Burlap Love Banner for Kids

All of the seasonal crafts around our house are kid friendly. I admire the mom who has professional looking banners and garlands but for me, if I am going to sit down to craft, it is going to be with my kids.  As a result, almost all my crafts come out looking like they were made by a 20 month old and 4 year old.  That is because they were!  Today I am sharing a "LOVE" burlap banner that we did at home.  Easy and fun and you can do it with your kids, too.

For this fun kids project you will need:

1. Pink burlap 
2. White paint 
3. Scissors
4. Decorative String 

Start by cutting out your burlap. You will need 4 pieces to spell "LOVE." Fold them over at the bottom and cut diagonally, unfold, and it will create a flag.   Put the stencil on and have your child paint inside the stencil.

When the paint has dried, the adult should poke small holes in the burlap and then the child can thread the decorative string.  This is a great exercise in concentration.

Hang from your fireplace mantel or anywhere in your house to display your work proudly. Molly is incredibly proud of this one and it was a great 2 day project for us to do at home in the afternoon!

We'd love to hear what you are working on for Valentine's Day. Are you doing anything fun with the kids? Share it with us here or on our Facebook page!

Daddy Daughter Dance

For the third year, my husband Mike and daughter Molly, attended our schools "Daddy Daughter Date Night Dance" for Valentine's Day.  No moms allowed! Just the guys and their gals (except this year I was the "official photographer" for the school so I got to go.)  I captured some wonderful pictures of the girls and their dads. It's basically a prom for 4 year old's (though it's the entire school toddler through 5th grade school, the 3-6 year old's seem to dominate....) complete with fancy dresses, corsages, a DJ in a church hall with Disney Frozen music, and lots of cookies and sweets.

A quick look today at the pretty Valentine's Day party details and some precious photos!

Nice one boys... Here's Mike and our good friend, Matt.  Check out Molly belting out a song in the background... 

Does your school have this tradition?  I had never heard of a "Daddy/Daughter Dance" until I moved down South.  Share what you are up to for Valentine's Day here or on our Facebook page!

Cards We Love

I love sending a card to brighten someone's day or just because.  Over the last four years, our design team has created some incredible handmade cards. I recently was going through a box and found some great ones to share with you! Hope you enjoy these incredible handmade, stamped cards using PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps by our very talented team. 

Just a note uses PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick Stamps and Butterfly Stamp from Cupcake 

This card uses PSA Rosetta Peel & Stick pack 

This card uses our Maxine Young at Heart Peel & Stick collection, exclusively for Hallmark Stores 

This card uses Hello Kitty School Days Peel & Stick by PSA 

This "thinking of you" stamp comes from PSA Dare to Dream Peel & Stick pack

This card features The Eifel Tower stamp from PSA Frenchie Peel & Stick pack. 

Which card is your favorite? Tell us here by leaving a comment or share it on Facebook! 

Valentine's Day Garland

Mrs. Green is the newest member of our PSA Essentials design team! She's created a Valentine's Day Garland that I just adore.   On her blog, she's done a fantastic tutorial which I am lucky to be able to share with you today!  To recreate this, you will need:

• Cardstock
• Stamps by PSA Essentials* 
• Ribbon
• Rope or similar
• Mini clothespins
• Circle punch
• Glue dots

* Mrs. Green used stamps from six different PSA Essentials peel & stick packs for this project: the dotted outer ring from the Cupcake set, and an assortment of whimsical, love-themed centers from the Mr and Mrs, Love Birds, Smile, Happy Holidays, and Whimsy Cakes sets.

Stamp your chosen designs onto white card stock.  Mrs. Green chose 5 different designs and stamped 5 of each design, giving her a total of 25 stamps. Use a circle punch to punch out the stamped designs.

Add tails of ribbon to the bottom of each circle.  She used an assortment of five different ribbons that she got from the dollar store, attaching the pieces to the circles using glue dots instead of regular glue to make the process go faster. (And cleaner!) Since she had 5 of each stamp and 5 different ribbons, she was able to pair them up in such a way that no two of her resulting medallions are the same.

To assemble the garland, you will need rope (or something similar) and mini clothespins.

Easy peasy!  Visit Mrs. Green and subscribe to her crafty awesomeness to ensure that you never miss a post!

How to make your own Gift Wrap

Sometimes you have a little extra time on your hands (okay....that doesn't happen all that often!) but there are times you want to make something from scratch.  Sure, it's easy to buy wrapping paper at the superstore, but making your own is fun and cost effective.  A large roll of craft or poster paper is about 1/2 the price as the same amount of gift wrap.

We were recently invited to a 4-year old birthday party.  We almost always bring books as a present.  I made "4" birthday wrap using our Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps by PSA Essentials and my PSA Stamper.  All of these 4's took less than 5 minutes.

I wrapped the presents after the stamps were fully dry (about 15 minutes) and then tied with some ribbon.

So what do you think? Will you try making your own gift wrap soon? You can get really creative and use stamps from our "Whimsy Cakes" collection or "Happy Birthday" from our sentiments.  You could also switch up your ink with different rows for pops of even more color.   The possibilities are endless here!

DIY Party Hats

I'm all about doing it yourself.  Just so long as it easy.  Many times I have made party hats completely from scratch (see a tutorial here) but sometimes when you are planning a big party or have lots of other creative components, you need to take some short cuts.  I made these party hats for my son's 1st birthday last year.  They were simple, festive and personalized -- perfect for the occasion.  When you want to go a step further than store bought, try this idea.

For this project, you will need:

1. Zap Dots clear sticker adhesives
2. Cardstock (patterned and colorful solids) 
3. 2" and 1.5" round punch 
4. Party hats -- found at Target 
5. PSA Essentials Personalized Stamp (Christi design shown here, personalized "Connor's first birthday."  Any of the designs can be personalized anyway you want, they don't have to be just address stamps.  Just make sure it fits the character limit!)

 

Step by Step: 

1. Stamp onto solid cardstock.  Allow to dry and punch with 1.5" circle punch.
2. Take your 2" punch and punch out colorful, patterned cardstock. (I used dots!) 
3. Mount the stamped 1.5" circle onto the 2" circle with Zapdots
4. Mount them to the party hat! 

You can use your personalized stamp for other projects, too, like for party favor stickers (below), cupcake toppers, invitations, and centerpieces. 

So what do you think of this easy project?  Read more about Connor's 1st birthday "Hungry Caterpillar" themed soiree here!

Martin Luther King Day

Today we are taking some time honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at PSA Essentials and honor a man who worked so hard to make a difference in this world. True we have come a long way in equal rights, but also true that there's still so much work to be done.   Here's a collection of some of my favorite quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   Which is your favorite?

Jennifer Holmes created this celebrate card using our Smirk Peel & Stick stamps by PSA Essentials. She colored them up brown, white, tan, and varying shades to represent different races and stamped "celebrate" from her stamp collection.   I think it's an excellent reminder to celebrate the diversity in this world!  My favorite quote by Dr. King:  "...what are you going to do for others?"  After all, I think that today is all about what we can do to make a difference.

Share what you are doing to make a difference in this world on our Facebook page!