Christmas Card Holder Tutorial

Every year, we are blessed with wonderful Christmas cards from our friends and family.  When we got married, we only had a handful of them, which could be nicely displayed on the kitchen counter or on the fridge.  But over these last few years, as more friends are starting to send them out, the number of cards has multiplied like crazy! I searched and searched online for some sort of card display.  The only ones I could find could only hold about 10 cards max.  So, I took matters into my own hands and made one.  The best thing about it, is that I can actually use it year round.  I use it for any kind of card we get - birthdays, announcements, etc.  I had a couple of friends request that I make one for them, so I decided to create a little tutorial while I made them.  I made both of them at the same time, so you'll see some fluctuation in the colors in the pictures.

Here is my card holder with a few of my non-holiday cards (I haven't cleared it out yet for Christmas, but this is on my to-do list for tomorrow because I already received 2 Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving!)

Ok, so here's what you need:

• A yard stick (or a plain wood stick of similar dimensions to a yard stick) I showed both of them in this picture, but I used the plain stick, which you can buy at Jo-Ann or probably any other craft store.
• A plain wooden plaque (also can be bought at most craft stores).  The size you will need depends on how long your name is.  I've seen these both at Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann.  Both store have a pretty wide variety of sizes.  The ones I used for this tutorial are about 8 inches long.  The one I used for my personal one is only about 6 inches long.
• Small wooden letters - enough of each to spell out "the" and your last name with an "s" at the end (found at Jo-Ann).  I used 3/4" Darice letters.
• Plain wooden clothes pins (any craft store)

(Helpful Hint: All of the above items are found in the same "unfinished wood" section of the craft store)

• Paint (I used acrylic)
• Paint brushes
• Ribbon for hanging (and for bow at the top of that ribbon if desired)
• Other things you need that I forgot in the picture:

• A drill
• Glue (I used both Liquid Nails and E6000).  I don't think it's a good idea to use hot glue for this because there's no wiggle room for shifting the letters around a little.

Ok, on with the tutorial. 

Step 1.

Set out all your letters on your plaque to make sure everything fits and looks the way you want it to.  I'm staggering my letters a little to give it a little character.

Step 2.

Paint everything.  This is the most time consuming part of the whole process because there are a lot of little things to paint.  The plaque has to be painted, and all the little sides of all the letters and clothes pins need to be painted.  You also need to paint the yard stick.  For this, I actually used an old can of spray paint we had laying around, but you can use any paint.

Step 3.

After all the paint dries, set out all the letters again.  

I found the center of the plaque and made sure the "H" in "the" was centered first and went from there

Step 4.

Glue the letters down.  For this step, I used E6000.

Step 5.

Making sure you leave about 4-5 inches at the top of the yardstick (to which you will attach the plaque), glue the clothes pins on.  Make sure they're spaced evenly.  I spaced them about 2 inches apart.  Even though most cards are longer than this, I like to layer the cards and angle some outwards (see my first picture above), so I find it useful to have more clothespins, closer together.  For this step, I used Liquid Nails.  I wanted to use a really strong adhesive for these because they get a lot of action when you put up and take down the cards.

Step 6. 

Mark where you want the holes to feed your ribbon through on the plaque for hanging it up.  You should probably measure to make sure they're symmetrical and even,  but I actually just "eye-balled" it.

 Mark both holes.

Make sure you let the part your drilling hang OFF of the table so you don't drill through your table...

Drill the holes.  I used my left hand to hold the plaque down on the table and my right hand to drill, and my other hand to take a picture...I know - I'm so talented :)

 A nice clean, drilled hole.

Step 7. 

Feed one end of your ribbon through the hole, from back to front, and tie a knot.  To test your knot, try to pull the knot back through the hole.  If it fits in the hole, tie another knot around the first knot and repeat until the knot is big enough that it won't pull back through the hole.

Figure out how long you want your ribbon to be (how far you want it to hang down from the nail/hook in your wall, and cut the ribbon accordingly.  Make sure you add an extra inch or 2 for the knot(s).  Feed the other side of the ribbon through the hole from back to front and tie a knot.

This is how the knots and ribbon should look when you're done.  I like to cut the ends of the ribbon almost completely off, then I heat seal them with a lighter to make sure the ribbon doesn't fray.

 Next, I add a bow at the top point of where the ribbon will hang for some added cuteness.  I used about 22 inches of 5/8" ribbon.

 Tie a knot around the hanging ribbon

 Make 2 loops like so

 cross the left side over the right side

 Tuck the NEW left side through the hole

 Pull tight, and voila!

 Cut the tails to make them even (and I like to cut them at an angle to make it pretty).

Step 8.

Time to connect the plaque to the yard stick.  I used Liquid Nails for this.  MAKE SURE THE YARD STICK IS STRAIGHT and CENTERED!!!  One of the reasons I don't use hot glue for stuff like this.  It dries too fast and you can't move the stick around at all to make sure it's laying straight.

 

 Step 9.

Let it dry, then hang it up on your wall and hang some cards!

 Got mine all cleaned up...ready for Christmas cards!

How I'm Doing

A lot of my posts have been about new products and stuff about the kids, and I think it's time for a "me" post.  Time to get a little up close and personal with how I'm doing as I play all my roles as mom, business owner, homemaker, and wife.

To be honest, the last few weeks I had been feeling kind of stuck in a rut.  My kids were annoying me all the time with their fussing and fighting with each other.  I never had enough time to do everything I wanted to get done.  I stopped cooking and had no desire to cook (for those of you who don't know me, I LOVE to cook - so this is weird).  And I was basically crabby all the time.  I got to a point where I just wanted to shut everything else out and work on my business stuff - no interruptions.  My days revolved around my free time (during kids nap time and after they went to bed at night).  I stayed up soo late some  nights because I didn't want MY time to end.  Now, I wasn't a complete deadbeat around my house or anything - I did my "daily tasks" - taking care of the kids, making sure we had something to eat for dinner, etc, but deep inside I was longing to just be alone and work on my business stuff because I had this huge checklist of things I want to accomplish in my mind and felt like I couldn't get anything done.  Plus I just really love working on Amylou stuff.

I feel weird even calling it "working".  It's a creative outlet for me.  It's so fun for me to sit and create new designs and put new techniques to work. I love creating something beautiful with my own two hands - something tangible - that I can see and touch, and share with other people.  It doesn't take me years to see the results.  In just a few minutes or hours I can see a final result of my efforts.  Also, if I mess up on something, I can just start over as much as I want until it's perfect.  I feel like everything else in my life is so much more complicated than that.  You can't just erase a lost temper and mean words from your child's mind.

I love "working" so much, that I've even contemplated getting someone to watch the kids for me a couple days a week, so I can have some full days dedicated to work.  I think of the money I could make - how we could finally get our lovely electric blue kitchen countertop replaced.  And I think of all that "me" time. But then at the end of one of these days, I'll be laying there with Little B, in his bed, wondering how he got so big all of a sudden.  I remember laying with him in my bed only 3 years ago, when he was just a baby.  Soooo tiny, all curled up next to me.  Now he's like 3 feet long!  And I remember that it was my dream all my life to stay home and be a full time mom to my kids because I wanted to be like MY mom.  And I think about what an important role she plays in my life and that I play in their lives and how blessed I am to be able to stay home with them.  We've had to make a few sacrifices, but we're so fortunate that I don't have to work to put food on our table.

So the way I see it is there will always be time to pursue this business dream of mine more aggressively in the future, but my kids are only at this stage of life ONCE.   It may sound like I have this all thought out perfectly, but I actually have to constantly remind myself of this as I get caught up in doing more and more for my business.  It's been an emotional roller coaster.  Things for work will gradually build and build.  I'll get caught up in coming up with new designs, taking and editing pictures, and getting everything posted on the website and Facebook.  When these times peak, I'll start to notice that I have movies on way too often, home cooked meals aren't happening, and I just don't feel good about myself.  This is when I have to take a step back and write a blog post like this to sort out my thoughts and intentions and get back on track.  I'm proud to say that over the last week, there hasn't been much activity on amyloubaby.com, Facebook and here on my blog, but I've been cooking awesome meals every night and actually PLAYING with my kids - like chasing them around the house and setting up a "choo choo train" using our kitchen chairs, and not just reading the words on the pages of books, but talking about each page and what we see in the pictures.  And even though I'm not getting anything on my checklist done, I feel at peace and  am really having fun being a Mommy :)

Angels and Dragons

I'm always shocked at how busy the Fall is and how fast it goes by.  I can't believe we've already done the pumpkin patch and trick-or-treating.  Here are some pictures of Little B and Baby A  doing the pumpkin patch thing and in their Halloween costumes.  

 Little B had trouble deciding what he wanted to be for Halloween until he fell in love with the perfect dragon costume at Old Navy.

 And I had trouble deciding what to dress Baby A in.  I really wanted them to be the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood (because yes, I thought it would be cool to coordinate their costumes), but Little B put up a fight.  So, he picked the dragon suit, and I thought - maybe I'll do a princess outfit for Baby A (because Princess and Dragon kind of go together, right?).  But since she'll probably want to be a princess every other Halloween of her life, I decided to do an angel costume while she still can't voice her opinion.  It turned out to be really cute.  I love the white and gold tutu, and I am foreseeing angel (and butterfly) wings in Amylou Baby's future!