Custom Valentines on Etsy

I have had so much fun creating valentines for my kids’ elementary school Valentine’s Day parties. Every year I expect them to ask for cartoon-branded, big box store valentines and every year they surprise me by wanting something custom-made by their mom.

I have made three of these valentines available for purchase in my Etsy shop. See below for instructions on how to order. This post contains a few affiliate links. Shopping through these links earns me a few cents and it’s greatly appreciated to keep my little business running.

Airplane-themed valentines! These are about 8x2.5 inches after they’ve been folded in half. They are designed to be stapled to snack-size baggies filled with valentine treats. You can consider sending non-candy, non-food, and allergen-free valentines to school and order foam airplane kits like pictured. You can order them from Amazon here. Just staple to the top of the poly bags. These were a HUGE hit in my kids’ classes last year. I add their salutation to the back written in “clouds”.

Link to this listing

Expo Marker Valentines! These were our valentines for 2021. We opted to go non-edible again and gave each classmate a dry erase marker; which was a hot commodity that school year. For their teachers, they got a Ziplock back with 6 Expo markers and 4 Sharpies. The cards are set up 4 to a page and there is enough space to adhere a thick or thin dry erase marker to the card with double-stick tape or washi tape. Choose from four different color schemes. You can buy dry erase markers from Amazon or your local Costco or Sam’s Club.

Link to this listing

Fishing Themed Valentines! These were so much fun to create. My boys love fishing; my oldest especially. So it was only fitting to opt for a fishing-themed valentine. These are approximately 8x2.5 inches when folded in half. I turn your child into a fishing cartoon and after these are trimmed and folded in half, they can easily be stapled to a snack-size Ziplock bag. You can go sandwich-size if you’d like. Fill these with Goldfish crackers, Swedish fish, or maybe gummy worms.

Link to this listing

When I create new valentines, I’ll try to add them to my shop if they’re worth it. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Printable Calendars on Etsy

I have had these printable wall calendars in my Etsy shop for more than a few years. I just added a handful of new ones and I wanted to share. Here’s a link to my Etsy shop.

These are a fairly simple and really useful concept:

• Print the calendar page at a local print shop at 16x20 inches (Office Depot, Staples, etc. You can order online or take the file to a store on a flash drive. Some will accept files via email.)

• Insert it into a 16x20 inch ready-made picture frame and the glass becomes your dry erase board.

• Write in the month, days, and your family’s activities and appointments for the month.

• If you have the wall space and need to have two (ore more) months up at a time, print as many as you need.

I have two 11x14 inch calendar frames hanging on the wall in my office and they’re really handy for me to see what the coming weeks have in store for us. 11x14 is all I have wall space for right now, but I am hoping to be able to go up to 16x20 in my next home office. Fingers crossed!

Pro Tip: Use Command Strips to hang these on the wall (yep, that’s an affiliate link). They make pulling these frames down to write on easier to do each month and no holes in the wall. It’s easier for me to write on these when I can put them on a table and Command Strips totally make that easier.

I also keep track using the calendar on my phone, but I’m a very visual person, so having months visible on the wall makes it easier for me. It also makes it easy for my husband and my kids to see what family or school events and appointments are coming up.

These DIY calendars are very simple with a space at the top to add in the month and information in all of the date squares. Ultra-fine tip dry erase markers work the best, but regular fine-tip pens will work as well.

I can customize the name at the top to say pretty much anything; whether it’s just your family name or something different like “The Hollises Craziness,” “The Murray Clan,” or “The Gonzalez House.” I have even made one that says “Girl’s Office” or even a company name. Other fun ones to consider, if it works for your family: brood, flock, clan, dynasty, and progeny. Since my married name is Wong, my husband and I would totally go punny and say “The Wong House.”

If you would like to skip the fun, family name at the top, you can always opt for just a few lines and space to write any notes at the top like the ones on my wall.

Clicking on any of these images will take you to its listing on Etsy.

If you’re interested in customizing a wall calendar with different fonts, adding colors, or going with a different size, shoot me an email and we can talk details.

Flairly Social

My dear friend Cari started a social media consulting business, along with two friends, Britt and Monica, and I was honored to create a logo for them with this new venture. Flairly Social helps small businesses and direct sellers build a social media presence and a brand. Each of the colors on the three, intertwined circles represents one of the members of the business. It’s a simple logo, but I love how it turned out.

Here’s their business cards:

I created a custom, printable calendar that they can give away to clients and fans.

Lastly (for now), I created a handful of backgrounds that they can use on their website and when creating social media posts. Here’s a sampling of what I made for them:

Laura's Holiday Card - 2019

Laura’s awesome holiday cards are always creative and they never disappoint; and this year was no exception. I also need to give her family credit for being so enthusiastic about these fun holiday cards.

She took photos of everyone in the family separately and I pieced them together in Photoshop. I LOVE how it turned out. The comic book theme with the text totally meshed with the silliness of the photo.

And how about a zoom in on those joyriding kids, freaked out parents, and a terrified pug!

Thanks so much Laura and a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Click here to see all of the fun holiday cards I’ve done for Laura and her family.

Galaxy Dyed Vans

My oldest son finished third grade this past spring and that year was the first time I had been able to volunteer in his class with any regularity. I volunteered once a week when they attended art class and I was able to get to know a few of the students and learn a little about third grade dynamics. This is the gist of what I learned:

• Third graders are still emotionally sensitive. They want to be cool, but they still suffer from the emotional instability that plagued them at the magical age of seven.

• Third graders aren’t quite old enough to believe that everything is stupid… yet. But they’re getting close.

• Third graders can be really mean!

It was so fun to be able to help out when I could and I hope I’m able to join his fourth grade class as often as I can in the fall.

A while back, my son had it in his head that he needed more expensive shoes. Supposedly, a kid in his class declared that his Keen shoes were “dollar store shoes,” and that cool kids only wear expensive shoes. Ugh.

First, I reminded him that we actually can’t buy him super cheap shoes anymore because he’ll rip through them faster than you can even say the words “Dollar Store.” Second, I explained to him that how much a pair of shoes costs means absolutely squat. What matters is if they fit comfortably, look good to you, and keep your feet dry. And it’s nice if they last a while, or at least until they’re outgrown.

Their teacher reprimanded the kid who tried to make others feel bad if they didn’t have $100+ shoes, but I did my own little passive-aggressive comeback (with my son’s blessing, of course). I made him some custom-dyed Vans.

Vans are ALL the rage among kids from elementary school all through high school. I have to admit that it makes me chuckle to see teenagers wearing the exact same pair of checkerboard Vans I’m wearing. I wear them because I like how they look and they’re slip-on, and I LOVED them when I was a kid.

We bought some plain white Vans from Journeys earlier this month and I galaxy-dyed them in green and blue, my son’s favorite colors. I used fiber-reactive dye from Dharma Trading and a similar technique that I use for galaxy-dyed clothes and baby carrier. They ended up being quite a pain to rinse, the dye inside the soles was tough to get out. I also did my best to mask off the white rubber to prevent them from being stained by the dye. Lastly, I masked off the rubber and labels when I painted stars with fabric paint.

I really love how they turned out and so does my son. Apparently a few of his friends want a pair now. #momwin