DIY: Gift Card

For a long time I've wanted to include some Do-It-Yourself projects or in other words.. craft projects that I do that are simple and fun for YOU to try! 

Ben and I are currently working on some fun projects, some for our new apartment and another for a special 2nd birthday party coming up. I've been taking pictures of these projects and can't wait to share them with you as we finish them up! 

We'll start today with a crafty project that I did for our anniversary. A gift card is a card that holds gifts!! 

Here is a look at the finished project and then I will go into the steps on how I made this fun card.

Take a look at the front of the card in the picture below. 

The card folds up like an accordian.

The best part of this project is that you are likely to have everything you need at home RIGHT NOW!

This project is made using a super secret supply..

ENVELOPES!!

Here is another look..

This is the front of the card. 

I opened the envelopes and taped down the flap to the envelope directly on top of it.

By doing this you create pockets. 

This is what the back will look like. It doesn't matter that you can see the flaps because you can cover it up with paper later. 

I then began cutting out decorative paper and taping it to the card. 

Some parts were tricky, I needed to create a template to help cut the paper for the inside and outside of the pockets. 

I used an envelope and cut it up. 

The top part was used as a template on paper that was put at the entrance of the pocket and the lower part was used for the bottom of the envelope. 

 I traced the template on decorative paper, cut it out and glued it on.

Then comes the fun part, use ribbons, paper, stickers, etc. to create an interactive card.

You can make this card as long as you'd like by just adding or subtracting envelopes. 

Then fill the pockets with whatever you'd like; a gift card, note, homemade coupons, etc.

In the spirit of our first wedding anniversary I did a Mad Libs like the ones we had at our reception.

I wish I could take the credit for this idea but I found the idea on the internet.

Click here to see where my inspiration was found!

WE ARE MOVING!

It is official.
We signed the lease yesterday and put down the deposit for our new place.

It is BEAUTIFUL!

There are two bedrooms, a dishwasher, a dining room, attic and basement space, a big back yard, non-coin operated washer and dryer in the basement, bay window, and a tiny 1/4 size bedroom/craft room!!


I finally get some use of my HGTV education.While in Sioux Falls if the TV was on (except for Grey's Anatomy and Glee) it was ALMOST always on Home and Garden Television. I learned a lot and am super excited to see some of my ideas materialize. I have never decorated my apartments beyond color coding towels with counter tops so this is a big step! 


There is some minor repairs (patching holes, etc) that will be done after the current tenants move out and then the owners will clean the apartment. After that we will be able to move in. They approximate date is July 5th. We will know more as the date gets a little closer and how much they want to do in the apartment.


Most of our belongings are in two storage units this size...

It is a little longer than a normal size couch so it fit our belongings nicely. 

I am excited to have all of our things in the same location again.

I am a little worried to see if everything survived the big adventure.

Here is a look at our current "apartment"

Looking in from the door.

The bump in the blanket is Ben's anniversary gift. 

The blanket provided a good covering! 

We brought in some of our belongings to store in the room with us.

A lot of paper/super special things like our wedding stuff, keepsakes, paperwork and art pieces.

We brought some other pieces in to make things a bit more like home.

This is Ben's favorite chair! 

Oh and notice, my fish, Bullwinkle on the desk. He is three years old this month!

Hospital Stays, Apartment Winner and The Farm!

Two weeks has gone by since our 1 year anniversary. I had planned on keeping up the blog steam I created after publishing a post every day for over a week. Our Anniversary Weekend was a blast but things turned quickly at the start of the week. Monday went off without a hitch and life was normal but Tuesday morning altered the course of normalcy. 


I was woken up by Mom H early in the morning quickly explaining that I needed to get up because she was taking Raena to the hospital for stomach pains. 


Raena and Mom went to the hospital early Tuesday morning and by Tuesday afternoon surgery was scheduled. Casey and I got to the hospital before the surgery to spend some time with Raena. Ben was a work and Dad H was at a conference in Florida. LONG story short, during surgery they found that Raena had an infection in her belly. She spent Tuesday through Friday in the hospital and we were there every moment we could. After a tough few days (and some not so tasty hospital meals), Raena was discharged Friday evening. Pain didn't subside much and in addition to other issues.. Raena was back in the ER the following Monday. After spending the day there and some new medication, she was back home! 


Not all of this was bad though... Raena was at the new Children's Hospital and was given lots of slushies to keep her hydrated and was in a bright and cheerful room. There were many activities for the patients to enjoy and we spent an afternoon up on the 11th floor to visit Buddy from Dinosaur Train. 

We had to find a few ways to entertain Raena and ourselves.

Ben got creative with the whiteboard and replicated the farm he works on. 

A few more of the drawings added throughout the hospital stay.

Here is our good friend Buddy!!

There was a 10 year old boy inside the costume.

He was awesome and danced for us!

In apartment news...


WE FOUND OUR APARTMENT!!!!!!! 
We are moving in about a week. Woohoo!!
The apartment is bigger than we had planned on getting, in a great neighborhood, close to downtown and to the Farmer's Market, includes free use of a washer and dryer and IN OUR BUDGET!! It is huge and we can't wait!!! Pictures to follow! 


And now... a few pictures from Ben's farm. We went to a Dairy Class where we learned how to make ice cream, butter, cream cheese, yogurt and other fun things. Then Ben and I played around at the farm!

Our first stop was to check out where the cows are milked.

Ben demonstrated how this contraption worked but I missed the photo op... 

Raw cow milk! Yum!

My favorite part of the farm (minus the cat named Hillary!)...

THE PIGS!!

The two big brown pigs were hogs and wouldn't let the little ones eat.

The two tiniest piggies only got to eat when everyone else had their fill.

EW!

One pig was extra messy and slurped some goodness on my foot...

Thankfully Ben's pants provided me with a good way to clean off my foot.

My favorite pig!!

The littlest red ones were my favorite!

Ben has worked hard to create nice homes for these guys.

Then we were off to visit the chickens and their coop.

One of the roosters who were especially beautiful!

The bakery on the farm is named after this rooster, Little Rooster Baking Company

Ben showing me all the chickens that were in the coolest place they could find.

SO MANY CHICKENS!

While we were there two chickens got loose. All the other chickens followed the one along the fence like they were egging him on! It was hilarious to watch!

Ben looking proud after returning the runaway chickens to their home.

We made a visit to our garden before heading home.

We spent some time picking strawberries to freeze.

And finally...

another reason why I haven't been blogging in the last two weeks...

Just when we thought our hospital days were over..

We found out Wednesday early morning that Ben's Grandpa was in the hospital for stomach pains. After a surgery to remove the aneurysm and a some minor blood issues which turned out to be no issues at all... and Grandpa is back home and recovering well.

SO that is enough of the hospital for us for awhile... We'd be happy to not set foot in the hospital for quite some time now. 

There is a "short" update of our lives in the last two weeks! 

365

Ben and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary this weekend. It was a fun weekend filled with all my favorite things; Ben, family and friends, surprises, delicious food and geocaching! The only thing missing was chocolate! ha

I started off our Anniversary Weekend by surprising Ben when he got home from his half day at work on Saturday.

I went with the traditional paper themed gift for our first anniversary.

I wrapped Ben's present in the same wrapping paper used to wrap our bridal party's gifts.

Then made a fun accordion style card and topped everything off with a banner.

365 days of sweet wedded bliss

I made this fun card using envelopes and the paper used for our wedding.

There were three pockets and to bring in some more fun from our wedding Ben filled out a Mad Libs in the first pocket.

The second pocket held the rest of the Mad Libs and the third pockets held a note.

I had a ton of fun making this card!

I even used the same stamp used in our wedding invitations.

Here is all the decorations I used to surprise Ben.

Then I covered everything up!

While Ben was in the shower (after a day of wrestling pigs), I quickly set up the room.

I used our table markers to create 365

365 Days as Mr. and Mrs.

Our table markers from our wedding added a fun touch!

Here is a close-up of the banner I made using our wedding paper and ribbon.

I hope to use this for years to come!

As an extra special surprise, I set up the X-box so Ben has a way to relax at the end of a long day.

I then put in the slideshow our photographers gave us.

Ben was so surprised and it took him a few minutes to take everything in!

But then he got down to business and opened his card and present.

Checking out the card!

He loved his present!!!

It is a stretch to call it a "paper-themed" gift but I couldn't pass up a good online deal!

Ben and the canvas of the big kiss!

(Check out Ben's new glasses!)

The rest of the day was planned by Ben.

He surprised me by taking me to one of the places I wanted to visit this summer, Frederik Meijer Gardens. 

We could have spent an entire day there but only spent a few hours. We didn't see everything but enjoyed what we did see!

They have 70 foot greenhouses!

Here we were in their tropical greenhouse!

We even saw coffee and chocolate trees!

Ben touched the water wall before noticing the DO NOT TOUCH sign! 

Our favorite location was probably the Children's Garden.

We had a ton of fun playing with all the fun activities in the Children's Garden.

In the Farm Garden, Ben found Hops growing!

And I found one of my friends from Narnia!

Then Ben took me to Lowell, MI to try a new restaurant, Flat River Grill.

They have a lot of organic food and locally grown food that they use in their cooking.

The price wasn't too terrible and the FOOD WAS EXCELLENT!

There was something for EVERYONE!

Ben's M-21 Patty Melt: half pound angus burger, melted swiss, charred onions, olive mayo, roma tomatoes, bibb lettuce, grilled marble rye

My Chicken Michael: two sauteed chicken breasts, shrimp, bearnaise sauce, garlic mashed yukon potatoes, sugar snap peas

The restaurant was on the Flat River and there was this fun boat on the river too!

The swans stopped by to beg for food greet us on our walk.

This was the restaurant we ate at. We enjoyed eating outside!

It reminded us of our honeymoon!

 Our anniversary wasn't complete with out geocaching!

Ben found one at this location and I found the first one.

Ben knew I love covered bridges so he took a pit stop in Ada to see their bridge.

It was beautiful and we enjoyed our walk through the quaint town.

Sunday!

Our 1 year anniversary!

After church, Mom, Raena, Ben and I went to Detroit to go to IKEA.

It is my ALL time favorite home furnishings store.

We bought a coffee table, side table and some other fun goodies.

Then we found an Aubree's near by!

It is our favorite restaurant back at school and we wanted to try this one out.

It was strange eating at a different location but fun!

Evidence of our adventure!

365 Days!!

Yeah, 1 year anniversary!

Where DID the time go?