2023 Here I Come

On By take2createIn Lifestyle, New YearsLeave a comment

Happy New Years Eve! It has been a whirlwind of a 2022 for sure over in our household. We had a lot of wonderful happy tearful moments but also points of worry and sadness. I’ve attempted to put my previous years into a word. 2016 was my year of growth and a monumental year – I met my now husband, adopted my furbaby (who really rescued me), bought one of my dream cars, graduated college, and started my career where I made friends I still have to this day (including my maid of honor!).  2021 felt like another monumental year for me. 2021 I considered my year of love – I married my husband, went on a bachelorette trip with friends I love, and spent the year surrounded by love (even in loss). 2022 is a harder one to put to a word but after deliberation this week I settled on 2022 was my year of tenacity.

Tenacity struck me as the perfect word because of its synonyms; determination and persistence. This was the year I started and completed the 75 hard program, supported my loved ones through health scares, completed a yearlong resolution to rekindle my hobby of reading, and with a shift in job satisfaction – pushed through many really hard moments and began to make strides in defining what I want. Did I still grow this year? Absolutely! This growth just took some additional grit and well… tenacity.

As 2022 closes out, I am incredibly thankful for this year. I am going into 2023 with the feeling that I can accomplish what I set my mind to like much of 2022. I just can’t let my sometimes overthinking brain get in my way! Anyone else feel me on that? I hope in 2023 we all grow in the best ways, to laugh frequently and so hard we cry, to let go of self-doubt and destructive thoughts, but most of all in 2023 I hope everyone is healthy and happy.  

Happy New Years!

Friendsgiving Place Settings – Pumpkin Pie Boxes with Candy Leaves

On By take2createIn Fall, Holidays, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

My husband and I decided to host our first ever Friendsgiving this weekend! We invited a few of our friends and got to planning. We will have all the classics; turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, and of course some delicious desserts too! Dessert isn’t just to be eaten this year though, our place settings are these cute pumpkin pie slice boxes.

I wanted to do a unique setting for our friends so I jumped on my Cricut Design Space and started looking around at projects. After a little searching I found this fun project. You can make it too if you search for Pumpkin Pie Box in Cricut Design Space! I clicked customize in order to add each of our names to the top of the box. It’s a step that takes an extra second but turned out wonderful! Plus there won’t be any disagreements about which box of candy is theirs at the end of the night! I got the paper supplies from Michaels Crafts and the Chocolate Leaves from Amazon.

Do you add place settings to your Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving tables? What is your favorite place card?

Merry Christmas Gnome – Wood Cutout Holiday Decoration

On By take2createIn Christmas, Crafts, HolidaysLeave a comment

We are gnome for the holidays with this festive wooden cutout christmas gnome! I made a smaller version for my “HOME” sign in December of 2020 and still think it’s one of my favorite projects to date. I decided to make it a little bigger, use my cricut explorer 2 for the sign and I am obsessed with how it turned out! The bright red’s and green’s bring even more holiday cheer to our house and I’m very excited that it is now on out Etsy page here!

Gingerbread Wreath

On By take2createIn Christmas, Crafts, HolidaysLeave a comment

The sweet smell of spices, molasses, and icing are in the air. Wait a minute… not quite for this gingerbread project! This gingerbread wreath is made from wood, paint, glitter and a lot of Christmas spirit. It’s always fun to have the Christmas music blaring as I get creative and make each piece special – no two houses are alike on this wreath and I love that. I felt inspired by a few Pinterest posts where they used cardboard, cut the cardboard into gingerbread houses and painted the icing on. I decided to take it a step further and make the base a little more durable with ¼ inch plywood.

The wreath is available on Etsy now! Click on the link for additional details – Gingerbread Wreath

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Halloween Brunch – Take Two

On By take2createIn Breakfast, Halloween, Holidays2 Comments

Picture this… You walk into a bar area adorned in cobwebs and skeletons, with thriller playing, and a spiked Frankenstein punch waiting for you on the table. You grab your eerily green drink with gummy worms sloshing in the bottom of your cup as you make your way up the stairs with strobe lights and spooky sounds. You reach the top of the stairs to be greeted to a full Halloween brunch complete with a themed table sheltered in purple twinkling lights. Sound like a good Sunday morning to you? Us too! That’s exactly what we prepped in our 2022 Halloween themed brunch with my in laws.

This brunch turned out so great! We have it in the top 3 with our Thanksgiving themed brunch in 2021 and our previous Halloween brunch in 2019. I’ve included links to the recipes used below after our photos.

Have you done a themed brunch? Comment below and tell us about the theme!

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Dollar Store Witches Hat Wreath

On By take2createIn Crafts, Halloween, HolidaysLeave a comment

Our Halloween activities are in full swing now that October has started. A few items that are a classic for my husband and I are going to a local corn maze (and eating these delicious bit size cookies), picking our own pumpkins, and this year we will be hosting the October brunch for my in-laws. If you want to check out how our previous Halloween themed brunch turned out you can find it here.

This last weekend I was lucky enough to have some time with my mom to drink some coffee, eat some treats, chat, and most important… make this fun craft! I had not seen this idea before but my mom came over with her arms full of supplies ready to do this fun Halloween wreath. I’m so glad she did because it turned out amazing for both of us. All of the supplies were found at a local dollar store, including the wreath form!

Check out our two takes of this wreath below and make sure to comment if you have made one too!

Another example of the wreath: https://www.dollartree.com/diy-witch-hat-wreath/idea-20200813

Vampire Gnome Wood Cutout – Halloween Decoration

On By take2createIn Crafts, Halloween, Holidays2 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve done a scroll saw wood project so I was definitely due up for one. Feeling inspired by the upcoming Halloween season and how fun gnomes are to make, the combination came together for these vampire gnomes. One of my favorite things about creating gnome crafts is that you don’t have to worry about getting the eyes correct! Anyone else struggle with getting the eyes just right on a project? Plus it’s not as frightening as other characters this time of year. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to the spooky season. Instead, You’ll find me watching Halloween Baking Championship and It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown the whole season. 

True to the blog name, my mom and I decided to do two different takes of the craft. I always love seeing the difference in vision, it’s one of the reasons we started this blog! We wanted to show that there are multiple ways to do something with equally beautiful results. Check out how we made our gnomes below and the link to my Etsy shop to buy one for yourself this holiday season!

Work in progress photo below!

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Review – Personalized Paint by Number

On By take2createIn Crafts, Home2 Comments

Let’s rewind to the Christmas season 2020. I had found the perfect gift for my mom, a custom paint by number of their adorable and goofy puppy. It was intricate and took her a few months to finish but the finished product was impressive! I wanted to do something similar for our dog after seeing how wonderful the finished product turned out.

Now we can fast forward to about 3 months ago when I found out the same site had a personalized pop art paint by number. Hello, PERFECT! I ordered it and below are my likes and dislikes.

I used Winnie’s Picks for my paint by number, here is the link to their site.

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Hi Boo – Greeting Card

On By take2createIn Crafts, Halloween, Holidays2 Comments

A few days ago I started a prototype Halloween card I have been dreaming up for a while now. Once I finished the first test, I sent a photo to my mom for thoughts (she is one of the first people to see my new designs). Of course my loving and always supportive mom said there were no faults; but then she reminded me of a fun story. When I was little I would make cards for my family and would put “Brittmark Cards” on the back. Clearly a rip off of the famous holiday greeting card company but I love that story. I love that I grew up making cards and crafts and giving them to those I love and that it has stuck with me! Now I’m excited to put cards on my Etsy page to share the love with even more people! Don’t worry, it won’t have “Brittmark Cards” on the back. However, it will still have all the heart of a creative kid that never grew out of making something with her hands.

Check out my “Hi Boo Greeting Card” up on my Etsy now! With a few sneak peek photos below too.

Lanterns Fit for an Emperor

On By take2createIn Crafts, HolidaysLeave a comment

My brother-in-law will sometimes come up with eccentric ideas. Some are on the mellow end with a Polar Plunge; then there was the idea he had for his 35th birthday a few weeks back. He decided to have a royal event complete with long ball gowns topped with tiaras, and a royal court. When he first proposed the idea, I’m not sure any of us really knew what to expect but the entire evening turned out beautiful.

One of the items I helped with was the centerpieces. We wanted to keep it whimsical but also centered around the man of the event. The lanterns for my wedding were repurposed to have the silhouette of my brother in law on the 4 sides and placed on every table. Combined with some flowers, lights, and a few butterflies, the centerpieces were truly fit to celebrate an emperor.

I did the silhouette in Cricut design space, but if you have access/knowledge of Photoshop that will work as well. I started with a side profile of him, and during the import process, made sure to remove the background and selected only cut before the import process was complete. It will give you an option to print then cut but only the outline was needed for this project.

Continue reading “Lanterns Fit for an Emperor” →