Amanda G Designs {my Etsy shop}

About six months ago, I joined many other crafters and artists and opened an Etsy shop. It started after I received several requests for my Luke 2:11 sign from folks all over the world. That sign was the only item in the shop for a while, but now that the Christmas season has passed, I have had the opportunity to add at least one new hand painted design each week.

Here are a few of the Amanda G Designs items in the shop right now.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Map of America.  

A sweet bedtime routine reminder.
Read me a story. Tuck me in tight. Say a sweet prayer. And kiss me goodnight.

I loved you yesterday. I love you still. I always have. I always will.

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19



There's a boy who stole my HEART. He calls me mommy.

Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good. Psalm 118:1

And of course the Luke 2:11 sign. If you'd like to be added to the 2013 waiting list you can follow this link to leave me a message with your information.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

In addition to these designs, I've had the pleasure of creating custom pieces for several wonderful people. I have very much enjoyed collaborating with them to create meaningful artwork for their homes. The process from the first email with a simple scripture, to the finished product is thrilling for me. It is indeed a blessing to do something that I love.

If you are thinking about starting up your own shop on Etsy, here are a few basic things I learned in the first month of opening my shop.

1. Take your item to the post office (I use USPS) boxed and ready to ship before listing the item. The items in my shop are large and I knew they would be expensive to mail but it was very beneficial for me to learn the maximum dimensions to avoid "balloon" charges. Ask for the prices to ship across the country and to any other country you are willing to mail to. Also include tracking costs or insurance for the item.

2. Pinterest is one of the best ways to promote your shop. I pin all of my designs to a board titled "Signs {I make}."

3.  Be open to making customizations to your items and consider all custom order requests.

A huge thank you to those who have purchased a sign from my shop. I truly appreciate it! Be sure to follow Growing Up Gardner on facebook for updates on new items and coupon codes!

Come by and visit Amanda G Designs on Etsy!

-Amanda

Valentine's Day Mantle

Our little guy, Noah, was due on Valentine's Day in 2011. He ended up being born on the 15th but my point is, with a birthday party coming up in a few weeks, I didn't want to go overboard with Valentine's Day decorations. They will be replaced soon enough by a race car themed 2nd birthday party (which I haven't begun to plan - better get on that).

I had an extra canvas in my craft bin and after seeing this adorable DIY project from Craftoholics Anonymous, I decided that it's about time to fire up my Silhouette Cameo and see what it could do.

Turns out, I must be missing the vinyl talent because my version was less than perfect. I followed the directions exactly (and even used the mod podge trick) but when it came time to pull the stickers off I wasn't "left with a great looking love day decoration" as Linda claims. But she's a craft genius so I don't blame her for my unfortunate outcome.

Not one letter peeled off perfectly. I would normally trash a craft fail like this but I decided to just go ahead and spend a few minutes fixing it up.



Good from far, but far from good.

The next super easy craft for the mantle involved picking up heart-shaped doilies from the Target dollar section and stringing 5 of them from twine. Not much I could mess up with that. Although, they did come out of the package with a tear on the edge.

I balanced the mantle out with a seashell-filled vase, vintage books and letter G.

And called it a day.

Top 5 posts from 2012

A quick recap of the most-viewed posts from 2012. It has been a whirlwind of a year. Noelle turned 4 and Noah had his first birthday. Nothing has brought me more joy than watching my babies grow and play together. Their little personalities have me bursting into laughter every day. I am grateful beyond words to be their momma.

At the end of July, I opened an Etsy shop after receiving many requests for my Luke 2:11 sign. It has been a dream of mine to be able to do exactly this and thanks to my hard-working husband, my dream came true. He does the grunt work, preparing the wood for staining and putting everything together. My dad was also a huge help as I hustled to get the orders shipped. I've had a wonderful time not only doing something I love, but also getting to know many of my customers who have become friends. Keep an eye out in 2013 for many more designs added to the shop. 

Here are the top 5 posts from 2012. 

1. Our Family Code

Our Family Code was a simple project using our birthday's and wedding anniversary. 

2. Honeymoon Bridal Shower - Vintage Travel Theme

I had the pleasure of hosting my dear friend Megan's Bridal Shower in 2012 and coming in 2013, her baby shower! 

3. Noelle's Snow White Woodland Theme Birthday Party

My baby is 4! We hosted a dessert party for Noelle's birthday. She and her friends had a blast watching the dry ice smoke around the "poison" apples and creating their own swords and princess crowns. 

4. Noah's Red Wagon 1st Birthday Party

I can't look at a red wagon without tearing up now. They remind me of my sweet baby boy who is now nearly two. I wish I could jump into this post and kiss his chubby cheeks! 

5. A Classic Christmas at the Gardner's

Our Christmas decorations this year have taken off on Pinterest. The mantle piece was so easy to make. Just 7 boards and a light stain with a fresh wreath. 

Thank you for following along on our journey. May you have a blessed 2013.

Amanda

A Classic Christmas at the Gardner's

This Christmas is classic and cozy with fresh greens in every room. I added a fresh garland to the sofa table, then the mantle, then the dining room and over the kitchen sink. The house has a cabin feel this year and it smells divine. 

I'm loving my "instant collection" of trees. I rounded them up during a Christmas decoration shopping day in November. Hobby Lobby, Marshall's and Home Goods did not disappoint. I love the whimsical-ness they have.

Deep reds and greens with touches of creamy white bring our classic Christmas together.
HOHOHO pillows

On the mantel, Mr. G and I put a faux gate together and on it hung a fresh wreath. A garland and a pinecone pick in the wreath finish off the simple mantle. I used an anti-transpirant spray on the greens to keep them fresh. I hope they last a few more weeks, but I'm having doubts already. I used two 15 ft. garlands from Home Depot for the house. Picking up another 2 for $5 each before Christmas won't break the bank if need be. Another change to the family room is a swap out in rugs. This fluffy shag rug is from Noelle's room.

When decorating our tree I use these steps:
1. Start with any ribbon or garland, 5 times around the tree.
2. Add any themed ornaments evenly around the tree
3. Find spots for your "treasures" (handmade and special ornaments)
4. Fill in with bulbs.

Noah is a big fan of the tree, and the "balls" that hang on it. Which is why the bottom branches are no longer decorated. Little stinker has ran off with several ornaments.

 

Reindeer Figurine 

Snowflake Runner

In the dinning room, more fresh greens are stuffed in a small crate with LED candles and mason jars.

The Luke 2:11 sign hangs above the nativity instead of on the mantle this year.

This corner needed some height. I stacked the suitcases and strung 10 jingle bells on twine.



In the kitchen, a fresh garland is strung above the sink window. The garland will collect all of our cards over the month and into the new year. These are our Christmas cards from the past 4 years, since Noelle's first Christmas.

I used some of the silver decorations from 2011 in the guest bathroom.

Christmas festivities kick off this weekend with our town parade. Parties and events are filling the December schedule and we are going to soak it up.
May your days be merry.
Amanda


View our 2011 silver and white Christmas decorations

Paper Plate Pumpkin Craft

The first rain of the season fell early this morning. It seemed like an appropriate day to make an easy fall craft with the kids. They also needed some winding down after a fun morning of autumn initiation activities - puddle jumping and tree shaking.

{Pumpkin Plate Craft}
Paper Plate - Paint brush - Orange Paint - Construction Paper (green, brown, black) - Glue

I didn't have anything planned so I went with an old standby - paper plates. First, I read It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse, in which the mouse paints different faces on his pumpkins. Then I gave the kids a plate, brush and orange paint. While they worked at covering the entire plate orange, I asked them what face they wanted on their pumpkin (just like in the book) - happy, sad, surprised, silly or scary. They cut out the face, along with a stem and leaves. Then they glued the pieces onto their pumpkins. The leaves turned out to look more like unibrows, so you might want to try to glue crinkle paper on instead. 



Scary, Silly, and Surprised faces.


Noah loves all of Laura Numeroff's Mouse books.


As I said, the morning was spent puddle jumping and enjoying the cool air and cloudy sky.



My niece, Emma, is not afraid of getting dirty.


Noah, new to puddles, decided puddle slapping was much more entertaining. Whatever works, kid.

And there was tree shaking. The leaves aren't quite ready to fall. We only had a few takers, but a few was all we needed.

Welcome, fall. We are so glad you've arrived.

-Amanda

Target Easter clearance - 90% off

Easter items went 90% off at my store yesterday - but the signs didn't change to 90% until this morning. Noelle has been begging for a pink tulle Easter dress that is on the clearance racks so we went to check if it was marked down to half off today (it wasn't). But we did find some other goodies!

Color-changing Bouncy Ball - .29
2 Stickers - .19 each
10 Cadberry creme eggs - .07 each
6 Crinkle paper - .15 each (Why is crinkle paper so expensive? This was a great time to stock up for parties and gift wrap).
Pink Bowl - $1.49

There were dollar spot items scattered around so I rummaged through and grabbed 9 pairs of socks and 4 blank cards for .10 each!
FYI - the dollar spot items go to salvage after 70% off but for some reason these were left behind and I was able to purchase them.

The ground beef was marked down from $3.69 to $2.49 and had a $1 off coupon sticker. I paid only $1.49 each! I would have cleaned out the whole section and stocked my freezer but there's no room!

Merona ruffle tank top - Sale price $6

Used $3/1 Merona clothing item

= $3

Don't forget to check the grocery aisles for Easter items (cereal, goldfish, cake mix, etc). Those items don't always have a clearance sticker but are usually marked down.

-Amanda

DIY Egg Garland

Yesterday I shared our Easter decorations and today I'm going to show you how Noelle and I made this simple egg garland for the fireplace mantel. Dyeing eggs is an Easter tradition of ours. In the past, we've always boiled the eggs and kept them for a week or so, but this year I created a way to keep them for much longer and display them prominently. 

First thing to do is blow the egg out of the shell. I gathered the supplies:

Eggs

Sewing Needle

Infant Nose Aspirator

Bowl

I carefully poked a hole at each end of the egg with the sewing needle - shown here (with my assistant Noelle as the videographer):

You'll need to make the hole a little bigger if you are going to use the eggs for a garland. If you just want hollow eggs for decorations, keep the holes small.

Then I used the aspirator to blow the egg out of the shell by sealing the hole on one side of the egg with the tip of the aspirator and squeezing the air into the egg (don't suck the egg into the aspirator). It usually takes about four squeezes to get the egg completely out of the shell. 

Rinse the eggs and allow them to dry. Then the fun begins! 

Dye, paint, cover with glitter, etc. Noelle decided to dye the eggs. It used to be hard letting go of projects and giving her the chance to be creative - you may recall the paint-your-own Piggy Bank disaster. Now it's not only easy to allow her to create on her own, I prefer it. Her personal touch makes things so much more special than if I did it. Sure, the eggs would have probably been evenly coated, but hers are perfectly imperfect. 

When the eggs are dry, string one egg through the ribbon. 

Trick: Keep stuffing the egg with ribbon until you can see it through the other end and fish it out with the needle. 

Once the egg is through and in your desired spot, tie a knot on one end and secure the egg in place by dabbing hot glue on the knot and pressing the egg against it.

Continue one egg at a time until you reach your desired length. 

Tie securely or you'll end up walking on egg shells...

-Amanda