Jordan's Love Bug Birthday Invitations

It's about time for Jordan's birthday and she wanted to make her own invitations. She chose the card below for her inspiration. Jordan made the cards all by herself. I think she did a great job!

She decided to use Papertrey's Enjoy the Ride stamp set for her birthday cards. No particular birthday theme, just cute invitations. It all started with these cute die cut love bugs. The cars are so easy to cut out with the Enjoy the Ride die. Raspberry Rhinestones were used for the tail lights. All the patterned paper for the invites is from Cosmo Cricket.
Next up, Jordan picked out some Cherry Limeade Carnival Tickets and die cut some striped patterned paper using the scalloped border dies from Papertrey.
Here she is working away, enjoying every minute.
One of my favorite parts of Jordan's invites is the sentiment she stamped on the carnival tickets. The sentiment reads *it's my party* and is from Birthday Bash Sentiments. Once the cards were ready to assemble, Jordan thought the cards needed a little extra oomph. I suggested she use the Large White Metal Rim Tags to give the love bugs a little more focal point. She covered them with more patterned paper and it worked out great.
Next it was time to assemble the invites. So bright and cheery, I just love them. What sweet little fingers too.
Jordan stamped *birthday girl* on the license plate of the love bugs. Love. She also created some party tickets using Buttered Popcorn Carnival Tickets, some flower die cutes and green rhinestones. The tickets will be slipped into the invitation with instructions to bring the ticket to the birthday party. Upon arrival, the guests will present the ticket to redeem a door prize. Such a cute idea...now to whip up some fun door prizes.
And here are the finished invites. Jordan worked the next night and created adorable matching envelopes. I can't wait for her friends to get their invites!
Don't you think Jordan did an amazing job? Of course she used my sample, but her execution and eye for detail is astounding for an almost 12 year old. Proud mama moment for sure. A little mini Mishie.

More cards in sacks...

Hello friends, it's a new day and a new week. The girls are off to school and as soon as I wrap up my blog post for today I'm headed to the garden to pick green beans. Can you believe it? Our summer beans always die so we planted a fall crop. And voila, I've got tons of beans now. I can't wait to have some tonight for supper. Along with fried zucchini, we planted more of those too and they're thriving.

For today's cards I'm using more of Crate Paper's beautiful Restoration line. Be still my crafty heart!

Lately I've just wanted some cards that come together really quickly. By using my Medium Manila Parcel Tags I was able to stamp up a bunch of sentiment tags in no time. I used sentiments from several Fillable Frames sets, Up, Up and Away, Say It With Style and Flutterby Friend. I love to get all mixy matchy with my sentiments.
For my card assembly, I kept the basic design the same then added Cotton Candy Carnival Tickets, Vintage Buttons, Wrinkle Ribbon and chipboard die cuts from Crate Paper.
Next up, I made a few carnival ticket doodads with punches, chipboard accents, sequins and a small punch.
The ticket doodads were created to tie onto my Brown Paper Sacks. I looooove using these an envelopes as I first showed in this post. Today, I simply added a few scraps of the patterned paper, my ticket doodad, a Cotton Twine wrapping and a Tiny Tag to write a small message or the recipient's name.
Are they not just the cutest things ever? I love to see them all lined up in my little stash basket.
And there's plenty of room to add a little gifty if you wish, like this Hershey's with Almonds candy bar. But since I tend to eat all my props that won't be happening. :)
I hope you have a fabulous day friends! Stay tuned this week for lots of Wrinkle Ribbon, Copic colored goodies and my Papertrey Newsletter post.

Simple Supper

Want a simple supper menu? We sit down and eat supper every single night. It's our family time to talk about our days. Not in front of the tv. Not on paper plates. Real cloth napkins. No cell phones allowed. Dishes are done afterwards.

I love home cooked meals instead of stuff out of a box.....and fast food is usually not an option for us since we live in the country. But there are times when it's hard to fit in a nice, home cooked meal when the girls are at practices and sporting events.

Here's a great go to meal that is quick, easy and oh so good. Even my beef lovin' husband likes this one.

Chicken Sandwiches with Slaw Topping/BBQ Baked Beans

Remove skin and bones from store bought deli roasted chicken. Shred meat into bowl. Mix 1 package of coleslaw mix with about half a jar of coleslaw dressing. Serve chicken on hamburger buns. Top with slaw mix and BBQ sauce. Serve with BBQ Baked Beans. For my beans, I mix 1 can of Bush's Grillin' Beans (whatever flavor you like), 1 can Pork & Beans, 1 can red beans along with a dollop of yellow mustard and more bottled BBQ sauce. Heat in microwave or on stove.

This meal is easy to prepare ahead of time and reheats well for leftovers. Shredded pork would also be good.

Friday Fun!

How about some Friday fun??? I have a limited quantity of some kits up in my Etsy shop this afternoon. Enjoy!

With the kits you can make 5 of these cute little boxes...you provide the colored image. I used a Karen Lockhart stamp of wildflowers in a jar. Ellen Hutson has a great variety of Lockhart stamps in her store HERE.
I colored the image with these fabulous and fun Copic colors below:
I love to color little images like these wildflowers...just dabble on the color and it all comes together beautifully.

The kits can be found HERE in my Etsy shop. All supplies to make the kits are sold separately in my shop. TGIF friends!!

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!

Papertrey September Release Projects

Thought I would share a few of my Papertrey September release projects with you. First up is Year of Flowers: Morning Glories. Nichole's collection of flower stamps are so perfect for all of us Copic lovers. I love to sit down each month with the new flower series and color up a pretty image. Copic Tip: Use the complementary color of your flowers to create a soft colored background. Since my flowers are purple, I used a soft yellow color for the background. It really makes the flowers pop off the page.

For this holiday card, I used Pine's new Peace Be Still stamp set. So lovely to work with and the coordinating dies are fabulous. The Large White Metal Rim Tag is from my Etsy shop and has been topped with cork paper.
One of my favorites from this month's projects, this card features Beth's new Trees with Trimmings stamp set along with Lisa's new Sugar Plum patterned paper. Sooo soft and pretty to work with.

Hope you enjoyed this month's release. Wait til you see what we have under cover for October!!

Card set and brown paper sacks...

Edit: Hi again, guess what? Carmen called in sick today so she couldn't come over to play. I swear this happens to us more times than not. Get well soon Carmen. And for those asking about the brown paper sacks......they sold out temporarily but I have oodles more in the shop now. :)

Hey friends, my friend Carmen is coming over today for some crafty fun in my Artsy Studio. I've really been wanting to build up my personal stash of cards so that's what I'm aiming for today. While sorting through some new papers to work with, I came across some fun new patterns from My Mind's Eye So Sophie line. I couldn't wait and had to create some cards.

I have so many fun cards posted in my blog archives so I'm revisiting some of my favorite layouts. The one below is a mixy matchy favorite so it's my inspiration for today's cards.

When I want to mass produce several cards at once, I choose my supplies first. I like to get all my goodies gathered up, trying to limit my supplies to just a handful of items. Today I'm using the So Sophie patterned paper, Medium Manila Parcel Tags, Go Cart Green Carnival Tickets, Linen Vintage Buttons and felt from Papertrey Ink, some cork craft sheets and a new product I'll be carrying in my Etsy shop. You'll see that at the end.
I start from the bottom up on my projects. Here, I've cut my base patterned paper to size and some long strips that I will die cut. Don't you love these colors? Kinda Fall colors but still vibrant.
Once I die cut my long strips with Papertrey's Small Scalloped Border die, I adhered the strips to my card fronts. I like to leave the ends hanging off the edges, then I simply turn the card over and trim with my scissors. I save the leftovers to reuse later, you'll see. :)
Next up, I worked on my accents. Using cork craft sheets and Papertrey felt and flower dies , I die cut lots of flowers. Man, those dies work lickity split.
I topped my flower dies with Linen Vintage Buttons and tied them up with New Leaf Baker's Twine. I stamped my Go Cart Green Carnival Tickets with images from Just the Ticket. The Medium Manila Parcel Tags were embellished with images from Fillable Frames #4.
Then it was time to assemble the cards. Here's a finished card, topped off with ribbon. I love how all the elements come together. By using tools like the Papertrey dies and easy to embellish items like my tickets and tags, it makes easy work for some cute cards.
Oh how I love to see a little grouping of cards like this! It makes sending snail mail so much fun.
Now for even more fun. I love all the dimensional doodads and elements that I add to my cards. I think they add so much texture and color. But it also adds bulk to the card which makes it hard to fit into a regular size envelope. I've been sending a lot of my cards lately in bubble mailers so that the card has a little breathing room.

Here's a fun new way to package cards that require something a little bigger than a regular envelope.....or perhaps you want to include a candy bar or notepad or some other gifty type item with your card. My new Brown Paper Sacks are just the ticket. For my cards today, I simply embellished the sack fronts with leftover scalloped snippets of paper, some more baker's twine and some Tiny Tags.
The cards slip in so easily and the little sacks look like wrapping paper. The Tiny Tags can be used to write the recipient's name or can be stamped with small sentiments.....or as price tags even.
I packaged up my cards all pretty like and will keep them in my stash for when I need a perfectly pretty card for that someone special.
I hope you enjoyed today's projects. I dearly love to sit down and stamp a stash of cards. The Brown Paper Sacks are now available in my Etsy shop too in packages of 10.

For those of you that missed my first Halloween kits, I made up some mini treat sack kits that are now available in the shop too. Enjoy!

And stayed tuned for photos of my crafty day with Carmen. :)

Everyday Treats

Edit #2: Hey friends. The small paper doilies are from Martha Stewart, I found them at Michael's. Also, I have a new Halloween kit up in my Etsy shop. Thanks for stopping by today.

Edited for question: This is too darn cute! I love it... do you have the recipe to share that goes with the mix pictured too? Yes, the recipe is already linked in my post in the first paragraph. :)

Mmmmm, welcome to the Everyday Treats Group Post. Who doesn't love a fun little snacky snack? Today I have a fun, sweet Halloween Snack Mix to share with you. You can find the recipe here at the Chex website. It's sweet peanut butter and chocolate flavors are a real hit with my family. It's different than our traditional Puppy Chow snack mix we make but we all loved it just the same.

I love to send little treats with the girls on game days but I usually need packaging that can be easily thrown into a gym bag or book bag. A fancy gift bag isn't needed but it doesn't mean that I can't make a cute card that the girls can keep.
So for my snack mix packaging, I used Large Glassine Bags that are about as simple as it gets. I love these things! I attached pretty cards to the fronts of my snack mix bags using Small Clothespins that were covered with cork board paper. The envelopes were impressed with the new Background Basics: Diamonds Impression Plate. The pretty embellishment that adorns the envelope front was made by stamping a label from Everyday Treats with Terracotta Tile ink and then layering it with paper doilies, circle punched cork paper and hand cut words that were stamped from Everyday Treats. I tied the envelope up with brown and white twine and Vintage Buttons. A very striking card with all the textures and layers. Love.
For my actual card inserts, I kept the design very simple. I used Large Manila Parcel Tags, a punched circle from cork paper, an orange carnival ticket , brown and white baker's twine and a small Papertrey sentiment from Handwritten Notes.
The pretty circle stamp that I used on the cork papers is also from Everyday Treats. I love how versatile this set is. All of the circle stamps in this set will work with a 1-3/4" punch. Inside, I can write a special little note for the girls, wishing them good luck on game day.

I also tucked in a few small sticky notes inside the cards. The girls can use the clothespins that I backed with magnets in their lockers.

Hope you enjoy! I know this set will stay front and center this holiday season. Please visit the other Papertrey Designer blogs to see their sweet creations:

Nichole, Heather, Lisa, Debbie, Betsy, Dawn, Niki, Kim, Melissa, Erin and Maile.