Ace of Hearts Valentine Gram Printable

Make these fun and special "Ace of Hearts" Valentine grams for your classmates! Make it a special one by printing their initial letter cards. Printables include letters from A-Z (2 each) and all A's if you want to keep it simple and not use the custom letters. Hop over to Hello Wonderful for details and instructions.

Class Valentine Grams - Printable Favorites

Making Valentine's day gram for boy's classroom is one of our favorite craft activity to do every year. Boys are excited about passing our their Valentines grams again this year! I have rounded up few of our all time favorite ideas and printables. We've made these in previous years and they were a huge hit! Thanks to creative bloggers for sharing the printables. Hop over to download printables and tutorials by clicking on the links below. Happy Class Valentine's!

You Make My Heart Glow by DELIACREATES | Yoda Best Valentine by DESIGNWASHRINSEREPEAT 

Tic Tac Toe by SALLYJSHIM | Fruit Gummy Valentines by DOZIDESIGN 

Pencil Arrow by MUFFINGRAYSON | I Like You A HOLE Bunch! by DESIGNMOM

Gold Coin Toothfairy Printables

I'm sharing this fun and simple "earn a gold coin for every baby tooth you lose!" printables on Hello Wonderful blog today. Hop on over to download the free printable and short instructions on how-to here. Have fun!

Hopscotch Your Way to Adulthood! - Birthday Cards {Printables}

Last year, we invited few of n8's friends over to celebrate his 8th birthday. I didn't have a big theme party planned for him but thought of this hopscotch idea to use for his invite. I got the idea from watching him playing hopscotch at his school playground. I remember playing this as a child and love this idea of making birthday cards for his friends. I'm sure you have asked your child to draw something really quick or make a personal card before heading over to their friend's birthday party. I do that all the time and it's usually very last minute. So I have made these hopscotch invitation to printable birthday cards for you to download and print. You can even make it a fun project to do with your child. Enjoy!

n8 playing hopscotch afterschool. hard not to pass this on the ground every time. ; )

n8's birthday invitation that I hand-cut and put together.

birthday card printables (2-UP) for you to download {here}

birthday card stick-ons (3-UP, for extra) for you to download {here}

hopscotch birthday cards!!

MATERIALS

White Adhesive Labels (full size)

Neon or Color Papers (65lb card stock)

Color Printer (Inkjet shown)

Scissors

Tacky Glue or Double Sided Tape

A2 Size Envelope

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Print hopscotch birthday card (2UP) pdf from link above on adhesive white label (full size 8.5" x 11"). I usually buy this adhesive paper from the paper company like Kelly's paper but you can buy smaller bulk size at any office supply store. One that will work for your printer will be great. I used the ink-jet compatible ones.

2. Before you cut out the birthday card design into A2 (4.25" x 5.5") size cards, stick the design on color card stock paper by peeling full size printed adhesive label. Here I used neon color paper for the pop! of color but you can use any color paper. Just make sure to use not too thick (like 80 lbs card stock) as it may not go through your ink-jet printer. I used 65lb cover stock in neon colors. I picked up a small ream from the Target store.

3. Cut the design into A2 card size, you will get two cards out of this printables. I used xacto knife and metal ruler but you can use scissors to cut around the edges. 

4. Print stick-on printables (3UP) on 65 lb color card stock paper and cut out the pieces with scissors. You can save the extra ones for future use. 

5. Glue or stick on the right number (birthday age) for your friend's birthday card. You can use durable glue like tacky glue or double sided tape.

Happy Birthday, Kiddo! Hopscotch Your Way to Adulthood! 

Minimal Living - One Corner at a Time

We've been living in a small 1.5 bedroom apartment for many years now. Before we had kids, we were living in 1 bedroom apt downstairs in the same building. We had plans to move (for many years) but for some reason it never really worked out for us, never found a place that we can call it a home. We really got bought into convenience of living 5 minutes away from everything (work, school, groceries and growing coffee and food Mecca!). We love our current building, it was built in 1920s so it has lots of charm and personality (like the gold moldings around the ceiling!) but it has never really been renovated (esp. Kitchen and Bathroom) and as a renter, it's somewhat limited to how much investment you want to put into your house that's not your own. Because I thought I'll move out of this apartment sometime soon, I was never really that inspired to decorate or organize our space. I think looking at some of these inspirations, I decided to at least minimize our living in our small space and make it work for us even if we end up moving out in the near future. It's never too late to organize and de-clutter, right? These photos are not pictures of my home (Gawd, I wish!!), maybe I'll need to post some before and after shots just to show you how much "de-cluttering" I had to do. 

These inspirations caught my eyes because they seem to be right at the budget where I can probably afford. They seem to be furniture and items that can really make the place cozy and comfortable. De-cluttering is never ending project but I'm giving it a stab at it, one corner at a time. ; )

I like living in a space that has open view to other rooms like living room to the kitchen or living room to the dining area. Check out this built-in wall bookshelf. Isn't it great? I also love the low desk at the bottom for reading and writing. [via images of Living Room, Book Wall]

Heavy iron standing ladder to hang your throws or towels. No head board instead of nice shelf for photo art gallery. [via images of Standing Ladder, Bedroom Gallery]

I'm so getting this leaning shelves for organizing toys and books from Land of Nod! and low wide bed with plenty of storage built-in. [via image of Leaning Shelves, Low Bed]

Whether it's the oversize table or small table? definitely next to some good natural lighting. [via image of Oversize table, Small table]

Kitchen with plenty of maneuvering space and that flooring is kind of awesome. A good unit to hang all your utensils and tools. Kitchen is probably one area where I wouldn't mind investing the most. I think it's because I like spending time in the kitchen. I kind of own it. [via image of Kitchen, Hanging Unit]

Ok, I seem to be obsessed with these leaning units!!! Perfect for saving space at the entrance area [via image Leaning Mudroom Unit]

And for my own small yet do-able luxury, a coffee bar and a wine crate garden. [via image of Coffee Bar, Wine Crate Garden]

Do you find these ideas inspiring? Do you have a working system at home that helps you to keep things organized and de-cluttered? Please share as I am desperate to get this project going! Ideas and suggestions welcome. Would love to hear from you! _Selina

Instagram @pchyburrs

Without a doubt, Instagram is definitely one of my favorite social media forum. Over the few years I've stumbled upon so many amazing people on Instagram. It opened new doors to the creative world. Daily grams flood into my feed with the most interesting people, breath-taking view of places and mouth-watering photos of delicious goodness. But when I discovered Peechaya Burroughs @pchyburrs it was like a fresh breath of air from all the grams that I was scrolling through daily. There isn't much info to be found about Peechaya but I think her work can speak for themselves, they are simply AMAZING. I love all the details on paper cut-out work but I think it's the quirky, minimal and conceptual images that she presents together that gets me go "Woah...Ahh...Oh?...Hehe". Hope you take some time to check out her gallery because I assure you it will be worth your time, definitely a good break from looking at other feeds. You can check out more of her work at http://instagram.com/pchyburrs.

All Photos credit to Peechaya Burroughs @pchyburrs instagram.

Typeface Font Round-Up {Download}

As a Graphic Designer, I am always on a hunt for good typeface (font), it's actually a huge part of our job. Choosing the right typeface that works for your design can be the most brain picking process but good typeface and typography alone can create great design layouts. I have great respect for good Typographers (is that what you call someone who designs fonts?) out there who are willing to share their fonts on the public domain and are available for free. These fonts are few of my recent favorite picks. I'm also working on designing my own fonts that are named after my kids, something called "NateToyBox" and "UltimateTyler" with cute windings/dingbats included. We'll see if I ever get it done though!!! In the meantime, hope you enjoy these license-free fonts. They are mostly TT (True Type) or OT (Open Type) fonts that work on both Mac and PC platforms. 

D O W N L O A D

Ostrich Sans | Ostrich Sans Bold | Raleway | League Gothic

Corki Rounded | Hagin Caps | Chunk Five

Mountain Retreat | Sketch Gothic | Bouwen Holes | Peach Milk | Helvetidoodle | Pablo

League Script | Kg the fighter | Arsenale White | Shipped Goods 

The Art of Letterpress

About a year ago I had a sudden interest in learning to use the letterpress machine. There is something really unique and personal about letterpress printing. Must be the art of hand printing individually with so much love and care that has something to do with it. I've only learned about the letterpress printing in theory during my design school years but never had any hands on experience. So I took up on the opportunity to learn about the process with Rebecca at Reb Peter Printing in Oakland. She was so great to work with. She walk me through the process and coach me along the way. You can sign up for her workshop individually or as a group. From coming up with original designs to getting the photopolymer plates, selecting and cutting the paper, mixing the color by eye and hand to feeding the machine one by one to see the final end result...I immediately fell in love with the art of letterpress.

This is her beautiful antique Chandler & Price 10" x 15" press. It's actually very therapeutic working with this machine. At first, I was scared to get my fingers stuck or just thought of running the machine on my own was daunting but once you get your own rhytme going, you almost become one with the machine.

The best part about printing letterpress design is hand mixing the colors. We pick the colors using the Pantone color book but match the color with our eyes and mix them by hand!

Here are just few of card designs that I have printed during holiday season. Some of my recent cards can be found at a local store in Oakland and online at my etsy shop! I hope to do more letterpress work and bring thoughtful design pieces to show you!

Free Printables | Door Signs

I have some free printables to share with you today!!

Thank goodness to all talented bloggers out there sharing free printables, I've saved many sleepless nights doing last minute projects. So I'm sharing some on my blog (for free!) Here are some black and white printable door signs that I made while back when my boys were toddlers. They didn't even know how to read back then but I read the signs to them once and they seem to understand what they were for. Kids are amazing! They are so great for work-at-home moms but fun for everyone! Hope you enjoy them.

Knock knock joke door sign to download. 

Shhhh...mommy in meeting door sign to download. 

Designer's Block

Do you ever sit in front of blank piece of paper and pencil and let your mind just wander off into 

no-where-land? You have an idea, you have a concept but can't quite seem to visualize into an
image. Do you get tired of looking at beautiful, well-designed layouts and images but don't get
inspired at all to create something original of your own? It happens to me all the time....
a designer's block.

No doubt there is so many beautiful things already out there. You have a design in mind, most likely

has been created by someone else before and published somewhere. You look at an images and get 

wowed, it's only natural that those images will make its way to influence your design.

How do you find inspiration? What do you do when you just can't seem to come up with anything

original? Here is just few recommendation from a forever struggling artist, designer...myself.

+ FIND INSPIRATION ELSEWHERE (other than already design outputs) - 

Sometimes, I get an inspiration from just looking at black and white photos. I don't know what it is but

bw photography always gets my attention when it comes to telling a story. Going out to see the

nature, flipping through some fashion magazines, play around with freshly cut flowers, try a whole new

innovative recipe that you haven't tried before. Open up all your five senses!

+ GO BACK TO BASIC ELEMENTS OF DESIGN - color, line, shape, texture & space. Good designs

always go back and true to its basic elements.

+ TALK TO OTHER DESIGNERS about what inspires them. Daniel Patrick Simmons @danielpatrick
on instagram opens conversions with other designer and artists on "Tip Tuesdays". He also has
some great write-ups, tips about design and doing business. You can read more on his
blog.+ SPEND AN HOUR AT LOCAL MUSEUMS OR GALLERIES. If you don't have time to visit all the
museum or just can't afford to travel to Europe (like me), take a virtual tour in Google Cultural Institute! -
to see the exhibits and collections in high resolution tour, anywhere around the world! Find something
that triggers you esthetically from looking at all the masterpieces.+ NOT ALL DESIGNS HAVE TO BE CLEVER. It doesn't have to have a visual link to your concept.
It can be as simple as beautiful typeface that you found. Design work may not even need a concept
as long as it works visually for you and for your client.+ STOP. Don't design anything. You don't have to be pressured to create something constantly.
Just walk away from the design realm for a while and enjoy doing something else. But please do
remember to come back to your sketchbook and pencil. It took me a while to come back!I hope you find these tips useful. I hope you don't let the designer block stop you from keep creating!

Classroom Birthday Goodie Bags

This year for boys birthday, we've decided to have a smaller party at home and prepare goodie bags for their classroom. For n8's birthday, we prepared customed printed brown lunch bag with 8 of his favorite goodies. For n6's birthday, we printed labels for the bag and stuffed with 6 of his favorite goodies. For n6's classroom, we had to select non-gluten snacks for his non-gluten classroom. Here is the list of the items in each goodie bags:

n8

1 \ madeleine cookies - pk from safeway

2 \ food erasers - daiso japan

3 \ ninjago stickers - ninjago sticker book (from toys r us)

4 \ lego magnets - made this with small dot magnets and lego pieces laying around at home. :P

5 \ go go squeeze - pk from target

6 \ balloon - pk from target

7 \ color pencils - pk from target

8 \ favorite soup recipe - pdf fillable recipe card printable from Love vs. Design.

n6

1 \ fruit gummy bears - pk from target

2 \ yogurt covered raisins - pk from safeway

3 \ minion stickers - minion sticker book (from toys r us)

4 \ honest kids berry berry good lemonade - pk from target or costco

5 \ food erasers - daiso japan

6 \ minion tatoos - party supply wearhouse

I'm thinking this idea isn't the most cost effective way if your kid is older than 10. >_< Budgeting and picking the right items for the goodies was huge part of this project. As you can see, I tried to select the items that my kids and his friends would actually like and also items that come in big packs at Target or Costco. 

Please send me a note if you want your own customized printable template (pdf) for the label!

It will be sent to you for free! 

Love,
Selina

Valentines Glow

I'm totally scrambling to get these classroom Valentines gram done this year. I had couple of unique ideas but none that I was really happy with and totally ran out of time to make samples. I wanted to do something with neon as it has been my color inspiration for kids projects lately. I hopped on my pinterest board and searched for valentines gram and found the most adorable grams using the glow sticks.

You Make My Heart Glow Valentines  (printable by Delia Crates)

Photo by Selina @skycreatives Instagram

You can find the printables here on Delia Crates. N8 chose this one for his 2nd/3rd classroom. 

He colored the printable with neon sharpie markers. Cool!

Yoda Best Valentines (printable by CRJ Design Inc.)

Photo by Selina @skycreatives Instagram

You can find the printables here on CRJ Design Inc. 

T5 chose this one for his Kindergarten classroom. AWESOME! 

This year we are not doing any customized valentines due to big classroom size. It will take too long for the kids to pass them out and I just figured it would make teachers life a little easier. Check out more favorite Valentines gram ideas on my pinterest board My Valentine.