Gifts – mama's brush

To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate: St. Patrick’s Day

I’ve been very careful about what I teach our children from the beginning. In some things I’ve altered course as they have grown and I have matured as a mother. Spoiler alert: I’m still new at this mother thing… this stage of it that is. I’ve never before had 6 children in these specific stages and I’m making this up as I go. It may seem silly to you, but St. Patrick’s Day is something I have in limbo right now.

Christian St. Patrick's Day Cards bundle.

bookmarks, cards, stickers, clipart, cross, Jesus, four leaf clover, shamrock, luck

My kids have never been exposed to St. Patrick’s Day like I was growing up. As a homeschool family the only way they would have been is if I introduced it… and I didn’t. Just kinda skipped it. I have always taught the kids that there is no luck. So why would I focus on a holiday that highlights it.

Then when my forth was born March 18th, I figured it was perfect… why try to squeeze another “holiday” in such close quarters. Therefore, we’ve never done the whole green thing. I don’t decorate for it, we don’t wear special shirts or pinch if there isn’t green. As I mentioned, we strongly discourage the idea of luck!

Now I must admit to you that we have discussed the day over the years. I don’t think there is anything wrong with St. Patrick’s Day in general. And nothing wrong for those who choose to enjoy the fun of celebrating it. We’ve done our share of reading about who the actual man was (it comes up on world history after all). We learned about Ireland and even some about what leprechauns are.

In recent years I’ve started reconsidering St. Patrick’s Day and have been less of a stickler about luck in general. Don’t get me wrong, the children have all heard me ask them, “Is luck real?” They know that the idea of luck started with people who didn’t know God. Now that my youngest is 7 and can answer all the questions, I didn’t worry so much about showing them the movie Luck (super cute by the way! We used the free trial on AppleTV to see it.) So as Valentine’s Day was getting near, I started looking forward to what was next and I couldn’t help myself. I designed some cute cards for handing out on St. Patrick’s Day.

We still won’t do much, but how can I resist printing out these cute bookmarks and setting a cute green themed table for their breakfast??? I can’t!

My message hasn’t changed (much)… I’m just taking this opportunity to spread it even further! 🙂 And to bless my kids with bookmarks… something they are way into right now by the way! Now the only question I have to ask myself is what color background am I going to use??? I like them both!

Pop over to my shop for 30% off in the next 7 days if you want some! Use coupon code STPATTYS or click here.

Clue Themed T-Shirt Design

Clue game t-shirt with candlestick and billiard room | mamasbrush design

cricut easy press, Clue SVG, Clue Cut file, DIY t-shirt

This is a quick one. I designed this shirt for a friend of ours for her 16th birthday. She loves the game Clue and we’re planning a little “Clue” themed party for her soon. A party theme isn’t complete without a matching shirt (at least I’ve gotten in the habit of creating one for most themes these days.)

I sourced the chalk outline from, I’m so sorry, I can’t remember where! It doesn’t always occur to me in the moment that I’m going to want to blog the things I’m doing. I’m trying to be better, but failed again.

The candlestick was something I created. I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I tried it out and am pleased with the way it turned out. I asked our friend’s mom what her favorite weapon and room are in the game, so that is why I picked candlestick and billiard room.

I love my Cricut Easy Press. It’s so much easier (huh!) than using my iron. I kept putting off the project, but it’s silly because it was so fast!

Have you created anything lately?

Christmas Decor – Mistletoe Sign

This one just makes me smile! I painted this years ago… it was one of the first paintings I was really excited about. I’ve made cards with this mistletoe on it in past years. One simply said, “tonight.” I like that one. 🙂

This past year I digitized it, making it possible to do so many more things with it… and to make it BIG! In this design, I added the words, “In this house, we do mistletoe!” I can’t wait to find a place to put it when December rolls around!

It’s 50% off right now as part of my Christmas in July sale. Print it at home or have it printed and add it to your Christmas decor this year.

Christmas Decor Mistletoe Sign | mamasbrush

In this house, we do mistletoe. Quirky Christmas sign with illustrated mistletoe. Christmas in July

Christ Centered Christmas Sign – Our Home Believes

Is July as busy for you as it is for me??? Yes? No? Well, I’m finally here to share some of my Christmas in July projects with you. Here we go!

Christmas clipart to use for your Cricut or Sihlouette cut machines. Jesus' manger with the words "our home believes".

Have you seen those adorable farmhouse Christmas signs that say “We believe” with a Santa hat? I love them. I remember seeing them for the first time, thinking they were so clever. The only problem is… we don’t. Yikes! Can you BELIEVE I just said that on the internet? You can’t take things like that back! But it’s true. When our children were born, we decided not to “do” Santa.

But, hang on… does that mean I can’t have one of those cute signs? Not quite! A few years ago, I designed a “we believe” kind of sign with a manger instead. Because in this world where so many people don’t believe that the One True God stepped down from heaven to walk on earth and take the penalty for our sins, our home DOES believe! We do believe that the story of Jesus being born in a stable and laid in a manger is a true story, and we love to celebrate it!

2021 Christmas Market Display | mamasbrush #woodbookstacks #Christmasdecor #winterdecor #craftfairdisplay #craftfair #woodbeadgarland #signs

I created it as a cut file for vinyl. Here you can see it applied to canvas on our family Christmas market table this past November. I used scrapbook paper for the brown and yellow, then applied the black outlines and words in vinyl over top. It was a little tricky to do for me (a beginner in all this Cricut layering stuff), but totally do-able!

As I added it to my shop this month (for our Christmas in July sale! — Shameless plug!), I’ve included the layered PNG cut files for applying it as you see here, a simple single layer file, and a printable file if you’d rather just frame it! All files are on a transparent background for you to use in whatever crafting project you’d like! Grab it up this month for just $.99 and use it to make gifts ahead of the rush or create your own Christmas cards with the clipart!

Christmas clipart to use for your Cricut or Sihlouette cut machines. Jesus' manger with the words "our home believes". Use for decor, gifts, Christmas cards.

Christmas in July sale.

You can find me gathering here.

Christmas in July

Of all the seasons and themes I get excited about, Christmas is one of the top. I love to illustrate and paint Christmas-y things. It’s true. Those of you who have been around a while (or, yikes, dug in to some of the archives!) know that there is a lot of Christmas on this site.

Now, fast forward to March of this year when I finally decided to open an Etsy shop. My first concern was that I had no idea what to make… Christmas was really far away! I summoned all my creative juices and prayed a lot and I did come up with some things to list that make me smile. I hope they make you smile too, at least to see them pass through your feed.

While I’ve been creating all that non-Christmas stuff, I’ve been holding a hope in the back of my mind… Christmas in July! Could I continue filling my shops with products and artwork while still preparing some Christmas for July?

I’ll have to admit it was hard. I had bigger plans than a large family and garden would allow, but I have managed to get a few things listed to kick off Christmas in July. I’ll be adding more throughout the month as I have time and I’ll be highlighting each item here beginning next week.

Don’t want to wait??? Visit my shops now to see what’s there!

Mamasbrush Designs has some crafty and practical Christmas items.

Mamasbrush Decor has Christmas home decor.

…with more in the works! Subscribe to find out when new items are listed!

The big announcement??? SALE, SALE, SALE!

Both shops are running a 50% off Christmas listings during the month of July! This is my biggest sale yet and is probably the steepest discount I’ll offer on Christmas this year! Don’t miss it!

You can find me gathering here.

Fresh Salsa – Updated Artwork

Fresh Salsa Watercolor Print |
mamasbrush

Fresh salsa veggies kitchen wall art decor.

I’ve shared these watercolor veggies before. It was an illustration I made for my dad one year for Father’s Day. I was super happy with how it turned out then, so I wanted to digitize it to add to my new Etsy shop.

It’s my newest listing and everything in that shop is currently 30% off through the 8th to celebrate it’s opening.

You can find me gathering here.

Carrot Patch Sign

With spring officially begun, we are full into the beginning of garden season! How better to celebrate, than with a cute Carrot Patch sign!

This is the part of the year that I still like gardening. Ask me again come July or August when it’s too hot to be outside and the weeds and pests have taken over and my opinion is often different. But for now… for now I’m all about the planning and the prepping and the seed starting. Yes, and even the decorating!

So… I designed this cute sign specifically for my sister who is loving all things carrots these days! I wanted to have something for her when she arrived for her visit this week, but I couldn’t help but print myself one and frame it up! It’s sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for me to figure out a good place for it. 🙂 I couldn’t stop there, though! I’ve also added it to my Etsy shop so you can have a copy too!

My sign reads, “Welcome to our Carrot Patch”, but my sister lives alone, so that isn’t going to work for her. Hers says ,”Welcome to my Carrot Patch.”

Carrot Patch Sign | mamasbrush
Farmhouse decor for your homestead, farm or garden loving spring home. Gift to garden lovers or for Easter!

I designed this sign both ways, so, whether you need this sign in your family home or want to use it in your own space, I’ve got you covered! This sign would be great framed as an 8×10 or 5×7 on an entry table or in a dorm room, or framed as an 11×14 on the mantle in your living room. You can also choose to print the pdf of the 8.5×11 size to put in the front cover of your homestead, household, or school notebook!

How would you use it?

Discount time… As always, during this first week in the shop, I want you to have 33% off if you would like to buy one of these Carrot Patch Signs for your home. Enter coupon code CARROTS33 at checkout, or just follow one of these links to have it automatically taken during these first 7 days!

If you like my Carrot Patch, would you please consider pinning the image below to help me spread the word. 🙂 Thanks for your support!!

You can find me gathering here.

Flower Pot Note Pad

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I would be using my flower pots design for the upcoming women’s retreat. (That retreat is this weekend, by the way and the main reason I haven’t posted this week.) At the time, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and in reality, I expected to do more, but other projects took over.

In the end, I decided to make this Flower Pot Note Pad with them. It wasn’t practical to make a note pad for each of the 50-something ladies who are planning to join us, but I could include one in each of the gift baskets (pots, really) I’m putting together for the door prize. So that’s what I did.

I basically followed these direction for making the notepad, though, if I’d done it exactly this way (I did last time), it would have worked even better. One difference… I couldn’t find my padding compound. We looked everywhere I can think of. Nothing. I read somewhere that Modge Podge works too, so I tried it. (We always have lots of that around.) And it worked!

If you like my Flower Pot Note Pad, would you please pin the image below or share it on other social media!

You can find me gathering here.

Extra Special Baby Shower Gift

Custom Baby Stats Print | mamasbrush #easybabygift #beginningwatercolor #babyshowergift #sunflowerdecor #babystats #yellow

I’ve mentioned before here and here that I believe every baby needs a party! When a family already has children, instead of a full blown party, we set up a gift table at church and invite the church family to bring gifts to celebrate with and bless the family over a few Sundays.

This past July a sweet little baby was born, so with sunflowers as my theme, I sent out invitations and set up the table. This time I decided to try one of my inspiration pins. A cute little idea I’d seen over at one of my favorite illustrator’s. I think it turned out sweet.

I started by sketching everything out, added watercolor and finished it with my black art pens. Then I added the date and time, weight and length of the baby. 🙂 It makes me smile. We have a new member of our family, so I’m going to try this next one with my digital tablet soon!

If you like my sunflower baby stat print, would you mind pinning the image below or sharing it with other social media? I really appreciate your support!

You can find me gathering here.

Dressing Up Your Gifts with a Little Something Extra

Like last year, we gifted home infused olive oils to most of our friends and family for Christmas this year. Let me tell you, they were so popular and so fun to do the first time that our list is growing. I think we are already planning to gift them to a few more people next year.

While you can use his post to plan for Christmas next year, I hope it will also be an inspiration for mid-year gifting. The principles are the same whenever (and whatever) you are gifting.We decided to push ourselves to do new flavors this year and are growing in our comfort with the whole process, but, for us, it’s not enough to simply gift infused oils. We wanted them to look amazing and we really think they did!

Dressing Up Your Gifts with a Little Something Extra | mamasbrush #oliveoil #gifts #homemade #diylabels #gifting #woozybottles #infusedoliveoil

The Gift

Our gift was infused oils. We ordered 5 ounce woozy bottles from a new place this year (not going to say as we weren’t as happy with them). We’ll probably go back to Amazon for that next year even though they were a little more. We also ordered the labels and the heat shrink tops (though these are the ones for wine in a larger size… oops. There is one for the 5 ounce bottle somewhere.) Since they were a little bigger than our bottles, we trimmed them down and they worked fine.

I did the illustrations and the hand lettering for the labels again too. Then I combined all that in Photoshop with another font there and we printed them out.

Your gift could be anything. Something hand crafted in the workshop or baked in your kitchen. Something purchased in a store or ordered online. It can be something you give in mass to everyone on your list or something personally selected for each friend and family member.

Dressing Up Your Gifts with a Little Something Extra | mamasbrush #giftwrapping #presentation #packaging #gifting #makeitspecial #tags #gifttags #diygifttags #watercolorpainting

The Packaging

Then came the hardest part… finding a box that would fit them all just right. Hopefully this next year we won’t procrastinate this again. But in the end, we found something at the Dollar Tree that worked well. We added some spacers between the bottles to make them fit better.

Our boxes weren’t expensive. That isn’t the point. And they don’t have to be fancy. They could be simple brown or white bags if that fits your style or the style of your gift. It could be brown kraft paper wrapping it all up. Or shimmery shiny wrapping paper. Or custom printed wrapping paper for that matter. It doesn’t matter what it is, but consider it. Consider your presentation.

Finishing touches

That could have been the end of the packaging. It looked real pretty with all that curling ribbon, but the next part really set it apart. A couple different friends said it really took the whole thing over the top. The hand painted tags. The watercolor illustrations add a sense of whimsy to the whole thing.

If you don’t feel as though you could paint or draw something yourself, there are plenty of fun tags on Pinterest that you could print on nice paper to add whimsy to your gift.

Why the Packaging Matters

Again, you can apply these same principles to any hand made gift, or any gift for that matter. Taking an extra minute to personalize the packaging can make a huge impact. But why? Do we do it so that everyone sees how crafty and creative we are? Is it so that they will talk about our gift longer than everyone elses? If the answer to those questions is yes, then don’t do it. It’s not worth it.

So why do it? They are just going to rip it open and throw it all away anyway. Isn’t it just a waste of time? Honestly, sometimes. Again, this depends on your motives. It has only been in the last few years that I’ve even begun to think about caring what a gift looks like. I’m a throw-it-in-a-gift-bag-with-a-couple-pieces-of-tissue-paper kind of girl. Seriously. It’s how we wrap almost everything for kids etc. around here. It’s faster. I have 6 kids, and when I still had multiple babies and toddlers around, it was the best way. Sometimes it’s still the best way. Really!

But when I can, and when it’s right, spending extra time on the presentation of a gift is just one more way to show love to that friend, family member or {even} stranger you are gifting to. The gift is great. That thought is great. But the extra time to make it special passes that special-ness onto the one who gets the gift.

So what now?

Maybe you aren’t ready for this yet. Maybe you have as much crazy in your life as I do and it’s just not practical. Gifts? What gifts? There were years we didn’t do much in the way of gifts at all. That’s okay. Be where you are. Do what you can. But every once in a while, or when you are ready, step outside your comfort zone and make that one gift special. It’s worth the look on their face when they find out that it is for them!

Gathering here.