Christmas Labels & Winter Cheer

Hi friends. Welcome back to another Papertrey post. Today it's my day to highlight some wonderful new sets and dies coming out this month. It's about the holiday season so I'll be showcasing Christmas Labels by Lisa Johnson and Winter Cheer by Tiffany Pastor. Both sets will be released on September 15th at Papertrey Ink.

First up is a fun set of embellished envelopes I created using both of the new sets + images from Postmarks. I always create a few fancy envelopes to use as gift card holders...but these could be used for cards, recipes, thank you notes, etc. I used Kraft envelopes in the A2 and Gift Enclosure size for my projects. I wanted these envelopes to have a North Pole feel to them, perhaps like they are letters from Santa. The striped stamp + cancelled postmarks in the Postmarks set were just what I needed.
Here you see the new label image from Christmas Labels. A very retro set with fun sentiments, several label images and a coordinating die. Lots of possibilities for the holidays + the label images will lend themselves to any occasion. I added a few glittered clothespins to my envelopes so that they could be hung on the tree or clipped to a holiday garland. I know my reds always like searching for those hidden gift card envelopes in the tree.
Sparkly sprigs, glittered + painted jingle bells + red baker's twine add a festive finishing touch to the envelopes. You'll also notice that striped paper which is a new collection debuting this month from Dawn McVey. The envelopes were also stamped with Fresh Snow ink using snowflakes from the Winter Cheer set. A very whimsical set that will take you through the holiday season and well into the cold, winter months. The circle images you see are also from Winter Cheer and were stamped and punched from White Adhesive Sheets. Those will go on the back of the envelopes and will act as cute little seals.
On the large envelope, I made some snowflake postage stamps from a snowflake image in Winter Cheer. I cut them out, adhered them to the corner....then stamped them with Postmarks images + added a tied Pure Poppy button. Definitely a festive duo of gift envelopes for this holiday season.
Next up, I have some fun gifts that would be perfect for gift swaps, teachers, neighbors...and I think the girls' friends would love these too. I've cut pieces from Dawn's new Candy Cane Christmas patterned paper and have wrapped Hershey candy bars. I like to use Scor-Tape to make sure the wrapping stays adhered.
Here you'll see the die cut Christmas Label with another stamp that goes with the Christmas Labels stamp set. The *Tis the season* was stamped from Winter Cheer and the *for chocolate* was stamped with Hero Arts mini wooden letters. A fun little twist on a holiday sentiment. I also stamped more of the snowflake squares which have a distressed look to them. I adhered the squares to my labels, stitched with my sewing machine and then trimmed to match the label. A Moss rhinestone finishes off the center of the snowflake.
More sparkly sprigs, glittered jingle bells and red baker's twine were used to embellish the candy bar treats. I find that these types of embellishments are often used over and over again on my holiday projects. Each year I find a few decorative embellishments that I like so I keep a big stash available for cards and gifts. (note: I've had a few inquiries and yes I plan on having the glittered jingle bells in my shop again this holiday season)
Using some leftover stamped labels + patterned paper I created a fun clothespin clip magnet. Big, Vintage Buttons were tied together with red baker's twine and adhered to the clothespin front. I used Scor-Tape to adhere the clothespin to the label and then backed the label with a strip of magnet. Perfect for hanging on the refrigerator to clip up incoming holiday cards....or use for letters to Santa, advent projects and more.
Here I've shown an example of how you could clip the clothespin to a sack + doily for gift giving. Perhaps this could be stuck to a magnetic, vintage tray that has been covered with holiday papers or spray painted a pretty color for the holidays.
Lastly I've got a layered tag sample to show you. I always have lots and lots of tags on hand each holiday season. I use them to tie onto wrapped packages and gift sacks like these brown paper bags or glassine bags. You can never have too many tags and these handmade ones look so much nicer than the pre-packaged type.
I used two tags, one which was layered with Candy Cane Christmas patterned paper + one that has been stamped with snowflake images and a sentiment from Winter Cheer. I used a stamped and die cut label from Christmas Labels as a little flap that I folded around my manila tag. The layered button embellishment with jingle bell and baker's twine was adhered with Scor-Tape.
So now I have a fun grouping of goodies that can be replicated to create a good stash of gift giving items this holiday season. I hope you've found some inspiration to get a craftin' on some holiday goodies of your own. Be sure to stop by Nichole's blog for her post today + lots of links to more Design Team + Stamp Designer creations. Thanks for stopping by today.

Love Lives Here for the Holidays

Welcome to today's Papertrey Group Post. This month we're sharing creations for the upcoming holiday season. It seems a little early to be discussing the holidays in September but we all know that the earlier we make a game plan, the better off we are when it comes to crunch time.

I'm starting off today with a few projects created with Melissa's and Nichole's new Love Lives Here: Holidays stamp set and coordinating mitten dies. I love that I now have a holiday rendition of the Love Lives Here stamp set. The images and sentiments are so homespun and meaningful.
For my card I created a cozy little scene complete with a star studded pine garland + hanging winter mittens. There are lots and lots of little images in this set to create holiday scenes. You'll definitely get your money's worth with this stamp set. For the mittens, I used some October Afternoon patterned paper that was die cut with the mitten die. It also has the cute little scalloped edge on the same die. The hearts were stamped and trimmed with scissors. Sparkly, red foliage from the craft store + a gold jingle bell + red baker's twine finish off the card. And you may notice the fun application of the sentiment...stay tuned this week for more on that. ;)
Next up I got a head start on some neighborly gifts that I deliver each year. You may have read yesterday's post on my summer canning. You can see that I'm all ready to fancy up some jelly jars.
This year I'm going to create some pretty little toppers using Love Lives Here: Holiday. It's so perfect for my little country creations. I started with a big metal rimmed tag that was covered with patterned paper. I then layered on a die cut and stamped mitten...so cute in Kraft and Fresh Snow. I chose the *homespun* sentiment because it's perfect for homemade creations like my jelly jars. Some more sparkly sprigs, bells and baker's twine finish off the layered tag.
To top my jars, I'm using brown paper sacks this year because the paper is easily wrinkled and becomes very pliable. I simply cut a round out of sack using a tin lid as a circle template. Wad the circle up and spray with water if you want even more wrinkling. I centered the circle on top of the jar and tied with cotton twine. My embellished tag is tied onto the topper using baker's twine.
And now I'm well on my way to having some wonderful samples to use for holiday cards and gifts.
Please join me as I hop around to the other Design Team Members' blogs today to see what they've created with Love Lives Here: Holiday:

• Nichole Heady
• Heather Nichols
• Dawn McVey
• Lisa Johnson
• Betsy Veldman
• Melissa Phillips
• Maile Belles
• Jessica Witty
• Erin Lincoln
• Danielle Flanders

Summer Canning...

Edit: Someone asked if you should store the jars with the rings on or off. My mom and I always take the rings (bands) off once the jars have sealed. We usually wait 24 hours, take them off and then wipe the jars shiny clean. I've never had any problems with the jars unsealing, etc. Calling all experienced canners, what's your opinion?

Hi there folks. Hope you're having a most relaxing Sunday. After spending 7 hours at Josey's volleyball tournament yesterday, my little family is ready to chill out. We have no plans for today and it might just stay that way. :)

I thought I would show you a little bit of my summer canning. Each summer my counter tops are cluttered with garden goodies such as zucchini, jalapenos, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. This summer I scored this old, green wagon that I have in the corner of my dining room. It was perfect for all my giant zucchini.

I don't mind the cluttery counter tops one bit though because it means I get to create some wonderful concoctions like my homemade jellies. Making jelly is a complete mess, I have to tell you. With the sweltering 105 temperatures we had daily this summer, there were times that heating up the stove to make jelly was not top on my list. But I love it so much that I just had to. The key to making great jellies is to have everything organized and ready to go. The timing has to be just perfect. Aside from one bad jelly making session, my jellies turn out nearly perfect every time. I've got it all down to one smooth process....just stay out of the kitchen for 2-3 hours and I'll do just fine in there by myself. Although the girls do like to help out sometimes and Eric is a great jalapeno slicer. ;)

So here I am with a batch of fresh jelly. I've got all my sterilized jars filled and ready to be water bathed.
I carefully transfer jelly to the jars using a wide funnel.
My lids have been heating up in a little water bath and they're ready to top off the jelly jars.
My favorite tools of all time for canning.....the beat up metal funnel from my mom....the green jar retriever thing from my mom and a new, handy dandy magnetic lid picker upper that my mom recently learned about. I can't do without these items when canning.
And this. Oh my beloved, enamel canning cooker. My brother got it from Mrs. Staley, the neighbor down the road years ago. We used to mow her yard and take care of stuff for her. I treasure this pot because of it's sentimental meaning. It was a little rusty on the bottom and this summer the rust spots wore through. I had water leaking everywhere onto my hot stove when I discovered the leak. My mom said there was actually a sealer made for enamel pots but I think more leaks will be coming as it's wearing pretty thin. I'm on the lookout for a new canning pot but this little baby won't be going too far. I'll use it as my compost bucket or perhaps it will have a new job like carrying picked veggies from the garden.
One of the best things about making jelly is the little bit of leftover jelly at the bottom of the pan.
I transfer this to a bowl and I love it for two reasons. One is that it's obviously fun to taste your creations before you can them up. Two is that I can tell within about ten minutes if my jelly is going to set up in my jars. You can tell by the jelly sticking to the spoon that this batch was killer. It got thick really quick which means that the jelly will most likely do the same in the jars.
Here the little jars of jelly are sitting out on a folded tea towel. I always have a fresh, clean towel waiting for the little jars to rest on. My most absolute favorite part about canning is to hear the little *pop* that happens when a jar lid has sealed. My mom has a special way of tapping on the lids to hear if they've sealed. I have to turn the jars this way and that way to see if the center seal has sucked down. But when you hear that pop you know the jar has sealed. Every time I hear the *pop* I suck in a breath....just imagine a little kid hearing Santa's sleigh bells at night. That's the excitement that the *pop* brings to me. And I've got a good ear for the *pop*. I can hear it clear in the basement.
Once the jars are cooled, I take the rings off and wipe the jars down with a clean washcloth. Now they're all ready to be stored away for the winter down in the basement. Some of the little jars will be fancied up and decorated for gift giving too.
Here's some more pretty jars of peach jam just waiting to be fancied up. I particularly love these new embossed jars from Better Homes and Gardens, available at Walmart. Now if they'd just come out with NEW, BLUE canning jars I'd be in hog heaven.
My family has been canning since as far back as I can remember. My grandmothers too. I am so delighted to see all the young people today that are getting into canning. It's a family tradition for us and I hope it becomes one for some of you too. Recently, the girls at Our Best Bites did a great blog post called Introduction to Home Canning and Preserving. It's a great resource for getting started. Plus their website has some really great recipes.......annnnd they have a new cookbook out....which I need purchase still. Hope you give them a visit.

And that's it for today. I'm busy getting projects completed for this month's Papertrey release + I am eagerly awaiting some brand new packaging items to arrive for my Etsy shop. Come back soon as I have something special planned for a few of my jelly jars. ;)

Mish Mash Monday....fall fling + vintage charm

Hey, it's Tuesday. That means I missed my Mish Mash Monday post. :) It was soooo nice over the weekend that we totally *unplugged* and spent most of the time outside.

Fall Fling:

We have two gardens....one vegetable garden and one vine garden. We cleared out most of the vegetable garden except for a few Roma tomato plants + jalapeno plants. The vine garden was toast.....the zucchini and cucumbers are done. We had high hopes this year for our beautiful pumpkins and gourds. Alas, the heat and beetles got to our vining pumpkins. We had to pick them early and I'm afraid they'll only a few weeks because they are soft. But the gourds are bumpy (pimply as Jordy says) and beautiful. We harvested them all in their pretty shades of Fall.
I find that I love to decorate lately with more natural items like the pumpkins and gourds rather than store bought decorations. So we put gourds and pumpkins all over the front porch. Here they adorn my old, chippy paint chair. My mail lady can leave goodies in that mailbox. And if my dear husband would just get over putting two simple screws into the siding, it would be hanging above the chippy chair with all it's cuteness.
More gourds and pumpkins on another old, wicker + wood chair. I love the wire basket because you can see what's inside like the gourds....or pine cones,etc. Those long, Freudian looking things? Ha, those are Armenian cucumbers. They grew to about 3' long...crazy!! We let them get overgrown just to get a good laugh.
And a pumpkin neighbor for each of my vintage watering cans. I think these old galvanized watering cans are more pleasing to the eye than the plastic ones. If you can score ones with the spout still on...grab 'em.
More gourds atop rocks in the flower bed. These are nestled in an old headlight casing that Jordan and I found on an old car in my dad's pasture. We scored some hubcaps too.
And my milo crop. These sprouted up from a spilled bird feeder that a raccoon got into one night. I couldn't resist letting them grow right by the house. They'll turn a beautiful burnt orange color a little later in the Fall.

Story: When we were kids, we had to cut shatter cane out of my dad's milo fields. Looks like milo but grew taller and got stuck in the combine head + my dad liked the look of a nice, clean crop of milo. It always coincided with our 2-a-day sports practices which were grueling and hot. While the other kids were home resting in the AC between practices, we had to go home, put on jeans, long sleeves + boots and go out in the fields for a few hours each day. We thought it was torture. Child labor. I hated it. I grew to despise fields of milo. I was never so happy when my dad quit growing it. Heaven on earth. The angels sang. And now I look at my happy little crop of milo and just smile. Those were days. Hard work was good for you. Good memories indeed.
Later on we had an impromptu front porch party with the inlaws. They brought simple hotdogs + brats and we drank iced tea + creme sodas. I gathered up this tray of vintage linens, mason jar glasses, a pretty bouquet + more gourds. Jordan found the vintage, mustard colored table cloth in my linen stash. Perfect.
Jordan watches my crafting very closely. She nabbed a few of my Orange Crush bottles from my Halloween post and made up some quick and easy Fall flower centerpieces. Simply put rubberbands around the bottle necks and tie on ribbon. $5 flower bouquets from the grocery store go a long way.

The weather was beautiful and the night got very chilly. We ended up with sweaters on and Eric lit the chiminea. Jordan ate about 10 roasted marshmallows, we played h-o-r-s-e, Josey got to take the family on a country drive in Grandpa's big truck...life was good this weekend.
Vintage Find:

I got this wonderful parcel in the mail today. This vintage, globe charm from Etsy. I fell in love with it when I first saw it and finally purchased it for myself. To remind me that there is a world full of good out there...so much more to see and do.....to explore. I love it. I have a few similar charms that I'm keeping my eye on for the girls for Christmas presents. Great treasure find!
And now:

I'm enjoying this beautiful weather we're having in Kansas. It was a chilly 46 degrees this morning. A cup of hot coffee never tasted so good. I'm off to work on Christmas + holiday projects in the Craft Dept. Then later on it's volleyball for Josey. Girl can jump for a lil' shorty. Have a great day everyone!

Thought for the day:

(from Pinterest here)

Ohhhh.....and Etsy happenings:

My new Mish Mash Junk Journals will be a regular item in my shop. I've sold out of the first few batches but I'll have more in stock soon. Also, my Fall Mini Album and cards on sale....gotta make room for some brand new items coming to my shop soon.

Introducing....Mish Mash Junk Journals

TGIF friends! As I get back into work mode after Summer vacation, I'm finding all kinds of things that I've made notes about....fun stuff to add to my Etsy shop. New ideas are jotted down all over the place.

Which brings me to my post today. I've always made little notebooks to have around. To make to do lists....
To write down this or that......

To inspire us to take time for ourselves....to put it in writing.....
Little notebooks to write down our big ideas.....
To sketch our grandest plans.....or simplest of card layouts......
Just a bunch of this and that.......
And last year during the holidays I made these little notebooks that were filled with ledger and graph papers....some new some old.....and over the years I've collected lots of these lovely papers.
So many lovely papers that it's time to share them. And that brings me to my newest creation called Junk Journals. Simple journals filled with old and new papers....ledger paper, graph paper, sheet music....and so much more. They'll be making their debut in my Etsy shop by the weekend so stay tuned. :) I'll be back to share more soon here on the blog.

I'll be sharing photos of the Junk Journals soon....but think of a fun place to organize your crafty colors and such.....

(washi tape tags)

A place to create collages of inspiring colors and design elements.....

(yellow inspiration collage)

A place to pin found objects and lovely fabrics.....

(linen & things inspiration board)

A journal to let your artsy side shine through.....the messier the better.....

(dreams and whimsy artsy pages)

A pretty little place to add the daintiest of papers and prettiest of pictures......

(lovely washi tape + vintage papers journal)

Pages to fill with snippets of your most treasured finds......

(wallpaper journal)

An organized place to keep those ideas that pop into your head.....like when you're in the stationery aisle at Target and a great idea comes to you but you have no pen or paper.

(design ideas)

It's simple + practical......just a collection of my junkin' finds that I hope you'll enjoy.

I'll be back to share more later. We've got my nephew's first high school football game to get ready for!!! The reds had their first volleyball games this week so it's been an eventful week. Go CATS!! I hope you all have a fantastic, fun filled weekend!