Holiday Baby!

Our first baby, Rowan Matthijs Balyon, was born on December 22, 2010.  He's the most precious thing! 

So, forgive me for being slow with the bloem blog updates.  I have my hands full right now.  You can follow us through life as new parents on our family blog, One Ring Short of a Circus.

Hot Chocolate Mix in a Jar (Easy & Budget Friendly Gift)

This year, we made Hot Chocolate Mix in a Jar for our neighbors and friends.  Just a little gift to warm people up during the holidays, without breaking the bank.

Here's how we did it:

1 Cup Powdered Milk

3 Heaping Tablespoons Dutched Cocoa Powder

3 Level Tablespoons Sugar

1/4 Mini Marshmallows

We mixed 5 batches at a time

2 Cups per Mason Jar.

YUM :)

I decorated the jar top with Christmas-y fabric and a raffia bow.

Make sure to include a card that tells your recipient how to make and enjoy their delicious treat!

"Mix 3 heaping Tablespoons (1/4 to 1/3 cup) cocoa with 8 to 10 oz of hot water.

Makes about 4 servings"

 

That's all there is to it!

-Sarah

French Memo Board - Tutorial

How to make a French Memo Board

by bloem

I just made a French Memo Board for one of our friends daughters.  These are a fun and stylish way to display and stash mementos like pictures, tickets, hair clips, etc.

 

Here's how I made my French Memo Board.

Materials:

 1. Pre-stretched canvas, your choice in size. 2. Fabric of choice, enough to cover canvas with about 1.5" to spare on each side. 3. Batting. 4. Ribbon of choice. 5. Buttons of choice. 6. Scissors. 7. Staple gun. 8. Glue gun or needle & thread (not shown).

Steps:

Click this image to enlarge

1. LAY the canvas face-down on the batting.  PULL the batting around the edges and STAPLE the batting to the back.  Stretch the batting as you go, just enough to be taught.

2. LAY the batting covered canvas face-down on the fabric and do the same thing with the fabric that you did with the batting.

3. TUCK the fabric to make your corners are neat and STAPLE.

4. LAY the ribbon out in the pattern that you want (Generally criss-crossed).  You may want to double check that the ribbon is spaced far enough apart to hold whatever you plan to put in the memo board.

5. & 6. STAPLE the ribbon onto the back. Tip: tape the ribbon in place first to make sure the ribbon is evenly spaced and where you want it to be.

7. SEW buttons on at the ribbon cross sections, or GLUE them with a hot glue gun.

That's it!  It's super simple!

-Sarah

Karla & Christopher S. - Custom Made Wedding Thank You Cards

I had the pleasure of designing custom wedding invitations for Karla & Christopher S.  I was really pleased with the design and they must have been too, since they decided to order coordinating Thank You cards.  

 

bloem - Custom Thank You Cards - Karla & Christopher S.

 These cards are what I call "matchbook" folded.  They clasp with the little olive branch tab.  The matchbox fold can be used to create cards which can be mailed sans envelope, saving trees!  However, the cards are designed to fit into a standard 4-bar envelope which, in this case was provided in a shimmering champagne color.

Coordinating Wedding Invitations, designed by bloem, for Karla & Christopher:

Brother Sewing Machine - Zigzag Stitch Issue SOLVED!

I never posted my recent sewing issue, however, I did spend WAY too much time trying to find the answer on the internet.  Luckily, I was able to find an answer, but I can't remember where, so I thought I'd share it here in case anyone else has the same problem.

 I was trying to make a Christmas stocking, (a major pain in the butt project, as posted earlier), and the zigzag stitch on my Brother CS-6000i sewing machine was not working.  Not unusual for this POS machine. Specifically, the right side of the zigzag would not pick up the bobbin thread, so I ended up with a straight line.  

I found a few people out there online who had the same issue and the responses were mostly related to changing the needle, changing the bobbin, changing the tension...the usual.  Anyway, I happened to find one brilliant response that mentioned that only Schmetz needles seem to work on her Brother.  Desperate, I switched out my cheapy-cheap needle for a Schmetz (I can't actually believe I had some) and my zigzag nightmares were over...almost.  I still had a lot of problems with the tension.  It's always something with that machine!  Arrgghhh!

In bloem...

Holiday Gift Tags!

I just listed a small line of handmade gift tags to add a special touch to your holiday gift giving.  These tags are stamped with rustic, charming snowflakes. 

Enjoy :)

Gift Tags in bloem

Baby is Almost Here!

Today is my last day at my REAL job.  The job that pays.  Which means, it's getting close to time for Baby B to make his grand appearance!

The last few weeks (okay, and months), we've been wondering all the things you wonder when you're waiting for a baby to come;  What will he look like?  Will he be healthy? Can I do this? Can we do this?

I'm looking forward to the time off, and hoping that I may be able to squeeze in some crafts between napping and last minute to-do's.  AND, I'm really looking forward to Baby B's arrival!!!

Boo!

Rainy Days

I'm loving the rainy weather right now!  It's such a relief from the scorching hot days we had here in SJ just about a month ago.

The rain is bringing new freshness to everything.  It's time for lazy mornings in slippers and pjs, curled up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate (no coffee for me right now).

The shift in weather has really given me a new burst of creativity, and while I can't wait to showcase what I'm working on, I have to have some patience.  So in the meantime, here is an image board that fits my cozy, crafting mood right now.

-Sarah

My DIY Baby Shower Favors - Take 1

So I had a mental block for a loooong time over what favors to give at our upcoming baby shower. I even went shopping a couple weeks ago to get inspired and came back empty handed! But today, I gave it a second shot, and came up with an idea that I like.

I wanted to incorporate the mini wooden shoes (Rogér, my husband, is Dutch)that we didn't end up using at our wedding. I bought some "baby" ribbon, as well as some blue and some green ribbon at Michael's. I also bought a Sharpie Paint Pen (it's a pen with oil based paint!!)

Here's the results:

I'm thinking of adding a magnet to each shoe so guests can put them on their fridge.  Any opinions or suggestions??

An Autumn Wedding

A bloem origninal was just featured in a beautiful Etsy treasury by GrievousAngelDesigns.

 Click on the picture to go to the this treasury

On My "Workbench"

Our kitchen cabinets just came in! So exciting, except that they are "Assembly Required", sooOo, they're sitting in boxes piled up in our living room.  Hence, my latest flower head wreaths are resting upon the mountains of cabinets.  I'll be adding these to my Etsy store soon!

On My Workbench.... Cherry Blossom Paper Tiara

Working on more paper tiara designs so that your princess can have the perfect crown for her next celebration ;)

On My Workbench...

For my wedding, I made flower headpieces for the four flower girls.

 My little cousin Xian Li in her pillow case dress and flower headpiece

(see MORE wedding pics).  They looked so adorable!  So I decided to make a couple more from the leftovers, to put in my Etsy store, bloem.

 New flower headpiece available in bloem soon!

Custom colors and flowers are available upon request.  Just Convo me through my Etsy store!

White Rabbit

Last night, we were on our way home from the ranch where we keep our horse.  It's up in the hills in Milpitas, CA. As Rogér was driving the winding road, a white blob in the ditch caught my eye. "Rogér, it's a bunny!"  "Oh cute," he said.  "No, not like a rabbit bunny, a bunny bunny!  Like a pet bunny!  We have to stop and see if we can get him!"

Bunz in the moving box

There were two cars behind us, so we had to drive a ways until we could pull over and turn around.  We passed 5 more cars on the way back to the little guy.  There he was, still chewin on something.  I got out and got about this close to grab him and he started hopping away.  Here come 2 more cars.  I go for him again.  Another car, and another.  I let up a little cuz I would have DIED if he got hit because of me trying to "save" him!

He laid in my lap the whole way home, while Rogér and I debated how heck he ended up out here?! and what the heck we were going to do with him?! I'm guessing someone dumped him.  Could be wrong.  But seriously, how long would a little white bunny last out in the hills?   We had just given away our dog crate, so we had nothing to put him in.  Finally we found a (really small) moving box to make him a home for the night. 

Domino (our dog) was going crazy.  He thought we brought him home a tasty treat for being such a good boy!  Once everyone was settled, (except Domino.  He was hyped up all night whining and scratching at the door.  We got barely any sleep),  we realized that this poor little bunny had lost one of his eyes.  :(  Who dumps a one-eyed, white, domestic bunny on the side of the road to get picked at alive?!!! Come on people!!  There is a great humane society just down the street! 

Well, we couldn't keep him.  Wouldn't be fair to him or Domino.  So I took him to work today and luckily found a kindred spirit who had a place in her home for my little Bunz.  I hope he has a long happy life :)

Our Amazing Wedding - May 24th 2009

I'm finally posting some of the great photos that our photographer and our friends took of our wedding!  I am so thrilled to share, as Rogér and I absolutely loved our wedding and we loooove reminiscing about the day we said "I do". Our location was the serene Mattole Camp, halfway between Petrolia (my hometown), CA and Honeydew, CA.

 

Oh so exciting!

Today, Rogér and I are freaking out at the prospect of being homeowners!  We've been renting in a cute little neighborhood in San Jose for about 2 years.  We love, love, love the neighborhood and our awesome neighbors!  So I've been watching the house listings in our area for-like-EVER, and finally we found one on our street that fits the bill! EEEEEEEE!  (I know the chances of us actually getting it are slim, but hey, a girl can dream, right?)  Oh, but all that money that we have to fork over for the down payment....yikes!

Here's our little dream puff:  Needs a little love (and probably a new roof), but I think there's some potential here  :)

Some new cards

So, I've been very very busy.  I spent last weekend celebrating my girlfriend, Karla's, bachelorette party in Guerneville, CA.  Such a cute little town!  It's very close to Healdsburg too, so there is plenty of wine tasting.  We stayed at the West Sonoma Inn.  The place was really great!  Plus the bride-to-be got a relaxing spa treatment :)  

But anyway, I wanted to share some new cards that I've just put in my Etsy store.  Here they are for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks a Bunch! by Bloem

Love Birds, by Bloem

The Bobbin's Nest

My friend Lisa, gave me a knitting class at The Bobbin's Nest for my birthday. So yesterday, we packed up our knitting hand-me-downs, (Lisa's mom bestowed upon her about 100 knitting needles, crochet hooks, baubles and whatnots, from her late Oma), and headed over.  First of all, this studio is so cute!  They have really great, high quality fabrics and yarn.  Our teacher, Charlotte, walked us through getting the right yarn, casting on, knit and pearl stitches, and she taught me a little fixer trick with a crochet hook!  They give you a beginner scarf pattern project, and since it's a two part class, I'll be back next Saturday to finish up mine.

For those who would like to learn to sew, they also have sewing classes.  My friend, Maria, took one where she made a beautiful reversible tote!  

The Bobbin's Nest Blog

(Photos courtesy of The Bobbin's Nest Website)

In Bloem: Felt & Paper Flower Hair Combs

A bouquet of flowers made mostly from paper and felt.  I've set the flowers on combs so you can wear them in your hair!  Check 'em out in my etsy store, Bloem.

Custom Wedding Invitations for Karla

Custom designed and handcrafted wedding invitations for my friend, Karla.  I also designed and made her engagement party invitations, featured here

Invitations by Bloem

Packaged to perfection?

Still working on ways to package my sales.  Here's how I did up my last order from bloempot.  What do y'all think?  These little guys are off to their new home in Canada!! (I'm always a little nervous shipping my items away)

Wine Charms - Farm Animals from bloempot

Bring on Spring!

What happened to February and March? I can't believe we're already half way through March!  It's crazy how time flies when you're busy.  For the last couple months we've been enjoying lots of snowboarding and warming up with wine ;P.  Plus, my 28th birthday!!

I'm practically a bear in the winter.  Don't bother trying to get me to do ANYTHING.  Not even crafts. But thanks to Daylight Saving, and some nice weather, I'm back in business.  Oooh, and I am so excited!! 

Today, I finally said "Goodbye"

to my Thundercats t-shirt.  *sigh* I can't count how many times I've thrown this shirt into our donation box, only to whisk it back out again! Who knows what I thought I should save it for, but it wasn't ready to let it go.

I tend to hold on to a lot of things for way too long.   I think "I might use it someday" or "it's so wasteful to throw it away".  But keeping everything makes my small house even smaller, leaving me with a cluttered and claustrophobic living space (and mind).  I don't work well in clutter.  And yet, I'm not very organized...thus, the never ending dilemma of my life.

So, as I try to turn over a new, more put-together leaf, I say  "Goodbye Thundercats t-shirt.   Hello clear Sterlite storage boxes!"

 

Sewing Project January Days 1 - 3: Coasters

I'm working on the first project from my Sewing Calendar (2010)

Coasters!!

I'm not big on following directions......soOoo...I kind of made my own design. 

And here are the results!!!

Available now in my Etsy store, bloem

Sewing Calendar 2010

Sewing: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar,  Megan Smith (Author).  Photo courtesy of Amazon

My friend, Kat, got me this Sewing Calendar 2010 for Christmas and it is full of fun sewing projects!  I'm pretty sure I don't have enough time to keep up with all the projects (it gives one project for every 3-4 days) but I'm starting up my sewing machine again and slowly getting to them. I'll be sharing my projects here as I go!

On My Work Bench: Paper Crowns

I just finished making custom wedding invitations for my friend Karla.  They turned out great!  I should have kept one for a photo op, but somehow, I forgot.  Guess I'll have to wait til I get one in the mail!! 

Now I'm on to a new craft fetish:  paper crowns.  These handmade crowns are super cute and will be perfect for birthday parties, sweet sixteens, bachelorette parties, and bridal showers, as well as plenty of other special occasions.  Or, just for decoration.  Every glamor girl should have one of these.  Look for them in my Etsy store soon!

bloem designs, on Etsy

Winter at the Ranch

We're trudging through another winter at the ranch.  It's muddy, and FREEZING, and it gets dark too early.  Now I've found myself in a dilemma over wanting a great snowboarding season and wishing the weather would start warming up.  At least while I'm enjoying the snow season, moments like this make dragging my butt up to the ranch worth while.