happy halloween!

From this happy little hunter & his prey. I hope you all had a fun and safe night last night!

DIY Stamped Holiday Wrapping

Between working full time, and taking care of a teething four month old (yup. 4 months. The universe hates us), I haven't had time for much else. Anything that doesn't involve diapers or spreadsheets has pretty much taken a back seat for the moment. 

I have however found time for present wrapping! I thought it would be fun to customize gifts this year with a little stamping, so I modified an idea that I found on Pinterest and made myself custom stamps using erasers.

Here is what you need:

1. Erasers (I picked up a pack of 6 from a nearby Dollar Tree)

2.  Pen/Pencil to draw your shape

3. Exacto knife to cut out your shape

4. Paint or an inkpad

5. Some wrapping paper to stamp (I was also 

able to pick up some brown mailing paper at Dollar Tree)

First You will want to outline your shape on the eraser. If you want to create a letter stamp, I'm sure you will be more clever than me, and outline it correctly the first time. AKA, if you are doing a letter, you need to draw it backwards. *face palm*

Once you have gotten your shape how you like it, you will want to outline it with an exacto knife, and then cut away the eraser outside of your shape. (if you are going for a negative stamp, cut your shape out instead). You should have at least a quarter of an inch ledge going around your shape in order for your stamp to be well defined. 

Because both my guys' names start with 'j' I decided to do a big J for Justin, and a little j for Jasper. (Again, if you are doing letters, they will need to be backwards on your stamp)

Stamp away. You can make pretty much any narrow shape. 

I love the simplicity of brown paper wrapping, and this ended up being a fun way to dress it up a bit. If you don't want to stamp on the actual paper, you can also create little monogrammed gift tags. Either way, its a fun way to customize your wrapping this year!

Happy Holidays!

a weekend and a holiday

Pics via instagram @lifeofapasseri, @jsluczak

A few pics from our trip to Idaho this weekend, and our Fourth of July. 

Apparently Justin and I are 80 years old, or perhaps our little hike with the puppies wore us out (in which case we would still be 80 years old), because we both were so tired and much to lazy to go find some fireworks Wednesday night. 

Still. I'm so grateful to live in this country. The freedom we enjoy is such a blessing and a privilege. 

Plus, where else could you find a ceramic elephant for $3?

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

back from the dead.

So friends. Its been a while. 

I decided to take a little hiatus from the electronic world to spend time with family, and refresh my mind. I think everyone should take a break from the "virtual" world everyone once in a while. It really gives you a chance to reconnect with the most important things in life. 

But...I wasn't idle on my "time off". I LOVE the holidays. The food, the smells, the crafts, the time with family. Oh the holidays. 

wrap books to make a wrapping paper Christmas tree

crumple paper and stack it on a tall stick!