Foxes on Stationery

May 18, 2012

On Monday I mentioned that deer are my favourite animals with squirrel’s following pretty closely to that. I didn’t tell you what another favourite animal of mine is – the fox.

I saw my first ‘wild’ fox in my sisters backyard in London. I was shocked, amazed, and excited to see the little guy slink between the bushes. Poor guy looked a bit scraggly…but he was still a fox, and therefore ultra cute.

And what on Monday did I reveal has been my 20 year obsession?
Stationery.

So I figured, why not put the two together?

Here are some adorable samples of foxes on stationery.







#1 / #2 / #3 / #4 / #5
(gave #5 to Ryan on his birthday, cause it’s true).

Aren’t they all so cute?

Sooo long weekend for me starting this afternoon. Woohoo! I am SO thankful to have this long weekend after my first increeeedibly busy and exhausting week in kindergarten. If only every weekend could be a long weekend….
I plan on relaxing with some friends, finishing assembling our invitations, getting the house back in order and soaking up some sun. Mmm.

What are your weekend plans?

Category: shopping / Comments: 5 <3s

Ceremony Programs

May 16, 2012

If you’re on my Instagram, you will have seen this picture.

Exciting!!!

Getting these bad boys in has made me think of other stationery items. I never considered a ceremony program before (sort of thought they were a waste of paper to be perfectly honest) but now I’m scheming matching designs in my head or thinking about how adorable a program would look waiting for a guest on their chair.

And so friends, here is a round up of various, lovely, fun, unique ways to tell your guests what the ceremony is all about:

Martha Stewart: Double duty, ceremony programs and fans. Perfect for those outdoor in the blistering hot sun weddings (like ours). This link will take you to a pdf copy for you to make your own!

Every Last Detail: Hang the ceremony programs off the chairs for easy access.

Jess Barfield: Be green (and cute) – use a chalkboard instead.

Preston Bailey: Attach confetti to your ceremony program for an added touch of awesome to your wedding.

The Knot: Turn your program into a flag for people to wave as you walk down the aisle together.

Which do you like best?

For more ceremony program and other wedding stationery ideas, check out my board 08/18/12 – Stationery on Pinterest.

Category: Wednesday Wedding Inspiration / Comments: 4 <3s

Awards + some news

May 14, 2012

First off, apologies for the long post but important things need to be said.
The news (which is especially important if you’re a regular reader) is at the bottom.

How sweet is Stephanie of the fabulous new blog Pretty and Delectable?
She awarded me and 14 others the Versatile Blogger Award! I’m so touched. Thank you Stephanie!

As is part of the Versatile Blogger Award, here are 7 facts about me:
1. I’m a teacher, going from teaching grade 4/5 onto kindergarten (eek!)
2. I have a little summer side business selling cupcakes at farmers markets
3. My favourite colours are yellow and purple
4. My favourite animal is the deer (squirrel’s are a close second)
5. I’m addicted to the Real Simple magazine
6. I am a geek at heart (love geek board games and lord of the rings)
7. My favourite meal is brunch

To keep the award train rolling, here are 15 blogs that inspire me every day:
Heather of The Lovely Cupboard for being my blogger/teacher confidante / Amy of Old Sweet Song for her humour and candidness / Carina of Crow and Canary for posting about my 20yr obsession, stationery / Katrina of Pugly Pixel for her lovely graphics (used on this site and the above image) / Ellie of Mint for her beautiful stationery creations / Andrea of Lotus Events for keeping me updated on Vancouver craft happenings / Becca of Lavender Blue Designs for her adorable events / Stephanie of Henry Happened for adorable maternity outfits / Liz of Say yes to hoboken for the inspiring Alt Summit classes / Melanie of You are my fave for going from a substitute teacher to a successful blogger / Mo of Mo Funk Designs for her lovely jewellery creations / Kirsten of Simply Grove for ‘they’ve got style’ / Radostina of 79 ideas for all the stunning interiors / Katie of Salt and Pine for showcasing the beautiful west coast / Yvonne of Yvestown Blog for letting us into her fresh and adorable home

Thank you for making me want to blog!

Versatile Blogger Award Rules (should you so choose to accept)

  • Thank the person who gave you the award.
  • Include a link to their blog.
  • Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly and nominate those 15 for the Versatile Blogger Award.
  • Share 7 things about yourself in your post.
  • Don’t forget to include this set of rules in your post!
  • Inform each nominee with a comment on their blog or twitter.

And now onto my news (long post I know).
As mentioned in Tan fact #1, I’m now a kindergarten teacher.
I followed that by an ‘eek’ because I’ve never taught kindergarten and it’s always been an intimidating age group to me. I am very excited and know it will be amazing but, since this is my first time teaching this age group, I know my weeknights will either be spent incapacitated on the couch or planning all the fun things we’ll do in class.
The bottom line?

I’m cutting back.

I don’t like writing this and admitting I have to cut back, but with this new teaching job I won’t have enough free time to blog every day. And so, the blogging schedule will be cut back to three days a week,

Monday Wednesday and Friday

until the end of the school year (June 29).
I may occasionally throw in a Tuesday or Thursday post and I may go back to blogging every day until early July 2nd, just know that is not currently my plan.

To all of you who faithfully read Squirrelly Minds every day, sincerest thank yous.
Don’t worry, the change is temporary.
I will be back full force soon enough.

xoxo
Tan

Category: blog love / Comments: 8 <3s

Mother’s Day post at The Lovely Cupboard

May 11, 2012

Hey everyone!

Today marks an exciting time here at Squirrelly Minds.
I’m over at my good friend Heather’s web home, The Lovely Cupboard and, as announced Wednesday, I am now a cupboard contributor! Every second Friday of each month, I will be posting “Events and Fun Finds” on The Lovely Cupboard along with Mareth (crafts and sewing), Heather (food and drink) and Gin (ceramic artist/florist)!
I am so excited to be a part of this beautifully talented team. Pay them all a visit and see what the Cupboard Contributors are all about here.

While you’re at it, check out my first post and find out how I will be surprising my mom for Mother’s Day at The Lovely Cupboard.


See you there.

Category: blog love, events / Comments: No <3 yet

Mother’s Day Flower Cards DIY

May 10, 2012

My students have been making homemade cards for their mothers this week, and it made me think, as we become adults, why do we opt for the hallmark seasonal aisle instead of putting in the same time and love into cards for the woman we love most? And so, a DIY card is in order.

I don’t know about you but I keep every scrap of scrapbook paper. I always feel like I’ll use it again, and so I did with this Mother’s day flower card.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Steps

Step #1: Fold your scrap paper in half, the underside out (if your paper has two sides). Draw half a flower (any shape) with the centre along the fold. Cut it out. This will be flower a.

Step #2: On the underside of another piece of scrap paper, lightly trace your cut out flower. Cut it with scissors approximately 1cm in from the tracing line so you end up with a slightly smaller duplicate, which we’ll call flower b.
Step #3: Repeat step 2 with flower b to create a smaller flower (flower c!).

Step #4: Pinch each petal to give the flower some volume.

Step #5: Starting with flower c (the smallest), punch a brad through the centre, followed by flower b then lastly flower a (the largest). Flatten the prongs on the back of the flower.
Step #6: Hot glue your flower onto your card stock.

Step #7: Repeat steps 1-7 as much as desired. You can make several flowers in different shapes and colours, or one large one.

Step #8: This step is optional, but if you have washi tape lying around, you can put it on your card to add some more colour and pattern.

Voila! Address your card to mom (or mãe if you’re Portuguese like me) with a lovely note inside and attach to a beautiful bouquet.

Category: DIY / Comments: 2 <3s

Kiddies down the aisle

May 9, 2012

Now I’m going to be upfront with you and tell you possibly the most controversial topic that’s come about lately with our wedding:
We have chosen not to have children in or at our wedding.

There are several reasons for this, but it mainly comes down to the fact that we do not have nieces or nephews, or any children (aside from my godson) that we are very close to. We want our wedding to be filled with people we know and love.

Now this doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy an adorable flower girl or ring bearer.
Just because we’re not having them doesn’t mean I can’t share some adorably put together little kids that have walked down the aisle:

#1 / #2 / #3 / #4


Did you/will you have a flower girl and/or ring bearer?
Who are they and how are they important in your life?

Edit: OH NO!!!! I just noticed my ring bearer picture never showed up on here, and it’s gone off the server AND my computer! What a sad post :(

Category: Wednesday Wedding Inspiration / Comments: 6 <3s

Piñata Cookies – behind the scenes

May 8, 2012


If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you would have seen I helped my friend assemble these adorable piñata cookies.
This tutorial from She Knows explains the step by step process with using your favourite sugar cookie recipe. While the steps are fantastic, we ran into a few hiccups along the way. I thought I’d save you the trouble so you can make the adjustments when you want to make these fabulous cookies (they’re not just for cinco do mayo you know).


Step #4 says to line your container with plastic wrap. We found the dough stuck to the sides and was incredibly difficult to remove from the container. Not even loosening it with a knife helped. We ended up hacking some dough off to get enough leverage to pry it out. Instead of saran wrap I would suggest trying wax paper with a fair bit extra on the sides. That way you can pull the dough up and out with the paper.

Step 12 has you baking each slab then cutting it out with a cookie cutter. This recipe creates a lot of wasted dough and since you worked so hard on it, you want to salvage as much as you can. We cut the shapes out first, then use the extra bits and cut with smaller cookie cutters. You could then combine all the scraps and roll them together for a marbled cookie dough.

Step 18 shows how three cookie cut outs are used to make one piñata cookie. This makes for a massive cookie which is awesome, but me and my friends aren’t willing to commit to THAT much sugar (which is why we only filled two cookies and made the rest plain sugar cookies). Plus yet again it creates a lot of waste.
When we cut the cookie dough log we ended up with both thick and thin slabs. We cut a rectangular pocket into the thick cookies (making sure not to puncture the other side), filled this with m&m’s then glued on a thin cookie as seen on Step 25. This way you still get your surprise treat in the middle, but it’s not such a huge, overwhelming thing people are scared to eat.



Aren’t they adorable? If it weren’t for the high sugar content
I’d make some right now!

Category: kitchen / Comments: 8 <3s

Alice in Wonderland

May 7, 2012

Hey there

Remember last month when I was live blogging that Alice in Wonderland photo shoot? Well here’s the real thing!

Once again, it was all a part of the amazing imaginations of sisters Crystal (as from the Monday Artist Feature) and Holly (featured in Squirrelly Minds’ first In her home). The day was filled with costume and makeuping, sunshine and curious passerby’s as we posed on the streets.

Enjoy the show friends

Alice, the white rabbit,
the mad hatter




The Queen of Hearts (me) and her 80′s punk glam band




I’m so lucky to have such imaginative friends that allow me to be a part of their creative process. It’s so amazing to watch an idea transform into a reality.

If you could put on any sort of photo shoot, themed or not, what would it be?
Mine would involve corsets

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Category: inspired, personal / Comments: 3 <3s
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