Winner + Coupon Code Reminder

We have a winner from Friday's giveaway...

Lynda, please send your mailing address to seiblog{at}shopsei{dot}com to claim your Felizitations cards, envelopes & labels PLUS your SEI papers and embellishments.

Please visit Dorthea's blog, Felizitations, and thank her for guest blogging last week. Remember you have until the end of the month to use the 15% discount code SEIFan on your Felizitations order.

Found Object Table Scape and Giveaway!

I love anything to do with weddings. The macaroons that I posted on Monday were for my sister's bff. I think she had one of the most beautiful showers I've ever seen in real life, haha. The invitations were my contribution. In the invitation, we printed a space for each guest to detach and bring a recipe. I was put in charge of creating a welcoming table for the recipes to be collected. I've been low on funds so I decided to do a "found object" arrangement. As you can tell from the picture below, this was not expensive to make at all but still ties in the rustic feel the bridal shower was going for.

As a thank you to all you SEI readers I'm giving away a set of 15 Thank You cards with coordinating envelopes and wraparound labels. This is what I do and love and I'd like to share it with a reader out there! Also to all SEI readers I'm giving a 15% discount until the end of the month. Just mention the code SEIFan to receive it. Thank you again for the wonderful week here, it's been an awesome visit!

Thank you Dorthea! It has been an amazing week. We love all the beautiful ideas and printables you shared. We are so excited to see what famous couple's wedding you are doing today on your blog! We love what you did for Rhett & Scarlet and Adam & Eve.

Giveaway time! This week's giveaway is pretty sweet. One lucky person will win 15 of Dorthea's lovely thank you cards with coordinating envelopes and labels PLUS a fun assortment of papers and embellishments from SEI's newest spring collections.

To enter to win, leave a comment on this post telling Dorthea which idea(s) she shared inspired you most this week. For a second entry, like Felizitations on facebook here. Then come back and leave a comment to let us know you did. The giveaway ends Sunday. Good luck!

Static Cling Quiet Book with Printable Downloads

Road trips are something that don't seem to get easier with kids. I've wanted a quiet book for my son Monroe for a while, but I can't bring myself to spend months of sewing a book that he'll outgrow within a year. Static clings and dry erasers to the rescue!

Static clings are the coolest product I've seen in a while and you can print on them from any inkjet printer. They're a little pricey but well worth it (Office Depot, $14.99). They can be used on any of the projects in this book and reused on car windows, glass doors and refrigerators! Perfect road trip product, right?

To make this activity book, I used an SEI album. I included family pictures in my book and 5 activity pages. You can download the pages here and wall decal pages here. They include:

• one of these things is not like the other
• shapes activity
• body part activity (print on wall decal paper)
• color matching game (print on wall decal paper)
• numbers game

The great thing about the monster body parts is that you can also make any family picture look silly, without ruining the photos. This quiet book is also perfect for dry erase markers, they wipe right off the page protectors. I made a pocket with an extra 4" x 6" protector to the back to hold all of the markers.

Here are the materials needed to make the album:
• 8.5"x11" album
• 4"x6" album refills
• an assortment of 12 papers
• wall decal pack, you only use 4 pages, so you could easily split it with someone
• print out activity pages

Customize your quiet book however you'd like! As your child grows, you can make the activities more challenging. It's perfect for engaging a child's imagination.

My Little Helper

As a lady, I hate having a million things to carry around in my purse. I can never find anything and all I ever really need is my phone and a few credit cards. Anybody else with me on this?

In my goodie bag from SEI, I spotted the lovely fabric swatches from Vanilla Sunshine and *lightbulb*, the perfect phone case was born. Here's what I did:

Supplies:
1. Vanilla Sunshine fabric swatches- (or any other fabric you may have laying around) I liked the sturdiness that the paper backing gave the pocket.
2. Scissors and a sewing machine (or needle and thread) to sew together case.
3. Pattern- click the image below. To get the case to match to your phone exactly, trace your phone and add a 1/4" border for a seam. Do not add the border to the top part of the phone (see pattern for visual).
4. Wool felt.
5. Strap (not pictured)- button, 1.5" x 3" piece of fabric for strap, and small piece of velcro

Instructions:
1. Print pattern (or trace phone, see #3 in supply list) and place on top of felt. Cut out pattern from felt.
2. Pick a fabric swatch from the Vanilla Sunshine assortment pack, or trace 'pocket' from your own fabric.
3. Fold 'strap' piece of fabric in half and sew around 2 edges. Turn inside out and finish sewing open end.
4. Sew button on one end of the strap. Measure about 4" up from the bottom of a 'sleeve' piece and secure strap to 'sleeve'.
5. Line up velcro pieces and sew velcro pieces to strap and 'pocket'.
6. Place pocket piece in between the two 'sleeve' pieces and stitch around 1/4" border.
7. Turn outside in. Done!

A suggestion that could make this handier is adding a pocket with zipper to the backside for items that you'd like secured (i.e. keys and change). I'm intimidated by zippers so I didn't add that, haha.

Potato Stamp

Printmaking was one of my favorite classes in college. It is one of those classes that is too expensive to recreate in my own home. So, in order to fill my print cravings I have reverted to a technique that most people haven't thought of since elementary, potato block printing!

Here is what you need:

(clockwise, from top left)

Supplies:
1. Fabric, I have jersey photographed but I printed on cotton and canvas.
2. Stencils- I'm totally loving the tribal looks right now, click the image below to download. Draw out any design that you want though.
3. Paint brush
4. Ceramic carving tools & Exacto knife- I happened to have these but an Exacto and paring knife work great.
5. Potato!
6. Paint- screen printing paint ($2.99, Hobby Lobby), Tumble Dye (not pictured).

Instructions:
1. Cut potato in half and dab flat side on paper towel to remove excess water.
2. Cut out your stencil (if using tribal file, leave black in tact) and place on top of the white of potato.
3. Carve around your stencil (I used my Exacto for this part) and cut away the 'background'.
4. Dab 'stamp' on paper towel and with a paint brush apply paint/tumble dye.
5. Press firmly onto fabric and reapply paint, repeat.
6. Allow to dry, and follow paint instructions on how to heat set the stamps onto the fabric.

Remember, embrace the imperfections that the potato makes with the stamps. If there is an area that needs filling or correction, use a small paintbrush. I was able to make my potato stamp and print on three onesies and one pillow in about an hour and a half (one of Monroe's naps, my son). If you have older kids, it's an awesome craft to have them design their own clothes!

Guest Blogger: Dorthea Brundage

We are so happy that Dorthea accepted our invitation to be a guest blogger! We got to know her when she worked as a graphic designer for SEI. She is just the kind of person you'd like have as a friend... creative, funny, kind, and encouraging... one of those rare people who really delights in other's successes. She puts her heart in everything she does.

Dorthea has a week full of wonderful ideas to share, complete with templates and printables. To make it even sweeter, we will also have a giveaway starting Friday. So, you won't want to miss a single day!

My name is Dorthea Brundage. I'm a wife, mom, graphic designer and collector (not a hoarder, more like Elijah Wood in Everything is Illuminated, but not as OCD). I like to collect anything beautiful, I've been that way since I was little. Scraps of paper, iridescent bug bodies, sticks, discarded packaging, shiny rocks, anything and everything that catches my eye. I eventually find a way to use it.

A few things about me:
• I currently get to stay home and raise my yogurt covered raisin baby boy (he's white on the outside but brown on the inside). Being half El Salvadoran, I'm teaching him Spanish and enjoy being the one to fill his curious mind with answers.
• I have a little company called Felizitations. I specialize in custom mailing labels (people send me their guest list and I print them on adhesive labels for special events) and invitations.
• I'm married to my best friend and love getting to do almost everything together.
• You can always find me posting either on my day to day blog: The Bean Routine, or wedding lovelies at: Felizitations & Etsy

Here's a little of what I do:

Today I wanted to touch on the beauty of colors. They are everywhere and we can be inspired by everything around us if we're looking for it. My sister asked me to help make some french macaroons for her bff's bridal shower, recipe here. I was excited because they always looks so beautiful in pictures, but terrified because I don't consider myself a baker. When we were done, I was so happy we'd made them. Not only were they beautiful, but they made the most exquisite spring color palette.

If you love this color combo, you can view the full wedding board I created here.

Try new things and you just might surprise and inspire yourself!