A Sunday in September...

Last Sunday my dad picked me a bouquet of wildflowers from the nearby pastures. He told me every flower that was in the bouquet....broom weed, goldenrod, sunflowers and some others that I can't remember.

Fresh picked flowers are the best kind. Thanks Dad! They look so pretty in my old watering can.
I also got a few mum to sit on the porch along with my little pumpkins and strawberry corn from the patch.
This beautiful, vibrant mum really took off this year. So pretty. And Eric you need to weed eat, buddy.
One of my favorites in the fall is this Live Forever plant. That color is beautiful.
And my coleus is hanging on too. It will be gone at the first freeze though.
Ahhhh, so much inspiration and color. My flowers inspired today's kit called A Sunday in September. Fun colors that remind me that Summer is trying to hang on.....but that Fall is on it's way.
The contains all the supplies to create five of the finished gift sacks as shown below. A strand of Cotton Twine is also included so that you can create a garland and hang all five finished sacks on the string with my Marigold Rustic Clothespins. This would be so cute for a little party where guests could take a little gift home with them.
Each gift sack would include a Brown Paper Sack, a lined card for writing a message, supplies to assemble a cute tag and the Marigold Clothespin. You can cards, candies, vintage hankies or linens, crafting supplies, et into the sacks. Lots of possibilities. Stamped images are left up to you to customize as you wish.
Also included in the kit are extras like a sampling of my Fabric Tape and extra yellow and manila tags to add to cards that could coordinate with the gift bag.
All packaged and ready to go. You can find them in my Etsy shop HERE.

Criss Cross Cards with Label Wraps

Hi friends, I've been having fun in my Artsy Studio this week. I just got a big order of Crate Paper's new papers and I'm in love with the Restoration line. I found my papers at Emma's Paperie, link at left. For my projects today I took a full sheet of one of the papers with borders on it and cut it strips.

Using the strips I created a simple card layout using some doilies patterned paper (really love) and two strips layered in criss cross formation. Small Manila Parcel Tags make for some easy sentiment tags. I used lots of small greetings that would fit onto my tags including Up and Away, Say It With Style set and Flutterby Friend.
My cards were so simple to assemble that I had extra time to make some fun label wraps. I cut apart my Label Wraps and brayered them with distress ink to give them a more vintage feel.
Next, I used a frame from Fillable Frames #5 to create to/from address boxes. You simply wrap the Label Wraps around your sealed card then write the addresses in the boxes. Just a fun way to dress up a card. You can see samples of an envelope with a Label Wrap on it in the photos in my Etsy shop link HERE.
Next I used a corner round to round all the corners of the Label Wraps. Just adds some softness.
Then I used the cute little envelope image and snail mail sentiment from Mailbox Greetings to stamp a few images on my Label Wraps.
And now I put it all together and I have a fun stash of cards with Label Wraps. I love how the manila tags made such easy focal points for my simple cards.
Want a fun idea for the upcoming holidays? We all seem to have extra visitors this time of year so why not greet them with a little welcome gift? Here, I tied some Cotton Twine to some mirror hooks to create a simple garland in my entry way.
Then using my Marigold Rustic Clothespins, I hung some card sets. I love how the buttery yellow color adds a nice shade of Fall to my decor and who doesn't love to get cards as gifts? The cards are packaged in my Large Cello Gusset Bags in sets of two. Being able to see the gift inside is sure to get you some compliments when guests are greeted at the door. I'm sure you'll get a few *For meee?* comments too.

Hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by today!

Easy Card Layout=Simple Gift Idea

Edit: 7 down and 2 to go......the happy campers are on their way. They all had a great time and got along so well. When I peeked in the tent, Jordan had on a purple KSU t-shirt and a pink bra over the top of it. Definitely not her size so I asked who the unlucky girl was that got her bra stolen last night. Poor Kara. Kara also got Sharpied the night before because she stayed two nights. You gotta be careful around our house Kara. I tried to tell her to never ever be the first one to fall asleep. Anyway, headache is gone...tent is all picked up....dishes are one...laundry is up next.....and I used leftover hotdogs to make scalloped potatoes and weenies for a crockpot supper. Yummo! I got permission from Susan to post her layout that I used for my inspiration...it's at the bottom of my post. Thanks for stopping by.

Hi friends. I have nine girls in my back timber as we speak. They camped out last night....ohhhh, the weather was perfect! Eric and I decided to have an impromptu camp out for the girls since we have a long weekend. Eric made the phone calls and rounded up NINE giggly girls for the weekend. Then he gathered them all up and did the grocery shopping. A bonfire with hot dogs, chips, No Bake Cookies and S'mores, yummy! They played hide and seek in the timber til they all got a little chilly. This morning Eric brought them donuts and milk and stoked their fire again. Me? I've got the worst headache that I've had in ages so I'm hiding out with my computer. I'm sure I'll be on laundry duty here soon. Go

od times, great memories. :)

Needless to say I'm not getting much crafting done but I did work on a project last week. After gathering up my latest vintage finds, I realized that I must be on a yellow kick. Everything I bought was YELLOW. I think it must be this time of year. Summer is winding down but it doesn't quite feel like Fall. I think the mustard-y color of yellow just appeals to me this time of year.It made me want to create something using my new Marigold Rustic Clothespins.
So I set out to create some simple cards that I could use as a pattern for easy gifts. I sometimes forget that cards make the most wonderful presents. Everyone loves them and you have all the supplies you need already in your crafty stash. When I make cards for gifts, I like to keep the design simple so that I can mass produce with ease. I found great inspiration for my cards today from Susan Weinroth. She is a very talented scrapbook, crafter and seamstress...her blog is sweet eye candy. I was inspired by this blog post...particularly the third layout down titled Sweet Boy. I chose a few simple elements from her page layout to come up with an easy card design.

Here's the basic layout of the card as you can see below. For ease of mass production, you cut two squares that are 2" x 2" and one rectangle that is 1-1/2" by 4". I'm using that wonderful marigold yellow as the main color for my cards today so each piece of patterned paper has some yellow in it. Most of my papers are from October Afternoon. To assemble the cards, simply start by adhering one square to the bottom left corner of the card base. Then just fit in the other square next to it and align the rectangle on top. Soooo easy. This is a layout I'll be sure to add to my sketch book.

For the next part, simply add a strip of ribbon using 1/2" wide Scor-Tape. I notched the right edge of my ribbon with sharp scissors. The ribbon I'm using today is Harvest Gold Saddle Stitched Ribbon.

Then I made up a bunch of sentiment pieces using Pine's Fillable Frames #6 stamp and coordinating die. I used *just a note* on each piece which is from my Take Note stamp set. Flower embellishments were added from a little pack I picked up at Michael's. I glued sequins to some of the centers.

My cards were sooooo easily and quickly assembled that I could have made an entire stack. Seriously.....so easy but super duper cute, don't you think. Tip of the day: Let's not over think our projects. Keep it simple. Add some fun details. Limit the products you use so you don't get overwhelmed.

I ended up with six cards for this gift ensemble, using 3 different designs. This first one uses a fun row of houses and polka dots. The *just a note for you* combo of sentiments is fun....and makes for some good, generic notecards.

This next color combo is sooo pretty and lady like...again with the fun sentiments.

And here's my last two cards, using a thank you theme. Notice how I repeated elements on all six of my cards.....I used the same Fillable Frame for all six cards, the same *just a note* sentiment, the same ribbon, the same flowers just in different colors......and the patterned paper was all from one company. So easy to mass produce when you limit the supplies.
And here's a fun little idea for you to try. Swipe a sentiment with a Copic Sketch marker to tie in the sentiment with the rest of the colors on your cards. Here I used a yellow color...maybe Y21....to add a little burst of color.
My cards came together so quickly that I had time to create some fun envelope Label Wraps. You simply mask off the label....stamp the background...peel off the mask....then stamp the label. The two spaces leave room for you to write the recipient's address and your return address. Then you wrap the label around the envelope once it's all sealed up. What a way to fancy up a card! The cute stamp I used is from this set, available at Star Lit Studio.
And here's my completed ensemble of cards, envies and coordinating Label Wraps. I used a Mini Clothespin to adhere the labels around my set of envelopes.
Next I packaged all the cards and envies up in a Large Cello Gusset Bag. I love that you can see the cards through the packaging. Sooo pretty.
I closed the bag shut with a Marigold Rustic Clothespin tied with some Wrinkle Ribbon. A Medium Manila Parcel Tag stamped with *notes* from my Take Note set makes for a simple gift tag that I can write on when I know the recipient's name.
Okay, another gift ready and waiting in my stash basket. LOVE. Hope you enjoy! Remember....you can easily change up this design to make Halloween cards, teacher themed cards....or maybe you want to get an early start on Christmas cards. I just love this layout, hope you do too!

Well, my headache is going away a little bit.....think I'll go check out the Happy Campers and see what they're up to. I've already heard a few upstairs in the bathroom, trying to wash Sharpie off their faces. Jordan has struck! LOL!

Me again....Susan was so nice and let me post her layout here that I used for inspiration for my cards. You can see the blog design, the horizontal pennant element with frame....great inspiration! Thank you Susan.

Introducing Rustic Clothespins

Hello friends. Today I have something very fun to show you. I'm introducing my Rustic Clothespins in the color Rusty Pumpkin, the first of many colors to come to my Etsy shop.

My Rustic Clothespins are hand stained with 100% organic material. It makes me feel so good to know that I'm using a product that is safe for the environment. And as you know, I love clothespins. I think they are the niftiest little invention. Of course I love them for hanging clothes out on my new clothesline (did I tell you I got one?)....but I also love clothespins in my paper crafting world. I use clothespins to hold together notes, bills, cards to be mailed, school papers, design team work, etc. I love that clothespins have been around for such a long time and we still find new uses for them.

My hand stained Rustic Clothespins will be sold in sets of 5 for $4.00, a great price to help you make gifts for under $5 bucks. Unlike painted clothespins, the stain I use allows the real wood texture and grain and shiny metal of the clothespins to show through. Very rustic looking indeed. I'll be adding more colors to my Etsy shop in the near future.
I started with my Rusty Pumpkin Rustic Clothespins because I wanted to be able to use this color for Fall and Halloween projects. How about I show you a little project that will be perfect for gift giving...perfect for teachers and girls would love this. I'm going to be creating some embellished clothespins so let's get started.

I started by choosing some fun October Afternoon papers that all had some color of orange on them. Love the mixy matchy look but that they're all tied together still. I also picked out some Papertrey Vintage Buttons in Terracotta Tile and Aqua Mist along with some Chocolate Baker's Twine and of course my Rusty Pumpkin Rustic Clothespins.
Next up, I cut one each of the patterned papers to measure 5/16" x 2-1/4". I also matched up buttons for each clothespin.
I like to use 1/4" Scor-Tape to adhere the paper to the clothespins.

It's not necessary to keep the papers adhered, but a little brushing of Mod Podge will really keep the papers in tact.

Next up, tie the Vintage Buttons with Chocolate Baker's Twine. A little tip is to tie buttons without cutting the twine off the spool. You'll waste a lot less twine and the long length gives you extra room to work with.
Next, adhere the buttons to the clothespins. Any craft glue will do, just allow some drying time before packaging up the clothespins.
Now it's time for things to get really fancy. Cut a scrap of the October Afternoon paper to fit one of my Medium Manila Parcel Tags.
Clip on the embellished clothespins. This creates a wonderful base for the clothespin so that they don't slide all around in your package.
Next up, it's time for my favorite part.....the final gift packaging. Cut another piece of patterned paper to measure 4-3/4" x 4-3/4" square. Slide this into one of my new Large Cello Gusset Bags, now available in my Etsy shop.
Fold the bag over and tape to the back with clear tape. Tie on the prettiest ribbon you can find. I'm using Papertrey's Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon in Terracotta Tile. Add the finishing touch by adding a Tiny Tag stamped with a sentiment from Friendship Jar Fall Fillers. The tiny sentiments from this set all fit perfectly on my Tiny Tags. I just did up a new batch of Tiny Tags so there's lots in the shop now.
And there ya have it, folks. A beautiful package that's almost too pretty to open. My mother would never open this gift, she'd just admire it with the packaging left on. Don't do that though....embrace the gift. Open it. Use it, cuz these embellished clothespins are just too cute not to use. I hope you're inspired today to get crafty. :)