Holiday Planning Printables (November & December)

Apologies for the radio silence this week so far, friends. We were busy having a blast hosting some of C's family this weekend and I got a little behind on things for the ole blog. We traipsed all over Philly in some not-so-nice, unseasonably cold and windy weather, but thoroughly enjoyed it just the same. What that means I'm just now getting to my first post of the week (which is totally fine in my book). Life is meant to be enjoyed, right?

This past weekend marked both the start of a new month and the loss of daylight (ack!), and it means that we're well on our way to one of the busiest times of the year. I don't know about you, but my brain starts to go a little haywire this time of year with Thanksgiving and Christmas prep, holiday parties, traveling, gift-giving, etc. Time starts to slip away and before I know it, we're into the new year! I always need a little extra help staying organized during these two months, so I decided to do myself a favor and made myself some tools to help stave off the craziness.

I thought maybe some of y'all might be feeling the same way, so I'm excited to share the launch of a brand new set of FREE holiday planning printables! There are some cute little pieces here that I hope will be useful for you - and me - over the next 60 days. There's a link to download them at the end of the post.

Let's start with the basics: monthly calendars for November and December. These at-a-glance calendars help with the big picture stuff. I'm using mine to keep track of when we're traveling, due dates for blog projects, upcoming parties and regular life things :).

Next up? A daily schedule and to-do list. I find that I don't need a daily schedule or to-do list every day, but there are days when I feel like I'm going to lose it if I don't make a detailed plan and list off what I need to get done. Sometimes there's nothing more satisfying than checking off those boxes. If you feel that way too, all you need to do is print one of these out on those harried days, write the date at the top and go to town. Plan away!

Thanksgiving is a unique holiday that's pretty heavily focused on food (duh) and calls for a special planner. There's a lot to keep track of, so I'm hoping this guy will help keep things straight with its designated places for listing the dishes, items to shop for and notes!

Lastly, in an effort to get my shopping done early, I created a printable for organizing gift buying/giving. Never hurts to get a head start!

I hope these will be helpful in planning out the coming months. I know they'll help me! You can download the whole set HERE. It's a PDF that you can print at home. Print out as many as you'd like (for personal use only).

Here's to successful planning and organizing over the next two months!

Hand-Lettered Easter Print {Free Download}

Over the past couple of weeks, I've truly been in awe of the new life that spring brings. After a brutal winter, I found myself longing for spring to come even more than usual this year. When I saw those first daffodils and crocuses poke their heads out from the earth a few weeks ago, I cheered them on knowing that they were pioneering the start of a new season. A week later the tulip trees started blooming. Those were quickly followed by my favorites - cherry blossoms. I biked down to the Tidal Basin to see the "official" ones during the early part of their peak bloom and was overwhelmed as always by their beauty. {I'll be sharing the photos I snapped of them in a post later this week.} Spring reminds me, as it does every year, that winter's desolation does not last forever and that new life will always come again.

Easter too is a celebration of new life, but carries much more significance. This week Christians celebrate the fact that Jesus died on a cross...and then came back to life. For us. Death came on Good Friday, but it turned to life three days later on Easter Sunday. Kind of like going from winter to spring. In my mind, this is the most important holiday of the year and the most joyful one the Church celebrates. I for one can.not.wait for Sunday, which is why I created this hand-lettered print that y'all can download below. Inspired by the colors of the tulip trees and cherry blossoms, this watercolor-esque print holds the phrase that embodies the most important fact of Easter: "He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"

Feel free to print it out (designed as an 8x10 - print on card stock and trim to size), hang it up, and share it with your family and friends! It also comes in blue if pink isn't your thing :).

{Download the "He Is Risen Indeed" Print Here}

Thanksgiving Table Printables

I'm not hosting or in charge of Thanksgiving this year. I guess that's one of the perks of being young, not having kids and living in a tiny apartment (that's SO not ideal for hosting a big ole Thanksgiving feast). We love going to my in-laws' home for this holiday, and I've been brainstorming ways that I can help since hosting/cooking/prepping Thanksgiving is a huge undertaking!

I've got a list of "ideas" for you tomorrow on how to be helpful when you're NOT hosting Thanksgiving (I'm preachin' to myself here too!), but I wanted to go ahead and share one of the practical things with you today.

For many hosts and hostesses, getting food on the table is the most important part, but this is also the most time-consuming and involved task! Prettying up the table and buffet area may not be the first thing on their minds, so this is where you, the non-hoster, can help out. This is definitely not something that's mandatory, but I think that can be a nice way to get involved so they can focus on the food aspect of things and not worry about making the table all purdy (if that's the plan - I know things work differently for different families).

Place cards and food label cards can be really helpful, especially if you've got a crowd coming. People like to know where to sit and what they're eating, so adding these two simple things this takes the guesswork out of that.

To make it easy for you, dearest non-hoster, I've created some free "fall vines" place cards/food label cards and some "what are you thankful for?" lists that you can use at your feast. Both are included in this PDF for you to download. Make sure you ask the host or hostess if they've already planned for this though - no stepping on anyone's toes!

Here are the place cards/food label cards. They come six to a sheet, so print out as many sheets as you need :).

Print them out on card stock, cut out the individual cards and lists using scissors or a paper trimmer and write names or food on them. Fold in half and place on the table or buffet. Simple as that!

The "what are you thankful for?" lists come three to a sheet. Again, print as many as you need! Sometimes getting the thankfulness conversation started around the dinner table can be a bit of a challenge, so if you give people some time to think and write things down before sitting down for dinner, you'll already have a conversation starter in place!

Print the sheets out on card stock and cut into thirds. Place them in a bowl or basket by the door with a cup of pens and have people grab one as they come in and fill out at their leisure while watching some football or hanging out.

If you take the initiative and do a few simple things, I'll bet the day will go a lot more smoothly and the host or hostess will be very thankful for you on turkey day!

What are your Thanksgiving plans this year? Are you playing host/hostess, and do you think it would be helpful having someone take care of some little things for you? 

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linking up to: DIY Showoff, Rain on a Tin Roof, Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon Designs, If It's Not Baroque, Liz Marie Blog, Blissfully Ever After, Design, Dining and Diapers, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Craftberry Bush, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now, It’s Overflowing, House of Rose, Love of Family and Home, Dear Creatives, Madigan Made, First Home...Love Life, Simply Dream and Create, Whipperberry, Sparkles and A Stove, Making Home Base, Naptime Creations, Southern Hospitality, Living Well Spending Less, Remodelaholic, The Happy Housie

Lovely Links - Father's Day Edition

Father's Day is coming up on SUNDAY! Don't let it go by without making sure the dads in your life feel extra loved :). My dad is a pretty special fella in my life, and I love him a lot (hey dad if you're reading!). So today, in lieu of my usual every-other-Friday Lovely Links, I thought I'd point you in the direction of some fun, free printable Father's Day cards. You know, just in case you need a card and don't feel like running to the nearest CVS to get one. There are a few quirky cards, and they're all unique, which I love.

1 | The Tom Kat Studio.

2 | The House That Lars Built. There are three designs to choose from on this site.

3 | Hello Lucky. This one has last year's date on it, unfortunately, but is too cute to leave out.

4 | Minted. Ok, this one's not free, but I thought it was too cute to leave out. It could easily be replicated.

5 | No Biggie. Template for the pinwheel included.

6 | Stork Coming.

7 | Balancing Home.

8 | Whisker Graphics. These are blank coupons you can fill out - it's the gift that keeps on giving :).


Hope you enjoy this round-up! Go print yourself a card or two and enjoy celebrating your dad this weekend!

May Project Round-Up

I feel like I say this every month, but man, May flew by in a flash. Welcome, June! I'm excited summer is here - are you?

Before May is a distant memory, let's take a few minutes to look back at the projects I posted about on the ole blog this past month, starting with this fun way to display printed Instagrams using pants hangers. (I print my Instagrams to Walgreen's One Hour Photo using an app called Printicular. It's so easy and inexpensive.)

My favorite project of the month (and the most popular one with y'all as well) was the wood shim pendant light. Though it ended up being a little more challenging than I anticipated, I love how it came together in the end, and seeing it hanging over our dining room table really makes me happy. If you missed any of the posts about it, you can catch up here: one, two, three.

I revamped the every-other-Friday Creative Bits Series a bit, and shared a really pretty office space and a beautiful living room this month. This has been a fun way to connect with other bloggers, so if you have a space you think has a few Creative Bits of its own, send a photo of it my way and I might use it in a future post!

Operation {Re}Organization continued this month. This time I tamed the chaos of the front hall closet in a series of three posts (inspiration, before/strategy and after). What was a disaster area is now sooo much more functional and even has secret storage for sporting equipment. Did any of y'all tackle an organizational project this month?

And of course you can't have "function" without "fun" (bad pun, sorry), so I added these blue watercolor-y/painterly labels to make sure things are easy to find and are returned to their proper homes. There's a link to download a free set of blank labels too if you need some!

I also took on a new cleaning plan in Operation {Re}Organization this month. The first week has gone pretty well so far. Since I technically implemented this plan last Tuesday, I technically have one more day to do my last weekly task...clean the bathroom...ugh. At least once it's done I'll have the satisfaction of checking that box once I'm done though - thanks to my handy list here :).

Are you a Kate Spade fan? If so, you'll want to check out the Kate Spade Style Soiree hosted by Jenna and others last month. I joined their party and created a Kate Spade-inspired gold zig zag pitcher. Who doesn't need a little gold in their lives?

To celebrate my mom this month on Mother's Day, I took some photos with my brother, Instagrammed them, and created a photo strip style card for her. It was a fun project for me, and she loved it! Win win.

Another one of my favorite projects this month was this DIY iPhone speaker made out of...a toilet paper roll. Talk about doing a project "on the cheap" :). I use it all the time!

Last but not least, I shared a recipe for banana avocado bread. Head on over to the post to see why I used avocados, of all things, in this delicious quick bread.

That about wraps it up for May! Thanks, as always, for reading. I'm so grateful to each of you for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

And thanks to these wonderful blogs for featuring my posts this month:

Tatertots and Jello

IHeart Organizing

Rain on a Tin Roof

Simply Dream and Create

Sarah Lynn's Sweets

DIY Showoff

Suburbs Mama

If It's Not Baroque
First Home...Love Life

Come on back tomorrow for a fun project I did over the weekend. Want to know what it is? Go back to this post from last week for a hint!

April Project Round-Up

Quick announcement: The set of 13 vintage kitchen canisters/spice jars I wrote about last week is now up for sale in my shop. If you're interested, or know someone who might be, shoot 'em the link! Thanks!

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It's always fun for me to take a look back at the past month and remember all the projects that kept me busy (and creating!). This once-a-month project round-up post is also a great resource to catch up on posts you may have missed. Onetwothree go!

I shared a couple of yummy recipes this month: an easy make-it-yourself bruschetta (perfect party appetizer) and s'mores bark. I've found myself dreaming about that s'mores bark - I'll definitely be making it again soon.

You got a chance to see my living room gallery wall develop and evolve into its current state. I'm really happy with it - so glad to check that project, and its growing pains, off the list!

I launched a new print for the shop with one of my favorite verses on it ("We love because he first loved us" - I John 4:19) It's available here if you'd like one for you or as a gift.

This month was "peak bloom time" for D.C.'s cherry blossoms, and I went on a little photo tour of these stunningly beautiful trees. I wish they stayed this pretty forever.

I shared some step-by-step instructions on how to make your own custom iPhone case insert.

Pink and orange seem to be a theme lately since this pleated paper wreath has pink and orange stitching on the pleats. Maybe they just seem like a springy combo?

My outdoor photography tips were by far my most popular April post. I guess y'all are just as into improving your photography as I am!

Since Google Reader is going away come July, I wrote up this super practical post on two alternate feed readers: Bloglovin' and feedly. Feedly fits my needs, but both are great!

And last, but certainly not least, is my favorite project from last month: how to make spoon flowers. They were so easy and turned out so well!

Before I go, I also wanted to thank some awesome blogs for featuring my posts this month. Many, many thanks to: Apartment Therapy (ahh!), IHeart Organizing, Blissfully Ever After, Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now, and Dear Creatives.

That wraps up the month of April... hey there May! I've got lots of project ideas up my sleeve, so get ready.

Have a great day!

New Art Print on Etsy: We Love Because He First Loved Us

Good Monday morning to y'all! As you might've read in my March round-up post, I mentioned that now that I've redone the branding for CSW Designs, I'm itching to add a few new things to the shop. This weekend I finished up a shiny new art print that's now for sale in my Etsy shop as a printable.

Take a look...

It's a typographic print with one of my favorite verses from I John: "We love because he first loved us." It's such a simple string of words, yet is so profound, and a great reminder how we have the ability to love others in our lives.

It was semi-inspired by this pretty print I ran across and shared last week in my Lovely Links post.

Those dots of light you see in the background of this print and my print? Those are called "bokeh." I talked about bokeh as a photography effect awhile back, and it was cool to be able to use the effect in a unique way for this print.

You can see that I designed two versions of the print - one with bold, white letters and bokeh as the background, and one with bokeh-filled letters and a white background. I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so I chose to put both up in the shop.

Before you add it to your cart, you'll have the option to choose one or the other. Since it's a printable, you'll receive an email with a high-resolution PDF attached that you can print at home or at your local copy/print center (think FedEx office, for example).

Feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions. Hope you enjoy this new print! You can find it here. If you happen to purchase one and put it up in your home, I'd love to see it.

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linking up to: Rain on a Tin Roof, Blissfully Ever After, Liz Marie Blog, The Shabby Creek Cottage

March Project Round-Up

Whoa! How did I let the first couple of days of April fly by without taking a look back at March's projects? Well have no fear, the monthly round-up is here. I do this post once a month to try to make it easy for you to go back and catch up on posts you may have missed. Here are January and February's round ups too, in case you want to go way back and catch some of my projects from those months :).

March 1st marked my 100th post (what?! craziness.), and I made some fun, free printables to celebrate the occasion. They're still available for download if you'd like one.

{one of three free printables}

After this happened, I made Jackson a new dog bed using a euro pillow and an envelope-style pillow cover. Thanks to Ting over at DugDug for featuring it on her blog!

I continued Operation {Re}Organization with a few projects this month, including a newly designated craft supplies drawer. So far, the system has worked SO well. I use it all the time, and have really appreciated the easy access and knowing where everything is.

The other area I conquered was the bathroom. I'm so happy to have that done. You can read about the progression of that tiny room including the introduction, the before and organization process, and the best part - the after!

A fun little project from last month was my adventure in laminating some small bookmarks with packing tape. Since most of us probably don't own a laminating machine, including myself, this is a great alternative for small pieces of paper like labels or bookmarks.

May Richer Fuller Be and my Etsy shop (CSW Designs) got a branding makeover - woohoo! I'm hoping to add some new printable items to the shop soon. If you have any requests, let me know!

With a little (ok, a LOT) of help from my father-in-law, we mounted my vintage printing press letters I got at the Barn Sale awhile back.

One of my favorite little crafty projects was this confetti banner that was so easy to put together.

And last, but not least, I shared the hand-painted house sign I made for my parents' river house. The how-to is here, and the story behind the name on the sign is here. That project has a very special place in my heart. Also, thanks to Amanda at Serenity Now for featuring it this week. Such a lovely surprise :).

Hope you enjoyed this edition of the monthly project round-up! Have a great Wednesday.

100th Post! {And A Free Print!}

Well hello there! I cannot believe that this is my 100th post on the blog. This is seriously mind-blowing to me. That's a lot of posting - and I still feel like I just started! 

To celebrate this small feat, I decided to design a few printables for you. (There's a link to download them at the bottom of the post.) They're simple, fun little guys, and I figure since one major reason I write here is because you lovely people take the time to read May Richer Fuller Be, I think you deserve a little reward :).

I love playing around with typography and pattern, so I used those two elements to design the following three prints. All have the same diagonal stripe (just in different colors), but have different phrases in the center.

The first is this yellow-striped one with the phrase "You are my sunshine my only sunshine." I thought this one would be adorable hanging in a kid's room. I'm pretty sure this phrase has been used countless times for this purpose,  but I think there's good reason for that. It's just plain cute.

The phrases on other two prints are a little, shall we say, deeper. They've got something to grab on to (bad grammar, sorry). The blue one has Psalm 46:10 in it. In the crazy busyness of our lives, I find that this is a verse I come back to often. Being still is hard for me, so I need to be reminded of this.

The green print has the first line (and title) of one of my favorite hymns, "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go." (This version is my favorite.) In fact, this hymn is so near and dear to my heart that I borrowed one of its lines for the title of this blog. Give it a listen. You'll probably like it too.

And just for fun, I put 'em all together and "framed" them. I think they'd look great in thin, white frames (IKEA's Ribba frames are always a good, inexpensive option).

So where do you get these guys? Here's the info:

Logistics:

• Download the print. A new window should open showing the high-resolution PDF. Hover over the bottom right area of the screen and icons to print and save/download (as well as zoon in or out) will appear. Click the option you want.
• The PDF has three pages - one for each print. If you only want one of them, choose the page number (1, 2 or 3) you want to print in your print options window/dialog box.
• The PDF is designed to print on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. For best results, I'd recommend using cardstock to give it some weight and sturdiness.
• You can trim the paper to fit an 8x10 frame easily. Just trim 1/2" off the top and bottom, and 1/4" off the sides to keep the design centered. 
• Questions? Let me know!

Hope y'all enjoy this little gift. I always love to know how people use my prints in their homes, so if you end up downloading one, please let me know what you did with it! Happy Friday!

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linked up at:

Design Dining and Diapers
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia