Alexa Z Design Christmas Cards!

December 5, 2017

In 2012, right after Ellie was born, I opened up my online Etsy shop. My mom had been encouraging me to open one up for years, and finally it was the perfect time. I had a sleepy newborn baby, I was in a new neighborhood and didn’t know very many people, and I needed a creative outlet.

I started selling Christmas cards that very first year and much to my surprise, I sold more than I ever anticipated! I have taken a break selling Christmas cards for the last year or so, but now I’m back! AND, I’ve made it easier than ever! No more waiting for me to email your files to you – and you can make as many different designs as you want!

I just added all these Christmas card designs to the Rhonna Designs App. They’re an add on sticker pack (look for my name and you’ll find them!) and get this, they’re only .99 cents! 🙂 I’ve included a ton of premade cards – all you have to do is pick your picture and add the overlay and voila! Done! I’ve also included all the elements separate as well, so you can mix them together however you choose.

The best way to make your card is to download the Rhonna Designs app first. (Available on apple and android!) Pick your photo on your phone.

When it asks you what size you want, choose 5×7. (You can choose a different size if you want, but 5×7 will work best.)

You may need to resize the photo on the page, typically you’ll need to make it just a tad bit smaller.

Then, go into the elements section, find my name at the top (swipe over through the designers section), and download the sticker pack.

You can then add the overlays and add custom text. Ready to go? Download to your phone or email to yourself! You can print it out anywhere!

Don’t have a picture to use? Try out our custom family portrait illustrations! (Again, only .99 cents!) These would also make super cute Christmas gifts! 🙂

Nursery Sneak Peek

July 31, 2017

Our sweet little one will be here in less than 2 weeks! We are so excited, and the girls have been helping me with decorating her little nursery. I know she won’t be sleeping in here for a little while, but I couldn’t help myself!

P.S. The bow hanger I made myself with a piece of scrap board from Ikea and little hooks from Home Depot. The mobile is from Pottery Barn Kids, crib sheets from Captain Silly Pants, cactus pillow from Target, floral framed painting from Hobby Lobby, and little bunny made by my sister Erin.

DIY Jewelry Hanger Update!

July 27, 2017

Remember THIS post from a few years ago? I made this cute little dress up corner for Ellie and she loved it! In this house, I didn’t really have any need for the hanger, and was THIS close to giving it to the thrift store. Instead, I gave it a little update and voila! This little space in my closet was transformed into my jewelry nook! I added tiny little hooks to the bottom of the original hanger, and mounted it to the wall. The bracelet hand holder was found on Amazon and the original DIY tutorial can be found here!

Gilmore Girls PARTY!

November 3, 2016

Calling all GILMORE GIRLS fans! We’ve created the ultimate Gilmore Girls Party Printables for you to use! If you’re counting down the days until the Revival, or just need an excuse for a Friday Night with the Gilmore’s, we’ve got you covered! You can download the package HERE and find all tutorials and photos below!

I started watching Gilmore Girls in high school with my mama. We became big fans and one Christmas, after receiving a few of the seasons as a gift, we watched EIGHT hours of Gilmore Girls, which the rest of the family slept. Best Christmas ever. 🙂 And now, best Black Friday ever! We cannot wait for the revival! I’ve been working on this package for forever and I’m super excited to share it with you! I already printed everything from this package and have it ready to go for our big Gilmore Girls party! Wanna know what’s included? Here you go!

-INVITATIONS: Invite your besties over for the party of the year! We’ve included these darling invitations for you to hand out. Super easy to print and fill out!

-DIY BADGES: Whether your heart skips a beat for Jess, you still pine for Dean, or you’re totally in love with Logan, we’ve got the perfect way to make it known! We’ve also included one for Team Luke because, man, we love Luke! These DIY badges are the perfect addition to your Gilmore Girls party. Make beforehand or use as a fun DIY activity for your guests.

To make:
Print out each page of badges. (Each page contains 3 badges, print out as many copies as you need!) Cut out all the pieces. You’ll need one circle “team” piece, two ribbons, and two long strips. Fold the two long strips accordian style. (You know, how you used to make paper fans in school? 😉 Then, using hot glue, attach the ends of the first strip to the ends of the second strip. This will make a circle! Press down to make a posey, and bring the middle together so there’s not much of a gap. (see photos below!) Glue the “team” circle badge in the middle of the posey and attach the ribbons on the backside of the posey using hot glue. Tada!

-PARTY DECOR: Spice up your party with these darling decorations! We’ve included several prints to hang or frame, along with flags, food toppers, and more to make your party prep easy. Want to go big? The zipped file included with your download contains the same prints in poster size!

^^Probably my favorite quote. Ha!^^

^^A list of EVERY single job Kirk had during the seven seasons. Seriously died making this! Ha! ^^

-TSHIRT STENCILS: It might not be Friday Night Dinner approved, but these DIY t-shirts will be perfect apparel for your evening! We’ve included stencils for you to print and use for your shirts. Stencils include: Team Jess, Team Dean, Team Logan, Luke’s Diner, and Honorary Gilmore Girl. Find the tutorial HERE!

And there you have it!! A complete Gilmore Girls party package! We’d LOVE to see how you use the printables, so TAG US! #alexazdesign @alexazurcher ENJOY!!!!!!

Life’s short. Talk fast.

DIY Gilmore Girls Tshirts!

November 3, 2016

Ready to make some DIY Gilmore Girls Tshirts? I really might wear mine everyday until the revival. 😉 These shirts are super easy to make (and don’t cost a lot either!) All the stencils are included in our Gilmore Girls party pack – we’ve included Team Dean, Team Jess, Team Logan, Luke’s Diner logo, and an Honorary Gilmore Girl stencil as well. 🙂 You can find the pack HERE.

Supplies Needed:

Tshirt
Freezer Paper
Exacto Knife
Iron
Fabric Paint (or Fabric Medium + Acrylic Paint)
Foam Brush

First, trace the stencil or print directly onto freezer paper. (To make it easier, you can simply tape the freezer paper to a thicker piece of cardstock and run it through your printer.) Make sure the shiny part of the freezer paper is on the bottom, that way it will stick to your tshirt. Do not try using parchment or wax paper, it will not work. 🙂 Using an exacto knife, carefully cut out stencil.

Be sure to save the “insides” of your letters. You won’t need the actual letters as we are making a stencil, but the insides of the “e” for example will be needed later in the process, so you’ll want to keep those in a pile!

Now you’re going to take your stencil and iron it right onto you shirt! Go over the stencil a few times to ensure that it holds to the tshirt well. Insert thick paper or cardboard inside your shirt, to keep the paint from leaking to the back. Use your foam brush to dab paint onto tshirt. I’ve learned that dabbing the paint on works much better than brushing it from side to side. Use at least two coats. Last time I used actual fabric paint, but this time I used acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium. I’ve learned to just keep fabric medium paint on hand for these last minute projects! I also like the fabric medium so I can mix it with any color.

I’ve learned that you can pull off the stencil while the paint is still damp or after it has dried. Either works fine! After the paint is completely dry, run a warm iron over the paint. This will help the paint set and keep it from coming off in the wash.

Tada! Tshirt finished! If you pull off the stencil carefully, you should be able to use it again. 🙂 Stencils can be found HERE! If you make these tshirts – tag us! We’d LOVE to see them! @alexazurcher #alexazdesign

Introducing….

August 11, 2016

QUILTS!!

I’ve been keeping this project top secret for awhile now, so I’m so glad that the cat is finally out of the bag! Brian is always making fun of me because I’m a blanket hoarder. Maybe it’s because I’m always cold, but I seriously collect blankets – baby blankets being the worst culprit. 😉 So it seemed only natural for a blanket collaboration, right?

We teamed up with Pattern Jam and Stitched, where you can find some of my favorite designs! Through Pattern Jam, you can design and customize your own ready-to-quilt panels, then they will print your design (yes, print! on fabric! cool, right?), ship it, and it will arrive on your doorstep ready to quilt! (Or turn into a pillow or wall hanging!)

If you’re a wannabe quilter (like me!), sister company Stitched is the perfect answer! Select your design, customize your fabric, and after ordering, the folks at Stitched will make your quilt with super soft minky on back and edge-to-edge quilting. I ordered a quilt for my mom for mother’s day this year and fell in LOVE with it! So happy to have one for our home now, too.

I’m seriously in love with this Families are Forever quilt. It’s lined with minky on the back – SO soft!

I also had the absolute pleasure of designing a quilt for Stephanie Nielson of the NieNie Dialouges for her back to school theme. Loved how it turned out! I’ve been reading her darling blog for years, I love her light and unwavering faith. Want a quilt of your own?? You can enter to win this quilt HERE!!

Here’s a few other designs that you can fully customize:

Dying to get one of these I am a Child of God quilts for each of my girls! And a sweet Live Simply quilt or pillow may need a spot in our home.

Each design is fully customizable – choose your colors, fabric designs, and even add text!

This Salt Lake Temple quilt would be a perfect wedding gift! Always on of my favorites – Choose to be Grateful. (I want this on a pillow!)

From Aug 11-18, you can take 20% off your purchase with code: HEANDI Just search “Alexa Zurcher” on any of the sites to see the complete collection of designs. Thank you for all your continued support over the years – you guys are amazing! Happy quilting!

Spring Break & Cardboard Cars

April 8, 2016

Thank you TruMoo and DairyPure brand milk for sponsoring this post. Start and end your day right with milk and chocolate milk!

A quick howdy from our spring break! We’re headed on a weekend adventure with the Zurcher family this weekend. We’ve had Brian’s parents in town all week and it has been chalk full of fun! Ellie has loved hanging out with her cousins all week and I’ve loved that the girls have been sleeping in just a little this week. (Who knew I’d ever consider 8am sleeping in!?)

Since Ellie didn’t have preschool this week, we’ve found ourselves doing a few extra crafts and projects. In preparation for our road trip, Ellie and I made a cardboard car! Pink of course. (Pink is the color of choice these days.) She thought her car was THE best thing ever and drove around in it all morning. It’s the perfect little spot for snack time! We’ve included a few instructions on how to make your own below.

Supplies needed:

Cardboard Box (we used a diaper box)
Construction paper
Wheels (we used paper plates!)
Head lights (we originally used little snack cups, but Addie kept knocking them off 😉
Glue
Scissors
Decorations (stickers, markers, etc)

First we cut off all the extra flaps, except for the front windshield flap. We covered each side in construction paper using just basic Elmer’s glue and glued on each of our paper plate wheels. Ellie helped me glue and cut everything! The windshield was probably the trickiest part. Don’t look too close, it’s not cut out perfectly but it does the job. 😉 Next was the fun part, decorations! We had leftover foam heart stickers from Valentine’s day that totally matched the pink theme. 😉 And voila! Done and done! Ellie stuffed her box with babies in the “backseat.”

Ellie drove around our living room then stopped for a quick pit stop and snack break. She was recently introduced to chocolate milk and it was a hit! She loves milk and drinks a little cup with her breakfast every morning, but the chocolate milk was a whole new thing. She’s definetly my daughter. 😉 We love DairyPure brand milk and TruMoo chocolate milk. They both come from local dairies and provide a perfect balance of nutritious and delicious.

Wishing you the happiest weekend my friends! We’ll be back next week with more posts and pictures, but for now, adios! xoxo

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Three Ways to Display Your Instagram Photos

November 19, 2015

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SaveYourMemories #CollectiveBias

Hi, I’m Alexa and I’m a compulsive photo taker.

Ha! But seriously, I have a bit of a problem. About every six months or so, I’ll go to download an app on my phone, only to find the “out of storage” error message blaring on the screen. My phone is literally filled to the brim with thousands and thousands of photos. True story. Usually I dump them on my hard drive and continue taking hundreds of photos a month without ever doing anything with the previous files. A few days ago, I couldn’t receive any messages due to the excessive photos taking up room on my phone, so I decided that this time around, I’d actually print out a few before I stored them away. You know, instead of letting them sit in the black hole called my hard drive. Ha!

Usually I’m a bit lazy when it comes to actually printing out photos. You know, the whole pick out the photo / wait for them to upload / and actually leave the house to pick them up excuse. Hashtag lazy. 😉 This time, I just printed out a few photos straight from my phone – no waiting for slow uploads or changing out of my yoga pants. Fist pump! So without further ado, here are three different ways that I displayed my favorite instagram photos around our home:

———————————————————-

Framed Collage

Using a simple collage app, I put together a few of my favorite, bright photos of the two girls. I printed it out on a 8.5×11 photo sheet,then trimmed down the sides and put it in a large frame. I love the excess matting and the simple, bright whites! I have this one hanging in our living room and I love it!

———————————————————-

Postcard

Ellie loves sending mail. She sees me package up prints every week, so she loves when she can add something to our mail pile, too! We printed out a few fun photos of Miss E on photo paper, then glued the same size cardstock to the back. She got to color a special message and send them out. A super easy, entertaining craft AND makes grandma’s happy 🙂

———————————————————-

Photo Banner

I’m a fan of any type of banner, but I think photo banners have the biggest place in my heart. Our guest room walls were looking a little lonely (read: completely blank!) so I printed out a few of my favorite instagram photos on 5×7 photo paper, trimmed them down to 5×5 and hung them on twine with mini clothespins. Ellie loves looking at each and every photo and I love the color they add to the walls!

———————————————————-

I printed all my photos straight from my phone using the HP Envy 4512 All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner and HP photo paper. This printer makes is SO easy to print straight from my phone, no hassle! I found my printer at Walmart and its seriously perfect for printing out last minute Christmas cards, printables, and photos galore!

I’m hoping that now that I’ve updated my walls with photos, I’ll continue to switch them out, instead of having them collecting dust deep in my hard drive. Ha! New Years Resolution maybe? 😉 How do you print & display all your phone photos?

DIY Gold Screen-Printed Tote Bag

November 5, 2015

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BeHealthyForEveryPartofLife #CollectiveBias

Let’s be honest here, since having kids my purse collection has decreased while my diaper bag selection has grown immensely! When Brian and I head out for a date night or to a movie, I can never decide what bag to bring. It can’t be too small (gotta sneak in those movie theater treats!) and most of the time my diaper bag is too stuffed with diapers and board books to fit anything else. I had an extra blank tote bag that was begging to go with us to the movie theater, but it needed a little update. Nothing a little gold paint can’t solve! Tutorial for this DIY screen-printed tote bag (and some of my favorite date night essentials) below:

Supplies Needed:
-Canvas Tote Bag
-Freezer Paper
-Iron
-Gold Paint + Paintbrush
-Exacto Knife (or Scissors)

Step One: Draw heart onto freezer paper. (Make sure the shiny part of the freezer paper is facing down, and you’re drawing on the not-shiny part. The bottom of the freezer paper is what sticks to your bag.) Using an exacto knife (or in my case scissors since I couldn’t find my knife!), carefully cut out stencil.

Step Two: Carefully place the freezer paper stencil on your tote bag. Keeping the shiny side face down, iron the paper onto your bag. Iron well, making sure every edge is pressed down tight.

Step Three: Insert a cardboard piece / thick paper in the bag, to keep the paint from seeping through. Use a paint brush or foam brush to softly brush gold paint inside your heart stencil. Fabric paint is best, but if needed, acrylic paint works just as well! (I used a gold metallic paint –super cheap brand – from Walmart.)

Step Four: Let your paint dry for 10-15 minutes. Carefully pull off your stencil, the paint will still be damp. After the paint is completely dry, run a warm iron over the paint. This will help the paint set and keep it from coming off in the wash. (Make sure paint is totally dry before ironing, so you do not get paint all over your iron! I speak from experience here 😉

Step Five: Fill with all your date night essentials! I’m all about being prepared, so here are a few of my favorites that I always keep in my bag:

–ChapStick Total Hydration: This is pretty much the best chapstick for the cold, dry winter months here in Utah. It instantly smoothes and moisturizes, so I apply it often!
-Treats & Snacks: I’m totally one of those people that sneak in treats to the movie theater. I love buying popcorn (especially kettle corn!), but anything extra I sneak in my bag 😉 Also handy to have? Mints!
-Wipes: Brian always teases me that when it comes to spills I’m worse than Ellie, and it’s true! Regardless of whether we are going out with kids, I always keep wipes handy!
–Hand Sanitizer: Hashtag germaphobe. Hashtag I hate being sick. 😉
–Advil Liqui-Gels: I learned from my mom to always keep some Advil in my purse, just in case a headache sneaks up on me and I need fast relief! (Use as directed)
-My Phone: I try to keep it tucked away safely in my bag during dates, but I have to bring it with the littles at home.
-Water bottle: I’m always thirsty, so I try to keep an extra water bottle in my bag, along with a case in the back of the car!
–Emergen-C: I use this stuff all winter long! I’ve been trying to find ways to have More Healthy Days, More Healthy Nights. I like to toss a packet into my water bottle and drink it on the go!
-Sweater: Restaurants and movie theaters are always so cold, so I make sure to bring along an extra sweater or jacket!
-Camera: Is that at all surprising? Ha!

All tutorial products and date night essentials pictured below can be found at Walmart.

Step Six: The most important step of all…Enjoy a date night with your man! This weekend we have a little date planned and I can’t wait!

What are your favorite date night essentials?

College Survival Kit

August 17, 2015

This shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BeReadyPlayBook

This is a big week for us – my younger brother and sister are headed off to college! Both of their universities are no more than twenty minutes from our house which means…FREE BABYSITTERS! 😉 I’m having serious flashbacks of when I moved to college. (Did you know I met Brian only three days after moving? While I was sporting my pajamas, of course. Ha!) I couldn’t send either of them off to college without passing on some sisterly wisdom and of course, a little college survival kit, filled with a few college life necessities!

So far in my kit I’ve included:

A journal – to remember all those bad dates, embarrassing moments, and adventures you’ll never tell mom about (JUST KIDDING, MOM! 🙂
Chocolate – chocolate is always necessary.
Hand Sanitizer – maybe I’m a germ freak, but I always loved having hand sanitizer with me, especially after using the computers that hundreds of other people touched!
Mints – for dates! 😉
Motivational prints – to remind you to actually do your homework!
Extra notebooks – I remember taking so many notes in classes! (and no, they weren’t accompanied with doodles…well at least not all of them!)
Late Night Snacks – like Cheez-it Original crackers. It was always more fun to stay up late with the roommates if we had snacks!
Diet Dr Pepper – absolutely essential for late night studying sessions, not to mention finals week! And the smaller size? Perfect addition for that boring class to keep you from dozing off!
Cute straws – to accompany said beverage. (This one is definitely more for my sis 🙂
And a few emergency, easy meals. Oh college life!

I picked up all my kit supplies at my local Walmart, carefully placed them all in a cardboard box, and made a few, school inspired printables to decorate the flaps. You can download the printables below! Also, starting August 28th at select Walmart stores, visitors will be able to play a digital football toss game for a chance to win $20,000 in tuition (that can also be used to pay off student loans!). Dr Pepper will be giving away free prizes as well as an additional $5,000 in tuition to one lucky winner in each location (times & locations here). Be sure to check out this site for more information on how you can #WinTuition!

Ready to make a College Survival Kit of your own? Download free printables here!

« Previous Page