Your favorite fancy loaf of bread, pretty is a plus.

A bottle of wine (if you are a teetotaler like me, you can substitute Welchs Sparkling Grape or choose a great cooking wine)

These tags: (or make your own!) download them here
You can also get fancy and include other niceties, like some cool tea towels or other gourmet treats. Here's one I gave to one of my other sisters (I have four) when she recently bought a new house.

Pinspinner inspiration

I recently created a garland of pinwheels for my girlies' room, thanks to the tutorial for pinspinners on Allsorts. Thank you, Jenny Harris! The instructions and the template were all so easy to use.

I made a bunch from some patterned paper I purchased, and also patterns I came up with on my trusty Mac and printed out. It was most creatively gratifying, and so fun to do. Instead of pushing the pin through the eraser of a pencil, I took some pliers and bent the pin down in the back to keep the whole thing from flying apart.

Then I attached them at regular intervals with tape to a ribbon I already had in my stash, and voila! A colorful and playful garland to liven up the walls in my girls' room. It will be a dusting nightmare, maybe, but worth it. What would have been REALLY UBER COOL would have been to have the pinwheels stuck in the wall so they would still spin, but I couldn't work out the logistics and didn't have pins long enough. Maybe y'all will have better luck.

mmm...crafts

So here's my new crafty blog. Robyn, you'll probably be my only reader. :-)
I thought I'd start off with a freebie. Here is a card I designed for congrats on a new baby/pregnancy. If you'd like to use it for personal greetings (please don't sell items made with this image) feel free to download it. Print it from your own color printer on card stock. Trim and fold it according to the built in directions and voila!
Finished size = 5.5" x 4.25", fits in a standard invitation envelope.