Mish Mash Monday....

Hi there. Hope your week is off to a great start. Thought I'd share a few things on this Mish Mash Monday...

Kansas countryside......we took the buggy (the Gator) and went for a little Sunday drive through some of our pastures. I love that my dad mowed big paths alongside all the pastures. The grasses and wildflowers are all turning colors. And there are an abundance of Kansas sunflowers this year.
Love that the butterflies are out in full force too. So pretty to catch on film.
This girl.....she makes my heart swell up so big. I get a lot of questions about how we're handing having a high schooler now. People immediately think teenagers are meant to get into trouble. Well, knock on wood, but Josey is a great kid and her dad and I are so proud of her.

This weekend Josey's team took 2nd place in their JV volleyball tournament. What her team mates didn't know was that Josey was asked to move up to the Varsity squad and play with them at the same time that day. Josey has worked toward this goal all season long. But she politely declined and told her coach that she wanted to finish up this last JV tournament with her team mates. So unselfish. Such a team player. So proud of her. My sweet red.
She also has been dying to see her little sis play volleyball this season. With the two reds being at different schools and having practices and games at the same time, it makes it hard for Josey to get to Jordan's games. We made a plan last week that Josey would rush out of practice, jump in the Blazer and we would scurry off to see Jordan play volleyball 20 miles away. Josey got to see her play for about 2 minutes tops. But she was happy and Jordy knew that big sis made the effort to be there. Note: We would have seen lots more of the game if that Sheriff hadn't have popped over the hill. Just sayin'.

And yes, Josey has a boyfriend now. He got up early after being beat up the night before in the football game to come see her play volleyball an hour away. We introduced ourselves formally and he sat by us at the game. He's a nice boy. Other parents are nervous of this.....they see that their girls will start dating soon too. I'm a lot more calm than I thought I would be. I guess you do your best as parents to raise your kids right and then you watch them fly. You hope they rise above and soar to great things. It's all you can do. Trust yourself that you've done the right thing. And then let them go. Teenagers are great people and we need to give them a lot more credit. Note: It's not without limits here people...Josey is not allowed to go on dates or be driven anywhere by her boyfriend. I know, what fun is that!!? A lot of the worry is eliminated right there though. :) Believe me, Eric is just dying to use his line that he's practiced for years......*Young man, I've been in prison and I'm not afraid to go back!*......whatever Eric. And no, he's not really been in prison.
Something crafty....I've been working really hard to get the Craft Department cleaned up. It's time. Way overdue. One of the things I like to do is keep all my smaller scraps of patterned paper in this little wooden tray on the left. When I have a few minutes...or perhaps need a little warm up exercise before tackling a big project.....I take the scraps and cut or punch them into little shapes.
For example, the longer strips of scrap paper get turned into little notched flags.
I use parcel tags from my Etsy shop to create scrappy little tags. These will in turn be taped to Etsy packages as little thank you tags. Very scrappy and I can make a lot in a short amount of time. And no adhesive is used. I layer scraps on top of tags and then sew it all down with my sewing machine. Then a button goes on top.

Check out this amazingly fun post by Tara Anderson over at Crate Paper. She uses her scraps in a different way by creating the cutest little garlands. I am so inspired by Tara's work.
Once I get over looking at the cute tags all lined up, they get stacked onto one of my many vintage receipt spikes. They're perfect for holding my tags that go on Etsy packages. I just pluck one off and tape it to a package as a thank you. Fun stuff!
Okayyyy, I'm outta here for now. After sitting on hard bleachers for 9 hours at Josey's volleyball tournament this weekend, my hip/back are outta whack.

Coming tomorrow....another Project Life update. I'm on a roll!

Back in stock soon.....more of the fun bags that sold out so quickly. Look for them this week in the shop.

Coming soon for holiday crafting.....Noel Notions. Fun holiday embellishments & notions to add to your cards, pages and gift wrap.