Valentine's Day Roundup

Tyler Anne's Valentine Roundup

I know Valentine's Day is only a few days away but here are some DIYs/Recipes that you can totally pull off in that time! 

1 / / This creative and definitely cute DIY Valentine's gift wrap found on PaperBlog can be pulled off quickly, giving that extra touch of love. 

2 / / This A Beautiful Mess how-to might not be meant specifically for V-Day but I think it should definitely be considered if you and your loved ones dig yummy, homemade kitkat bars!

3 / / I very rarely drink but what better way to celebrate love and Valentine's Day with Design Love Fest's 1966 Cosmopolitan?
4 / / Want to make your celebration a little more festive? Maybe surprise someone special with some LOVEly balloons? Check out Design Improvised's Valentine Heart Balloons!

Holli Anne's Valentine's Day Roundup

So this year I'm a tad busy for fun Valentine's Day crafts. If I do anything nifty it will definitely be ON Valentine's Day and probably way simple. But, I'm super into these four Valentine's day goodies.

1. These Valentine's Day Cookie Cakes on Bakingdom not only look delicious but are adorable! Plus, they have sprinkles on them and I'm just a sucker for those!

2. I love, love, love these Cupid Arrows from The Sweetest Occassion.  They are such a creative way to give your Valentine a date-night package.

3. This cheesecake is just amazing! I'm sure I'd never have the patience to make it, but isn't it wonderful?! Featured on The Foodie Crush Blog.

4. And lastly, these Crayon Paper Hearts from Martha Stewart are such a simple, effective decoration to me. They were featured on Craftley Blog. 

-The Annes

Tyler Anne's 2014: Week 5

 Week 5

Inspiring pin(s): Golden also PANTONE Color of the Year 2014: Radiant Orchard Nature

Book I finished: Last week was hectic! I didn't finish any books, barely reading any at all! Ahh!

Book I'm currently reading: Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Book 1) by Laurell K. Hamilton - I need to finish this book!

Blog I'm loving: Design Love Fest

Blog post I can't get enough of: Tim and Hannah's Affordable DIY Self-Sustainable Micro Cabin — House Tour by Apartment Therapy

Word of the week: Arctic

So, what went down? SNOW! Considering that I live in Florida/am from Alabama, this was a big deal. Our little city shut DOWN for two days and work understandably slowed. So when the cold weather moved on my life became hectic! 

Don't forget to see Week 5's posts: Inspiration: Green & Gold / Super Simple DIY Desks / Holli Anne's 2014: Week 5 

- Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

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Inspiration: 2 Creative Blogs You SHOULD Be Following

I know, I've been doing a lot of Writer Talk, Reader Talk, and Interviews lately as opposed to the creative design/DIY/inspiration posts I used to do all of the time. It's not that I've given up on that side of things, I've just found that the writer and reader side of posts to be more relevant in my life right now.

Holli and I are writing books that we hope to will finish in July. (Largely in part to Camp NaNoWriMo we plan to participate in.) This means my brain has been a little more inclined to think about things like writing resources, Dos & Donts, POVs, humorous writer musings, and, of course, book things.

So, to show you that I still very much love everything design + inspiration, I wanted to share with you two of my favorite creative blogs that you SHOULD already be following.

1. A Beautiful Mess

Honestly, ABM is one of the sites I visit during my daily online routine. I can't put my finger on the exact way I came to know about this lovely blog, but I've been glued to it for more than a year.

ABM is lifestyle blog run by sisters Elsie and Emma. Their topics include Crafts, Photography, Recipes, Decor, Fashion, and Beauty. While I appreciate all of those creatively fueled categories, their crafty DIYs and Decor (specifically the At Home With series) posts are my bread and butter.

I love this site because, despite their obvious popularity, both sisters and the people that work with them seem to be humble and absolutely love what they do. If you ever need an inspirational boost or some creative juice, I suggest you roll on over to their site and spend some time enjoying everything they have to offer!

Their Home page's mini About: A beautiful mess is all about creative a beautiful life. We share daily inspirations, DIY projects and recipes. We believe that the best things in life are homemade.

Amen, sisters!

2. Design Love Fest

Oh, how I love me some Design Love Fest. Different in vibe from ABM, Design Love Fest still has all the goodness of a creative and inspirational design blog. 

Bri Emery, founder and editor of DLF, has a knack for style, a flair for life, and is just adorable in general. In the past year the evolution of Blogshop has made DLF even more fun to follow as well as the my favorite reoccurring topics of Make It, Design, Interiors, and Advice.

The graphic designer part of me (as well as the freelancer side of me) is what loves Design Love Fest the most. If you work from home, are a designer, or just love pretty things in general I suggest you put Design Love Fest in your bookmarks!

DLF's tagline: Where type & images totally make out.

*Drool*

Do you have any blogs that you just love?

-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

Christmas Craze: Coaster Craze

Christmas Craze? More like Coaster Craze! See, I've been kind of addicted to making drink coasters lately. It's not that I drink an abnormal amount and need extra coasters around the house, I just WANT tons of them all different!

So I figured if I want them so badly, then maybe other people will too! So here's Christmas Craze Day 7! (Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6)



This Christmas Craze DIY is all about designing & making coasters as a personal, awesome, inexpensive gift for Christmas!

If you know me then you probably have picked up on the fact that I'm semi-obsessed with Design Love Fest. I check it everyday and often am absolutely inspired by the creativity of it. So when I read Make It / 25 I instantly fell in love and knew I HAD to do it. All credit for this idea definitely goes to them!

Now, to the Batcave everyone!

What you'll need:

• A design for your coasters! Mine can be found below. You can simple click it and save it to your desktop then print.
• Access to a printer! Make sure you have enough ink!
• Cork coasters! I got mine from Hobby Lobby. $2.77 for 6.
• Mod Podge Matte
• Spongey brush
• Photo paper! I got soft gloss photo paper from Target. Letter size to make it easier.
• Scissors
• Tacky Glue
• Felt

What I did first was come up with a fun color scheme and font. Since I have recently found M3 Design and this lovely post with a lovely font, I used the Ostrich Sans font family! Then the colors from this pin! (I used Adobe Illustrator to make my design. If you have that and aren't sure how to use it, leave a comment and I'll make another post about how to do it! I would do it now but I need to pack up the apartment something fierce!)

Once you have your design, print it out onto your photo paper! Then with scissors (or X-acto knife if you can cut circles like a pro...I really can't!) cut out your designs. Now, I created and printed my design out then put my printer into a box BEFORE I actually bought my coasters. I downloaded Design Love Fest's pretty designs (again, go here to see) and was using those sizes as a template. However, the coasters I got from Hobby Lobby are a tad bigger BUT it's an easy fix!

Take your mod page and, using your spongey brush, cover the coaster thoroughly. Then take your design and place it onto the coaster. Make sure to get the bubbles out by running your finger over the design. Then put it under a book while it dries. Do the same to the rest of your coasters and designs!

After they are dry, put a coat of mod podge over the design. I did three coats each.

Now, if you are using the coasters from Hobby Lobby that are a tad too big, just take your scissors and cut off the excess cork. It cuts really easy unlike its brother, the cork squares!

If you don't want the bottom to be cork (I LOVE CORK) take your felt and use tacky glue to glue it to the bottom of each coaster!

I hope you enjoyed this DIY! Once I'm unpacked in my NEW place (hopefully tomorrow!) I'm going to set up my studio and be able to make another round!

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

Oh My Pillow #1

I am addicted to DesignLoveFest.com and check it daily. (Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?!) Well today they made me happy again by having this post about Zara Home! Now, I have decided recently that I have an immense like for throw pillows. Example: The other day I went to Hobby Lobby for some paint and walked out with two Ikat pillows instead! So, of course I had to browse!

I hadn't heard of Zara Home until then but immediately fell in love with their unique pillows. Naturally, I had to make a post of my own with my favorite pillow picks!

Enjoy!

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