Last weekend, my parents came over to celebrate John's birthday. After we sung what I would call a birthday concerto that was awful enough to shatter glass, we somehow ended up playing one of our favorite card games: Hand And Foot. There's elements of strategy, a touch of luck, and a lot of cards involved. It's a bit complicated to explain, but one you get the hang of it, it's SO much fun. Naturally, I had to share our fave game with y'all. After doing some digging online, it looks like we play a slightly modified version of "Saskatchewan Hand And Foot"....who knew? Not me. So, without further ado, click "read more" below to get the scoop on how to play!

Oh Willie, you never fail to impress me. Just when I think I have you figured out (an Austin legend with a deep love of bandanas and bud who can pick and sing like no other), you go ahead and blow my mind with these gems of wisdom. I had no choice but to gussy up your words in Photoshop with the intention of plastering them on our walls as a daily reminder of the awesomeness of life, love, God, family, friends....and of course, you.

free "Eye Love You" printable from Inkbloom // free sloth printable by Mary Beth Heishman from IndieFixx // remaining prints by me // super pretty lucite tray c/o Mattie Luxe // candle from Voluspa // wine glasses from HomeGoods // my fave vase ever from Juliska

We have lived in our apartment for 8 months, and until fairly recently, most of our walls were totally bare. I loved the look of a gallery wall full of colorful prints, but I just couldn't fathom putting a zillion holes in the {rented} wall. So, stark white walls it was. It was really after I whipped up this little illustration that I decided it was time to punch up the color spectrum in our place. I went thrifting for some frames, but didn't really find a whole lot I liked...so off to Hobby Lobby I went. They were having a 50% off sale on wall frames at the time, and I may or may not have shouted "CHA-CHINGGGG!" when I saw that. I swear, I think the lady working that section of the store thought I had Tourette's or something. I also picked up some of those super sticky wall hanging kits so I wouldn't have to deal with wall damage when we move. I've never used those before, so hopefully when it's time to take them down, it won't look like a hot mess. After getting the goods, I went to work (well...really, play) in Photoshop. Some designs were me just goofing around with watercolor brushes and grunge textures in Photoshop, and others were 'heavily borrowed' from some prints I've seen around blogtown, but hey....I figure as long as they are for my personal enjoyment and I'm not selling them, why not recreate and put my own spin on them? It was a really fun afternoon DIY decor project, and it really brings that little space to life.

Hope you all have a happy Friday, and a super awesome weekend! John and I are going to have some outdoorsy water-sportsy fun with my cousin on Saturday, and then on Sunday I am getting baptized! So...without wanting to come off as too preachy (this is a design blog, after all),  I'll just say it's been a rough-and-tumble road for me to get to this point in my faith, but I am so elated to publicly make this declaration of my faith and commitment to Jesus. God bless!

Dads are some of the hardest people to shop for, huh?? After years of pocket knives, shirts, and wallets, there had to be something that was a little more original to give my pops. So, I sat on a bench and thought "Think....think....think....", which reminded me of Winnie the Pooh. Like lightning, the image of my brother-in-law Brendon doing his Winnie the Pooh impression came into my head. He did that back in 2001, and it still cracks me up. I can't separate the two anymore. Then, the revelation happened...just like Winnie the Pooh, my dad is addicted to honey. I've literally seen him shoot it straight from the bottle. He's even contemplating keeping some hives of bees in their backyard. So, I went looking for some honey and I found the motherload. That baby up there is like a half gallon of the sweet stuff. Liquid crack, I tell ya.

When I came across these amazing vintage-inspired free printables for Father's Day created by the lovely ladies at Hello! Lucky, I knew this was going to "bee" (hehe...had to throw that cheesy pun in there) just the ticket.  I tweaked their labels just a little bit so they had a more custom feel, but they are pretty close to perfect without any fiddling with. Don't cool labels take ordinary gifts to a new level? Like a level that wasn't bought at my local grocery store that is a little bit on the ghetto side? Bravo on the great work, Hello! Lucky and thanks for the lovely printables.

PS There are even more printables on their site here. Woohoo!

Hey there, darlings! With Christmas fast approaching, some of you might be suffering from a panic attack due to 'lastminuteshoppingitus.' So I figured I would repost the free printable playlist I made for one of the  holiday gift guides this year. Just print this off on some nice cardstock, buy an iTunes giftcard, and you are all set. Now I may not have the hottest, coolest, and newest tunes on the list, but they are still 'spinning' on my iPod and that's good enough for me. What are some of you fave holiday tunes? I think mine just might be "Baby It's Cold Outside"....loves it.


Now, scrounging up some super cool and inexpensive wrapping paper has never been so easy. Just raid your local grocery store's brown bag stash and decorate it with colored ribbon, yarn, ornaments, etc. I am also loving the map-as-wrap idea!

If you are like me, you are wayyyyy behind with your holiday planning, decorating, shopping and schmoozing. Last-minute lasses and lads, fret not...I made a free printable party set inspired by needle-point folk art. I don't mean to brag, but they are super cute, no?! I personally love that red and blue combo. Something about red and green just sets me off....I just am not a fan of that color scheme. Ick. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the printables and please do let me know if you end up using them for a holiday party. I'd be thrilled to see photos of it in action. :) Happy holidays, loves!

{Photo by Triple Max Tons}

Well I just about jumped out of my chair in excitement over this, y'all. I've just discovered Instagram-inspired Photoshop Actions by Daniel Box...and just in time to apply to all those holiday snapshots. Ever since ditching my iPhone for an Android, I've been missing Instagram like woah. So, if you love the look of those ubiquitous Instagram photos and don't have an iPhone, hop to it and download these Photoshop actions pronto!  I snapped that photo above at Lady Bird Lake here in Austin, and applied the actions to the photo so you could see what each style in the action set looks like.

Now, some of you might be murmuring to yourselves, "what the heck is an action?". Well, friends, let me tell you. It's a magical and fast way to post-edit your photos in one fell swoop without having to repeat your steps over and over and over. Here's a tutorial on how to install actions.

Michael Kors Runway Time Teller Watch* - Keep track of all those flight times and international time zones with this rose gold-plated watch. It's also available in an equally cool rose gold and white combo!

{Design by Triple Max Tons}

I read this quote by Oscar Wilde, and got a good chuckle from it. God knows that looking back on this blog, there are some posts where I can only salvage my self-esteem by declaring cleverness as an excuse for my late-night mumbly-jumbly posts. So, my clever and witty readers, I made this awesome wall art printable for you to enjoy. Thank you all so much for checking in each day to tune into my tangents on fashion, design, and this crazy thing called life.....I just want to give each of you a big hug. A super squeezy, long, awkward hug.

As usual, this is just for fun and free for you to download....all I ask is that if you care to spread the  please provide proper links back to my blog and this article. Thanks!

{Cake by Sweetapolita // Gift Tags by Triple Max Tons}

Anyone else encounter a total birthday boom in the summer months? If you are like me, there is a 99% chance you are a last minute gift shopper. With all the insanity surrounding the hunt for the perfect present, I usually forget small things like, oh, wrapping paper, gift tags, and cards. What can I say, I am a total spaz. This is when the handy gift tag printable comes into play....print and cut them out, wrap your gift in inside out paper grocery bags, and secure with some colorful ribbon (whatever you have in the house...I have a craft stockpile of bakers twine and white ribbon that comes in handy). Shazam! An instantly wrapped gift that is almost too cute to give away. Want the goods already? Download the gift tags here.

{veggie image via that kind of woman}

I was catching up on my very backlogged GoogleReader and excitedly came across Bridget's blog, where I started reading 2 jarring (pun not intended but haaaa) articles about buying organic and what to avoid like the plague at the grocery store. Naturally, my sponge-like brain sopped up this vital information....and promptly forgot it about 3 minutes later. Not a good sign for body or mind. Apparently I need to eat more cinnamon, but my premature senile moments are aside from the point. The point is that you can now use this wallet-sized printable to guide you through the grocery aisles so you aren't blowing your hard earned dough on expensive organic foods when you don't have to. Woohoo! This little cheat sheet will let you know when to splurge on the 'no-exception' organics, and what items are ok to buy non-organic (and save a few bucks).

There are four wallet-sized lists to a sheet so you will have a few extras to keep on hand or give to friends...and if you want to get really fancy, you can bust out the laminator. So without further ado, download the organic cheat sheet here.

I am so inspired by all the blooming flowers and budding trees, so I decided to make a little stationary set featuring the season's finest flora from one of my fave Flickrers, Agence Eureka. The set is a little bit vintage-looking with a whole lot of springtime cheer. Naturally, I just had to share with all of you.  Download the note cards and envelope pdf, print a few sets, and send some well wishes to your friends and fam. Enjoy!

CONDITIONS OF USE: The downloadable pdfs in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. They are not for commercial use or distribution. If you want to blog about this article, feel free but you must include a credit and link back to my site and/or this article. As a courtesy, please use the name of my blog when linking back instead of words like “via,” “image,” or numbers. Additionally, please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this article. Thanks for reading this not-so-fun stuff, and enjoy your free printable! xo Triple Max Tons (http://www.triplemaxtons.com)

{Image Credit: Cafe Fernando // Printable Recipe Card: Triple Max Tons}

If you follow Triple Max Tons on Twitter, you might have seen my catastrophic attempt at inventing  a ramekin-sized recipe for chocolate cake. I never knew a few tablespoons of this, some teaspoons of that, and a dash of whatever could cause such an disgusting looking dessert explosion in my oven. My motive for attempting such a recipe not once but THREE times? I wanted a fast and easy chocolate fix that won't make my kitchen a total disaster. I still have a long way to go to perfect that itsy bitsy chocolate cake recipe, but this 5 minute and 2 ingredient chocolate mousse seen on Cafe Fernando is looking simply sublime - and especially easy - right now! For a quick tutorial on how to make it, check out this YouTube video of Heston Blumenthal then download the recipe card I designed for this delicate and fluffy treat.

Some quick tips:
1. Enjoy this as a mousse, or use it as a cake filling.
2. Spice it up with cinnamon, cayenne pepper, crushed lavender, or a tablespoon of liquor (just subtract the amount of liquor from water if you do that option), or steep your boiled water with tea.
3. DO NOT over-whisk....watch the consistency and stop the second it thickens. If you whisk it too much, the mousse will be grainy.
4. Measurements are super critical and need to be spot on for this to work - use a kitchen scale if you have one!

 Since moving to Boston, grocery shopping has become the bane of my existence. In between ripping my shoulders out of their sockets and shattering my wrists into a million pieces while lugging our food back home on that hellish march back to the South End from Shaw's, and then getting home and realizing I forgot something, I just can't muster up the strength to keep our fridge and pantry fully stocked. We always have the essentials on hand, but those seem to be devoured sooner than later. I made myself this grocery list - had to make it bright so I would make sure to remember it before I head out the door - and figured I would share it. Download the pdf here, print 'em up, scribble over them, and get 'er done.

{Photo on left via Martha Stewart}

All my singles ladies, all my single ladies, put your hands up! Uh oh oooohhhh uh uh oh oh! Haha sorry, I couldn't resist....still love that Beyonce song. Anyways, now onto the DIY goods. Back when I was doing all the wedding planning and prep, I came across this easy game to get people to mingling on Martha Stewart. I took the liberty of pre-filling the empty spaces with famous couples and posting them here just for you, my darling readers. Now go call up all your hot single friends, and invite them over for a partayyy!

How To Meet Your Perfect Pair:
1. Click the image you want to print below (it will open in a new window), click it one more time to bring it to full size, and save it to your desktop.
2. Print out however many strips or pages you need.  
Note 1: Don't print out more strips than there are guests - you want empty cups at the end of this so each person has someone to seek out!
Note 2: Remember there are two people per strip, so 20 guests calls for 10 strips.
2. Use the crop marks the cut out the strips, then just snip them in the middle of the heart.
3. Put all the men in the famous couples in one cup, the ladies in the other.
4. When everyone gets to the party, have your guests pick one.
5. Have fun chatting it up!

PS Feel free to repost this DIY project on your blogs...all I ask for is a credit and link back to the original post! :)

{via A Field Journal}

Download this air mail inspired label HERE and Download this jumbo reindeer gift tag HERE

The wonderful Amy Moss from Eat Drink Chic (one of my most favorite blogs!) has whipped up the most adorable holiday gift tags ever. I love handmade elements - especially around the holidays - because they are perfectly imperfect and made with love. If you wrapped gifts up in vintage fabric or cute patterned papers and attached these labels to it, it would be the cutest gift ever....regardless of what is inside! Go check our Amy's blog, peruse her amazing posts, and download these gift wrapping essentials...thank you Amy!

Busted out the ol' slow cooker for the first time this past weekend, and 'impressed,' 'psyched' and "HELL YEA!" are definitely some words that John and I were shouting as we prepared dinner with this counter-top wonder. This taco soup was a fiesta of flavors and everyone was invited - plus it is cheap and fairly goof-proof as I managed to find out. I was actually shocked by how yummy it was considering I made some substitutions (black beans instead of chili; turkey instead of beef) and accidentally forgot some of the ingredients (like the water and peppers...oops!).  But I will keep on making the recipe like I did this time because why fix something if it ain't broke?

Now, I am no graphic designer and but I do like pretty things. The heinous AllRecipes printout just wasn't cutting it for me, so I designed this Mexican-themed 4x6 recipe card just for you. Open the above jpeg in a new window, click it once to make it full size, and save. Print it out on cardstock, cut it out, and get cooking. If you prefer a PDF, download the recipe card HERE. Vamonos!


CONDITIONS OF USE:  The downloadable pdfs in this article are free for personal use only. They are not for commercial use. You may repost this on your blog and use my images, but please accompany the feature with a credit and link back to my site and/or this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page.  Thank you!!

Poladroid is rad, easy to use, and best of all - it's FREE!!! Praise be to the generous hipsters that invented Poladroid. I have been using it for a while (see evidence of my obsession below) and I still have fun watching and waiting for it to "develop" on my desktop. Now I can sing it's praises out into cyberspace to my 2 readers (thanks, mom and dad...haha).  Ok, I'm gonna stop now and leave you to it...enjoy!