friday creative on wednesday!

today we are making photo confetti just in time to add to your new year's parties! turning your favorite photos from 2010 into confetti is a wonderful way to celebrate your memories and ring in the new year!
supplies:
-photos (i recommend starting with wallets)
-cardstock
-circle punches (i used a 1.75 punch and a .5 punch) or scissors (because the circles don't have to be perfect)

how to:
-punch (or cut) your favorite parts of the photos into circles.
-punch (or cut) cardstock circles.
-now you have confetti to add to your celebration!

happy wednesday! hope you have a great friday and a happy new year's eve!

xo, carly

long time no see...

oh my goodness it's been a long time since i've blogged! i'm so sorry! we've been very, very busy here at carly tee photography & design and then there were the holidays...well, you know. please forgive me!

i hope you all had wonderful holidays and are looking forward to a very exciting new year! we sure are and we have lots of things to share but not quite yet...

first i wanted to let you know to tune in tomorrow for a friday creative on wednesday! we have a fun and easy party decor project that you can make just in time for your new year's eve celebrations.

see you tomorrow!
xo, carly

friday creative

here is a little holiday photo holder, quick and easy to whip together with some peppermint sticks!

supplies:

-4 peppermint sticks

-two 12 inch pieces of twine

-photo

how to:

-stack peppermint sticks with photo sandwiched in middle and secure with twine. trim off excess twine. cute right?!

-this would also make an adorable place card holder.

happy friday!

xo, carly

a fun idea...

my cute friend tammy t had a fun idea to display holiday cards in a carly tee design wire photo stand! thanks tammy!

xo, carly

sugar & spice

so while i'm not ready to start making christmas goodies for my friends & family, i am certainly ready to start eating christmas goodies...hence these little ginger babies! i just love gingersnaps, they make the whole house smell like christmas!

gingersnaps

-3/4 cup butter

-1 cup brown sugar (packed)

-1 egg

-1/4 cup molasses

-2 1/4 cups flour

-2 teaspoons soda

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 teaspoon ginger

-1/2 teaspoon cloves

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-sugar (for rolling)

mix butter, brown sugar, egg & molasses. blend in remaining ingredients (except sugar). cover and chill 1 hour. preheat oven to 375. shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar, place on lightly greased or parchment covered cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes (or until just set). makes about 4 dozen.

hope you're having a sweet day too!

xo, carly

friday creative

today we are making a sweet (and chocolaty) holiday gift that comes together quickly and for $10 or less! with homemade cocoa in a jar and a personalized photo tag, you'll be sure to make someone's holiday bright! supplies:
-jar pdf (find it here...it has all the recipes & tags)
-jar
-cocoa ingredients
-photos (wallets are a great size to start with)
-ribbon or twine
-hole punch

how to:
-make cocoa mix by layering in your jar (classic & peppermint recipes are on the pdf).
-make your photo tag by printing pdf out at 100% on white cardstock and cutting out tags. then cut down photo to 1.75x1.75 square and adhere to tag.
-punch hole in tag and attach to jar with ribbon or twine.
-ta-da, you have a super sweet gift !

happy friday!
xo, carly

happy december

happy december everyone! i hope this is the start of a magical holiday season for everyone. remember to take lots of pictures!

xo, carly

p.s. this is day 1 of our little advent, the first candy cane of the season!

friday creative

today's friday creative is a fun little product spotlight! in honor of black friday, it's a buy-it-yourself day instead of a do-it-yourself day!

check out the birch branch sign holder from the vermont branch company. doesn't it make an adorable photo holder?! it would make a wonderful holiday gift and a great addition to your christmas decorations!

happy shopping and happy friday!

xo, carly

happy thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving everyone! i hope you have a wonderful day!

xo, carly

happy news...

our new skeleton key ornaments are now in-stock over at the carly tee design shop! they were so super popular at the ruffles & rust and the holiday market shows that we sold out but we are back in-stock and ready to go for the holidays! AND we are so super excited to offer FREE shipping on the skeleton key ornaments!

xo, carly

my first holiday project

so remember how i was working on a holiday project the other day? well i'm finished and i wanted to share, i made an advent calendar! i'm super excited because i'm hoping this starts a new holiday tradition for my little family and because it's done before thanksgiving! here it is...

i used one of our carly tee designs framed metal clip strips (actually our very first prototype) to hold the majority of the advent tags. inside the folded tags are holiday activities for our family to do together like holiday shopping, baking, movie nights, etc. and then i cut some of the tags smaller to place on the bags & boxes of treats. i also added jars of goodies just for "looks" because i solemnly swear i won't sneak into those (until i do...hee, hee). and because they were already made and i felt like sharing, here's the link to my advent pdf pages 1, 2 & 3.

hope you had a great weekend! stay tuned for a fun announcement tomorrow!

xo, carly

friday creative

today's friday creative is a cute little project i saw in sunset magazine a million years ago and i'm so happy i finally made them! they are little photo ornaments made from favor tins.
supplies:
-small tins with glass lids (you can get them here)
-circle punch (a size to fit inside tin lid or pencil to trace & scissors)
-grosgrain ribbon
-embroidery thread & needle
-double-sided tape
-light-weight acid free paper (like scrapbooking paper)
-photos
-jingle bells & decorative ribbon
how to:
-punch circles from your photos. or if you don't have a coordinating punch (i didn't), trace around the bottom of your tin (not the lid). cut out with scissors, staying just inside the traced line. clean your tin lid if necessary and place your circle inside your tin lid.
-crumple up some of the light-weight acid free paper and use it to fill the tin. this will help hold your photo against the lid.
-next cut your ribbon to fit around the outside of the closed tin and fold in half. use the needle and thread to pierce near the fold fold to make a hanger. tie embroidery thread but don't knot if possible, you want it to lay as flat as it can under the ribbon.
-run strip of double-sided tape around tin and press ribbon, with embroidery thread hanger on top, around tin.
-the first tin will feel a little awkward but after that you can make bunches of these little cutie pie ornaments! they will make sweet little additions to your tree and they'd make great gifts too!

happy friday!
xo, carly

sweet treats

we (me & ellie the puppy) are working on a very fun holiday project at my house today, which i promise to share in a few days, and i thought a holiday project deserved some holiday treats!

yummy magic bars!

here's the recipe...

-1/2 cup butter

-1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

-14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

-2 cups chocolate chips

-1 1/3 cups coconut

-1 cup chopped nuts

preheat oven to 350 (or 325 for a glass dish) and coat a 13x9 pan with cooking spray. combine cracker crumbs & butter and press into bottom of pan. pour condensed milk over crumb mixture. then top with chips, coconut and nuts. press down firmly with a fork and bake 25 minutes or until toasty brown. cool & enjoy!

and in case you're wondering why my bars look a little different, well that's another reason these are so great! i don't even measure the toppings, i just put on as much coconut as looks good and then i use mini chocolate chips (i like my coconut to chocolate ratio to be about 70/30). and we are a mostly nut-free household so we usually just skip them.

hope you're having a great day!

xo, carly

friday creative

today is a simple and fun holiday centerpiece idea, all you need are a few cake plates and your imagination!

supplies:

-cake plates (at least 2 in varying sizes)

-greenery (or flowers, leaves, etc.)

-carly tee dessert tin photo holder

-vintage ornaments (or any other fun bits & pieces)

-photo (or 2)

how to:

-stack your cake plates and place your dessert tin photo holder on top. add your photo (or photos, back to back in holder).

-add greenery around cake plates & photo holder and then add ornaments.

-ta-da! cute centerpiece right? and you can change out your lush pines & holly for colorful leaves & pinecones to make a really cute fall centerpiece.

happy friday!

xo, carly

p.s. just for the holidays we are super excited to offer our local shoppers a pick up option so you can save on shipping! head over to the shop to check it out...

what are you doing this saturday?

so what are you doing this saturday? i bet you're going to the 2nd saturdayz vintage flea market at magnuson park in seattle. it looks like it's going to be super fun! i'm hoping to make it down there myself after a photo session so hopefully i'll see you all there!!!

xo, carly

the holiday market was wonderful!

we're catching our breath around here after the amazing holiday market last weekend! thanks so much to all of our wonderful friends and customers! we've had lots of requests for photos but i have to admit i wasn't a very good photographer during the market, i got busy and put my camera down...silly carly! here are a few shots from first thing in the morning...

dessert tin photo holders

skeleton key ornaments

vintage hangers with clips

& more goodies!

stay tuned for an updated shop and the more skeleton key ornaments very soon!

xo, carly

it's a book signing party!

well it's a virtual book signing party! today instead of a friday creative we are super, duper excited to be participating in the farm chicks party to celebrate the new christmas book! (of course it would be even better to be at chaps in spokane to celebrate in person but with the holiday market tomorrow, the virtual party is the next best thing!)the book looks wonderful and i can't wait for mine to arrive! shaun and i are still adding holiday traditions to our list and i'm sure we will be inspired by this book! one tradition we do have already is to add a new ornament to our tree each year and of course i like to make them! here is one of my very favorite, photo ornaments.

and here's a little tutorial.

now if you haven't purchased this awesome new book yet, make sure to head over to the farm chicks online shop and order it today before 1pm and then you will get a copy signed by miss serena & her friends! cool right?!

happy friday!

xo, carly

it's almost here...

the holiday market is almost here and you're invited!we are joining with our friends treasury of memories to bring you the holiday market this saturday, november 6th from 10am to 4pm at the treasury warehouse.

we will have lots of carly tee designs products, wonderful papercrafting kits & home decor vinyl from the treasury girls and tons of holiday inspiration! we'll also have some sweet treats, vinyl freebies and a great carly tee raffle (see more here).

but wait, there's more!

we even have a super fun class going on from 1pm-2pm! check it out...
one of our favorite carly tee products, the wire photo stand, is really cute all by it self but it's even cuter when you accessorize it! in class you will make 5 seasonal accessories including 2 book print & vintage milk cap pinwheels, dictionary holly leaves with jingle bell, glittered sheet music leaves and a vintage bottle cap magnet. all for only $12, just the cost of a wire photo stand! class includes materials to complete accessories AND a wire photo stand! head over to the carly tee shop to grab your spot!

can't wait to see you saturday!

xo, carly

sweet family

here is a little sneak peek for jael and her sweet family. we had a fun morning at the beach capturing these pics and a bunch more! aren't they such cuties?!thanks for the great time guys!

xo, carly

cuties in santa hats

as promised, here are more sneak peeks from the holiday mini sessions!thanks to all my adorable, wonderful & fun clients!

xo, carly

more sneak peeks!

as promised, here are more sneak peeks of my cute, cute clients from the holiday mini sessions!xo, carly

p.s. stay tuned from even more!

more news about the holiday market

did you hear that everyone who comes to the holiday market is getting a set of these adorable vinyl snowflakes from treasury?*
you luckys! and pop over to the treasury blog to check out some of the cute things you can make in mere minutes with this adorable snowflake vinyl, courtesy of heidi fay.

and wanna know another fun thing happening at the holiday market? we are having a raffle to win a carly tee designs photo ladder! this is one of my favorite carly tee products, it's handmade by my cute hubby! tickets will be $2, we will draw a winner before my class and one lucky person will get to take home their very own photo ladder! (photo ladders are regularly $75 so it's pretty fun!)

xo, carly

*free snowflake vinyls are while supplies last, help us make enough by RSVPing to our facebook event!

friday creative

ok, i know it's not even quite halloween yet but there are just TONS of holiday ideas that i want to share with you and with the holiday market coming, i'm totally in the spirit! it's just time to get started! today's project is a fun idea from miss martha stewart and i just couldn't resist it, cookie cutter photo ornaments!

supplies:

-cookies cutter

-photo

-pencil

-scissors

-liquid adhesive

-ribbon

how to:

-trace cookie cutter on the back side of photo and cut out.

-dab a small amount of liquid adhesive along the edge of the cookie cutter and then press it to your photo, aligning the edges.

-attach ribbon two ways, either before adhering photo or thread a narrow ribbon through a needle and carefully push between the photo and ornament.

-ta-da! won't these make great little stocking stuffers and gifts?

xo, carly

holiday mini sessions peek

so i know we've been a little slow to catch up around here this week after the amazing ruffles & rust show last weekend but we're finally getting there. we have lots of sneak peeks this week and lots of fun holiday market stuff too! so stay tuned. and up first...

here are the berrey boys and aren't they so ridiculously cute?!

xo, carly