The naughty list: dog christmas card

My friend Elise's dog, Myko, is quite the character.  So much so that he deserved his own dog Christmas card last month which I designed.  


All items represented in Myko's "file" are hilariously true (okay, well maybe one is a stretch, but we wouldn't put it past him).

Break-in or renovation? You decide.

I may or may not have been been responsible for this:

I admit to nothing.  Ignore the crumbs on my face.

Get your craft on: DIY crayons

I've read many articles about making your own crayons from broken ones using cookie molds, so I thought Wavey would find it a fun holiday project for kid-gifts. 

So here's the rub: We didn't have enough organically-derived broken crayons, so we broke a apart a box of new ones...and what an UNHOLY MESS it was to peel the wrappers off of them. 

Did you know generic crayons affix their wrappers with the same glue probably used to hold rocket ships together in space?  Yep, now you know, and I have the wax under my nails to prove it.

We melted the crayons in the oven at 275-degrees for about 15 minutes and let them cool completely before popping them out of the mold.  Success!

Gingerbread house FAIL

My sister is in town and we thought, "Let's buy one of those pre-fabbed gingerbread houses to decorate.  How difficult can that be?" 

I think you can guess where this is going...

It didn't help that Emily and I carry the gene of impatience as we didn't bother reading any instructions. 

Between the two of us, Emily and I carry college and post-graduate degrees...clearly none of which were in engineering.  Or good judgement. 

The walls wouldn't stick, the roof collapsed, and icing was EVERYWHERE.  The kids basically gave up on us, threw a few candy pieces our way and took off.

Even the gingerbread men look zombie-ish and disgusted by our work.  

Hello, holidays!

Holiday cocktail party invitation

Can you believe we're pretty close to Christmas already?  I cannot.  But, my clients certainly are on the ball with plans for holiday cheer:

I designed this holiday cocktail party invitation using icicle blue, silver bell and cranberry inks on textured cardstock and matted it to a shimmering silver cardstock.  Very holiday glam.

(Personal information has been modified to protect privacy)

Christmas "cheese"

I've had some decent luck with several props I've been tyring out this year for kids' holiday photos, but I can't quite win with the frame...espec in the "ages 3 and under" group.  The evidence:

Family photo: FAIL

Taking photos of other people's children for holiday photo cards is easy for me.  Photos of my own kids?  Not so much:

Though, this sadly is quite the realistic snapshot of our day-to-day.

Propped up

{Its been a while, hasn't it?  You know when life gets ahead of you a bit?  That was me.  But I'm back, and I've got lots of stuff to share!  So, enough about why I haven't blogged since forever ago.  Let's get back to the present...}

Meet my little friend, Bridget, whose parents graciously asked me to snap a little photo session to use for a custom Christmas card design.  So, I brought over a few props, like my red chair and a open white-washed frame.

And Bridget was having none of it.

So keep this in mind when doing your own photo shoots for the holidays: Kids, especially little ones, will not hold still for anyone. Or, get creative and crop out dad's arm:

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Here's a photo taken on Christmas Day last year and there are few things going on that I'd like to point out.

1.  We had the world's most pathetic Christmas tree that would only hold one string of lights.

2.  Wavey had raging pneumonia and her excitement for the diagnosis is rather apparent.

3.  Toys exploded all over the family room by dusk.

4.  Griffin, the forever-peanut that he is, STILL fits into and wears those pants.

I'm taking a blogging break the rest of the week to enjoy the holidays with family, and I hope you have a great holiday as well.  I'll be back on Monday!  :)

He sees you when you're sleeping

My funny friend Holly thinks she's so hilarious by texting me photos of her "Elf on the Shelf" and his hiding places over the past few days.

You know, Holly, the more you make the elf alive, the more real he becomes. 

If tonight, while you're sleeping, you suddenly feel a tiny cold, plastic hand stroking your cheek and the smell of cheap red felt permeates the air, you'll know who's there.

Sleep well, Holly.  Sleep well.

Beware of dog

My friend Elise gave me this hilarious photo of her dog to work with for her holiday card.

And together, this is the design we landed on:

I {heart} dog people.

It's for research, I swear

I may have misrepresented needing to make 96 cookies for an upcoming party.  Because in reality, I pretend that I need to "experiment" with different cookie recipes, when really it's 2% testing and 98% self-indulgence, yielding approximately 96 kabillion cookies prior to the actual exchange.

Case study batch #2: Chocolate truffle cookie with peanut butter chips.

And can we talk about how over-the-cookie-moon I am to have been featured on Clover Lane yesterday?!  Pop over today and check out the Good Gravy! giveaway! 

Do the math, it's 96 cookies

This year's family cookie exchange will require participants to bring eight dozen cookies.  As most exchanges go, you take home an equivalent assortment of what you've brought.  96 cookies out, 96 cookies in. 

I don't know if our doctors will approve the family consumption of 96 cookies, but we'll manage.  And for the exchange, I'm leaning toward a holiday spice cookie recipe because I {heart} cinnamon. 

So, just in time for your own gift-giving/baking packages, I'm pleased to introduce new Good Gravy! scalloped gift labels (shown above) and scalloped gift tags (seen below)!

The tags and labels are customizable to any message you'd like, too.  So if it's jam you're gifting (try Above the Dam Jam from the goodness of Maine!), or just need some general "Merry Christmas" gift tags, these are perfect for your holiday packaging.

Now, onto my 96 cookies.  Please ignore the nibbled one in the corner.

"Gary" would have been a funnier name

A far cry from the weensy tree we got last year, my husband ventured out a little earlier this go-around and picked up a decently sized tree.

Growing up in Los Angeles, my tradition of getting a tree consisted of going to a hardware store parking lot and watching my parents buy a pre-cut tree for about $20. 

I still see no problem in paying someone else to do the dirty work of chopping and dragging a tree out of the woods, but my New England-hearty hubs cries "blasphemy!" and insists we (as in he) chop down a fresh one.  Fiiine.

Wavey decided her own tradition will be to name the tree each year.  Why the heck not?  Please meet "Trunk-a-thon."  Unusual, but distinctly Wavey.

Special discount at Julian & Co.!

How nice is Tania from Julian and Co.?  Just about as nice and sweet as her small scrawling locket seen here:

Along with being a great partner in pairing her amazing jewelry with some Good Gravy! note cards, right now she's offering a 20% discount for you, my beloved readers, in her shop!  At checkout, enter discount code GOODGRAVY. 

But hurry, offer expires December 10, 2010.  Happy weekend!

DIY holiday pillows

I have an insane amount of wool felt leftover from my DIY looped holiday wreath, so when I came across pre-made brown pillows, I couldn't resist this no-sew idea.



Here's what you'll need:

+ Tell your husband you're going to Target just to buy toothpaste but then come out of the store a few bucks lighter because you found these great brown pillows at $3.50 each.

+ Iron-on adhesive paper (I used Heat N Bond)

+ Wool felt, or other fabric is fine

+ Glue stick, scissors

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

First, iron on the adhesive paper to the back side of your fabric.  Then, you can draw your pattern right onto it:

For lettering, I printed out the word "merry" in reverse and then glued it to the top of the adhesive paper so I could cut around it:

Cut out all your shapes (as seen below), remove the adhesive paper and then iron directly onto your pillow.  I skipped the part of showing you the ironing because if you're unclear on how to iron, you probably shouldn't be using scissors.

 Instant festivity in under an hour.