Sugar cookies are a long standing tradition in our family. I remember making sugar cookies with my mother and grandmothers, it's just a part of the holidays for me.

Zoe and I participated in this necessary event a few days ago. My mom even gave her the perfect apron on our last trip back home.

To make sure the cut lines show up correctly for each cut, make sure to cut down the center first. The subsequent cuts don't matter but that first one does.


Let me know what you think. Do you prefer the 3x4 size or are you looking for smaller or different sized downloads?

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

I saw this number game going around on Facebook and thought it would make a great blog post.

1. I love to dance. These days it's usually car dancing, but I love rocking out to a good pop song. If you ever drive past us, and see me and Zoe going crazy, it's normal, don't woryy.

2. I love baths. I take at least one bath a week.

3. At 18, my life plan, was to go to college, marry an older guy and spend the next 10 years barefoot and pregnant. Yeah, ambition was not my middle name. Very glad my life plan turned out quite differently.

4. I'm a people watcher. I never really noticed that I did this until a few years ago, but I think part of it stems from my ability to read people in a sense. While I'm not as outgoing as I once was, I like imaging a story and life for each person.

5. It took me a long time to find my talent. In the process, I played three musical instruments ( flute, harp, piano) played three sports (softball, soccer, volleyball) did speech and debate, jewelry, pottery, and many more things.....I kept waiting for something that came naturally for me. I scrapbooked throughout all these many things, but never considered it as a talent. It was really my parents who opened my eyes to the fact that I had already found my talent.

6. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders when I was 17. I spent about a year on medication and 6 months with a therapist. I feel very strongly about caring for your own mental health. I think it's often times ignored, or put off as mood swings, when in reality, it's an illness.

7. I'm never satisfied with my hair. I have had all kinds of cuts and length and I never really stick to any one of them for very long. I usually cut my hair short about every 8 months, then spend the next 8 growing it back out. During high school (see #6) half my hair fell out due to stress and it's never really been the same since. I'm hoping one day to find the perfect style/cut that I'll keep forever, but for now, it will be ever changing.

If you'd like to play along, leave a link you your little known facts, I would love to read them

XOXO,
Holly & CO.

Supplies: Elle's Studio, Freckled Fawn, Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey, American Crafts.

I love my goofy girl. The fake mustaches at the dollar store provided many minutes of entertainment to us on a Saturday afternoon. It's pictures like these that make me wish digital cameras had been around much longer. What I wouldn't pay to have pictures like this of my parents and/or grandparents.

I was fortunate enough to get a hold of some of my grandparents pictures from their early years together. This particular one is a favorite of mine. This is a high school dance photo. Aren't they just adorable?

Season one of soccer is over! The soccer season around here is rather short, I think it was 6 or 7 weeks, which I don't mind because in October, it drops about 20 degrees.

Zoe had a mostly good time playing soccer this year. Her team was the Purple Monsters. Each kid got a medal at their last game, and it is now Zoe's prized possession. I have to beg her to leave it at home, because I don't want her to lose it.

Zoe and her best friend were on the same team, and they were the only girls. Zoe made quite an improvement from game one, where she cried and was upset the boys weren't giving her a turn. Thankfully, she figured out how to "get a turn" and actually got some time with the ball.

I bet she ends up playing in the spring, but we haven't talked about that just yet.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

My little girl is growing up. When Zoe started getting official school pictures back in preschool, I was torn on spending the money. I take a LOT of photos of Zoe and most of mine turn out better, simply because I'm in control of the situation. However, after a lengthy discussion with other parents on Facebook, I decided that they were special and almost a right of passage. I was not disappointed when I got them. The nostalgia alone, was worth it.

I am in love with the new Fancy Pants line, Collecting Memories. The color scheme is fantastic and I love the bold graphics. I loved this ruler paper, and it seemed so fitting for a school picture!

I was pleased with how her pictures turned out this year, much better than last. Last year I was sick on picture day and totally forgot, she wore a t-shirt and I threw her hair into a messy bun...but that's life sometimes.

Eventually, I was to have a school scrapbook album which contains her 8x10 pictures from each years and her first and last days of each year, along with the info about where she went to school, her friends, special events etc.

We're really lucky that Zoe loves school so much, I hope that pattern continues through the next 13 years.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Our apartment complex has a plethora of leaves right now. I'm not complaining, I love the sound of crunching leaves under my boots and piles of leaves to look at. It's started to get quite crisp around here, I'm enjoying fall fashion, hot chocolate and decorating for the holidays.

Zoe and I spent a little time outside playing in the leaves a few days ago, and she obliged me in throwing some leaves. After seeing these photos, I wanted to enhance them with some digital stamps.

So my computer decided to hate me last week. My hard drive crashed and I lost a LOT of work. I've been working hard on some more printables and fun things, and unfortunately, they were all lost. Bummer right? Well the few days without a computer did allow me to finish up a few more projects and get some pictures for you.

My dear friend Jamie, welcomed her first little girl this week and I finished this quilt just in time. It's currently on it's way to her and hopefully will be snuggled with lots.


I modeled the pattern after the Storytime Squares Quilt from Made by Rae and the fabric is by Riley Blake, Little Red Riding Hood.

Here is a better look at the fabric, binding and the backing. This is actually one of my favorite quilts, partially because it's been really hard for me to master square quilts, but this one turned out almost a perfect square.


On to the next quilt for my little niece, due on my birthday...her's will be purples, greens, greys and butterflies! I can't wait.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Halloween this year is a little crazy for us. Thanks to a dear friend, I just might survive it. So because tomorrow will be logistically crazy, we did a little celebrating early, which included costume pictures for Zoe yesterday.

I always try and do them a day or so before the festivities, 1. in case they turn out bad, I have another shot, 2. because she's more likely to stay still and pose, if we aren't headed to a sugar filled party.

Our cookie party is later this week, and Zoe was anxious to start packing up our goodie bags this weekend. So we ripped into the goodies and divided them up.

Here's what they included...


The confetti was found at Target and the treat bags were left over from my guest design gig at Pebbles (come back Thursday for more about that) The rest was from Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart.

To seal the bags, I made these circle labels, printed them on white sticker paper, and cut them out with my Silhouette Print and Cut feature ( hands down my FAVORITE thing about this machine!)

Isn't my friend's little boy perfect? I asked her to let me use these photos because they are the perfect candid pumpkin patch photos. The colors and expressions are just fantastic. She is my photography hero.

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE fall! Like probably an unhealthy amount. I've been to my fair share of pumpkin patches. I wanted to share a few of my tip for getting great pumpkin pictures.

1. Go during the evening, and during the week if you can. The less busy, the better. You can get great photos of the whole pumpkin patch, if there aren't other people around and the light is always better in the evening. Plus, you might even get a cool sun-flare photo.

2. Wear muted toned clothes. I love that the orange and green of the pumpkin POP against his brown and tan shirts. Also, avoid wearing orange. Orange on orange is a lot of orange.

3. Follow your kids while they are looking at pumpkins. My favorite photos are always the candid ones.

What are you favorite pumpkin recipes? Have you ever made your own pumpkin puree? I've been thinking about doing that this year, but I'm a little nervous to try.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Fabric: Too Cute Too Spook, Font: Chunkfive

I'm super excited about today's project. After I finished the Arrow Quilt, I had a bunch of triangle scraps leftover and this project is the perfect thing for a pile of unclaimed scraps.

I made two versions, both are no-sew, this first one is made from the Arrow Quilt fabric scraps. The scraps were already cut into triangles. I cut triangles from the Heat n' Bond (HNB) to match the fabric scraps. Then ironed the HNB to the backside of the fabric triangles. I trimmed the triangles to 3.5" x 2.5" x .2.5". I arranged them a few at a time and ironed them to the canvas bag.

I bought my plain canvas bags are Joann's with a 40% off coupon, and they were around $2 each, they were the medium size. I also bought the Heat n' Bond there, and it was on sale for a few dollars. (You get a piece that is 17"x 36", in the small package)

For Zoe's name, I used this method to cut the fabric with my Silhouette.

For another option, I used the pattern from the Jack-O-Lantern T-shirt. The cut file is available for download here. (Personal use only)

I'm wasn't sure if Zoe will be allowed to wear her costume to school on Halloween, and I wanted to make sure she has something festive to wear.

I purchased a plain black t-shirt at Wal-Mart for around $4 and I bought a fat quarter of orange fabric for the face. I made a Jack-O-Lantern face in Illustrator, and used this method, to cut the fabric backed with Heat n' Bond with my Silhouette. I ironed the pieces on by hand and will be sewing them down around the edge before I wash it.



You can download the free Silhouette file here. For personal use only.

If wanted to accessorize the outfit, and took some small scraps (1/2" x 1-3") from my arrow quilt, and tied them around a hair band, making the perfect scrappy hair tie.


Turns out Zoe will be wearing her costume to school and we actually just got the last pieces of her costume in the mail last week. she's super excited to already. Just two more weeks!

XOXO,
Holly & CO

For the cookie party this year, I wanted to make some goodie bags, with non-edible treats for the kids to take home. I have been wanting to try out this Silhouette Tattoo paper for awhile now, and this was the perfect occasion. I used dingbat fonts and Photoshop to create these simple graphic temporary tattoos.

Tips:
1. Cut as much white space off as possible - the way these printable tattoo sheets work, the white space is a tattoo as well. The less white space, the better the tattoo looks on. I cut mine out by hand, Alternatively, you could also achieve this by using the Silhouette print and cut feature
2. Make sure you let the ink dry. I left mine for 30 minutes before I put the adhesive sheet on top.



Download the free printable here. For personal use only.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

I remember as a kid my favorite thing about carving pumpkins, was the pumpkin seeds my mom roasted and we snacked on for the next few days - if they lasted that long.

She would rinse them and salt them with Lawry's seasoning salt. But this year, I wanted to switch things up a bit and try some new flavors....Can you believe my husband had never tried roasted pumpkin seeds until I started making test batches? Seriously, he's glad to have me around to introduce him to culinary delights like these.

Smoky Chipotle Pumpkin Seeds
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
4 tsp. Smoky Chipotle Tabasco
4 tsp. water
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. smoked salt
1 tsp. kosher salt
dash of black pepper

Mix ingredients together until seeds are coated. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet either greased or lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp. smoked salt on top. Bake at 275 for 30 minutes or until crunchy.

My husband is obsessed with this Tabasco sauce. I bought it for a recipe I found on Pinterest and he fell in love. What would we do without Pinterest? These seeds aren't spicy upon first taste, but it's definitely a building heat, the more you eat, the spicier they become.

I've already made several batches, I didn't even get a picture until my third batch, and I'm anticipating they will become a new household favorite.

How do you roast pumpkin seeds? Are you like my husband and have never even tried them?

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Taking a quick break from Halloween posts, I saw this mood board on Pinterest this afternoon for Studio Calico's November kits. I love the color scheme and immediately got to work designing some PL cards.

image: Studio Calico

I hope you enjoy them.  You can download them here. I can't wait to see how they mesh with the actual Studio Calico kits.


XOXO,
Holly & Co.

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I've had this idea for awhile but it was solidified when my grocery store started carrying Chocolate Brownie Marshmallows. I had previously purchase the Chocolate Mallow Bits, which are basically a lucky charm marshmallows, when they were on clearance at our local store. This concoction is for any chocolate lover.

I'm always a little hesitant to try new materials in my Silhouette. So far all of the various materials have worked out, but fabric was one I'd heard bad stories about.

I've seen the Silhouette brand interfacing and heat transfers, but I wanted to make a no sew project and Heat N' Bond has adhesive on both sides. You can get Heat n' Bond at Joann's or other crafts stores, or here online.

Before you start: 
1. Press your fabric with starch, so it's already flat and you don't risk creases.
2. Using a new/sharp Silhouette blade will make your cuts clean and crisp on the edges
3. I have tried this method several times with quilting weight cotton and it has worked beautifully. If you are using a thicker fabric, it may not work as well or at all.

Instructions:
1. Cut 1 piece 8.5" x 11" inches, from fabric and Heat n' Bond (HNB).
2. Iron HNB to the backside of the fabric. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
3. Place fabric printed side up onto Silhouette mat. Optional: Tape down the edges for extra security.
4. Load into Silhouette machine and cut. (My Silhouette settings: blade: 3, speed: 5, thickness: 33, double cut)
5. Unload mat and peel off fabric shapes from paper backing.
6. Place shapes, fabric side up, onto the canvas bag.
7. Iron shapes. Allow to cool. Check edges for any peeling, repeat ironing if needed.


For items that will get extra wear and tear, I suggest stitching around the edge with a sewing machine or needle and thread to ensure the item will stay without fraying/peeling.

Stay tuned in the next few days, I've got some awesome projects using this method.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Happy October! I'm so excited for all the fun things I have to share on the blog this month. Halloween never used to be my favorite holiday, but the last few years, I've had so much fun decorating and crafting for Halloween, that it seems to have worked it's way into one of my favorites.

I bought this quilt pattern months ago, just because I liked it, with no real project in mind for it. When I saw this fabric from Bella Blvd, I knew it would be a perfect match. I hadn't made a Halloween quilt yet, and after my monkey quilt, I decided I need a quilt for each holiday.

Thanks to my brother for the display.

The pattern is well written and easy to follow, a great beginner quilt. I had my blocks all cut and sewn in one afternoon, probably 2-3 hours.  I make quilts in stages. First, the cutting. Then, sewing the blocks. Then, assembling the top. I usually wait weeks before sandwiching it with the backing and doing the actual quilting. Sometimes, it takes me another few days to get the bindings on.
The quilt isn't very big, the finished size is 37 x 51, for a bigger quilt, you could double it. The pattern is  "Every Which Way" by GiGi's Thimble and the fabric is "Too Cute Too Spook" by Bella Blvd for Riley Blake. But the best part of this quilt, is all the leftovers! I've got 3 other projects coming this month that use the leftovers from this quilt. Save your scraps!

Whenever I'm making quilts, Zoe asks who they are for.

I saw these stitched pockets from Studio Calico and loved them...until I saw the price tag!

$5.99 for 8 pockets. I'm not sure on the exact sizes of these, but I decided with some cardstock, patterned paper and my sewing machine, I could make my own. Even better, I made them to fit into Project Life/Handbook/Simple Stories page protectors.

I used my Silhouette software for this task, specifically because I want to perforate the cardstock, so I didn't have to sew two separate pieces together. I created both a 4x6 and 3x4 size. Once I cut them out with my Silhouette, I carefully folded them, textured side up.

Once they were folded, I sewed three of the edges, leaving one side open to slide in a journaling card or photo. As you can see, I made the opening on different sides depending on the size, this was just my personal preference.


The inserts are sizes about a 1/2" smaller on each side. Just remember to trim them down and they will slide right in.

To recreate these fun pockets, download the templates here.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Whew...we are finally off the crazy train around here and are settling back into quiet, normal life.

Really, there is nothing quite like a quiet, normal life as I've come to appreciate the little things in my life that help me feel normal.

Ryan is recovering from surgery well and even got his stitches out. You wouldn't even know he had surgery two weeks ago looking at him now.

Zoe is loving school. I'm sad I missed her first day, but she had a great time with my mom here, and I have pictures, which satisfies me for now. I needed to be with Ryan. I really hope I don't have to make that choice between the two of them again, it was really hard.


I was able to be here for her first soccer game though. Their league is great, all the kids get to play, and it's low pressure (which is great since Zoe has never played on a team before)

They are the Purple Monsters, which Zoe prides herself in helping come up with the name. I think they were going for a purple people eaters thing... She's on the team with her friend, Sarah, they are the only girls on the team.

She did pretty good for her first game, although towards the end, she got elbowed in the face and ran off the field crying, and then she said through the tears," Mom, soccer is just SO hard." She sat the rest of the game out, but perked right back up when they handed out snacks, including "Lightening juice" aka Gatorade.


I'm grateful that our family is healthy and all together once more. There really isn't anything quite like the feeling of "home" and we've really embraced that this last week.

And to top it off....my favorite season is on it's way, we got a little taste with some crazy thunderstorms this last week. Hoping for the continued drop in temperatures!

XOXO,
Holly & Co.